En Garde!
More Martial Classes for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Roleplaying Game
Gallantry is not dead nor is the time honored art of fencing. Armed with a rapier, the gentleman’s weapon, a fencer stands strong against those who would offend him. One by one he calls out the foes of his lords and slays them with panache and skill. Bound to the service of one of the noble orders, he defends its honor.
The fencer retains the challenge and some of the order abilities of the caviler while sacrificing the mount and tactical abilities. In return it gets grit that works with it's challenge, companion weapon styles (parrying dagger, case of rapier, cloak, buckler, and single sword).
(PS: I'm a historical rapier fencer & I use to be a collegiate eppe fencer so I've been dying to write this for a while.)
Eschewing capability with armor, a meister gains more advanced skill in a variety of weapons. They gain a series of tricks based on intimate familiarity with the weapons at their command. They can serve as daring gladiators, weapon instructors, or masters-of-arms. Regardless of their role, none can deny them the title of “meister” (master).
Launch Date: Thursday, Oct 3rd
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Yay!!! This was an awesome one.
Yay!!! This was an awesome one.
And the formatting is art are just awesome for this one.
It's coming *cues dramatic music*
The PDF is live on DriveThruRPG!
Pret...? Allez!
Woke up to a 5/5 for En Garde! - More Martial Classes for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.
Woot
And now the review has words!
Ill be darned if i let something this cool get smothered.
Patience, toaster :)
How did your real life experience with sword play influence this book? Either for LRG or Toaster.
With me, no sword experience. But when scott mentioned the name myrmidon for my prc, I felt the eyes of my greek ancestors boring into the back of my head. I find him to be an amazing editor, who does a great job of keeping my scatterbrained antics on topic.
Patience, toaster :)
How did your real life experience with sword play influence this book? Either for LRG or Toaster.
Awesome question. One I can rant about ;-)
Well a lot of the material present, particularly in the companion weapons section, was drawn from my experiences. A lot of times people get this idea that using a parrying dagger in your offhand means you are fighting with two weapons. It grants a shield bonus because the way I think of it when I am fighting (and my instructors have taught me to think) is like a shield/something that can execute forte parries (parries that can be done with the bottom 3rd of the blade).
Other things like how to demonstrate how a balestra lunge or draw cut would be depicted in a Pathfinder context come from that as well. Things like favors and colors don't pop up as much either but you learn about them. I'll admit that I snuck in "flicking", which is actually a collegiate fencing move (mostly done with foils, though I've seen an epee flick or two... which often ends badly).
The single sword companion weapon is much more based on my collegiate experience (I was an epee fencer but I did cross train) and its reliance on timing. That's why we involved initiative as a damage bonus because it is about who struck first in that sport (and yes... collegiate is a sport, not really a martial art). Speed and precision is why fencing gets really nasty. I've done hardsuit in the SCA and a few other western martial arts and nothing impacts me the way fencing has. I've seen white scarves (think "master" or "knight" or "black belt", but for fencing) thread their way though a guard and hit a sweet spot the size of a half dollar before their opponent (yea... sometimes me) can react.
I think people have this high ideal that samurai and whatnot were like the gods of the sword and that it didn't exist elsewhere and I wanted to put European fencers on the same footing with them and explain (though mechanics) why.
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Interesting stuff, Scott_UAT; I think it's great that you put your real-life experiences into how you developed this product, and that alone makes me want to get this (where I otherwise might have passed). I think one of the things about fantasy rpgs that sometimes gets lost is that sense of realism, and in my experience- particularly with fantasy fiction- it sometimes takes me out of the moment, trying to picture things that the writer describes but seem to me implausible (one particular move from the Drizzt series comes to mind).
