rhialto wrote:

Iron Ranger wrote:

rhialto wrote:

My main party is illusionist, legerdemainist, cleric, monk and fighter. I don't think they're missing anything, since their success is dependent on player skill, as others have pointed out. 

That's a pretty mixed party, so you've got it covered. And I get it that the group relies on player skill, but do you find that your players most often rely on the characters with special skills to attempt the special tasks?

Yes, they do rely on the best class/background to do that. For example, whenever it comes to quick/sorcerous healing, it's the cleric; mundane healing, the cleric again, since she venerates Apollo.

I also use my own set of background tables (what AS&SH calls "Secondary Skills"), and those play heavily into "Who's best to talk to the Prince's servants? The Illusionist, he's an escaped slave." I lean heavily on the Non-Standard Task Resolution (d6 throw) for things like this, if they don't want to role-play out all the dialog (which happens sometimes).

But I'm fine with this niche-leveraging: IMO that's what differentiates a class-based game from a skill-based game (like Classic Traveller, which I also run).

Yeah, I'm torn. Theoretically I'm on board with everybody should attempt everything. But most often all the players look at a situation where the BLANK is at the top of the PILLAR with "Let the thief climb up there!" And I constantly catch myself asking things like, "Would your character really say/do that?" 
But I'm trying to be better....;)
 

Jimm.Iblis wrote:

Iron Ranger wrote:

Yeah, I'm torn. Theoretically I'm on board with everybody should attempt everything. But most often all the players look at a situation where the BLANK is at the top of the PILLAR with "Let the thief climb up there!" 

That's okay, the thief should be better at climbing than everyone else. With my upcoming AS&SH campaign, that's what I'm doing--just pretending the players have maxed out their class skills, as it were, and assigning the task resolution checks accordingly.

Anyway, so far for Rappan Athuk I have Brock's Kimmerian-Kelt berserker, a 1/2-Pict assassin, and under_score's Viking legerdemainist... Still have 3 or 4 players to decide and Brock is smartly advocating for henchmen.

Legerdemanist appears to be a popular class, two people wanted it but the guy playing the assassin switched when under_score got his background together first--though I didn't force him to. The assassin's player even came up with a cool Pictish assassin's guild he was a member of -- the Fangs of Tlakk-Nakka -- that has the brain-gears spinning.

 

Sounds like they've got their work cut out for them - but I never underestimate a party of berserkers and assassins. The dude ought to switch back - I doubt the Fangs of Tlakk-Nakka release you that easily!

I'm thinking blowgun darts, throttling snares, masters wearing cloaks of arachnidae...

They would have to be known enough to hire, but probably super restrictive regarding their training and practices. I'm thinking they are as much a racial and religious sect as they are an assassins' guild, they see their trade in secret murder as a sacrament to Tlakk-Nakka.