After one of the last play test sessions we were discussing a couple things.
- The fighter getting some more talents to give them a more well rounded set of talents to do things in different situations
- Why is there a fighting stat
Fighter Trainings
The fighter issue is something I’ve run into in a previous playtest. If you focus on just being a fighter, cranking out harm and ending fights quickly and without taking much harm in return, then you’re going to be good at fighting. Unfortunately it’s the only thing you’ll probably be good. While fighting is a solution it’s not the only solution and most of the time not the best solution.
To that end I went through the fighter class and talents and took an inventory of what kinds of trainings they can get. When making a character they get the following options:
- Choose two from Acrobatics, Athletics, Beast Handling, Coerce, Insight, Awareness, Streetwise, and Survival.
- Pick three from the armor and shield lists
- Pick four from the simple and martial weapons lists
- Pick two kit, tool, general, armor, or weapon trainings of their choice that are related to their profession.
After that they can only get trainings from talents and downtime. Downtime is more about negotiation between the GM and PCs so we won’t worry too much about that. Let’s talk about talents that give you trainings
Blue Collar Strength
This gives you training in athletics or improves your use of Athletics if you are already trained in it.
Family Guard
You worked for a magistrate family as a guard and learned a bit about how to persuade people.
Intimidator
You know how to be mean and have training in coerce.
Streetsmart
You get training in two of the following: Deception, Legerdemain, Persuasion, or Streetwise. If you take it a second time you can get the other two.
Crowd Pleaser
A second way to get training in persuasion
Cut Doc
You gain training in Chiugeon and the Healers Kit.
With a profession along with downtime and the use of effort a PC has access to any training but as far as the main general trainings go, the fighter class doesn’t have access to the following trainings: Arcane Studies, History, Religion, Naturalist, and Performance.
I’m ok with those being the trainings that are harder for the Fighter Class to get access to. Especially since by 3rd level a fighter could take four talents to fill in most of the training list. I think it’s in a pretty solid place that forces a player to make choices about how to build up their character.
The Fighting Stat
I’ve been asked a few times, “Why a fighting stat?” This especially comes up when I tell people that while fighting is a solution it’s not the only solution. It’s because I wanted fighting to have as much weight in the game as presence. I want hitting someone with a sharp metal stick to matter as much as convincing someone to help them save a person before they’re murdered by a serial killer. Fighting matters but no more or less than being able to run down the thief who robbed your client.
So how does making it a stat do that? It doesn’t on its own, but it helps because it’s another stat you have to make a choice about if you want to be good at it or not. When you make a character you get an array of points and you need to decide where to put them. Every time you level up you get a stat point to allocate. If you’re trained in a weapon you’ll naturally get better at it over time but to be a better fighter you need to invest.
That’s the ideology behind it but let’s take it a step further. When I say fighting is a solution but not the only solution I mean it. While I do have a mini game or subset of rules for fighting I also have procedural sets for chases, Investigations, heists, and exploring dangerous locations. A fight could happen within these procedural sets but that’s generally a player choice, or an escalation from a roll gone wrong, or a reaction used by the GM to help with pacing, or the logical conclusion of the previous several actions taken in the game. It means that while fighting is part of the game it’s not the primary focus of the game like in a lot of adventure RPGs. That’s why fighting is a stat in the Streets of Avalon RPG.