Author: august

This is going to just be a brief overview of the Class Edges, those who come with separate resources or extra complications and abilities. I’ll get into each specifically in a bit. I also want to use this space to brainstorm about new Class Edges to add.

There are three basic types of casters. I use the Mage from Cities Without Number as a basis for the spell casters.

Hucksters are the classic mage of the setting. In Deadlands, they draw cards to make poker hands to cast spells. While this is undeniably cool, I can’t figure out a way to make it work with the rest of the XWN system. So they have a version of the Overcast mechanic, but a little more forgiving, to encourage them to use it.

Hexslingers are a type of Huckster who sacrifice Effort to empower a hex weapon. This was a fun and frustrating class to develop that I went back and forth on a lot. Witches are the other type of Huckster. They learn spells as they level instead of through research.

Blessed are the priests of the setting, gifted powers by benevolent higher beings. They know fewer spells than Hucksters, but have a roll-to-cast ability that, with a little bit of luck, allows them more spells. They also have mega spells called miracles, which require rituals to cast.

Shaman are a type of blessed who gain bonuses when using rituals. I want to include some sort of class that allows possession, akin to a voodooist from Deadlands, but am having trouble keeping it simple. Right now, voodooists and Native American shamans are rolled together into this version, just flavored different. Doing something to split them is a priority.

Mad Scientists are the final spell casting class, and the most radical departure of the base Mage class. They essentially commit all their Effort into spells (called inventions) and can then use those inventions a certain number of times per scene. It needs some heavy play testing I think, but the idea is (probably) solid.

Scrap Mages are mad scientists who also have huckster-style spell casting. They’re essentially ticking time bombs, as they don’t have enough Effort to do everything so will have to take risks to cast spells. Alchemists can make elixirs that other people can use. It’s kind of a wonky class, and is the last one I’ve done so far.

Martial Artists are your monk-style class. I took abilities from the Vowed and the… class from Cities whose name escapes me at the moment, and put them in the framework of the Ash Sorcerer from Ashes. Basically they’re abilities are divided into disciplines, and you gain bonuses for filling a discipline.

The Spirit Caller is essentially the same as it’s base from Cities, and the Sentinel is exactly the same as the Cowboy from Ashes. Sentinel went through several name changes, but that’s about the most interesting thing to talk about there.

That covers most of the Deadlands options. I did want to do some other things, like redoing the shapeshifter into a skinwalker/werewolf class. That’s still on the agenda, but it took a backseat to the rest of the game. Another one I want to do is revamp the Duelist from Worlds, as I really want a swashbuckler type of character option.

Hard To Kill: You are tougher than normal. Roll 1d6+2 per level for hit points instead of 1d6. This applies retroactively if taken at a later level. You can reroll failed saves against artillery, explosions, or other massive damage. The first time each day you are reduced to 0 hit points, you instead survive with 1 hit point, though this ability cannot save you from instantly-lethal trauma such as being blown up, beheaded, crushed, or the like.

I’ve gone back and forth on this one. Cleary the default Edge that just gives you extra hit points needs a little boost, so I threw on a couple extra riders. The other option is to add in the benefits from Impervious Defense. ID is a rather notorious focus, and one I don’t include here because armor in general is not a priority. If I did include ID though, it’d be an Edge, maybe combined with the hit point bonus.

Killing Blow: You are deadlier than most. Gain any combat skill as a bonus skill. When you inflict hit point damage from any source, the damage is increased by half your character level, rounded up. 

This is unchanged. It does damage, I didn’t want to overcomplicate it. Killing Blow is essentially the only direct damage boost, so if you want to be lethal, you have to consider it.

Lucky Devil: You are unnaturally lucky. Your Luck save is reduced by 1. You have a +2 bonus on any rolls involving games of chance or gambling. Once per day as an Instant action, you can test your luck when something bad happens to you directly. Roll a d6. On a 1, the event is unaffected. On a 2-5, you somehow avert the consequences by blind chance. On a 6, it’s actually beneficial to you in some way, such as affecting an enemy or giving a bonus. You can do this twice at level 4 and three times at level 8. 

