Social classes are a reflection of your position in the base society of the game, that of the Lower Kingdom. Social class is a reflection of how that society views you, treats you and interacts with you, and you with it. This is done primarily through the Charisma system, but the GM should always bare in mind who and what they are dealing with. A player running an Eye Lord cannot expect the citizens of Memphis to rally to his commands due to admiration and respect, maybe fear and disgust though.
Players must belong to one of the following social classes, but also need to qualify. By default humans are a commoner. Non-human races will be tainted by their non-humanness, and may have limited options.
You can only be of one social class at a time, if you can qualify for more than one you pick one, but you are eligible to swap as noted below.
Players may change Social Class during the game as long as they qualify. This should be done as reward or part of a Downtime action.
Social class CHA effects, along with Retinue CHA effects and Item CHA effects, are comparative. By this I mean that you should cancel out such CHA bonuses when they clash. Eg if one Noble has +2 CHA for being a Noble, and +2 CHA from their Retinue, and they interact with another Noble who has +2 and +4, then the net effect is +2 CHA (6vs4) for the second Noble.
Req: Spellcasting d4
Magic users are called Sorcerers and have a broad access to various types of magic, but have no access to healing magic.
Sorcerers cast by using various materials, sounds and gestures to manifest power. The manifested power shows up as glowing symbols near the caster, so Sorcerers are very noticeable. If unable to use all of these components they will be unable or hindered in manifesting their spells.
Sorcerers use the skill Spellcasting.
They must pick an elemental form to use, fire water air or earth. Favour of that element, vulnerable to the opposite. All spells must be manifested in that form...
Req: Faith d4
Divine casters are Priests, followers of a specific God, from whom they get their magic. Because of this they are limited to specific spells related to the areas of power that their God has.
Priests use the skill Faith.
Req: Monk Edge
Monks are a Priest class without magic. They are free to specialize in any skills they wish, but often chose combat skills to compensate for their lack of magical powers.
These are NOT kungfu monks. There is no monastery. Monks are closer to a hermit or friar than any thing else. They still select one God as their protector and patron, they will wear the signs and sigils of that god.
Req: Noble.
Nobles of Aegyptian race are considered to be members of the Pharaohs family, usually a cousin. As such they have access to enormous wealth, resources and power. The only thing that can cause them concern would be to fall under the Pharaoh’s disfavour, at which time they might not have access to the resources and power parts.
Nobles of any other race or group are visiting royalty, recognized more from their wealth and retinue than anything else. They have wealth that is sent to them, but they have very limited powers. They still look impressive to non-nobles.
Aegyptvs Noble players must maintain a Retinue. Other Noble players may elect to but it will cost. See the Misc Chapter 8.
Req: Fighting d6, Shooting/Throwing d6
Soldiers are characters who have spent several years in active service, either with a national army or a mercenary company. They are currently not in service so any Rank you take is mostly honourific and a social status rather than a military or political one. At worst you know people who can get things done.
There are very few ranks that matter in this game. Broadly you are either a soldier, officer or commander.
Req: Trade d6.
You are skilled at trading or money. Where others will have problems moving money around, or being recognized as a safe bet, you have no such problems.
If you elect to start as a Slave you must be bonded to another player. Slavery can be the result of a number of reasons; prisoner of war, criminal punishment, financial debts or fear. It generally is for a set period of time (years) and your Master is legally responsible for supporting you (in all regards).
Golems, Scorpionmen and Mummies begin as slaves and must be bonded to one of the other players. Humans, Dwarves and Elves who chose to be slaves must also be bonded to another player.
The vast unwashed masses.
Req: Literacy. Persuasion d4.
Most easily identified as someone who can read and write and count, and earns a regular income for their learned skills. They may or may not have a limited amount of power in specific areas. Players however will be assumed to not hold any on-going positions which might demand their time, allowing them to act freely.
They still keep the clothes and recognition attached to the appointment they may have held. Tax collector, local judge, political appointee, bureaucrat or scribe are all possible careers you may have followed.
