Introduction
Product Manager and Semi-Professional Botanist. These are two of my business cards. So when the idea (inspired by a Barbarian-style tweet) to write a D&D class system for developers hit me, I had to implement it. It was funny and I hope you have fun too. I didn't plan on creating a working gaming system. Alas, some classes and properties are completely out of balance. But you will definitely recognize yourself in one of the descriptions and have fun categorizing friends and colleagues.
This classification will still be refined (endless beta version with all the consequences), so I am open to your suggestions and comments. Your best bet is to write to me on Twitter .
Classes
Barbarian
Barbarians fearlessly fly into battle, bravely crushing all obstacles and enemies. They chuckle at the idea of security, knowing and accepting that programming is dangerous. However, their reckless attitude sometimes leads to problems ...
Men can have impressive beards, while women can have short hair.
Don't enjoy a pleasant weekend, send it to production in the middle of Friday!
At 16.00 they switch from power engineers to beer.
Safety? Ha!
Unit tests give you a false sense of security. Programming should not be perceived as secure. Each line of your code should bother you with how it will destroy the entire program. Throw yourself ferociously into this dark abyss.
- Katerina Borodina .
The Reckless Frenzy of Programming
Double productivity, double chance of bugs. Epic
Level: Marathon
Can hack tirelessly for 24 hours, but after that he immediately needs to rest twice as long, or he gets two levels of exhaustion.
Weaknesses
Documentation.
Probable professions
Backend developer.
Special Ability: Fury
Disable all unit tests to gain +3 Wisdom and damage immunity due to production bugs.
Bard
Bards epitomize the importance of verbal and written communication, as well as the endless intricacies of non-verbal communication. They change the course of history and leave traces in this world, mainly influencing other people, although they have a few tricks in store. Careless bards risk getting bogged down in endless meetings.
They can push regrettable code, create barely satisfying layouts, and write passable copies.
Usually useful outside of combat.
Very good for talking and spreading information about the heroic deeds of colleagues.
Cutting Words
Reduce the scope of all current tickets so that your teammates get +2 to their chosen property during the sprint.
Epic level: asks for a favor
Once a day, you can ask for the favor of a friendly NPC, who should help you in a way that does not harm your interests.
Weaknesses
Focus on work, quarterly planning.
Probable professions
Product manager.
Special Feature: Action Plan
You unfold a document (paper or electronic, of your choice) that lists one opponent of your choice and incapacitate him until the start of your next turn.
Priest
Priests are loyal protectors of the weak and guardians of shrines. They patiently clean up the mess left by the team when, after the fifth time in a week, someone rolls out the product without adequate test coverage. They are deeply devoted to one particular character or group, be it the spirit of Linus Torvalds or the deity of swarm intelligence that emerged from the Haskell community.
Everywhere they proudly display the symbols of their deity: they decorate a laptop, a T-shirt, a bag and, probably, panties with Linux penguins.
They might wonderfully find a post on StackOverflow that explains how to solve your particular situation.
Divine intervention
If the team is stuck on a specific task or problem, you can get +5 Research or View History to try to find a solution in the mysterious knowledge hidden in the dusty corners of the Internet. You can only use this property again after a long rest.
Epic Level: Unrivaled Healing
Once a day, you can roll back the codebase to its previous state, as a result, all team members are restored to health points and spell slots.
Weaknesses
Brand new problems.
Probable professions
Quality engineer.
Special Feature: Hotfixes
All team members immediately receive one D4 die + 1 hit point and immediately repair all damaged equipment, but you must skip your next turn.
Druid
Fearing, like a modern dangerous disease, the stereotypical addiction of programmers to energy drinks, druids work better under natural conditions: with a keto diet, intermittent fasting and with the so-called "bulletproof coffee". Well, or they tell everyone so. The strength of the Druids stems from their connection with the forces of nature, that is, they often possess knowledge of computer science. They work best in situations where the line between planning and execution is blurred, turning "flow" back into "workflow."
Good candidate for "tanks": rushes to the threat to absorb damage and protect the team.
Most likely obsessed with the keto diet, organic foods, intestinal microflora, etc.
Changes its appearance
As an additional action, you can turn into a designer, product manager, or analyst at the same level as your character. You can maintain this appearance for up to 8 hours and then automatically return to your normal state. All of your gear morphs with you, except for your VP, which now matches the new look.
Epic Level: Archdruid
When you change your appearance, you will retain your other skills, for example, you can program and design at the same time.
