Hey all you lovely people out there!

I’ll let Bruce Buffer announce this one.

Yes! It’s finally time to talk about the hero classes!

As I have said in the first post, the game will (so far) feature 5 different hero classes:

Warrior - no nonsense guy who trusts his strength as much as his weapons
Mage - watch out! A powerful spell might come your way
Rogue - they are quick and deadly. You won’t see them until it’s too late
Cleric - their main goal is to keep you alive but they pack a punch as well
Ranger - just like the warrior, they trust their weapons - only from a littler farther away

Each of the classes will come in three different types and we are going to look into them all. We will check out all skills available to you if you choose a warrior and all the upgraded skills you can get for your hero. We will also see their current health point (HP) levels, damage points (DP) they deal to their opponents as well as basic range (BR) i.e. the furthest a target (another hero or opponent) can stand from the hero and still get the effect of a skill.

This might get longer so get ready!

How to use your hero’s skills?

In order to user your hero’s skills you have to roll all your dice at once. You get one optional free re-roll of as many dice as you want. After that you can only re-roll dice (again, as many as you want) by spending HP. For each re-roll you will have to spend 1 HP.

Once you acquire a skill that requires an additional die (strong and powerful), you get an additional die start rolling 4 dice until the end of the game. This also enhances your chances of rolling weaker skills easier.

Dice

Every class comes with a special set of dice only for that class. I am still not sure if there will be one or two sets per class. Adding two sets would give a bigger variety but would also potentially make the game more imbalanced. But that’s something for another time.

Let’s check out one die!

Every die has three different symbols. In this case it’s a hand, shield, and sword. One of each also has a foot icon representing the possibility to take a step in any direction. I am also looking into the option to add numbers into the top left corner of every side of the die to have options for executing a skill with a special number combination like odds, evens, straight etc. but that’s something for another time as well. As it stands now, the die will look something like this one the board.

It’s pretty nice, isn’t it? Let’s now talk about each warrior type and all skills available to the players.

Base skills

Every class has one base skill shared among all class types. This is your safety net to deal at least some damage when you miss out on your roll.

No need to explain here. Just deal as many DPs as swords were rolled. Once you get the additional die you can deal up to 4 DP with this attack.

Let’s now have a look at each type and their skills.

Knight (HP 9, BR 0)

They represents the purest of all the warriors. They are here to deal damage and to deal it out hard. Because warriors focus only on melee attacks they all have a BR of 0 which means they can only attack adjacent enemies.

**Retaliate**

**Deal** 3 DP and counter half of DP taken to each attacking opponent adjacent to the hero (round up)

The hero deals 3 DPs to a single target and if attacked by adjacent enemies on their attack suffers the full damage but also deals back half of the damage (rounded up) to the attacking enemy. For example, a guard attacks our hero with a Dropkick attack for 2 DPs, they would lose 2 HP but also deal back 1 DP to the attacking guard. If, however, the guard would attack us with Spear skills for 3 DPs, the hero would lose 3 DP but would deal 2 DP (1.5 rounder up) back to the attacking guard.

**Brawl**

3 DP and push an enemy up to 2 spaces

After the hero deals 3 DP to the opponent he can push them away for up to 2 spaces. This can come in handy when a Ranger hero has placed a trap behind the opponent that would make him lose additional HP once they move over it. It can also prevent a BR 0 opponent from attacking you. If there is a wall or other hero or opponent blocking the way, the opponent won’t get pushed the full 2 spaces. The direction of the push is along the line drawn between the hero and the opponent and away from the hero.

The opponent (triangle) gets pushed two spaces away from the hero and ends up in the red position. — The opponent (triangle) gets pushed two spaces away from the hero and ends up in the *red* position.

Tank (HP 13, BR 0)

Tanks represent an heavily armored warrior ready to take one for the team. They will try to get the opponents to focus on them and block as much damage as possible while the other heroes try to take them out.

**Block**

Absorbe 1 DP per dice rolled (minimum 2)

This skills allows the hero to take less damage. If you rolled 2 shields and your hero was hit with a total of 5 DP, they would only lose 3 HP.
Keep in mind that it’s a defense against all opponents attacking the tank in a single round and not on a per opponent basis. Think of it like the shield breaking once it saves the hero from a certain amount of damage.
If two opponents attack for 2 DP each and the hero rolled 3 shields they would still lose just 1 HP.

