Was experimenting with making a new mage class lately and I'm looking for a critique on it. Things that are bothering me but might be nothing are that the ability to make a lava terrain might break some quests and health boosts on a mage class might be out of place. If anyone wants to chime in on it feel free.

Edit: Cards are done, here's a link to the custom class, look for Pyromancer:

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/odx5l47ypog6y89/AABZJBksn4UcH94OYT9lxhFSa?dl=0

This a very interesting class. I think it needs a few tweaks, but it could be really fun to play. I've got some detailed suggestions below that you can take or leave.

My two Gold pieces:

Starting weapon: I'd say with Blue yellow as a starting weapon. There is already a weapon with red blue and surge burn (also surge blast) so you don't want to duplicate it.

Extinguish: I think Zaltyre is right and it should cost 1 Stamina, but I think it should be "choose an ally with the burning condition within 3 spaces and test Knowledge. If you succeed, that ally discards the burning condition. Choose an monster within 3 spaces. that monster gains the burning condition.

Streaming flame: Why not keep it simpler and give it Surge: fire breathing? It's a 2 XP skill with a 2 fatigue cost, after all.

Zaltyre's suggestions for the others work as well, but I would probably suggest rewriting the base Fire Nova (and renaming it Immolation) attack to be in line with Leoric's heroic feat, with the bonus damage tacked on or I would put something like Before rolling dice, you may suffer up to two damage; Each damage suffered increases the effect by one space.

Thanks Zaltyre for what was essentially proof-reading my class. Your wording definitely helps, especially since I'd hate to reprint any class cards because of bad wording. I liked a lot of your ideas so I went ahead and reworked to skills. Loooved your suggestion on Singed Flesh, never thought to get rid of a surge as a form of defense. I agree that Set Ablaze overlaps with Molten Absorption and I like the latter much more. I like that your change left burn in, just wondering if there's a way to make that skill more interesting. Regarding Lasting Burn, it seems maybe that a flat 100% damage increase to burn damage without repercussions could be too strong, especially on a class based on applying Burn. I'd still like to keep it a 3XP skill though so it might be tricky to rework it without it being a stamina-draining machine. Thanks for the input, it really helped!

I agree that Set Ablaze overlaps with Molten Absorption and I like the latter much more. I like that your change left burn in, just wondering if there's a way to make that skill more interesting. Regarding Lasting Burn, it seems maybe that a flat 100% damage increase to burn damage without repercussions could be too strong, especially on a class based on applying Burn. I'd still like to keep it a 3XP skill though so it might be tricky to rework it without it being a stamina-draining machine.

The change I suggested to "Set Ablaze" had 2 purposes:

1) It allows a way for the class to reliably cause burning aside from your starting weapon (before purchase of Nova)

2) I think having "burn tokens" and "lava tokens" is too confusing. Also, there are only 5 burning condition tokens total. If you're burning monsters with your attacks and skills, there won't be any tokens left to put on the map, and that's problematic. That's why I decided to change the "burn token" skill and not the "lava token" skill.

Perhaps "set ablaze" could be more interesting if it were reactionary?

"Exhaust this card when a monster enters an empty space within 3 spaces of you. That monster suffers 1 damage and gains the Burning condition.” (costs1 fatigue.)

That sort of capture's your intent with it, but instead of setting tokens out on the map, you hit the monsters when they move near you.

For lasting burn, I was mostly trying to keep the wording concise- there's no easy way to distinguish between the monster WITH burning, and the adjacent monsters getting hurt by burning (when a monster with burning suffers a damage from burning?). I figured the damage increase would be limited by the amount of fatigue you're willing to spend on it. Another option would be to keep it strong, but make it a once per round exhaust- "Exhaust this card when a Burning monster ends its activation. That monster and each monster adjacent to it suffer 1 damage." It could cost 2 or 3 fatigue. That way, it's double damage on one cluster of burning monsters per round if you can pay the cost. Powerful, but more focused- it encourages the OL strongly to spend that action getting rid of burn.

My two Gold pieces:

Starting weapon: I'd say with Blue yellow as a starting weapon. There is already a weapon with red blue and surge burn (also surge blast) so you don't want to duplicate it.

Extinguish: I think Zaltyre is right and it should cost 1 Stamina, but I think it should be "choose an ally with the burning condition within 3 spaces and test Knowledge. If you succeed, that ally discards the burning condition. Choose an monster within 3 spaces. that monster gains the burning condition.

Streaming flame: Why not keep it simpler and give it Surge: fire breathing? It's a 2 XP skill with a 2 fatigue cost, after all.

Zaltyre's suggestions for the others work as well, but I would probably suggest rewriting the base Fire Nova (and renaming it Immolation) attack to be in line with Leoric's heroic feat, with the bonus damage tacked on or I would put something like Before rolling dice, you may suffer up to two damage; Each damage suffered increases the effect by one space.

Starting Weapon: If I decide to keep the weapon 2-handed and make the dice BY, what do you think I should add to it since it's not a 1-hander?

Extinguish: I've heard that this skill is weak, even for 1XP. I like the idea of boosting it, and your method is a neat way of doing it. I'm just wondering if there are other ways of going about making it a more useful class.

Thanks for the comment!

"Exhaust this card when a monster enters an empty space within 3 spaces of you. That monster suffers 1 damage and gains the Burning condition.” (costs1 fatigue.)

That is a really good solution. It reduces the clutter of tokens and gives me what I was looking for in the original description.

"Exhaust this card when a monster enters an empty space within 3 spaces of you. That monster suffers 1 damage and gains the Burning condition.” (costs1 fatigue.)

That is a really good solution. It reduces the clutter of tokens and gives me what I was looking for in the original description.

Awesome, glad that works. For several of the skills I listed, looking at cards like Poison Dart, Pit Trap, etc, I think you can say "that monster is Burning," you don't necessarily have to say "that monster gains the Burning condition." I'm all about keeping phrasing consistent with already existing abilities to limit confusion. For example, the burning part of fire nove reminds me of the stalker's "exploit" or the serpent dagger, except without the surges.

EDIT: When/if you create card templates for this class, please let me know.

"Exhaust this card when a monster enters an empty space within 3 spaces of you. That monster suffers 1 damage and gains the Burning condition.” (costs1 fatigue.)

That is a really good solution. It reduces the clutter of tokens and gives me what I was looking for in the original description.

Awesome, glad that works. For several of the skills I listed, looking at cards like Poison Dart, Pit Trap, etc, I think you can say "that monster is Burning," you don't necessarily have to say "that monster gains the Burning condition." I'm all about keeping phrasing consistent with already existing abilities to limit confusion. For example, the burning part of fire nove reminds me of the stalker's "exploit" or the serpent dagger, except without the surges.

EDIT: When/if you create card templates for this class, please let me know.

Believe me, I am an advocate of consistent phrasing. Wish I had cards in front of me, typing this from work actually. I'm definitely making up templates for this, just wanted to get the cards right.

This suggestion might be sort of useless, since you seem to be as good as finished with this class, but here it goes.

My suggestion is actually inspired by a skill from Path of Exile (a video game) called Righteous Fire.

You set yourself on fire, which does considerable damage over time to you, but you burn everything in a radius around you just by moving around.

So it would be cool to see some 3xp skill that says:

Give yourself the Burn condition. This burn does 1 additional damage to you for each space you move.

As long as you are Burning each monster adjacent to the space you start in or a space you enter, suffers 1 damage and is Burning.

This suggestion might be sort of useless, since you seem to be as good as finished with this class, but here it goes.

My suggestion is actually inspired by a skill from Path of Exile (a video game) called Righteous Fire.

You set yourself on fire, which does considerable damage over time to you, but you burn everything in a radius around you just by moving around.

So it would be cool to see some 3xp skill that says:

Give yourself the Burn condition. This burn does 1 additional damage to you for each space you move.

As long as you are Burning each monster adjacent to the space you start in or a space you enter, suffers 1 damage and is Burning.

