Class slots

I am Currently creating a ruleset for my next game when ever it is. I was also revisiting the game Backpack Hero developed by Jaspel. In it, you play as a mouse with a magic backpack. Inside this backpack you store items that have abilities that help you throughout the run. All your magic, healing items, armour and weapons have to fit in (at first) a 3x3 grid. I found it quite interesting but I realised I could apply this to TTRPGs. See, I don't like classes as they feel too constrained to their archetype. If my fighter wants to cast a spell then tough luck. I put this idea on the backburner until I bought the starter set for Warhammer 40k: Wrath and Glory. Now, they use a point buy system for every thing and now I present a basic prototype. 

The Prototype

 

The blue item is a feature while the red is a different feature. Size not final

 

The two classes I plan to have are Steel and Spell. Steel can move features at a moment's notice to fit a new technique. For example, Steel can rotate the feature 90 degrees and slot it in the right most column. Also all the features are orthogonal lines, with the most powerful features being a square. 

Spell can change the individual words once they learn new features. For example, if this spell caster found a Charm person feature that only targets one person, they can swap the AOE in fire blast with single target from charm person. Spells are often in unusual shapes and simple spells are like tetraminoes while more powerful spells would spiral out and may even be ring like in shape.

The current idea is you start with a 3 boxes x 3 boxes grid at 1st level, 4x4 at 4th and 5x5 at 7th level. There are no 10th level characters to confirm that they get a 6x6 grid. You can gain features by doing something that people will remember you for. Roll 1d6 once you do something of note (1 You get a hint to a place where you can get a feature by usurping the legend there, 2-3 The people remember something you don't expect and 4-6 you are remembered for something you intentionally did)

This also has a unique cure for level drain as level drain takes an open slot or if you are full, it removes a word of the feature and you have to fight the creature to get back the word. Generally players should be getting a choice of  new features regularly as it soon becomes a game of opportunity cost rather than feat stacking. 

Backpack hero from Steam

 

Clickables 

Dungeon Crab races around a dungeon 

1 page dungeons creates some faction archetypes 

Silverarm Press gives us a beta of a Mothership hack