Throughout the history of the Great Disc, heroes of all shapes, sizes and abilities have appeared and altered the fate of Donam'ua. From the smallest ripples to the tsunami-like waves that crash against the flow of time. However, through these trends certainly classes have appeared over and over. Some are favored by certain races or regions, some have taken on expected roles in society where many of the same class will end up in the same guild or profession. What follows is the general perception of each class presented in Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition in the world of the Great Disc.
Please note, your characters are not required to fit into these stereotypes. This is just how the average citizen would view a class. Like with anything, your character is an individual who is free to deviate from the mold.
Artificer
Like most with magical talents that tap into the Flow of Magic, Artificers are almost always viewed by the public to be linked with the Academy at
Brighthurst and the Mages' Guild behind it. However, due to their ability to forge magical items, Artificers are also found with great demand in more mercantile regions like
Yhuson with great regularity. The Holy Church is known to employ a few artificers to help aid with the dealings in
Triswell, as does the Stone Guard of
Ashfall where they are employed to augment the army's gear.
The Borderlands however is where the Artificer's are both rarest and most in demand. The arrival of an artificer in almost any town across the Borderlands will be swamped with requests and offers for their assistance. Because of this, many artificers prefer to travel incognito or among larger groups due to being burned out at almost every stop for whatever meager amount of coin the village people can muster up to barter with.
The Imperium of
The Dark North is rumored to be a nation of Artificers but this is a general misconception among the common people. The humans of the Imperium cannot access the Flow of Magic and thus cannot train as Artificers. They have created their own modified version of magical technology that utilizes a rare regional crystal called Magithyst. Still, it's not unheard of for an artificer to immigrate to the Imperium and become a indentured worker to gain access to MagiTechnology and expand their knowledge.
The ancient elves of the Age of the Star were also gifted artificers but performed their craft in a very different way. Little is known about Elven Artificers other than their means resembled less mechanical devices and more elaborate organic constructs. It is also known that they employed a number of golems ranging in size from humanoid to building-sized for what is assumed to be construction purposes.
Barbarian
The Borderlands are the home of choice for the Barbarian's of the Lower Realms. The freedom that comes with the lack of a centralized government is a breath of fresh air to the average barbarian. From the deep woods of the Wyvernwold, to the high mountains, the barbarians can find a clan or tribe to call their own. However, there is one place that calls to the hearts of barbarians even more: The Southern Wilds.
The barbarian is so associated with the Southern Wilds that it is often assumed that any traveling barbarian originally hails from the Wilds. Be they Godsborn, Beastkin or Goblinoid, there are barbarian tribes of all races dotted across the Southern jungles and reaches of Andu'ra. This association is so great that it even bypasses the conventional wisdom of that the Godsborn races don't have much in the way of society in the Southern Wilds. He's from the Wilds? They'll say, But he's human! OH. A barbarian. That makes sense.
Bard
Often a staple of the tavern scene, bards are the entertainment industry of the Lower Realms. No traveling show or theater troupe is complete without a few. But they are more than that. Bards are the keepers of stories and legends. The Holy Church employs many bards to help maintain and collect material for their great archives, and the libraries in Brighthurst has a number of bards for the same reason. Bards are also found in every strata of society, making them great for building connections or performing covert actions. For this reason, many assassins and spies have trained as bards.
Cleric
What separates a Cleric from the clergy? A priest may be able to utilize minor or latent magical talents to cast a spell from a scroll, a full cleric is granted a gift by the Gods to tap into the Flow of Magic like a wizard or sorcerer. The act of becoming a cleric in the world of Donam'ua is a long and difficult procedure of intense meditation, study, and physical training in order to gain the favor of one of the Gods to gain their blessing to access the Flow of Magic. There is a reason that priests outnumber clerics nearly 10 to 1. While it's not impossible for a cleric to manifest a divine gift naturally or outside of the proper training, especially when given the gift from a God outside of the pantheon worshiped by the Holy Church, the traditional practices to ascend from a priest to a full cleric is a closely guarded secret of the Holy Church.
Druid
The Druid Circles have existed in the world since the Age of the Star at least. Some have speculated that they date all the way back to the First Age. The practice of communing with the natural world and summoning the dormant magics left behind from before the Great Sundering is not something the majority can manage, but the Circles have always been welcoming to those wishing to try. The Circles also have had a great deal of knowledge of the Primal Planes and their connection to the Prime Material Plane - especially the Fey Wild. Many consider druids to be wild men that have gone mad in the Borderlands, but madness can often just be a different type of wisdom.