Req: Intimidation or Taunt d4
Savages are un-educated, primitive, un-civilised, rude and crude individuals or have a lot of trouble understanding the concept of property, other than ‘Mine!’ Their most used word is ‘grunt!’
They are often feared because of their inability to control themselves or to understand the rights or feelings of others.
Savages fear each other as much as others fear them. Culture to them is a bib.
Contrary to popular opinion there are no Noble Savages, they are all animals.
Req: Outsider
Barbarians are people from places on the other side of the place next door, or who do not recognize the natural superiority of your culture.
Barbarians can be Nobles, literate, civilised and sophisticated, but they are not of your culture and thus are inferior barbarians, to be mocked and scorned.
There are a number of non-human races available to chose from in Aegyptvs, and various different human races as well.
Some of the non-human races will require effort from your GM to assimilate into the story line, so check before jumping in. However I encourage diversity, and I will be promoting a world with a very cosmopolitan mix of races and cultures. Memphis will be the ‘centre of the world’, and this is a social, political, religious and geographic truth.
Gain a bonus edge as usual, but the following is the commonly chosen option for NPCs based on their nationality.
Lower Kingdom
Racial edges or skills: Shooting.
Upper Kingdom
Racial edges or skills: Throwing.
Libyans
Racial edges or skills: Desert Creature
Numidians
Racial edges or skills: Desert Creature.
Nubians
Racial edges or skills: Fighting.
Kushites
Racial edges or skills: Berserker.
Phoenicians
Racial edges or skills: Boating or Trade
Hittites
Racial edges or skills: Fighting
Assyrians
Racial edges or skills: Driving.
Babylonians
Racial edges or skills: Shooting.
Lydians
Racial edges or skills: Riding, Mounted edges.
Greeks
Racial edges or skills: Long Spear and Medium Shield.
Romans
Racial edges or skills: Fighting
Syracusians
Racial edges or skills: Trade
Carthaginians
Racial edges or skills: Long Spear and Medium Shield.
Trojans
Racial edges or skills: Long Spear and Medium Shield.
Arabs
Racial edges or skills: Desert Creature.
Amazons
Racial edges or skills: Shooting or Throwing.
There are many options for non-human races and even monsters in the game. Before selecting one of these you should consult the GM and the rest of your party to ensure a good balance of characters. You will also need to construct some kind of back story to explain how your character is involved in the game, why they are there and not with the normal crowd they should be with.
AAA is limited to Arcane Miracles and Arcane Magic. Other Arcane backgrounds are not used.
Amazons are the classical female dominated race of legend. They have a homeland somewhere north of Macedonian on the Black Sea coast (near the mouth of the Danube).
Amazons are the female equivalent of a Spartan. Born and breed for battle. Where a Spartan trains to become a soldier, Amazons become Warriors. The distinction is in fighting as an individual or as a unit. But both are excellent fighters.
Skill: start with d6 in Shooting or Throwing.
Tough: start with d6 VG.
Outsider: most other cultures consider them to be brutal and savage, giving them -2 Charisma when dealing with any other race.
Battlecry: is able to Intimidate or Taunt multiple opponents at once. See New Edges C5.
Solitary: due their fighting style, or their wandering experiences, Amazons can only truly trust other Amazons. They never give or gain any Gangup bonus.
Choice of: Arrogant(Major), Bloodthirsty(Major), Overconfident(Major), Vengeful(Major)
Social Classes: Savages.
Dwarves are tough, short and hardworking. They are the favoured of the god Geb, whom most of them worship. They are the most populous of the non-human races but most of them can be found in the two (dwarven) cities of Gworn and Atard.
Natural Low Light vision
Slow, Dwarves have a Pace of 5”.
Tough: Dwarves begin with Vigor d6 instead of d4.
Elemental: Dwarves are aligned with Earth and thus opposed by Air. They have natural 2pts of protection vs any damage based on elemental earth, and likewise a vulnerability of +2 pts to any damage inflicted by elemental Air.
Craft: Dwarves have an affinity for stone and begin with Knowledge(Craft-Construction) d4.
