Character Classes

"LOCAL HERO SURVIVES 600' FALL!
Yesterday afternoon, the famous Praxis-born warrior Grendor Halberstein (29) was swept off the roof of the Cryolis Building by a whirlwind summoned by the notorious druidic terrorist only known as 'Greeneyes'. The Cryolis Building is one of the tallest buildings in our city at a height of 608 feet, yet not only did Halberstein survive the fall, but he also managed to fend off the elemental creatures (since identified as elder arrowhawks by city watch experts) sent by the vengeful druid to finish the job. Unfortunately, Greeneyes escaped yet again in the confusion.
When interviewed while receiving magical healing from a priest of Thenos , Halberstein exclaimed: 'I am just as amazed as you are. Frankly, I am lucky to be alive!' Some of his companions were not surprised, however. 'I have seen Grendor in action for many years now.', said noted sorcerer and socialite Angus Graubergen (31). 'Frankly, by now I have become convinced that this man is basically unkillable by anything short of a direct intervention of the gods...'"
- Praxus Observer, 19th of Victorius 1422

Barbarians

Barbarians come from remote wildernesses, such as the Narfjell Wastes - or sometimes out of the "urban wastes" of a slum. Wherever they came from, they represent everything the rich look down on - illiteracy, brutishness, and lack of manners. This discrimination usually keeps them from making their fortunes in the cities - unless they are willing to enter the criminal underworld, which has plenty of uses for "simple brawlers".
And some of them become quite successful in the underworld - they have an easy time bullying others into subservience, and their brute strength causes others to give them a wide berth. However, ultimately strength alone is not enough to establish a permanent place in society - even criminal society. Thus, the most powerful barbarians who manage to find a place for themselves in the city are either the bodyguards or right-hand mens of underworld kingpins - or, if they are the kingpins themselves, have a competent advisor who is not powerful enough by himself to intimidate others but is intelligent enough to play the power behind the throne.

Bards

Bards, people who command strange powers through their musical instruments and their voice, have been known throughout the ageInternational Society of Vandalss. The best of them are kept as entertainers by various nobles, rich merchants, and other influential people, and can gain vast riches through their skills - but their patrons are often unwilling to see them leave, and in extreme cases might even kill them or destroy their talent rather than letting a rival have them.
Those bards of lesser skill, or those who refuse to be bought off by a rich patron, are disdained as cheap folk singers for the masses at best, barely fit to play for a few copper coins in a pub or on a market - or as dangerous rabble-rousers best driven from the city if they use their powers to influence the downtrodden masses.
However, in recent decades it has become fashionable for the sons and daughters of rulers to be instructed in the musical arts, and oratory skills have always been in demand among the powerful. As a result, many upper-class youth have been instructed in the basics of the bardic arts, and some pursue them further as a hobby, or even a personal obsession. Some have started to study bardic powers systematically, and some of their research into acoustics and rhetorics have led to useful insights.

Clerics

Clerics can be divided into two groups: Members of an organized religion, and members of an unorganized religion. Organized religions will usually be strongly hierarchical, and lower-ranking clerics will have to obey the dictates of their superiors - but on the other hand, their church gives their clergy a lot of political clout in cities where they are prominent, and might even protect them from legal persecution. Unorganized religions, on the other hand, don't have any hierarchy beyond a single cleric who serves and protects a small community or neighborhood, and who might have a few "apprentices" who will be sent out into the world once they have mastered the basics of their religion. Their political influence is small, but when in trouble they can usually count on a small but loyal community who will International Society of Vandalsgo to great lengths to hide and protect them.
Most people tend to follow a single deity only, and offering prayers to any others is strongly discouraged by most clerics. The various religions mostly see themselves in competition to each other, and this competition might range from a friendly rivalry to smear campaigns to outright warfare where local conditions permit it. When two clerics of different religions are members of the same social group (such as an adventuring party), they might be polite to each other for the sake of the group, but they will always try to sway the other members of the group to their respectice views, and rarely will they become true friends.

