Community

This post assumes the perspective that we're willing to consider the benefits of potentially pasting RP elements onto classes, and that isn't a cardinal sin. I don't know that I would really do it.

Not all ways of interacting with the interaction pillar are created equal.

I'm going to start with the assertion that if somebody plays a class that requires them to tithe money to their religion and they tithe the money to their religion and that's all that comes out of it, that doesn't count as roleplaying. It's just a weird puppet show version of roleplaying, where somebody does something roleplayish because the game is making them do it. What we'd have to hope for is that some of what's associated with that kind of seeps into the rest of the things the player has the character do.

Through that lens, we don't want to pasting just any RP elements onto character options (like class). We want to be looking for RP elements that to the greatest extent possible inspire the player to explore who the character is and expand what his or her place in the world is. (While at the same time not being bafflingly narrow; when you choose a class, you're choosing a very broad archetype, not a particular life story.) Is a tithe requirement the best concievable way to do an enforced RP element? I kind of doubt it.

There are some systems that have as part of character creation extensive models that help you think about what your character is like. D&D has a little bit of this, but it's always been sort of a sideshow. Even if you do the part in the 4e PHB that talks about what your character is like and how they respond to things and stuff, none of that ends up on your character sheet. D&D's alignment system says so deperately little about a character that its effect is pretty weak.

If there was an RP requirement for a class, I'd want it to have the following properties -

- It's something that happens primarily on-screen, rather than being some kind of bookkeeping thing that happens between sessions.
- It's something that the player is encouraged to get invested in. Customizability is a good driver for that.
- It's something that encourages the player to have it inform the character, instead of being just a "Oh right, I have to X, I'm playing a Y" thing.

I don't believe that it's impossible to have game structures that encourage roleplaying, but I also - perhaps much more strongly - don't believe that relatively boring behavior quirks are an effective way to produce them.

I don't know exactly what is being talked about. Are there other examples of RP interaction options other that tithing?

I am a huge fan of things like languages, group and multiple checks, skill challenges, companion management, animal training and rearing, explanar conversation, and political systems.

Actually classes are not purely combat constructs. Over 50% of the class in the playtest have out of combat class features.

But classes shouldn't force behavior unless the behavior fuels the class' features like a cleric's need for prayer or meditation.

I can't articulate why but I really dislike the whole pillar thing. Something about this topic has brought that to the front of my mind.

I don't think the tithe is a particularly good class ....thing. (I want to call it a mechanic, but it doesn't really interact with anything) Lesp did a good job saying why it sucks. it sucks.

I disagree with the sentiment that a class says nothing about what your character does out of combat. A class says quite a lot about your character's background, beliefs, favoured tools and way of life. It says an awful lot about your character beyond combat. When creating a character that doesn't follow all the trends we've got surrounding characters, a player creates tension because they've broken the mold. This is a good thing. Without the mold, we can't break it. In breaking the mold, we define what's normal. In defining what's normal, we allow ourselves to challenge those definitions and we make better characters.

I don't think the given examples are very good for this, but little things like weapon and armour choices inform roleplay. Class abilities that encourage certain tactics tell us what kind of a person someone is and what they're willing to do to win. Trying to think what else. Access to spells. A wizard feels crazy different from a sorcerer because wizards have this big ol' book they read all the time. It forms roleplaying associations and speaks about what kinds of people are wizards.

To use Lesp's words, a spellbook is a mechanical construct in a class that is "something that happens primarily on-screen, rather than being some kind of bookkeeping thing that happens between sessions" by being something the wizard interacts with at least once each day and is something they're seeking to expand at all times, "it's something that the player is encouraged to get invested in" because they have to protect it and it holds importance outside the context of their character or even their class. It holds power. And "it's something that encourages the player to have it inform the character, instead of being just a "Oh right, I have to X, I'm playing a Y" thing" because the book can be expanded through gameplay via finding scrolls. It also means that whatever else the character may be, they're literate, probably academic or at the very least they respect books as objects of power. It gives the character a distinctly academic flavour because of the spellbook.