Fighter
Anyone who can swing a sword is generally considered a Fighter in the Lower Realms. It's a broad stereotype that misses much of the nuance of technique and mastery that comes from training in the class. A truly talented fighter may be assumed to be a member of Ashfall's elite Stone Guard or a paladin with the Holy Church. Some may be associated with the gladiators from Yhuson's Grand Colosseum or the Adventurer's Guild.
Fighters are one of the most common classes in the Dark North due to the inability to connect to the Flow of Magic.
MagiTech Gunner
See:
Magitech Gunner.
While more common in the Veston Imperium, in recent decades a few Gunners have appeared outside of the Dark North as the artificers of Brighthurst work to reverse engineer the technological abilities of the MagiTech Gunner.
Monk
The general perception of the monk in the Lower Realms is tied to the stories of the high mountains north of Brighthurst where the fabled Skywhisper Monastery is said to lie. The Monastery is said to be run by an unknown ageless figure known simply as The Master. While a monk can come from anywhere with the proper training, it's commonly considered a goal in every monk's life to travel to the Monastery at least once.
Paladin
If you say that you are a Paladin, most people will immediately think you are associated with the Holy Church, since the Church's militant arm is an order of knights and soldiers called 'Paladins'. However, tales of warriors who gain strength and power not through the Flow or the Gods but the sheer force of their convinctions date back to before the formation of the Holy Church to at least the Second Age when the Green Knights separated themselves from the Elven empires and first took the Oath of the Ancients to act as peacekeepers and guardians for the Disc.
Ranger
Much like the Paladins, it is more common than not that if you mentioned you were a ranger, you'd be mistaken for a member of the order of hunters in the Borderlands that work to protect people from the beasts of the region that was originally formed by one of the Twelve Legendary Heroes in the Fourth Age. While much of the duties of the Rangers have transferred to the Adventurer's Guild, the order still exists and patrols the Borderlands to this day. However, much like paladins, not all rangers belong to the organization. Many are just folk who travel the Borderlands for their own reasons.
Rogue
The staple of every city-state is the shady image of the menacing figure waiting to pick your pocket. While this isn't unfounded - not even close - the rogues of the Lower Realms can range from pirates, to gamblers, to heroic figures that seek to balance the inequality found in the city-states. One place almost always associated with Rogues is Yhuson's open-secret of the Thieves' Guild. Almost untouchable in the city due to their vast wealth and resources, they've become a necessary evil for businesses and corporations in Yhuson. Utilizing the rogues as freelance agents to sabotage or steal from competitors or to acquire rare goods.
Sorcerer
Born from bloodlines that are attuned to the Flow of Magic, the sorcerer is often regarded in the Lower Realms as the most dangerous of the arcane classes. To the point that Brighthurst and Triswell both keep a documented list of every confirmed sorcerer known. Their raw ability to tear into the flow and wield it as a weapon is the stuff that scary campfire stories are made of in the Lower Realms. This increased scrutiny has led to a deep philosophical divide among the sorcerers of the world - do we acknowledge our power is potentially dangerous and agree to be monitored to gain trust or do we stay away from the cities and hide so we may use our natural talents freely?
Warlock
The number of people that can tap into the Flow of Magic dwindles generation by generation, but the power and sometimes even influence that such a talent provides can't be denied. For one, the ability to wield magic is almost guaranteed to gain citizenship to Brighthurst - one of the most exclusive of city-states. For that reason and many others, desperate or courageous people will turn to alternative means to gain magical talent. Enter the Warlock. A class of arcane wielders that gained their abilities through a pact with a greater power - be it from a remote corner of the Disc, or the layers of the Deep and Chaos below, or even another plane entirely. Most Warlocks are commonly mistaken for Sorcerers due to being able to
shamanistically access the Flow, unless it is discovered how they gained their abilities.
Wizard
A wizard in the Lower Realms is always immediately associated with Brighthurst. Not only are magic wielders obligated to register with the Mages' Guild that is headquartered in Brighthurst, wizards are granted citizenship to the city-state and few would turn it down to the abundance of resources, research, and knowledge contained within the city walls. Unlike those who follow the Shamanistic path of magic, wizards require the resources of places like Brighthurst in order to expand and grow in their craft, or else must track down new methods of acquiring arcane knowledge by diving into the ruins of Second Age to find the secrets of the Elven Magisters.
