Thursday, April 14, 2022

GLOG Class: Nomadic Swordsman

When I took the standard fantasy game rage mechanic and applied to the Fanged Deserter, it felt good. That particular mechanic always felt like more of a berserker thing than a barbarian thing.
I'm talking Conan, Sonja, Fafrhd, He-Man, Golden Axe, etc... Sword and Sorcery. 
I picture muscle bound hard bods, with limited clothing. Natural leaders. Usually they oppose evil wizards. Happily, those things are also available. So what else is a barbarian to me?

Well, a highly competent fighter who goes from place to place, solving a problem, and moving on. A constant outsider who does not set down roots. They are adept with many weapons, but mostly use a sword. Madmartigan fits this bill. Also wandering ronin from various movies. This is something I think I could work with. 

The techniques were inspired by various other blogs seen.

Yojimbo (1961)

Nomadic Swordsman

For every odd template of this class gain +1 ATK. For every even template of this class gain +1 critical range.
Starting gear: Loincloth and cloak or kimono, fur hat or straw hat, wine skin, sword of choice

  1. Blades Of Grass, Outsider, +1 Technique

  2. Quickness Of A Panther; Strength Of A Grizzly,  +1 Technique

  3. Show No Pain, +1 Technique

  4. Standoff, Riddle of Steel, +1 Technique

Blades of Grass (A) You can hear the grass move, and sense the motion of things around you. You cannot be ambushed by anything that can make noise. 50% chance to act in surprise round; 100% on template C.

Outsider (A) It's obvious to everyone who sees you that you are not from around here. You can always find someone to explain what's happening, find people looking for disposable assistance, and find people interested in foreign cultures.

Quickness of a Panther; Strength of a Grizzly (B) Add CON and DEX to your defence, when not wearing armour.

Show No Pain (C) Once per day per Nomad template, you can negate all incoming damage from an attack, noting the damage you would have taken. At the end of combat, suffer that much damage or save for half.

Standoff (D) Once per encounter, you may challenge a single character to a standoff. If accepted, they undertake an opposed attack roll. The loser is killed outright.

Techniques:

1) Cull the Herd When you kill a target or deal max damage, you can make another attack (if your movement provides), as many times as Nomad templates you have.

2) Reckless Abandon Gain advantage on your next attack, but allow the enemy to attack you in retaliation.

3) One Thousand Strikes An attack’s damage may be split among all adjacent creatures, as long as your attack passes said creature’s defences.

4) Perfect Parry Whenever you parry with your weapon, the damage you would take is reflected back at the attacker. Additionally, you may make a free attack against them, with disadvantage.

5) Perfect Disarm Once per fight, you may disarm an opponent with no save, after which you may make a save to catch the item in your free hand.

6) Arrow Splitter You can try to parry incoming projectiles by destroying them. If a projectile misses you, you may deflect it in a direction of your choosing. If you use this to make an attack, do so at -4.

7) Feint Superiority Once per round, only on an attack, a fumble was a feint. You make another attack immediately.

8) Flowing Strike Whenever you hit, you may try another attack against the same target, with a downgraded damage die. You may do this repeatedly until you cannot downgrade further. (ie d8>d6>d4)

9) Terrifying Murder Whenever you kill a target, you do so in a gruesome manner. Opponents who are within fifteen feet make a morale check, with a -2 penalty, otherwise they take 1d4 emotional damage. (Or they could just flee in terror, whatever)

10) Blade that was Broken You may sunder a weapon. This reduces all incoming damage from one attack, but breaks the weapon.


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