Finally, the 18th and final (for the original 'core' set) of my custom Dungeon World classes for my dying earth urban nightmare setting. I felt it necessary to include so many options for each kind of warrior/spell-caster/rogue archetype to ensure my players had enough choices. Particularly because Dungeon World is designed with the intention that no two players could pick the same class for their characters.
That, and narrative focus of the moves combined with the simplicity of their math meant it was just too fun to write new classes. In this case, I took the opportunity to reintroduce spells and abilities left out by the lack of a Cleric or traditional Paladin, and specifically melded the Compendium's 'dark' versions: the Reaper and the Death Knight.
The results are a hybrid weapon-wielding tek-magik user, focused on restoration spell-codes and tapping into the life energy of their fallen enemies. They may be known in some places as necromancers or death-paladins, but I fell upon the poetic bluntness of
Sarcotech: literally 'flesh technician'.
Most of the Advanced moves come from the Cleric/Reaper playbook but the result is a mostly even distribution of advancement options between the Mordant Weapon, death/healing-specific moves, and general spell-casting.
The Sarcotech's spellbook heavily cribs from the Cleric, as most Reaper spells were already covered by the Death Knight's ability to simply hold uses of spells such as Cause Fear, Darkness, and Consult Spirits. I took the opportunity to reintroduce dedicated healing and resurrection spells otherwise inappropriate for generalist tek-magik users.
This was also a good opportunity to write up a spell for creating a Revenant: a simulacra based on a specific dead person. This concept came from a short story I had been outlining before I started planing a Dungeon World campaign for this setting, where the protagonist's bodyguard was a near-indestructible replica of a person who only existed with a limited purpose and timeframe. I may have to reword the 'indestructible' part to avoid absurd exploitation.
So what next? I've actually got a lot of setting notes I want to write up for the prologue session, which will be introduced in a piecemeal way as they plan their PC and home settlement. In addition to that there's a bunch of minis and terrain pieces I'm 3D printing, as I want to help ground my campaign with visual references and DW is a light enough ruleset to throw them around without getting bogged down by range, line of sight, initiative, direction, and so on.
Finally, you could browse my collection of art I pulled from Pinterest that serves as a style guide for this setting. Think of it as a 300-image collage triangulating what look and feel I'm going for (there's a bit of body horror in the monsters, I should warn you). I'll make a separate post soon for what's in the works, so stay tuned as usual.
