Callings, Kits, & Classes

One aspect of the game that I've mentioned several times are "Callings," and how they function differently than traditional Classes.

Callings, in fact, allow you to build Classes, so I thought I'd walk through that process before releasing the Druid Calling, so you can see the combinations and customization possible, using just two Callings.

Before I get started, I'll define a few terms:

• Calling: A collections of Talents organized around a theme (Cleric, Druid, Fighter, etc.)
• Kits: A collection of Talents from One or More Callings
• Class: A collection of Talents filling out Level 1 to 10 (30 Iron worth of Talents)
  

To clarify a bit further, up until 10th Level, characters advance in the following ways:

• Iron Points: Characters gain 3 Iron points per Level
• Hit Points: Characters gain 1 Hit Die (+CON) of Hit Points per Level
• Attributes: Characters gain +1 to One Attribute per Level 
• Save Target: Save target number reduces by 1 every Two Levels (see character sheet)
  

After 10th Level, characters continue to gain 3 Iron per Level, but stop gaining Hit Points, Attribute bonuses, and Save reductions. This keeps the game from buckling under the weight of stacking bonuses, hit point bloat, impossible to fail saves, etc.

Also, this baseline will be adjustable, so we'll be providing options for different modes of play, but we needed a baseline format to begin with.

OK, that's out of the way, so let's look at Callings, Kits, and Classes!

Fighter & Warlock Callings

First, I'll post these callings once again, so you can easily reference them as we do the walk through:

Fighter Kits

So, looking at the Fighter, here are some basic 1st Level Kits:

• BERSERKER:
• Berserk Rage (2 Iron)
• Weapon Proficiency (1 Iron)
  

• BRAWLER:
• Brawling (1 Iron)
• Pummeling (1 Iron) (Brawling Sub-talent)
  
• Weapon Proficiency (1 Iron)
  

• DELVER:
• Blind Fight x2 (2 Iron)
• Weapon Proficiency (1 Iron)
  

• HEAVY HITTER:
• Heavy Hitter (2 Iron)
• Weapon Proficiency (1 Iron)
  

• SCOURGE:
• Scourge (2 Iron)
• Weapon Proficiency (1 Iron)
  

• SHARPEYE:
• Sharpeye (2 Iron)
• Weapon Proficiency (1 Iron)
  

• SLAYER:
• Slayer, Undead (1 Iron)
• Soldier's Grit (1 Iron)
• Weapon Proficiency (1 Iron)
  

• WARLORD:
• Battle Cry (2 Iron)
• Weapon Proficiency (1 Iron)

These are some pretty basic builds, and all are required to take a Weapon Proficiency. 

As you can see, you can be a raging berserker, a rowdy brawler, be a subterranean delver who knows how to fight in the dark, a big intimidating heavy hitter, a scourge with flails and whips, master of the longbow, slayer of undead, or a warlord who leads the party into glorious battle.

Very simple so far, and there are still many options besides the samples, but it gives you an idea of how much personality and life you can bring to a character, even at first level.

That said, there's nothing too complicated at 1st Level, which helps newer players, and gives all players a bit of time to get used to the cadence of their character's talents, but what if you take another Calling next level? What other kinds of combinations can you make?

Grimjack Kits, Dual Calling (Fighter/Warlock)

We covered the Dual Callings and titles before, but here's a refresher anyway:

There are 15 Dual Callings in total, and combining the Fighter and Warlock Callings only gives us one combination, the Grimjack, but the Grimjack is not just One Combination, it combines a collection of Talents from both callings, granting many different combinations.

