- Warrior – melee master. Gains one permanent additional attack die for every roll. Can use heavy weapons (and armor?). (Can dual-wield with no penalty?)
- Dwarf – stout and hardy. Gains one permanent defense die for every roll. Can use heavy weapons and armor with no movement penalty. Doubles value of any non-dropped gold.
- Paladin – knight sworn to divine service. Gains +1 att/def versus undead. Can heal one party member for one body point per turn if enemy is in line of sight. Can use heavy weapons and armor.
- Ranger – extremely versatile. Can use melee and ranged, and may learn some magic; cannot use heavy weapons or armor. Excluding movement roll, may take one additional action of his choice per turn. Learns one random spell-charge (or may add one half-charge to known spell) when non-dropped treasure is acquired in line of sight.
- Wizard – magic master. Cannot use armor or most weapons. Learns one random spell-charge (or may add one half-charge to known spell) when enemy is defeated in line of sight.
- Mage Knight – skilled in both magic and close combat. Cannot use heavy weapons or armor. Learns one random spell-charge (or may add one half-charge to known spell) when he defeats enemy with melee attack.
- Cleric – divine-blessed healer. Cannot use armor or most weapons; may learn some magic. Can either 1) heal one party member for one body point per turn if enemy is in line of sight OR 2) may deal one unblockable damage per turn to undead enemy in line of sight. Learns one random spell-charge (or may add one half-charge to known spell) when undead enemy is defeated in line of sight.
- Thief – dexterous and sly. Cannot use most weapons or armor; may use minimal magic. Might not immediately be detected by enemies. May attempt to steal any carried item or gold from adjacent enemy. Gains +1 att if behind enemy; gains +1 damage to any successful thrown attack.
- Archer – ranged specialist. May use some weapons; may not use heavy armor. May attack adjacent enemies for -1 att.
- Machinist – tool specialist. Can use heavy armor; cannot use heavy weapons. Reveals traps by moving across their location; does not trigger most traps. Gains +(?) di[c]e on rolls to disable traps.
This is the list we've been using thus far, with a tad more definition to their characters. I declined to include base stats because those are going to be subject to heavy scrutiny shortly. Also, I left one off because I'm still trying to balance her and figure our how she works in. Tentative desc.:
- Valkyrie – blessed battle maiden. May not use heavy armor; may use heavy weapons; may learn some magic. Excels at dual-wielding. Learns one random spell-charge (or may add one half-charge to known spell) when _______ enemy is defeated in line of sight.
The unfortunate thing with her is designing her to function. Obviously she closely mirrors the Warrior and the Ranger, but she does not receive the attack bonus the Warrior does and she is barred from range (by which I mean bows; spear weapons, daggers, and throwing axes are included but need balancing). My inclination is to remove dual-wielding penalties from her class, but the Warrior tentatively has that. Possible solution would be to allow the Warrior to dual-wield any weapon, regardless of off-hand restrictions, and leave him with the penalty. I'll bring that up next meeting.
Also, I have a major bone with the spell system. Notice I said Thief may learn (charge) minimal magic, but I declined to denote when he may do so. This is mostly because I'm not sure how to restrict the magic between the different classes without making separate spell charts for each caster class. Obviously the Wizard will be more inclined to BOOM magic, dark magic and various eclectic spells; the Mage Knight (formerly Battlemage, which just rubbed me the wrong way) to assault magic (similar to BOOM, possibly crossing over into direct elemental); the Ranger to Support-type and minor elemental and healing; the Cleric to Support and Healing; etc., etc.
Problem with that is our aforementioned problem was at the same time a worshiper of the God Statistics and completely lacking in imagination—which he readily admitted. He was the one who devised ALL the previous spell lists, and his clever categories were Life, Death, Arcane, Dark, Chaos, and Nature. I don't think he quite understood where some of those categories crossed over. (He also had one spell labeled "Sacrifice" which bore this description: "You die. You become zombie." Wtf.) At any rate, this setup doesn't line well with what I see for magic concepts, so I will be working very closely with my spell-chart friend on that angle.
Anywho. That and a closing RP post have comprised my entire day.
Which started at two in the afternoon.
Hush.
