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Homebrew Class - Exemplar; Standard Bearers and Flag carriers of D:tD
Topic Started: May 26 2016, 02:01 AM (1,309 Views)
Xornik

Exemplar - The flag carrier is here.

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Battlefields are bloody places, but they are also the proving grounds of heroes. Among the many legendary feats of bravery are the deeds of the exemplars: men and women who strike fear into the hearts of their enemies through intimidation and demoralization. They also inspire courage in their allies, holding their banners high and charging into battle, shouting encouragement to those who ride beside them.

To be an exemplar is to sacrifice a great deal of freedom in pursuit of a path that's narrower than a warrior's, guardsman's or paladin's. However, few individuals are as honored as an exemplar, as having a capable exemplar in an army's midst can mean the difference between glorious victory and bloody defeat.

Exemplars carry banners into battle, which are used to guide the movement of troops in mass battles. The banners may depict the emblem of a family, religious sect, adventuring party, town or nation. They are typically made of heavy cloth. The exemplar's conviction strengthens his standard, and by waving his flag and shouting encouragement he can rally his allies to overcome their fear.

Overview
CharacteristicsFellowship, Composure, Willpower
Skills Athletics, Ballistics, Weaponry, Common Lore, Medicae, Intimidation, Charm, Command, Scrutiny, Persuasion
Sword SchoolsWhite Raven, Devoted Spirit
Gun KataLast Line, Crimson Sickle
Bonus for completion Additional +1 to all Aid Another actions.


Class Progression
LevelTitlePrerequisitesClass Feats
1Flag carrierPersuasion 2
Weaponry 2
Peer (*)
Protect the flag
Inspirational
Armor Proficiency (Light)
Weapon Proficiency (Melee 1)
*Two Weapon Fighting
2BannermanWeaponry 3
Persuasion 2
Protect the Flag
Standard Defense
Rally
Hardy
Armor Proficiency (Medium)
* Hatred(*)
* Weapon Proficiency(*)
3SignifierWeaponry 3
Persuasion 3
Standard Defense
Good Reputation (*)
Jaded
Powerful Voice
Fearsome Shout
*Weapon Specialization (Any Banner)
*Armor Proficiency (Heavy)
4Standard-BearerWeaponry 4
Persuasion 4
Fearsome Shout
Banner Charge
Lay Claim
Fearless
*Coordination
*Cooperation
*Armor Proficiency (Extreme)
5Exemplar AscendantWeaponry 5
Persuasion 5
Lay Claim
Defensive Mobility
*Weapon Focus (Any Banner)
Capture the Flag
Herald of Victory
Harbinger of Defeat
*Armor Proficiency (Power)


Feats

Banner Charge - There's nothing more inspiring that seeing a soldier wielding your banner charge headfirst into an adverse situation.
Whenever the character uses the Charge action, they may ignore the effects of Difficult Terrain and Enemy Suppresive fire.
Move actions made by allies who could see this charge also ignore these effects until the Exemplars next turn.

Capture the Flag - Seeing your flag-bearer fall is demoralizing. Watching your flag-bearer be killed by their flag-bearer is terrifying.
If you kill, incapacitate or help knock down an enemy flag-bearer all enemies who witnessed this must roll a fear test equal to the Exemplars level minus one.

Fearsome Shout - By spending a hero point you can brandish your standard and shout at enemies who can see or hear you.
You gain a Fear Rating equal to your highest class level minus one until the end of the scene.

Harbinger of Defeat - When enemies see your colors flying proudly, they're glad they wore brown pants.
All enemies who can see your banner have their resilience lowered by 1.

Herald of Victory - Sometimes just being around someone who is so passionate about victory can inspire you to fight harder and better.
At the start of combat you and all allies who can see your flag gain +0k1 on their next damage roll.

Inspirational - As long as have a banner equipped, you can use the Aid another action as a full action, causing it to inspire and give the aid bonus to any allies adjacent to you.

Lay Claim - You may claim an area in the name of your cause filling nearby allies with vigor! As a full action you may lay claim to an area of radius up to 4m*Class level by impaling your banner into the ground. Allies in this area gain a +2k0 bonus to all attack or defense rolls (You must specify which when using the ability) whilst the banner remains planted there.
If the banner is removed or knocked over by an enemy then all allies within the range must role a fear 1 check.
Picking the banner up again requires a half action.
NOTE You cannot use some abilities whilst not wielding your banner.