Like Ghost, this is mostly unchanged except I give it a few extra uses as you level. The real has been the name. I don’t actually remember changing it to Lucky Devil, it’s been Lady Luck, Lady Fortune, and Lucky. I can’t remember why I settled on Lucky Devil, it might get changed again in the future.

Mad Tinkerer: You have an innate sense on how to make things work better. Gain Create as a bonus skill. Gain a +1 to your Intelligence modifier (max +2). You start out with up to $2000 worth of new science devices (pg 69) that do not malfunction for you. Any ghost rock needed must be bought separately. With a day of tinkering, you can change the devices that benefit from this bonuses, but the total value benefiting cannot exceed $2000.

This one has gone through several revisions. The idea is similar to Wired from Cities Without Number, which lets you start with a buttload of powerful cyber. This allows for less, but the malfunction prevention is a good bonus I think. I had to do the steampunk-style devices before I could finish this up; $2000 lets you start out with a flamethrower, should one desire.

As an example of how valuable going through everything has been, I realized Mad Tinkerer originally gave a Craft bonus. I went back and forth on how new science devices would work, before essentially siloing them behind a Create skill. So that makes much more sense for this than Craft, which works on more mundane items.

Masterful Expertise: You are reliable in a pinch. Once per scene as an Instant action, reroll a failed non-combat skill check. Once per day, you can lend your expertise to an ally you are with who fails a non-combat skill check, allowing them a reroll. 

Like the other Expert class abilities, Masterful Expertise kind of lacks as a standalone ability. One of my ideas to improve Experts in Worlds Without Number is to let ME be used on another character. This is as good a spot as any to try it out.

Magical Censor: Magic has a limited effect on you. You gain both levels of the Nullifier focus. In addition, magical effects are half as effective against you. This includes both positive and negative effects, and includes damage, healing, duration, penalties, and bonuses. Once per day you can dispel a magical effect you can touch as per the Dispel spell. You can do this twice per day at level 5, and three times per day at level 10. 

Similar to other anti-magic abilities, particularly the mageslayer from WWN. I’m not sure how much value it really has, but I can see a few character concepts that use it. It’s another that might be too powerful in a limited situation and not useful otherwise, so it’s something to keep an eye on.

On Target: You are more reliable than most in combat. You gain a bonus combat Focus. Your base attack bonus is equal to your level, instead of half your level rounded down. 

XWN Warrior’s really are a well designed class. One complaint about the games that use Edges is you can’t make a Warrior from WWN or even SWN exactly. While that’s intentional, I try to alleviate that a little by changing a bonus skill pick to a bonus focus pick.

Organization Asset: You join one of the organizations from page 63. You gain that organization as a bonus skill. You can improve that skill normally, and use it for any social checks involving members of that organization. You also gain a monthly income, Contacts, and other benefits depending on the organization and skill rank, as detailed on page 63. 

This was the last Edge I settled on. The description is probably too vague, but it’s how I decided to handle “classes” that didn’t need a whole write up. In Deadlands, this is the Rangers and the Agency. I’ll detail how I handle those later. I went back and forth whether they should be an Edge or a focus or separate Class Edges or what, and finally settled for this.

Veteran’s Luck: You are a master of combat. Once per scene as an Instant action, you can trigger this ability to gain one of the following effects: offensively to turn a missed attack from you into a hit, or defensively to turn an attack that hits you into a miss. It can be used offensively when firing a crew-served weapon. It cannot be used defensively against damage that allows a saving throw or damage done to a mount or vehicle they are riding.  

I said before that Veteran’s Luck is, I think, pretty much the perfect Edge. In every XWN game I’ve run, someone always is a Warrior and gets a ton of milage out of this. No real changes here.

