The Mascot Class, for 5e

There’s a character that shows up fairly often in fantasy fiction, that is rarely taken as a player concept in RPGs. This is the brave hireling who tries to defend you with a cooking pot, the gardener and family friend who carries you when your legs give out, the faithful tutor who takes an assassin’s dagger so you can defeat the villain.

They aren’t mages, or warriors, or treasure acquisition experts. They are commoners or civilians, who love the heroes enough to go with them, and are often described as the “heart” of the group… because “hanger-on and potential hostage” doesn’t sound as complimentary.

Basically, they are adventuring group mascots. They DO make appearances as NPCs in some games, and I have seen GMs do great jobs with them. But I also know a lot of players who would LOVE to roleplay the team mascot… as long as they could still DO something.

And I think it’s possible to build a class that gives a player game options that are fun, while still preserving the “civilian” nature of a mascot.

I think this idea works REALLY well for 5e, so I am using that for my framework. We’ll need to start with some basics.

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(Art by Jacob Blackmon)

Mascot Class Features

As a mascot, you gain the following class features.

Hit Points

Hit Dice: 1d6 per mascot level

Hit Points at 1st Level: 12 + your Constitution modifier

Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d12 (or 8) + your Constitution modifier per mascot level after 1st

Proficiencies

Armor: Shields

Weapons: Simple weapons

Tools: Pick any four

Saving Throws: Wisdom, Constitution

Skills: Choose two skills from Animal Handling, Insight, Investigation, Medicine, Perception, Survival, and Religion

Equipment

You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:

(a) a simple weapon and a shield or two simple weapons

(a) Two tools you are proficient with

(a) a dungeoneer’s pack or (b) an explorer’s pack

Table: The Mascot

Level Proficiency Bonus Bonus Features

1st +2 Mascot Archetype

2nd +2 Shtick

3rd +2 Inspiring failure (one use)

4th +2 Ability Score Improvement

5th +3 Schick

6th +3 Ability Score Improvement

7th +3 Mascot Archetype feature

8th +3 Ability Score Improvement

9th +4 Schick

10th +4 Mascot Archetype feature

11th +4 Inspiring failure (one use)

12th +4 Ability Score Improvement

13th +5 Shtick

14th +5 Ability Score Improvement

15th +5 Mascot Archetype feature

16th +5 Ability Score Improvement

17th +6 Inspiring failure (three uses)

18th +6 Mascot Archetype feature

19th +6 Ability Score Improvement

20th +6 Inspiring failure (four uses)

Okay with that we can begin to build out the game options. So, what are the mascot archetypes?! What shticks can you pick from?! How does FAILURE inspire?

Come back over the course of the week, and we’ll investigate these intriguing options.

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