Another idea I've been kicking around with my gaming group is a campaign with the PCs initially as members, then as leaders, of a Thieves' Guild in a major fantasy city. The goal would be to sort of have a game combining elements of the Grand Theft Auto series, Scott Lynch's books, the Ocean's Eleven series, the Elder Scrolls' Thieves' Guild and Dark Brotherhood quests, the movie Heat, the show Leverage and other such works. Would probably feature a few assassin-type jobs and some dungeon 'heists' that are basically reflavored dungeon crawls.
Now I really don't want to have a party of just thieves, so I'm trying to think of ways that other classes could be part of a criminal gang. I already have a variety of jobs in mind to ensure that all character types will have something to do, but I'm still trying to think of ways the various classes can fit into a gang of thieves.
I'm already thinking that heavy armor wouldn't suit an urban campaign (running around on the rooftops in full plate just seems sort of silly), so I was toying with allowing fighters and paladins to take the Barbarian's Unarmored Defense feature, but I worry that'd be too unbalanced and would make Barbarians less attractive.
Anyways, here are random thoughts on how the classes might fit. Any input and further suggestions would be quite helpful:
-Barbarian: This can certainly still work, sort of as a thug/brute/enforcer/muscle type.
-Bard: Fits it pretty well.
-Cleric: This one might need a bit of work to reflavor, and some of the domans don't quite fit. The Knowledge domain could serve almost as the 'hacker' or criminal knowledge archetype from lots of heist media (a la Lester from GTAV). Trickery Domain would fit perfectly, too, especially if the cleric is a priest of some sort of thief god.
-Druid: Since it's an urban landscape, it doesn't seem to fit all that well, unless the character embraces the sort of ecology present in a city (sewer rats, pigeons, etc, etc). Could also be flavored as an arcane, shapeshifting trickster instead.
-Fighter: Works as written, as a thug/enforcer/hitman, although I'm stiil leery of heavy armor.
-Monk: The spiritual aspects don't fit well with what I have in mind, but the movement and other combat options make them cool parkour/assassin/runner/enforcer types.
-Paladin: This one just doesn't seem to fit at all. Could potentially just be reflavored as an enforcer/thug type with some magical or alchemical tricks.
-Ranger: Works as a scout/assassin/tracker, though I might have to houserule something to account for the fact that Natural Explorer is now pretty much useless in a mostly urban game. It could work in city parks, massive gardens or in the tunnels beneath the city, but that's about it.
-Rogue: This one may take a lot of work to get it to fit. Kidding, of course.
-Sorcerer: Works fine as is. Depending on spell choice, could be artillery/sniper archetype, or a trickster/befuddler.
-Warlock: Works like sorcerer, as above. The patron feature could even be a fun client (or a mark) for a job.
-Wizard: Like the above two, also works as written.
So my major concern is finding ideas to make the Paladin or other Cleric domains work, either with flavor or houserules, finding an alternative to to the Ranger's Natural Explorer feature, and perhaps finding a way to mitigate the fact that heavy armor won't fit in the game.
Your assessment sounds bang on. Certainly I would try and steer the party clear of choosing Paladin & Druid. The Monk could work, provided you put some thought into why they are to undertake the job(s), such as returning an artifact to a temple. If any Fighter tries to scale walls and run around on rooftops in heavy armor, they deserve whaterever fate or the DM hands them.
Trickery domain for the Cleric works well - any others seem a lot harder to fit in. Again, with the right story background I think the Cleric and Paladin could work. They would have to have a higher reason than just loot.
A Monk will work just fine for your concept. I play a Monk/Rogue with Expertise in Stealth and Perception, so I am the group's Designated Spy. Watch the cartoon version Jackie Chan Adventures for inspiraton (Grandfather).
Why not use a Paladin as a Police enforcer / bounty hunter? The BBEG - no wait BBGG - of the campaign.
