I relayed the information about the Sorcerer-King Pact, Gladiator, and Templar themes . . . but what I got back was: "Okay, that's interesting and all but what positions would they normally hold socially? I know arcane casters have the whole defiling going on so they're not trusted too much, and there are psionics running through everyone, but where do the rest of the classes stack up?"
It really kind of stung to have to say: "Well the book doesn't say explicitly, I might have to dig it out or make it up. Where's your 2nd Edition sourcebooks?"
I kind of get there was a big focus on pushing the themes into the book, and in offering certain classes different takes on their outlooks . . . but I'm extremely wary that there were not three pages devoted to pointing out the core Player's Handbook classes and how they fit in. If I dig out my 3rd Edition Forgotten Realms sourcebook, or the Dragonlance one, I know there will be even a short section which will inform me what roles each class tend to fall into as a guideline.
Is there an article on this matter published, or did I miss a subheading in the book? Was there a "Player's Guide" released that I missed?
- Martial classes are always going to exist in the broad spectrum of social strata. After all, there is only specialized training and more training involved rather than birthright.
- Divine influence has been stamped out on Athas due to the gods having left. (Though we kind of agreed on going to the worship of elemental spheres as per 2e material for the sake of argument, and nobody in the group would push any further past "Cleric" so that's that.) So divine classes no longer have a place, more or less.
- Primal classes likely don't quite mesh into city structure so they're not as much of an issue . . . except in exceptional cases, naturally.
- Psionic classes are also simple; everyone in Athas has some talent and a part of the populace has more than others. They could VERY easily slide into the role normally occupied by Arcane classes such as the Wizard or Sorcerer (i.e. advisors or court magician).
- Arcane classes . . . are a mess. The fact Arcane power now causes defiling (by popular perception) means they would be outcasts to any sane structure of civilization. But this is Athas, so I fully expect they can pretty much force themselves through anywhere by sheer intimidation tactics.
Even with all this hashed out in less than five minutes' consideration, and as simple as it looks . . . it doesn't answer other more detailed questions rather than the general question. Here is one which came about just from the friends and I kicking around ideas: Wizards, Sorcerers, and Warlocks are probably lie in the general framework as above. Sure, accepted. What about Bards? Their power is derived from Arcane sources, so . . . are they lumped in with Preservers or Defilers, or do they get shunted into their own little corner and separated?
Lets take bards as an example, since you're wondering about them.
Amongst Elves, Bards fufil an almost priestly role, given the Elves' long traditation of using their arts of singing and dancing to maintain ties to the elements. You can often find an Element Singer or Battle Dancer who are Bardic Members of Elf tribes. They are advisors to leaders, and revered by many.
In Gulg, the Bards of the Drum Circle are feared by others, for they are said to be capable of snaring the souls of listeners, or to kill them with a story. Although large numbers of people cheer and whoop when the drummers play at festivals, only the young or foolish would ever venturer into a drummer dagada. They are figures of rumour, fear, and terror.
To the North, in the great Halfling city of Thamasku one can find the winddancers. These Juggler Acrobats seem to run up walls with their grace, and magically augmented speed, entertaining watchers with their flashy movers and musical cries. Entertainers above all, they are not provided with any special grace, but are not maligned unfairly either.
Really, when you get down to it, your social position in Athas is a matter of background and player/gm discussion, your class and theme, while enlightening, don't give you the whole picture.
Next up on the table then is where to settle things down, thanks you two
While it can work in very basic set-ups, a realistic setting would rarely ever have "This group are all battleminds or this monastic order are composed of only monks."
Arcane based classes do have to hide their abilities but there are plenty of ways for them to do that generally (more on the DM/story telling side than that of the players).
The only that I can think of where it is more beneficial to lump all of a group as a single class based archetype would be for large scale encounters (skirmishes or mass battles).