Powerful Voice - You are used to shouting above the din of combat, allowing your voice to travel up to 100m with ease.
You make make skill tests that would be affected by this at a distance.

Protect the Flag - Your standard strengthens your conviction to your cause. As long as you have Banner type weapon equipped your gain a bonus 1 resilience.

Rally - You can rally your allies to overcome their predicaments and continue fighting. As a full-round action you can brandish your banner and shout encouragement.
Rally provokes attacks of opportunity.
All allies who can see or hear the Rally, and who are suffering from Fear, are dazzled, pinned or stunned can make a saving throw to shake off the effect at +1k0.

Standard Defense - When one is truly devoted to a cause, it does not burden you.
You may replace the key word Two-handed with Defensive on any Banner type Weapon. Allowing you to wield a large banner in one hand and fight with another one handed weapon in the other.

Posted Image


New Weapon type - Banners!
Banner - Proficiencies : Melee 1
NameTypeDamagePenetrationAvailabilitySpecial
FlagMelee1k1 I0UncommonInspiring
ImagoMelee2k2 I0RareUnbalanced, Inspiring
VexillumMelee3k2 R1RareBalanced, Inspiring, Reach
Battle StandardMelee2k3 I1Very Rare Inspiring, Reach, Two Hands
Sacred War BannerMelee3k3 I1Mythic RareInspiring, Reach, Two Hands, Power Field


New Weapon Trait
Inspiring - Aid another actions made whilst holding a weapon with this trait gain an additional +2k0 bonus.

Flag
Flags are generally pretty small in comparison to most banner weapons. They usually consist of a small flexible pole with a small square or triangle of material hanging from the top. The flag might depict the icon or colors of a faction.

Imago
An Imago is a solid pole made from steel or another metal topped with a large figurehead or depiction of a high ranking member of your faction. It might by the likeness of a god, leader of a faction or emperor of a region. They are generally quite heavy and can be used as an oddly shaped mace. As an Imaginifer, you would carry the Imago so all can look upon the likeness of your ruler, and he may watch over your party. To some the holy scriptures and writings of their leader are more important than their visage, thus the Imago can also appear an ornate book or scroll carved from a sturdy material.

Vexillum
The standard battle flag used by military forces. The Vexilum is a medium sized square flag hanging down from a crossbar in the center of the flag pole. Vexillum are topped with a spearhead allowing it to be used as a thrusting weapon. The Vexillum carries the colors, icon or symbol of the faction the wielder represents.

Battle Standard
The Battle standard represents a faction, religion or army and as such will only be trusted to the exemplar of such a massive force. It's cloth depicts not only the iconography and colors of the faction, but usually an impressive visual display surrounding it. Flames, lightning and skulls are no strangers to battle standards. They are usually adorned with decorative plates of metal and armor which may server to protect it's wielder whilst doing their primary job of looking badass.

Sacred War Banner
Not all factions have a Sacred War Banner and those that do usually keep them locked away in a vault, museum or archive. They are legendary and mythic battle standards carried into countless past victories, only being carried by the chosen of factions. Parts of the standard may have religious or historical significance, it could be topped by the founders skull or perhaps the god once blew their nose on the cloth.
Their material is often damaged or tattered from the millennia of battle they have seen but will often depict a legendary scene or figure from the faction's history. Sacred War Banners are bestowed with a Power field to protect it and inspire the warriors of it's faction to fight zealous fervor.



Relevant Homebrew Equipment
Mounting Kit. (Uncommon)
A Mounting kit allows you to mount an item jutting up into the air from the back of your armor. This is typically used to carry an inspiring or intimidating object into battle such as a banner weapon or impaled head atop a pike.
If back equipped, the ready action can be used to convert the item from back-mounted to wielded and vice versa.
Whilst an item is mounted, the user suffers -1k0 to acrobatics rolls. This increases to -2k0 if it is a large object such as a Two-Handed weapon..




This is my first foray into actually formalizing and writing up some homebrew for D:tD.
I'd appreciate any feedback, be it balancing, additional feat ideas or stuff that should be removed.


