The fortean poste reminded me of my old weather-worker class, which was practically one of the "without spells" variants in its original write-up. In fact, it was kind of a lead-in to the Clerics Without Spells post. Time to update it to the format I've been using lately.
Concept: Rain-makers, people who can "whistle up a wind", or who feel a storm coming on, deep in their bones. Inspired by the Earthsea trilogy.
XP/HD: As Cleric.
Weaponry and Armor: Only gets an attack bonus with whatever weapons the character starts with, plus additional weapons the character pays for training in (treat as spell research at one-tenth the cost.) Can use any armor, but typically use leather, since they are often sailors.
Abilities: Predict the next weather change, sense unnatural weather, or sense weather spirits (elementals, or storm fiends) with a simple roll (as a Cleric Turning a 0 HD undead.) Can also attempt to command winds, waves, elementals or weather spirits, using either the HD of the creature (minimum 1 HD) or the spell level of the desired effect as the equivalent undead HD.
You could, of course, throw in scroll-use rules and use Magic-User XP/HD, using the Necromancer, Conjurer, or Mesmerist as a guideline to put together a Storm-Mage class. But the Weather-Worker described above is more like a country hedge-wizard or a shaman, someone with a gift for knowing the weather.
I am playing this guy if he gets the "Fortean rain" ability (1:frogs 2:fish 3: acid 4: knives 5:blood 6:baseballs). And has an alter ego he can send into the dungeon while he watches the mule.
ReplyDeleteIt's not a completely useless class in a dungeon setting. The attack and defense capabilities are identical to the cleric, except there's no prohibition on edged or missile weapons. The ability to control the air could be used cleverly.
ReplyDeleteIt is a much more useful class on wilderness expeditions, though.