Considering D20fying My Homebrew

[beejazz]

The soldier/vet would probably be the knight (knight being the armored melee guy). That would encompass a lot of appropriate "builds" including a polearm wielding guy who was once a simple conscript, or a guy with the money for armor and a horse. Alternately, a vet that used longbows etc. might be a hunter. There's a bit of wiggle room, since some perks are not class specific too.

I had thought about the gunslinger, but for once I think I'll be going classic fantasy on this one.

I don't know much about the Amazon.

I've got sort of parkour movement options on the rogue, and to a lesser extent the barbarian (part of why I ditched the monk).

An aristocrat class might be interesting, especially if it includes a bit of fencing. Rogues got the whole fencing thing partly because few other classes would use it. I don't know if I could think of enough material combat wise, but it might be worth it.

[Superfluous Crow]

The rogue would probably favor stealth-based combat, dirty fighting and trickery while the aristocrat would be a social combatant fighting with words, swords and cunning.
The aristocrat archetype could easily be applied to diverse characters such as the military officer, the swashbuckler, the dandy, the courtier, and so on. You might want to change the name depending on what you are going for, but I think it'd be pretty cool.

[beejazz]

I think, ultimately, I'll go with marshall. It gives me an excuse to get another more heavily armored class (compared with rogue, hunter, and barbarian anyway) in, and it may be more distinct from the other classes than another lightly armored melee guy. He'll probably be the non-magic guy with buffer stances (while other non-magic guys get appropriate social utilities).

I'll probably also have the optional rule of custom classes thrown together from tagged perk lists (so a rogue's social utilities and a marshall's stances plus a little reskinning equals a bard, while a kinght's courtly utilities and a rogue's fighting style might make more of an aristocrat, and some wizard or warlock magic on a rogue might make a ninja). Sure some combinations might be very powerful or very weak compared with strict classes, but as long as people know that going in it's fine.

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I've also been thinking about damage, crit, and wounding rules. I actually kind of like 4e's crit rules (20 is an auto-hit, confirmation if it would have hit anyway, and max damage) and might end up using them. I might also say that a confirmed crit is an auto-wound (so I don't have to fiddle with the damage as much).

As it stands, massive damage threshold can go from 7 to 13 at first level (with armor providing 0 to 4 DR). Weapon damage mods can go from -3 to +3 at first level. So I need dice on attacks to be in an acceptable range. I don't want wounds to be impossible or inevitable ever, and I want them to average around 50% odds for  equals. So it may be that I need to have 3 dice on any given attack (3d6, 3d8, 3d10, 3d12).

I also kind of want the distinction of bigger or more frequent crits, as in 3e. Bigger may not work as well with the max damage on a crit. Could crits be max damage plus some variable number for that reason? I'm not sure yet.

And lastly, my old idea for the barbarian rage was a whole extra die of damage. 4d12 damage against a lightly armored slow guy will kill said guy waaaaaaay too often. Maybe a flat damage bonus? In any case, I need wiggle room for that kind of thing too apparently.

[beejazz]

So I've been working on class and race powers and stances. I need at least one stance and one power for each race, and two stances and a power for each class. Once I get that, I may be able to playtest the combat rules a bit. Here are my thoughts so far.

Knight
Stance: Focused Defense. (Gives +5 to passive shield and parry)
Stance: Tactical Retreat. (Allows you to disengage on a successful shield or parry)
Power: Cleave. (Area attack in melee)

Attacks of opportunity interrupt actions in this game (stopping movement or spellcasting, for example). A knight's role at level one is pretty much point defense. Focused defense allows you to save your reactions for attacks of opportunity. Tactical retreat lets you stay in the way continuously. Cleave lets you be scary after you've stopped everyone next to you.

Barbarian
Stance: Rage. (Some benefit, maybe damage, as long as you keep killing people. When rage ends you are fatigued)
Stance: Toughness. (DR about on par with armor. DR is higher while you rage)
Power: Charge. (You can engage without provoking an AoO from a target you attack at the end of your move)

Barbarians are good for running around the battlefield beating the crap out of people in the simplest way possible. There's really not much more to it than that.

