A thread on RPGNet inspired me to draft a new Fighter starting move, since I know there are people who were disappointed that the fighter didn’t get as many options as other characters:
Know Thy Enemy
When you face an opponent of a type you’ve fought before, roll +WIS. On a 10+ hold two, on 1 7-9 hold 1. Spend your hold 1-for-1 for the following effects against that monster type:
– Ignore 1 point of their armor
– Counteract a move they make
– Do 1d4 more damage
– Reduce damage you take from an attack by your WIS
!
No lie, Sean Dunstan, I was writing this sort of move yesterday called Scars Remind Me and it’s all about facing opponents you know how to beat! Awesome!
What I thought is that it could be kind of cool to get a ritual-like move for fighters, only instead of “What do I need to perform this magical effect?”, it’s “What do I need to kill this thing?” And if you get what the GM says you need and are willing to give up what the GM says you’d have to give up, killing it just happens.
Ben Wray Last line should be “And then you need to _______ it to death”.
And what if the move fails ? There must be a drawback to this move.
The enemy gets one of the previous effects against the Fighter for example.
Oh, I see so many things that can happen on a fail.
It’s a passive move, like discern realities. Fails are less easy to improvise than for a physical move. That’s why I thought it would be better to have some ready to use.
On a miss, turn that move back on the PC.
I have to admit, I prefer Battle Instincts. I’m not a huge fan of the small mechanical bonuses in this one.
Magi max I don’t think it’s any less passive than, say, Defend. Really, looking at it now it’s Defend, just pointed at the monster instead of countering it.
Alex Mayo What was Battle Instincts? And I know the numbers are a little low, but I figured it’s just a starting move, and I can make advanced moves that boost it like the other classes have.
Ready for anything: You can use “Know Thy Enemy” against creatures you’ve never faced before.
Veteran: When you use Know Thy Enemy, you always hold at least 1, even on a miss.
Sean Dunstan: I thought you’d seen gnome7’s new Fighter move! He posted it in the SA thread a while back, here’s a copy of the Improved Fighter playbook he made: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B30fzv28XdrYWm0tVENtd1psREE/edit?usp=sharing
It plays with some of the same ideas (cancelling an enemy move) but it’s much more freeform.
There’s a couple of other things I’d want to change, personally:
1) change BB/LG so that it’s more impressive and more clearly different from “I smash a thing with strength,” which is something everyone is supposed to be able to do. BB/LG should do something above and beyond just breaking a thing.
2) add triggers to Merciless and Bloodthirsty to make them more interesting, and to make them moves that only someone who is merciless/bloodthirsty would take.
Anyway, this whole thing (with Battle Instincts and the Improved Fighter) was kicked off by one of Magi max’s posts in here pointing out how boring the basic Fighter is compared to all the other classes.
See, now, to me Battle Instincts looks really passive.
If they’re taking them, then they’re Merciless and Bloodthirsty. Prescriptive, Descriptive, man. If the character has those moves, grill them about what makes them Merciless and Bloodthirsty. Then, use your soft moves to poke them in the side, and your hard moves to hit them in the face. That’s just how it works.
Sean Dunstan: it’s worth noting that the intent of the “discover” choices are to let you create something new if warranted. Not sure if the text communicates that 100%.
Alfred Rudzki: call me lazy, but it’d be a good deal easier to rewrite the moves to have a fictional trigger like “when you fight without mercy” or something than to constantly be calling my players on the fact that they’re getting the bonus without actually being merciless. Means I don’t have to keep track of their every damage roll to go “no, you don’t get the extra die,” too.
Alex Norris No, I did get that, just not right away. I’m also not sure what the value of “reveal a strength” is, apart from giving the GM a new monster move?
(and to be honest, I skim past all the class chat in teh DW thread, because I feel like we’ve hit a saturation point of new classes. I’d rather see new content now, but that’s just me.)
That one’s more along the lines of making the GM tell you what to avoid (“it’s probably a bad idea to try to attack that ochre jelly with your sword”), IIRC.