P99 offline: Classes Overview

Although many of Norrath's greatest figures began as sons and daughters of simple farmer: or merchants, at some point in their lives they were called to a higher purpose. Perhaps they were called by king, country, church, or even hy their gods, perhaps the harsh reality of defending a homestead against raiding gnolls forced their roles upon them, or perhaps a burning desire to he more than their simple birthright moved them to leave behind their mundane lives. Whatever their reasons, those who seek glory, adventure, fame and fortune on dangerous and daring quests are no longer tanners or merchants. Such heroes are the stuff of legends, able to call upon the aid of the gods, slay giants with blows of their bare hands, or conjure up maelstroms of fire with arcane incantations. Be they noble saviors, curious seekers of truth, or devious villains, all are examples of the heroic classes. If they are strong, smart, quick and lucky, they grow in power and fame. If they are not, they may end their lives forgotten in the depths of a dusty crypt.

A character's class determines more about her than any other single choice her player will make. A class is more than just a vocation - it's a way of life, almost certainly the result of years of training and study. Many players are likely to pick a class before making any other decisions about a character, and then to arrange ability scores and race to suit the chosen class. A character's class determines her ability in combat, her selection of skills and feats, and the special abilities that set her apart from others.

Starting Characters:

The "Class Rules" section in each character class presented in this chapter details the hit points of a lst-level character of that class and the skill points such a character has available at lst level. Skills are explained further in Skills Link TBD. Also note that every character receives five training points and one starting feat when they begin play (humans also receive an extra bonus feat as a racial ability). Feats are explained further in Feats LINK TBD Each class presented also includes discussion of any special abilities or bonus feats granted to characters of that class.

The Classes:

There are fifteen classes from which players may choose to define their character, A class is like a profession, outlining the character's aptitudes and training,

The fifteen available player classes (and their abbreviations) are:

Bard (Brd): Entertainer, perfumer of magical songs, and keeper of obscure lore.

Beastlord (Bst): Spiritual warrior aided by animal companion, Hybrid of shaman and warrior.

Cleric (Clr): Servant of a god, healer and divine spellcaster.

Druid (Dru): Powerful nature priest with spells that focus around animals and plants.

Enchanter (Enc): Arcane spellcaster specializing in mental influence and enhancements.

Magician (Mag): Arcane spellcaster specializing in conjumtions and summoning.

Monk (Mnk): Unarmed combat expert who utilizes mind over body" techniques.

Necromancer (Nee): Arcane spellcaster specializing in black magics and the undead.

Paladin (Pal): Divine soldier of light and justice, Hybrid of cleric and warrior.

Ranger (Rug): Woodsman, tracker and archer, Hybrid of druid and warrior.

Rogue (Rog): A sly fighter who depends on agility and cunning more than strength and bravery.

Shadow Knight (Shd): Malevolent arcane fighter, Hybrid of necromancer and warrior.

Shaman (Shin): Divine priest whose magic deals heavily in spirits and animals.

Warrior (War): Dedicated to the ways of war; combat specialist using heavy arms and armor.

Wizard (Wiz): Arcane spellcasters who specialize in invoking powerful damaging spells.

Each class is described in terms of the role it plays within the P99 Offline world, as well as the game rules needed to play the class.

Class Advancement:

As a character gains experience, they goes up in level, gaining additional skills, feats, and special abilities. Each level requires a number of additional experience points (XP) equal to the character's current level multiplied by 1,000. In other words, to go from 4th level to 5th level requires 3,000 (4 x 1,000) experience points. Table 3-1 shows the total number of experience points required at each level of advancement.

Table 3-1 : Character Advancement:

