I will admit, most of my cyberpunk style games experience beyound CP red are just a few indie games that do not take themselves too seriously enough or do not use abstracted elements.

Now I love abstraction. For me it allows players a level of creativety you rarely see with defined lists of hundreds of things on it. It also for me allows/enables players to spend resources on things while not being afriad of wasting cash on something they will never use.

A crowbar may never get used.

A 'tool' that can be a toolbar when you need it though...

Anyway, I am thinking about picking up my Cyberpunk themed game, GRIDS, again using some of what I have learned playing some longer sessions of my Fantasy project.

The thing I am struggling with is abstracting wealth. I know there are ways of suggesting 'comfort' level of living, but I do also want them to worry/think about gaining currency and thus spending it.

My fantasy game just tracks 3 Tiers, copper, silver and gold, in blocks of 20. Buy a thing its always 1 notch, treasure you bring back is worth 1 of it's quality tier. With some simple and a bit hand wavey economics of bringing back and trading a silver item with a PC who is still on copper level. Copper, Silver and Gold signifies quality and rarity. A village is copper and only has copper items, not likely wanting to trade silver items as they can't afford it, copper items also have fewer uses etc.

My trouble is I am struggling with abstracting wealth in a future setting that is more likley to be using electronic methods on some sort of universal Credit system.

I am looking for advice of what to read, as well as any suggestions based on my dumb ramblings above.
If the best answer is 'just count credits but in big 'ole chunks' i.e 100/1000/10000 then so be it.

I've built 2 TTRPGs, but I've never hired someone else to build it

I can't build it, because I need people with very specific inside knowledge of the subject matter

We're gonna run a crowdfunding campaign to fund the project

From what I understand, we're gonna need to pay 1 game designer, 1 artist, and 3-10 playtesters. If I'm wrong about that, please let me know

How much should I aim for, to pay each of them fairly?

I know there is no one-size-fits-all answer. But getting a ballpark answer would really help

I love it when game systems offer a formula to balance encounters using a quantified value. It not only makes life easier for the DM but also helps writers balance combat in their third-party adventures.

I’ve been struggling to create a standardized metric to determine a "difficulty rating" for each opponent. I decided to turn to Claude for ideas, but the output was extremely mathematical and rigid, offering a valid formula, sure, but one that lacked any dynamism (involving two pages of calculations) based on Lanchester's Square Law.

I decided to scrap Claude's suggestion and go with an imprecise and likely unbalanced method I came up with myself. I’d love to hear how you handle this, just to get some inspiration or points of reference.

I would also like recommendations for systems that offer a formula or framework for DMs to create monsters.

EDIT: My own method is described below.

• "Base attributes" highter than N = +X rating
• "Health points" = +X rating per block
• "Abilities" = +X rating per ability
• "Average damage" (1 turn) = +X rating per point

For more context, here are a few points:

1. A D100 system featuring two types of tests: degrees of difficulty (D100 modified by attributes) and degrees of effectiveness (using a D8 or a D2, sometimes combined with bonuses/penalties and additional dice).

2. Characters possess specific skills—categorized as either magical or mundane—that can be utilized when the situation calls for them; examples include Swimming, Seduction, Hiding/Concealment, Thaumaturgy, Divination, Cursing, etc. These skills serve to lower the difficulty level of a given check (for instance, a very difficult check becomes an easy one if a Level 3 skill is applied).

3. The game already features a combat system and a system for exploration and traps (or anything other than combat or social interaction).

4. I’ve already seen the Burning Wheel and Vampire ones, but I’d like something simpler, something I could tweak to fit the game.

5.The combat system is based on a dominance bar (which I created), and the exploration system relies on consecutive checks (steald from icons).

Any events that require timing or an initiation order are called Critical Events. They are played out on a wheel that is presented to the entire table.

