Perking the Barbarian's combat skills

[mitchiemasha]

(so all the other players ask him to go and risk his BP to try to disarm traps).

No need to risk his BP if playing original... "and can always disarm any traps you find"

[wallydubbs]

(so all the other players ask him to go and risk his BP to try to disarm traps).

No need to risk his BP if playing original... "and can always disarm any traps you find"

Yeah, but even the best make mistakes, there should always be room for failure.

[Stoner81]

I don't know if he came up with the concept, but Sjeng produced some cards that allow dual weilding. I like the fact that there's a great deal more variety to the equipment, but double attacks seem too unbalanced, plus it negates heroic brew and Orc's Bane.
I'd like to incorporate it into play, but there has to be a balance... perhaps in slowing down a hero carrying 2 weapons.

I allow Heroic Brew to stack so the players could attack 4 times in one turn but that involves them being surrounded by monsters since they can't move, attack and move again As for Orc's Bane it has always been an odd weapon and one that many here have spent many many hours trying to fix and find a proper place for it. I made it so that it works against all forms of greenskin monsters so named it Greenskin Bane so it works on Goblins, Orcs and Fimirs (monsters in my rules are a lot stronger than they were originally).

With all of the above said though, most of my rule book is untested at the moment since I can't find anybody to play with so there probably is some balance issues but meh that's half the fun for me, working out these things



Stoner81.

[mitchiemasha]

I wouldn't say it negates Heroic Brew and Orcs Bane. One of the only straight up rule changes I use is, Short Sword: Dual wield not diagonal. All my other tweaks are added to wording, not changes.

Plus dual Wield is 2 Attacks that take up both hands, loss of the shield, unlike the attacks form Bane and Potions.

[mitchiemasha]

(so all the other players ask him to go and risk his BP to try to disarm traps).

No need to risk his BP if playing original... "and can always disarm any traps you find"

Yeah, but even the best make mistakes, there should always be room for failure.

No they don't, especially the primitive shoddy level of the base game Quests. No sweat for the dwarf. But, he does make mistakes, when he doesn't search.

[wallydubbs]

My point is that when I play with children (nephews), they all want to be the barbarian because it is the strongest! The elf is balanced, resulting a mix of fighting skills and some magic, the Wizard has the spells but it is too weak to fight, so better if an adult use him and the dwarf... he is short, has no spells, 1 more unuseful mind point and the ability to disarm traps (so all the other players ask him to go and risk his BP to try to disarm traps). That is why I would like to add the dwarf a really useful skill or making him better in defense.

Have you tried Sjeng's cards? His weapons add a great deal of variety and limits the Elf's use of heavier melee weapons (such as the Battle Axe). Although there is a long bow, which gives a ranged attack strength of 4; it does make the Dwarf superior over the elf in fighting.
In regards to the Dwarf/Barbarian difference, I felt that 1 Mind Point and his trap disarm ability is pretty much equal to 1 Body Point.

Sjeng also made some artifact cards; Dwarven Rune Stones, which is the Dwarven equivalent of Amulet of the North and Magical Elven Bracers. Perhaps, if you don't mind tweaking the game, you could add this as an artifact found in Keller's Keep, possibly the Tomb of Belorn, it would really give the Dwarf a moment to shine.

There's also this one Armory/Alchemist Shop booklet I bought, that adds 2 Dwarf specific potions, one of which allows him to wield a battle axe while carrying a shield for 1 quest. The other was some sort of Defense Potion, I think it allows him to reroll defense as long as there's an enemy in line of sight.

[lestodante]

... Sjeng produced some cards that allow dual weilding. I like the fact that there's a great deal more variety to the equipment, but double attacks seem too unbalanced, plus it negates heroic brew and Orc's Bane.
I'd like to incorporate it into play, but there has to be a balance... perhaps in slowing down a hero carrying 2 weapons.

I do not agree with slowing down the hero but I'd prefer to limit his ability to use potions! Since he has both hands occupied by weapons, if he is in a room with monsters he can only drink a potion on the next turn after he announced his willing to drink it. Or at least he need to temporarily discard one weapon if he needs to drink immediately! Or something similar.

[mitchiemasha]

We should probably keep the "Dual Wielding" debate to the relative thread.

but double attacks seem too unbalanced, plus it negates heroic brew and Orc's Bane.

It doesn't as with both of those the hero can still wield a shield for an extra defence die. As I've argued to death in the other thread, it's only available with the weaker weapons, 2d6 attack, this doesn't over power because...

As a hero you have a choice
1 weak attack, shield
2 weak attacks, no shield
1 medium attack, shield
1 strong attack, no shield

I voted for "Add 1 extra combat dice to all melee weapons" but it's worth noting, this is as default, not extra, Barbs starts with 3AD6, that IS the short sword with +1, not the broadsword, once he buys the broadsword, it will be 3 plus his +1 (which isn't the intended rule but how we twist it).

I do not agree with slowing down the hero but I'd prefer to limit his ability to use potions! Since he has both hands occupied by weapons, if he is in a room with monsters he can only drink a potion on the next turn after he announced his willing to drink it. Or at least he need to temporarily discard one weapon if he needs to drink immediately! Or something similar.

I don't see a problem with "DRINK POTION FOR FREE" regardless to what they are carrying. It is considered, even if the player only announces it after they have moved, that the potion was drank at some point during their move. In games time is disjointed, which works for me for the sake of a smooth running game. However, reequipping does need specifics as this can be abused to break how the game plays nicely.

[Daedalus]

Here"a a mod for unarmed attacks that can serve as a limited perk for the Barbarian:

When attacking without a weapon, a Hero rolls his starting combat dice to attack. Monster defend such attacks with white shields.

Since the Barbarian starts with 3 Attack Dice, he is the only Hero to benefit over the 1 Combat Die unarmed rule from Quest 6, Legacy of the Orc Warlord. The Dwarf and Elf basically average out the same, while the Wizard finally gets nerfed down from his starting dagger attack.

[Karlssonontheroof]

That would still make unarmed combat dangerous. Barbarian can still cause 3 skulls of damage unarmed. Scary.
I prefer this simple unarmed rule.

Roll 1 combat die when unarmed

Barb hits on
Elf/Dwarf hit on
Wizard hits on