White Hat: You are a natural leader and inspiration. Gain Lead as a bonus skill. Gain a +1 your Charisma modifier (max +2). NPC followers gain a +1 to their Morale score. People will generally believe what you say unless you have given them reason not to. Once per day as an Instant action, you can inspire those around you, giving all allies who can see and hear you a +2 bonus to their next roll during that scene. You cannot choose the Black Hat or Grey Hat Edges.

The last of the “hate” Edges, this one for the good guys. It’s essentially a leadership ability found in some of the other games. The active ability is kind of basic, and I’m open to changing it if I think of something more interesting.

One thing I realized talking about all these is I added uses to some abilities, but to the ones I created I left at only once per day. I’m going to switch most of those to 2x at level 4 and 3x at level 8, for consistency if nothing else.

Typing up these posts has already helped clean up several things with my draft. We’ll see if that continues as we get into the meat and potatoes of character creation, the Edges. I’ll go through each of them one by one and talk about them a little.

Black Hat: You exude intimidation. Gain Talk as a bonus skill. Enemies have a -1 Morale penalty in your presence. Once per scene as a Main action you can force a target who can see and hear you to make a Morale check. Even creatures normally immune to Morale, like the undead, must make Morale checks in your presence. You cannot choose the Grey Hat or White Hat Edges.

We start with a brand new Edge. I wanted a “Hat” series of Edges thanks to the genre conventions of a western. And while Grey and White Hat modify existing Edges, the Black Hat is brand new. I’m not aware of any other Without Number features that mess with Morale checks, so there’s nothing to really base it off of. Morale is one of those things that the GM has to remember, so I think it gets overlooked. A failed Morale check usually means they run away, so Black Hat offers an original playstyle option of making people piss themselves. I also like the fact that they can be so intimidating that a zombie or whatever would crumble before them.

Crowd Pleaser: You work best in front of a crowd. Gain both levels of the Entertainer focus. Gain a +1 to your Charisma modifier (max +2). When you use the Entertainer bonus, you can use Perform in place of any other skill for skill checks or combat.

This is another new one, and a bit of an odd duck. I’m not sure it actually works. The Entertainer foci grants a +1/2/3 bonus to all rolls, depending how many non-participants are observing you. Crowd Pleaser takes it up a notch. The idea is talking is doing things like acting on stage, giving a stump speech, a wrestling match, a duel in public, that sort of thing. But it likely is too powerful in the situations it applies too, and not powerful enough otherwise, though the +1 to Charisma mod is a strong bonus regardless.

Danger Sense: You instinctively know when trouble is near. Gain a +1 to your Wisdom modifier (max +2) and Notice as a bonus skill. You cannot be surprised, and always go first in combat if you wish. Once per day, if you fail a save from a trap or other unexpected hazard, you can succeed instead.

This is essentially the Alert foci with a few extras. The goal is to avoid getting into danger, rather than avoiding danger once it’s happening. It’s defensive and not as active as I would like, but puts you in good positions.

Expert Learner: You have a specialized focus of study. Choose a non-combat skill. That skill is always the maximum rank for your level. Any skill points in it when you take this Edge are refunded and can be put into any non-combat skill.

The Expert ability that gives an extra skill point is one that is pretty weak in general. Making it an Edge with no changes really shows that it doesn’t measure up to other options. This is my attempt to fix that. It ensures that your favorite skill is always max ranked, and would probably be pretty powerful with something like Craft or another Edge that gives Effort based on a skill.

Focused: Gain a bonus Focus pick and two skill points. You may choose this Edge more than once.

The “choose an extra focus” Edge is probably the weakest Edge pick in the base books, but I can see why someone might want it for certain character ideas. I gave it a little boost. It’s still a weak option, but there if someone is trying to do something specific.