Rogue
Stance: Enhanced Stealth. (You can make a stealth check to move from one point of cover to the next without being noticed)
Stance: Scramble. (As long as you begin and end your movement on stable ground, you can jump or climb pretty much anything... maybe a max jump of 10 feet here)
Stance: Cowardice. (On a successful attack, you may disengage from your target without provoking an AoO from them)
Power: Sneak Attack. (Bonus damage to a target that doesn't defend, can choose to stagger foe on a wound)

Rogues are supposed to avoid getting too involved with combat, but they can quickly parkour over to someone who needs to be dead right now, backstab, and run away. The trick is to make sure that the foe can't defend themselves.

Sorcerer
Stance: Fire/Ice/Lightning. (modifies any energy related powers you have to be the specified type. you can only use one of these at a time)
Stance: Shield. (small DR. energy gives bonus DR against energy type. range lets you shield someone else. area lets you shield everyone next to you)
Stance: Area/Range (modify the area or range of your spells. you can only use one of these at a time)
Power: Missile (basic attack. can be modified by fire/ice/lightning/area/range)

Sorcerers are blasters, with a bit of an option to defend themselves and others. The DR is typically pretty low, so they're still vulnerable. Also, they have little in the way of movement. Without help from a good fighter (whether that be a knight, barbarian, rogue, or whatever), they can be in big trouble.

So far these are all the classes I've got this much information for. For races, I have much less to work with.
Humans
Stance: One bonus stance of your choice.
Power: One bonus power of your choice.

This of course means I need a bit more for every class, or a handful of the "generic" powers and stances.

Elves
Stance: ???
Power: ???
I've considered either giving them a climbing stance and a bow power, or giving them a magic stance and power (though I'm not sure what).

Dwarves
Stance: Unmovable. (Can't be tripped or pushed or knocked prone in this stance)
Power: ???
I really just have no idea what the power should be.

Trolls
Stance: ???
Power: ???
I've considered regeneration. Either they might have a slow healing stance or they might have a power that lets them heal their own wounds in exchange for hit points (probably not both).

Goblins
Stance: ???
Power: ???
I just have no idea where to start. I would consider something evasive maybe, but I don't know.

[Superfluous Crow]

Just a small note for you to chew on: it seems like you can't come up with a power for any of your races. Are you sure it makes sense to make races come prepackaged with a "power"?
Static bonuses often make the most sense for races unless your world is very high magic (e.g. the Elder Scrolls powers)

[beejazz]

Just a small note for you to chew on: it seems like you can't come up with a power for any of your races. Are you sure it makes sense to make races come prepackaged with a "power"?
Static bonuses often make the most sense for races unless your world is very high magic (e.g. the Elder Scrolls powers)

As a rule, yeah getting 3 stances for every starting character is more important than that second power. I'm mostly trying to get race and class on par with each other at level one.

Power is sort of an odd word I may replace at some point, but it's meant to cover any cool trick you can do fast (it's closest to a 4e at will power in terms of effect). I sort of just want people to have a few options at first level.

And static bonuses go without saying. So far, dwarves and trolls have darkvision, goblins and trolls have scent, elves may have some sort of good hearing, trolls are large (which in this case is more like Goliaths than Ogres) and goblins are small, and they all have skill groups, stats, and saves somewhat determined by race.

[Superfluous Crow]

It just seems a bit forced and/or artificial if all members of a race can do one special thing once a day or so. Makes them sound like chess pieces or action figures. I'm not saying they can't have powers, just that making it a requirement seems like an unfortunate design decision.

[beejazz]

It just seems a bit forced and/or artificial if all members of a race can do one special thing once a day or so. Makes them sound like chess pieces or action figures. I'm not saying they can't have powers, just that making it a requirement seems like an unfortunate design decision.

Oh, none of this is daily. Nothing is per day, per encounter, or anything like that in this game.