These are the basic rules for character creation. I'm going to have to change some nuts and bolts (e.g., modifiers for primary attributes, experience tables) later, but I'm going to start with the overview of what I want to do.
Character classes will all be custom, based on negotiation between GM and player. Here are the basic elements of the classes:
(1) A story. This is where you tell me what your character class is about, how it works, how it fits into the world (e.g., are there guilds, is the profession well-respected and/or well-known), and anything else that you think might be relevant. This can be minimal if desired.
(2) A percentage distribution between weapon skills, magic, and general skills. This will determine the percentage of Development Points (DP) that go to each of the three development categories. For example, a character might define a “Bard” class as 30% weapon skills, 30% magic, 40% general skills.
(3) If the percentage for magic is nonzero, three additional elements are needed:
a. The style of casting. There are three options here. The Wizard learns spells the most efficiently but is the most restricted in her ability to cast spells (follow
standard Wizard rules). The Mentalist is similar to the wizard, but casts all spells purely from her mind. This requires no verbal casting component, but all spells
cost 20% more Spell Learning Points (SLP) to learn. The Talent Mage acquires magical abilities over time. Talent Mages are required to learn all of their spells at -
20% (that’s “minus 20”) chance of failure or less, but once they know a spell it doesn’t cost them energy to cast and thus they do not have Spell Points (SP).
b. The Primary Attribute that drives casting. Barring amazing persuasive abilities on the part of the player, this must be either Intelligence (INT) or Willpower (WIL).
Normally, Wizards use INT while Mentalists and Talent Mages use WIL, but I’m willing to be flexible on that if players can make a good case that it should be
different for their character.
c. What spells you are going to give up. By default, PCs can potentially learn any spell. By choosing a restricted spell list, a PC can gain more SLP. See the Spell
Specialization table to see how your SLP increase for more restrictive spell lists. You can choose restrictions based on criteria other than branches of magic. If you
do so, you’ll have to negotiate with the GM to determine your SLP multiplier.
Your character class will be your character class forever. If you want to modify it due to campaign events, you’ll have to negotiate with the GM. If you want to modify it because it isn’t actually what you want, you’ll also have to negotiate with the GM but depending on circumstances it might make more sense to start a new character.
Of course I have a few things built into the system to give you some flexibility, though. Here they are:
(1) Everybody is going to get some advancement in general skills for free as characters develop. This won’t be enough if you want to be a skill monkey, but my goal is for it to be enough to reflect the general competence an adventurer acquires based on “field experience”.
(2) You can multi-class for free, but only in three “basic” classes:
a. Rogue: 100% of your DP go to advancing general skills.
b. Warrior: 100% of your DP go to advancing weapon skills.
c. Spellcaster: 100% of your DP go to advancing spellcasting. If your base character class includes a spellcasting component, you must follow the same rules in the
Spellcaster class as you have in your base class.
That's where I'm at for now. Things like the Black Knight and White Knight from the original WW book would be examples of "custom classes" for my coming campaign. If I were to think about this as a new WW edition, basically I'd lay out the "basic" classes referenced in the last section above then provide a few examples of custom classes. I'm trying to approximate the flexibility of systems like GURPS while preserving the "character uniqueness" I like about defined character classes. Hopefully it will work.