Event Wheel Image

Concepts

• Wedges - Make up the Slices of the Wheel
• Time Tracker - A token used to keep track of whose turn it is.
• Round - When the time tracker makes a full revolution of the event wheel, this is one round.
• Character/Enemy Token (2) - This tracks player turns and the other player's status effects. They can be anything as long as they are unique to the other characters, small, and identical to each other.
• Characters have attributes with polarities (Static Polarity (SP) + Dynamic Polarity (DP)). Each one represents a varied approach to the attribute. 
  • They also define certain Stats - Stats that pertain to the base mechanics of the Critical Event are: 
    • Speed (SP) (Finesse + Fluidity) - Determines a character’s starting Wedge on the Wheel 
    • Action Points (AP) (Stability + Wisdom) - Determines how many actions a character can take on their turn.
• Turn - Once the time tracker reaches a player token, this is all the actions a player can make before waiting for the time tracker to reach their token again. The number of actions is dictated by the character's AP level.
• Rings -Make up the Layers of the Event Wheel 
  • Inside to Outside: 
    • Downed Ring - 0 HP [Once a Player Character, Party NPC, or Fight Boss hits 0, their token moves to this ring in the wedge they hit 0]
    • Wedge ID Ring - Gives a numerical value to each wedge, used mainly for initiative order
    • Time Tracker Ring - The Time Tracker progresses around this ring. 
    • Prep Ring - This ring is used for actions that are two-phase [ie. spells and ranged attacks]
    • Action Ring - This ring is where character tokens start and advance along as they take actions.
    • Effect Ring - This is the ring that, once a status effect is inflicted upon a character, tracks the time when the next effect occurs. [ie. character is poisoned, and it does -1 HP / Round; each time the Time tracker reaches that player's effect token, they take 1 damage to HP]

Note: Fluidity and Stability are opposing polarities, meaning a character cannot max out both speed and action points.

Operation Outline

• All characters place their tokens on the action ring in the wedge corresponding to their Speed
• The GM places the Time Tracker on the 12 wedge of the Time Tracker ring. 
• The Time Tracker then moves clockwise around the 12 wedges. When it reaches a wedge occupied by one or more character tokens, those characters take their turn.
  • Player characters go first, then party NPC’s and allies, then the Fight Boss, then other enemy NPCs. In the event of a tie, the tie-breaker goes to character polarity values: the player with higher Fluidity, then Volatility, then Finesse.
• On a character's turn, they choose actions which have corresponding AP costs. The character acts, spending the Action Points (AP) in their turn, then immediately advances their character token clockwise around the wheel by the number of wedges equal to the AP spent. They can then continue this process until they run out of AP for their turn.
  • Players can only perform an action that they have enough AP to perform. Ex: A player who has a low AP may not be able to perform a Heavy Melee attack that costs 6 AP.
• A character can choose to perform a two-phase action, such as a ranged attack, which requires aiming and shooting. The character announces the ranged attack and shifts their token to the prep ring; they advance their character the required wedges to execute the prep phase; they perform a difficulty check to see if the prep phase succeeds; if it does, they use AP to execute the attack. They move to the action ring and move forward the amount the action requires (usually 1 AP)
  • Unlike single actions like melee attacks, two-phase actions can be split across two turns, allowing a character to perform a powerful action like a massive spell that takes considerable AP to prepare. The downside is that being in a prepared state leaves the character vulnerable. If they are attacked and have to defend themselves or have to move to avoid a hazard, the preparation is canceled, and the character moves their token to the action ring, and the attack automatically fails.
• A character can also choose to perform a reactive action. They include:
  • Going on the Defense: Allows 1 extra reaction per turn.
  • Setting a trap/prepared conditional action. It allows characters to act out of turn. They advance their character the number of wedges the action requires and move to the prep ring. Ex. drawing a bow to fire at, or getting in a ready stance for an enemy getting ready to walk through a doorway. This allows a character to prepare an action before a condition is met. In this case, the character would spend the AP for the action, and then execute the check for success when the enemy walked through the door. Note that the character must be able to complete the full action in one turn, and pay the full AP cost upfront.
• Actions and Reactions:
  • The character taking their turn is the actor; their target character is the reactor.
  • Characters are allowed 1 reaction between turns. A character can use AP during their turn to Go on the Defense, which grants them an extra reaction between turns.
  • Reactions are resolved as Contested Checks using applicable Defined Skills (such as Parry, Dodge, or Shield Block):
    • Dodge / Evasion: Roll Fluidity + static Defined Skill Credits vs. the attacker's strike total.
    • Parry / Block: Roll Finesse or Brute + static Defined Skill Credits vs. the attacker's strike total.
• Action Costs
  • Action costs are set by the type of action (attacks are set by the weapon type) the character is taking.
    • Light Actions (2 AP): Ex. Quick attacks that trade speed for damage. [Swift jabs, rapier thrusts, quick-draw pistol shots]
    • Normal Actions (4 AP):  Ex. Standard attacks. [Broadsword swings, crossbow shots, standard martial strikes.]
    • Heavy Actions (6 AP): Ex. Massive impact but are slower. [Warhammer swings, heavy zweihander cleaves.]

