New Character Class?

[Pwincess]

Should hero7 stick with the traditional fighter/paladin/wizard/theif character classes or should we add a new class?  For example, a ranger or a bard?

[Lord_Bierhoff]

I've always wanted to see a yeoman class.  I the yeoman well like the rural middle class in middle ages England.  They well known for their skills with bows and quarter staffs.  They were also fairly well educated so they would have some skills in things like poetry, alchemy, and handcrafts/arts.  They also were often responsible for upholding justice and defending the poor against the Norman overlords.  The most famous examples of a yeoman would be Robin Hood and Little John.

[ndcent168]

I would agree that the games seem in need of a new character class. This could add more replay value to the game. A character that primarily uses staves and bows sounds  like a probable choice. This would also play into the addition of a bow for a weapon. We would, of course, need to have a "Patriot Arrow" as an item necessary to solve some problems.

[Pwincess]

I wouldn't mind playing a druid character    

[ndcent168]

Druid sounds like fun. It would have to be made distinct from the Magic User or Wizard. Maybe we could start as a Magic User and have the player choose to become a Druid, Wizard, or other Magical Class.

[Pwincess]

Sounds like a great idea!  Maybe our hero would have to ocmplete another dryad task in order to become a druid?

[ndcent168]

Just as to become a Wizard, a magic user must master 9 spells and then pass an initiation test, perhaps there is a test that the Gypsies or other such people could administer to enable a Magic User to become a Druid. Then there could be exclusive spells that only a Wizard or Druid could learn.

It could also be an option to have the Thief able to become a Ranger or other such class through training. Fighters can already become Paladins and I would hate to see the thief get left out.

[Pwincess]

The thief could become an assassin    

[ndcent168]

I though about that, but we need some sort of character to use the bow. Plus, the difference between an Assassin and Thief would be minimul.  

[Pwincess]

Quite right.

Now, will the ranger be able to use a long bow, a cross bow or both?

Will the ranger be able to summon familiars?

[Dragon_Rider]

Just as an idea list- some things each class could turn into:

Thief:
         Assassin
         Ranger
         Acrobat

Mage:
         Sorcerer
         Druid
         Witchhunter

Warrior:
         Paladin
         Barbarian
         Archer

And for more flexability- combined caracter classes- if a player gives a lot of training to a skillset not natuaral to the class he/she is playing- I bring up this idea because when I was playing through the QFG series- I always created a magic-user, but I always trained his close combat stats so I wouldn't have to worry should I fight something up close.

Mage/Warrior: Battlemage or Spellsword
Thief/Mage: Bard orAgent
Warrior/Thief: Monk or a Nightblade

Just an idea...

[ndcent168]

I love the idea, but each character class should be distinct enough that they each have their own unique method of solving the same problem. I use, for example, stopping the war between the Lepordmen and the tribe (I can't remember their name off hand) in QG3: The Wizard befriends the Lepordmen; The Fighter and Paladin befriend the tribe; The Thief steals from the tribe and trades with the Lepordmen.

But now you say, "Ah, Ha! The Paladin and Fighter solve the problem in the same way." This is true, but the purpose of having a new class is to give more replay value to the game. The more puzzles that are solved the same, the less replay value the game will have. The Paladin also has other quests beyond what the Fighter has.

Let's make a list of the potencial classes and how they could be significantly different in problem solving styles from the original classes.

[lazygamer]

How would we receive this new class? Would we get it partway Hero6? Would we get it at the start of Hero7? Maybe partway through Hero7?

A warrior mage of some sort might be cool. Although with a different magic style than the wizard.

If you REALLY want to get creative, then a sage would be a neat class. He'd rely on cleverness, and vast knowledge about many things(things the average person, and the other character classes may not know very well). His fighting ability would be better than the wizard, but not nearly as good as the fighter.

[Pwincess]

We'd have to either implement these classes at the beginning of hero7, or part way though...

Implementing any extra classes into hero6 is not an option at this stage since nearly the entire plot is finalised and a chunk has been implemented into the alpha.

[ndcent168]

Just as the Magic User becomes a Wizard part way through QG2, most of the changes should be mid game, IMHO.

I've always thought that the the Paladin should not be so closely related to the fighter. There should be a Paladin that is more closely related to the Wizard too. I also considered the idea of a Paladin-like Thief, but the two seemed mutually exclusive.