There are a number of classic roles players may chose in a role playing game. While Legends of Kralis is a class-less system with the focus on skills and abilities that allow the player character to become anything with a little effort and time, this does not mean that the classic archetypes can’t be created with the Legends of Kralis RPG. This series of articles will focus on the creation of these timeless classics through the use of the Legends of Kralis RPG.
Of all the genre classics, the fighter is the most widely used and known. Many players that play a fighter, whether veterans or new players, have a tendency to treat the fighter as a “Tank”. This usage is not bad and often it keeps the party alive as others back the fighter up. But there is more to the fighter than just a “meat wall”. Many players who have the imagination can construct a fighter that is more than just a meat wall.
Pros and Cons of playing a fighter.
Pros
Fighters gain access to a number of free abilities, have more health and fatigue points and are able to better focus on combat skills.
- Easy access to Combat abilities
- Bonus Health and Fatigue Points
- Free Combat Skill
- More free Focus Abilities
Cons
Fighters generally have access to fewer skills to start with as well as having lower scores than most in non-physical defenses
- Low Magical Defense
- Low Divine Defense
- Low Jinhu Defense
- Fewer skills
Legends of Kralis allows for both the new player who is not driven at the time to create a more complex fighter as well as those that are willing to play the fighter with zest and ingenuity can create a satisfying character for themselves as well as an essential member to the party.
At first glance it would appear that to be a good fighter a character would have to be a medium or large sized race with the most likely choice going towards a large creature. However, when you look at what it takes to be a fighter then choosing the race, and at the same time determining the Size base, really depends on what you want to play.
Types of Fighters
Fighters can come in three flavors: Strength, Agility and Perception. Of course, a fighter can mix and match these or learn all three if the wish.
Strength Based Fighters
These fighters tend to be the more common “Meat-Wall” and the majority of new player type of fighters as they are easier to create than the other types of fighters. They use only the strength based weapons, tend to be of a large race and are covered in head-to-toe in armor and carry the thick shields. These tend be the barbarians, knights, burly fighters, crusaders, samurai, and others that prefer strength over other types of fighters.
They spend most of their points on Strength giving them a score between 85 and 105, Stamina and Willpower are both important to these types of fighters as they boost the character’s overall Health Points and Fatigue points. They spend the majority of their remaining points on Agility and Perception as they boost their Physical Defense.
Agility Based Fighters
Quickness and speed are the core elements of these types of fighters. They prefer to get into and out of combat as quickly as possible, causing as much damage as they can without themselves getting hit to often. Agility based fighters are more often than not small sized creatures. They prefer lighter armor, smaller and faster weapons, and more quick movement. These types of fighters tend to be the ranger, scout, skirmisher, swashbuckler, assassin, blade masters, ninja and duelists.
They spend the majority of their points on Agility with scores ranging from 90 to 115. Their next priorities tend to be Stamina, Perception and Willpower in order to boost their Physical Defenses, Health Points and Fatigue Points.
Perception Based Fighters
Accurate distance attacks, hitting opponents from afar are the focus of fighters that choose to focus on Perception. These are the fighters that focus on missile weapons from the simple bow to the firearm rifle. They see their strengths on being able to attack and take down opponents with a single shot from behind the masses of other fighters. These types of fighters tend to be the ranger, scout, archer, rifleman, and crossbowman.
Like the other fighters they spend the majority of their points on Perception with scores ranging from 90 to 115. Similar to Agility based fighters they spend their remaining points on Stamina and Willpower. But unlike the other fighters, they tend to spend more points on Intelligence and Wits.
The “Combat” Races
Like all character’s in Legends of Kralis how you build your fighter from the ground up has a great deal of influence on what type of fighter you will be playing. This begins with your race determination along.
Which race you choose will give both benefits and penalties for being a fighter. In Chapter 1 of Legends of Kralis there are 16 different types of races. Some are better built for combat than others. While all races can summon up a fighter, the following is a list of those that are better built to become fighter types.
Acires
- These medium sized creatures are built for combat. They have four arms that are able to each hold a weapon or shield.
