ACKSF Core Classes

Ok, this is a bit of a planning post, as the lion's share of the detail-work remains to be done, but things have solidified enough for me to see a definite path forward.

So, the Core Classes in ACKS are:

Class    |  Prm Req |
Fighter  |  STR     |
Mage     |  INT     |
Cleric   |  WIS     |
Thief    |  DEX     |

Now these are all grand old archetypes, and will work just as well thematically in Science-Fantasy as they do in any other kind of Fantasy. 

Fighters are trivially easy to see in Science-Fantasy; Boba Fett, Johnny Rico, Prince Colwyn, Master Chief, Doomguy, Adeptus Astartes, etc.  The Fighting-Man's mastery of all weapons and armor is even more important in a Science-Fantasy setting given the variety of kinetic and energy guns and powered armor.

Mages might at first glance seem out of place in Outer-Space, but this quickly falls apart when examined.  The Lovecraft Mythos is full of Sorcery and Sorcerers from Outer-Space, including magic space-beer, the quaffing of which protects the imbiber from the effects of vacuum exposure.  Also the world of Comic Books has no problem with getting the Chocolate of Fantasy in the Peanut Butter of Scifi.  Example Mages include: Stardust, Nemesis, Doctor Strange, Maal Dweb, Mum-Ra, Titus Crow, and the Green Lantern Corps.

Clerics, as Militant Priests, are somewhat more difficult to place in Science-Fantasy than Mages, although after a moments thought, not much more.  While examples of Arms-Bearing Pastors are not extremely common in the common media corpus, they can be found here and there; after all, what else is an Astartes Chaplain?

Thieves are no problem at all, there's Malcolm Reynolds, Han Solo, the Stainless Steel Rat, the crew of the Raza, and pretty much every Traveller party ever has included at least one character of criminal background who can fence the party's ill gotten gains.

Once cannot help but notice that there is one Core Class for each of STR, INT, WIS, and DEX.  What about CON and CHA?  Once upon a time, these were domain of the Dwarf and the Elf respectively, and while I heartily endorse Race as Class, in my Campaign Law, the Core Classes should all have human archetypes.

So what Science-Fantasy archetypes would fit with CON and CHA as their Prime Requisite?

Let's go back to the Attribute Descriptions, in ACKS, Constitution is defined as:

 Constitution is a combination of general health and vitality.  Apply the Constitution bonus or penalty to each Hit Die rolled by the character.  Note that a penalty here cannot reduce any Hit Die roll to less than 1 point.  

Immediately what springs to my mind is Cybernetic Prosthetic Bodies, the implantation of which must be limited by the health of the recipient, lest the drastic surgeries and drugs necessary kill the recipient.  And while Characters of any Class would benefit from limited implants gained during play (limited quite like magic items), the extreme modification of the Full Conversion 'Borg deserves to be its own archetype and this is easily seen in the source material: Cyborg, Robocop, the Six Million Dollar Man, Briareos Hecatonchires, Major Kusanagi, Battle Angle Alita, Adeptus Mechanicus, the Omar, Adam Jensen, and of course, the one and only Tinman.

Now, what about Charisma?

 This is the ability to influence or even lead people; those with high Charisma are well-liked, or at least highly respected. Charisma is a prime requisite for bards. Apply the Charisma bonus or penalty to the character’s reaction rolls. Charisma also determines the maximum number of henchmen the character may employ, and modifies their morale.  The number of henchmen a character may hire is equal to 4 plus the Charisma bonus or penalty (and therefore ranges from 1 to 7); the average morale of any such henchmen will be 0, modified by the character’s Charisma bonus or penalty.

Immediately the term 'Animal Magnetism' springs to mind, which associates quite naturally with 'Mesmerism'.  Why, we have found the Prime Requisite for our Psychic class!  And make no mistake, the Psyker, the Psion, the Esper, the Mentalist, the Teep deeply deserves his own space as a Core Archetype, as seen in such classic characters as; Alfred Bester Psi-Cop, the Lensmen, The Adeptus Telepathica, River Tam, Vulcan Mind Melds, Tetsuo and Akira, Newtypes, Jean Grey, the Bene Gesserit Sisterhood, the Thoat-Riders of Barsoom, Gil of ARM, and of course The Jedi Order.