Forged in Fire: You are a mostly normal person, at least at first. This Edge can only be taken during creation and you can have no other Edges during creation. Instead, you gain an Edge pick when reaching 2nd, 3rd, and 4th level. This should reflect something you have done or learned about your character during play, so the GM may not allow all Edges, but can allow Class Edges. You still gain a bonus Edge of your pick at level 5.

This is essentially unchanged. One of the more fascinating Edge options out there.

Ghost: You are unnaturally elusive. Gain a +1 to your Dexterity modifier (max +2). You can use the Fighting Withdrawal action as an On Turn action instead of a Main action. Once per scene, you can reroll a failed Sneak check related to being stealthy. Once per day as a Move action, you can move up to 30ft without anyone seeing you move. You can do this twice at level 4 and three times at level 8.

This one is also mostly unchanged from the base books. My only change is to let it do it’s signature more often as you level. In conjunction with the Dex bonus and the other things it does, it seemed too strong to allow the “teleport” three times at the beginning, but I like things to have a little progression.

Grey Hat:  You are an inconspicuous presence. Your Charisma modifier is set to 0, regardless of your stat, and cannot be changed. You are never directly attacked in combat if there is someone else to fight unless you are immediately threatening. NPC’s must make a Mental save to remember any interactions with you older than an hour, and even if they succeed they only remember you in vague terms. If in a group of 6 or more people, no one will notice any specifics about you unless you draw attention to yourself. You cannot take the Black Hat or White Hat Edges

The second Hat Edge, this is essentially the Faceless Edge from Ashes. The Grey Man name of the associated foci is what inspired the Hat Edges idea in the first place. I love the idea of setting a stat to 0 regardless of anything else; it’s so unique. As for the abilities, it might be too powerful in the hands of an assassin-type, but it has drawbacks as well. It’s an Edge that the GM needs to think about. What is “immediately threatening,” what draws attention, things like that. I don’t generally have an issue with that, but some GM’s need a clear cut list of rules on things like that.

Before going into individual Edges, I thought I’d first talk a little bit about what makes a good Edge. Edges are the building blocks of your character in the later Without Number books. They are defining class abilities, but what that means can be a bit unclear. Especially when you also consider Foci, which can also be defining.

My philosophy on Edges are they should fall into one of two categories. They either need to Solve a Problem, or make you Significantly Better. The latter category usually means adding an ability modifier. Such upgrades are rare (see my post on Backgrounds about that), so improving a key ability mod is worth the Edge. Not many Foci outside of racial/origin choices give a modifier bonus, and the Edges usually come with a few other things as well.

The other option for an Edge is that they Solve a Problem. My go to example of this is the Veteran’s Luck Edge. Originally a Warrior ability in Stars and Worlds, I think it’s one of the best abilities in the game. It gives the player options (kill something or not be killed), and it can be used often. It Solves a Problem, the problem being something is about to kill you. When making my own Edges, I try to consider how they compare to Veteran’s Luck.

Unfortunately, many of the base Edges in Cities and Ashes compare pretty poorly. Something like Educated is a pretty poor choice (being the equivalent of 10ish skill points). That’s not powerful or interesting nor does it really solve anything. One thing I tried to do is improve some of these Edges. Some Edge’s got reworked, others got a smaller boost in how often their abilities can be used.

One reason I’ve done this is for balance sake, but also for genre. As attested to by Keven Crawford in many reddit posts, characters using Edges in Cities and Ashes are weaker than their Stars and Worlds counterparts. This is for the sake of the genre: cyberpunk characters are assumed to make themselves more powerful with cool cyberware, and post-apocalyptic survivors are meant to be less powerful.

Neither of those assumptions fit the game I want to run. I plan for characters to go on adventures, fight evil threats, and in general be heroes. There’s no major enhancements like cyberware, or at least none readily available. So characters need to be stronger. Ashes recommends giving an extra Edge at level 3, but I think my reworks will work better and keep characters more focused.