Old West Archetypes (DnD Next)

[Erom]

Hey all. Been a while.

I'm gearing up for my usual holiday one-off over Christmas, and this year I'm thinking Old West for the setting, and DnD Next for the system. This obviously requires homebrewing up some character classes, and I'm always interested in seeing what suggestions the hivemind can throw at me.

I'm keeping character generation quick + dirty as befits a one-off session, so character attributes will be set by your class, everyone is playing a Human, and I'm rolling Background and Specialties into a single feature. Basically just pick a class and a background and play.

Those of you unfamiliar with Next just went Huh? Very basic explanation in spoiler. Those of you familiar with Next can skip it.

One of the new things about DnD Next (5th edition, whatever you want to call it) is that it separates out your Class (which, simplistically, describes what your character does, and provides proficiencies, stats, and spells/maneuvers) and your Background (Which is your characters history, and in some ways can be described simplistically as your "roleplaying class", and provides a trait and skill Bonuses). Specialties are the fancy name for your feat package, which I've just rolled into Background.

So in summary:
Class - Abilities, stats
Background - Skills, roleplay
Specialty - Feat chain
Yes, I know there are plenty of good old west systems out there already. Don't care. Interested in experimenting with how well Next stands up to alternate settings.

My query for all of you, then, is what are people's thoughts on what makes a good class versus what makes a good background. Obviously a pistol-focused, rapid fire Gunslinger class needs to be included. But that class can model both an outlaw or a lawman equally well in combat - just make Outlaw and Lawman two different backgrounds, with different skills and traits.

My current thinking:

Classes:

Gunslinger:
A mid-range combat pistol focused character, roughly analogous to the DnD rogue/ranger. Could be a dps focused rapid fire shooter or a sneak attack type.

Dead-eye:
Long range, rifle focused character. Weak in close combat, with some fancy shooting maneuvers, a bit like a blaster-type spellcaster.

Cavalryman:
(Better name?) Tough character with a fairly balanced combat style, mounted combat, mid range carbine use, and close-in with melee weapons. Roughly the dnd fighter.

Backgrounds:

Outlaw - Bunch of social skills like lying and forgery

Lawman - Bunch of social skills like intimidate and diplomacy

Frontiersman - Survivalist, tracking, etc.

Tradesman - roughly the same as the normal dnd profession background

Sawbones - I can't decide if this should be a class instead. A healer class might be nice but it feels kind of flat to be a whole class. I kinda like the idea of any class being able to heal with this background choice.

Preacher - moral bonus, knowledge skills

Miner - toughness, explosives skill, etc.

Native - bonuses with old-school weapons, maybe survivalist/nature type skills (poisons?), another background I could definitely see being a class maybe, the only downside is seeming a bit racist (if native is a class, then a native can't be any class like a white character... seems like dangerous territory...)

Cowboy/ Rancher - Riding, animal handling, etc.

Academic - Not sure about this one. A sort of catch all for higher-education types which would open up fun crafting options (make explosives as a chemist, or repair machinery as an engineer)

So, feedback? Suggestions? Random thoughts?

[grimgrin]

Well I'm not sure if your going for historical accuracy or Silver Screen Mythos. A single native background is a disservice to the varity in cultures and beliefs of tribal peoples. Again, I don't know if your using actual history but more than two races live in the Old West at the time. Beyond the dozens of tribal group, there are Wasps, Waves of different European Emigrants, Freedmen and/or Slaves, Californios, Chinese Rail Workers, Cajuns, etc. You also don't have any female gender classes or backgrounds of the 'Old West'. So far all you CLASSES are combat (Str & Dex) focus and some of your backgrounds could be classes (ie sawbones (wis), cowboy (cha: animal handling & dex: ride), academic (int)). Other Ideas: Fur Trapper, Wagoneer, Boatman, Undertaker, Barber-Dentist, School Marm, Saloon Girl, Town Drunk, Snake Oil Salesman, Nun, Carpetbagger, Journalist/Novelist, Prospector, Lumberjack, Card Sharp, Pugilist, Circus/Side Show Performer, Train Engineer, and Army Scout as a Class or Background.

For clarity you could structure it like this:

MO in Combat (class) + Job (background)
For Example:
Pistol Packing (dex) +....Preacher
Rifle Toting (wis/dex)....+......Lawman
Hard Riding (STR)....+......Sawbones
Bushwacking (DEX)..+.......Cowboy
Silver Tongued (CHA).....+....saloon girl
Highly Educated (INT)...+......Outlaw
Grizzled (con) + Miner
Owlish (wis) + Town Drunk

[Jallorn]

To be fair, these are all fairly generic, so I don't think putting all the possibilities of "native," into one background is too bad. I wouldn't make it a class though, since class seems more combat oriented, while background is non-combat. On that note, I agree that healer/sawbones should be a background and not a class. I would also suggest a class or possibly classes built around more melee and archaic forms of combat, not just gun oriented classes. I might go so far as to have three or more class types.

I'm thinking these categories so far:
Guns: Pistols, Rifles, and Shotguns are the differences I see here. Pistols are fast to draw, aim, and fire, but weaker in stopping power and range. Rifles are slower to draw, aim, and fire, but have a lot more power and range. Shotguns are sort of in the middle, with the speed of a rifle, but with more power and less range, closer to a pistol in that regard. Pistols, inevitably, are about quick draw tricks, Rifles are more about accuracy, planning, patience, and efficiency, and Shotguns are just straightforward know-em-down weapons.

Melee: Not sure what sub-categories would go here, maybe something along bashing, piercing, slashing differences, though those are a bit blurry still. Melee suffers from a basic problem: far too much variety. Different models of guns might be noticably different from each other in various aspects, but they still function mostly the same if they're of the same size. A rapier and a spear wield completely differently, yet they're both piercing. Maybe Melee is a category that could be left vaguer, as it's not really intended to be the focus of the system.

Archaic Range/Archery: Another category that isn't quite so easily sub-divided. Archery would be, by far the most common, but throwing knives, darts, slings, and other ranged weapons do exist and are diverse enough to be difficult to differentiate. There's also a fair bit of overlap with melee, especially when you get into weapons like spears or knives, where they can be wielded in close combat, or thrown.

So for the latter two categories, I'm thinking classes built around weapon families: Bashing Swords, Piercing Swords, Slicing Swords (European Swords are more bashy than, say, Asian swords like the Katana), Halberds (as non-throwable spears), Spears (including the throwable ones, but with less emphasis on the non-throwable ones), Axes, etc. I would also expect the more melee categories to be less successful in general though, so I might build them with the intention of making them worthwhile as a dip. So someone could take a handful of levels of a melee class, just as a back up in case the enemy got to close for his rifle to be useful, or something.

Still doesn't really solve the problem of guns simply being better than melee in most circumstances. Which could be solved, albeit at the expense of realism, which might be worth it, depending on your goals for the game.