Class Hack for Knave

Here are some simple but effective character classes to bolt onto Knave. These are not playtested so exercise your own judgment.

Magic-User
You can use panoply items to focus your magical power. Panoply items are wizardly accoutrements such as a staff, robes, amulet or pointy hat. Each panoply item must be different from the others.

Each panoply item can be used once per day for one of the following effects:
- Restore a spellbook that has been expended
- Force an enemy to reroll a saving throw against one of your spells
- Supercharge a spell as you cast it. Supercharging generally doubles the effect of the spell. The exact details depend on the spell and GM adjudication.

You can carry a number of panoply items equal to your level.

Fighter
You can exert yourself for extra power in battle. Exerting yourself means filling one of your empty inventory slots with "Exerted". The slot must already be empty - you cannot throw away an item and exert that slot on the same combat round. Exerted slots are cleared after a night's rest.

By exerting yourself you can use one of the following effects:
- Gain advantage on an attack or defense roll
- Add 1d6 damage to a successful attack
- Add a stunt to a successful attack

The maximum number of slots you can exert is equal to your level.

Rogue
When purchasing items in town, you can instead opt to fill one slot with a "Useful Item" and note the value of the item. At any time, you can declare what the Useful Item is. It must be a mundane item you could conceivably have purchased for that value or less. It can also be a specific magic item (not a spellbook) that you already own but left in storage.

The maximum number of slots you can fill with Useful Items is equal to your level.

Notes

- Credit: the panoply items are from Benjamin Baugh and Courtney Campbell, exertion is based on the stamina rules from Grave, and the Useful Items are found in Kidnap the Archpriest, Dungeon World, and probably others.

- What I like about these classes is they are simple, but distinctive and relatively potent. I've seen a few class hacks for Knave that add very light classes with just a few minor bonuses. This might seem in the spirit of the base game, but I feel that it's better to have noticeable classes or none at all.

- The Fighter's ability encourages them to carry minimal items "Conan style". I restricted them from tossing items in combat because I thought it would get silly if they were shedding random stuff during every battle (a problem I also have with the "shields will be splintered" rule).

- One issue with this system is that PCs' item slots might get chocker-block at high levels. A 10th level Fighter will have 10 Exert slots, but how many will they actually be able to use if their Constitution is at 15 or 16?

- A lot of Knave hacks seem to interact with the encumbrance system, unsurprisingly since it's at the core of the game. But the more things you load up into encumbrance slots, the more likely it is that Constitution becomes a must-have stat.

- The Rogue's ability might not scale up very well compared to the other two classes. The idea is that at low levels the Rogue is whipping out useful mundane items, but at high levels they are more focused on magic items. The limitation on not bringing spellbooks is rather inelegant, but I think if it weren't there then the Rogue would end up being a bit of a "spellbook valet" for the Magic-User.

- One oddity about the Rogue's ability is that you can use it to "protect" valuable items. Say you have a McGuffin that mustn't fall into the villain's hands. You can leave it in town and bring a "Useful Item" which might be the McGuffin if you need it, but won't be the McGuffin if the villain captures you and searches your pack. I think this is a feature, not a bug, since it lets the Rogue be Grant Morrison-era Batman, always two steps ahead of the enemy. But some people might find it a bit weird.