I'll definitely be picking this up!
maybe you could throw down a review if you feel inclined ;)
This looks really, really interesting to me. For reasons of my own, I’m waiting to buy it when it comes live on Paizo, rather than getting it from DriveThruRPG, but from the DTRPG previews, the Fencer alternate-class looks sufficiently promising that it’s basically pre-sold. I’ve got a character-concept lurking in the back of my head that’s been looking for precisely the right mechanics to fulfill — for the record, it was inspired by the ‘Badass of the Week’ write-up about Julie d’Aubigny ;D — and I’d say the Fencer would do nicely for her. :)
Hey, is this coming to Paizo?
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I might’ve already caved and gotten mine through DTRPG, but I wouldn’t mind knowing that, either. ;)
As far as I am aware it will be 2-3 days from now (potentially sooner).
-Red
Saweet
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I think people have this high ideal that samurai and whatnot were like the gods of the sword and that it didn't exist elsewhere and I wanted to put European fencers on the same footing with them and explain (though mechanics) why.
Absolutely! I'm glad somebody is adding elements of historical Western fighting arts to Pathfinder. Delving into the history of these arts really opens up your eyes to the realization that Western fighting arts were just as rich and deep as those from the East.
Not every Samurai was Ogami Itto :)
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Indeed.
There was some downright AMAZING swordsmen in the west and people just love the romantic view we get from Japanese media. But I mean think back to like the 3 musketeers (d'Artagnan's my boy!), or even like the Princess Bride- even fictionally they are/were as skilled as any eastern swordsmen.
Western fighters (and that is a SUPER broad term) were just brutal. A lot of martial arts had the, "Do whatever you can to kill the other guy in the fastest way possible while maximizing your chance of survival" (because you know... medicine was SOOO advanced back then). A lot of times they taught grappling (even in armor), unarmed combat, and different ways to use what you had. Got a longsword? Great you mean staff (half-swording), mace, pick, shortsword, brass knuckles AND longsword.
I think it came from the mindset that "we don't know what EVERYONE who can attack us can do... so we gotta kind of be ready for whatever crazy stuff comes at us next." (AKA: Generalists survive, specialists thrive only in the short term.)
A funny little side story. When I was in like early middle school I thought samurai were the sweetest thing ever. Our English teacher had us doing a paper on, "The advantages of 1 thing over another". I chose "The Advantage of a Katana Over a Claymore". I knew a guy who was a military historian and interviewed him. About half way though he realized I thought a katana was superior to a claymore and we had to stop the recording. After talking to him for another 5 min I changed my topic to "The Advantages of a Claymore over a Katana" and was sold on western martial arts.
Also, I realized too late that I could have done the various schools (heck- even just Italian, Spanish, French, and German "general" schools) as style feats. Perhaps we will do it in a future book :-)
Then again, we DID do French and Italian gripped weapon in War Journal.
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I was first enthralled by Japanese martial arts and swords through manga (specifically Lone Wolf and Cub) and the glut of ninja movies that came out in the 80's. Much later in life through my interest in historical bladed weapons I discovered the Western fighting arts as well.
It is a real pity that few movies attempt to illustrate the techniques that show the West knew pretty well how to use a sword in combat. With the possible exception of that scene in Kingdom of Heaven where Liam Neeson gives Orlando Bloom a few pointers in the fine art of swordplay.
And speaking as great fan of the Icelandic Sagas I would dearly hope to see a Vikings book from LRGG... "Halls of Valhalla"
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We actually just started work on a book a lot of fans were requesting- a Greek book. However, I know our art director Andrew "Viking" Bortniak (yeah... we mostly just call him Viking on a day to day basis) would love to do that book in a way you can only imagine. :-)
I'll talk with him about it.
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Greek is good :)
I've had Green Ronin's Trojan War for some years and it has been my yardstick for Mythic Greece soourcebooks.
Looking forward to LRGG's take on "Swords and Sandals".
We are doing a pretty short little "campaign inspiration" document.
It has things like the 12 olympians as deities, some new races (including a demigod template), notes/rules on how to run a Greek style campaign, some new weapons, and even an archetype or two.