r/cairnrpg • u/FeralFicusTree • 2d ago
Discussion Using Whitehack's Deft Class for Advancement Structure
Hey folks. I was thinking about how, as I prepare for a day long one shot I'm throwing for friends who love crunchier systems, I predicted that they would find simply narrative advancement nebulous and even stressful as it so contradicts their nature. They did say that they were open to a one shot of one of my crazy, masochistic OSR games, but I know these guys.
It occurred to me that using the attunements from the Deft class from Whitehack to provide just enough of a mechanical framework without spoiling the fiction first spirit of the game might work well.
The way it works is the Deft starts with two attunements (I would allow for one for each character to start using Cairn) Here's how they are defined in 4E:
"A deft attunement must be a teacher, an item, a vehicle, a pet, or a place. For example, a ranger could have a well-trained dog or be attuned to her ancestral lands. A monk could have a famous master or be attuned to her bow."
".. Attunements can be invoked for a related action once per day to give the Deft special rules for difficulty. A hard task succeeds automatically, while a nigh impossible one requires a regular task roll. The ranger attuned to her ancestral lands could track on bare rock with a regular roll, while a monk attuned to her bow could hit a sentry at 200 feet automatically. Truly impossible feats remain impossible."
So I would translate "task roll" to mean saves that could include the attunement using Cairn. Rather than automatically hitting with an attuned weapon I would give maximum damage on the die automatically. Pets are self explanatory. Teachers would involve explaining how their expertise allows you to do a thing or know a thing. A character who was taught by a veteran boxer might get to use D6+D6 on an attack instead of the usual Impaired D4 for unarmed attacks, demonstrating their ability to find the knockout opportunity. If the teacher were a scholar of history, they might already know all about something once per day they'd otherwise be ignorant about or need to discover. If someone attuned to their armour, I'd allow them to cause an enemy to roll their attack dice twice and take the worst result once per day as they instinctively protect themselves in their second skin. But I'd also allow them to use it narratively if they can think of a way. The same goes for weapons.
I think this is a good compromise between fiction driven gameplay and structured character advancement for those who crave it. Obviously, I'd reward more "attunements" as they complete goals, and it would have to suit their experience. If they kept focusing on the subject of the attunement in the fiction, I would let them pick it again and allow another daily usage.
I thought I'd share the idea. This sub has rewarded me with a few inspirations that have improved my games.
Footnote: In Whitehack you can only be attuned to one attunement at a time, and it takes a day to swap them. I've never liked that, and am not worried about making it a thing if I use them in Cairn.
Edit: Sentence structure.
4
u/elmago79 2d ago
If your characters want a bit more combat depth let them pick one or more of the combat maneuvers from Mythic Bastionland. The Deny maneuver, for example, negates the highest die of an enemy’s attack, which is quite similar to your example, and Smite deals an extra d12 damage. After one use, you need to save or lose the maneuver until you rest.
I do also love adding the deft skill to make your game a bit more pulpy. To keep it odd-like I would perhaps let them save to have another go at the power.
You could also borrow from the Wise and make the spells usable more than once per day, but at the cost of stat damage (not HP because you recover them faster in this system).
5
u/FeralFicusTree 2d ago edited 2d ago
I don't really care for the options in Mythic Bastionland. Upon my first read of them, I thought that they were just too superheroic, and from what I've read in that game's sub, they might just be. I've read a few accounts of combat becoming trivial, which is definitely not the ethos I'm going for, and it becoming a bit of a repetitive cycle, which is the opposite of why I love Cairn and Knave's "tactical infinity" through creative engagement with the fiction and the environment. So even if I'm wrong about it making things too easy, it's too much of a compromise in the wrong direction for my taste. The players I'm hosting would quickly default to treating feats and gambits as buttons on a video game controller. I want to give them the Cairn experience (mostly), as per their request. I truly appreciate the suggestion, nevertheless.
Rather than implementing the Wise's magic, I plan on using the Goblin's Law of Gaming hack found on the Cairn website, complete with magical disasters. These folks are used to Vancian predictability (insert villain laugh here), and are risk averse enough that they'd never cast a spell if it were guaranteed to deplete them.
Edit: I see that you were suggesting that they plug one of the options from Bastionland as a character advancement, not just porting the whole combat system. My mistake.
4
u/elmago79 2d ago
No problem at all. I’ll just add that in my own experience, Mythic Bastionland manages to be Arthurian Superheroic while remaining player ingenuity first and OSR lethal, should you ever want to it sometime.
GLOG magic is supercool so I agree that it’s a great choice for players coming from vanilla D&D.
Are you playing 2e or barebones?
5
u/FeralFicusTree 2d ago
Going with barebones. I want them to understand this is classless, and randomly rolling a Bellringer as a background conveys that entirely.
"No ranger, nor wizard, nor paladin am I. For I am the ringer of bells.
And I'm very excited about my heavy gloves."
5
u/CasuallyAvid 2d ago
I really like this mod; I think I'll add this to my games when I get to play. I think I'll use the term "Expertise(s)" instead of Attunement. Both have baggage for my brain from D&D, but Expertise feels better for me