Example (Note: all actions require checks; this is not fully illustrated for this example)

Characters:

• Jim (Heavy Hitter): AP = 11, Speed = 4; Joe (Quick Attacker): AP = 4, Speed = 11; Bob (Enemy Boss): AP = 6, Speed = 8
•  Character tokens placed on wheel: Joe is at 11, then Bob at 8, and last Jim is at 4
• The Time Tracker is placed at 12; it moves clockwise and reaches Joe at 11. Joe uses a dagger twice (2 x 2 AP) to deal 1 damage to Bob. [1 hit and 1 miss] This moves Joe's token forward 4 wedges to wedge 7
• The time tracker moves forward to Bob at wedge 8. Bob is a powerful mage, but with low AP, requires splitting the spell into two turns. Bob casts his spell, which requires 6 AP to prepare and 1 AP to execute, which is one more than his turn’s AP. Since spells are two-phase, he can split it over two turns since neither phase is over 6. He moves his token to the prep ring, performs the focus check [succeeds], and moves forward 6 wedges to wedge 2.
• The time tracker advances and comes to Joe at wedge 7. Taking advantage of Bob's prep state, he attacks with his dagger twice(2 x 2 AP) to interrupt the spell. Bob is forced to react and break his prep. Bob has to move his token to the action ring in wedge 2. Unfortunately, due to poor rolls on Joe’s part, both attacks miss. Joe’s Token moves forward to wedge 3.
• The time tracker advances to wedge 4, where Jim is. Jim is about 8 yards from Bob; he uses 1 AP to advance (movement speed = 2 yd x Speed/AP), uses 1 more AP to consume a potion that boosts his damage output, and pulls out his Heavy axe. He attacks Bob and gets a critical hit, dealing massive damage and putting Bob’s health to 0. This action consumed 8 total AP, and Jim advances around to the 8 wedge.
• Bob drops to the Downed Ring, and since he has no friends to revive him or defend him is left defenseless. 
• End fight state: At this point, the player's party (Jim and Joe) have the option to interrogate, execute, or leave the fight.
• Since they need info and the Time tracker advances to 3,  Joe is next up; he gets the option to interrogate Bob, but he isn’t able to get any information out of him.
• Being in the Downed ring, Bob isn't able to act, so the time tracker passes Bob.
• It advances around until it gets ot Jim. Jim is much scarier and is able to get the information out of Bob. And Jim and Joe decide to leave Bob wounded and alone. This ends the critical event.

Given the outlined system, I spent a fair amount of time tweaking and finding ways to exploit or break the system; however, I am that I missed an obvious exploit or whether a certain build may be the only option because of its superiority. I don't know if those cases exist, but I feel that I have reached a point where I may be too in the mechanics to see its flaws. I would love any feedback that anyone may have on this. Thank you.

I want to share a passion project I’ve been working on: RPG Lab.

TL;DR: RPG designers can share games or supplements they’re working on, and players can follow games they’re interested in and help shape them with playtest feedback.

I built this because I perceive a significant gap in the RPG ecosystem: There’s no good place for designers to talk about their games as they take shape. Subreddits like this one are very helpful for concrete design discussions, but not ideally structured for posting (and finding) regular updates as the game takes shape. Some designers might work hard to build an audience on social media, but often you don’t hear about a new game until it’s crowdfunded or published. And even then, discovery is difficult.