Druids

As the city-states have risen, the druidic networks of old have fallen into disorder. While once the defenders of the wild were everywhere, now they are in retreat before the onslaught of civilization. As the city-states grow, the land is divided into huge plantations for absentee owners, and mountains are stripped of all ores, most druids either flee further away into the few remaining wild regions or are hunted as rebels and terrorists if they dare to make a stand.
Some of the younger druids, however, have made it into the cities themselves. They realize that they have to take the fight to the enemy if they want to have a chance of succeeding. And that they need to far more of this enemy - so that they can strike it when it hurts when the time comes. Some druids hope to rouse the urban poor into open rebellion, promising them freedom from tyranny and starvation if they dare to return to the ways of nature. Others just hope to do as much damage to the infrastructure of the city as they can, starting with the hated nexus towers. And others still conceal their druidic nature and insinuate themselves into urban society, committing small pieces of sabotage if they think they can get away with it, until one day they leave the city with a bang and throw it into chaos.
Recently, however, it has dawned on some merchants that the druid spell reincarnate can bring someone back from death in an entirely new body - and thus extend someone's life span, even if that life span is spent in a body that is completely unlike the one the person was born with. Thus, these people have started to seek out druidic circles in secret to find druids who might be willing to cast these spells for them. In most cases, the response of the druids has been overwhelmingly negative - after all, while help people to cheat natural death who have always fought the ways of nature?
There is another group of druids which actually originate from within the cities. These are scholars, city-planners, and philosophers who have started to see the cities less as an accumulation of buildings and people and more as an environment and an ecosystem in its own right - similar to insect hives or environments where multiple species live together within a small space. These people tend to argue endlessly about how exactly the city "functions" - not just through top-level planning, but also through the myriad daily interactions of its inhabitants that keep the community running. Each and everyone has a different vision what the "ideal city" should look like, and how existing cities need to be changed in form and function to mature to perfection and truly become a part of nature instead of a man-made construct. Others tend to look at these philosophers with either amusement or consternation. However, the fact that some of them appear to have gained druid powers indicates that they might be onto something...

Fighters

Though society might have changed over the centuries, the need for skilled fighters has remained the same. There are still wars and conflicts aplenty, and even in supposed peacetimes there is still enough violence around so that those who know how to deal it out need not fear for employment.
What has changed is the greater prevalence of magic in battles. Gone are the days where armies marched in tight formations, or where mighty knights charged each other on horses. The modern fighter needs to be flexible in his approach, knowledgeable in the ways of his enemies, and a skilled tactician ready to deal with whatever surprises the world decides to throw at him. In the end, only the cunning fighters survive.

Monks

In the Known Lands, there are three schools that teach the mental and physical disciplines required to walk on the path of the monk.
The first is elven in origin, and is taught in the city of Enegorn in Avareen. Elves exiled from mainstream Avareen society explored martial arts disciplines to detach themselves from the concerns of the world, and over time their knowledge and fame spread beyond the borders of their country. Many hopeful acolytes travel to Sormar to learn at the feet of ancient elven masters.
The second originally came from the Hamajan Mountains, the Tsan Empire and other lands in the far east which boast a staggering number of monastic traditions. In many cases these traditions have a spiritual origin, but sometimes "empty-handed" fighting techniques were developed simply because the local rulers didn't permit ordinary citizens to bear arms. In either case, these traditions have been spread by exiles (voluntary or otherwise) along the trade routes.
The third tradition is the youngest and was developed in Thenares, where many priests felt that learning these martial arts styles promoted the proper humility before Thenos. Most monasteries of the Thenaran faith have members who practice this tradition, and traveling monks who are ready to defend the faith with their powers are not uncommon. Some Thenaran priests like to claim that this path was directly inspired by Thenos himself, but detractors point to the many similarities to the earlier elven and Eastern styles.
Minor schools of martial arts other than these exist in many lands, but most of them have a low profile and are at best considered "quaint" by most people - something that is no longer appropriate to the modern world.

