I have an idea for a compendium class called Armiger. This is my first go at creating anything new for DW. Tell me what y’all think!
The trigger for gaining the opening move is when a powerful enemy knocks you down to 1 HP, you survive that battle and your armor value was 3 or higher (from mundane armor). If so, you can gain…
Valorous Arms
You’ve tinkered with a suit of your armor and have made it so much more than it was. Choose one Enhancement from the list below…
* Extra Plates: +1 armor, +1 weight.
* Glyph: One type of magical damage is halved when dealt to you.
* Heavy: Nothing but the heaviest blows can move you. +1 weight.
* Mobile: Remove the clumsy tag from your Valorous Arms, -1 weight.
* Perfect Craftsmanship: Non-magical attacks cannot ignore your Valorous Arms.
* Spiked: Whenever you take damage in melee, your opponent takes 2 damage that ignores armor. +1 weight.
* Ward: Non-magical ranged attacks roll their damage twice against you and take only the worst result.
* Weightless: Your Valorous Arms’ weight is 0.
Then you gain access to Bursting Plates and Ongoing Project.
Bursting Plates
When you speak the words of power your Valorous Arms explode, sending shrapnel ripping through everyone around you. Deal damage that ignores armor equal to your current armor value. Your Valorous Arms are lost until you spend an hour or so cobbling it back together.
Ongoing Project
A flash of inspiration results in further modifications to your Valorous Arms. Choose another Enhancement. You take +1 ongoing when Parleying with armor smiths.
You may select this move again to choose a 3rd Enhancement.
I love Compendium Classes with narrative and mechanical triggers. They feel like achievements.
“roll damage twice, take the worst result” will maybe work out to “-1 damage” in practice. It sounds a lot more powerful than it is. Just a heads up.
To expand, I’ve been playing with the armor mechanism so I can throw things at my players without specifically trying to cut the ones in heavy armor open like tin cans, and I’ve found that this progression:
-1 damage
-2 damage
-2 damage, reroll once take worst
-3 damage, reroll once take worst
-3 damage, reroll twice take worst
-4 damage, reroll twice take worrst
comes in above 1-6 armor in terms of average damage taken.
You know, I was about to comment on how I’m not a fan of the mechanical entry, but in the time it took me to type this it grew on me. Looks cool!
Adam & Giovanni: Thanks. Honestly, I really thought folks were going to grill me for being too mechanical. I’m still trying to get into a narrative mindset when designing moves so I apologize if everything comes off a little clockwork.
Paul: You are probably right. But at the same time, when a player rolls damage and it comes up with that rarity of a 1 and a 10, I think it will be worth it. 🙂
I think you can do both – look at the Barbarian, there are a few moves there that are very much mechanically focused.
However, if you do want a fiction-first entry, here would be my take: When you survive being laid low by an enemy because of your armor, you may take the following move when you level up:
Giovanni Lanza That is broader in its description, so an easier entry to the CC. I’m usually a numbers guy, but I think this is prolly better.
Adam Koebel For sure. I just have to work on my approach going forward. 😛
Giovanni Lanza I like that a lot. 🙂 I might reword it a bit so that it stipulates a powerful foe. Wouldn’t want it to be too easy to gain access to.
Does anyone think that Bursting Plates is weird? I originally wrote this as a base class for Old School Hack and this was an over-the-top ability that fits in there. I like it but feel that it might seem… cartoony?… next to everyone else.
Also, does anyone else have any ideas for good Enhancements or moves?