THE SECRET BADASS
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| me writing this metaclass and you reading it, probably |
I call this OVEREXPERIENCED for shorthand reference
The most obvious way you can be pushed to reveal your true power is by running out of HP. You can instantly gain levels until your HP is positive again, and then say something like 'Tch, I guess I'll have to take this seriously..." or some such anime rot. You can also gain levels if you fail an attack or saving throw, gaining enough levels to hit or make the save instead, or instantly gain levels to use class abilities you'd get later- such as suddenly getting a few extra % points in Open Locks, or suddenly revealing that you can prepare Explosive Runes. The GM might require Hidden Powerlevel and Stashed Hoard to declare you have specific spells+the spellbook for 'em, otherwise they may be randomly determined spells
I call this the HIDDEN POWERLEVEL.
Or on a more meta level, upon finding a fortress full of brigands, you could rocket up to level 9 fighter and be like 'At ease lads- they're with me' and then the rest of the party is all 'wtf Ol Barflozz is actually LORD Barflozz' and the brigands are all 'Ah yes Lord Barflozz, didn't recognize you in the fake beard sir, come on in.' Extra retainers and allies fall under this as well- you can gain a level to declare individuals are your retainers, pets, cowed past foes, satisfied former employers, etc etc.
I call this NAMELESS DOMAINLEVEL and if your GM's main objection to the class is the shared narrative control (that's storygames) this is the ability that should be cut first.
Another use is by revealing you have a magic spell, item, or ability that you've been sandbagging with. Like your waterflask is actually a Phial of Water Elementals, or your sword is actually the very same +5 Holy Avenger the church has been looking for. The GM must adjudicate the cost of this ability, but as a rough rule, each +1 or ability an item has is probably calling for a mandatory level-up. If you simply know where you stashed it instead of it being on your person, the GM may relent the multi-level gains required to use this ability and just throw it in a dungeon to be recovered unfair and square instead. It also works for monster abilities if you wanted to be a secret vampire or summat.
This is the STASHED HOARD
Also, if you ever actually reach the level cap or are more than double the level of the lowest leveled party member, you get to finish up the scene you're in and then must walk into the sunset, never to be seen again, not even as an NPC. This is the FUCK OFF, ELMINSTER principle and assuming your players aren't trash you shouldn't really need this, but I also just read a forgotten realms sourcebook(0/10) and I really wanted to get that bold text out there.
And finally, there's the reason(s) you're lying so low. You probably have to roll a d20 each session and if you roll under your current level, your past shows up to bedevil you somehow.
- Pursued by 4+ Overt Badasses who are out to get you for whatever reason, each one being your equal and together being damn near unstoppable.
- Haunted by guilt over past failures and misdeeds. Unable to confront your past, if you lean too hard on your old tricks, the bad memories come back and you'll end up running away again, possibly all the way to hell this time.
- Curse stating you'll drop dead if anyone speaks your true name to your face. As you were super famous, you had to flee and adopt a new identity.
- Ancient prophecy about blah blah chosen ones, one of the other PCs fits the bill and you're caught in a balancing act of protecting them from the Dark Lord and calling down the Dark Lord's minions on everyone's head by your mere presence.
- Your power is stolen in some way, and the original owners are looking to collect. Deal with a devil, stolen goods, does it really matter?
- You just really hate domain level play and are trying to recapture the fun of being a low-level adventurer. If discovered, you'll have to slink back to your palace and go back to levying taxes and going to dinner parties where nobody even gets killed.
- Secret agenda you're pursuing. Has to remain very secret, lest rivals/enemies catch wind and shut you down, so you absolutely must avoid drawing attention to yourself.
- You're a gruff mentor figure with a dim suspicion that your role is to die after helping some young male take a few steps on the Hero's Journey, and so are doing your best to swerve the narrative into a different genre that's kinder to elderly people. Romantic Fantasy is probably too much to hope for, but Swords & Sorcery seems survivable enough so long as you avoid the lurking Survival Horror and Cosmic Horror on the edges.
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| just look at the detail on this puppet |
Design Thoughts
This is pretty much the epitome of 'play it once to get it out of your system' design, allowing players to taste the high levels or play as a high HD monster and realize it's less of a big deal than they imagined. The trick, I think, with exotic oddball classes and so on is to scratch an itch a player might have, without making everyone else itchy in the process. Some oddball classes end up fitting into the world well enough, while others get quietly dropped after a while, and this is actively designed to fit into the latter category. Curiously enough, I think this class is actually less of a problem the lower the powerlevel of the game is. A level 20 BFRPG character honestly doesn't have all THAT much going for them in a vacuum- someone who organically reached that level would have all sorts of odds and ends, but shooting up to level 20 in an already bad situation might do nothing but buy you a few extra rounds to live... and since you CAN bloat your levels, you're more likely to try that instead of something sensible like hiding in a coffin, and so end up dying anyway. In later editions like 3e/pf, 4e, or 5e, it would be a whole nother story of course.
It also might be fun to run a semi-cooperative semi-competitive game where everyone is a secret badass with conflicting secret missions going through somewhere very lethal like Tomb of Horrors, but their true powerlevel is kept secret (true powerlevels being 10+1d10 I expect) so the idea is to suss out everyone's capabilities. And of course if you manage to stay at level 1, everyone else has to tread carefully lest they be banished by the Elminster Principle.
I think this is a pretty cool idea, but to me, this seems like it might be too gimmicky. Though I do like the idea of the players being a bunch of Secret Badasses from the start of the game, and having to preserve their position against those who are trying to work their way up from the bottom. That could be fun.
ReplyDeleteHowever, in reference to your class, I feel that the Secret Badass isn't something the player characters should be allowed to do, as that feels counter-intuitive to the point of D&D. However, I think you could adopt the Escanor model, if you wanted to take this further.
The Escanor Model, by the way, is in reference to a Character from an anime called The Seven Deadly Sins. He is a character whose power is that he is incredibly strong during the day, but essentially useless at night, as he is literally solar-powered. Using that model, I think it would be okay to give the players one overpowered ability, but make it limited in scope. For example, the player can deflect any magical attack back at the person who fired it, but has no more defense against physical attacks than anyone else. That would be easier to work with, in my opinion, than just a player declaring "I'm going to be awesome now," and finishing off whatever problem you set before them.
"counter-intuitive to the point of D&D"
DeleteOh, definitely. In fact, I'm going to edit the post to link to a post by Lungfungus as further evidence as to why this class is a terrible mockery of the core resource-wagering loop that defines D&D.
But you see, there was a off-hand joke about this sort of thing among my playgroup and so it became absolutely imperative that I post this for our passing amusement.