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PostPosted: Mon Feb 12, 2018 4:30 pm 
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The webpage for the Witcher is https://postmortemstudios.wordpress.com/2015/06/13/rpg-a-witcher-class-for-the-dragon-warriors-rpg/.

As said in this thread http://www.libraryofhiabuor.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=311, the profession could be modified and expanded upon to better fit the Witcher franchise, so I thought I'd start a Fan Projects thread.

For instance:

Although Witchers do have a high damage resistance, a lot of this is because they have a very high rate of regeneration, much like how Wolverine resists damage. Game-wise this could be represented by +1d2 HP per 2/3 combat rounds.


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PostPosted: Tue Feb 13, 2018 2:05 pm 
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Acoma wrote:
The webpage for the Witcher is https://postmortemstudios.wordpress.com/2015/06/13/rpg-a-witcher-class-for-the-dragon-warriors-rpg/.

As said in this thread http://www.libraryofhiabuor.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=311, the profession could be modified and expanded upon to better fit the Witcher franchise, so I thought I'd start a Fan Projects thread.

For instance:

Although Witchers do have a high damage resistance, a lot of this is because they have a very high rate of regeneration, much like how Wolverine resists damage. Game-wise this could be represented by +1d2 HP per 2/3 combat rounds.

There will be elements of the Witcher computer game franchise that will be designed to make a good computer game and don't translate very well into a role-playing game.

Consider that rapid healing promotes a combat-heavy and fast-paced action gaming experience - great in a visual, action-packed computer game, but very different from Dragon Warriors' emphasis on deadly, visceral combat and long recovery times that encourages caution, exploration, interaction, and discovery before combat.

Secondly, computer games have to give all the agency to a single player, whereas role-playing games typically promote balanced teams in which all players get an opportunity to shine - a single profession that can do everything doesn't promote that team experience of an RPG. Just look at the problem that the first attempt at the Lone Wolf RPG had - Kai Lords work great in a single-player second-person adventure, but less well in a team of less effective classes that make the other players feel like they're just hangers-on to the Kai Lord (or Shianti Mage) running the show.

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 9:39 am 
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Although I think if this were toned down and the Witcher were given weaknesses in other areas that might better balance the party. I might make this a project - I really love the idea. It's like the Warlock profession but better!


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 9:52 am 
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Acoma wrote:
Although I think if this were toned down and the Witcher were given weaknesses in other areas that might better balance the party. I might make this a project - I really love the idea. It's like the Warlock profession but better!

I like the idea of the Witcher being like a fixed Warlock profession - I especially like the idea of sigils, which are like "raw power for warlocks" but not as unbalanced (if done right) - I think they would have to be fuelled by magic points or their equivalent to keep them in line with other professions but are sufficiently different to the other casters to make them unique. MPs could, for example, recover after combat rather than each day. If their nascent combat skills coupled with basic magic left them approximate in combat effectiveness to knights, then it wouldn't be unbalanced, and then their other abilities could provide the role-playing uniqueness of their profession. Some skills of the mighty to bring out their video game abilities, lore, etc. would bring additional distinction at higher ranks.

Interesting project and a good approach, I think, so it'd be great if you kept us updated of your progress here.

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 10:55 am 
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It is mentioned on the site that, instead of MPs, Witchers can cast a Sign every third round, meaning they can't just blast for 3 rounds and win, they still have to fight hand-to-hand. Their combat stats are interesting too - Attack of a Knight, Defence of a Sorcerer. Low MA as well.


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 11:45 am 
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Acoma wrote:
It is mentioned on the site that, instead of MPs, Witchers can cast a Sign every third round, meaning they can't just blast for 3 rounds and win, they still have to fight hand-to-hand. Their combat stats are interesting too - Attack of a Knight, Defence of a Sorcerer. Low MA as well.

I saw the every three rounds thing, too - however, in a long combat, that's inexhaustible. I'd still like to see some limit on the number of times a Witcher can do that; there needs to be a cost, either MP, exhaustion, HP, etc. - something that makes it a tactical decision when or whether to use a sigil or perform another action.

The low Defence is an interesting choice for a combat profession - I don't know the computer game franchise, but if they're aimed at being a combat mage, they should be relatively competent in combat even without magic - at least on a par with a mystic, maybe better. With magic, they should be closer to a knight (but with an exhaustible supply of magic). If the Witcher than has "other" abilities that make them "better" than a knight, then they should be pitched slightly below the knight's level of combat effectiveness. Note the use of quotes to mean that "better" specifically relates to combat in this sense, which is certainly not "better" in a role-playing game!

