Warlord class

The Warlord class suits Dragon In Ninth Heaven quite well, with minimal changes.
Adding kung fu to the class as a feature required removing other features (and possibly not enough), but this brings the Warlord class in line with the Champion and Guardian.

Fire Dragon kung fu

Fire dragon kung fu is based on speed and power. It specialises in attacking and has little focus on mobility or defence. The following core abilities are available as uses of the Concentrate Chi class feature. A character may choose two of these abilities.

1. Chi Strike [Concentrate Chi] 1
   You send a spike of damaging chi into your enemy just as your strike hits
   Encounter * Martial, Weapon
   Instant reaction Melee weapon
   Target: One creature
   Special: This power is triggered when you successfully hit a target with another attack
   Effect: Add 1d4+3 to the damage of the other attack
2. Flurry of Blows [Concentrate Chi] 1
   You attack with a barrage of strikes
   Encounter * Martial, Weapon
   Instant reaction Melee weapon
   Target: One creature
   Special: This power is triggered when you successfully hit a target with another attack
   Effect: Cause 1d6+1 damage to the target. This does not have to be the target of the triggering attack.
3. Forceful Chi [Concentrate Chi] 1
   Your strikes are strengthened by your will.
   Prerequisite: Kung fu class feature
   Benefit: You gain a +1 feat bonus to damage rolls with your unarmed kung fu strikes.

All kung fu styles have primary and secondary attributes. These are used for attack, damage and additional effects. This is determined by the character that learns the style and the manner their master taught them. The attributes are chosen at first level and will be used for all kung fu powers from that point on. This choice is permanent and may not be changed.

• Champions are most likely to use Dexterity as their primary attribute and Strength or Intelligence as their Secondary attribute
• Guardians are most likely to use Strength as their primary attribute and Constitution or Dexterity as their Secondary Attribute
• There is no restriction on the use of an attribute, it does not need to be the same attribute used by your class.

Advanced training in Fire Dragon kung fu includes the following powers at level 1:
Dragon Fist        Kung fu 1
Your fist is engulfed in flames, burning your opponent
At-will * Weapon, Fire
Standard Action Melee
Target: one creature
Attack: Primary attribute vs. Fortitude
Damage: 1[W] + Primary attribute modifier damage. Half the damage caused by this strike is fire damage.

Dragon’s Tail        Kung fu 1
Your attack arcs through the air, leaving a trail of blazing fire in its wake
Encounter * Weapon, Fire
Standard Action Melee
Target: one creature
Attack: Primary attribute vs. AC
Damage: 1[W] + Primary attribute modifier damage. The weapon used is the character’s current unarmed kung fu weapon.
Hit: Until the end of your next turn, any enemy that ends its turn adjacent to you or hits or misses you, takes 5 points of fire damage. This only applies to enemies who were adjacent to you at any time during the attack.

Burning Dragon Rage    Kung fu 1
The fire of the dragon’s fury bursts from you as you fight, engulfing one foe and burning the air around you.
Daily * Stance, Weapon, Fire
Standard Action       Melee weapon
Special: Half the damage from this power is fire damage.
Target: one creature
Attack: Primary attribute vs. Fortitude
Damage: 3[W] + Primary attribute modifier. The weapon used is the character’s current unarmed kung fu weapon.
Miss: Half damage
Effect: You assume the burning dragon stance. Until the end of the encounter, any enemy that ends its turn adjacent to you or hits or misses you, takes 3 points of fire damage.

Fire Dragon kung fu will include powers at the following levels:

• level 5: a utility power
• level 7: another encounter power
• level 9: another stance

Fire Dragon kung fu also grants access to the following Chi concentration feats:

• Dragon Scents Blood [Chi Concentration]
  You take advantage of an opponent’s weakness to defeat them
  Encounter * Martial
  Minor action      Personal
  Effect: You gain +2 damage against bloodied enemies until the end of your next turn
• Azure Dragon’s Revenge [Chi Concentration]
  You burn attackers with the fire of your chi
  Encounter * Fire
  Immediate reaction       Melee weapon
  Trigger: an enemy damages you in melee combat
  Effect: attacker takes your Primary attribute modifier in fire damage

Lightning fist kung fu

Lightning fist kung fu is based on speed and power and teaches the following core abilities which are available as uses of the Concentrate Chi class feature. A character may choose two of these abilities.

