Thanks for your suggestions!
(yeah I looked into simple synonym searches as well, I especially like the "Phillistine" for Barbarian class name )
Thanks for your suggestions!
(yeah I looked into simple synonym searches as well, I especially like the "Phillistine" for Barbarian class name )
I suggest you try and think about your names in a different way. What do you want your names to communicate?
Class names communicate in two ways: they tell you what the class is about, and they communicate the flavour of the game. Bog standard names are better for the former. If you tell me you have four classes called Fighter, Cleric, Wizard, and Rogue then - boom - I know exactly what those four classes are. You've communicate a lot with a little, and that's really not a bad thing. Of course, you also need to make sure that the names you've chosen actually are communicating correctly, for example if your Cleric is not a midline fighter with healing magic but a knowledge-based character class with no magic or combat capability then it wasn't a great choice of name.
If, on the other hand, you have the same four classes but call them Samurai, Chiryo-shi, Wu Jen, and NInja then you've communicated less but set your game up for some kind of Japanese themed adventures - at least to those of us who don't know much about Japan. Call them Iron Heart, Exalimo, Quentarch, and Imnolitor are, well, you've communicated nothing and must teach the concepts to the player. This can help you make your game, and world, seem alien and unfamiliar but it comes at a price and, honestly, if your not making your game mechanics sufficiently distinct to go with that it'll seem like you doing it for the sake of it.
So, what do you want your class names to communicate about your game, and why?
Good points Irusan.
I start to think my names are pretty good as they are. I might make some minor adjustments, but as my game borrows from both Battle Brothers and Darkest dungeon this might work fine for now.
The theme is old school (almost boardgame-like) dungeon crawler with both high-fantasy (potions and magic) and a grittier medieval, survival theme to it. The classes cover rpg tropes such as dps and tanks but strict healers are not present (as healing is a part of the survival aspects of gameplay).
The third leg of the classes (carried by mainly the cleric, ranger and priest classes) is support rather than healing (protection, buffs and crowd control).
I might change "Mercenary" to "Man-at-arms" even though he is not mounted. Sounds pretty cool for a soldier-like weapon expert and feels more heroic.
Going further than Irusan's good advice about what class names mean for players, think about what they mean in the game's fiction. Sticking to your OP list:
Strong frontliners:
Medium range, agility based:
Squishy magic users:
Omae Wa Mou Shindeiru
While not wrong Lorenzo, a strict etymological dissection of the words might not be so useful. As evident from this thread alone, a word like "cleric" is in rpg-games much more linked with magic and fighting than with religious clergy work.
But you raise a better point with black knights, assassins and warlocks. I must decide how "evil" they actually are in my lore and if they can go together in a group of "good heroes". Why did they join, and why are they accepted by the more traditional hero classes?
The overall "goal" of the heroes in the game are not really set so far either. It should mechanically be along the lines of ridding the lands from a great evil. The group travels further east and will eventually be faced with the "final dungeon" where the great evil will be defeated. Good old-school fun! I will start another thread on that subject.
There's an easy way out of vague and misleading character classes: you can simply list a fixed set of characters and let the player pick some of them as a character party. This way you can explain character backgrounds and information about the setting and also include exotic and unique characters. For example, not "archer" but either or both of farmer Jimmy now 28, drafted two years ago, veteran of the 4th archers regiment on the winning side of the last succession war, and recently returned to his farm and his family with an itch to be a hero, and sgt. Mary, one of the most promising and intimidating new members of the capital's police forces, with high-tech inclinations that made her an expert of crossbows, firearms and forensics.
Omae Wa Mou Shindeiru
That would work better if you had a single hero and not a lot of other stuff to handle. In my game you have 6 heroes and they die and are replaced every now and then. So hero classes needs to be destinct and quickly communicated to the player.
How about making composite classes? i always say that consumables are under developed so its a way to give versatility without making many changes
Alchemist priest (apothecary?): spend healing potions for increased recovery magic
Alchemist assassin(poison master?): spend poison vials to increase damage
Man-at-arms: automatically equips the armor or weapon that has resistance or advantage against an enemy, basically sacrifices inventory space for versatility
Mage archer: spend arrows to increase spell damage
Defender: spend elemental consumables to increase elemental resistance
Attuned swordsman: can store a spell cast on him by an ally and unleash it with the next attack
you can also use typical production or non combat classes
Blacksmith: bonuses to equipped gear
Villager: can forage items from the scenario, if the items are worth it this can make a class very valuable even if its not a fighter
Scholar: increases the team's likelyhood of critical hits, only fights by using consumables, maybe can use two every time?
Ambassador: can only be used in events related to their country, units from that faction decrease their critical rate, cannot attack but cannot be attacked, a meat shield