For example, let's build on top of the Fighter Kits I showed above:

• DEATH RAGER (Undead Berserker):
  
• Fighter Talents (Berserker):
• Berserk Rage (2 Iron)
• Weapon Proficiency (1 Iron)
• Warlock Talents:
• Embrace, Death (2 Iron)
• Warlock Occult, Undead (1 Iron)
  

•  BLOOD REAPER (Vampric Brawler):
  
• Fighter Talents (Brawler):
• Brawling (1 Iron)
• Pummeling (1 Iron)
• Weapon Proficiency (1 Iron)
• Warlock Talents:
• Exsanguinate x2 (2 Iron)
• Warlock Occult, Choose (1 Iron)
  

• SHADOW DELVER (Dark Cloaked Delver):
  
• Fighter Talents (Delver):
• Blind Fight x2 (2 Iron)
• Weapon Proficiency (1 Iron)
• Warlock Talents:
• Cloak of Umbra (2 Iron)
• Warlock Occult, Choose (1 Iron)
  

• HARBINGER (Heavy Hitting Abomination):
  
• Fighter Talents (Heavy Hitter):
• Heavy Hitter (2 Iron)
• Weapon Proficiency (1 Iron)
• Warlock Talents:
• Embrace, Eldritch (2 Iron)
• Warlock Occult, Eldritch (1 Iron)
  

• DEMON SCOURGE
• Fighter Talents (Scourge):
• Scourge (2 Iron)
• Weapon Proficiency (1 Iron)
• Warlock Talents:
• Embrace, Demonic (2 Iron)
• Warlock Occult, Demons (1 Iron)
  

• NIGHT HUNTER (Sharpeye Wytch)
  
• Fighter Talents (Sharpeye):
• Sharpeye (2 Iron)
• Weapon Proficiency (1 Iron)
• Warlock Talents:
• Wytchbolt (1Iron)
• Infestation (1Iron)
• Warlock Occult, Choose (1 Iron)
  

• DEAD SLAYER (Slayer of Undead)
  
• Fighter Talents (Slayer):
• Slayer, Undead (1 Iron)
• Soldier's Grit (1 Iron)
• Weapon Proficiency (1 Iron)
• Warlock Talents:
• Deadcant (1Iron)
• Wytchbolt (1Iron)
• Warlock Occult, Undead (1 Iron)
  

• DREADLORD (Battle Warlock)
• Fighter Talents (Warlord):
• Battle Cry (2 Iron)
• Weapon Proficiency (1 Iron)
• Warlock Talents:
• Harrow (1 Iron)
• Wraith Form (1 Iron)
• Warlock Occult, Choose (1 Iron)

Here's a brief overview of each:

• Death Rager: A berserker who becomes undead while enraged
• Blood Reaper: A brawler that leeches the blood bashed from enemies
• Shadow Delver: A subterranean explorer who can take shadowy form 
• Harbinger: A heavy weapon brute who can become a foul aberration
• Demon Scourge: A master of whip and flail who takes demonic form
• Night Hunter: A keen eyed archer who dabbles in dark wytchcraft
• Dead Slayer: A hunter of undead who also speaks with corpses
  
• Dreadlord: A harrowing warlord who dominates the battlefield
  

As you can see, there are a lot of wild combinations. I purposefully chose the Fighter and Warlock Callings because the Fighter is fairly straightforward, but the Warlock gives a supernatural twist.

Keep in mind that not all Dual Callings produce combinations this dark. A Fighter Cleric is a Paladin, a Fighter Druid is a Ranger, etc, but even within those options, there are dozens of fun combos.

I wanted to use the Fighter Warlock combination to highlight just how far character customization, and flavor, can be taken in Two Levels. We've found the combinations fun, and near unlimited.

Again, these are just a few examples of Grimjack (Fighter/Warlock) combinations, there are many more, and 14 other Dual Callings, as well as the option of a Third Calling.

There are more combinations than I can count, but let's go into one more layer of depth, and build our own full Class, from 1st to 10th Level.

Harbinger Class

Shown below is just a rough build I pulled together just now. I'm sure I could do some fine tuning, but it gives you an idea of the variety a character can accumulate over 10 Levels.