Weaknesses
Waterfall development methodology.
Probable professions
Front-end developer.
Special Feature: Posture Change
As an additional action, you can move the table from a seated to a standing position, gaining advantage on Constitution saving throws before the start of your next turn.
Warrior
Warriors are patient and reliable team members who get the job done thanks to good general skills and core specialization. They are usually slow and steady, without flashy spells or divine intervention. But it is they who are most often chosen as allies in difficult situations. They often find themselves in the role of behind-the-scenes leaders, providing guidance and support.
Can be programmed in two languages.
Usually, other classes are treated with disdain as not living up to expectations.
Packed with equipment: three monitors, a mechanical keyboard, a gaming mouse, everything is ergonomic.
Specialize in weapons
You gain +2 damage when you write in the language you specialize in. At levels 6, 12 and 18, you can choose to specialize in an additional language.
Epic Level: Commander of the Battle
If you choose to leave the battle as a fighter and focus on leadership and support, all your allies gain +2 attack rolls and an additional D4 die roll for damage.
Weaknesses
Share the team's great accomplishments publicly.
Probable professions
Full-stack developer.
Special Ability: Cyborg Mode
Once a day, you can merge your mind with your sophisticated computer economy to accelerate your abilities and gain +2 to all skill checks. However, at the GM's discretion, overuse of this ability can have long-term side effects, such as loss of humanity ...
Monk
These characters look and behave like they are out of this world. Sometimes one gets the impression that monks have descended to us from higher levels of being. They are experts in using the forces of opponents against themselves and are guided by the motto "do not run into the problem, but streamline it." There is a constant stream of wise platitudes coming from them, but you are not sure if their words make sense, or you are simply not enlightened enough to understand.
Two words: programming kats .
Reason is like water
you cannot be distracted. Meeting only halves your normal productivity, and from level 12, it doesn't cut you at all. Also, you take no damage from eating carbohydrate-rich foods.
Epic Level: Total Detachment
You have resistance to all sound and mental damage in open office spaces. Once per day, you can extend this ability to five friendly creatures within 15 meters for one hour.
Weaknesses
Sometimes you need basic Google syntax.
Probable professions
Head of developers.
Special Ability: Retrospective
Once a day, you can cast a Small Hut as an additional action. The duration is only one hour, not 8, but any friendly creature in the hut regains its spent abilities and spell slots.
Paladin
The last hope of humanity in this fallen world of hack-hacked code and patches. At least that's their story. Others may see them as die-hard idealists who are reluctant to compromise. But regardless of your position, it is obvious that paladins, under all circumstances, stand for quality and purity. They do not hesitate to carry a good word - to their credit, it should be noted that the paladins are trying to raise the whole world to their level.
Choose your deity: Popular options are Android and Linux.
Are indifferent to languages, frameworks, and disputes over the use of tabs or spaces.
No kidding, they will repost the "10x Engineer" thread on Twitter.
Expulsion of the undead
You can pick tech debt up to half your level (rounded down) and make it recede. This effect ends either after 8 hours or when someone touches the tech debt source code.
Epic Level: Revenge
Once you find a bug, you can mark it as a personal enemy and double the damage it deals with any attacks.
Weaknesses
They tend to hurt other people.
Probable professions
Reliability engineer, security specialist (white hacker).
Special Property: Banishing Code
You can activate your sixth sense of deprecated modules to find and remove unwanted pieces of code. If everything went well, then each team member can immediately move at their own speed without provoking an attack.
Pathfinder
Wandering alone, fighting off the denizens of darkness, Pathfinders cherish the world for the sake of unfamiliar innocent souls, refactoring and killing potentially deadly bugs before they cause problems. They feel at home in wild lands where no one dares to enter, and they are able to hunt down the most difficult problems. But everything comes at a price: Rangers are usually lone wolves and are sometimes difficult to interact with. They also often look scared when someone talks to them.
Ranged Weapon: Cloud Computing Expert.
Companion Animal: Either bring a dog to work, or obsessed with colleagues' dogs.
Paving the Way Alone
If you work alone, you gain +2 Wisdom and reduce the amount of rest required by 25%.
Epic Level: Expert Hunter
If you spot an enemy or problem, you double your damage rolls in future battles against that enemy.
Weaknesses
Pair programming.
Likely
DevOps Professions
Special Ability : Camouflage
As an additional action, you can fade into the shadows (or the warm embrace of a beanbag chair), gaining +5 Stealth checks.