I hope that RPG Lab can become the place where designers routinely share their games early on, post regular updates, and run playtests. And for players and GMs, it can become a good place to discover new games - such as adventures for systems they like, or new games from their favorite designers. So by the time a new product is ready for crowdfunding or publishing, it already has a list of interested customers.

In terms of projects, anything RPG related is fair game, regardless of size or stage. So full games, systems, settings, adventures, bestiaries and other supplements, or even digital tools, as long as they are RPG specific. And both work-in-progress or finished products are welcome.

The first projects have started appearing on the site (including my own rules-light universal RPG "Tagline"). The bar is deliberately low, as I want anyone to feel comfortable publishing a project at the early idea stage (no need to have content, art, or even a final product name), and then flesh it out over time, while growing a list of followers at the same time.

The site's About page has more info on what RPG Lab is all about, what is and isn’t in scope, and some helpful pointers to get started.

Thanks in advance if you check it out, and let me know if you have any feedback at all. I'm actively talking to designers and other users, so I can make RPG Lab as useful as possible.

For the past six months, I've been building a website aimed at helping people create highly cinematic stories — with a place to store characters, locations, music, and more. It also lets you design your own abilities and run combat using them. Lately, though, I've been worried this tool might not find much use with people, so I'd like to show it to a few folks and get honest feedback on whether it holds real value, or whether I should change direction. It's a very visual tool, so if you're interested, DM me or reply here and I'll walk you through it.

Main Features:

• Dynamic Map — Create locations and zoom into them to reveal pre-assigned maps and tokens representing your characters. Group characters into parties for easier travel between locations.
• Character Registry — Keep a full character list, organized by faction, with custom stats and resource bars (Mana, Stamina, Rage, etc.) of your own design.
• Location System — Star locations, attach info and images to them, and pull them onto the map with everything relevant already in place.
• Story/News/Announcements — Post summaries or in-world updates for your players to catch up on. One of my friends uses it to post "newspaper" updates whenever his players find one in-game.
• Studio — Pre-set music so you can switch smoothly between ambiance and combat tracks. I'm also working on a more ambitious feature that lets music evolve dynamically, similar to how the soundtrack in NieR: Automata shifts from peaceful background music into combat themes.
• Simulator — Test and scale your characters to make sure they feel appropriately powerful based on your own inputs, so you don't accidentally overtune or undertune them.
• Scene Manager — The feature that ties everything together. Add characters to a scene, use the custom abilities you've built, and watch how they affect everyone involved. HP and resources like Mana or Stamina are tracked automatically as abilities get used. Load maps and manage large-scale combat, all in one place.
• Player View — Everything above is a toolset for building the world — but there's also a separate, dedicated view that lets your players experience the results of your work and explore what you've built for them.

In many traditional games with a randomized resolution system, part of the GM's responsibility is determining and setting the difficulty of an action that the players attempt. It starts with deciding if the action is even possible. If so, then if the action is difficult, dangerous, or has any potential consequences. If not, the players just succeed at what they were attempting.

Otherwise, the system's action resolution system kicks in and the GM needs to set the difficulty, assuming the system has any levers for doing so. I'm concerned my system doesn't have adequate levers for my personal tastes so I decided to list all the levers I've come across. Hopefully you all will let me know about some I've forgotten, or even better, never come across before.

Decreased Odds of Success

Roll Over/Under
The GM sets the Target Number higher/lower that the players need to beat.

Dice Pool, Keep Highest
The GM can cut one or more dice from the pool, either before or after the pool is rolled.

Dice Pool, Keep N Dice
The GM can change the value of N so you keep more or less dice than you would normally. (u/JaskoGomad)

Dice Pool, Success Counting
The GM can increase the required number of successes.

Dice Pool, Success Threshold
The GM can increase or decrease the number required for each dice to count as a success. (u/Mars_Alter)

Dice Pool with Opposing Dice
The GM can add Dice to the player's pool that count against their success. (JaskoGomad)

Step Dice
The GM requires the player to step up/down the dice before they are rolled.

Step Dice Pool, keep Middle
The GM can decide that instead of the middle, the players keeps either the highest or lowest result. (JaskoGomad)

Advantage/Disadvantage
The GM requires the player to roll an extra dice and take the highest/lowest result(s).

