Hello! First time poster, thought I'd share a character idea I've been working on. Contribute (hopefully) to the community a bit. Love to see if we can make her viable, open to ideas and suggestions to polish the character.
I was thinking it'd be cool to focus a character around armor and Constitution. Shield bash idea comes from a Sheelah revised thread, as I really liked the idea. The idea for her is to not have anything similar to the existing tanky roles. Valeros has a role that can reduce others damage, so I don't want to repeat that.
I would like the focus on armor and spears as her weapon. Back story could be something a long the lines of a prodigy of metalwork, famous around Sandpoint. Captured by bandits for her skills, she is forced to work for them. She would later be rescued by a band of heroes. Afterwards, she isolated herself in her work, seeking to permanently to shut down the bandits. Arma prefers solitude avoiding even the gods themselves. Though if needed she will reluctantly help out others.
She could be focused for a good solo play, but of course this is a co-op, so she can perhaps grow around her fellow adventurers.
Arma (Female Human Guardian)
STR 1d8 []1 []2 []3 Melee +2
DEX 1d6 []1 []2
CON 1d10 []1 []2 []3 []4 Fortitude +3
INT 1d6 []1 []2
WIS 1d4 []1 Survival + 1
CHA 1d6 []1 []2 []3
Cards: Favored Card Type: Armor
Weapon 2 []3 []4
Spell -
Armor 5 []6 []7 []8
Item 3 []4 []5
Ally 2 [] 3
Blessing 3 []4 []5
Hand Size 4 [] 5
Light Armor [X] Heavy Armor [X] Weapons [ ]
You may treat weapons with the Spear or Glaive trait as 1-handed.
You may recharge an Armor card with the Shield trait from your hand to add 1d6 (O +1) to your Melee combat check. You cannot use this power if the check includes a weapon with the Two-Handed trait
You may add +1 ([] +2) to combat damaged reduced.
You may make a fortitude 6 check to prevent a card with the Armor trait from being discarded ([] or buried)
Roles:
Hastati Or Legionnaire <-- Would like this to be light armored focused. Light on her feet, and first to the frontline. Shield and spears to strike down foes while protecting allies. Melee focused.
You may add +2 ([] + 1) ([] + 2) to your combat checks when using a weapon card with the spear trait
You may discard an Armor card with the Shield trait to roll your constitution check ([] or fortitude) instead of your normal combat check.
Bulwark <-- Would this to be heavy armored focused. Heavy. Slow. Armor focused.
Shield wall: You may reveal an armor with the Shield trait to block all damage to all characters at this location. You may not explore your next turn. Discard ([] recharge)the card revealed.
Potential ideas for powers?
Perhaps the Hastati could be a tracker of some sort? Allow exploration at another location after exploring again?
Bulwark...potential to use 2 shields? Double shield bash? Picture a knight with two shields?
Thoughts? Love to hear feedback from the community. I know this thread is long, so thanks for taking the time!
You asked for ideas and suggestions, so here are mine.
First of, your base card should have 4 power feat boxes, not 5.
Second, if you write in your backstory that she avoid the gods, it is strange that she still has blessings.
Third, all characters have a accumulated dice-total of 40-42, your at 40, so the lower end. You could think about increasing one of your dice. (Consti would be fitting.)
Now to start with your powers. First two powers sound solid.
Your third is writen really odd. You could try something like this:
If you reduce damage, reduce that damage by an additional 1 ([]2).
And for your last power, a check of 6 is ridiculous easy considering the +3 you already get. I would suggest pushing it up to 50/50 at the start.
Or if you want it to be really easy, drop the check completely.
So the suggestions are:
1. If you would discard ([] bury) an armor, succeed at a fortitude 8 check to recharge it instead.
2. If you would discard ([] bury) an armor, recharge it instead.
Now to get to your role cards.
I´m just throwing my suggestions and correction in the ring at once.
Hastati:
[] You may add +2 ([] +3) ([] +4) to your combat checks when using a weapon card with the spear trait. (Just a correction to be in cannon with the game)
[] For your combat check, you may discard a card with the Shield trait to roll your Constitution die ([] or Fortitude) instead of your Strength die. (If this was your intend, if you meant something more like Seonis power, that would have to be worded different.)
[] If you didn´t play a card with the Heavy Armor trait this turn, you may move at the end of your turn.
[] You can play cards with the Shield trait to reduce damage dealt to a character at your location.
Bulwark:
If you would discard ([] bury) an armor, recharge it ([] shuffle it back into your deck) instead. (Or the version with the Check, whichever you like more.)
