Character classes from Deadlands

Deadlands is something of a hybrid system. The basic character generation process is a classless, skills-based system. Whether a character is a gunfighter or a thief depends on which skills the player picks and emphasizes. Nevertheless the characters can belong to one of many 'archetypes' - such as a "journalist", "buffalo girl" or a "Texas Ranger". However, characters can also pick "Arcane Backgrounds" for their character, which introduces a class-like concept into the game, and generally provides the character powers and abilities not available to non-arcane characters.

"Deadlands: The Weird West" non-arcane archetypes

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"Deadlands: The Weird West" arcane backgrounds

*"Black Magician": An NPC-only Arcane Background, Black Magicians willingly and deliberately make deals with the Reckoners and their Manitou minions for potent spells.
*"Blessed": The Blessed are religious beings whose sheer faith allows them to draw pure spiritual energy from the Hunting Grounds to create miraculous effects. Blessed cast their spells using the Faith Aptitude, which several other Arcane Backgrounds (such as Black Magic, Voodoo and Doomsayers) also do. Blessed are detailed in the "Fire and Brimstone Sourcebook", while their close relatives, the Voodooists, are introduced in "The River o' Blood" and expanded in "Hexarcana".
*"Blood Magician": Blood Magicians carry the blood of the Whateley family in their veins, an ancient line of corrupted and evil practitioners of sorcery. These characters are usually considered "grey hats" at best, and are the darkest character choice currently available in the game. Blood magic used by characters with this arcane background resemble black magic in theme and mechanics, although blood magic is less powerful. Rules can be found in the supplement "Black Circle: Unholy Alliance".
*"Harrowed": A Harrowed character has risen from the grave due to their body being possessed by a Manitou. As an undead, a Harrowed has a variety of special powers, but these are balanced by supernatural drawbacks, such as the Harrowed constantly needing to battle their Manitou 'inmate' for control of their body. Because of the presence of the Manitou within their bodies, Harrowed can absorb the life energies of certain abominations to gain mystical powers, such as Soul Eater and Sicken. The process of absorbing this energy is called "Counting Coup". Harrowed are detailed in "The Book o' the Dead Sourcebook". Their "Hell on Earth" counterparts, the Cyborgs, are detailed in the "Cyborgs Sourcebook".
*"Hexslinger": A more militant version of the Huckster, a Hexslinger uses his or her magic to improve his gunslinging abilities, hence the name. First introduced in the "Law Dogs" sourcebook and finalised in the "Lone Stars: The Texas Rangers Sourcebook", by which stage they have been renamed Shootists.
*"Huckster": Roughly equivalent to the common Mage or Wizard. Due to the nature of their world, Hucksters pretend to be card sharks, professional gamblers, or any other type of person for whom constantly carrying around a deck of playing cards is not abnormal. When a Huckster casts a spell, a hand of playing cards manifests itself in his hand and vanishes after the spell is finished.
*"Martial Artist": Martial Artists are introduced in "The Great Maze", and refined in the "Hexarcana" sourcebook.
*"Mad Scientist": Unlike the other Arcane Backgrounds in the Weird West, the Mad Scientist Edge is passive in nature. A Mad Scientist has the dubious honor of having attracted the not-so malevolent attention of one or more Manitou, who whisper dark secrets into the mind of their witless ally and provide inspiration for all manner of mystical machinery. Most of the steampunk technology in Deadlands has its origin in the fevered mind of a Mad Scientist, but the magical energies channeled by the creator during the building of the invention generally make mass production impossible. A variety of Mad Scientists, such as Dr. Hellstromme, have surmounted this obstacle to some extent, which has led to the wide-spread use of Ghost Rock Boilers, Steam Tarantulas, Clockwork Automatons, and several of the more exotic (and dangerous) weapons floating around the Weird West. In , the Ghost Rock Bombs that led to earth's apocalyptic state were created by Dr. Hellstrome.
*"Shaman": Shamans are detailed in the "Ghost Warriors" Sourcebook.

"Deadlands: Hell on Earth"

See:

ee also

*Deadlands
*List of Deadlands sourcebooks