On the Explorer

02 Jan, 2025

I thought it might be interesting to you, the reader, not to mention helpful to me, the writer, if I just went ahead and created a class from total stream of consciousness here in a blog. While I've let this ferment slightly in my head, we're going to see what this sourdough starter can make.

Broad Strokes

So when I'm inventing a character class, I have to ask a few questions of myself and be able to answer all of these.

• Is it filling a role? Does it overlap too much with another class?
• Is it iconic? When I say, "I'm playing an X," does X tell the other person generally what they need to know?
• Is it fun? Do they get to do some goofball shit? Or at least do they get to do something that nobody else can?
• Do they have a real ability to affect the game? That is, do you feel the loss if you don't have one in your party?

All Of the Other Reindeer

First off, it is probably worth it to list the rest of the Basic character classes and identify what they bring to the table.

1. The Legionnaire is your basic "fighter" class. They have excellent HP and Attack bonus, and they have a lot of room to fill out their fighting style with Feats and whatnot.
2. The Acolyte is situated within the world socially. They have access to a bunch of services and unique situations through their church.
3. By contrast the Cultist is a real focused spell-slinger, with a silver tongue and a handful of weird and wonderful spells.
4. The Sage is your more classic bookish magic-user, able to research tough questions and learn spells for every situation.
5. A Knave is the "rogue" or "thief" of the group. They form complex plans, carry out sneak attacks, and gain all sorts of tricky abilities.
6. The Patrician is a scion of an ancient noble line. They can get the group anything they need as long as they're willing to do some favors.

What's Evocative

When I think of an Explorer, I think of Indiana Jones, of Marlowe from Conrad's Heart of Darkness, of Lewis and Clark, and Xenophon's Ten Thousand. Yes, this gets a little colonial; I acknowledge this and you have to trust that I'm just doing the best I can to look at my influences for inspiration and try to bear with me while I wrestle with the implications. I can only say I'm interested in posing some of these questions and trust each table to come up with answers.

An Explorer strikes me as scrappy, improvisational, able to make contacts, and willing to serve as a chronicler. I can probably safely write in Croaker from The Black Company as another touchstone.

What's Mechanical

I think I could use another fighting type; I'm not totally willing to step on the Legionnaire's toes and make another class with a +1-per-hit-dice attack bonus but I can certainly give them 1d6+1 HP per level. With the Legionnaire sitting at 1d6+2, this helps them feel unique enough. Still, they should have some kind of attack ability - how about an Ambush? Maybe the whole party gets a bonus when they take advantage of preparation and terrain, I like that quite a bit. Something like a +1 every other level.

Another thing I keep coming back to are maps and languages. It's easy enough to give them a bonus to picking up languages, just enough to get by, but not enough to get any of the skills associated with learning them ("you could warn them - if you spoke Hovitos!"). That's right, I took a page out of Wildsea and your skills are informed by your language and culture. Explorers have a pool of points they can spend to decode written languages during downtime. I think it's fair they get to use magic scrolls too, I suppose.

On Actually Exploring

For this last mechanical part, it's time I wrote down something about the actual act of navigating and exploring. One of the assumptions is that very little between major settlements is well-understood with few roads connecting things, at least outside of the Imperial core. Here on the frontier it's rough trekking. Some other rules to think about:

• Each map hex is 5 miles to a side and therefore 10 miles across. Assuming trail conditions and some rough patches, it's possible to move 1 hex per day on foot, more on roads and less on rougher terrain.
• Riding animals double this, as long as you have spares.
• As a hex is about 65 square miles, you can fit a lot of stuff in there. Each hex has up to 3 points of interest, rated from layer 1 (easiest to find) to layer 3 (hardest to find); once per day, you can search a hex. You discover layers in order and only one per day. Layer 1 has a 4-in-6 chance of being discovered; layer 2 has a 4-in-8 chance; layer 3 has a 4-in-10 chance. On average it takes 6 days to fully explore a hex. Locals may give clues or detailed directions to landmarks which change those odds. A big group might also give a bonus.¹

This gives us a couple more levers to pull. One that comes immediately to mind is to change an Explorer's odds of finding stuff on each layer to 5-in-(dice). This immediately changes the odds of fully exploring a layer to an expected 5 days. I'm not sure about adjusting travel speed just yet; I can see how someone's expertise might make them better at searching for landmarks and points of interest but I can't justify everyone's little leggies moving faster. Although...

