Have you ever played a character that you couldn't fit on a Warrior-Ranger-Bard-Thief-Cleric-Mage archetype?

Have you ever played a character that you couldn't fit on a Warrior-Ranger-Bard-Thief-Cleric-Mage archetype?

Several.

There are three that I can think of that definitely don't fit, two more that are sort of borderline, kinda inbetween archetypes but not really fitting any of them, at least without stretching them a lot.

And that's just of characters I've actually played, I have tons that I've made but not gotten to play that don't fit, or are at least borderline.

Monk.

Go ahead and describe them, user!!!! this thread is just for that

monks are just fighters with (favored weapon: fists). Mechanics may change, but in-game they represent the same shit

Face.

what is bard

Do hybrids count? Like for example a sorcerer-gunslinger?

Other than that, I've played noncombat characters.

The most impossible to fit into any of these archetypes was a mastermind. Sort of think the guy from Princess Bride, Vizzini. The closest thing would be thief I guess, but he was terribly clumsy and unsubtle, completely inept at any sort of sneaking or anything that involved not drawing all attention to himself at any given time. He burst onto the scene with a ridiculous amount of pomp and circumstance, hired the rest of the party on a quest to reclaim his island lair that had been captured (this part was the GM's idea), and lead them in an utterly unsuccessful quest that involved getting on a merchant ship, heading in entirely the wrong direction, failing to commandeer the ship, getting attacked by sea banshees, setting the boat on fire, and getting most of the party, including himself, killed in his first session.

I also played a shapeshifting metamorph that was very rounded in roles, little bits from various archetypes. Was one of the real powerhouses of the party in a fight like a warrior, but generally hung back and mostly avoided combat. Was inhuman, could easily talk to and fit in with animals in the wild just as well as people like a Range, but didn't really apply this is any meaningful way or behave like a ranger. Using shapeshifting could sneak around and use deceit like a Thief, but rarely kept this up, and had pretty middling DEX, rellied much more on being an unstoppable killing machine of CON and metamorph powers in combat, and really reveled in dropping disguises and just being a horrifying monster. Technically magical in nature, and often used it's unnatural abilities to benefit the party, but at the same time that magic was entirely internally focused, it had a magical body, but it's powers were limited to altering flesh, it couldn't cast spells or anything typical of a Mage's utility. In terms of group dynamics this character was really mostly there as a source of dramatic tension in the party, particularly with our Templar.

>a sorcerer-gunslinger
Bard

Ranger and Bard are kind of hard to quantify as they're already classes meant to break the bonds of "Fighting Man, Magic User, Thief"

>>a sorcerer-gunslinger
>Bard

More specifically, the Templar was one of the two main Warriors, along with an old, worn, stand-offish veteran, sort of a Clint Eastwood type, along with a sort of Mage/Ranger hybrid and a merchant/charlatan type (I'd actually have trouble classifying him in this archetype too, maybe somewhere between Thief and Bard, but that doesn't really give the proper impression I feel). Everyone except the Templar knew about my character being a metamorph, and had seen them in action. The merchant and mage both got on pretty well with them, but the old man warrior didn't really trust them. Meanwhile, the Templar really liked them, or at least, the person they were pretending to be. So it was an ongoing source of tension, particularly for the old man, whether he would reveal the metamorph to the Templar or not.

So that meant my character would mostly hang back and offer basic support, unless things got really intense, people got over their head, and then they would have to help out, while trying to keep their secret from the Templar. But the Templar still knew that they were doing SOMETHING, but he just kept on being in the wrong place and missing it whenever she did something cool.

So from the Templar's point of view, she was sort of a weird Ranger/Warrior hybrid, but they really didn't play like that most of the time. They almost played like a thief, but a thief towards the rest of the party, and pretty rarely against enemies or NPCs.

I also played, in a comedy game, Newman, from Seinfeld. It was just a basic fudge game, where we all played various villains (the rest of the party were Skeletor, Dick Dastardly, and Revolver Ocelot), fighting people ranging from General Grievous, Mewtwo, Speed Racer, Vegeta and Goku, you get the picture. But the point is, though the rest of the party I could more or less fit into categories (mage, thief, and warrior respectively), Newman I can't. He was a manipulator really. I guess an argument could be made for somewhere between a Thief and a Bard, but that feels unfair. He certainly couldn't sneak or anything like that (the two times he tried, once he got stuck halfway in an airvent, which then collapsed, leaving him to wander around as two legs sticking out of a broken piece of ventilation for most of a fight, and the other time he tried to mail himself behind an enemy for a sneak attack, but ended up getting delivered 'to the wrong address' ie directly in front of the wrong enemy, and promptly got blasted in the face). I dunno. The more I think about it, I guess you could kind of describe him as a sort of 'dark bard'. Lying, inciting rage and hatred (or in one case, lust and betrayal). Encouraging his allies to commit to evil and treachery. Causing confusion and chaos with his snake tongue. I guess bard does fit.

My group house rules old school monks to have an 8 for HD, allows all ability score bonuses. Allows exotic weapons like sai etc. Monks function more as thieves in 1e ad&d and generally get raped by everything that comes after them until they're high level and get the good ac adjustment. So we made monks into basically superbuff assassins. Once they get their powers they're really op. I know we bastardize the rules but we have fun

Mentaly disabled fatso, living in a ladfill and cooking drugs in Cyberpunk 2020.

Well, I had forgot for the Crafting archetype at the OP. Was it good? I've heard they're fucking boring to play (never done myself)

Well, if its fun I guess its cool, but in practise they're still warriors with different numbers

And well, you always have the "Pilot" archetype, but It has no real use once you step outside the boat-car-ship-bike. And if its a game about those, you all should be Pilots and (insert other class).

Piloting a Mecha makes you a functional warrior with a very heavy weapon

I'm currently playing a Druid. Doesn't fit in the other archetypes the way I'm doing it. (You could probably play one as a weird Ranger, or as a weird Cleric, or a monster-race Warrior, but I don't.)

Artificers are a cool deviation from the usual archetypes. They're still pretty wizardly but because they're all about using things instead of casting actual spells they don't have the same role in combat

I am currently playing a game inspired by Gossip Girl, so a very different set of archetypes exist.

Yes, a Paladin.

I'd say there are a few more archetypes that really need distinction. Less common, but they don't really fit into any of those.

>Mastermind
Creates plans, manipulates people to do their bidding. Orders around henchmen, makes business deals, leverages money and resources, sets elaborate traps and the like

>Pilot/Engineer
These are kind of two different things, but are close enough in most systems that I don't think warrant splitting up. Focusing on creating, maintaining, and operating equipment for the party to use. Gadgets, vehicles, siege weapons, bombs, gliders, cover, anything like that. 'Pilot' could also describe some people who would be otherwise put into Thief, focused on mobility, getting in and getting out of dangerous situations quickly

I can't think of any others off the top of my head at the moment, but that doesn't mean they don't exist.

...

but but but... whats this shit?

Also, is Magical Girl different from wizard//fighter??

never played it, just curiosity

bump for late night wisdom

I played a merchant with a robot bodyguard and occasionally fixed things.

I once played a modern-day crime scene investigator dude. Closest thing would be Thief or Ranger and he was on the right side of the law and would be out of place innawoods.

>Warrior-Ranger-Bard-Thief-Cleric-Mage archetype?
what the fuck
it's Fighting Man, Magic User, and Thief, what is this bullshit? Do you not know what an "archetype" is?