RCCs

[Lukterran]

Racial Character Classes (R.C.C.) are a term and a thing that I have hated about the Palladium System since they were created.

OCC was supposed to represent a characters occupation and training. Which makes complete since!

RCC is a hybrid combine of a character race with a set of racial class skills. Which doesn't make any since if all members of that race have those skills. If that is the case than those skills should just be listed in the natural abilities section (see Ogre for an example).

There is nothing special or different to most RCC that make them unique from other occupations already defined. It just seems like addition extra term/rule that makes the game more a painful for players and GMs to understand and work around.

So what do you all think? Why do you like or disliked RCCs?

[Starmage21]

RCCs represent racial and cultural indoctrination that lead down a particular career path. its just a profession thats closely tied to the race to the point of being part of it entirely.

[Lukterran]

Which is like a Gromek or Ogre. Which is better way showing that cultural indoctrination rather creating another type of occupation that is unique to only that race.

I just think RCC complicated things a lot.

Prior you would pick a race and you pick a OCC, which kept things simple. Just by default depending on the race you would be limited to certain classes.

It was just one of the many things that roled over into PF from Rifts that I thought should not have changed with 2nd Edition.

Now you have GMs/Players that think that if you pick a race with an RCC that the only occupation that is available to that character generic racial one.

[Library Ogre]

In some cases, you're right... there's little reason that Wolfen or Elves would have an RCC. But then you have races like the Danzi or Grimbor... neither are necessarily stupid, but they tend to have relatively straightforward lifestyles, with little variation in skill sets between individuals (which can be accounted for by Related and Secondary skills).

[drewkitty ~..~]

snip....

So what do you all think? Why do you like or disliked RCCs?

What I hate is the misuse of the Label. Where it is applied to something that is not an racially restricted char class. Like how in pre-RUE rifts all the PCC's were slapped with a RCC label.
(aside: Has the same hate of the use of the OCC label being used the same way within the RUE standard.)
I also hate how Races have been slapped with the RCC label too, just because the race text has gotten smooshed into that race's RCC text.

In other words, I see no problem with the RCC label as it has been applied in the PF2 setting (mostly), but hate how it has been abused in other settings.

To give a real world N.A. example: The nat. Americans before the arrival of the europeans would of been considered to have RCCs cause the RCC was a "Way of Life" knowledge base that everyone in the tribe shared to a great extent.

[Razorwing]

The way I have always regarded OCCs RCCs and PCC is fairly simple.

Occupational Character Classes are based on skills that can be learned and trained for. Most do not have any special powers (magic classes are the exception) and tend to rely on skill an training. As stated before, Magical classes like Wizards and such are an exception in that the training (which often takes a decade or more) grants the use of one's mystic energies. There will be some cases when such powers are granted (such as with Priests), but for the most part these are skills that nearly anyone can learn. These are the only classes where one can in theory switch professions after an appropriate period of training.

Racial Character Classes are a unique case where the abilities of these classes come more from the race one belongs to than skills that anyone can learn. Since these classes depend on the abilities of a specific race, only members of that race can train in these classes. If the race in question has a range of RCCs that it can become, it is possible that one could switch to a different RCC later in life... provided that the RCCs in question don't limit themselves to one particular area of training. Only rarely will it be possible for a character to become an RCC later in life (Vampires are one of these rare exceptions).

Psychic Character Classes are another unique case that also limits who can train in these areas. In this case, one needs to be Psychic (one either is or isn't Psychic... it isn't a skill one can learn). Any race that can have psychics are usually allowed to be these classes (an Elf can be just as powerful a Mind Mage as a human). Most of the time, the training in these classes prevents one from later switching classes... though it may be possible in some cases. However, unless one has Psychic powers to begin with, one can not switch into a PCC later in life. One is either born Psychic or one isn't... unlike magic, Psionics isn't a skill that can be learned... only harnessed to one's full potential.

Now I realize that not everyone will ascribe to these definitions... especially in regards to PCCs (some will insist that one can learn to be psychic). That is not the point. The point is that for the games I play and run, there is a distinct difference between the three types of classes and how they interact with the possibility of changing classes. It is something we make very clear to players who join our group wanting to combine classes between the three... such as a Mage with no psionic powers when created trying to become a Mind Mage later in his career or a Dragon Hatchling wanting to become a Vampire. We've made the clear distinctions between these types of classes to prevent absurd combinations that make no sense.

[drewkitty ~..~]

The only thing I would add to RW's description of PCC's is that the char is bound to be the psychic class because it is the nature of the char/the core essence of the char/the essential nature of the char is what determines what he or she is...not something the char "Chose" to be. This is the "Why" PCCs canon not change their 'class' while they have their psionic powers.
The Only Way they can make a choice to be anything else is to somehow have their powers taken or lost to them, in the permeant meaning of lost.
(answering a question "why can choose another class if they loose their powers?" for those still not getting it: Because they are no longer psychic if they do not have psychic powers and can no longer be what they were. Before their powers were gone they LITERALLY could not just decide to be something else.)

I'm sorry if I got too word or poetic with the above, but I've tried to explain this before and the stubborn ones refused to "get it" the PCC's are something other then just another OCC. Which being why they have a label different from the Job Classes.

RCCs: these are more fungible in meaning but at the core of them is that the class is somehow restricted so not just anybody can chose to be one. Whether the deciding part is inherited based or if it is a 'way of life' based, or if limited by a clan or a house, somehow it is limited to just insiders of that group.