- Gain a +5 to any two Combat Skills
- A +10 bonus to Strength and Agility gives them a boost in Physical Defense as well as bonuses to damage for either Strength or Agility based weapons
- Racial traits such as Multiple Limbs and Combat Empathy give them an edge
- They are able to pick from a variety of abilities. Specifically Attack Coordination, Bane, Born Fighter and Counter Defense
Aelwyns
- These small creatures are more suited to Stealth Focus. But with a +5 Agility bonus they can make great Agility based Skirmishers.
- +10 to WeaponCraft(Agility)
- They also gain the racial trait of Enhanced Evasion which gives them a +10 to their Physical Defense skill checks.
- They are also less prone to falling victim to jinhu with a +10 bonus to their Jinhu Defense.
- They also gain some useful combat related abilities, such as: Deep Strike, Increased Speed, and Team Fighting
Dwarves
- A medium sized race that gains +5 to Strength
- +10 Weapon Skill against any evil creature
- They gain the ability to Focus gaining a +10 Check to any non-attribute check
- A great selection of combat focused abilities such as: Attack Quickness, Battle Sense, Crippler, Team Fighting and Tunnel Rat
- If you choose to play the Mekronus Dwarf as listed in Legends of Kralis you gain an additional +5 to your Strength
- In addition, they can grant all allies within 20 feet a +2 WeaponCraft(Any) skill bonus for every 10 points of Charisma they have.
Humans
- The most versatile of all medium sized creatures.
- They gain + 2 skills and can have any 2 skills as Racial Skills. Which used for combat will give the human character a bonus towards a great fighter, as racial skills begin at ½ of the controlling attribute plus any modifiers.
- Sub races of human gain Agility and Strength Bonuses
- Base humans also have the largest number of Heroic Luck, which used correctly can alter the entire combat turn
- Dejah and Isande both have great racial traits that give them +10 to any one skill and +10 to their Physical Defense, respectively
Kanus
- As medium creatures they are suited for any character concept
- They have a natural bite attack
- Kanus gain +5 Strength or Agility
o The robur sub-race gain +5 Strength
- They gain some good racial abilities: Battle Cry, Battle Sense, Dancing Fool, Increased Speed
Minotaur
- As one of the larger races they are one of the better fighter types.
- +10 to WeaponCraft(Strength)
- Gain +5 to Strength, Stamina or Agility
o Core race Bikaszarn gains bonus Stamina increasing their Health Points
- Gain +25 to Fatigue Points
- Can perform two separate natural attacks
- Have access to good abilities: Adder Strike, Battle Rage, Aura of Fear, Fearsome
o Core race Bikaszarn gains Blind Fighting Ability for free
Orc
- They gain +10 bonus to their attacks in low-light conditions
- May take a WeaponCraft(Strength) or WeaponCraft (Agility) as a racial skill for free
- They also have the racial trait of Menacing. This ability allows the orc to cause opponents to suffer a loss of Action Points and penalties to their skill checks.
- Gain +10 bonus to either Strength or Agility
- If they use a longsword, spear or bow they gain their Intelligence modifier as additional bonus damage in addition to their normal bonus damage.
Trolls
- Above all other large races the troll is the one built for combat.
- They are less likely to be stricken by fear
- They gain +10 to Strength and Perception
- Have +10 bonus to either WeaponCraft (Strength) or WeaponCraft (Perception)
- They are able to regenerate their health
- Can choose from Battle Cry, Blind Fighting, Channel Primal or Crippler as their racial ability.
Racial Size
While the above list gives you an idea for the specific races that tend to be good fighters, it is not beyond any race to focus on combat given the very different racial traits they gain along with the free access to specific abilities. Yet, size has its bonuses towards creating a worthy fighter.
- Larger races are more likely to take WeaponCraft (Strength) as this is easily enhanced by their starting Size base of 60 in Strength; they also have a starting Size base of 60 in Stamina giving them more Health Points and better Fatigue Points. Their starting Size base of 40 in both Agility and Perception reduces their overall Physical Defense making them more likely to be targeted by opponents.
- Smaller races are more likely to take WeaponCraft (Agility) or WeaponCraft (Perception) as these are more easily enhanced by their starting Size base of 60 in both Agility and Perception. Their starting Size base of 40 in Strength and Stamina reduces their over all standard damage bonus as well as reducing their overall Health and Fatigue points.