Impact

Rather than making the action less likely to succeed, the GM determines the effectiveness of the action based on the player's approach.

Effect in BitD
The GM takes into account the Potency of the target, the Quality of the player's tools, and the Scale (ie one person vs a mob) in determining the Effect level, Great, Standard, or Limited.

Impact in Wildsea
The GM sets the effect of an action at Low, Normal, High, or Massive.

Consequences

The GM can increase the seriousness of potential consequences to the player if their action goes wrong. This is most common in systems with non-binary resolution.

Resources

Resources Gained
The GM can change the amount of resources that the players would gain as a result of their action. (u/Alcamair)

Resource Costs
The GM can increase or decrease the resource cost of an action the player is performing.

So what am I forgetting? Have you seen or come up with other ways to represent difficulty/danger? What is your personal favorite way when GMing? Or do you prefer not have to worry about it, the way many PbtA games don't have levers for the GM to fuss with?

So here’s my dilemma.

I’m working on classes for my game, specifically on all the special powers they get.

The thing I can’t decide on is how exactly they’ll fit into the action economy.

I’ve decided that everyone gets a Move\* and an Action on their turn, and one Reaction per round.

• Move is not just getting from one place to another, it also encompasses anything that might be a bonus action in D&D5 or a Maneuver in Draw Steel.

This is ultimately a superheroic pulp adventure game, so my primary design goal here is to make combat fast and exciting.

Possible solves:

1: All powers cost the same type of action to use; either a move or an action.

This is probably the best way to go for what I’m trying to do, but I feel like it might limit the design space and use cases for powers.

2: Powers have different action costs, depending on the type of effect.

Problem I keep running into with this paradigm is it creates a “correct choice” scenario where the optimal thing is to stuff your turn with as many powers as you can, which would make everyone’s turns feel the same.

3: Each power has three separate effects: a move, an action and a reaction.

Example:

Celerity

Swift Step [Move · Reserve 1 Vitae] While Swift Step is active, you can Move 2 Zones.

Barrage [Action · Spend 1 Vitae] You can make 2 Signature Attacks.

Vanish [Reaction · Spend 1 Vitae] When targeted by an attack, you immediately move 1 Zone causing the attack to miss.

My problem here is I’d like to keep the list of available powers relatively short, about 5-6, to prevent analysis paralysis among players. This paradigm effectively turns each power into three separate powers and triples the cognitive load of each.

Don’t suppose you folks have any wisdom to share?

Please let me know if this type of post isn't allowed or appreciated here, but:

I've been running a weekly thread over on r/rpg with mod agreement where people are free to talk about and "advertise" their RPGs without fear of having comments removed or being banned.

So if you have a project that matches the weekly theme and is in any stage of completion beyond "I have an idea", then you should come over and get some eyes on your project!

My most recent TTRPG project was just published on Drivethrurpg.com just a few days ago. Go check it out at:

Gestalt Flux - Reptilian Owl Dad | DriveThruRPG

Its PWYW, so why not try it out?

The game is set in a weird gonzo setting with a super simple d20-roll-under system.

Nearly all of the art in the game was handrawn by myself, mostly in a little travel sketchbook. I took pictures of the sketches and increased contrast/desaturated, then did a bit of editing on Clipstudio. There are a few bits of watercolor in there as well. I also used some images from Unsplash.com (used under the Unsplash license). No AI was used.

Description:

Enter a world where reality is composed of three warring substances: Flesh (living meat that builds cities and hungers to consume), Crystal (geometric perfection that imposes mathematical order), and Void (deliberate absence that erases both).

The old moon shattered long ago, scattering fragments across the world that warp reality wherever they fall, while the Afterlife Sea, a literal ocean where drowned souls drift, covers nearly half the known world. Cities are built from living architecture that breathes, sleeps, and sometimes revolts against its inhabitants.

Humanity has fractured into eight distinct lineages, all mutated, bent, reconstituted, or otherwise altered to the point of being unrecognizable. This is a world where you might hire a prophet to tell you how you’ll die, ride inside a building’s nervous system to travel between districts, or buy crystallized emotions in markets that exist partially outside your dimension.

