In the third blog in this series on class specific campaigns, we will be looking at Monks, Paladins and Rangers and all the interesting things that can be done with their campaigns. There will be a forth blog covering the last of the standard classes and probably more later looking at less common classes. As always, single class campaigns offer options that don’t necessarily exist without these restrictions and give a chance to explore weird, less mechanically optimal class options.
Monks in my experience are a polarizing class, many people find they don’t fit in their medieval themed campaign; as monks in that setting would be far different from the un-armed warriors that are monks in pathfinder/ D&D. The most obvious all monk campaign is a set of neophytes from the same monastery sent out to prove themselves before re-joining the monastery. This would require the monks to deal with a variety of situations and foes, and probably prove they could solve problems without always reverting to violence. Among these foes could be monks or former monks that have forsaken the tenets Some challenges should be very mystical, perhaps requiring specific applications of ki or other monk abilities to prove that they have mastered both their physical and meta-physical forms.
Monk specific campaigns could also be a conflict between rival monasteries. Perhaps the rivals have different philosophies on various issues, originally they attempted to debate them, but over time the debates have gotten more and more violent, to the point that it seems that now the only way the conflict can be settled is with blood. However, they have to keep up appearances and publicly can’t be seen to be in open conflict, the war must take place in the shadows, unseen and unknown. Perhaps the rival monastery could all be monks of a particular sub-class or archetype that none of the players have.
It is probably a good idea to have each monk focus on a different combat style chain or an aspect of the monk's class abilities. A party entirely of monks should take advantage of their speed to cover ground quickly both in combat and out. Being faster than nearly all foes should let them dictate when and where fights happen, maximizing their abilities or negating enemy advantages. Given that Monks are often good with dealing with many weak enemies, you may want to include encounters that require dealing with waves of foes.
Paladins are also polarizing, including players that will die on the hill that only lawful good characters can have a paladin style class and players who believe paladins can only be lawful stupid. (that may all require its own post to unpack) Paladins on their own however avoid many of the problems they have in parties, and a party all of one alignment is fine. A pure paladin campaign should focus on clearly evil foes like chronomatic dragons, demons, daemons and devils. This is not the time for code/alignment traps that some GMs like to set. Sure have the truly evil foes work through proxies and acolytes at times so smite evil isn’t always super effective. But you definitely want times when the party can all be heroes epicly saving the world from evil. It should probably also involve interactions with various religious and noble organizations with some supporting the Paladins, some opposed and others neutral. Don’t forget that Paladins are inspired by real world orders like the knight’s templar, some time spent researching militant religious orders, christian and non-christian will likely be a good time investment.
In a party of purely paladins you probably want at least one ranged focused one, and maybe one focused on charisma and spells. Melee focused paladins would probably want different areas of specialization so they can all shine at specific times, it may be an opportunity to try an interesting combat style that normally isn’t used by a paladin like dual wielding.
The last and least controversial class this week is the ranger. Even a core rulebook ranger is one of the most flexible classes in most systems, with various fighting styles, spell options and animal companions. Favoured enemies and terrains can let a party of all rangers become very effective if there is a highly focused threat or area the campaign is based on.
A ranger campaign could be scouts for an army, trying to determine where the enemy is, skirmishing with opposing scouts and raiding enemy encampments. Or have the rangers lead a particularly dangerous monster into the path of the enemy army so you don’t even have to do the fighting yourself. Ambushes, leading flanking actions and other events on the periphery of major battles, can be a good way of including major battles in the narrative of the campaign without directly having to fight the entire battle. Targeted strikes on key elements of the enemy force can also be an interesting option for this campaign, eliminating generals, magic users, rare mounts or other force multipliers. Depending on the enemy army being fought this campaign can feel very different, such as a war against a primarily human kingdom, or migratory orc horde that has trolls, hill giants and other monsters.
It could also be a monster hunt, focusing on tracking and eliminating a particularly dangerous creature. Such a campaign could also draw on various ideas I have suggested previously for druids and barbarians in dealing with various wilderness hazards. It could also include significant work scouting the monster’s lair and surroundings, along with finding weaknesses, acquiring rare and powerful items to use and making allies. Such a campaign should end with an epic battle against this foe. The risk with this campaign is it is probably difficult to run for an extended period of time unless they simply moved onto another great hunt, but for half a dozen to a dozen sessions it could be extremely effective.
What did you think of these ideas? Are there obvious ones I did not discuss? Is there one that you particularly want to play in?
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