1. Chi Speed [Concentrate Chi] 1
   You move across the battlefield in the blink of an eye, striking foes at will.
   Encounter * Martial
   Move Action                      Personal
   Effect: You shift a number of squares equal to your movement speed ignoring difficult terrain for this movement.
2. Flurry of Blows [Concentrate Chi] 1
   You attack with a barrage of strikes
   Encounter * Martial, Weapon
   Instant reaction               Melee weapon
   Target: One creature
   Special: This power is triggered when you successfully hit a target with another attack
   Effect: Cause 1d6+1 damage to the target. This does not have to be the target of the triggering attack.
3. Forceful Chi [Concentrate Chi] 1
   Your strikes are strengthened by your will.
   Prerequisite: Kung fu class feature
   Benefit: You gain a +1 feat bonus to damage rolls with your unarmed kung fu strikes.

All kung fu styles have primary and secondary attributes. These are used for attack, damage and additional effects. This is determined by the character that learns the style and the manner their master taught them. The attributes are chosen at first level and will be used for all kung fu powers from that point on. This choice is permanent and may not be changed.

• Champions are most likely to use Dexterity as their primary attribute and Strength or Intelligence as their Secondary attribute
• Guardians are most likely to use Strength as their primary attribute and Constitution or Dexterity as their Secondary Attribute
• There is no restriction on the use of an attribute, it does not need to be the same attribute used by your class.

Advanced training in Lightning fist includes the following powers at level 1:

Quicksilver Fist        Kung fu 1
You strike so fast that your opponents cannot see the strike coming
At-will * Martial, Weapon
Standard Action Melee weapon
Target: One or two creatures
Attack: Primary attribute vs. AC
Damage: 1[W] per attack

Lightning Strike        Kung fu 1
A blast of lightning chi shoots from your palm, engulfing your foe
Encounter * Implement, Lightning
Standard Action Ranged 5
Target: one creature
Attack: Chosen attribute vs. Reflex
Damage: 2[W] + Chosen attribute  modifier damage. The weapon used is the character’s current unarmed kung fu weapon.

Lightning Stance    Kung fu 1
You strike all nearby foes in with lightning chi powering your blows
Daily * Stance, Weapon, Lightning
Standard Action       Melee weapon
Special: Half the damage from this power is lightning damage.
Target: one, two or three creatures
Attack: Chosen attribute vs. Reflex
Damage: 2[W]+ Chosen attribute modifier. The weapon used is the character’s current unarmed kung fu weapon.
Miss: Half damage
Effect: You assume the lightning stance. Until the end of the encounter you add 2 to your movement speed and may shift 2 squares as a move action.

Lightning fist kung fu will include powers at the following levels:

• level 5: a utility power
• level 7: another encounter power
• level 9: another stance

Lightning Fist also grants access to the following Chi concentration feats:

• Crackling Thunder Fist [Concentrate Chi]
  Your fists are surrounded by a halo of lightning and strike your foes with a sound like thunder
  Encounter * Lightning
  Minor action      Personal
  Effect: You gain a bonus to the damage of the next strike equal to your primary stat modifier. This lasts until the end of your next turn or when you next attack, whichever is sooner.
• Lightning Crosses the Sky [Concentrate Chi]
  You dance across the battlefield, confounding your foes
  Encounter *Lightning
  Immediate reaction Personal
  Effect: When an ally within 10 squares of you spends an action point, you may take a move action

Chi Concentrations

Each kung fu style is based on one or two methods of using Chi, called chi concentrations. The full list of these is:

