Pre-constructed heroes ideas

[fertobardi]

Recently after a long break with playing the FF classic books i decided to did come back with the more RPGish aspects of it reading all the old AFF books to make some campaings to play with friends.

I too stumbled across all the added rules and entering a maze of rules complexity and felt that could at first lead to some degree of frustration and waste of time.

So i have mix some stuffs that ive found cool on the AFF 2ed like weapon dmg tables, armour, while tweaking some others, along with the good simplicity and straight forward objectiveness of the first RPG book by Steve Jackson.

And i was aiming for a shortcut regarding the advanced system, to turn that even more engaging and fast. Because most of my friends are not die hard rpg players nor doenst have the time to surf on all the complexity in the rules system.

Because of this, i came up with pre-constructed characters ready for the kill. Those characters having 4 special unique-skills, full of thematic flavour and a specific skill-kit class related: for warrior, rogue, wizard, druid, battlemage and ranger.

Some of those skills are from the AFF 2ed, hero companion, while some others from classical FF books, sometimes with same names, different names with same effects, maybe little tweaks, or completely out of my imagination.

Assuming those characters are made to deal with the great and most hazardous adventures, all of them are at their peak. No rookies this time and no time to level up characters, no xp at all.

Some classes for example, like the most agile ones, would cap skill at 11 but can reach 12 with +1 skill max when using a specific weapon. For most agile classes i mean: rogue, ranger, archer and samurai warrior. All classes can reach that +1 skill with a specific weapon that act like fighting with the weapon he faves and have intensive use and training with it. More tanky classes like barbarian warrior, dwarf or knight, may reach 10 skill and go max to 11 with some weapon specialisation.

Maybe at the start, you can choose one of the 4 special skills of your character or none and add the other ones as they complete some quests preparing them for greater battles. But anyways, i have found pretty balanced that way, even starting with them all.

I will be posting one pre-made character after another and i would like to hear any thoughts or criticism if somebody feels to have it.

Anyways, im playing with all of them with great joy already using some FF classic books to support the plays, get inspiration and monsters encounters, and also out of the pit a lot. I apreciate any hints for more inspiration.

And finally, sorry for mistakes in english as it is not my native language and sorry for that wall of text. I will use google translator for the next posts regarding the characters because i primarily write it down in portuguese.

[fertobardi]

First of all, one of the most beloved of all since mister Robert E. Howard made them mainstream: the ruthless barbarian warrior. A violent class to deal with a violent world. Theres a dictate here that says: if a problem its not solved yet its because the usage of violence was not enough. Throm like to get pissed and stack some good high damage. And also, i do hope now that you will understand why they seldom wear armour. Well done, "trust only in the axe", they say, here we go:


Barbarian: 10/18/9. AS:2

.Death Axe: +1 skill when using battle axe

.Berserker: grants +2 bonus to damage rolls once you lose 5 stamina points or more, that way entering in the berserker trance attacking all available enemies at sight until they all die or they kill you, what happens first. The barbarian in a trance will not be able to retreat or flee combat while there are enemies at sight, unless controlled magically. The trance ends in 3 minutes immediately after the last enemy dies or no more enemies are at sight. If another enemy appears within this time, the trance continues, the count resets and waits to start again until the new threats are eliminated or somehow gonne. The barbarian in berserk may attack someone in the group that they dislike during the trance if there are no more enemies, specially if he has been angered or provoked by someone. He doesnt talk or can be intimidated and hardly being convinced of nothing during the trance, and if his stamina went 0, he keeps fighting and start to deduct inflicted damage on his remaining luck points. If the luck points go down to 0 hes dead. When the trance is over and with some luck left, he may fall unconscious with 0 stamina normally.

.Brute Strength: +1 bonus to damage rolls (passive): brute strength stacks with Berserker causing consistent +3 bonus to damage rolls - this damage adds also to damage throws of spears, hand axes and daggers, but doesnt add nothing to shots of bows or crossbows. The barbarian is the only warrior capable of throwing a battle axe.

.Rusticity: survives several days without food and shelter and not losing stamina because of that. Can eat raw fresh meat normally. This means barbarians doesnt need to cook or roast to eat meat. You don't suffer from indigestion as a result.

Warrior kit: + 2 skill for: Hunting, climbing, unarmed combat, riding.

[fertobardi]

Second pre-made character, more like templates, its another classic, loved and also hated by manny: this time a cunning one to deal with a cunning world: the sneaky rogue. Althought rogues are well known to avoid direct combat, cutting edges and going sneaky, i tried to keep my rogue idea in those lines plus also, the glass-cannon type of character -thanks to the poisoned blades- in case he fights, and of course he will. His/her class-kit its the most extensive of all reflecting a characteristic of the class that is well known for being one of the most resourcefull. Thats it - enter the shadows:


Rogue: 11/13/10 AS:1

.Assassin's Dagger: +1 skill with daggers and dagger throw.

.Acrobatic Dodge: +1 skill to any dodge rolls - only if not wearing any type of armor.

.Poison Manipulation: this skill grants the rogue the proper ability to extract various poisons from animals and plants, and put them inside vials and potion bottles to use as traps, smear weapon blades to use in combat or sneaky assassination. The poisoned blade will deal additional damage depending on the type of the poison, mostly spider venom: +2d6 stamina damage and -2 skill. Most common weapons used for that are daggers, spears or arrowheads. You need a vial or small bottle of poison to smear the weapon's blade. 2 weapons max per turn (for arrows and daggers), because the weapon must being wieldded and ready to be used, as if it is put on the sheath, a big part of the poison, if not all, would be absorbed while inside the leather. The vial of poison can be used a lot of times during the same adventure due to doesnt need the use of huge ammounts of the poison to smear the blades, unless its a sword, that would require to spread it to almost all the sharp edges of it, making it quite unpractical. The poison thats on the blade its gonne on a succesfull hit. Cant smear a blade during combat while at mellee range. The rogue can poison up to 2 daggers, throw one at the same turn and use the other one to mellee fight.

.Attack from the Shadows: must be successful in 2 skill tests one for succesfully hiding and other for sneaking. Start this movement hidden is a must to trigger it, out of the enemy attention and line of clear sight. So will be 2 skill checks (hide and sneak) with the rogue skill of 11+2 skill bonus (from the rogue kit), minus any penalty modifiers to trigger this: the Attack from the Shadows, one of the assassin rogue specials, is done with a quick dagger attack to the neck and is silent and fatal. There is little chance of defense and none for dodging. Unless the enemy is wearing full plate armor with neck protection. That way, the target must roll 1d6 to apply the armor defense.

Rogue Kit: +2 skill for:

Climb, sneak, hide
Swift evasion: flee combat without being attacked as long is not surrounded
Open lock - requires lock pick
Disarm and set traps - requires trap kit
Sleight of Hand: for stealing small items and pick pockets
Secret signals: encrypted communication
Mixing in the crowd: does not attract attention
Network: insider information on Assassins Guild and Thieves Guild about quests and bounty targets

[fertobardi]

I feel that before keep posting characters ideas/templates here, i would like to show off how i came with their stats and why this is aimed more on the classic FF side than the AFF one.

I would like also to add that ive got inspired by a member of this forum named Sylas for that. Only gave his idea of the stats point distribution a little tweak to hold down the characters to be OP, as we have already quite strong 4 special skills to work on their durability.

Base stats: 6/12/6 - 24 points to distribute
with values capping -for now-
at 11sk/ 24st/ 12lk

Distribution rates:

3 points to get +1 at skill
2 points to get +1 at luck
1 point to get +1 at stamina

Magic base stat starts with 6 and its very classic FF side also (heavily citadel of chaos based), and plain simple:

1 point to get +2 at magic (18 max)

One detail, a little thing that i liked from AFF and i think it adds some good depth here at the point distribution for mages:

Each time you raise your magic stat by 2, your skill stat is lessen by 1. I dont recall now from wich AFF book i have seen this but i quite like it to balance things while keep it fun and fair.

My wizard for example dont raise his skill any points, having skill 6, but his magic is at 24. Sorcerers seems a lot like battlemage for me, so they are something in between and i will show them later.

And thats it for magic: no magic check rolls to cast magic, no penalties while at combat, no Oops! table. Just pure magic and all the magic points being restored after a good night of sleep.

[fertobardi]

Another two little-simple but great tweaks that ive made its for the armor/weapon wearing capacity.

Its not based off skill but rather stamina. It makes a more lot sense to me that the stronger ones can wear the more heavier armors and weapons without penalty because they can hold more weight.

IMHO this had never being anything about to do with buy a specific skill and being more skilled, as any giant and strong moron can wear a heavy armor or use a greatsword more easily than anyone thats smaller. And people keeps writing extensive rule books saying contrary of whats kinda common sense.

So to wear armor or use weapon without a -2 skill penalty your stamina should match the armor/weapon type-weight:

12-14 stamina:

light weapons: daggers, shortswords, staff, shortbow, crossbow, lightswords, spears

light armor: leather simple, leather plates

15-17 stamina:

medium weapons:swords, hand axe, long bow, bastard swords-long swords (without shield), warhammer, clubs, flail, halabard

medium armor: chain mail short sleeved, chain mail long sleeved, samurai armor, breastplate armor

18+:

heavy weapons: battle axe, greatsword, greathammer

heavy armor: full plate armor

[fertobardi]

Finally, as i already presented the thief here with his dodge bonus, i will show off something thats also quite a commonsense for me. Not that commonsense is the representative of the ultimate truth but in a lot of cases it still is.

IMHO, i think that anyone with a minimum of martial training in any kind of field would have the innate ability to dodge hits. Not nice for me to buy a special skill to unlock this and keeping investing points.

The tweak that i gave to the dodge table of AFF to keep it simple while fun was this: no more dodge based off acquired skill points but it starts counting with the initial skill of the character if it is equal or above 7 skill, plus any bonus, if he have.

So you keep all the values on that dodge table and start counting the ability to dodge from skill 7 to 12. That way covering all the charts of said table and granting characters with no armor at the start of adventure with some chance of dodge.

Unfortunelly but fair enough, my skill 6 wizard would not be capable of dodge because hes the biggest nerd of all medieval fantasy world and hates to mellee fight.


Dodge table with this tweak its now this:


Skill|1|2|3|4|5|6|7
7. 0 0 0 0 0 1 2
8. 0 0 0 0 1 1 2
9. 0 0 0 1 1 2 3
10. 0 0 1 1 2 2 3
11. 0 1 1 2 2 3 4
12. 0 1 2 2 3 4 5

The thief with his +1 dodge special skill make him the only character of the set rolling dodge like if he was 12. That way making a lot more sense for him to get this bonus and working tru with no armor at all than the archer for example, with skill 11 but being more protected with long chainmail.

This turns everything more simple and straight forward while giving space to add on a lot more flavour.

I dont apply dodge to monsters, only armor, if they have. Because most of them dummies will attacks recklessly and relentlesly anyways.

[fertobardi]

Now thats enough of all of this blatantly speaking of rules, lets come back to action. Mostly action from a distance. Thats it: the swifty archer. Mostly wearing green with them green hoods it seems they love to shoot at people while hided in the woods. I did some effort to make them relevant as the penalties applied at AFF for shooting from long range are severe. Althought ive kept all of the penalties table because somehow i like them in play. Bow and arrow being one of my irl hobbies, i know first hand how distance increase can make things extra hard. Ok, put on your green hood its time to hit the bullseye.


Archer: 11/15/9 AS:1


.Elite Archer: +1 skill only when using a short or long bow.

.Head Shot: hits the enemy head: head counts as a small target: -2 penalty. Add other penalties if any: moving target, obscured, camouflaged or shadowed target -1 for each, medium range -3, long range -6. This skill cannot be used in conjunction with double shot. The target can attempt to dodge normally if has seen the archer and will roll armor defense if its head is protected with helmet. If any damage reaches the head, the damage will be fatal and the target stamina will instantly go zero.

.Aimed Shot: +2 skill with bow, requires aiming for one turn. Stacks with Elite Archer, adding +3 to skill while using bow to the attack of the next turn. Total for this attack will be counted with skill 14 max.

.Double Shot: two shots in the same turn, applying a penalty for each of them: -1 skill in the first shot, -2 in the second. Rolls the opponent's defense and dodge normally for each shot if the archer was spot.

Ranger kit: + 2 skill for:

Climb, sneak, hide, hunt, track
Notice and set traps in the woods
Camouflage in forests and swamps: enemies cannot see the archer position in ranged attacks.

[fertobardi]

Keep tracking the path of the classics: we have the knight, with his shiny armor and lets hope for his also shiny honor and faith. This is not a regular knight, since i took the templar talent from AFF2ed to make good use of it here also as one of the 4 special skills. This thing makes that knight hit like a truck and now i have a clue why theres so manny legends telling us about lonely knights slaying dragons. Prepare because the dragons lair is being stormed, solo.


Knight: 10/16/10 AS:2

.Kingdom Champion: +1 Skill only when using a sword or spear.

.Knight's Resolve: can reroll one attack strength die each attack turn.

.Templar: 5 devotion points: Allows to use the above priestly ability: max. of 5 rounds per day.

.Divine punishment (smite): add 2d6 att dmg along with the normal damage of each attack, a maximum of five times per day.

Warrior kit: + 2 skills for:

Hunting, climbing, unarmed combat, riding.

[fertobardi]

Taking a different path now coming from a distant and isolated land called Hachim(Jap)an, we have a kind of an exotic knight: the samurai warrior. I took heavily from sword of the samurai skilss here. The unarmed combat* is kinda my take as its not hard to see some story of a samurai kicking butt of someone without not taking off the sword from the sheath. Lets get to know the most sophisticated head hunter on earth, i mean, Titan.

Samurai: 11/15/9 AS:2

.Way of the Sword: +1 Skill +1 AS when using katana sword.

.Two-blade technique: ni-to-kenjutsu: on a roll where the attack strength is 9 or more, perform another attack. The first attack is normal sword damage (katana), the second is short sword damage (wakizashi). The opponent cannot counter attack on the second attack unless he has AS:2 or more. This fighting style cannot be used if the samurai has one of his hands occupied carrying something.

.Quick draw: iai-jutsu: the samurai draws his katana and strikes an enemy in a single, quick and fluid movement at the beginning of the fight in a vulnerable part of the opponent body. This attack cannot be used again while an enemy is nearby and the sword is in use out of the sheath. This ability can only be used once at the start of each fight, automatically dealing 3 points of damage. This attack does not allow armor defense or dodge. When using this attack, the ni-to-kenjutsu skill cannot be used.

.Samurai unarmed combat: ju-jutsu: roll 1d6 if you have won the attack strength roll:

1 to 2: knocks opponent down: deal 1ST damage, no defense roll or dodge: opponent loses a turn to get up

3 to 4: breaks opponent arm: reduces 1 skill point

5: breaks weapon arm: -4 skill

6: choke: opponent is strangled to death going to 0 stamina.

Warrior kit: + 2 skills for:

Hunting, climbing, unarmed combat (ju-jutsu) and riding.

Samurai code of honor Honor: 3 - if it reaches 0, it commits harakiri.

*unarmed combat applies a -4 skill penalty, but when the warrior have it as a skill, it reduces the penalty to -2 only.