• HARBINGER CLASS
  
• Level 1: Fighter Talents
• Heavy Hitter (2 Iron)
• Weapon Proficiency (1 Iron)
• Level 2: Warlock Talents
• Embrace, Eldritch (2 Iron)
• Warlock Occult, Eldritch (1 Iron)
• Level 3: Fighter Talents
• Weapon Proficiency x2 (2 Iron)
• Blind Fighting (1 Iron)
  
• Level 4: Warlock Talents
• Embrace, Eldritch (2 Iron)
• Wraith Form (1 Iron) 
• Level 5: Fighter Talents
• Deathblow (3 Iron)
• Level 6: Warlock Talents
• Cloak of Umbra (2 Iron)
• Wytchbolt (1 Iron) 
• Level 7: Fighter Talents
• Deathblow (3 Iron)
• Level 8: Warlock Talents
• Afflicting Ichor (3Iron)
• Level 9: Fighter Talents
• Weapon Proficiency x2 (2 Iron)
• Blind Fighting (1 Iron)
• Level 10: Warlock Talents
• Miasma of Misery (3 Iron)

Though we do have variety, many Talents are meant to Stack, such as Weapon Proficiency, which you take multiple times to increase your proficiency with a specific weapon.

In the end, your 10th Level Harbinger has these Talents noted:

• Fighter Talents
• Heavy Hitter (2 Iron)
  
• Weapon Proficiency +5 (5 Iron)
• Blind Fighting x2 (2 Iron)
• Deathblow x2 (6 Iron)
  

• Warlock Talents
  
• Embrace, Eldritch x2 (4 Iron)
• Warlock Occult, Eldritch (1 Iron)
• Wraith Form (1 Iron)
  
• Cloak of Umbra (2 Iron)
• Wytchbolt (1 Iron)
• Afflicting Ichor (3 Iron)
  
• Miasma of Misery (3 Iron)

 So, at 10th Level we'll have 11 Talents to put to use, which I would call a mid-level of complexity, in terms of how many Talents a character can have.

You can go much simpler, and just keep stacking onto a few Talents, or you can broaden your set of Talents, to give a character more versatility.

That is up to you, your character progression is totally in your hands!

Dial In Complexity

Now, that is a lot of options, and a lot to take in, but YOU CHOOSE the complexity.

Despite all of the options above, it is also completely viable to player a very simple Fighter, all the way from 1st to 10th Level, with very few "widgets" to worry about, such as this:

• Classic Fighter Talents
  
• Weapon Proficiency +5 (5 Iron)
• Deathblow x4 (15 Iron)
• Snapback x3 (9 Iron)
• Soldier's Grit x1 (1 Iron)
  

That's it, 10 Levels (30 Iron) worth of Fighter Talents, which gives them:

• Mastery of One Weapon (+5 to Attack, or swap +5 for 2 Attacks per Round)
  
• Four Deathblows (Add 1d6 to a Successful Melee Attack, Four Times per Day)
• Three Snapbacks (Recover 1d6 Hit Points, Three Times per Day)
• One Soldier's Grit (Boon to One Saving Throw, when in dire circumstances!)
  

 As you can see, each player can define their own complexity, it's all in your hands.

Other Iron Spends

We've shown you two Callings worth of Talents so far, roughly 36 Talents, each with sub-talents to add more depth to each individual talent, but there are several other ways characters can gain Talents:

Artifacts: Some items have magical properties that can be unlocked by spending Iron points, such as a sword like Excalibur, which may have many different Divine Powers to unlock

Grimoires: Obviously books of spells contain, you guessed it, additional spells! You can spend Iron points to unlock these rare lost magic enchantments

Mentors: Sword masters, hermit mages, cunning master thieves, they all have unique tricks and spells to teach you, but they often require you to do a task, or ask payment in some other way

Wytchmarks: Magical tattoos which characters can acquire, granting them a variety of abilities and protections, if they invest Iron points to activate the enchantments

I'm sure there are other things we'll come up with as well, but those are the four we have planned for the play test so far, which should expand character customization even further.

Well, I like some of the Grimjack Kits, so I'm going to do some sketches of them now, which I'll add to this post later on tonight.

Until then, take care all... and throw me feedback down below, or on my Twitter or Instagram

Richard