A myriad of questions about CCs!
How do you introduce compendium classes? Is it right when the “prerequisite” is fulfilled? Do you wait until a level-up moment? Do you show your players “this is what CCs are available and one of the ways to become eligible for use” and use it like a magic item (like more of a “quest reward”)?
How do you choose a compendium class to offer? Do you have one in mind (e.g. a pirate themed CC) going into a session/campaign and look for an opportunity to offer it? Or is it more of a player-driven exercise; where the players decide they want to make an impact on their character’s growth using a CC?
Do you allow more than one character to take the same compendium class? Skimming through a bunch of them, some of the prerequisites seem like something the whole party might do together – who gets offered the CC after it’s completed?
It’s hard to have enough ready for all the possible situations can come up, so I often make them up on the fly! I much prefer the idea you’ve said, looking for opportunities to offer the selection you’ve brought sounds a much smarter way to play.
I definitely think they’re best used as a player decision to develop their character via a narrative, and that everything else flows from that. Groups/ multiclass etc. all derives from the fiction, and shared experiences will more than likely give shared options for CCs.
Worth saying: #pirateworld has a narrative-based system of including compendium-style classes into your characters right from the start, and I’m deliberately aiming to make them a more coherent and defined part of play!
When my players start itching for new and different ways to develop their characters, I’ll have them browse some CCs and let me know if there’s anything they like.
Then its up to me to try and present some opportunities so the player can fulfill the prerequisite!
I’d introduce them as they become known to the characters. Depending on the nature of the CC, this could be at the start of game, it could be discovered in game, but before any players qualify, or it could be in the moment that a player qualifies. For example:
Start of game: if you’re playing a pirate-themed game, and you’ve got a CC for, say, commanding one or more ships, then I’d probably make that known pretty early on.
Discovered in game: Let’s say you’ve got a CC for becoming High Priest of a specific Temple. I’d probably introduce that whenever the characters first come across the Temple and learn a bit about it. This could be way early on (if the Temple is a prominent cultural icon) or it could be much later (if the Temple is unknown to any who haven’t set foot in it).
Player qualifications: These are some CCs where qualifying could easily be something that just ~happens~ to a character, for whatever reason. “When you return from the wraith lands….”, “When you tap into the mind of a god…”, “When you die at the claws of a lycanthrope…” These CCs ~tend~ to not be goals in and of themselves (though they could be, perhaps traveling the wraith lands is a rite-of-passage or something), but characters may qualify for them just by existing and operating within the fictional universe.
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As for what to offer, I’d tailor it to either A) pre-game player requests or B) the fictional world created by the group. One of the things that I want to avoid in my games is the setting-homogenization that comes with allowing any given CC (or magic item, or spell) to be ‘canon’ just because the player happens to know about it outside of game. While collaborating with players about what ~is~ in-fiction is very important, it can be just as important to communicate what ~is not~ in fiction as well.
Great advice guys, thank you muchly. We’re still pretty early on in our campaign but maybe I’ll see what they think next time and get some far flung ideas. (I don’t think any of my players are aware that CCs exist yet.)
Well some CC triggers require to have specific things in your world, take this for example:
When you take part in the elven lords hunt and bring back a mighty trophy or when you sit down to enchant your ranged weapon according to ancient hunting magics you deciphered in the trostanan ruins
Others people can just stumble into:
When you don’t allow yourself to be define by only one identity and instead try something new every day.
And some just require a little push but are actually not that hard to get into:
When you acquire or open up a tavern
So it really depends on what the CC is.
Those that you can stumble into i wouldn’t reveal beforehand.
The other ones should at least be partially open, at least let players know the entry conditions but not the mechanics.
Telling people:
“You know there might be a nice thing if you
forge a pact with the Spirits of the Land, the Elements and the primal Beastmonarchs“
Tim is right, it depends.
Some cc’s you offer to the players as options: It is up to them to decide to qualify.
With others you make them qualify the hard way, and then you tell them afterwards that the CC exists.