EDIT: Balanced some things. Updated layout.
Edited by Xornik, Dec 13 2017, 09:47 PM.
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weredrago2
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He Who Posts Too Much
First things first, your graph seems to have come out wrong. The skill list has a big space in the middle of it.

Second, your completion bonus is broke. Instead of +1k0, it should be +1.

On Schools and Katas, you should probably replace Tin Star with Crimson Sickle or Last Line. More fitting for the class than Tin Star.

Most classes have one or two prerequisites. Three is much more rare. I'm not saying you have to change it, but you should keep it in mind. I wouldn't mind seeing the skill prerequisites at least one higher than they are now, though.

Now, onto feats. I've noticed that some of the formatting is broke here, because some sentences are on different lines than others. Heck if I know how that happened.

Protect the Flag is broke as hell. +1 Resilience by holding a banner is not good, especially for a level 1 feat.

I don't understand what Inspirational does.

Standard Defense is funny, because not all Banner weapons even have Two-Handed.

Rally kinda makes sense, if worded a little wonky.

Powerful Voice is insane. I mean, Air of Authority is a level 5 feat.

Fearsome Shout is also a questionable feat. Shouldn't this cost a hero point or something? Next.

Banner Charge is okay. No major issues I can point out.

I'm not too sure on Lay Claim. No comment yet.

Capture the Flag sounds incredibly unlikely to ever become a factor in any game. Why is it always Fear minus 1, anyway?

You have the words 'Combat Aura' capitalized on Herald of Victory and Harbinger of Defeat. Do those mean anything outside of this context or what? No comment on these either yet.

All and all, this class could use a great deal of work. This is your first class, so issues are to be expected.
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Xornik

weredrago2
May 26 2016, 03:17 AM
First things first, your graph seems to have come out wrong. The skill list has a big space in the middle of it.

Second, your completion bonus is broke. Instead of +1k0, it should be +1.

On Schools and Katas, you should probably replace Tin Star with Crimson Sickle or Last Line. More fitting for the class than Tin Star.

Most classes have one or two prerequisites. Three is much more rare. I'm not saying you have to change it, but you should keep it in mind. I wouldn't mind seeing the skill prerequisites at least one higher than they are now, though.

Now, onto feats. I've noticed that some of the formatting is broke here, because some sentences are on different lines than others. Heck if I know how that happened.

Protect the Flag is broke as hell. +1 Resilience by holding a banner is not good, especially for a level 1 feat.

I don't understand what Inspirational does.

Standard Defense is funny, because not all Banner weapons even have Two-Handed.

Rally kinda makes sense, if worded a little wonky.

Powerful Voice is insane. I mean, Air of Authority is a level 5 feat.

Fearsome Shout is also a questionable feat. Shouldn't this cost a hero point or something? Next.

Banner Charge is okay. No major issues I can point out.

I'm not too sure on Lay Claim. No comment yet.

Capture the Flag sounds incredibly unlikely to ever become a factor in any game. Why is it always Fear minus 1, anyway?

You have the words 'Combat Aura' capitalized on Herald of Victory and Harbinger of Defeat. Do those mean anything outside of this context or what? No comment on these either yet.

All and all, this class could use a great deal of work. This is your first class, so issues are to be expected.
Firstly thanks for the feedback!

I think the formatting got a little messed up as I copied it through a Notepad Document, I've fixed most of it now.

I've changed the class completion bonus to +1, my bad!

I was thinking of dropping Gun Kata from the class altogether. Thoughts? I'm not familiar with Last Line, but I'll go look it up.

My understanding was that those with three prereqs had lower skill levels required to advance as you had to advance more, but I've taken out Common lore and it makes the class less costly.

I figured Protect the flag was no different from Just taking the study asset at character creation.
Seeing the class isn't especially dodge-y or tanky I figured some added resilience wouldn't be too bad.

To clarify Inspirational. Aid another currently allows you to aid one ally as a half action.
The feat allows you to take a full action to aid everyone in your near proximity with the Aid another action.