An urban Ranger could work, if you look over the Urchin background for inspiration. In this case, you know which merchants don't keep a close eye on their wares and you can 'borrow' one, a la Disney's Aladdin: "One jump ahead of the bad guys"
A sewer Druid can work, so could a "domesticated Druid" who changes into beasts of burden, dog, cat, &c. (Sorry no parakeets flitting around town.)
A Cleric of Light can join the Thieves Guild in good conscience to fight the undead swarming the sewers - for rather different reasons, of course. You could also create your own Cleric Domains (such as Darkness, Earth, Air, Fire, Craft, Evil, Illusion, or Water) by using suitable Wizard spells.
A Fighter could also show up as a patron - hey, HE can't jump around rooftops as you pointed out.
You could houserule that Fighters (only) can add their full DEXmod to AC with Medium Armor. (Normally limited to +2.) This would give them almost as high AC, if they take finesse weapons and max DEX.
This is a terrific idea. :-)
For the cleric, consider a "servant of the downtrodden" type. Maybe he requires a portion of the loot be set aside for the poor. Maybe there's a large, powerful established religion and the other ones have been relegated to practicing in secret and scrounging for scraps or only serving the peasant class. Maybe it's the land's native religion that has been subdued by a conquering mythos. In those scenarios, supporting a thieve's guild is the only way to serve the real people in need.
Best of luck!
Great ideas, all! Thanks!
I especially like the Druid of domesticated animals: now I have this mental image of a druid thief with an army of cats to do her bidding. :P
And I like the 'servant of the downtrodden, too.' Could also have something like Shepherd Book from Firefly/Serenity: someone who is along for the ride, maybe offering spiritual guidance and praying for the thieves' souls and such.
Many good ideas here. I particularly support Paladins being antagonists, although an Oath of Vengence could possibly work. I see no problems with rangers and druids, as discussed above. For armor, I would suggest making heavy armor illegal outside of law enforcement within city limits. Then there is cost associated with wearing it (the threat of being identified as a criminal on sight) to be traded against fighter concepts more fitting to the campaign flavor.
Interesting stuff, I'll take this down and save it in case I ever want to run a campaign like what you're describing. Thanks for your input 
A Dex based Fighter as written is just fine.
Remember they get Athletics as a class skill... so clambering around rooftops is all good.
Plus of course they can freely multiclass into Rogue.
If you make it a Rapiers and Pistol Crossbows/Muskets sort of period, Breastplates will be the heaviest armours (like the Cardinals Guards out of Musketeers) and heros won't often use such things, preferring speed and agility.
Also, on the skullduggery side of things, walking around in heavy armour attracts too much attention from the authorities in most places, so Dex Fighters will be preferable for a Thieves Guild.
Great idea in general.
What you could do to incorporate all kinds of good PCs / backgrounds:
Make this happen in a city ruled by evil tyrants, and this thieves' guild is a mix of standard thieves' guild
and underground rebels - doing some not so legal / good stuff every now and then for the "greater good".
Or not. There might be some nice moral / ethical / alignment challenges...
Mechanically... no problems at all.
If you tell the players in advance how the campaign will be, they can choose what's right and think of
some unusual backgrounds / PC history to make things fit.
For the "nature guys", give them a few out of city adventures every now and then.
While you could try to fit all classes into the guild, don't feel like you have to. Maybe wizards are super organized and are a rival guild in the city so the thieves have to rely on sorcerers and warlocks who are shunned and hunted by the wizard guild. Similarly so with monks, maybe they serve as the city police force and are such a pain because they would be such excellent thieves. Paladins might be royal honor guards and inquisitors rooting out the corruption the guild has sown. Sometimes limiting the classes can make a richer story where the personas distinguish the character above class.
One thought, I love the idea of Druids in cityscapes. Consider using them as the messengers of the guild, ravens coordinating plans across the city. Rat spies in the walls of the wizard tower. "Why yes, that paladin's mount is our man, Bruce." I let thorn whip be used to grab on to stationary objects and pull the caster up like a short grappling hook that only takes you up 10ft. Druids are the ultimate spies. Also, Druid pirates... Terrors of the seas.
FighterFan wrote: