The Protector - Part 1

It has been a while but I have been struggling with this class. Because the protector is a primarily a support class, it has more abilities. In general, it gets one offensive and one defensive ability per level. This greatly extends the write-up so I am splitting it into 2 parts.

The Protector
Protectors are holy warriors who primarily support their comrades through blessings and healing, although they have some offensive abilities.

Armor – None
Shields – None
Weapons – Rod (blue) and staff (double ended)


Fit the Role – Armor of God (see level 3)

Abilities
Level 1 - 
Heal - (1 per level per life. Range of Touch) - Restores a wounded limb to full health. Protector must recite “Heal me, O Lord, and I will be healed; save me and I will be saved, for you are the one I praise.” (from Jeremiah 7:14)

Breastplate of Righteousness - (1 per life; 1 recharge. Range of Touch) - The blessed player may ignore the first hit against him or her. The Protector must recite “Stand firm then, with the belt of truth buckled around your waist, with the breastplate of righteousness in place” (from Ephesians 6:14)

Revelation - (1 per life, 1 recharge. Range of 20') - Removes Hidden status from one player. That player can then be affected as normal. Protector must recite "It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things.” (from Daniel 2:22)

Level 2 -
Release - (1 per life, 1 recharge. Range of Touch) - Removes Trapped or Withered status from a player. Protector must recite “Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin.” (from Acts 13:39)

Wither - (1 per life, 1 recharge. Range of 20’) - Target player falls to his or her knees and cannot take any action except to defend him/herself for 15 seconds. Protector must recite “For they will soon fade like the grass and wither like the green herb” (from Psalm 37: 2)

Level 3 -
Armor of God - (1 per life. Range of Touch) - The blessed player may ignore the first two hits against him or her. Protector must recite “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes.” (Ephesians 6:11). When hit, the blessed player calls out “Armor of God”

Rushing Wind - (1 per life, 1 recharge. Range of 20’) - The target player must retreat 20’ directly away from the Protector. The Protector must call out the target’s name and recite the verse “And suddenly there came from heaven a sound like a mighty rushing wind” (from Acts 2:2)

Coming up - levels 4 to 6. They will include abilities like Sanctuary, Swords into Plowshares, Fear No Evil, Resurrect, and Smite.

Twas A Dream

As I was taking a nap this afternoon I had a very vivid dream. I normally don't remember my dreams but this one stuck in my mind so I wanted to get it down.

A ship full of Viking-like barbarians is fleeing from some catastrophe. In it is an extended family of the barbarians. The ship is captained by Thorvald, an experienced warrior. Accompanying him is his wife Elga, a young woman (who is likely a servant), 2 sons (one late teens, another about 9-10), and some of Thorvald's comrades in arms.

 

They are shipwrecked in a civilized land. They are rescued by someone from the civilized land and nursed back to health (a merciful priest perhaps) At first, the populace of the civilized land treat the castaways with suspicion and contempt. However, Thorvald wins them over by defeating a monster that was terrorizing the land.

One day most of the barbarians just disappear, leaving the two sons and the servant girl. Number 1 son then tries to track them down. One day, he is kidnapped. Number 2 son sees his brother being dragged off. He is distraught because he believes that someone from the civilized land committed the crime. He bursts into a meeting of their ruling council and accuses them. When they try to get rid of the boy, he grabs a kitchen knife and kills one of the council members. He then stands over the corpse, waving his bloody blade, and issues a challenge to the council.

"If you are innocent, prove it in a test of arms. I will fight any of you cowards and criminals!"

The sergeant at arms disdainfully agrees and stands before the kid. A ring forms around them. The boy realizes that his blade is bent. He states he cannot fight with a defective weapon. He demands that someone procures matching daggers. Someone finds some and hands them to the lad. He checks them and is satisfied. He throws one at the sergeant of arms, who is holding a wooden club. The dagger embeds itself in the club. The sergeant at arms and the rest of the crowd stare at the dagger in surprise.

The battle is over in no time. The boy easily dodges a clumsy attack by the sergeant at arms and stabs him through the heart. He then berates the council, calling them cowards, and pledges to find his family. The council does not try to stop him.

After many months of wandering, the boy comes to a series of caves inhabited by a strange race of humanoids. They are actually peaceful, and even seem to recognize him. They take him into their cave city, where he surprisingly finds his father and mother! I'm not sure how they got there, but they remained to help the beings. But what about his brother, the boys asks. His parents reply that he had been brought here and was safe. He was out wandering the land.

At that point, all activity in the cave stopped. Some monsters are seen moving through some of the adjacent tunnels. Thorvald explains to his son that the monsters were at war with the peaceful humanoids. He was helping his new friends against these evil creatures.

After supping with his family, the boy is alone in the tunnels when he is approached by a spirit, one of a race of spirits who appear to the barbarians. These spirits are like a person's conscience, guiding them if they are losing themselves to evil. The spirit tells the boy that he committed two murders, and must return to the civilized land to face the consequences for his crimes. In tears, the boy complains that they would kill him. The spirit replies that if that was what was needed for justice to be done, then so be it. However, there was another way; the boy could offer his services in recompense. It was a tradition in the boy's former homeland a person causing an accidental death could repay for it with seven years of service. The boy was to return to the civilized land and offer that deal. The boy wiped away his tears and sadly agreed.