Orienteering

Orienteering the sport is about moving quickly over unfamiliar terrain without getting lost, and if I'm honest I'm pretty bad at it. You should visit my store and give me hundreds of dollars so I can take a class. In the sport you typically get a map and a compass and it's still tough. Legging it with just the sun to guide you? That's a nightmare.

When you set out, you pick a target hex to head to. The party trudges along each day towards it until they ask to stop or they encounter an obstacle which requires their attention. As you move, there is a risk of becoming lost. When moving through unfamiliar terrain², the referee rolls 2d6 and 1d20 behind a screen each time the party moves hexes. On a result of 2, 3, or 4, they have drifted. Consult the d20 and compare the result to the chart below:

This gives one more obvious lever to pull: An Explorer only gets lost on a result of 2 or 3 on the 2d6. This changes the chance of getting lost from 1 in 6 to 1 in 12. Perhaps as they level up this changes to a 2 only.

This also gives me a pretty obvious idea that I didn't think of before, and to me this is part of the fun of generating a new class, that it forces me to think about some rules in context. Terrible weather (fog, rain, etc), big groups, and other factors might subtract 1 or 2 from the 2d6 roll! This means trying to force your way through new terrain in shit conditions gets dodgier and dodgier.

Drawing Maps with Blank Spaces

I try to give a class something for the player to do, partly to keep them engaged and partly to have little bits and bobs around to mess with. As an ADHD-haver, I like a fidget, so sue me. For the Explorer, the obvious thing is the map.

This isn't to say that nobody can make a map, but the player of the Explorer should have a map with a lot of notes. I think they should be able to create routes between landmarks by selecting different hexes on a map and as long as they have explored all 3 layers on all intervening hexes they may connect these points with a route; people using this route always count as using a road. If there's also a road then I think the road gets a little better, somehow? Or maybe there's no random encounters on it? Anyway an Explorer should be able to create a number of these routes which increases based on their level. Routes are only allowed between settlements or important sites (trade posts, fortresses, shrines, things other people would reasonably want to visit without getting killed by bandits).

Furthermore I think they may have to figure out and solve at least one major problem along a route (if one exists) to keep it active. The world moves, clocks advance, all that; an Explorer cannot create a route through a dangerous beast's territory, as people don't want to get et up by a dang owlbear just to visit the cool shrine.

Cartography

Also, as long as an Explorer isn't surprised, when they face a random encounter, they can choose to notice a piece of the geography which is potentially useful to either side of the conflict. The referee rolls a d6 and asks for details on how it's useful, a question they are allowed to throw to the whole table; a 3+ is closer to the players and other results are closer to the other side.

Other Stuff

I've always enjoyed the rich cast of eccentric background characters in the Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider franchises; I think having an ability to have a contact in an area could be fun.

I can't think of any Restrictions an Explorer needs - I suppose in order to access their cartography abilities they need access to maps and charts, so they should start with a notebook and a compass. That's a hefty chunk of change!

Restrictions: An Explorer needs access to their maps and charts to access their core abilities. They may not use their core abilities when wearing medium or heavy armor or using a shield. Proficiencies: An Explorer is proficient with one martial ranged weapon and two simple weapons. Gear: An Explorer begins with a Notebook or Codex and a Compass.

Core Abilities

Cartography: When facing a random encounter in the wilderness, an Explorer may declare that they notice a useful piece of terrain. Describe it and the referee rolls a d6; on a roll of 1-2 it is significantly closer to the opposing side and on a 3-6 it is closest to the player's side of the field. An Explorer may also plot Routes between locations (described above). Orienteering: An Explorer only gets lost when the referee rolls the listed number on their 2d6 roll for unfamiliar terrain. Ambush: When they have time to prepare, the Explorer grants the listed to hit/damage bonuses to all their allies during a surprise round.

Special Abilities:

I Know a Guy: When visiting a settled location an Explorer could have conceivably visited before, they may declare they know a contact who can give them insight into local situations and landmarks. Languages: An Explorer may declare they know enough of a language to decode written text, speak a sort of pidgin with locals, or otherwise act usefully. This does not confer any skill benefits.

The total time spent writing this was 90 minutes! That's the creative process for ya.