I thought I’d open a thread for Bonus Goal new class general discussion. The Bonus Goal new classes are berserker, beastmaster, halfling bounder, halfling burglar, and “hoodlum”. (Should any patron deities seek input or supplication, perhaps they will open another thread.)
Berserker
“a shield-biting shape-changing madman of Norse myth”
The inspiration for the Heroic Fantasy Handbook (HFH) berserker seems to be Viking berserkers of history and myth. Professor Tolkien was very familiar with these myths. If one holds the myths to be true, the greatest among such a class might be rather like Beorn, of The Hobbit.
Beastmaster
“a lordly king of the jungle equally at home in B action movies and E.R. Burroughs novels”
Tarzan seems to be the primary inspiration for the HFH beastmaster, but I suspect a Tarzan-like class would easily support a certain 80s movie beastmaster named Dar.
Halfling bounder
Halfling burglar
The inspiration is well-known. An advantage of no halflings appearing in ACKS core has been many halfling classes appearing on these forums. I think each one has been of interest, with some being mechanically innovative. The challenge, perhaps, is it’s much easier to create a BX halfling than the ACKS halfling race underlying any ACKS halfling classes. (Reading the Kickstarter text literally, we likely will not see a final halfling race, only the initial two classes. But the race is still a challenge for Alex.)
Like humans, normal (monster chapter/listing) halflings probably need to be thought of as 0-level (?), although saving as E1 (?). Like the gnome, the halfling monster entry might need tweaking after we have an “official” halfling class (?). (Note that no “official” tweaking of the gnome monster entry has yet occurred, although the results can be seen in the L&E gnome lair.)
“Hoodlum”
“an alternative build of the thief designed for heroic fantasy … class name is subject to change”
HFH Thievery additions were previewed here: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/autarch/heroic-fantasy-and-barbarian-conquerors-collection/posts/1857802
I like the new equipment and the general concept of success being a matter of time, time being of greater importance in a game with wandering monsters and generally diminishing resources over time. It seems to me that great thieves do things fast, in the way a professional athlete makes athletics look easy (but it’s not).
Also, some form of improved interaction with hijinks seems an avenue for an ACKS alternative build of the classic thief.
What are your thoughts on the Bonus Goal classes of berserker, beastmaster, halfling bounder, halfling burglar, and “hoodlum”?