#The Knight (WIP)- A FalchionRPG class for Draw Steel!

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meager jetty
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Hello aspiring knight-errants! It is I, Falchion, and I bring to you a thread for my ongoing development of the Knight class.

At its core, the knight is all about mounted combat. Picture riding into battle atop a war-horse, lance tip glinting as you run a hobgoblin through with a mighty thrust. Or your armored bear mount barreling across the battlefield sending goblin warriors flying in every direction. Or imagine unfurling a magnificent battle standard that is emblazoned with the crest of your knightly order that strikes terror into the hearts of your enemies and lights a fire in the hearts of your allies. This is the knight.

I have been working to make a playable version of the knight over the past week or so and will update thos thread with a pdf version of the class in a playtest state when it is ready! Feel free to comment and provide suggestions on what inspired you about the knight as a class fantasy. blobhero

meager jetty
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The knight will have 3 subclasses or Callings as they are named currently. They are as follows:

Calling:
Every Knight-errant heeds the call of glory in some fashion. One thing is for certain, when the call comes, the brave and true will answer. Knights take up the call to protect their allies, inspire the hearts of their troops, or to drive their mighty weapon straight into the heart of the most dangerous foes. Tell me young knight-errant, what does glory sound like? You choose a Calling from the options below and each one give you access to a skill as well as unique features at 1st level and other levels. (Quick build: Spearhead)

Banner-knight:
The sunlight glints off your armor as it rises over the hills at the turn of the tide of battle. Your banner whips in the wind and unfurls to reveal the magnificent coat of arms of your knightly order and all those who gaze upon it are filled with fear and awe in equal measure. Your allies let out a courageous roar from renewed vigor and charge your foe, crushing them to dust with hope in their hearts. You gain the Lead skill.

Bulwark:
A troll winds up a devastating swing as your ally lies helpless at its feet. Just as the troll brings its massive war-club down, you descend upon it with shining sword in hand. The troll turns and hesitates, seeing your massive armored bear steed growling as it barrels towards it. You place yourself between the troll and your wounded ally, your massive war-bear knocking it off balance with its strong body. With a flash of steel and a roar, you stir your mount to charge and hew the trolls arm clean off as your mighty war bear pummels the troll to the ground, leaving it reeling. With one decisive thrust straight into the trolls meaty neck, you silence the creature once and for all. You gain the Intimidate skill.

Spearhead:
The thunder of hooves shake the earth as a mass of mounted knights on war-steeds descend upon a battle-line of hobgoblins, their wicked spears thrust deep into the earth to form a deadly blockade. As the cavalry charge nears, the war-steeds faulter, not wanting to meet their doom upon the end of a poisoned pike. Just as the hobgoblins think they have the advantage, a knight riding a brilliant pearl-white pegasus appears suddenly from the clouds above and descends rapidly, wings tucked close, and meets the earth with devastating force. Orcs are sent flying in every direction and a blur of silver spear and ivory feathers ensues. When the dust settles, all that's left is the knight atop their pegasus, its white mane now stained black with demon-blood, but still just as brilliant. You gain the Strategy skill.

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Heroic Resource:

The knight's heroic resource is also just called "glory" and there are some unique ways to gain glory in combat by completing Quests!

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Glory

A knights driving motivation is to seek glory as a reward from every endeavor. Your Heroic Resource is named thusly.

Glory in combat

At the start of combat or any other stressful situation tracked in rounds (as determined by the Director), you gain glory equal to your Victories. At the start of each of your turns during combat, you gain 2 glory. You also gain glory on your turn depending on what Quests you complete during combat.

Quests (Glory cont.)

Knights typically go on quests to gain glory by completing certain objectives. You will gain glory once on your turn depending on which quests you complete during combat. The quest objectives are as follows:

  • Charge Forth, Heedless of Harm: The first time you successfully deal damage using a signature ability with the charge keyword after using the Charge main action, gain 1 glory.

  • Aid Thine Allies; In All Matters of War: The first time an ally attacks and gains an edge against an enemy that is under the effect of your Aid Attack maneuver, gain 1 glory.

  • Lay Down Thy Life to Defend the Meek: The first time you reach negative Stamina and become bleeding, gain 2 glory

  • Together, We Shall Slay a Mighty Foe!: When you or an ally reduce an Elite type or above (Elite, Leader, Solo) creature that you have damaged this turn to zero stamina, gain 3 glory.