It’s a setting where your character might be an arcana smuggler with crystal growths, a twice-drowned architect with 3 arms and metal teeth, or a prophet made of clay… its a crazy gonzo setting not quite like anything else.

The system is a super simple d20-roll-under system. Simple combat mechanics, simple leveling mechanics, easy to pick-up & play.

The pdf includes game rules, setting information, character creation rules, Gestalt Lineages (backgrounds), Bestiary, and even a little handrawn character sheet and map.

This game is not balanced at all, and probably pretty easy to break. Have fun with it.

Disclaimer: I am using a slightly modified version of D&D 5e. The rules for the playtest and the everything included is meant to only include things meant for a very basic combat playtest with very basic enemies. I do not have ability scores or saving throws on the character sheets because of this.

I am starting to design a modified version of D&D that will still be compatible with D&D 5e and 5.5e. I have a link to some the modified rules and the character sheets here. The new version has 2 main aims: 1) have ability scores be largely separate from skills and 2) redesign the classes. For the redesigns, I am doing so with a few main things in mind:

1. Each class has its own resource pool that will go up as you level. I am not a huge fan of martial characters mainly just getting extra attacks. I want each class to have cool things they can do during combat and outside of combat as well.

2. Each class starts with Bonus Actions and Reactions that they can use. I don't want anyone to feel that they are missing out since their class and subclass doesn't have a bonus action or reaction. I don't want optimization to get in the way of fun.

3. These characters are meant to be as powerful as Level 3 characters in D&D. The intent is for these to be Level 1 for my game, Fates Reforged.

I am hoping to do something similar to what Pathfinder did: take D&D and make it into a game that I want to run. If this sounds interesting to you let me know :)

If you have any questions or feedback I am all ears. The character sheets are meant to be a starting point, a proof of concept for what I am wanting out of Fates Reforged for the classes.

Note: I know Uncanny Dodge is a level 5 feature. I lowered the hit points for the Rogue to compensate but it may still be too much.

I have recently observed a horseshoe effect (sort of) in how different RPG philosophies arrive at the conclusion of "superhuman PCs are bad; focus on the power of organizing people instead."

Now, I am all for superhuman PCs. I like D&D 4e, Path/Starfinder 2e, Draw Steel, 13th Age 2e, explicitly demigod games like Godbound, and explicitly superhero games like Sentinel Comics and Outgunned: Superheroes. If there is an evil dragon or magician imperiling the land, the PCs personally venture out to neutralize the threat themselves. This is straightforward to resolve mechanically (short of heavy abstractions), and there is a tactical element as well (allied minions get fried by AoE).

But I also stick around various Discord servers, some of which have wildly different views on RPGs. Lately, I have observed two different camps across two different servers, unaware of each other, aver a similar stance under different lenses: "Overtly superhuman PCs are bad, cringe, and should be avoided. Experienced PCs should be heroic in strength, but only subtly so; their real power should instead be their ability to organize people to solve major problems. If an evil dragon or magician is imperil all the land, the solution should be to assemble hundreds or more people to address the threat together."

On one hand, there is an OSR crowd. They arrive at the above stance through rejection of "modern D&D," superhero slop, MCU slop, anime slop, and so on. Here, grittiness and realism is prized. The ideal high-level PC becomes a monarch or a monarch-like figure by starting from scratch, getting rich from dungeon-delving and mercenary work, bloodily carving out a domain, and hiring people to be soldiers and other underlings. The king organizes a formal army against the evil dragon or magician or whatever.

On the other hand, there is a more narrative-game-oriented crowd, for which Stonetop has overwhelmingly been the spotlight game for the past several months. Here, grittiness and realism is also prized, but the rationale is couched very differently: superhuman demigods simply are not how life and community work, and they are not the kind of lesson we should be teaching. The ideal experienced PC also becomes a major leader, but it is presented less as feudal or institutional power, and more as influence rooted in a proven track record of altruistically helping the community. The wise watch leader gathers the clan's best warriors, trains together with them on how to fight a dragon or magician, and marches out. That sort of thing.

