warriors and thier role (its going to be a good one :P)

[Ark]

most of the paths have clear ideas behind them, and skills to follow up on them. warrior actually confuses me a little when i think about it, and i will explain a little.

**this is not a path v path thread**

**Role Playing comes first, these are just tips and opinions, build YOUR character the way you want to**

warrior is confused because alot of its skills contradict each other, more so than any other path (sage is a little wonky but i think it ran out of ideas) the mian problem is warriors are kind of split on your classic warrior premise:
offense or defense?

cant have both maxed or that would be broken. so warriors own skills kind of mess with itself

hold ground vs resist root/slick effects:
on one hand we have a skill that plants you in place and you cannot move on pain of death, on the other hand a skill that keeps you moving when others would not. if its not clear wich one i like RESIST ROOT/SLICK mobility is a great skill.
hold ground increases your defense but restricts your offense (enemy could just walk away, then your doing nothing) but when it is usefull im sure it is very good (sitting in a doorway)

deffensive matrix:
cut all offensive action to die slower. at least do some damage before you die so the next person has a weaker monster to fight, please dont use this skill.

parry/avoid blow:
warriors best skill, great for those melee fight but not a cure all. your best bet is to try to simply not get hit in the first place, you dont know if that hit is going to be a 5 crush you could parry, or a sleep that is going to just put you down. also if you are getting hit with crush run or kill the target as fast as you can, crush will always do SOME damage, its far more lethal then vorpal.

rage/weapon focus:
loose all skill related defense to gain a better offense, i dont recomend this skill. better to swing less and have access to parry in case you get hit with a big melee call. same thing for weapon focus, as a warrior you should be using two weapons or sword and board, both are better offense and defense.

soak:
as a warrior you can wear full heavy armor = 3 per location x 4 location = 12 armor, as well as getting combat reflexes every level of warrior for 6 total, and 3 more life for 21 soak from path and armor. however it is important to remember that soak is not for simply taking hits until you drop, you should try to avoid hits in the first place, you will last longer, and the healers will thank you for it

that does it for basics, ideas, tips, and tricks to be on the below post.

[Ark]

tips for any good warrior

-Use shield: swap out skill
class granted skills that is great if you can stand lugging it around, mitigates alot of would be damage. bring spare tags

-healing: 40 points
take first aid and heal from cleric. you never know when you will get into a fight and a healer wont be around, hide, take off your armor, and heal. also good to free up a healers time for other people that were not clever and did not take any means of healing themself. (regen if you cant get heal)

-crit strike: 40 points
two levels of rogue grants you a 5 count for 4 damage. i cant tell you how much you will use this, drop to medium armor (4 soak max) and swing more damage.

-enchant weapon: basic discipline skill
some monsters are only hurt by magic damage, what good is a warrior that cannot fight? take this skill, every good warrior should have it.

-magic damage: empath or boon
if you can fit it in i recomend it, sometimes its better to sit back and throw packets, easy to keep a few in your pocket just in case. if not see about fitting in a level of grenadier and throwing "rocks" for 1, better then nothing.

-repair armor: basic craftsman
if you use more then 4 points of armor, take this skill. for the same reason as you would take healing or regen.


**skill ideas for warrior**

some form of lash attack that has a relaod and not draw upon the warrior soak, say "2 lash" for a 20-30 second reload? warrior can continue to fight while it recharges, not fast enough to spam, and does not cost precious life.

some form of crowd control, a hamstring or root effect, warriors should not have to use thier chest to keep foes at bay, once again a long reload so a warrior can continue the fight.

enchant weapon as a basic swap out, any good warrior

[GM-Taki]

For the record, I've used defensive matrix to save the town on at least two occasions. While situational, it is a potentially lifesaving skill.

[Ark]

For the record, I've used defensive matrix to save the town on at least two occasions. While situational, it is a potentially lifesaving skill.

could i have the context in wich it was used?

generally it is usefull against things that swing 1 correct?
in general things that swing 1 are weak?

if its weak your better served just killing it.
if its not weak and you would want defense it is prorobly swinging more than 1 and the skill is fairly useless anyway?

so the point of the skill is moot, that an mosters usually have a charge up for 2 damage just in case anyway.

[Marcus]

I have to echo Taki.

Lets say Rhul has to hold the door of the tavern against a horde of NPC's swinging "1", to give people inside time to finish a ritual, or something else time-sensitive.

Unless they have a good clear schedule for the rest of the week, they aren't moving me, especially with a healer directly behind me- God forbid one with the Basic Specialty to heal 2 every 30 seconds with Administer to make it every 25 seconds.

Now consider that Rhul has a 40 Total Soak so that anything that swings "2" has to do it 40 times. And before that ever happens, I trade places with a fresh warrior. Maybe someone throws me a shield, because it doesn't matter at all if I don't have use shield so I can't swing damage.

Not all warrior skills are there to make that warrior a killing machine. Defensive matrix doesn't ever let you be a bad-ass killer, just a huge roadblock. It also won't do everything on it's own(other than be immune to anything swinging "1")- but lots of cool stuff work in conjunction with it.

generally it is usefull against things that swing 1 correct?
in general things that swing 1 are weak?

if its weak your better served just killing it.

