Adventuring Parties – Rogues, Rangers and Bards

[Aldin]

Adventuring parties often benefit from members that are highly skilled at trickery, scouting, and encouraging. There are three classes that perform this function. Bards help others achieve at a higher level. Rangers are the masters of mobility, easily conquering terrain for themselves and/or others, they may also have advantages against specific types of foes. Rogues employ devious trickery to undermine a foe and can be quite good at disarming traps as well. Quite a few of the local heroes are multiclassed, with features of a couple of these archetypes.

Rangers

Agent Carr: The original engagement ignorer, Carr is at his best taking on a single foe. 100

Kumiko: Death in motion, she leaves a path of destruction in her wake. 80

Moriko: Flexibility is her motto. 110

Shiori: Her incomplete training means she needs wise guidance to succeed. 60

Otonashi: The pint-sized monster slayer. 10

Brave Arrow: Reads the ground to find his foes. 50

Agent Skahen: A modern Ranger, helping others to find the path forward. 120

Emirroon: He uses his skills to silently move entire armies of Elves. 80

Saylind: She specializes in finding ways for her strong, but slow allies to come into contact with the enemy. 80

Theracus: A swift guide for troubled times. 40

Rogue

Darrak Ambershard: Trap disarming and backstabbing. A rogue’s rogue. 60

Dund: Befuddles his foes, causing them to lose track of what they were doing. 110

Morsbane: Befuddles his foes, causing them to forget who they are. 100

Ranger/Rogue

Brandis Skyhunter: A hunter of Kyrie who can traverse great distances as he lays enemy heroes low. 90

Atlaga: Assisting the Kyrie on their courses, Atlaga also bears a powerful magic item with which he can instantly slay a foe. 90

Bard

Finn: An inspirational leader in melee, his spirit lives on after his death. 80

Laglor: The feel of his cybernetic eye on their backs motivates Vydar’s followers to pick out even more distant targets to destroy. 110

Venoc Warlord: His mere presence throws his troops into greater frenzy as he masterfully demands swiftness from his scouts. 120

Ranger/Bard (this is akin to General or Battle Commander)

Sir Gilbert: Jandar’s Flagbearer helps his men get there the firstest with the mostest and gives them the courage to attack with even greater effect. 105

Marcus: An old soldier who knows how to get the best speed and combat efficiency from his troops. 100

Mogrimm Forgehammer: Deftly assisting his troops in getting the jump on their foes, his presence inspires amazing feats from nearby dwarves. 120

Ulginesh: Coordinating the Elf Wizards is a bit like herding cats, but Ulginesh does so without complaint. 150

Spartacus: His gladiators are better in every aspect when he is present. 200

Kato Katsuro: A genius with the Ashigaru and respected by the Samurai. 200

Master Win Chiu Woo: Aquilla loaned this Sensei to Ullar to improve his monks in many ways. 140

~Aldin, who thinks Fighters and Barbarians might be next - or possibly the central post explaining a bit more about the concept

[kolakoski]

Originally Posted by Aldin

.
Bard

Finn: An inspirational leader in melee, his spirit lives on after his death. 80

Thorgrim: Ditto. 80

Raelin (either): Sings her Aura of Protection. 80 or 120

Laglor: The feel of his cybernetic eye on their backs motivates Vydar’s followers to pick out even more distant targets to destroy. 110

Venoc Warlord: His mere presence throws his troops into greater frenzy as he masterfully demands swiftness from his scouts. 120

See scored entries.

[Aldin]

Raelin's a Cleric and Thorgrim's a Paladin, kolakoski

~Aldin, linkingly

[kolakoski]

Originally Posted by Aldin

Raelin's a Cleric and Thorgrim's a Paladin, kolakoski

~Aldin, linkingly

Why is Finn a Bard and Thorgrim a Paladin? When did Raelin get religious? Your lists are interesting as a point of departure, but as for being definitive . . . . . .