- Medium sized races are more balanced neither suffering in their Physical Defense nor suffering in their Health or Fatigue Points. These sized creatures are the most versatile in nearly every aspect of character creation.
The Skills
As a stated earlier, fighters focus on three types of skills: WeaponCraft (Strength, Agility, or Perception), and Shield Proficiency. Depending on your size you will want to focus on one of them specifically. If you are a large sized creature you will likely use your high Strength as an advantage and your ability to take more hits than others and go with the WeaponCraft (Strength) skill along with Shield Proficiency, Medium and Large. Being a small creature you are likely to focus on either WeaponCraft(Agility) or WeaponCraft(Perception) as small creatures tend to be quicker and often more perceptive than the large, lumbering races. Again, medium creatures have their choice of what they wish to focus on as this is a part of their versatility.
While these skills are important to the foundation of a good fighter, there are others that will lead to a great fighter. These are: Acrobatics, Brawling, Confuse, Convince, Estimate, Feint, First Aid, Improvised Armor, Leadership, Lore (War), Lore (Combat), and Search, Skepticism.
Acrobatics – While often regulated to stealth focused characters, a fighter that has a high agility and focuses on WeaponCraft(Agility) can make good use of this skill in battle combined with their attacks. Chapter 4, Combat, shows the use of an Acrobatic Strike in Tactical Options. This is but a single option that you could employ. Others include:
- Sliding between the legs of larger opponents
- Flipping over smaller opponents
- Running up a wall and flipping over an opponent
- Rolling across the back of one opponent or ally to get at another opponent
Brawling – An obvious skill that fighters should take, not all fighters do. This skill can be useful in tight situations where the swinging of weapons maybe restricted because of their Strike Range. With the use of natural weapons that have an Action Point cost equal to the character’s Base Size (1 for creatures up to medium size; 2 for large to huge creatures; 3 for gigantic to colossal creatures; 4 for mega or larger creatures) these attack can be quicker than swinging a weapon in many cases. You do your Strength Modifier plus 1 in base damage. With the addition of the ability Armor Penetration this skill becomes a great tool in combat for the fighter.
Confuse – A skill that is often regulated to those that choose Stealth, Social or Knowledge focus (though it is a Social Skill), this skill can assist the fighter in melee combat by allowing him to confuse the situation with utterances, suggestions and other talk that may cause an opponent to become confused about the situation.
Convince – Like the skill Confuse, Convince is another Social skill that a fighter can employ by attempting to convince an opponent of some sort of non-truth, while not necessary lying as per the Lie skill, Convince is used to get an opponent to agree to your point of view. For example, while you may not have as much ability with a specific skill you could attempt to convince them that you are better than they are, which might cause them to suffer a penalty to their attack or defense skills.
Estimate – While predominately within Knowledge and Stealth focuses, this skill can often be an asset to the fighter willing to use it. With a successful skill check at a TS as determined by your GM you may gain a bonus towards using your weapons in combat such as increased chance of a Critical Hit, a Called Shot, etc.
Feint – As stated by the skill “feign a weakness or attack to trick an opponent”, this skill if used in the right situation will assist the clever fighter into “faking” out his opponent(s) into leaving themselves open for a possible attack. If the situation calls for it, this may leave them open for a possible Sneak Attack.
First Aid – Many fighters, as well as other party members, may rely on those that can wield divine powers, often to their dismay, to heal wounds. An intelligent fighter knows that sometimes the priest is unable to heal wounds, sometimes because the priest is down, and may find himself in need of healing other than that of the divine kind. A useful skill for any character First Aid, combined with a First Aid Kit, is an indispensable skill that can save your life was well as those around you as you may be the last one standing when the dust settles.
Improvised Armor – While it is more likely that you will have purchased armor, there may come times that you need to improvise armor for yourself or another from scraps laying around an old cave, keep or dungeon. With this skill you are able to create separate pieces of armor that have a good amount of absorption that will last for a time.