I can't kill a monster swinging for "1" without taking some sort of damage. But if a warrior ties one up with DM and I slaughter it from behind, both of us can emerge completely unscathed.

so the point of the skill is moot, that an mosters usually have a charge up for 2 damage just in case anyway.

Hit them for "0" to disrupt them. Or dodge and roll and them do the same.

[Ark]

first let me say i completly see your view, and that in those situations it can be a good skill.

then let me add that i did not relise we were ballancing skills based on being in a doorway, or having somone with you

in scenario 1 we have a textbook event that happens from time to time, PC's in the inn, a warrior in the door, NPC's outside. we will even give it the benifit of they are performing a critical spell or act, and your job is to hold the door (the perfect scenario for this skill, and its cousin, hold ground)
NPC counters to this skill include:

-attempting to burn down or destroy the building
(classic idea designed to counter the building turtle, lure out at least 1 PC required to disrupt in order to hurt them and possibly drop them)

-try to charge for 2 in order to hurt the defender
(another NPC classic in order to make low damage monsters not useless in a fight, perhaps a 5 second charge, and try to slip it in there and land a hit)

-bring in an NPC able to throw magic, say "5 magic" ?
(not seen much, but im sure it could happen)

****

i think this skill should allow you to swing 1 damage

[Wyrmwrath]

A shield nullifies all but the fire scenario.

Truth be told, there isn't a single skill in the game that npcs can't "work around" so using that as a reason to change the skill is an invalid argument.

[Ark]

A shield nullifies all but the fire scenario.

Trth be told, there isn't a single skill in the game thbat npcs can't "work around" so using tht as a reason to change the skill is an invalid argument.

true and true

defensive matrix cuts too much offence (all of it) for a small benefit to the front, not saying that -1 incoming damage to the front is not bad, its very good, but just not worth the cost.

[Dallid]

This pretty much comes down to style. You've described your own preference/style/character concept for a warrior, Ark, but to each their own. Skills exist in FH for many different concepts/styles.

My own for Slisk was as a shield wall cog. Stand your ground, take the blow like a man and give back double (dodging shows fear), and regenerate to fight again after you've been dropped - or perish for the cause!

[Ark]

question dallid: how can you give back double when you cant swing any damage?

and you dont post on the metaphysics? i was really curious to here your thoughts on it

[Kiel Reid]

I like Defensive Matrix. It's a good skill in my mind.

Josh what is your thought process when you consider skill balance? What are the parameters you use? Do consider only the mechanical aspects or do you consider things like people, location, situation etc..

[Ark]

hmmmm. . .first a great example

-a four way street light: ballanced
when the light turns green you go, yellow you go faster , red you stop. the person only has to gas, brake, and maybe turn. everyone has the same chance as anyone else

-a four way round a bout: imballance
this requires much more thought and action by the individual person. a group of smart people or a computer program will take fantastic advantage of this. a group of dumb people will all crash

i ballance skills less in a numbers and mechanics point of view, and more by breaking the skills with familly and close friends. we spar and run various scenarios against different types of monsters (slow 1 damage trash monsters, bigger 1 damage charge up monsters with skills, and level 20 PC style monsters)

1)- the loss of mobility is horrid wether it be self initiated or otherwise.
2)- straight 1v1 brawl with NPC's are not efficient and should be avoided, always 2v1 at minimum.
3)- never cut your offense.
4)- defense can be mitigated by your enviornment more then offense.
5)- soak is there in case you get hit, not so you can get hit.

i actually feel to much of the rules is based on numbers, wich is why we tend to go out and test things in a more physical nature. that and FH has a style of battle that favors cetain strategies over others.

[GM_Chris]

I think this is a good time for some historical perspective.

Def matrix use to allow a person to lower their damage by 1 so that all in coming damage is reduced by 1. This meant that a person who had the ability to swing 2 could choose to swing 1 and ignore all damage 1 or less.

Now when we first created FH we argued rules over and over, put together a rule set and then spent a few months meeting several times a week play testing scenarios to see how things worked in the "real" world.

The conclusion of our countless tests was that DEF matrix in that form was horrible unbalanced. Then lets say 7 years into the game some new people showed up and argued that def matrix should allow a person to swing for damage and there should be a version that allows you to ignore 2 or less. We attempted to argue our point, but eventually gave in and allowed a PC to "play test" the idea. After less than 1 event the PC came to us looking down apologizing because it was so unbalanced as to be ridiculous.

Now I am not poo pooing anyone's ideas I understand that things change all the time and perhaps we need to take a fresh look at def matrix.

[Kiel Reid]

I'm sure that the majority of players would agree that Defensive Matrix is an alright skill. It's not great in every fight but it is good in some. Like every good skill it requires a little thought when being used.

Actually that is a great skill in my mind because of the thought required.

[Marcus]

Most of the skills in this game are best when combined with those from other people, rather than used by a lone player.

I like that.