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TTRPG Design Tool: Character Maps
🕑 Added 2025-05-29 14:00:19 +0000 UTCMany years ago, when I started work on what became 5e I developed a tool to look at how players experience a TTRPG system. I called them player maps.
A player map breaks down mechanics into a simple schematic that shows the process a player goes through in piloting their character. What choices do they face? How do they navigate the path from starting their turn to ending their turn? Can we spot any conceptual rough points or overly complex segments?
The map starts with the action economy. In the case of D&D 5e, a bonus action and an action. It then charts the decision making process that the player goes through to figure out how to use their action and bonus action.
Since the playtest psion released earlier this week, I thought it would be fun to look at that class with this tool. Here's a diagram that shows what a 3rd level psion looks like with the psykinetic subclass (chosen at random) in combat:
The map doesn't try to capture everything in the game, especially core rules that are available to everyone (you might work up a separate map for the vanilla options). It looks only at the elements unique to the design.
Options in dark blue boxes are structural choices that don't involve expending resources. Green boxes are at-will options, red ones are regained with a short rest, black ones are regained with a long rest. A box in blue is a subclass feature.
This design is really fascinating on a few levels:
The psion's action is any spellcaster's action. That's good in that it keeps things familiar, but potentially a problem if you want this class to feel very different from others. Id Insinuation - a debuff that makes saving against spells from specific schools harder - applies if you use spells from certain schools and expend an encounter resource.
That leaves the bonus action carrying the entire weight of making the class feel distinct. Remember how I hate bonus actions? This is one of the big reasons why. Right now, the design has the full complexity of spellcasting (which is a lot) and then adds the elements that make this class distinct on top of it inside the bonus action.
The subclass benefit sits inside one option inside of the character's bonus action. Is that prominent enough to make the subclass stand out?
In looking at the player map, in my experience a good one does the following:
It gives a player a distinct flow of decisions versus other characters they have played.
It allows the player to enter the mind space of their character. The map sets up decisions that parallel what the character is thinking, making it easier to create immersion.
It points out areas where there are too few and too many decisions, allowing a designer to space out options in a way that makes it easier for a player to navigate their options.
For class design, I recommend starting with a rough map that shows how you want the character (the fictional person in the game) to approach a situation. Let's consider a theoretical assassin character in combat:
You can then use that map to build the player's decision process. Running the through process of your player and their character in parallel is a great way to create immersion and build a distinct experience.
If this map matches the assassin's decision process in the world of our game, you can imagine that you want options that hit the following notes:
A special assassination attack that deals a truckload of damage when you strike from hiding or otherwise surprise someone.
Some special abilities around evading detection or escaping from pursuit.
Perhaps a disguise ability to get close to a target without being noticed.
Perhaps some special attacks to move through opponents, distract them, evade counterattacks, or otherwise survive to engage the target.
Building a clear map is key to understanding a character class. If you don't have a clear destination in mind, your design is likely to drift, waver, and end up in an incoherent state.
Comments
Mike Mearls
The assassin chart isn't mechanical. It's just capturing the concept of the class. If I then designed the class, I'd need to translate that into the action economy.
Mike Mearls
Thanks! The idea with the first chart is to show you how a player has to navigate the choices in the class. A better example might be the ranger, where a chart like this can show the tension between hunter's mark and off-hand attacks (both use a bonus action).
Seliel the Shaper
I don't really understand how the first chart is helpful (for the psion's action economy), but the assassin's flowchart really helped put things in perspective. Thinking about the target gameplay for a class like this can really help ensure you give that class abilities that reinforce the desired gameplay loop. Thanks for this insight!
Michael Sixel
I feel like you cheated with this assassin map. Hiding is their bonus action, imo, and you skipped right over that. I could be wrong, but that's my first impression.