When deciding whom to attack, opponents follow this checklist:

last hero to taunt them
last hero to attack them
closest hero

Let’s quickly work through the list. If an opponent hasn’t been attacked by any hero through a direct attack or an area of effect skill they will find the opponent which requires the least amount of steps to get to and focus their attention on them for the current round. If they have been attacked then they will focus on the last player who attacked them. If the tank used the taunt skill than the targeted opponent will focus on the tank that taunted them last no matter what. This way a tank can have opponents focus on him while other heroes can focus on dealing damage.

Paladin (HP 8, BR 0)

Paladin are the only warrior type that can heal themselves and others. They are infused with a divine spirit they like to show around.

**Solar aura**

Deal 3 DP to all adjacent opponents

All enemies next to the hero lose 3 HP

Flex

Deal 2 DP to an adjacent opponent and push him 1 space away.
Heal yourself for 1 HP

I told you he likes to show off. As if dealing 2 DP to an opponent and pushing him away wasn’t enough, the paladin also heals himself for 1 HP.

Additional skills

Now that we have checked out all skills your heroes start with at the begging of the game. Let’s check out all other skills available to the players to buy using their experience points (XP). We will talk about XP in one of the coming updates.

Medium skills (3 XP)

Medium skills offer you the cheapest way to upgrade your hero but are also the least powerful of all additional skills. Let’s check them out

The only available healing skill for warriors, usually selected by the paladin. It’s used to heal anyone but the hero using the skill. The skill can be used on any target on the board regardless of the distance to them.

Defender

Absorbe 3 DP for yourself and 2 DP for another adjacent hero

Just like block, the hero will suffer 3 DP less but can also select one adjacent hero who will also suffer 2 DP less. A true friend!

Arm twist

Deal 2 DP and immobilize an opponent for 1 round

In addition to dealing 2 DP to a target. This hero is now immobilized which means they can’t move to other spaces but can still attack adjacent heroes or perform ranged attacks.

Strong skills (5 XP)

These skills have a little more oomph and enable to do greater damage as well as have a status effect put on the targeted opponent. Status effects will be covered in a future post as well.

Slice

Deal 4 DP and an additional 2 DP per round for 2 rounds

Another status effect changing attack. In addition to dealing 4 DP to the opponent, they will also suffer 2 DP every round for 2 rounds (for another 4 DP total). Let’s hope no-one heals them!

Tight grip

Deal 4 DP and immobilize an opponent for 2 rounds

As a stronger version of arm twist, this attack deals 4 DP and immobilizes the targeted opponent for 2 rounds.

Headbutt

Deal 3 DP and the targeted opponent is now confused

In addition to dealing 3 DP to an opponent, they are now confused. After you roll for this opponent you will perform a skill check. Basically, you will roll a D6 (six sided die) which has two 3 sides for success and 3 sides for a failed skill check. If it fails the opponent will hit itself instead of the targeted hero. Nice!

Powerful skills (7 XP)

You want to deal some serious damage? This is the store for you! These attacks are hard to execute but if they hit, they hit hard.

Deal 8 DP to an opponent and let them feel all your might!

Rage

Deal 6 DP to the target and 2 DP to every opponent adjacent to the hero

If you are surrounded with opponents, Rage can come in handy. You deal 6 DP to a target but also 2 DP to all opponents adjacent to you.

Manhandle

Push all adjacent enemies for a total amount double the amount of all opponents on the board

This might sound complicated but it’s actually quit simple. Check the total amount of opponents on the current tile and double it. That’s the number of spaces you can push all adjacent opponents away from you. You can divide the number of spaces in any way you like. All rules for pushing an opponent apply here as well (can’t push through walls or other heroes and opponents, you push them away in a straight line away from you).

Let’s wrap it up for today!

WOW, that was a lot! I hope you got a good feeling for the hero side of the game. In the next 4 updates we will look into the remaining 4 classes and dive deep into their skills.

After that we will look into the enemies of which there are currently 4 but more will come for sure. We will check out how they attack you and show a few tricks they have up their sleeves.

Until next time,
Happy gaming :)

Aug 22 Update #3 - Warrior hero class