Re: [DL] New Core Class: The Shootist d20?

[Fred Jandt <fajandt@yahoo.com>]

You know, thinking on this and the two prestige
classes on Way o' the Huckster, I think Shootist might
make a better Huckster prestige class than a core
class.

Reason being that you can make a Huckster character
focus on their gunslinging abilities as they work
towards being a Shootist. I can't see a new hero going
out and sling bullets and magic because it would take
a considerable amount of time to master either. That
said, the Shootist would be like a "refined" Huckster
who has honed his hexes in a particular direction kind
of like the prestige classes in WotH (no spoilers for
you player varmints).

My two cents of course.

Fred J.



--- "cnc80@shaw.ca" <cnc80@shaw.ca> wrote:
> 
> 
> Kevin L Stoner wrote:
> 
> >Just so you know, The shootist spells were covered
> in d20 
> >Texas Rangers. And after speaking with Mr.
> McGlothlin 
> >personally on the issue, I have to agree that the
> shootist 
> >should be treated as a huckster specializing in
> guns. The 
> >class you designed is really really powerful. I
> would at very 
> >least tone it down a bit. They are powerful and not
> so 
> >common, thus reflecting the experience load a dual
> class puts 
> >on them. And it gives them the ability to focus
> more on magic 
> >or blastin. For instance in my deadlands game the
> Shootist is 
> >a 4th level Huckster and a 6th level Gunslinger.
> Thus he has 
> >very small magic with very high to-hit bonuses. So
> having 
> >personally field tested the shootist, I prefer it
> that way.
> >
> >Sincerely,
> >Kevin Stoner
> >
> >
> >To unsubscribe, send a message to
> esquire@gamerz.net with
> >	unsubscribe deadlands@gamerz.net
> >as the BODY of the message.  The SUBJECT is
> ignored.
> >
> >
> 
> 
> I think I need to explain why I created this Core
> Class.
> 
> 
> Spoilers I guess (not sure if I need one though).
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>     I picked up Lonestar as one of the few split
> stack books, written in 
> the deadlands tradition.
> 
> 
>     When I read the Shootist, I liked what I saw. 
> However, I felt the 
> translation between the two game systems wasn't
> quite right.  So after a 
> bit of humming and hawing, I tried to take a few
> things to best fit my 
> vision of the shootist.
> 
>     In the original system, a Shootist was shown by
> taking a arcane 
> background (Shootist), rather then taking a huckster
> and gun skills.  I 
> wanted to show how this distinctive nature of the
> shootist in instead of 
> simply slapping down a few levels of huckster. 
> 
>     Additionally, I wanted the overall feel to be
> considerably different 
> then the huckster.  Part of the reason for a new
> backlash table was to 
> reflect both the perils of gunplay, which should be
> different then 
> slinging the cards.  I also had wanted to reflect
> the nature of magic in 
> Deadlands, namely that the even when you get magic
> from the Manitous, it 
> is usually has a price.  Finally, I wanted it to
> reflect the man who 
> created this arcane art, in the tradition of the
> fetish, another common 
> theme in deadlands.   
>     I thought long and hard about whether to make it
> a Prestige Class or 
> a Core Class.  I finally picked Core class mainly to
> reflect that "Doc 
> Holiday" was truely a remarkable individual who mix
> Funplay and the 
> huckster art.  After he was "contacted" by One-Eye,
> I would assume that 
> the Texas rangers would be very concerned about
> keeping these secrets to 
> themselves.  When they find individuals that have
> the right "Talent" and 
> patriotism, they would be retrained in seclusion and
> come out to a new 
> life.  It would be taking the Texas Ranger training,
> one step further, 
> making it pretty much exclusive.
> 
>    
>     I tried to make it fairly under control.  This
> is part of the 
> reason, that they are neither as good a gunslinger
> or as good a 
> spellcaster as a huckster.  They would be required
> to make choices with 
> their less skill points, best reflect the three main
> skills of the 
> shootist: Gunplay, Hexslinging and Bluff.
> 
>     Without these three skills, a shootist is
> siginificantly weakened.
> 
>     Your probably right about it being overpowered,
> so how about a few 
> more limitations to the class.  How about the
> following:
> 
>     1. Require the Shootist to never multiclass. 
> This would assist in 
> making sure that once the character's takes the role
> of a Shootist he 
> can never look back.  As for the Doc, that can be
> easily explained by 
> the fact that their ain't nobody like the old Doc
> and he's the exception.
> 
>     2.  Increase the level of spells not on the
> list:  I originally made 
> it so that any spell would need to be one level
> higher for the purposes 
> of casting.  Would 3 or 4 be much more suitable?
> 
> Any other ideas would be most helpful.
> 
> 
> 
>    
> 
> 
> 
> To unsubscribe, send a message to esquire@gamerz.net
> with
> 	unsubscribe deadlands@gamerz.net
> as the BODY of the message.  The SUBJECT is ignored.
> 


=====
Fred Jandt
Freelance author, designer, guru
Moderator New Gamers Order mailing list

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