Wanderer Bill's New Journal

2023-12-26

Implied Setting in the Numbers

So we've been chatting about the role of clerics on an off. There's a wide range of opinions about this. Which in itself is interesting given that clerics represent religious believes in the game world.

Clerics being no more than Fighting Men/Magic User combinations is one valid stand point, and games like Steve Jackson's The Fantasy Trip obviously take this route. On the other hand Clerics being "chosen by the gods" provides some interesting world building ideas that might just be reason enough to keep clerics in the game. However, there's another point I'd like to make:

There's this peculiar disparity in the progression of the three original classes (Fighting Man, Magic User and Cleric) from flunkie to name level. In recent editions, but also in some retro clones there seems to be a tendency to even out those differences. Likely in an attempt to make the game more fair for everyone. While this sounds like a rule change, done with the best of intentions, I wonder if this misses an important bit of the original games rules.

What if those strongly varying progressions where a design feature, that maybe shouldn't be thrown over board lightheartedly? It's been kept up in Gary Gygax's advanced game. That doesn't come as a surprise, I guess. But it's been watered down in the basic editions and most of the retro clones. Even Swords & Wizardry seems to miss the point.

I believe the value in those progressions becomes apparent, when you look at the numbers, and think about the implications, that come to bear when the rules are applied as written. I'd say, there's a whole lot of implied setting in those numbers. But see for yourself:

The Numbers

Let's look at some of these steps individually:

Clerics reach 2nd level This means, that clerical characters will be the first to undergo the leveling up process. They'll likely be the first characters to be able to increase their hit points, and gain the ability to deliver minor healing to themselves and their comrades.

Fighting Men reach second level At this point the Fighter starts to really show the specialty of this class. Against normal men, and smaller humanoids the Fighting Man gains a second attack per round, thus beginning to really make a difference in combat.

Fighting Man reaches Hero Level The rise of the Fighter continues: this class is the first to become so strong as to be able to take on super-human foes single handedly. To be fair, this only counts if the Fantastic Combat rules found in Chainmail will be applied. But still, a fourth level fighter is significantly more hefty than the other classes at the same amount of XP. Average hit points will be 14 vs. 7 resp. 10 hit points of 4,000 XP Magic-Users or Clerics. The Hero gets to attack four times against normal "men-type" creatures, and gets an increased hit probability on each attack, whereas Magic-Users and Clerics get but two attacks at most, still using the basic hit probability they got on the first level.

Then, something interesting happens: at only 100,000 XP Clerics reach Patriarch level. This so called name level entitles these characters to start the domain game by building their stronghold and attracting followers. Mind you, that's less then half the amount of XP Fighting Men has to have, to reach name level, and a third of what a Magic-User would need.

But not only that, Clerics get massive advantages in the domain game: They get a small "fanatically loyal" army for free, they get all their castle construction at half price, while still getting twice the amount of taxes (or tithes as the case may be) when compared to later Fighting-Man Barons.

Implied Setting

So what does this mean? To my mind these numbers delineate distinct phases of the game as characters advance through the ranks:

In the first phase Fighting Men become markedly stronger as they progress, making them natural leaders for travelling bands of adventurers, treasure hunters, or mercenaries. This is the game of dungeoneering and wilderness exploration, most of us associate with playing fantasy role playing games.

In the second phase Clerics start to play a major political role, as they start to found city states of either lawful or chaotic alignment. This will lead to a strong polarization of the game world. Which, while problematic in the real world, will be most welcome in the game world as conflict and large scale combat is likely to ensue. The now powerful clerics will have all manner of uses for travelling war bands led by Heroes, and will likely search the services of Magic-Users to aid them in their schemes. At this point I'd like to remind you, that as per the rules a Patriarch is able to bestow holy quests upon other characters. So that's that. If all of this doesn't sound like pure Swords & Sorcery, then I don't know what you've been reading all the time.

In the third phase Fighting Men get to rise once again. As they reach Lordship, secular baronies spring into existance, which may well ally with the one or other clerical realm while challenging others. In this world things are based on rough large scale economy, not so much on divine grace anymore. And while clerics still have the advantage of godly support, when it comes to construction work, Fighting Men of Lord level will probably have amounted even more treasure than their pius former adventuring comrades. I envision glorious fighters, wielding magical swords from the backs of their flying dragon steeds. No doubt these Super-Heroes will once again change the face of game world.

At last in the fourth phase Magic-Users finally develop their full potential, by learning the ability to craft magical items and artifacts, and getting access to the most powerful spells of the game. Wizards of the highest levels will be the rulers of a transcended game world. They'll be able to create pocket dimensions at the drop of a hat, discover time travel, and literally reach out for the stars. How about player characters transformed into space travelling golden dragons going on expeditions to the galactic core at the end of all time? And yes, I'd totally let a Wish change even the rules of the game itself. Lasers?, Cyber-Tech? Sure, there you go, it's all *Science Fantasy*!

Somewhere along the way, I meant to say "Clerics are awesome". Well they are, but really this game is awesome, with all these bits and pieces handed to us with the very first, original edition.

Please send any comments or questions to wandererbill@betola.de or @wandererbill@tabletop.social

Copyright: ~lkh • Di. Dez. 26 11:32:24 CET 2023 • License: CC BY-NC 4.0 • Hosted by: SDF-EU Public Access UNIX System - https://sdf-eu.org