Social Classes: Priests, Soldiers, Merchants, Slaves, Officials.
Elves are said to be the favoured of Isis, and a large percentage of elves worship either Isis or her sister Nephthys (and those tend to be gothic in appearance). Elves are slighter of build than humans but nearly always considered attractive and well spoken.
Agile: Elves begin with Agility d6 instead of d4.
Good Looking: Elves begin with the Attractive edge.
Gifted Talkers: Elves begin with Diplomacy d4.
Delicate: Elves are not built for battle and suffer -1 Toughness due to their slight build.
Craft: elves have an affinity for wood and begin with Craft-Wood d4.
Social Classes: Priests, Slaves, Officials.
The Ashrak are the favoured of Anubis and worship him almost without exception. They have jackal like heads on a human body and prefer the freedom of the desert life to that of the cloistered cities.
Brawny: Ashrak start with the Brawny edge.
Outsiders: most other cultures consider them to be brutal and savage, giving them -2 Charisma when dealing with any other race.
Ashrak are creatures of the desert and begin with the Desert Creature edge.
They must take one of the following (minor) hindrances (on top of their normal hindrances): Mean, Bloodthirsty, Vengeful, Deathwish.
Social Classes: Savages.
Minotaurs are your classic greek mythical creature, but with human intelligence. They inhabit the island of Crete and many of the Greek Isles, including Rhodes. The Colossos of Rhoades is a giant statue of a Minotaur, not of a man. Minotaurs are in no way related to cows, and will take this offensively if mentioned.
Strong: Minotaurs begin with ST d6.
Horns: Minotaurs have natural weapons in their horns, doing 1d6+ST damage.
Brawny: Minotaurs start with the Brawny edge.
Bad Eyes (minor): Minotaurs have poor vision.
Minotaurs must take one of the following (on top of their normal hindrances): All Thumbs, Arrogant, Code of Honour, Overconfident, Stubborn.
Social class: Sorcerors, Priests, Monks, Noble, Soldiers, Merchants, Officials
Mummies are undead. In this particular case you have two options. You can be someone who died and was embalmed but due to some compelling reason refuses to move on to the Underworld, and returns to the living world. The other option is that they have escaped from the army of the Mummy King and somehow gained independence. Although unusual, Mummies are accepted in Egyptian life.
Undead: see page 133 of SWD.
Skeletal: monstrous power.
Enemy: the Mummy King is your enemy in a general sense. There is a risk that you will be enslaved by the Mummy King if you fall within his sights.
Vow: if you took the first option you should have some reason for not seeking your rest.
Bad Luck: if you escaped from the Mummy King you left a little bit of yourself behind.
In either case you never had, or lost, your Aura of Fear (which normal undead have in this game).
Vulnerable to Fire and Water.
Vulnerable to comedy duo’s: comedic duo’s cause you to be Shaken at the beginning of every round they remain within a LBT of you.
Frail: you lose 1 from your toughness as most of your organs have been removed. You only weigh half of what a normal man of your size does.
Repair: Mummies heal via the Repair skill. Magical healing will still work on them.
You don’t need to eat or drink normally. However to heal wounds you must replace to damaged flesh with freshly claimed flesh of the same racial type. It must be fresh or near fresh flesh (recently living). You need to pick a racial type (cannot be Giants or Golems).
Unravelled: in melee whenever you roll a 1 on your Fighting skill dice (whether you use it or not) your bandages will unravel, falling in a tangle at your feet. The effect of this will be a MBT area effect where anyone in the area of effect must roll AG vs 4 or fall prone, at the start of each round, or any time they enter or leave the area of effect. The roll will be modified by your Size, big people resist it better. This will include yourself.
You will count as Shaken whilst this effect remains, and your un-shaken rolls are at -2.
Social class: Slave
Golems are all mechanic creatures, created by the Golem Lord and running on alchemical steampower, see Ch9 for more details.
You have been captured shortly after your creation and your conditioning has been broken, allowing you free thought. You wear markings and trinkets to identify your status.
Constructs: see page 130 of SWD.
Outsiders: most other cultures consider them to be brutal and savage, giving them -2 Charisma when dealing with any other race.
Armour: natural +2 Toughness due to metal body. Extra armour has no effect.
Strong: begin with ST d6.
Size: Golems begin at Size 1 (+1 Tuffness). They can Grow, see the new Edges list.
Vulnerability to Water.
Phobia-Major: vs Water.
Heavy: you sink in water or loose sands. You weigh about 3x what a man of the same size does (size 0 would mean about 240kg).
Predictable: your robotic structure and limitations make your motions predictable in melee, reduce your Parry 1pt.
Repair: golems heal via the Repair skill. Magical healing will still work on them.
Social class: Slave
Player scorpionmen are extremely rare, usually because everyone kills them first and asks questions later. A player scorpianman MUST have a Patron – one of the other players. Your Patron shields you from the normal responses the rest of the world have toward such a creature.
You can also adopt certain dress codes that have become accepted, which tell people you are a ‘civilised’ beast.
Player scorpionmen have been captured as young and raised to be civilized, generally by traveling gladiator circuses. As such they never develop pincers but retain their arms and hands, and their humanity.
Patron: one of the players in the party must become your Patron, and vouches for your behavior.
Dress: You are equipped with trinkets and specific clothing that is mostly accepted as an indicator that you should not be slain on the spot. Such artefacts however will mean wild scorpionmen will kill you on the spot, first.
Outsiders: most other cultures consider them to be brutal and savage, giving them -2 Charisma when dealing with any other race.
Armoured: natural +1 Toughness due to scales.
Stinger: your tail is a weapon, it can be shaped like any one handed weapon of your choice, and acts exactly as one. You do not get a poison stinger.
Social class; Slave.
You are a giant intelligent mollusc, with retractable eye stalks… ewww! And you have tentacles rather than hands. You have a shell, either snail like or clam/oyster like. You move by dragging yourself around with your tentacles and with a slugs motion capacity, you leave a slime trail.
Arcane Background: Magic.
Mean: oh so mean.
Armoured: natural +1 Toughness due to shell, if available.
Weakness: you need water, double the amount other creatures require. If you lack sufficient water you must make a VG roll each day, fail and you take 1 FAT. If your FAT runs out you retreat into your shell and remain in a coma until water is provided (or you die, VG in days).
Arrogant: you really do think you are the Lord of All.
Ugly: to everyone, including your own kind.
Slow: your movement rate is 4.
Smart: you begin with SM of d6.
Tentacles: you don’t have hands, but four tentacles that used in combination are equivalent to two opposable thumbed hands. Where appropriate thought the four can be used independently (but at ST d4 equivalent).
Squeezy: you have no bones. If you leave your shell behind you can squeeze through narrow openings at least a 6 inches wide.
Yellow: you are a coward
Social class: Barbarian
Giants come from the Broken Lands. Most of them in human lands are 9-12ft tall. They generally return to their homelands after that as life is too difficult in the small peoples world. Giants may have a head the same as their chosen god – eg Anubis has a Jackal head.
Giants in human lands are generally either gladiators or mercenaries or bodyguards.
Giants cannot take any Arcane backgrounds.
Size: player Giants begin at 9ft tall. They are Size 2 (+2 Toughness, +1 to Hit). They can Grow, see the new Edges list.
All thumbs: nothing is made in giant size.
Shooting skill costs twice normal.
Costs: everything costs xSize/2 more if it has to be adjusted for size.
Strong: start with d8 ST and have no ST limit.
Social class: Barbarian
The Horse Princes of the Mittani are Centaurs. They come from the northern Russian plains. 50 years ago they raided into the Fertile Crescent and decided to stay, carving out an empire of their own amongst the mostly human subjects.
The Mittani are a minority in their lands and make up an elite ruling class, even the lowest Mittani being a knight equivalent.
The humans they rule are treated no worse then they were before, if not better. To them one ruling class is pretty much the same as another regardless of how many legs they have.
Large: Mittani are size 2 creatures (+2 toughness, +1 To hit).
Rich: all Mittani are wealthy.
Clueless: even though they have been around sometime they still lack simple common knowledge of the human world and its environs.
Heroic: as a noble ruling class there are certain expectations, and they believe it.
Fleet Footed.
Climbing skill costs double normal.
Oblivious: a combination of natural superiority, noble airs and poor concentration make you not very Alert. All Notice rolls to avoid surprise are at -2.
Savage class: Barbarian.
Same a Mitanni but take out Rich and add in skill with Bows d6.
Because AAA has a number of new skills, and some requirements for other skills greater than a normal game of Savage Worlds, all players will begin with the following:
Survival d4.
Craft (choice) d4.
Faith d4.
All characters begin illiterate and only those of the appropriate Social Rank may take the literacy skill. Accordingly you begin with 16 skill points rather than 15.
To encourage dispersal of skills (taking note that there are a number of extra skills listed below), when you take skills as a “level up” option you get:
Players gain 3 skill points.
To gain a new skill costs only 1 skill point.
Everyone begins illiterate, anyone above a slave social level may/must take literacy as a skill.
The following extra skills are available in the game.
Animal Handling – what we would call a combination of veterinarian and Horse Whisperer. A person who not only handles and trains animals, but looks after their care and healing.
Craft-? (SM) - making everyday items, broad areas. All craft skills come with the following implied abilities: Make, Repair, Collect, Knowledge, Contacts, Resources. These implied abilities only apply when the appropriate resources (tools, shops, workers) are available, essentially a downtime function. During adventures, for example, the Repair skill becomes primary and the Craft(repair) can be used to modify that roll.
Wood – using wood and associated materials, carpentry, forestry, fletching etc
Metal – using metals and associated materials, mining, smithing etc.
Food – ability to cook and forage, slaughter and grow crops.
Tailor – using plants and animal products to make materials
Construction – masonry, engineering, basic architecture.
Utility – anything not covered in one of the other skills.
Trade (SM) – ability to Trade and make profits. Trade in this case is 'big picture' trade. Buying and selling loot is generally still done via the Streetwise skill, unless it is in commercial quantities.
Diplomacy (SM) - dealing with others at a political level (big picture stuff). For normal inter-action still use Persuasion etc.
Arcana (SM) – this is knowledge of magic and myth. Magical items can be identified by examining them for markings and signs. Mythical or monstrous creatures can be recognized, and details about them can be recalled by a successful use of this skill.
Battle (SM) – skill in generalship, large scale tactical and strategic command.
Common Knowledge(SM) - a common knowledge roll is allowed for everyday Religion based knowledge. Everyone in this period is considered to have a basic understanding of their common religions.
Alchemy (SM) – a skill gained by taking the Alchemy edge, allowing you to extract alchemical products from numerous sources and convert them into useful magical items (potions etc).
Faith: everyone starts with d4 Faith skill in one selected god, regardless of being a Priest or not.
Faith is very important to the game world, so don’t overlook it. Faith has an important role in this game, especially in the later region of the game as the players will be interacting with the Gods and agents of the gods quite a bit. One of them eventually becomes an avatar of their god. So even if you do not have an AB(Miracles) it is worth having Faith. There are edges that require it.
Option: FAITH - Reason to have and use!!!
· A round praying may boost your courage - Faith roll, success and raises @+1 to SP rolls for the current event vs Fear.
· Fail a SP roll, pray while you flee, result adds to NEXT rounds SP check.
· Donations of 500gp (can be accumulated) along with a successful Faith test vs 4, will give special markers, treated as bennies for use with SP rolls vs Fear.
If you follow the attached campaign story line there are some minimum requirements for what your party structure should consist of.
You will need one Aegyptvs Noble player.
It will help a lot to have characters with a very good skill level in the following:
Battle: there is a final Big Battle at the end.
Diplomacy: you will undertake a number of diplomatic missions and side benefits of these will be military assistance at the big Battle.