Sneak Peak: Class Skills
One of the most fun features of any RPG style game is the cool abilities your Heroes can get as they go through the game. They help define the differences between the classes in the game and mold your play style.
Let's get some context to understand this mechanic. In addition to normal actions available to all models such as moving, or making a melee attack, each class has a selection of unique Class Skills. Before each game, you can select a number of Class Skill Cards equal to your Skill stat and up to your current Hero Level. The number of choices is determined largely by your Hero's Intelligence, but there are other factors we will explain as we go. This system allows you to build your deck of Class Skills based on what you think you will need for the current mission and also allows you to customize your playstyle.
The Skill Card pictured is for the Bard class. The Bard has a selection of cool skills but their bread and butter are their Songs, which are AoE buffs (a unique feature to them) and Shouts (such as the card pictured below) which are similar to shouts in a game like Skyrim. They are short ranged and powerful giving the Bard a lot of utility.
Lastly, Heroes have Feats available as they level up as well. Feats are passive buffs that cannot be changed. You pick one of the options and that's it! They provide a powerful way to customize your Hero to your playstyle. Now let's dive into this specific card!
The yellow #1 in the circle shows us the basic Skill information. From left to right we have the Skill Name, how often you can use it, in this case you can attempt it every turn, the category of skill, metaphysical in this case, and lastly the Hero level it becomes available as an option to select. In this case, Hero Level 2.
The yellow #2 shows the second row of information. These symbols tell you how to use the card at a glance on the table. The first symbol indicates this is a Standard Action, of which a Hero will have two per activation. The second symbol shows us the Action Keyword this Skill uses, in this case it is a Shout Action. This matters as a Hero may only use each Action Keyword twice in an Activation. If your Hero gets a buff to have 3 Actions in a turn, you cannot spam the same type of abilities for game balance reasons. Lastly we have the Action Modifier vs the Defense Modifier. In this case, the Skill uses Metaphysics and the target model defends with Will. We will explain this mechanic in further detail but it is very easy to just find the corresponding symbol on the relevant Hero and Monster cards to see how many dice to roll. As all Heroes and Monsters have 3 defenses, you can pick the ability that will work best against them!
The red #3 gives us the detailed breakdown of the skill with the action type, range and effect. In this case it is a short ranged action that deals 3 red dice of damage and gives the Monster a status effect to boot! Below that we have checkboxes with possible upgrades to the Skill. These can be unlocked with Feats so that your Skills can be improved as you level. Not all skills will have the ability to be upgraded with a Feat but if they do, the information is on the card to make it easy to track.
In the section marked by the red #4, we get a brief bit of lore about the skill.
lastly, in the section marked by the red #5 we have on the far left the card ID number which will correspond to any tokens the skill may use for ease of play, and lastly the symbols for the Class and Factions this skill card is available to.
That's it for today! Hopefully this helps give you an idea of the exciting abilities your heroes will be wielding on the tabletop.