[Aldin]

Definitive? Surely you jest! I'm trying to do a rough sort of most of the non-Utgar classic figures to get a feel for where they fit into a D&D format.

If it heals or offers a defensive boost it's a Paladin/Cleric (I almost added Druid for Acolarh). If it offers attack bonuses it's a Bard. Movement bonuses are Rangers. Rogues have attack boosts or unusual D20 powers. I'll probably split Fighters and Barbarians based on defense and movement and maybe range. Magic Users I'm a bit baffled on how to approach at the moment - among other things, there are classic figures who perform like D&D mages in effect but are clearly not mages in theme. Shotgun Sullivan is an excellent example. He's a fragile figure with a ranged special. I just can't decide if I'm going to "cheat" and make those types of figures magical boomstick wielders. Mebbe I really do need to get the WIP umbrella thread up soon.

~Aldin, decending into the Underdark

[Killometer]

I like the call lists you've been assembling, but there are a couple places our opinions differ.

Originally Posted by Aldin

Emirroon: He uses his skills to silently move entire armies of Elves. 80

Saylind: She specializes in finding ways for her strong, but slow allies to come into contact with the enemy. 80

Dund: Befuddles his foes, causing them to lose track of what they were doing. 110

Morsbane: Befuddles his foes, causing them to forget who they are. 100

All of these units seem to fit as Wizards better to me. That is the class that I connect with battlefield control, repositioning of allies and magical neutering on enemies.

Sir Gilbert: Jandar’s Flagbearer helps his men get there the firstest with the mostest and gives them the courage to attack with even greater effect. 105

Marcus: An old soldier who knows how to get the best speed and combat efficiency from his troops. 100


Ulginesh: Coordinating the Elf Wizards is a bit like herding cats, but Ulginesh does so without complaint. 150

Spartacus: His gladiators are better in every aspect when he is present. 200

Kato Katsuro: A genius with the Ashigaru and respected by the Samurai. 200

Most of these units fit better as Paladins/Warlords (at least the 4e versions-I have a hard time classifying them into 3.X [which is odd since that's the edition that I am most familiar with], and I don't know anything about 1e or 2e).

I have more in-depth opinions of HS to DnD breakdowns in my HS Heroes and DnD Party Roles thread if you have any interest in checking them out.[/shameless self-promotion]

[Winin]

Don't forget about Taelord and his Attack Aura: All figures you control within 4 clear sight spaces of Taelord the Kyrie Warrior get +1 to attack. Taelord’s Attack Aura does not effect Taelord.

When I was trying to create a custom bard for the good guys, I used Taelord as my inspiration.

[Aldin]

Good thought, Winin. I was avoiding using Utgar figures since they're the "bad guys" of the piece. Actually, the whole thing died when I saw what Killometer had done and realized his 4e approach was going to work better than my 3.5e one.

~Aldin, dead threadingly

[Winin]

Ah, sorry, I just realized the dates on the thread. I came across it when looking at what others had done with the notion of a bard. I haven't played DnD since it was AD&D, so I'm a bit outdated.

I come from a MMORPG background lately. They divide a party similarly, but not quite the same. The trinity is Tank, Healing, DPS, and then all the utility/buff/debuff classes are added in if they fit. Your list looked good to me, since it focused on the utility characters (which I usually gravitate towards).

And besides, bad guys need inspirational music too: Motley Crue, Korn, Lady Gaga...

[Bogusoid]

Considering how easily they can be picked off, I find drafting squads a challenging suggestion when faced with a dungeon crawl. So far I've only played the River of Blood, against myself at that, and while Second Wind is nice it's a 50-50 shot of reviving a dead squad member. What are some good squads to consider for a dungeon crawl? I imagine bonding is as valuable as ever, but where multiple life points and the ability to pick up treasure glyphs take center stage it must take a particular strategy to choose the right squad in lieu of another hero.