[] You may reveal an armor with the Shield trait to reduce all damage to all characters at this location to 0. You lose your next free exploration. Discard ([] recharge) the card revealed.
[] When you play a card that reduces combat damage, reduce all types of damage by the same amount instead.
[] If you didn´t move this turn, you may recharge up to 1 ([] 2) cards when you reset your hand.
[] You can´t be moved against your will.
The count of my role cards assume that you drop one of the power feat boxes of your base card, and bring it back with the role card.
Having two Shields isn´t the best idea in my opinion.
And you really have to consider that there are a lot more armors than shields in the game.
I hope my suggestions and ideas are helpful for you.
And because it´s your first post, welcome to the forum.
Made some updates, thank you Fenris for taking the time to help out.
Is she to powerful or weak?
STR 1d8 []1 []2 []3 Melee +2
DEX 1d6 []1 []2
CON 1d12 []1 []2 []3 []4 Fortitude +3
INT 1d6 []1 []2
WIS 1d4 []1 Survival + 2 <-- changed this so she could possibly pass a 6 survival check to close.
CHA 1d6 []1 []2 []3
Weapon 2 []3 []4
Spell -
Armor 5 []6 []7 []8
Item 4 []5 []6
Ally 4 []5
Blessing -
Fixed this. Ally at 4 could represent thematically the party that rescued her. Troub. Guard, Standard Bearer, Guide.
Starting weapon; Long spear, Short Sword
Items could be: Amulet of protection, potion of fortitude, bracers, and mattock
Armor: 2x wooden shields, 2x chain, 1 leather
Fixed Base Powers:
You may treat weapons with the Spear or Glaive trait as 1-handed.
You may recharge an Armor card with the Shield trait from your hand to add 1d6 (O +1) to your Melee combat check. You cannot use this power if the check includes a weapon with the Two-Handed trait
If you would discard ([] bury) an armor, recharge it instead.
Hastati:
[] You may add +2 ([] +3) ([] +4) to your combat checks when using a weapon card with the spear trait.
[] For your combat check, you may discard a card with the Armor trait to roll your Constitution die ([] or Fortitude) instead of your Strength die.
[] If you didn´t play a card with the Heavy Armor trait this turn, you may move to another player's location and block combat damage at another location on their turn. <-- Main change here.
[] You may play cards with the Shield trait to reduce damage dealt to a character at your location.
Bulwark:
[] You may reveal an armor with the Shield trait to reduce all damage to all characters at this location to 0. You lose your next free exploration. Discard ([] recharge) the card revealed.
[] When you play an armor card with the heavy armor trait, you may reduce all types of damage by the same amount instead.
[] If you didn´t move this turn, you may recharge up to 1 ([] 2) cards when you reset your hand.
In general, I like your dice. Though Chad's recent comment indicates maybe you Fortitude might be a problem. Though since it is Fortitude as opposed to Melee or Ranged or Arcane or Divine, I might be inclined to personally be ok with it.
The basic issue I see is that while your ideas sound great, practically speaking they might not be all that useful in RotR. Few cards seem to have the spear trait, for example, so Hastati's power might not be too useful. I'd consider expanding it to all weapons with the 2-Handed trait. Or maybe to all weapons with the Melee trait that don't have the Sword trait.
The power "If you would discard an armor, recharge it instead" might be too powerful as written, since it would apply to any circumstance under which you were discarding an armor, like when taking damage. Given your small hand size and quantity of armor in your deck, it would be virtually impossible to loose more cards than your hand size, so you would never be able to die. But at the same time, if you changed it to "If when you play an armor you would discard it, recharge it instead." then it won't apply to any armors until very late in the adventure path, a situation that is probably is more suited to a role card.
I would also think about tweaking the Shield to reduce damage power for Bulwark. Having to remember you loose your next exploration is the kind of memory requirement the game tends to avoid (though not entirely). I'd either change it to bury the shield and you don't loose an exploration or make it say "You may display an armor with the Shield trait to reduce all damage to all characters at your location to 0. The next time you would explore, discard ([]or recharge) the revealed armor instead." That builds in a memory mechanism for you. You also need to figure out what you'll do if you use that power more than once before your own turn. Will you lose as many explorations as times you've used that power? Or will 1 lost exploration make up for all the times you've used it?
And I'm not sure about this power: "If you didn´t play a card with the Heavy Armor trait this turn, you may move to another player's location and block combat damage at another location on their turn." Again, it requires memory. How about this: "If a character at another location is dealt damage, you may bury a card to move to their location. You may then play any armor as if they had played it."
Overall though, I like how the character is different from the iconic RotR characters. I really like the "shield bash" power as well as the discard to roll Constitution instead of Strength.