Dodger
Dodgers live in the shadows, considering social agreements and restrictions to be just a proposal. They are adept at finding ways around problems, rather than meeting them face to face. It's fun to have rogues in your team, but sometimes they can be a little unreliable, for example, they mysteriously disappear when you need to do regression testing. They also have free ideas about private property: if there is a rogue in the team, do not leave your favorite mug unattended.
Pick Pick: Writes a five-line script to work around the annoying problem.
Complains about glare on the office monitor, even if it is completely black.
Trap detection
Before the team sees the approved plan, you can use your developed intuition to find out if there are any unforeseen dangers and how big the threat is (for example, a gaping hole in the codebase that will take an entire sprint to plug).
Epic Level: Extremely Lucky
Decisions
When you make decisions during development that you are not sure of, roll a D20 die. If the roll is 10 or more, then any of your decisions will be correct, as if at the direction of the Master of the Game. If the roll is 9 or less, then you simply don't get any benefit. You can use this property again on the next full moon.
Weaknesses
Regression testing.
Probable professions
Security specialist (black or gray hacker).
Special Property: Feel Vulnerable
Your next attack will be successful if you target a weak spot. Perhaps SQL injection will help?
Sorcerer
Pure elemental energy flows in their veins, allowing them to perform feats that insignificant mortals could only dream of. They draw strength from their innate ability, having started programming before they could read. Therefore, they simultaneously despise and a little envy the "bookish wisdom" of other classes. Usually confident and charismatic, but can appear arrogant.
Metamagic The
small army of keyboard shortcuts , scripts, and text extensions you've amassed over the years makes you ridiculously efficient, giving you +2 Intellect.
Epic Level: Primal Strength
Your intuitive understanding of the systems you are dealing with means that sometimes you can almost accidentally solve accompanying problems: by dealing damage to an enemy that reduces their health points below 0, you can deal additional damage to the second enemy in range.
Weaknesses
Low-level programming languages.
Probable professions
Python programmer.
Special feature: access to a running database
You are completely immersed in the pure stream of live data, directly drawing power from it. Gain +5 to your magical attacks, but lose 1 health point per turn, as this slowly drains the life force from you.
Witch
The sorcerer made a pact with a powerful being that gave them power - with their IDE. Although it gives them speed and unearthly abilities, sorcerers are useless without it. They are also attached to familiar things: they can secretly keep a rat on the table or grow a new form of life in their hair. Sorcerers must be handled with respect and care due to the fluid nature of the forces lurking at their fingertips.
Book of Agreement
At level 3, you can choose an IDE. As long as it is on your computer, you gain +2 to all Wisdom checks and attack rolls. But if you removed the IDE from your computer, or you had to program on the machine without it, you get -2 to Wisdom.
Epic level: fusion of minds
You are so fused with your IDE that you consider it almost part of the brain. When using the IDE, your bonus is doubled up to +4.
Weaknesses
Command Line Interface.
Probable professions
Data engineer.
Special Feature: Clean Install
You clean up your disk and reinstall the entire OS and IDE with a script that is saved in five different locations. You restore all health points, but you forget everything that happened in the last five minutes.
Wizard
Programmer wizards, like wizards, are puny and quickly irritated. They usually studied software engineering at university, where they picked up the bad habit of quickly plunging into meaningless and violent academic debate. They have a lot of secret knowledge, but they often have to recharge: they usually go to lunch first and consume the most caffeine in order to keep working. They look like an absent-minded scientist, incomprehensibly late for every meeting.
Favorite editor: Vim and emacs.
Studied software development at the university.
They know a lot, but they often have to recharge. They can be easily knocked down: keep them away from dangerous, unknown situations.
Knowledge Master
If you are faced with an enemy of a higher level than yours, you can spend 10 minutes searching for information and checking on the Research, in the hope of finding relevant information in one of the volumes to which you have access. If your check is successful and you are not interrupted during the search, you can add +5 to all rolls when meeting an enemy.
Epic Level: Communicating with Masters
Once a day, you can try telepathically (or by email) to contact your former mentors and ask them for help. Their answer depends on the GM, but it will always be either helpful or neutral, never hurt. But if you misinterpret the message and put yourself at risk, then that's your problem!
Weaknesses
Poorly prioritize where to spend their time.
Probable professions
Backend developer.
Special feature: over-concentration
You temporarily forget about all material problems when you irrevocably immerse yourself in solving a problem. Gain +2 to all abilities for the number of hours rolled on one D4 die, but then gain two levels of exhaustion.