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Message: <blockquote data-quote="GalahadPC" data-source="post: 5278440" data-attributes="member: 71793">So, here's my first post in the three years since I've registered. Sorry, I'm shy. Also, I'm sorry if somebody's hit this topic already, but I don't have the search feature to find out. :/ Anyway, the lack of any new full-fledged classes with Dark Sun seems to have missed out on two opportunities: first, introducing the Gladiator as a signature class of the setting (see Swordmage and Artificer), and second, finally filling that ever-elusive missing link in power/role combos - the martial controller. The funny thing is that they could go well together. Here's what I'm thinking of with a homebrew Gladiator class: he's a fighting showman, using a combination of non-damaging fear-based blasts and bursts along with rattling melee attacks primarily to hinder his enemies before dramatically putting them out of their misery. Whereas the Warlord uses calls, commands, rallying cries, and feats of daring to inspire his allies to action, the Gladiator uses boasts, threats, challenges, and feats of brutality to scare the pants off his enemies. Other martial classes do heaps of damage with crippling effects as secondary, while the Gladiator will use his powers to scatter, corral, drive back, slow, and daze them, then slowly whittle and bleed them out. Intimidation would most likely be an auto-skill, and other class skills would include Athletics (obviously), Bluff (for feinting), and Heal (as professional real-world gladiators were athletes who had to stay in good health). Armor would probably top off at chain-level, and weapons would include melee and heavy thrown weapons, and maybe a free superior weapon from a choice of the more exotic ones. As far as filling his role, the Gladiator certainly won't be creating difficult terrain or raising barriers unlike the magical controllers (which is currently all of them), and his minion-popping will be limited to area attacks within the reach of his weapon. What he can do is use fear-based will-attacking blasts and bursts to cause forced movement, slowing, and dazing at heroic tier, upgrade to knockdown, immobilization, and stunning at paragon, and finally unconsciousness or domination at epic (I can fully see an epic Gladiator terrify an enemy so horribly that he convinces it to turn against its allies). Melee attacks will frequently be rattling, will often target NADs, and can do all the above stuff and more - blinding, deafening, dropping weapons, ongoing damage, or whatever. Other martial classes' attacks should provide good indicators of what can be done here, amplifying their effects while reducing the damage. As a special extra, some Gladiator powers - I'm thinking the daily ones, most probably - could include melee attacks that do hellacious damage to any target suffering from certain crippling effects, essentially being "finishing moves." Heck, maybe that's what all the dailies should be. I'm a little torn about which ability scores it should use. I'm tempted to make it a Charisma primary, with Strength secondary for the brute-force Gladiators, and Dexterity for the more, let's say, "artistic" ones. So here's where I need help. I absoutely suck at gauging things like game balance or coming up with details. So is anybody else out there interested enough in seeing if this can work, maybe tweak what I have there and come up with class features and powers? Or is this concept doomed to being a boring failure? What say you all?</blockquote>

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