• Spirit
  • Building Chi
  • Chi Control
  • Focusing Chi
• Body
  • Power
  • Speed
  • Toughness
• Mind
  • Awareness
  • Meditation
  • Mysticism

The Chi Concentration exploits available for practitioners of styles utilizing these follow:

next steps

After reworking the direction of the project I have now written two classes, the Champion and the Guardian. The tasks I will be undertaking in the immediate future are:

• Revisit both classes to add one kung fu power to each. This is described in an older article, and I missed this part of the design.
• Create kung fu styles that are applicable to both the current classes. I believe the styles will be:
  • Dexterity-based striker style (Fire Dragon)
  • Dexterity-based style, mobility focus (Lightning Fist)
  • Strength-based striker style
  • Strength-based defender style
  • Constitution-based defender style
• Move on to the other two classes, the Doctor and Mystic
• Follow with kung fu styles for those classes

The only thing missing for first level characters at this point will be new feats, specifically ones dealing with Lightfoot. I will include this work at some point in the class design.

I’ll be running a couple of test encounters/games on Myth Weavers, a role-playing website that hosts forums for games and provides character sheet hosting. The hosted sheets are accessible in the forums, so it all works quite nicely.

Once the test games are done and changes are made to the base classes, I will start working up through the levels, adding powers for each class. I expect to keep all the classes at the same level of completion during each iteration.

Research on strikers

While working on the Champion class I made a list of class features from other classes. I’ve posted it here as a comparison of power levels for all the different strikers.

I left Monks off the list because I did not want to make any of the Dragon In Ninth Heaven classes similar to them. Monks have their own specific flavor that I do not want to replicate here.

Champion

The Champion is a striker – a kung fu warrior who has punishing attacks and special stances that grant amazing movement powers. There are several types of Champion:

• Mobile skirmishers who hit and run
• Focused fighters who stand toe to toe with their enemies, timing the perfect strike
• Dirty infighters who explode with a flurry of blows, attacking all around them

This post will be updated in the future to present the full Champion class at first level.

The basics are now after the cut. Powers and some description are yet to be added, but the class features are complete.

Guardian

Guardians stand strong in the midst of a battlefield, their iron shirt kung fu protecting them from blows that would kill a lesser warrior. They become the focus of any conflict as their enemies strive to bring them down, only to be broken by the power behind a Guardian’s strikes.

Warrior monks trained in specialist iron shirt techniques are the most common Guardians, and are renowned throughout the kung fu world for their skills. Guardians also come from other walks of life, military or kung fu clans being the most common. Whenever the genealogy of a Guardian’s martial arts is traced they always reach a common source – a warrior monastery.

Guardians fall into two schools of combat, a focus on hard or subtle chi manipulation. This affects the way they protect their allies and manipulate the battlefield.

The Guardian is a martial defender, and may choose powers that cross into the striker role.

Change of direction

Hi folks,

I’ve been thinking about this project while I was forced to take a break from it. I came to the conclusion that I’ve bitten off too much for a first draft of the game. Going through the character creation process highlighted the problem.

The real issue is that I have created too many classes. Each class requires a lot of work, and then needs to work with several kung fu styles. Although in the long term I would like more classes, for now I’m going to trim the list back.

Here are my current thoughts:

• Champion – Dexterity-based striker
• Guardian – Strength-based defender
• Doctor – Intelligence-based leader
• Mystic – Wisdom-based controller

The kung fu styles will allow each class to focus further on its own role, or to branch out into others. A minimal set of styles will be:

• Dexterity-based striker style
• Dexterity-based style, mobility focus
• Strength-based striker style
• Strength-based defender style
• Constitution-based defender style
• Intelligence-based style, party utility focus (providing buffs and debuffs)
• Wisdom-based style, area attack focus
• Wisdom-based style, movement impairing focus

More styles would give greater flexibility, but I think a shortish list like this will be enough to cover the requirements in play.

Absent

Hi folks, I’ve scored my job and my manager’s job for a few weeks. No posts here until that stint is over and I have some spare time!