I love the 4 combat classes but I feel their attacks could be more fleshed out and classic rpg-like (as per the original kickstarter vision of the game). That said, I’d love to see skills more fleshed out than simple buffs and passive stat increases. Here’s a list of a few I came up with
Footman
Dash Attack - a quick, dash attack that travels a short distance and hurts everyone on the path, allows Footman to travel through enemies and get behind them. Higher levels allow it to have knockdown or stun properties.
Lightbringer - ignite weapon on fire temporarily, additional damage with the chance to light enemies on fire while attacking.
Power Spike - the jump attack already in the game. Basically a critical/stun attack
Knight
Counter Stance - holds up shield with weapon pulled behind for a few seconds. If anyone attacks, the attack is blocked (where the knight knocks the attack away with the shield) and in one motion, strikes hard doing double/triple damage.
Spin Strike - the Knight spins 360 with their weapon out that grows to twice its size. Useful when acting as a tank and surrounded by a mob as it pushes them all back.
Hero’s Horn - aggro’s nearby enemies but drops their Atk while raising the knight’s defence.
Archer
Sniper Shot - Archer takes careful aim and charges his shot for a few moments before doing 2-3 times normal damage.
Fire Arrow/Poison Arrow/Lightning/Ice Arrow - Special shots that ignite, poison or stun enemies. Ice arrow creates an ice wall along its path that can help create a temporary barrier that can be used strategically.
Leg Shot - The archer aims for the legs, disabling movement of an enemy temorarily.
Cleric
Blinding Light - Blinds enemy characters nearby
Blessing - blesses an ally with a stat boost temporarily.
Divine Light - Heal one ally any distance instantly without having to run close to them.
The other side of my post was to talk about having combat units have an invisible limit break/charge meter. The more damage they take/do, the more this fills up and when it’s full, every class a signature powerful attack!
Footman - Dash, Dash, Dash!!! - the Footman lights up on fire and does the dashing strike consecutively one after another, zigzag from enemy to enemy and, depending on his paths, could hit multiple enemies multiple times.
Knight - Billowing Storm! - the Knight holds his sword high which creates a vacuum affect, drawing enemies close in, then his sword is struck with lightning and he stabs it into the ground, blasting everyone around him away and stunning them.
Archer - Acid Rain - the Archer shoots 15 poison arrows into the sky at once and they fall over enemies in a flurry of arrows.
Cleric - Holy Shield - creates a large spherical ball of light around himself for 10 seconds and all allies inside are consecutively healed and have temporary invincibility (so long as they are inside the ball of light).
I’m aware that this is a different approach to the combat but I was hoping this post would inspire discussion over various ideas of skills and abilities to incorporate into the game and give the developers some ideas to consider or mull over! What do you guys think!
A nice ability for a footman could be a sort of block that nullifys archer damge coming there way. They would require a shield equipped and they would not be able to attack while blocking and movement would be very slow. I feel this would be a good ability as it would make shields for footmen relvant.
This is great idea! Or a buff that gives them a 50% chance to parry incoming arrows!
I wish level 6 wasn’t max for professions. There is so much potential for more depth. Or even to have the option to shapes what skills you acquire when you level up so you can kind of customize your classes and characters!
I see you have put a lot of work into this, so I won’t be too harsh about it, but I just ffel like most of this is out of place. Footsoldiers, archers and knights are no mages and I don’t think they should be. So teleporting through enemies or healing someone by putting an arrow through him seem somewhat awkward…
Furthermore, stonehearths combat is slow-paced and if some of the abilities you suggest (like the repeted dash) were a thing, enemies would get completely slaughtered without a chance to even get an attack in.
In my opinion, hearthlings are cute little guys, who can perhaps become skillfull at what they do, but they are no super-heroes.
while few of the abilities suggested do feel like their out of place such as Thunderstrick - the Knight holds his shield up and it is infused with Lightning. Attacking enemies have a chance of being damaged and stunned if the Knight blocks their attack. I feel like others don’t such as Power Spike - the jump attack already in the game. Basically a critical attack or Blinding Light - Blinds enemy characters nearby. The power spike is fine as it justs add to something already existing within the game. And the blinding light fits as the cleric already uses magic to heal being iable to learn something such as a blind.
Right! And more to the point, I’m not at all suggesting the ideas I came up with are the ones to be implemented. I’m just looking to inspire discussion and bring some ideas to the team so they can come up with something more balanced
And for @Reedo, perhaps I didn’t explain myself correctly. No teleporting, just dashing through enemies swinging a sword. Tom was working on something similar a few months ago and had mentioned it so I’m just fleshing it out. Also, I don’t see what’s superhero-esque about lighting a sword on fire when archers already have flaming arrow
I just like the idea of more engaging RPG elements because, so far, as enjoyable as the game is, there doesn’t seem to be much innovation in the combat. It’s all very generic and similar to a lot of sim games out there and I want Stonehearth to stand out!
Well, sashing through enemies is definitely a power most humans do not possess… and flaming swords, growing swords and so on are all super powers. Fire arrows were actually a thing in the past and can work. Igniting a sword just doesn’t work.
Sure but in a game with fighting goblins, beds made on blocks of wood with some thwacks and houses built out of 8 pieces of wood, we have some leeway for imagination and fantasy, don’t you think?
Oh you are right, this is a fantasy game. I am just a person who wants rules to fantasy as much as to reality (which is why i hated harry potter, with their ridicules unlimited magic) and dashing through enemies seem so out of place for me. That belongs in hack’n slash games or lol, but not in the slow paced stonehearth, imho. Obviously, it’s just a matter of taste. I like to keep my non-magicians non-magic and my magicians magic. (I am for the blindung cleric light, by the way) But seriously, an arrow that heals?
