The Great Divide - Splitting Race and Class

There have been a lot of attempts at converting DCC's race-as-class into race-and-class. Now, I am an enthusiastic proponent of race-as-class. If you're reading this in the first place, it's probably not a hard sell for you. It makes non-human races special and it makes humans special too because they're the ones that can specialize. The hacks and homebrews I have been able to find for DCC fall short of this, instead ending up more like the race-and-class we see in modern RPGs, pejoratively referred to as "humans with masks". This is an attempt at splitting race and class, while maintaining the best part of DCC's races-as-classes.

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Skip to the rules.

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Design Points

1. Avoid synergy yet recognize that by giving players options it can't be entirely eliminated.
2. Encourage races to play differently as classes do by giving tools instead of bonuses.
3. Make race significant, so that a demi-human Warrior (for instance) feels different to a human Warrior.
4. Tie racial abilities to culture, such that it is impossible for a character's species to not affect their characterisation.

Points 1 and 2 are related, and points 2, 3 and 4 are all related.

Identifying the problem

A small bonus here and there is a quick and easy solution if you already like the way That Popular Fantasy Game handles it but - as you may have guessed - I don't. Distributing Ability Score bonuses across races immediately encourages minmaxing, because why wouldn't you pick the race with a bonus to your primary stat if you know what class you're playing? And if you don't yet know what class you're playing, why wouldn't you pick one that suits your race?

But that's only the start of it. "Humans with masks" comes from the fact that none of this encourages you to play - much less roleplay - in particular way based on your race. There's nothing to make an elf feel elfy. You don't end up with an interesting character because of their race in contrast to the rest of the party, you get a Barbarian like any other except "oh I'm a Goliath by the way". Someone encountering your character might not care or literally even notice, because you're travelling alongside a gnome, a kenku, some sort of robot, and a partridge in a pear tree - all of whom are just regular guys like yourself. What does being a Goliath do for your character? It makes him a better Barbarian, that's about it. At least, that's the only part we pay attention to.

Is it crazy to think that your species - quite literally what you are - should have a bigger impact on your life, character, and capabilities than a +2 and darkvision? I happen to think that my pets being a cat and a rabbit notably distinguishes them from the other members of my household, and this would hold true if they spoke Common and wielded a pitchfork (as spear) like the rest of us mortals.

My cat and rabbit are a Neutral Thief and Chaotic Wizard respectively.

Race-as-class

These issues are more or less addressed by race-as-class systems. A Halfling is now totally different from a human, no matter what class the human chooses. They may on the surface be similar to Thieves, but they have different scope, flavour and mechanics. Their abilities inform playstyle, but also character. Elves take a little more work to reach this point (the book doesn’t spell it out but leaning into Patrons and a long lifespan helps) and I wouldn't be the only one to say Dwarves are lacking (I like to add dwarfy rune magicks), but the general approach works. Give them their own entire class, and race is now as important as class.

However, even after having been converted to the old-school ways of race-as-class, I still can't help but feel it's kind of... clunky? Over-gamified? Unintuitive? It's hard to pin down. I still have somewhat of an involuntary visceral reaction to the suggestion of race-as-class, even with it being one of the reasons DCC is my system of choice. Despite my trepidations it seems to produce what we want it to at the table.

It feels, intuitively, like race and class shouldn't be the same category. They aren't the same kind of thing. If you're to think of it in wargaming terms however, each class (or race) is a certain kind of unit that can do certain things. It makes a bit more sense from this perspective, and it helps to explain why races become distinct when they are also a separate class. Perhaps it's the clash between Class as a game mechanic and Race as a character trait (in the narrative sense) that doesn't sit right with me. When answering "Class" with "Halfling" it sounds like a category error. It wouldn't if you asked for a "unit type" instead, but class and race are more than that. They serve roleplaying purposes, not just tactical gaming purposes.

As a final point (though maybe the weakest) having the ability to combine races and classes opens up more variety in player choices. I think this holds true even with demihumans being rare and randomly selected, since now the Elf player has a choice about what kind of Elf. In fact, this might be the simple answer to minmaxing, since Elves are already considered by some to be "Wizards but better" and it isn't generally a problem for DCC. You don't simply get to choose an Elf over a Wizard.

I still want to try to avoid obvious optimizations though, because if all Elves are going to be Wizards this entire exercise is pointless.

How else to do it?

If treating race as class is what makes race equally important to class, how can we achieve that while splitting them?

Multi-classing. Well, not exactly. Half-classes, or something like it. These multi-classing rules already achieve the possibility of combining a race and a class, albeit in a bit of a messy way where the character levels up their race separately from their class and gets a boatload of abilities because DCC's classes are all loaded with stuff. I still think these multi-classing rules are very good, it's just a bit strange for the same nebulous reason race-as-class feels strange.

When splitting race and class, I would make each race essentially the same thing as a class, but now you pick one of each. Races are given abilities much like class abilities; the kinds of things that define gameplay and provide options, not just +2 Strength and sniffing out gold.

