Friday, December 24, 2021

I Fight!


The Fighter.

I haven't posted as much about this class as others, mostly because they are pretty cool as is. I did post some simple house rules here though.

Of all the basic classes, the Fighter is perhaps the most meat-and-potatoes. The B/X Fighter's benefits are basically this:

1. Best attack values, along with Dwarfs and Halflings of course*

2. No weapon or armor restrictions

3. Can use the fuck out of magic swords

4. Best hit die, along with Dwarfs of course

For Doomslakers B/X I have really struggled to articulate this class. Because there are two competing things going on. First, you can add tons and tons of house rules to make Fighters much cooler. But the aesthetic of B/X leans toward simplicity and I'm trying to embrace that way. So I do not want a ton of fiddly bits. I want Fighters to be as unchanged from the original game as possible. They need to be simple.

That being said, here's my fairly simple additions to the B/X Fighter class for Doomslakers B/X.

Weapon Bonus

Fighters are particularly good with a single type of weapon, gaining +1 to hit and to damage when using weapons of that type. Choose between: axes, bows, daggers, swords, or other.

At every fourth level (4, 8, 12) the Fighter gains the same bonus in a different category.

Crits & Momentum

Upon scoring a Critical Hit, a Fighter can immediately attack again if there is a target within range. Also, when a Fighter slays a target they can immediately attack another target that is within range due to their killing momentum.

Battle Moves

A Fighter can declare a stunt or special battle move before making an attack roll. If the attack hits, no damage is dealt but the maneuver succeeds. For example, a Fighter can disarm their opponent, kick a brick loose to topple some stones, or some other equally cool stunt. The GM will consider the difficulty and utility of the stunt and apply an attack roll penalty as they see fit.

If a Battle Move causes a ruckus that could cause damage to foes, the GM may grant Saving Throws vs. Paralysis for the affected enemies. The damage dealt should be modest (generally 1d6). For example, knocking over a large statue into a throng of charging guards might deliver 1d6 points of damage to any guard failing to make the Save.

(Battle Moves were presented in Black Pudding #4. Clearly this is inspired by DCC RPG's Mighty Deeds mechanic, but also it flows naturally from game mechanics such as Feats, which are quite common. The genius of Mighty Deeds is to disentangle the idea of a Feat from it's spell-like clarity into a more creative outlet.)

*Though it does SUCK MUCH that all PCs attack with the same values for 3 levels. It would have made more sense and been more elegant if Fighters started with a slight advantage in this area. For a one shot game, this means playing a fighter is not the best pick, even if you wanna fight. Better to choose Elf. Sure, the hit points are SLIGHTLY less but you have the exact same fighting prowess otherwise AND you get a magic spell. But I digress...

6 comments:

  1. Im curious. Looking back through all the posts for your Doomslaker project,you have no cleric class and although your wizard class has access to all spells they can only memorize any given spell once. How do you handle healing?

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    1. I don't like healbots. So I am not including the Cleric as one of the 7 basic classes. Plus I just detest the basic Cleric.

      If I do a follow up to this book, which I hope to do, I am going to include some additional classes and I might do the Cleric at that point. But it still won't be a healbot.

      So yeah, I'm aware that I've removed a fairly fundamental element of the game. Without a Cleric, where you gonna get your hit points from?

      Got a few house rules in mind that I've used before, mostly keyed to increasing the healing from a rest. Also, the Wizard can and should be making potions. Still won't be lying around everywhere but helpful.

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  2. Cool, thanks. Im not a fan of clerics either. Theres an inherent level of responsibilty to deity that should be there, but most people ignore that and cherry pick special abilities in modern games with no concern for what they are supposed to represent.
    And its just a headache! I prefer generic healer type classes. I have seen some systems where healers have seperate pools of healing spells and combat/utility magic

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    1. Yes exactly. So when I do introduce Clerics into the mix, they may not be a separate class. Instead, it might just be a sub-class of some kind. Or each class might have a clerical sub-class. But the point is you get some powers granted by your god and you get a host of restrictions and requirements in their service.

      In that sense, the idea of a chosen one priest is badass. No automatic healing powers, no blunt weapons. Very specific to the campaign setting.

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  3. I'm toying with 'maximum effort' for fighting classes. Burn HP for advantage on the next roll.

    Have you checked this out?

    https://talesoftheramblingbumblers.com/2009/07/31/super-simple-combat-maneuvers/

    Basically, a fighter declares their maneuver and rolls as normal. A fail is a fail, a success allows the target to choose to take the damage or the stunt. So like, "I trip the goblin" and the roll succeeds, the goblin can either trip or avoid it, but take damage instead.

    This works really well if you are thinking of HP as stamina or effort. It takes energy to avoid the trip.

    It is a bit difficult narratively but mechanically it seems cool.

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