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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 7464767" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>Yeah, that's basically the way Strike! works, but then you're relegated to having powers which are basically either Role Powers (ick, what makes a power a 'defender' power particularly?) or Source based (not so bad, but still hard to do right IMHO). </p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>That might be cool, BUT it has the issue of resource models. That is it is hard to see how a Stalwart and a Specialist would both live on the same sort of adventuring day... It would also be tough to grant each one the same 'story power'. The Specialist, with his "I can completely change the situation" powers would turn into the arbiter of what was possible in the overall parameter space of the party, much like an AD&D wizard, and the Stalwart would sort of just plod along. Both could be useful of course, but the Stalwart's contributions to the shape of the narrative would be hard to discern. This is probably fine for a 'skill test' type of "Step On Up" (gamist) system like OD&D was, but not so great for one that is story focused. </p><p></p><p>My answer, in HoML, to the class conundrum is that classes themselves are somewhat weak. They don't have power lists, instead they have a Class Feature, and a list of several Class Boons (3 of level 1 ideally, each being something like a build, but you could take more than one). Most of these major boons grant access to two powers, but that's not a universal. When you acquire a boon, you level.</p><p></p><p>Boons are generally of 3 basic flavors, class boons, race boons, and power source boons. Then there are the 'thematic' boons, which is a catch-all for everything else (these may all get swept up into one or another class at some point, but you're allowed to acquire anything that makes story sense, so that is more a way to organize them than anything else). You start with 3 major boons at level 1, so you could take 3 'dwarf' boons and be a very dwarfy dwarf, but not very distinctive as a Knight, though you'd still have your Knight class feature. In that case you'd be stuck using powers from the open 'martial' list, but that's not terrible. Your feature would insure they had a defenderish spin to them. </p><p></p><p>You could also take 3 Knight boons and eschew much focus on your race to concentrate on specific elements of being a Knight (highly defenderish in this case). You could take all power source boons and likewise concentrate more on the offensive/fighting style sort of aspect. </p><p></p><p>These boons could be seen as being akin to themes/PPs/EDs in a sense. They also replace feats in a fairly obvious way. So there's a 4e-like level of build flexibility, but its a little less burdensome to achieve your build goals than 4e, and power lists are a LOT more restricted. I think I currently have maybe 100 powers written, but then it will probably take something like 300 to make a full 1-20 game with a full suite of classes. </p><p></p><p>Still, I don't know if a Pirate or a Samurai should be a class, or a boon... nor why that would be different from Knight (which seems awfully much like fighter right now).</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 7464767, member: 82106"] Yeah, that's basically the way Strike! works, but then you're relegated to having powers which are basically either Role Powers (ick, what makes a power a 'defender' power particularly?) or Source based (not so bad, but still hard to do right IMHO). That might be cool, BUT it has the issue of resource models. That is it is hard to see how a Stalwart and a Specialist would both live on the same sort of adventuring day... It would also be tough to grant each one the same 'story power'. The Specialist, with his "I can completely change the situation" powers would turn into the arbiter of what was possible in the overall parameter space of the party, much like an AD&D wizard, and the Stalwart would sort of just plod along. Both could be useful of course, but the Stalwart's contributions to the shape of the narrative would be hard to discern. This is probably fine for a 'skill test' type of "Step On Up" (gamist) system like OD&D was, but not so great for one that is story focused. My answer, in HoML, to the class conundrum is that classes themselves are somewhat weak. They don't have power lists, instead they have a Class Feature, and a list of several Class Boons (3 of level 1 ideally, each being something like a build, but you could take more than one). Most of these major boons grant access to two powers, but that's not a universal. When you acquire a boon, you level. Boons are generally of 3 basic flavors, class boons, race boons, and power source boons. Then there are the 'thematic' boons, which is a catch-all for everything else (these may all get swept up into one or another class at some point, but you're allowed to acquire anything that makes story sense, so that is more a way to organize them than anything else). You start with 3 major boons at level 1, so you could take 3 'dwarf' boons and be a very dwarfy dwarf, but not very distinctive as a Knight, though you'd still have your Knight class feature. In that case you'd be stuck using powers from the open 'martial' list, but that's not terrible. Your feature would insure they had a defenderish spin to them. You could also take 3 Knight boons and eschew much focus on your race to concentrate on specific elements of being a Knight (highly defenderish in this case). You could take all power source boons and likewise concentrate more on the offensive/fighting style sort of aspect. These boons could be seen as being akin to themes/PPs/EDs in a sense. They also replace feats in a fairly obvious way. So there's a 4e-like level of build flexibility, but its a little less burdensome to achieve your build goals than 4e, and power lists are a LOT more restricted. I think I currently have maybe 100 powers written, but then it will probably take something like 300 to make a full 1-20 game with a full suite of classes. Still, I don't know if a Pirate or a Samurai should be a class, or a boon... nor why that would be different from Knight (which seems awfully much like fighter right now). [/QUOTE]
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