"I will tell my father." the boy states determinedly. "I will go at once."

"No, not yet." The spirit replies gently. "Wait until you grow to be a powerful warrior. Then it will be your time."

That's when I woke up.

Wow, I thought. There are just SO many stories possible from this one dream. I could flesh out the story of Thorvald's escape and adventures in the civilized land. The war against the monsters, the eldest son's adventures, and the youngest's sons labors in recompense for his transgressions all make great fodder for stories. I guess I need to start writing.

The Warden Class

Next up is the Warden. It is kind of a cross between Amtgard's scout, assassin, and archer. Here is my first draft. Comments are welcome.

The Warden
Wardens are lightly armed warriors who patrol the wilderness, scouting for enemy incursions. They specialize in stealth and combat with missile weapons.

Armor – Cloth or leather; no metal
Shields – Small
Weapons – Missiles, Blue

Fit the Role – Dodge (1 use per life) – ignore a hit. “My help comes from the Lord” (Psalm 121:2)

Abilities
Level 1 - Hide (1 per life, 1 recharge. Self only) - Player is Hidden and cannot be affected in any manner (e.g. enemies cannot attack a hidden player). While hidden, the player cannot move, attack, or speak (except to end hiding). Player must recite “You are my hiding place; You preserve me from trouble.” (from Psalms 32:7) to become Hidden. To end Hidden status, recite “He reveals mysteries from the darkness.” (Job 12:22)

Level 2 - Track (1 per life, 1 recharge. Range of 20') - Removes Hidden status from one player. That player can then be affected as normal. Player must recite "It is He who reveals the profound and hidden things.” (Daniel 2:22)

Level 3 - Trap (1 per life, 1 recharge. Range of Touch to charge) - A sling stone can be treated as a bola, which Traps an opponent who is struck by it. A trapped player cannot move his or her feet but can still fight, speak, and be affected by other players. The trap lasts for 30 seconds. Player must recite “Evildoers will bow down in the presence of the good, and the wicked at the gates of the righteous.” (Proverbs 14:19) to charge the stone. Declare “Trap” when throwing it at someone.

Level 4 - Free (1 per life, Range of Touch) - Removes Trapped status from a player. The Warden must recite “Christ has set us free.” (Galatians 5:1)

Level 5 - Stalk (1 per life) - Player is Hidden (as per Hide). However, the player may move up to 50’ from where they began to stalk.  Player must recite “They slip by like reed boats, Like an eagle that swoops on its prey.” (Job 9:26). To end Hidden status, recite “He reveals mysteries from the darkness.” (Job 12:22). Note that Track also works on players who are stalking.

Level 6 - Fire Bomb (1 per life, 1 recharge. Range of Touch to charge) - A sling stone can be treated as a fire bomb, which counts as a Red weapon when it hits an opponent. Player must recite “I came to cast fire on the earth, and would that it were already kindled!” (Luke 12:49) to charge the stone
Declare “Fire Bomb” when throwing it at someone.

The Guardian Class

Here is my first draft for the Guardian class. I combined my own ideas with those of Robb from the comments on my prior post.

• Note that Robb suggested "Champion" as the class name. I am leaning toward "Guardian" because I want to use "Champion" as a title. Nothing's fixed in stone though.

The Guardian

Guardians are powerful fighters who use their strength and skill to defeat the enemy. Because of their use of shields and armor, Guardians stand at the forefront of the battle line, ready to repel and smite attackers.

Armor – Any

Shields – Any

Weapons – Any melee

Fit the Role – War Cry (1 use per life)

Abilities:

Level 1 - Repair (1 per life, 1 recharge) - Adds 1 point back to a shield or section of armor. Player must recite "Let them repair the breaches of the house." (from 2 Kings 12:5)

Level 2 - Strengthen (1 per refresh) - An undamaged shield can now take 4 points of damage before being destroyed. Player must recite "The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him." (from Psalms 28:7)

Level 3 - War Cry (1 per life) - All opponents within 20' of the Guardian must retreat outside a 20' radius and remain there for 15 seconds. Player must recite "A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!" (from Judges 7:20)

Level 4 - Armor of God (1 per refresh. Self only) - The Guardian may ignore the first 2 hits against him or her. Player must recite "Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes." (from Ephesian 6:11). When hit, call out "Armor of God"

Level 5 - Shield of Faith (1 per refresh. Self only) - The Guardian's shield is now indestructible for the duration of the current life. Player must recite "Take up the shield of faith, with which you can extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one." (from Ephesians 6:16). When the shield is hit, call out "Shield of Faith"

Level 6 - Archangel's Might (1 per refresh. Self only) - The Guardian's weapons now do double damage for the duration of the current life. Player must recite "For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel." (from Thessalonians 4:16). When striking, call out the number of hits

Recharge

Some abilities may be reused after being recharged. The recitation for a recharge is:

But those who hope in the Lord
will renew their strength.
They will soar on wings like eagles;
they will run and not grow weary,
they will walk and not be faint.

