Classes

Classes describe what a character has trained to do and which tradition taught them. ELDRA has six Classes: Warrior, Guardian, Mystic, Arcanist, Savant, and Hunter. Every Class grants a free Class Feature and opens a set of subclasses. A subclass is a specialized discipline, such as the Fighter, the Witch, or the Sharpshooter, presented as a tree of abilities. There are 26 subclasses: seventeen belong to a single Class, and nine are shared subclasses that two Classes can both take. Characters unlock the nodes of their subclass trees by spending Class Points (CLA), which they earn from all of their trained skills.

The six Classes stand on a circle. Each Class shares one subclass with each of its two neighbours and one with the Class directly opposite it. A Warrior and a Hunter can both become Berserkers, a Guardian and a Mystic can both become Paladins, and a Mystic and a Hunter can both become Rangers. No Class or subclass has a main skill; a node names a skill only when its own effect uses that skill.

Classes at a Glance

How Classes Work

1. Choose a Class. You gain its Class Feature for free.

2. Take its subclasses. You may take any subclass of your Class, shared subclasses included, as many as you can pay for.

3. Earn Class Points. Every 4 points of Skill Total give 1 CLA, and each trained skill at +5 or higher gives 1 more.

4. Spend Class Points. Each root, main node, or optional node costs 1 CLA and follows the order of its tree. Your first root is free.

5. Meet the tier gates. Roots and T1 nodes are open from creation. T2 nodes require a trained skill at +4 or higher, and T3 nodes require a trained skill at +5 or higher.

6. Add a second Class if you wish. It costs 2 CLA and grants its Class Feature and access to its subclasses.

7. Retrain slowly. Each new Class Point also lets you swap one node that nothing else of yours requires.

Class Points (CLA)

Class Points determine how many roots and nodes a character can purchase across all of their subclasses. They come from all of a character’s trained skills. Your Skill Total is the sum of every trained skill rating you have, including ratings of +1. People skill modifiers, passive class modifiers, and other bonuses to an effective rating never add to the Skill Total.

Class Points: 1 CLA for every 4 points of Skill Total, rounded down, plus 1 CLA for each trained skill at +5 or higher.

Every further 4 points of Skill Total add 1 more CLA. Class Points rise whenever a skill does, so there is nothing separate to track: after raising a skill, check whether your Skill Total has reached the next multiple of 4 and whether the skill has reached +5.

The following characters show typical budgets. The three new characters have each spent about 25 SP under the standard creation profile; the veterans have spent between 54 and 61 SP. Every one of them also has a free Class Feature and a free first root.

Design Intent: Breadth buys more nodes; depth opens higher tiers. A character with many modest skills can spread Class Points across several subclasses, but only a trained skill at +4 or +5 opens T2 and T3. The extra Class Point for each skill at +5 keeps focused specialists close to broad characters in the total number of nodes they own.

Tier Access Gates

Your highest trained skill rating determines which tiers you can access in every subclass, regardless of which skill it is:

• Roots and T1 Nodes — open from creation; no skill rating is required.

• T2 Nodes — highest trained rating +4 or higher.

• T3 Nodes — highest trained rating +5 or higher.

People skill modifiers and all other bonuses to an effective rating do not satisfy these gates. A gate grants permission to purchase a node; it does not waive CLA cost, node order, or any other prerequisite. Optional nodes use the gate of the main tier node from which they branch. Because the standard creation profile caps trained skills at +3, new characters begin with roots and T1 nodes.

Reading a Subclass Tree

Every subclass is presented as a tree of nodes. Inside a subclass, the rules are the same for every Class that can take it.

• Root Node — The entry point of the subclass. It must be purchased before any other node in that subclass and grants a small passive bonus that is always active. Your first root is free; every other root costs 1 CLA, as the label ROOT (1 CLA) on each tree shows.

• Paths — Each subclass offers two paths, for example Path of the Scholar and Path of the Mentor. Each path has its own T1, T2, and T3 main nodes; the two paths share only the root. You may buy nodes on both paths, and you do not need to finish one path before starting the other.

• Main Tier Nodes (T1, T2, T3) — The spine of each path. Each costs 1 CLA and must be purchased in order: T1 before T2, T2 before T3. These nodes contain the subclass’s core abilities and define the path’s playstyle. Solid arrows connect main nodes to show required progression.

• Optional Nodes — Two optional nodes branch from each main node. Each costs 1 CLA and requires the main node it branches from. Dashed arrows show a prerequisite chain: from T2 on, an optional node also requires the optional node in the same position one tier above it.

A shared subclass is a single tree. A Warrior and a Hunter who both take Berserker buy the same nodes in the same order; only their Class Features differ.

A Second Class

A character may join one additional Class by spending 2 CLA. They gain its Class Feature and may take its subclasses, paying for roots and nodes in the usual way; only the first root a character ever buys is free. A character belongs to at most two Classes. A subclass shared by both of a character’s Classes remains one tree, and each of its nodes is bought only once. CLA spent in one subclass never grants access to nodes in another.

Retraining

Each time a character gains a Class Point, they may also swap one node they own for another node they qualify for, provided that no other node they own requires the node they give up. With the GM’s approval, a character may instead rebuild their Classes, subclasses, and nodes completely at a major turning point in the story, such as a conversion, a broken oath, or a long period of study.

Example: Kara

Kara is an orc Warrior. At creation she has trained Fight +3 and Fortitude +3, three skills at +2, and four skills at +1, for a Skill Total of 16 and 4 CLA. Her orc Fortitude modifier does not count, because People modifiers never add to the Skill Total. As her skills improve, her Class Points grow with them:

Berserker is shared by the Warrior and the Hunter, so a Hunter could take exactly the same Berserker nodes; only the Class Feature would differ.

The Six Classes

Subclasses