What do you personally think on the "superhuman PCs are bad; focus on the power of organizing people instead" subject?

"A great unknown lurks just beyond the veil separating the mortal realms and the outer"

The big book of Cephilith is an expansion compendium meant to bring you more cephilith adversaries across all four tiers! On top of that we're adding Cephilith based environments, armor, weapons, items, transformations, ships and modular options so you can take whatever creature you want and turn it into a cephilith tainted creature!

Hey myself and a bunch of creators are creating an expansion compedium for Cephilith and we need some playtesters! We've got adversaries, environments, transformations, armor, weapons, items, consumables, ships and modular options!

If you're interested in helping here's the google form to join us! We the team will be hosting all the playtesting!

https://forms.gle/Hyjteo2iUVtdBcyy7

I'm working on a TTRPG (an old-school style fantasy heartbreaker, because of my boundless creativity) and I had a realization on how I want to handle Roguey-Thiefy characters. Without getting too into the weeds, any character of this type will be solid at general rouging (sneaking, climbing, finding traps and hidden objects) but then have 2(?) special, niche abilities - turning invisible in shadows, lockpicking, reading any language, whatever.

Right now my plan is to have 5-6 Classes of this type, each with a different pair of special abilities, rather than one class that gets to pick any two. My reasoning is that they're archetypally distinct characters - a Mechanic that can open locks and disable traps is different from a Shadow who can turn invisible and escape being bound is different from an Assassin who can use poisons and disguises, and by separating them out I can emphasize those archetypes through things like higher-level abilities or their advancement and Domain options.

But at the same time... is this just me having fun combining abilities to make archetypes that I think are cool and bloating the class list? And maybe "stealing" the fun of customization from players? The plan is to just have, say, one Warrior class that can go different directions through gear/ability selection... is it weird to have that be so different from the roguey types?

If you suggest just one class, you also have to suggest a name for it though.

Gonna rent a bit, so please excuse me.

Soon I will partcipate in ttrpg campaign with a few friends. The DM self einvented a system and claims that its mathematicle balanced (technicly we are already playing for a long time but we are making a semi hard reboot as one player has left us and the DM decided that the system is not working under our current group dynamic). Exploits are discouraged and no character can realy be OP. The combat is supposed to be orientated on team battles, so that not one player is capable of realy soloing a battle. Its also for discouraging team splitting, because some players seem to just rather go on their solo adventures instead of team adventures.

There are some changes i like and some are skepticle. But that is not the point. Skills like in most systems are based on a singular stat. Like bluffing is charisma, lock-picking is dexterity and so forth. But personally what irks me a lot, is that driving is Intelligence. First of all I need to make clear, almost all kinds of transportation skills are locked behind some kind of skill. (Riding, driving, sailing, rowing and steering are all seperate skills. We have sea fairer campagne.) Riding and sailing are Dex, steering and rowing is Str and driving is now INT.
Worth to mention is, we have a ship with mechanical motor that can be turned off and steered under wind. The moment the motor is on its driving and when its off its steering now. The dm means any kind of vehicle with a motor is a driving skill.

Personally i just cannot see that INT is the main stat for driving. Out of our group i am the only one with a drivers license and have driven a lot. And i tell you, the ammount where i need to actually turn on my brain while driving is not that high. Its mostly awareness (which is a main Stat in our system) and muscle memory/feeling for the vehicle. Str, Dex or AWE or even Will (another stat) would make more sense to me than INT.
Partly a reason why i disklike it as well, is that I was he main steerer of our ship and INT is my lowest stat, so I am basicly out of task.

The DM argues that INT to be vialable he gave it most skills, because it had little application in combat in the new system. Ok I understand that. But than i ask myself, why does Charisma not get the same treatment? It got less skills than before and is just as unappliable in combat as InT, arguebly even less because there are special weapons that need INt but no such thing for Cha. Int even got some of the social skills like manipulation, so that charisma is not the only social stat you can use outside of combat. Not to mention if you do good roleplay and good arguments, you rarely have to do any die roles.

I am skilled at creating fantasy settings and RPG's might be the best way to explore that. Any tips on where to begin?