(from Isaiah 40:31)

Some Design Notes

• I dropped Rally Cry from Robb's suggested list. I prefer to keep healing as a province of the Defender (Healer) class but I'm debating about putting it back in just in case a side does not have a healer. I do like the current list and don't want to drop anything; perhaps I should add a seventh level?
• I added Repair as a 1st level ability. Given that the Guardian's main role is a tank, armor and shield become crucial. Thus, repairing them will be very beneficial.
• I also decided to give Repair a recharge to give more staying power to the Guardian. For recharge, I chose a verse that is longer than the others because a recharge should take a little time.
• I changed the frequency of most of the higher level abilities to once per refresh. Otherwise, they would effectively be permanently on for players of those levels.
• All the recitations to use an ability come from Bible verses. It is an idea I gleaned from the Spiritual Warfare RPG ( specifically Christian RPG).

Please feel free to share any constructive suggestions in the comments.

Next up - the Warden (scout) class. (love the name Robb!)

A Christian LARP

Recently my church did a survey asking parishioners how to get more people involved. I answered "run a LARP." I didn't expect a response, or perhaps that they might try to excommunicate me. Instead, to my surprise, the youth pastor approached me to learn more. She asked how to relate it to church. So easy! Knight school - train the participants to be Christian knights. Anyway, she loved the idea and looks like we'll be starting up in the fall.

So now my mind is flowing with ideas!

• I priced out the cost of getting basic supplies. It came out to about $15 for a sword, $25 for a shield, and $10 for a tabard. A total of $50 - not bad!
• I am working on a rules set for the group, so we don't have to use Dagorhir or Amtgard. It will be akin to Amt. Initially we are going to ban bows and arrows (yay!). I think we'll use spell balls and allow players to be "slingers" a la David.
• Toying with the idea of classes. I think I'll introduce some basic classes, but not the full Amt system. We'll start with 3 hero classes - Warriors (fighters who rely on hand-to-hand combat), Rangers (those who use stealth and missiles), and Defenders (who specialize in protective blessings)
• Defenders will be like Amt Healers, with some twists. Their allowed weapons are rod (blue weapon) or staff.
• The RPG Spiritual Warfare uses Bible verses as the verbal component to trigger "miracles" (aka spells). I would like to do something similar.

Living the Dream

I sparked a bit of an internet war last week when I posted a poll on Facebook asking my park if they wanted to revert to a freehold. This sparked responses from a few outsiders, including the king and the prime minister of Neverwinter, defending the value of kingdoms. Their comments made me even more determined to break free of Neverwinter.

Yesterday as I was driving to work, I pondered why I have such a visceral reaction to the Amtgard form of organization. I have laid out before some of my points of contention but I did not explain why. I don't think I ever thought why. But then it dawned on me - it was because of the Dream.

I first heard the term "the Dream" in the SCA (Society for Creative Anachronims - the oldest medieval LARP out there, though they hate the term LARP). The Dream refers to the vision that members have with regard to their ideal experience in the shared faux medieval world.

What was my Dream? I'd love to see my park filled with knights and ladies of the royal court, chivalrously greeting one another and interacting. I'd love to bend my knee to my king or queen and personally offer my sword to him or her. I'd love to stand in battle and defend my monarch. I could go on.

The problem with Amtgard is that it hinders my Dream. Knights are scarce - as far as I know there are none in South Florida. The king / queen is typically distant and doesn't visit my park. The rules preclude me from creating the environment I'd love to see at my park.

What is the solution? Change the Amtgard rules (which won't happen) or go my own way. With the High Fantasy Society I can go my own way and live my Dream.

Metal Destruction

As recorded previously, an automaton was terrorizing the countryside. A band of rangers stumbled upon its handiwork and tracked its path of destruction. They quickly alerted the King of the Shrouded Isles.

King Beast formed a party along with Xhorja and Magnus. Guided by one of the rangers they rode to intercept the automaton.

When the thing saw them it lumbered inexorably toward them. Xhorja had been practicing his archery, however, and had a couple nasty surprises for the construct. First he loosed a destruction arrow. With one shot, the automaton's shield was gone. His next shot pinned the thing in place. Then Beast and Magnus leapt into the fray, hacking and slashing, knocking iron pieces from the automaton.

The construct lashed at, wounding Magnus. He had to retreat from battle. It then worked itself free and advanced on Xhorja. Once again he managed to pin it. The three heroes then finished it off.

The terror of the automaton was over. But where did it come from?

OOC Notes

• Today we hosted a day battle, but numbers were poor. Thanks to those that did show. I thoroughly enjoyed the fighting.
• We ran an Iron Man. Congrats to Newlok for his victory! 
• After Newlok had to leave, we played a class game with the remaining participants. I decided to bring back the automaton from last month. This time I was the automaton while Beast, Xhorja, and Magnus tried to hunt me down. Xhorja's special arrows proved to be decisive.