Leadership – This highly charismatic skill is often over looked by fighters because they lack the required charisma score. For those fighters that have decided to have a high enough Charisma Score, this skill is very helpful to those around you as you rouse their courage and drive. All allies that are within 20’ of you gain your Charisma Modifier plus 5 points per every 2 Leadership successes that you gain in a Leadership check to not only their attacks but every skill check until the end of the next turn.
Lore (War) and Lore (Combat) – Most Lore skills are situated towards subjects that those that are focused in Knowledge would likely use. Yet, a resourceful fighter may find that having these skills and using them in the right situations may gain bonuses to their fighting skills while in combat or before combat begins.
Search – Most of the time you can leave the searching up to others, but this skill is very useful to you as attempt to find and fight those beings or creatures that are invisible or extremely well concealed. Combined with the ability of Blind Fighting you may reduce the penalties for fighting the invisible significantly.
Skepticism – Like Convince and Confuse, Skepticism is a skill more often used by those that are in the Knowledge or Social focuses. However, this can be a very good skill for fighters as they attempt to se through illusions, disbelieve the hyperbole of an opponent so that you do not suffer penalties and leave yourself open for attacks.
The Abilities
There are 97 combat related abilities that a fighter can take, in fact as your character gets further along it is more likely that he will gain a number of these, with so many abilities it maybe hard to decide which ones you should take. It can be made easier if you decide what type of fighter you want to play: Strength, Agility or Perception.
Core Abilities
While there are a number of free abilities that you will gain from your race and combat focus there are a few core abilities that every fighter should take. It is possible that you may gain these for free from your racial abilities or your combat focus.
Born Fighter – Gain Physical Defense Bonus as well as a WeaponCraft (Any) bonus
Armor Proficiency – Increase the absorption of your armor.
Attack Coordination – Able to use that tactic Multiple Attacks at less penalty
Deft Strike – You may use your Agility Modifier instead of your Strength Modifier as bonus to your damage.
Multiple Strike – Strike out against multiple targets.
Surgical Strike – You may use your Perception Modifier instead of your Strength Modifier as bonus to your damage.
Tactical Strike – You may use your Intelligence Modifier instead of your Strength Modifier as a bonus to your damage.
You gain two free abilities, one from your race and the other from the combat focus. You may take a new ability for free from your combat focus once every 5 ranks.
Racial Abilities
You may only gain one free racial ability upon character creation. Depending on your fighting style: Strength, Agility or Perception, you need to select this ability carefully. A few of these abilities overlap with choices in the Combat Focus, but you may only take the ability once, unless otherwise stated. Racial abilities are considered free abilities for two reasons: 1) you do not need to meet the prerequisites normally required by the ability and 2) they do not count towards your total number of abilities.
Acires
Attack Coordination – You can reduce penalties to your Multiple Attacks
Bane – You gain a bonus against a specific type of creature or monster
Born Fighter – You are a natural born fighter and gain bonuses to your Weaponcraft skills or Physical Defense.
Counter Defense – Anytime that your attack is greatly beaten by an opponent you may instantly attack them back.
Martial Style: Prone Fighting – You are able to fight from a prone-like position with no penalties.
Aelwyn
Arboreal Movement – You can swiftly move along the branches of trees Increased Speed – You can increase your movement.
Team Fighting – Fighting in a team gives you additional bonuses to your attacks.
Dwarf
Attack Quickness – You do not have to spend any AP to ready your weapon and you also gain a bonus to your Initiative.
Battle Sense – Your opponents find it harder to attack you from the flank and rear.
Crippler – Your attacks can cause others to become fearful.
Dwarves Devotion – Your attacks gain a bonus as does your use of a shield.
Team Fighting – Fighting in a team gives you additional bonuses to your attacks.
Human
Burst of Strength – You are able to call on incredible strength.
Expert Brawler – Your brawling ability has become more dangerous.
Misdirection – You are able to cause opponents to become distracted giving you the advantage in combat.
Kanus
Battle Cry – You are able to gain bonuses from using a bellowing cry of a battle.
Battle Sense – Your opponents find it harder to attack you from the flank and rear.
Dancing Fool – Your Dancing Attacks no longer suffer penalties.
Increased Speed – You can increase your movement.
Minotaur
Adder Strike – The use of larger weapons cost you 1 AP less to use.