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 12:50 pm 
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Maybe for every casting after the first/second, Signs cost 1HP to cast. Although I think that the inexhaustible supply is because Witchers have to take each Sign as a Skill (2 Skill Points/rank - very videogame-like!).


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PostPosted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 1:23 pm 
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Acoma wrote:
Maybe for every casting after the first/second, Signs cost 1HP to cast. Although I think that the inexhaustible supply is because Witchers have to take each Sign as a Skill (2 Skill Points/rank - very videogame-like!).

Yes, the two skills per Rank is not in keeping with the rest of the DW professions - the assassin is quite an anomaly as most professions follow the pattern of a small number of starting skills, followed by a selection of skills of the mighty at higher ranks. If you treat sigils like spells, then the Witcher could learn more at each rank, just like the magickers learn new spells at each rank, leaving the other skills to be picked at higher ranks. Higher level spells are then just more effective iterations of the sigil. Six skills ranks of each sigil? No problem - that's six levels of spells:
  1. Least sigil of ...
  2. Lesser sigil of ...
  3. Sigil of ...
  4. Greater sigil of ...
  5. Master sigil of ...
  6. Greatest sigil of ...

Witchers learn two spells per rank, may not learn a sigil of a spell level greater than their rank, and may not learn a more advanced form of a sigil they do not also know all of the earlier versions of that sigil.

After 6th rank, having unlocked (if not learned) all of the sigils, Witchers only learn one spell per rank and one of their skills of the mighty.

Witchers have 1 MP per rank, each spell (sigil) costs its spell level in MPs to cast, and Witchers recover 1 MP per combat round (or every other combat round if you want a more limited Witcher). So they can either cast one big sigil per combat or lots of little ones.

That's just off the top of my head, but feels a little bit more balanced. Throw in a couple of starting skills with which the Witcher starts at rank 1 (something basic like tracking, etc.), balance their attack and defence scores to be more in keeping with a slightly-less-than-knight and you have a more rounded profession. If you want to add a little bit of character lore and background, etc. (esp. how it fits into the folkloric legacy of Ellesland) and you have something ready to publish in the doomed Ordo Draconis issue 3 - or here :).

I like what the original author has tried to do with the Witcher profession - remain faithful to how I assume the video game enhances the character - but a true DW conversion should convert it to fit into Legend and work alongside the existing professions, rather than try to recreate the Witcher video game in DW (unless that really is the intention, in which case just work on a Witcher RPG because the other elements and mechanics of the DW RPG will not create a Witcher-esque experience).

And it should avoid the obvious pitfalls into which some of the more recent professions have fallen, such as suddenly preventing characters from performing actions they were fully capable of performing prior to the publication of the new professions!

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PostPosted: Thu Feb 15, 2018 7:57 pm 
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With regards to learning Signs, each one is treated as a skill that can be taken multiple times to increase its effect, e.g. Aard has a Speed of 13 and does 2HP damage to 5m. This can be increased to 18, 7 and 10 respectively, at +1 per 'take'.

I think the point of the Witcher is to have a wide range of possible abilities, but focusing on specialization. They start with Track and an innate Poison Resistance and high Perception. Shall I PM you with what I have so far?


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PostPosted: Fri Feb 16, 2018 10:28 am 
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Acoma wrote:
With regards to learning Signs, each one is treated as a skill that can be taken multiple times to increase its effect, e.g. Aard has a Speed of 13 and does 2HP damage to 5m. This can be increased to 18, 7 and 10 respectively, at +1 per 'take'.

I saw that in the original write-up on the guy's blog, but I think they work better as spells - it's more consistent with the rest of the DW professions. Levelled skills are very video-gamey and DW already has a mechanic to manage that (i.e., spells) so a new mechanic doesn't seem to fit (although, multiple different mechanics for the same thing certainly would be consistent with DW - just look at all the different ways a character can aim for a specific location in combat!)

Acoma wrote:
I think the point of the Witcher is to have a wide range of possible abilities, but focusing on specialization. They start with Track and an innate Poison Resistance and high Perception. Shall I PM you with what I have so far?

Well, I'm not familiar with the Witcher video games, so I'm not sure what more I could add to this project beyond what I've already done on this thread: share my view on the congruency of the Witcher profession's mechanics with the existing DW mechanics and my views on how to balance the WItcher with the other professions.

What you could do is share the file on this forum and maybe others more familiar with the franchise could suggest improvements?

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