So my group is floating the idea of a fantasy Wild West game next. While we may or may not end up doing it, it did get me thinking of good classes/subclasses that'd work in the setting, beyond the obvious Gunslinger Fighter.
I thought Arcane Archer could work with the minor tweak of having them channel magic into bullets rather than arrows. I imagine they'd be less of a gunslinger type with pistols and such, maybe favoring a repeater rifle or something.
Artificer also comes to mind as a good one, an Alchemist could have a role as a traveling snake oil salesman or disgruntled medic, while Artilliarists can already flavor their wands as magic guns basically. Battle Smith might take a little more finesse, but I'm sure it could work.
Vengeance Paladin seems pretty spot on for a Weastern themed campaign. Hunter or Monster Slayer Rangers could make for good bounty hunter types too.
Wizards and sorcerer's wouldn't need much thematic change, they just might be a little rarer.
Native American culture has a lot of stories about casual shape shifting and a connection to nature that would pair well with the Druid.
I think for the most part it's just a matter of focusing the aesthetics of reskinning equipment and stuff in-game to be wild west focused instead of medieval fantasy focused. I think the biggest challenge there is that medieval fantasy has a large focus on melee combat, while wild west is focused almost entirely on ranged combat, and melee combat is almost exclusively fisticuffs or use of tools as improvised weapons (like killing someone with an axe or a hammer). Although there were military sabers at the time, so that's pretty much the only sword a character could carry without having to come up with a convoluted story for why they own one.
Native American culture has a lot of stories about casual shape shifting and a connection to nature that would pair well with the Druid.
I think for the most part it's just a matter of focusing the aesthetics of reskinning equipment and stuff in-game to be wild west focused instead of medieval fantasy focused. I think the biggest challenge there is that medieval fantasy has a large focus on melee combat, while wild west is focused almost entirely on ranged combat, and melee combat is almost exclusively fisticuffs or use of tools as improvised weapons (like killing someone with an axe or a hammer). Although there were military sabers at the time, so that's pretty much the only sword a character could carry without having to come up with a convoluted story for why they own one.
Yeah there'd definitely be an emphasis on Dex fighting. I wonder if it'd make sense to include some alternate rules allowing players to use Str for ranged weapons (ability to hold a weapon steady and absorb the kick?), or maybe even impose an AC penalty when a character armed with only ranged weapons gets attacked in melee (since they have no weapon or shield to block with?)
Also armor isn't a big thing for that kind of setting, so maybe if you wanna go crazy, maybe just give everyone some form of Unarmored Combat like the monk or barbarian?
I think that it would generally be accepted to just say that armor applies to just padded or reinforced clothing. There's some willing suspension of disbelief like... why does a coat with metal shoulder pads sewn into the fabric weigh over 50 lbs and take 30 minutes to put on? I think that you could also have a STR-based character who uses thrown weapons. Like... hatchet throwing was a viable skill to have at that time, and that's essentially just a hand-axe, which has the thrown property letting players attack from range using STR
So my group is floating the idea of a fantasy Wild West game next. While we may or may not end up doing it, it did get me thinking of good classes/subclasses that'd work in the setting, beyond the obvious Gunslinger Fighter.
I thought Arcane Archer could work with the minor tweak of having them channel magic into bullets rather than arrows. I imagine they'd be less of a gunslinger type with pistols and such, maybe favoring a repeater rifle or something.
Artificer also comes to mind as a good one, an Alchemist could have a role as a traveling snake oil salesman or disgruntled medic, while Artilliarists can already flavor their wands as magic guns basically. Battle Smith might take a little more finesse, but I'm sure it could work.
Vengeance Paladin seems pretty spot on for a Weastern themed campaign. Hunter or Monster Slayer Rangers could make for good bounty hunter types too.
Wizards and sorcerer's wouldn't need much thematic change, they just might be a little rarer.
Anyone got any others?
Native American culture has a lot of stories about casual shape shifting and a connection to nature that would pair well with the Druid.
I think for the most part it's just a matter of focusing the aesthetics of reskinning equipment and stuff in-game to be wild west focused instead of medieval fantasy focused. I think the biggest challenge there is that medieval fantasy has a large focus on melee combat, while wild west is focused almost entirely on ranged combat, and melee combat is almost exclusively fisticuffs or use of tools as improvised weapons (like killing someone with an axe or a hammer). Although there were military sabers at the time, so that's pretty much the only sword a character could carry without having to come up with a convoluted story for why they own one.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Yeah there'd definitely be an emphasis on Dex fighting. I wonder if it'd make sense to include some alternate rules allowing players to use Str for ranged weapons (ability to hold a weapon steady and absorb the kick?), or maybe even impose an AC penalty when a character armed with only ranged weapons gets attacked in melee (since they have no weapon or shield to block with?)
Also armor isn't a big thing for that kind of setting, so maybe if you wanna go crazy, maybe just give everyone some form of Unarmored Combat like the monk or barbarian?
I think that it would generally be accepted to just say that armor applies to just padded or reinforced clothing. There's some willing suspension of disbelief like... why does a coat with metal shoulder pads sewn into the fabric weigh over 50 lbs and take 30 minutes to put on? I think that you could also have a STR-based character who uses thrown weapons. Like... hatchet throwing was a viable skill to have at that time, and that's essentially just a hand-axe, which has the thrown property letting players attack from range using STR
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium