Non-Combatant

[thaelis]

Hi, don't know if this has been suggested before but:

Background (Non-Combatant): Whether you are a Scholar, Tradesman, Pacifist, or are simply scared to death of fighting, you are not comfortable in a combat situation.
Benefits: Timed XP multiplied by 4, +1 skill point per level
Drawbacks: No XP for killing enemies, -2 attack bonus

I made a Crafter not so long ago. In the time it took him to level to level 5 everyone else was level 12+ and were all way better crafters than him anyway :/

Why x4? Well, my current (combatant) PC has amassed 79,000xp in 90 hours or so (220 every 15 mins) I'm assuming this is normal or even rather slow as some who started at the same time as me are level 18+ already. So, making the timed xp 120 would certainly not be excessive.

[Doubtful]

Personally it's not something I'd like to see implimented as a feat/whatever for the existing classes.

A full 'Commoner' base class (that can't multiclass with anything) would make more sense, though I'm not sure it'd be the kind of thing that would find an easy place in the game world.

[roguethree]

In this vein, I'd like an option immediately following character creation to choose either a combat or rp xp path. Combat PCs advance as they have been, and RP XP characters get 0 xp from combat but increased XP from the RP XP ticker. Change the ticker to check for actual textual content instead of just not being afk. It doesn't have to work out even; the RP XP characters will advance more slowly, but not so cripplingly slow.

[Thief Of Navarre]

I can see its merit. My new character is going to advance cripplingly slowly due to her rather RP heavy skillset (despite being an overpowered caster as one of her classes).
Due to the way D&D works some of us have to play the fighter type classes (some of us even enjoy it) just to keep the game working for the more pacifistic characters!

Can you imagine a monk who has taken an oath against violence of any kind? yes, exactly ~ stuck at level 3 for the next 70 years of his life. On the other hand a bard who never enters combat can quite easily reach hallowed heights because he is the type of character every group has a use for!

[thaelis]

In this vein, I'd like an option immediately following character creation to choose either a combat or rp xp path.

It seems the simplest most code-free way to do this is just to make it a Background. Which is why I suggested it. Am I wrong?

"A full 'Commoner' base class (that can't multiclass with anything) would make more sense, though I'm not sure it'd be the kind of thing that would find an easy place in the game world." - Doubtful

Yeah, but then what about the Wizardly scholar, the pacifist cleric/monk etc. That cuts out so many archetypes... making it a background seems much more flexible. You can already make almost any type of crafter you want to be by multiclassing..its just leveling up without fighting that is the big problem.

Some quick maths (headache imminent): If you play a solid two hours every single day at 30xp per 15mins, after 1 year you will have 87,600xp (level 13)