Battle Rage – You can enter a berserk like rage gaining bonuses to your Attacks.
Team Fighting – Fighting in a team gives you additional bonuses to your attacks.
Orc
Bane – You gain a damage bonus against a specific type of creature or monster
Increased Speed – You can increase your movement.
Troll
Battle Cry – You are able to gain bonuses from using a bellowing cry of a battle.
Blind Fighting – You are able to fight better in darkened conditions than others.
Crippler – Your attacks can cause others to become fearful.
Fearsome – Your fearsome appearance causes those around you to suffer penalties to their Physical Defense.
Combat Focus Abilities
These abilities, like Racial Abilities, allow you to take them without needing to meet the prerequisites normally required by the ability. Neither do they count against your total number of abilities.
Adder Strike The use of larger weapons cost you 1 AP less to use.
Armor Proficiency – You are able to increase the amount of damage your armor absorbs.
Attack Coordination – You can reduce penalties to your Multiple Attacks
Armor Penetration – Your attacks by pass armor causing more direct damage.
Attack Quickness- You do not have to spend any AP to ready your weapon and you also gain a bonus to your Initiative.
Bane – You gain a damage bonus against a specific type of creature or monster
Battle Sense – Your opponents find it harder to attack you from the flank and rear.
Blind Fighting – You are able to fight better in darkened conditions than others.
Bloodlust – Anytime you kill a foe you may gain bonuses to your attacks.
Combative Leap – You are able to leap great distances and in combat you are considered charging.
Deep Strike – You are able to ignore some armor absorption as well as attempt a deep hit that will cause massive damage.
Deft Strike – You may use your Agility Modifier instead of your Strength Modifier as bonus to your damage.
Discover Flaw – You are able to find an enemies weak points.
Expert Brawler – Your brawling ability has become more dangerous.
Flurry of Blows – Your attacks come in at a furious pace.
Increased Strike Range – Your melee attacks are now increased by ten feet.
Multiple Strike – Strike out against multiple targets.
Parry – You are able to use your Attack Skill to defend against attacks.
Surgical Strike – You may use your Perception Modifier instead of your Strength Modifier as bonus to your damage.
Role Playing Aspects
Role playing a great fighter is more than just being able to take down an opponent with a few swings, or being able to take harsh blows.
Leadership
Being a leader is often thrust upon a fighter more often than not to his or her disliking of having such authority. Most fighters are content laying the smack down on foes or feeling foes from a distance with firearms, crossbows or bows. Unfortunately, being the first into battle and often the last to leave the battle field places the fighter types in the middle of being a leader.
When a fighter takes up or has leadership thrust upon him, he needs to make decisions that will effect not only his survival but the survival of the whole party and he must do so with a bit of thinking in order to make the best decisions.
Being a leader is more than just making decisions or barking commands at others in the party, it also means that you must be led by the party. This essentially means that a good leader makes the best decisions based on what he hears and sees working good and not so good within a party.
It is important to remember that as a leader you are not the boss, pushing others around, but you are also not some one who does nothing, you must assert yourself enough to get the party to work together in order to accomplish the tasks set before the party as a whole.
There are a number of qualities that a good leader portrays, now its reasonable that as a player you may not be able to actually portray these qualities in real life, but as a good role-player you should attempt to portray these qualities. These qualities, while discussed here, are qualities that any role-player can benefit from.
1. A good leader shows good quality of character. He is one that shows that he is trustworthy as a leader to the party.
2. A good leader is one that is a source of inspiration and motivation for the party. A character that shows inspiration even in the face of what appears to be insurmountable odds.
3. Good leaders are confident in their role as leader and inspires confidence in other characters ( and players) and draws out the best efforts of the party.
4. A good leader also must be able to think analytically about the situations that the party will encounter or is currently involved in and be able to dynamically make decisions based on the party’s over all health.
Protector
As front line men, fighters are equipped to take on the role of protector over those that are less capable of protecting themselves in a combat situation. This does not mean that a fighter is the goody-two shoes of the party, but rather watching out for the health of all the party members, he ensures his own survival in a deadly confrontation. It essential for a fighter to protect those around him as they will often be the key to his success.
