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I've been thinking about the power sources that were presented in D&D 4e and how it's a shame that they didn't make more use of them mechanically. Even at a basic level, it would have been interesting to see something like items or feats that were restricted to characters of a certain power source.

For that system, I think that ultimately the most appropriate use of the power sources would have been to use them to define the level advancement system. For example, Martial characters get more feats and ability score increases, but Divine classes have a parallel Channel Divinity progression track.

I've also been thinking about how lame it is that D&D has essentially removed racial abilities from the game. Racial prestige classes in 3.5 were always interesting, even if they weren't the most effective.

Below I outline a progression system that is extremely a la carte for discussion. At a high level the idea is to deconstruct a character into its constituent choices and then demark progression for each of those elements. I haven't put a lot of thought into the exact details, the listed abilities are for illustration.

At level 1 a character would receive:

• 1 race token
• 2 alignment tokens
• 1 power source token
• 1 class token

Various types of progression could reward different types of tokens. For example, levelling up could provide an omni token that could be used in any category. Reaching a certain age would grant a race token. A particularly impactful decision could affect alignment.

Human
1 - Extra feat
2 - Extra class token (level up classes faster than other races)
...

Dwarf
1 - Immune to poison
2 - Can't be pushed
...

Lawful
1 - TBD
2 - TBD
3 - Aura of Lawful

Good
1 - TBD
2 - TBD
3 - Aura of Good

Martial
1 - Second wind power
2 - Extra attack
3 - Keen weapons
...

Divine
1 - Turn undead
2 - Radiant weapon strikes
3 - Extra turn undead per day
...

Fighter
Requires: Martial{1}
1 - Weapon proficiencies
2 - Action Surge
3 - Extra opportunity attacks
...
10 - TBD

Paladin
Requires: Lawful{1}, Good{1}, Divine{1}
1 - Smite
2 - Lay on hands
3 - Divine grace
...
10 - Celestial mount

Looking at it, I'm not overly positive about it. It seems like "power source progression tracks with extra steps", and you have to address questions like if it is possible to become a half-dwarf at level 5 or if hybrid power sources are allowed. Which leaves you with essentially a classless system or something that will require capstone incentives that overshadow the whole system.

Looks interesting. Are tokens used to acquire one of the skills from the relevant tree or are all skills available from the tree if the relevant token is chosen?

Tadeusz wrote: ↑ February 26th, 2025, 07:16

Looks interesting. Are tokens used to acquire one of the skills from the relevant tree or are all skills available from the tree if the relevant token is chosen?

I guess it wasn't totally clear, but it would essentially be level progression along more than one axis.

So you'd have to get Martial level 1 before getting Martial level 2, etc.

Got it, thanks.
I like the ability to track progress on different axes separately, it allows to emphasize different aspects of a character and give mechanical benefits for it. It also allows to add new tokens. For example, a character may join an organisation and get a faction token than can be used to track his progress in it and give him some new faction abilities.

You forgot gender token.

Strange timing on this livestream topic.

(Derek, if you are lurking I enjoy your show. Especially when you talk about 4e.)

Timestamped at race/power/role class deconstruction: