New class in next beta!

[Variaz]

A new basic class is coming in the next beta: the Fighter!

The Fighter is very different from the Warrior. While the Warrior is a disciplined soldier who uses a variety of combat techniques and feats to defeat opponents(Spin Attack, Accurate Strike, Counter Attack, Leaping Spin...), the fighter is one who loves fighting for pleasure, and focus on sheer power rather than technique.

Fighters fights with anything they can find(they are made with the new Fighting skill in mind), but also their fists, and they will have an Unarmed Fighting ability that will offer an alternative for those who don't want to be an oriental-style wise monk, but rather a street brawler who fights with his/her fists. So far, abilities include passive ability to raise base damage rolls of any melee attacks, a passive ability that raises AC based on Fighting skill, an ability to Taunt opponents, a passive that gives your normal attacks a chance to do double damages and paralyze enemies, and an ability that raises damages of unarmed combat based on Fighting skill.... and there's more to come!

The class gets a great 33% bonus to Strength, and a nice 25% to constitution. It is, however, a very weak spellcaster, with a 50% penality to mana, and a -25% penality to wisdom(they think violence solves all problems... not very wise, if you ask me! ). Abilities are focused on normal melee attacks, and the goal is to greatly increase physical damages, and use Fighting skill as the main skill. Fighters have no combat feats, and no elemental damages, so multiclass is needed. (they multiclass very well with Elemental Lord, as the Elemental Lord has Element Strike and Fist of Element for the unarmed fighters!)

The Fighter class was made as an alternative to weapon specialized combat-feat based fighting, and also as an alternative to those who are tired of unarmed combat always being associated with wise, oriental-style monks. I believe this will be a very interesting class!

[challtdow]

This class sounds like it might be alot of fun. I never really liked the monk that much, but I think I may try this one out. Plus it'll give me a chance to use some of the E. Lord skills that I usually skip.

Chall T. Dow

[junyortrakr]

This could be a very interesting class. I will look forward to seeing more specific details.

I am wondering how much difference the wisdom penalty will make with both intelligence and wisdom counting toward skill points, though. Will there really be any significant penalty for a low wisdom? Then again, it said a -25% penalty, so maybe they have a high wisdom...

[Variaz]

The low wisdom won't matter much, if you invest points in intelligence, you'll reach 3 skill points/level at the same level a normal class would. The wisdom penality is there to make them worst at wisdom spellcasting. It is also there to reflect the more violent nature of the class. Lower wisdom also means that they have lower resistance to some effects like fear and confusion, although later, you will find items that gives you immunity to these ailments.

-25% penality to wisdom, combined with 50% mana penality, makes the Fighter the worse spellcasting class. Now, make them dwarves, and you have the Dwarf Fighter, the game's most useless spellcaster!

Anyway, I'll post more details once the class is finished!

[junyortrakr]

You missed the admittedly silly point I was making: a -25% penalty would be a 25% bonus. Of course, this is not at all what you meant.

True, a dwarf would make a pathetic spell caster, but, then again, what self-respecting dwarf would want to be one, anyway? Still, the golems I like don't even understand what a spell is, so they would be worse, although not a standard character.

[Variaz]

lol, I see what you mean now! ;D

Yeah, I guess a -25% penality is like --25%, which becomes +25%...

[Variaz]

The class is finished! Sorry to not have done it earlier, I didn't work too much on NewAngband in the past two weeks, it should have been done earlier, but I took a little break from coding... Anyway, here's all the details about the new class!

FIGHTER:
Strength: +33%
Constitution: +25%
Wisdom: -25%
-50% to maximum mana.

The fighter is also an adept of melee combat, but he is very different
from the warrior. While the warrior is a disciplined soldier who uses
combat techniques to defeat opponents, the fighter just fight for
personnal enjoyment, with violence and aggressivity. They fight
with whatever weapon they can find, including their own fists, and
will either use brute strength and sheer power, or they will taunt
their opponents into attacking and losing control. Fighters are by no means
noble or honorable, in fact, most of them are street thugs or bullies
who learn to fight by themselves. Most of them shun magic, as they would
rather fight than read a book.

FIGHTER
---------

1. Sheer Power(Passive, level 1)

Effect: Increase base damages rolls of any melee attacks.
Base roll increase: +10%
Extra points: +10% to base roll.
+5% to Power Attack multipliers.

This passive ability raises the base damages roll of any melee attacks
you make. Since the base damages roll is a key factor in determining
total damages, this passive ability can easily turn a melee attack into
an extremely powerful one. This works with both armed and unarmed
attacks. Also, each points will increase the power attack multipliers
by 5%. So if you have 20 points in Sheer Power, a level 1 power
attack will do 4 times normal damages, a level 2 will do 6 times normal
damages and a level 3 will do 8 times.

2. Defensive Fighting(Passive, level 1)

Effect: Use fighting skill to increase AC.
Bonus to AC: Fighting skill.
Extra points: +1 multiplier to bonus.

This passive ability increase your AC based on your Fighting skill.
This can be very useful, as it allows you to use a single skill to raise
both your offensive and defensive power. If you need extra AC, but do
not want to raise agility or defense, this ability can be of help.

3. Taunt(Active, level 1)

Effect: Lure enemies around you into attacking you.
Taunt's strength: 10
Radius: 5
Can be resisted: Yes
Extra points: +10 to Taunt's strength

This ability allows you to taunt enemies into attacking you. When provoked,
the enemies will be mad at you, and will want to attack you at any costs,
making several mistakes in the process. Taunted enemies will have their
hit rate and defense reduced by 33%, and will fail spellcasting 50% of the
time. However, because they are eager to kill you, they will gain +3 to
speed. Also, for every points of charisma above 5, the strength of taunt
increases by 5. The bonus from charisma will never exceed the base taunt's
strength though. Nonliving enemies(such as golems) and undeads are not
affected by taunt. Uniques cannot be taunted either.

4. Critical Hits(Passive, level 1)

Effect: Target weak points while fighting, to paralyze and damage heavily.
Dirty Fighting strength: 5
Paralysis duration: 2 turns
Can be resisted: Yes(strength is used instead of mind)
Extra points: +5 to Critical Hit's strength.
+1 to paralysis duration for every 20 points.

This passive ability will allow you to get a chance to both paralyze
the enemy you're fighting, as well as do double damages. Note that
this ability will only work when attacking enemies with normal melee
attacks. It will not work when using combat feats. Whenever you strike
an enemy, a test of critical hit's power versus the monster's level
and strength will be performed. If the monster fails the test, it will
be stunned, and will take double damages. Any enemies immune to paralysis
will be immune to critical hits. Uniques cannot be paralyzed, but they
can still take double damages if they fail the test. Also note that to
paralyze, you must do at least 1 point of damages. If you deal no
damages when striking(such as hitting a boss with weapon immunity, or
a monster with 100% physical resistance), you won't paralyze.

5. Unarmed Fighting(Passive, level 1)

Effect: Uses your Fighting skill to improve unarmed attacks.
Unarmed base damages roll bonus: 5% of Fighting skill.
Extra points: +5% of Fighting skill added to unarmed base rolls.
+1 unarmed attack blow for every 5 points.

This passive ability will allow you to greatly improve your unarmed
attacks using the Fighting skill. The ability will take a certain
percentage of your Fighting skill, and directly add it to the base
damage rolls of any unarmed attacks. For example, with a Fighting
skill of 20, you would get a lousy 1d3 attack roll. However, with
20 points in Unarmed Fighting, you would get 1d3+20, resulting in
a much greater base roll of 21 to 23. With some points in this
ability, raising the Fighting skill may eventually become as powerful
or even better than the Martial Arts skill, but unlike Martial Arts,
Unarmed Fighting can be used while wearing armor and shields without
any penalities. Note that this ability is calculated after the
Sheer Power ability, so the bonus from Unarmed Fithting is not
increased by the Sheer Power ability.

6. Fighter's Accuracy(Passive, level 1)

Effect: Increase your hit rate based on your Fighting skill.
Bonus hp: +3/fighting skill points.
Extra points: +3 bonus to_hit per Fighting skill points.

This passive ability will allow you to get a higher hit rate based
on your Fighting skill. This can be useful, and fairly quick way
of greatly increasing your hit rate. With only 10 points in this ability,
you will get 30 extra to_hit per points in Fighting skill, allowing
you to get a high hit rate without the need of raising dexterity,
and allowing you to focus in strength or constitution.

7. Defensive Power Attacks(Passive, level 6)

Effect: When using the Power Attack feat, you gain a bonus to AC,
as well as physical and magic resistance.
Bonus to_ac: +100
Physical/magical resistance: 15%
Duration: Power Attack's duration.
Extra points: +100 bonus to_ac.
+1% to physical/magical resistance(maximum 75%).

Using a Power Attack leaves you vulnerable for a few turns, but with
this passive ability, you will gain some bonuses to AC, physical
resistance and magic resistance, thus making you a lot less vulnerable,
and will make Power Attacks less risky. If you plan on using a lot
of Power Attacks, this is an ability to consider.

8. Throw(Active, level 6, combat feat)

Effect: Grab an enemy, and throw it to deal damages.
Damages: Base unarmed damages.
Distance: 3
Extra points: +10% to damages.
+1 to distance for every 20 points.
Allow you to throw heavier enemies.

This ability allow you to grab an enemy, and throw it away. This is
a useful ability, as it allows you to deal damages while keeping
enemies away from you. Beware, however, that some enemies are too
heavy to throw, unless you place a lot of points in this ability.
There is no way to know a monster's weight, though common sense
can help a lot here(an ancient dragon is usually bigger and heavier
than a three foot kobold...). This ability is best combined with
Unarmed Fighting, to get more damages out of it.

9. Extreme Strike(Active, level 6)

Effect: When using Power Attack, you may use this attack to deliver
a very powerful blow, and send enemies far away.
Damages: Base weapon/unarmed damages.
Distance: 5
Extra points: +1 multiplier to damages.
+1 to distance for every 5 points.

This ability allow you to deliver a very powerful blow to an enemy,
and knock it very far away. This is a very powerful ability,
especially since you have to use Power Attack first, resulting in
even more power. Enemies will take major damages, and will not
have a chance to retaliate. Do be careful however, as if the
ability miss, you will have wasted several turns preparing the
Power Attack and using Extreme Strike, and ultimately fail to do
any damages. Fighter's Accuracy can be a good ability to raise
to help ensuring the success of this ability.

10. Fighting Mastery(Passive, level 10)

Effect: Gives +2 to Fighting skill.
Extra points: +2 additional points to Fighting skill.

This powerful passive ability gives you a +2 bonus to the Fighting
skill. Since many abilities of the Fighter depends on having a high
Fighting skill, this ability will help you getting this high skill.
You can use this ability to gain a very high Fighting skill, or use
it to raise your skill while investing the skill points in another
skill.

[junyortrakr]

I like a bunch of these advantages. I rather doubt any one of my characters would use them all, but there isn't a class out there that I do, either.

I really like the possibility of improving raw attack damage. That will be useful in any case.

The taunt looks interesting; I would probably use it.

If the critical hit is performed per each individual swing, it would seriously favor a light weapon that gets a lot of swings since that would mean the target would have many more chances to fail a save. If it is one roll per attack sequence, it would seem to eliminate weapon weighting. It might be possible to take weapon weight into account to give heavier weapons a higher chance of paralyzing. It's hard to see exactly how it works from the description.

Defensive power attacks and extreme strike seem to make the power attacks much more attractive. I might have to try them out.

Yes, I definitely like some of these abilities.

[Variaz]

Yes, the description is unclear, because of that "Dirty Fighting Strength" I wrote... this is an error, originally, I planned on naming this ability "Dirty Fighting", but ended up naming it Critical Hits.

The way those "saving throw" tests works is that first, you have the ability's power. Then, you have the monster's power, which is equal to the monster's level + mind stat(unless another stat is specified. In this case, Critical Hits uses Strength). So let's say you have 10 points in Critical Hits, the ability's power is 50. Against let's say a level 30 monster with a strength of 8, the monster's power would be 38. Then, a random number is rolled for the player between 1 and 50, and then a number for the monster between 1 and 38. If the player's number is equal or higher than the monster's, the player wins, and the ability will affect the monster. If the monster has the higher number, the monster resists the ability. It works like this for all abilities that are marked as "Can be resisted".

Now, Daggers definitly have an edge on paralyzing the monsters over other weapons, but then, that's a nice advantage to compensate for their very low damages output. Also, keep in mind that there are many monsters that resist paralysis(all undeads, all golems, and many other with the NO_STUN flag...), and therefore are immune to this, and many stronger foes will have a very high strength to resist. So I don't think I'll nerf the dagger/critical hits combo until at least trying it to see if it's effective(or if someone else tests it, and find out it's too strong)... For now, let's just enjoy the Fighter the way he is, and let's send monsters flying with a godly powered punch in the face!

I might release the next beta soon, I want the class to be tested. But as I said, I didn't work much on NewAngband in the last two weeks, and I want more of the main quest done in the next release. So I'm gonna build more of the main quest before releasing the beta...

[reenen]

admin said:

a -25% penality to wisdom(they think violence solves all problems... not very wise, if you ask me! )

If violence is not the answer... you're not using enough. ;D