Basically, Standard Defense allows you to wield a two handed Banner in one hand and a normal weapon in the other. The downside of this is it becomes a defensive weapon which you can only use to parry.
This gives a flexibility of play styles to the class, as they can now:

  • Play with a one handed flag and weapon and attack with both. (Hence the Optional two weapon fighting feat)
  • Play with a one handed flag and a shield and just attack with the flag.
  • Play with a two handed banner and attack with it as a two handed weapon.
  • Play with a twohanded weapon as a defensive parrying weapon in one hand and an attacking weapon in the other.

I didn't think Powerful voice was too OP. You can shout to make a skill check against someone who's further away then you could before in physical combat. But I didn't really mean it as an affects everyone in the scene. More like you can yell a command to an ally or shout to warn someone far away.

I suppose you could make Fearsome Shout cost a hero point. The fear and shock system is really the best way I could think of representing demoralizing enemy units.
I figured that Seeing the User is doing it as a full action which provokes an attack of opportunity, it's balances it out by discarding doing any damage for a turn in order to scare the enemy troops and leave yourself open to attack.
Maybe it needs to be reduced to a targeted ability as opposed to an AoE instead?

Capture the Flag I put in for the nice flavor. I also figured that if I was SM'ing a campaign where one of my players was an exemplar. I'd occasionally throw them a chance to potentially use it. Also given that by the time they were level five and could take the feat, the party is probably facing up against some pretty hefty armies that would probably have some form of bannermen.

Fear minus one is to simply bring the respective fear checks inline with what kind of demoralizing reaction is realistic for a guy holding a flag. At most it'll be fear 4 if it's Fear (Class level-1) for a level 5 Exemplar.


Capitalization of combat aura was subconscious, doesn't mean anything other than its an aura effect that you get when you enter combat.

Thanks again!

EDIT : Having looked through the Gun Kata schools in the Homebrew book, I agree that Last Line fits really well and Crimson Sickle can work too.
Edited by Xornik, May 27 2016, 01:56 AM.
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Username

I really do like this class, and don't have too much to say about it as far as things that stick out to me as needing to be changed. Very Aesthetic posting style too. It works well as a Social character, while still having some very unique effects on Combat.

I notice it gets Weapon Proficiency (Banner), but as of the current versions weapon proficiency no longer work that way. Weapons are grouped as Basic, Melee 1, Melee 2 or Melee 3 and you get a proficiency in one of those groupings when it comes to melee weapons. So you would assign Banner weapons one of those groupings.

I do agree that making Fearsome Shout cost a Heropoint would probably be a good idea. Decrease it down to a Half-Action, remove the provoking and make it cost a Hero Point. Otherwise, you end up with 4 Fear for 100 metres at level 5, and you can do it as much as you want. A tn 30 Willpower check is rather hard for many things to make, and you can do it every round with the Shock effects stacking. If you get a Shock effect that causes the enemy to take a negative on all their tests, they're basically doomed to never beat your fear rating again the next round as they become more and more crippled. As much fun as shouting someone to death/insanity sounds, it isn't exactly balanced in my mind.

As it is now, it's basically a really good spell that you always succeed on casting, can't dispel and never causes Psychic Phenomena.
Edited by Username, May 27 2016, 06:25 PM.
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Xornik

Username
May 27 2016, 06:09 PM
I really do like this class, and don't have too much to say about it as far as things that stick out to me as needing to be changed. Very Aesthetic posting style too. It works well as a Social character, while still having some very unique effects on Combat.

Thank's for the feedback Username! I'd like to take credit for posting style but I stole the table layouts from Mar965's Clown Class. So all credit goes to them!
I was aiming to make this a Social / Physical combat support character who can aid his team in a brawl and be the mouth/face of the party if required as there didn't seem to be too many support or social classes around yet.
I was originally going to add some social combat boosting feats or simply add that his Aid Another modifying feats can also manipulate the 'Support' Social Combat action.
Though as I haven't really done enough social combat encounters, I'm wouldn't know how to balance that effectively.

Quote:
 
I notice it gets Weapon Proficiency (Banner), but as of the current versions weapon proficiency no longer work that way. Weapons are grouped as Basic, Melee 1, Melee 2 or Melee 3 and you get a proficiency in one of those groupings when it comes to melee weapons. So you would assign Banner weapons one of those groupings.

Right! I had forgotten that had changed. Will update that to Melee 1 and assign banners to that group.