Glory Outside of Combat

Though you can’t gain glory outside of combat, you can use your heroic abilities and effects that cost glory without spending it. Whenever you use an ability or effect outside of combat that costs glory, you can’t use that same ability or effect outside of combat again until you earn 1 or more Victories or finish a respite.

meager jetty
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What's next?

I will be posting a playtest build of a level 1 Spearhead Knight from the Order of The Tempest within the next day or so. Feel free to discuss below about any ideas you may have! Lastly for now: below is a table that shows the working names, mounts and abilities i have come up with for the different Knightly Orders (think censor domains) that determine what mount you will have upon creating a level 1 character.

meager jetty
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The Knight (WIP)- A FalchionRPG class for Draw Steel!

covert turtle
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This looks super cool thank you for sharing. I worry that Slay Thee a Mighty Foe creates negative play patterns (a player feeling bad that a powerful enemy went down, which should make them feel good!).

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Those mounts are awesome I love the griffon being raven-head specifcially

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The idea of quests like that generally really excite me. They're so on theme.

meager jetty
covert turtle
meager jetty
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Ah, okay I see what you mean. Yeah the knight player would have to take down the powerful foe be it an elite, leader or solo. I think flavor wise it makes sense but I see where there could be friction if someone else takes them down. Perhaps it could use some tuning to make it a more collaborative effort by the whole party? I was thinking sort of a mark system maybe but my fear with that design space is making it too similar to a tactician in a way. Any suggestions?

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Perhaps it could be: When a mighty foe you have recently damaged this turn goes down and you are adjacent to them (or not if ranged i guess), you gain 3 glory? That way, you can still coordinate with your allies to take them down but its as though you are leading the charge.

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It could be renamed to: Together, We Shall Slay a Mighty Foe!

meager jetty
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I was very inspired by this artwork lol its so cool imo

covert turtle
polar blade
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I only have a minute to review this right now, very cool feel and I like the flavor of the Glory HR. On a first glance it seemed like you were using "turn" when maybe it should be "round" in a few places? Might be worth reviewing which is the intent.

meager jetty
meager jetty
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Alright, the initial draft of the playtest is finished! I just have to turn it into something readable by humans and then export it to a pdf 😅 I'll post it here when its done

meager jetty
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As these things tend to go, when drafting up a doc to export to a pdf you tend to notice a lot of things that need to be changed or reworded! And the ideas have been flowing so I've gotten distracted by designing heroic abilities lol

meager jetty
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Alright here it is folks! Let me know what you all think and please give any suggestions you may have!

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I am hard at work on the other mounts, abilities, etc,

covert turtle
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Two things about the Heroic Resource: I think it should get +2 instead of +1d3 because knights are definitely more order than chaos. Not a huge deal either way. The other thing is the cumulative bonus at the start of turn. You could Charge and Aid Attack on turn 1, getting 2 more Glory, then that would get you 2 more Glory at the start of your next turn? That feels really off.

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For the spearhead triggered action, I'd avoid letting a player spend 1 glory and get nothing. You can add a clause that they get the 1 glory back on a tier 1, maybe?

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But even then tier 2 looks weak there. 1 surge and 2 speed for 1 HR when a tactician can grant 2 surges that can be used instantly or the shadow can take a turn for 1 HR isn't a good comparison.

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For the mounts, it's a lot of work but I think there should be rules for if the mount dies or if you get separated. Part of why the Beastheart can ||rip their heart out of their chest and summon their companion|| is to avoid times when the players need to go into a small space and the companion is too big. Also, designing mounts to be as strong as 1 hero feels bad. It means one hero inherently is stronger than the others and it competes with Retainers. Parties are only allowed 1 Retainer to join them in combat at a time, Do these mounts mean the party can't have a retainer? Or does the Director just have to do more work for a Knight player?

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I feel like making the mounts less powerful will also help in designing and balancing them

meager jetty
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@covert turtle This is awesome feedback! The heroic resources are tricky to get right but your spot on with changing it to just a flat 2 per round. I also agree with the extra generation per round feeling off. The spearheads triggered action is something ive been toying around with to make it not so similar to the shadows trigger. It may have to be something I scrap and take back to the drawing board to design something completely different.

As far as mounts go, again, all very valid points. Blacksmiths guild issue 3 has a section that basically treats mounts as a retainer which is a cool idea and one that i played around with. The mount part of the class is by far the most important in my version because its what separates the class from other martial classes. And i absolutely intend on having a sort of "magic whistle" item that makes you able to resummon your mount during a respite in case it falls in combat, playing off the whole magical bond thing.

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All feedback is great and thank you for taking the time to make a meaningful and thoughtful reply!