Paladins

Most paladins belong to some sort of organized religion, such as the Church of Thenos. They are trained from early childhood to be stout defenders of the faith, and the most worthy of them are chosen by their god to go forth into the world and do good.
Still, there are a few people who become paladins spontaneously. Usually they face a great trial of some sort (such as defending a group of poor slum dwellers from criminals), and they decide to stand firm no matter what the risk and the cost to themselves. Suddenly, they manifest paladin abilities, and this is often accompanied by a small miracle that resolves the situation in their favor. Some scholars speculate that these people somehow draw power from the plane of Law and Goodess instead of a deity, but how this is possible, and why no other plane bestows similar abilities on people, remains unclear.
Such "independent paladins" are at a great risk - church-backed paladins usually have a large and influential organisation that gives them enough political clout to challenge powerful and corrupt people and usually get away with it. Independent paladins, on the other hand, must survive by their wits alone. They usually soon realize that they should concentrate on acting in the interest of creating the greatest good possible, instead of blindlessly charging the greatest visible evil. A successful paladin often has to negotiate with the rich and the powerful as much as fighting their evil more directly. Thankfully, their highly charismatic nature aids them in this task, and many power brokers find themselves doing something for the public good despite themselves.

Rangers

There are still plenty of wilderness areas and frontiers to be tamed on this world - and others as well. However, quite a few rangers are exploring the urban environment instead, finding the niches out of the eye of the general public a challenge to their skills and thriving in hidden places most people never hear about. They still hunt even in this environment, although in the cities their prey tends to be two-legged - wanted criminals, refugees, and other people who do not wish to be found.

Rogues

The first rogues appeared in the first cities, and to this day they remain the masters of the urban environment. They know where to hide and where to stay away from, when to run and when to stand still, who to talk to and who to avoid. Usually, they learn their skills by growing up on the streets of the slums, but even people born to a high station in life turn to a life of crime for a variety of reasons.

Sorcerer

The powers of a wizard are, while not understood by common people, in principle at least learnable by anyone who has the necessary intelligence. The powers of a sorcerer, on the other hand, come from innate talent and do not require formal study - or discipline. As a result, sorcerers are feared by many and do not have as many opportunities to advance in society as wizards.
Yet for the poorest of people, discovering sorcerous talents is often a way out of the slums, as the rich and powerful are unlikely to let any talent go to waste. This causes the other poor to not only fear them, but also resent them, and many sorcerers leave the slums shortly ahead of a lynch mob.
Note that since the slum areas of cities usually suffer from a high life energy drain, anyone who discovers sorcerous talent within them is sure to become powerful once he leaves.

Wizards

Wizards are generally considered to be the equivalent of skilled craftsmen. Like craftsmen, they train many years to learn the secrets of their trade, and like craftsmen, they are well paid for their abilities. While most common people are careful around wizards because of their powers, this does not mean they are feared and reviled. After all, being disrespectful to a noble can kill you as fast as being disrespectful to a wizard.
The mightiest of wizards are well paid by rulers to help with the construction and operation of nexus towers, and to help with city defense. Often the rulers allow powerful wizards to marry into their family, on the basis that it is a good idea to have a few such individuals who are loyal to you.

Psionic classes Psychic powers do not occur naturally among the player character races of Urbis. But this does not mean that they don’t occur at all. Instead, all such displays of the powers of the mind can be traced to outside influences. Whether this means that the psychic has surathi blood running in his veins, or that daresh experimented on him or his ancestors depends on the individual in question. But there is always some unnatural origin to the powers he commands. While most people are unaware that psychics even exist, and tend to confuse them with sorcerers or monks if they do encounter them, the learned can recognize them for what they are. And given the near universal loathing with which civilized people hold beings such as the surathi, daresh, and derro, psychics can expect a strongly hostile reaction if their powers are identified correctly. If the DM permits it, players can take psionic character classes. However, players should be aware that psychic powers are mostly in the command of loathsome monsters, and that psychic characters will be identified with those.

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