Quote:
 
I do agree that making Fearsome Shout cost a Heropoint would probably be a good idea. Decrease it down to a Half-Action, remove the provoking and make it cost a Hero Point. Otherwise, you end up with 4 Fear for 100 metres at level 5, and you can do it as much as you want. A tn 30 Willpower check is rather hard for many things to make, and you can do it every round with the Shock effects stacking. If you get a Shock effect that causes the enemy to take a negative on all their tests, they're basically doomed to never beat your fear rating again the next round as they become more and more crippled. As much fun as shouting someone to death/insanity sounds, it isn't exactly balanced in my mind.
As it is now, it's basically a really good spell that you always succeed on casting, can't dispel and never causes Psychic Phenomena.

I do agree with what both you and weredrago2 have pointed out, I didn't realize how overpowered spamming it would be.
Taking your advise on board and having a look back over existing feats and abilities which grant fear rating I've reworked it to work similar to existing feats.

Fearsome Shout - By spending a hero point you can brandish your standard and shout at enemies who can see or hear you.
You gain a Fear Rating equal to your highest class level minus one until the end of the scene.

This adds the additional cost of a hero point as recommended, which brings it in line with the Promethean Asset and Vampire Dread ability.
It also gives the user a fear rating as opposed to forcing the enemy to roll on fear which would make using it more than once pointless.
I changed it to end of scene as that is what the existing Asset and ability also do.
I kept the Class minus 1 to keep it less powerful than the exalt asset.


Edited by Xornik, May 29 2016, 06:57 PM.
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Well, with those changes there isn't any issue that really stands out to me.

When it comes to Aiding Another actions, there is a Social Class that gets some feats that improve them: The Duelist

It might be worth looking at. The Feats Taunt, Coordination, Cooperation and Expert Assist seems like ones that might be applicable.
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Eisenritter
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Old Iron Knight
...All right, who's making the sword school to go with Banners, then...
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Yog-Sothoth
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Haven't had the time to look through this fully, and I'm not sure if class/feat name conflicts are at all important, but Bannerman is a feat in Supreme Commander.

What weapon type would a banner be? Cavalry? Nevermind.
Edited by Yog-Sothoth, May 29 2016, 07:27 PM.
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Xornik

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May 29 2016, 07:13 PM
Well, with those changes there isn't any issue that really stands out to me.

When it comes to Aiding Another actions, there is a Social Class that gets some feats that improve them: The Duelist

It might be worth looking at. The Feats Taunt, Coordination, Cooperation and Expert Assist seems like ones that might be applicable.
Wow. That class has a bunch of stuff which look like it could work perfectly!
Dunno how I missed that.
Going to have to rename the Keyword for banners and possible the Inspirational feat so they don't get confused with the Inspire feat from Duelist, otherwise might get quite confusing if Exemplar made it to the homebrew books.

Quote:
 
...All right, who's making the sword school to go with Banners, then...

I was thinking about attempting it when I made the class. But Sword schools generally need to be balanced pretty well and it's not my strongest point. Feel free to go ahead!
I've got a kind of WIP Document with the descriptions of the different Banners listed that I'm working on for a separate post.

Quote:
 
Haven't had the time to look through this fully, but Bannerman is a feat in Supreme Commander.

What weapon type would a banner be? Cavalry?

I've got them listed as their own type in the Class post . Under the Melee - 1 Proficiency.
I'll have to change Bannerman to something else then
Edited by Xornik, May 29 2016, 07:28 PM.
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Yog-Sothoth
Extremely Confused
Nah, it's fine. I'm probably going to either rework or just strikethrough the Supreme Commander class at some point in the future, since I've never really been satisfied with how it turned out.

Now that I've had the time to look it over, I really like this class. However:
  • Why is medicae in the class skills list?
  • Charisma is generally used for Command tests and such, so shouldn't it be in the class characteristics instead of Fellowship?
  • Reducing the resilience of all enemies who can see your standard by 1 can be really powerful, especially against enemies that already have low resilience. Might be better to just reduce their maximum health by 1, and/or require that you spend a hero point for each turn that their resilience is reduced.
  • Pretty sure that the Fear rating from Fearsome Shout would also affect your allies. Is that intended?
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