If one was to ditch the D&D-ism of classes in Yoon-Suin, at least for spellcasters (thus ditching the magic...

If one was to ditch the D&D-ism of classes in Yoon-Suin, at least for spellcasters (thus ditching the magic user/wizard and holy man/cleric) and replacing it for something more setting-appropriate and flavorful what could it be? If not ditched entirely then how would go about explaining these classes without the full 'D&D baggage'?

Arguably one can keep the magic user as a delver of the arcane, the alien and the possibly demonic and portray him more like a sorcerer you'd see in a Conan story but what of the Holy-Man? The D&D Cleric is more of a crusader with spells, which doesn't fit the geographical inspiration of Yoon-Suin: rather it seems more like Holy-Men would be initiate in a variety of cults, orders and secret 'ways' and these myriad odd rituals and ways would unlock abilities through enlightenment (even if what some cults and servants of certain gods find 'enlightened' may seem weird): some of which would spill over into a territory D&D normally associate with psionics or even monks nowadays.

Thoughts?

Comments

  1. I think you just combine wizard and cleric. In Conan lots of magic users are apart of cults to gods from the outer dark. Give them some psionics and Eldritch wizard stuff, including some weird healing and you have a very appropriate class.

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  2. True but I'm also quite the fan of drawing inspiration from Vedic religions and animism (at least that's what I'd primarily draw from for Yoon-Suin religion with a dash of weird fantasy for good measure) and I've considered drawing upon ideas such as the chakras and other concepts often used for justifying impossible feats. It's a very loose idea but it is one which I find that has some merit given the book mention fakir performing 'inhuman feats'.

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  3. I believe it was said before by David that Slugmen would have more illusionary magic (I could see healing as well as insect-based spells).

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  4. Warren Denning Interesting. Was this said somewhere or did I miss that in the book itself?

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  5. reddit.com - I am the author of Yoon-Suin, Game of the Month for March 2018. Ask me anything! : rpg

    "I guess spells-wise there would be more summoning spells and more spells with mind-altering effects (illusions, persuasion-style spells, etc.) and less in the way of fireballs and magic missiles and whatnot.

    Treasures-wise, there would be different substances (rare teas and opiates and other commodities), rare metals and gems, obviously also different weapons and armour tables to reflect the nature of the setting, and also works of art, clothing and books (the type of treasures slug-men would want to collect)."

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  6. Just drawing on what I know rather than the authentic, I am imagining something that mashed together random spell selection, wu-jen style taboos from OA, and some of the more mystic martial arts abilities from OA. So you'd still get spells, but they wouldn't always be fireball for wizards or cure light wounds for clerics.

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  7. Character classes in Yoon-Suin are as set out in the core rules of whatever variant is used; however, a ‘Cleric’ is referred to as a ‘Holy-man’ (or -woman), a ‘Fighter’ as a ‘Warrior’, a ‘Magic-User’ as a ‘Magician’, and a ‘Specialist’, ‘Rogue’, etc., as an ‘Adventurer’.

    The above is how the book describes classes with a generalized Adventurer as a good catch all. Also the God river is noted to have numerous religious groups along its banks and would easily encompass any religion you could imagine.

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  8. I am running Yoon Suin with the WhiteHack rules just now. I replaces the classic classes with
    the Strong (good at fighting, but not necessarily a trained fighter),
    the Deft (super-good in their speciality, but weak outside of it - Some ability to bend reality in a few specific ways) and
    the Wise (Miracle workers of all sorts: Magicians, Illusionists, Scholars, Scientists, Tacticians, Con artists. No one, not players nor GMs, know what they are capable of, until they do it)
    It's working very well.

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  9. Magic-user - the Sha'ir from Al Qadim - no inherent magic to themselves, but working in a partnership with a lesser Genie to bring them spells from the other worlds.

    Holy-man - I think these work quite well tbh. I'd ditch the holy symbol, maybe blend them with Monks to give them some sort of capacity to be badass with fists and bo staffs, and there are lists of Brahman-style spells out there for I think it was 1e D&D with spells like Reincarnate, Om, and Tat Tvam Asi

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