Level	XP Need to Gain	Total EXP at Level
1	0	0
2	1000	1000
3	2000	3000
4	3000	6000
5	4000	10000
6	5000	15000
7	6000	21000
8	7000	28000
9	8000	36000
10	9000	45000
11	10000	55000
12	11000	66000
13	12000	78000
14	13000	91000
15	14000	105000
16	15000	120000
17	16000	136000
18	17000	153000
19	18000	171000
20	19000	190000
21	20000	210000
22	21000	231000
23	22000	253000
24	23000	276000
25	24000	300000
26	25000	325000
27	26000	351000
28	27000	378000
29	28000	406000
30	29000	435000
31	30000	465000
32	31000	496000
33	32000	528000
34	33000	561000
35	34000	595000
36	35000	630000
37	36000	666000
38	37000	703000
39	38000	741000
40	39000	780000
41	40000	820000
42	41000	861000
43	42000	903000
44	43000	946000
45	44000	990000
46	45000	1035000
47	46000	1081000
48	47000	1128000
49	48000	1176000
50	49000	1225000
51	50000	1275000
52	51000	1326000
53	52000	1378000
54	53000	1431000
55	54000	1485000
56	55000	1540000
57	56000	1596000
58	57000	1653000
59	58000	1711000
60	59000	1770000

Upon gaining a new level, a character receives additional skill points, hit points, and other class abilities (detailed in the description of each class). Each class description specifies a type of hit dice (d4, d8, d10 or (112) that the player rolls at each level; the player then adds the character's Constitution modifier to that level's dice result to determine how many additional hit points the character receives for reaching the new level. Characters with negative Constitution modifiers still gain at least 1 hit point upon reaching a new level. For example, an enchanter with a 7 Constitution (-2 modifier) reaches a new level and her player rolls ld4 for additional hit points, getting a "1" on the roll. Despite the Constitution modifier of -2, the enchanter still gains 1 hit point for the new level.

Training Points:

At 1st level and each time the character gains a new level she receives 5 training points to spend on new feats or skills, to improve her ability scores or resistances, or to add additional ranks to existing skills. Normally, characters must have access to a guild or order or to some mentor in order to spend these training points, The P99 OffLine: Game Master's Guide has more information on role-playing through the use of training points.

Characters may "save up" [mining points level after level if they desire, and may spend them any time they have access to a mentor. Table 3-2: Training Benefits shows both the number of training points required to purchase various benefits and any limitations on the expenditure of those points. All bonuses purchased with training points are cumulative. A character who trains in fire resistance upon reaching 2nd level and who later trains in fire resistance again will have a total bonus of fire resistance (2) from her training.

Feats cannot be purchased with training points more frequently than once for every two levels beyond lst. Thus, a 3rd-level. character can have no more than one trained feat (note that certain races and classes grant bonus feats at lst level, however), with no more than two trained feats at 5th, three at 7th, four at 9th, etc. If a character does not buy feats with training points over many levels, she can later catch up to the maximum number of trained feats allowed, even if that involves buying feats more frequently than once every two levels -- or even all at once. For example, a paladin reaches 10th level without having spent any training points on feats, and decides that he would now like to dedicate training points toward feats, He can purchase up to four trained feats immediately, if he has the training points available (four being the maximum number of trained feats allowed for a 10th-level-character); he could also choose to purchase feats more often than one every two levels over the next several levels, up to the maximum number of feats allowed for his current level (i,e,, five trained feats by 11th level, six by 13th level, etc,).

Skill rank purchases using training points are separate from those gained through standard class level advancement, For example, a 1st level rogue who accumulates 2,000 XP reaches 2nd level, As given in the rogue character class description, rogues gain 6 +Int modifier skill points per level to spend on either class or cross-class skills. In addition, the character gains 5 training points for reaching her 2nd character level, She could spend 3 of these training points to increase a rogue class skill by 1 rank, or spend all 5 to gain a cross-class skill rank. Multiclass characters may spend training points on class skills or cross-class skills for any of their character classes. In any case, however, no character can purchase skill ranks beyond their normal skill rank caps, even with ranks purchased through training points (see "Multiclass Characters" in this chapter and also Skills LINK TBD for details on skill caps),

Table 3-2: Training Benefits:

Benefit	Training Point Cost	Limitations
+1 to any ability score	12	No ability may be trained more than 6 times
+1 rank to any class skill	3	Skills may not be increased beyond normal skill caps
+1 rank to any cross-class skill	5	Skills may not be increased beyond normal skill caps
+1 to any resistance	1	Each resistance type may be trained a number of times equal to the characters level
Bonus (trained) feat	7	A character may not have more trained feats than one for every odd-numbered character level attained.