If we instead gave each class only their defining abilities, and each race some abilities as a class, the player could now combine both without being too overloaded. For instance, a Halfling Warrior might gain both Mighty Deeds and Good Luck Charm, and both of those level up as the character does. Interestingly, this has the potential for anti-synergy where you don't want to choose a Dwarven Warrior, Elven Wizard, or Halfling Thief because you already have some of the abilities of the class - as such, it'll be necessary to pick and choose which abilities each class and race retains so that there isn't any blatant redundancy.

Hit Dice would be determined by the class but have the potential to be modified by the race. This threatens to become synergistic, so I'd limit it to one step up or down the dice chain. I don't think that can be particularly game-breaking. Alternatively, one could alternate between using the Class Hit Die or the Race Hit Die each level. That actually sounds better.

Action Dice, Crit Tables and Saves will receive similar treatment, probably just coming straight from the Class.

Luck Bonus is an interesting problem - I want to keep it for both races and classes because it can provide some nice flavour. Perhaps the player can pick from either the race's bonus or the class's bonus, although I have said before how odd I find that sort of design.

Then we have the classic problem of humans. What makes them so special? Being able to choose any class is no longer a human trait, but I want to lean into that affinity for specialization. I can think of two options. Each class could have one extra ability that is only granted to a human, making humans the best at each class while demihumans get their own unique niches on the side. 

Come to think of it, Luck Bonus could be a strictly human ability and depend on the class chosen, thus functioning as the human's ability to specialize. This feels dangerously like giving +2 to an ability score of the player's choice but it also makes humans feel like the chosen race of the Gods if you subscribe to that interpretation of Luck. It also lends well to the "new kids on the block" interpretation of humans by showing how they outcompete the other races while still being the normal, plain, generic race.

But having different stats makes sense!

You're right! I agree. I think we can do it while retaining the randomness and without introducing (much) race-class synergy. Instead of having a bonus, races will each get one stat they get to re-roll and take the higher of the two results. This keeps the same possible range and maintains a bell curve but pushes the curve ahead such that there are slightly more 18's and way less 3's, with only a slightly higher average.

Humans, being special of course, get to choose which stat they re-roll at level 1 instead of having it predetermined at level 0. This assists with the specialization motif. Humans don't all excel in one area, but they can excel in anything. They only get one chance at the re-roll though, and don't get to change their Class choice if their stats don't turn out as nicely as they wanted.

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Split Race and Class for DCC

Races

Race is determined randomly at character creation, as per the DCC core rules. Each race gets the listed abilities below, and one Ability Score which they re-roll and take the better result.

Human

Ability Score re-roll: Chosen by player at level 1 after deciding Class.

Humans add their Luck modifier to:

• Their Turn Unholy checks as a Cleric
• A favoured Thief Skill as a Thief (chosen at level 1)
• A favoured Weapon as a Warrior (chosen at level 1)
• Corruption and Mercurial Magic rolls as a Wizard.

Note that by implication other races do not get these Luck modifiers.

Hit Dice: Humans have the Hit Die granted by their chosen Class.

Dwarf

Ability Score re-roll: Stamina

Underground skills, Runetracing Deeds*, Shield Bash, Infravision

*Seen in Goodman Games Yearbook 8 and Gongfarmer's Almanac 2021 Vol. 7 but you can easily make your own. Just let a dwarf character learn rune words and make up magical Deed-ish effects for them. You're already adjudicating regular Mighty Deeds, you can handle this too.

Elf

Ability Score re-roll: Intelligence

Patron Bond and Invoke Patron at level 1 (cast these as Wizard, regardless of class), allergic to iron, access to one set of mithril gear at price of iron, Infravision, Heightened Senses

Halfling

Ability Score re-roll: Luck

Two-weapon Fighting, Good Luck Charm, Infravision

Classes

Class is chosen at level 1, with the only real difference being that all races can choose a class. They get the listed abilities below along with all of their racial abilities.

Cleric

Cleric casting and spells, Lay on Hands, Divine Aid

Thief

Thief Skill bonuses, Luck and Wits

Warrior

Mighty Deeds, Critical Threat Range, +CL to Initiative

Wizard

Wizard casting and spells, Spellburn, Languages

For all Races and Classes

Hit Dice

Odd levels use Class Hit Dice, even levels use Race Hit Dice.

Attack Bonus, Action Dice, Crit Table, Saving Throws

As per table for Class (not Race).

Stacking Abilities

As a general rule, abilities that do the same thing do not stack but you get the better of the two. Halfling Thieves regenerate 1 Luck per level, not 2. If a Deed Die rolls lower than your Attack Bonus, you get your Attack Bonus as the better result. If a Halfling Thief rolls a 1 on a Luck Die, they get 2 as a Halfling instead of 1 as a Thief.

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I don't consider this to be entirely complete or polished - I will definitely have to revisit it at some point - but I think it's playable. I've had less time to sit down and get into the nitty-gritty of this stuff lately (why did nobody tell me having a baby would be time-consuming?). At the very least, I hope this provides a framework for allowing any choice of race/class combination without losing the uniqueness that race-as-class systems provide. Ideally, demihumans should still feel special and unique, and there should still be a reason to be a human too. So let each of those keep what makes them unique.