Class Description Format:

The following format is used to describe all the classes,

Name: Although some warriors might consider themselves simple guardsmen and some rogues may prefer to be known as "scouts," each class's standard name is the first indication of the areas at which the class excels. After the class name, a brief description is given of a typical member of the class.

Attributes:This section outlines the strengths and weaknesses of the class and gives some suggestions regarding how best to use those strengths and weaknesses.

Questing: Not everyone spends time on quests, but this section outlines some common reasons why members of the class might do so.

Religion: This section discusses the view a typical member of the class might have with regard to her religion and her relationship to her church, as well as what religions are most likely to cater to members of her class.

Culture and Training: In this section you will find some typical backgrounds for members of the class, As with all the information in these sections, these ideas are intended only as a model for a given character's background, not a set of inflexible rules.

Interaction: Here some ideas are given about the ways in which members of this class tend to interact with the community around them, with questing groups, and with individuals of other classes.

Alignment: Alignment is detailed more fully in Description LINK TBD, but this section gives some guidelines for the class, as well as any alignment restrictions the class may have.

Level Progression: Each class's level progression table shows its base attack bonuses and Fortitude, Reflex, and Will saving throw bonuses at each level.These bonuses are not cumulative a 3rd-level character gets the bonuses listed at 3rd level, not the sum of lst, 2nd,, and 3rd-level bonuses. Any special abilities of the class are also listed at the appropriate level, Descriptions of these special abilities are given in the "Class Rules" section.

Class Rules: The class rules section provides everything you need to create and advance a character of the given class, The section includes information on ability scores, race, Hit Dice and hit points, skill points and class skills, starting proficiencies, and any special abilities the class receives at various levels, The majority of the information presented here constitutes the game rules required to play the class.

Starting Package: For players who do not want to take the time to custom pick equipment, one or two starting packages of gear have been provided at the end of each class, For more information on equipment see Equipment LINK TBD.

Spellcasting:

open. the caster must select a spell already prepared and remove it instantly. asafree action. beforeattemptingto fill the slot with a new spell choice. He must then make a Meditation check (see Chapter 4: Skills) with a DC of 10 the spell's level. A successful check means the spell is placed into the newly open prepared spell slot. The base amount of time required to prepare a spell is a number of fullaround actions equal to the spell's level minus the caster's number of skill ranks in Meditation. to a minimum of 1 fuII-round action. Preparing a spell provokes attacks of opportunity (see “Attacks of Opportunity" in Chapter 12: Combat for more information), and if the caster is injured by such an attack. then the attempt to prepare the new spell is interrupted and fails. 1fthe caster was replacing an already prepared spell with a new one. and the preparation attempt fails. then the old spell is still removed from its slot (as it has to be removed before the caster begins to prepare a new spell). Newly prepared spells may not be available for immediate use (see "Recast" in Chapter 8: Using Magic) Mana: A11 spellcasters have a magical energy known as mana. The amount of mana a caster currently has available is referred to as his mana pool. Each spell a caster casts takes an amount of mana. as detailed in the spell‘s description. temporarily reducing the size of his mana pool. A caster‘s mana pool has a maximum capacity equal to double his appropriate ability modifier per level: arcane casters use Intelligence. divine casters use Wisdom. and bards use Cha- risma. Thus a 4th-level cleric with a Wisdom modifier of has a mana pool of (3 x 2) x 4. or 24 maria; a lOth—levcl hard with a Charisma modifier of has a mana pool of (4 x 2) x 10. or 80 mana.

- A caster recovers an amount of mana equal to his spellcasting stat 6‘" modifier plus his total ranks in Meditation for each hour of rest. fl: .i Thus. if the 10th-leve1bardabove has 13 ranks in Meditation. she

would recover 17 mana with 1 hour of rest.

Gaining Spells: Most dedicated spellcasters begin play with 4 spells of lst level known to them and recorded in their spellbook. Bards are the exception to this rule: they begin with only 2 songs known to them. These spells (or songs) are selected by the player during character creation from among those available by class. It is also possible for a caster to gain new spells by copying them from scrolls he may find; by trading with other spellcasters (always those from his own class. and usually only those from the same religious order. arcane society. etc. ); by recovering them from the spellhooks of similarly classed opponents he defeats. or even by purchasing them from a temple. guild. or spell (or song) vendor. For more