You're right. For me at least, this class is done. But that doesn't mean I can't still use it. I really like the idea of sacrificing health or defense for extra power and your skill does it very well! It might not be in the form of fire but I'm working on some other classes so I'm pretty sure I can fit it in somewhere. Good idea, I like it!

Streaming flame: Why not keep it simpler and give it Surge: fire breathing? It's a 2 XP skill with a 2 fatigue cost, after all.

Took a while to really look at the skill, but yeah that sounds much more interesting than what I had in mind. I've changed Streaming Flame to act more like Fire Breath, except I nerfed it by reducing the path by 1 space. Added Burn on it though, so it should make up for it.

Made a buff to Lasting Burn, now the normal damage suffered from Burning 'including the damage from being adjacent to a figure with Burning' is 2 instead of 1.

My two Gold pieces:

Starting weapon: I'd say with Blue yellow as a starting weapon. There is already a weapon with red blue and surge burn (also surge blast) so you don't want to duplicate it.

Extinguish: I think Zaltyre is right and it should cost 1 Stamina, but I think it should be "choose an ally with the burning condition within 3 spaces and test Knowledge. If you succeed, that ally discards the burning condition. Choose an monster within 3 spaces. that monster gains the burning condition.

Streaming flame: Why not keep it simpler and give it Surge: fire breathing? It's a 2 XP skill with a 2 fatigue cost, after all.

Zaltyre's suggestions for the others work as well, but I would probably suggest rewriting the base Fire Nova (and renaming it Immolation) attack to be in line with Leoric's heroic feat, with the bonus damage tacked on or I would put something like Before rolling dice, you may suffer up to two damage; Each damage suffered increases the effect by one space.

Starting Weapon: If I decide to keep the weapon 2-handed and make the dice BY, what do you think I should add to it since it's not a 1-hander?

Extinguish: I've heard that this skill is weak, even for 1XP. I like the idea of boosting it, and your method is a neat way of doing it. I'm just wondering if there are other ways of going about making it a more useful class.

Thanks for the comment!

Almost all the magical weapons I can think of are runes or staves that are two handed.

The runes are all ranged. I don't remember if the staves are as well.

I think a good guideline for a starting weapon is blue yellow for a ranged and blue red for a melee.

If you want blue red for a ranged, then you should give it a gimp, instead of a boost.

As for extinguish, I based my changes on either a skill or a heroic feat that allowed someone to move conditions. I think requiring the knowledge check, and restricting it to the Burn condition makes it just about good enough for a 1Xps kill

The bounty hunter has a blue/red ranged weapon, as do MINION (but not master) bandits. The red die is itself a hinderance, as it

a) decreases your average range a bit

b) decreases your surge chance significantly

The bounty hunter has a blue/red ranged weapon, as do MINION (but not master) bandits. The red die is itself a hinderance, as it

a) decreases your average range a bit

b) decreases your surge chance significantly

Good point. I'll change it to Blue/Yellow.

The bounty hunter has a blue/red ranged weapon, as do MINION (but not master) bandits. The red die is itself a hinderance, as it

a) decreases your average range a bit

b) decreases your surge chance significantly

Good point. I'll change it to Blue/Yellow.

Obviously your call- I actually liked the blue/red ranged staff because it was a shorter range, higher damage weapon.

The bounty hunter has a blue/red ranged weapon, as do MINION (but not master) bandits. The red die is itself a hinderance, as it

a) decreases your average range a bit

b) decreases your surge chance significantly

Good point. I'll change it to Blue/Yellow.

Obviously your call- I actually liked the blue/red ranged staff because it was a shorter range, higher damage weapon.

Well the way I like to implement fire is as you say, a close range high damage weapon. But is it worth taking away that much surge potential? Maybe Blue/Green with surge +2 damage would do. That way it's still low range.

Edit: Admittedly the equipment was more of an afterthought for me when I was thinking up these classes.

A blue/green could work- the only reason i might lean against that is because currently I think this class is playable with just the Lair of the Wyrm expansion. Adding a green die adds further requirements. I don't think the weapon NEEDS a surge to be a frequent occurrence. The pyromancer has other ways of doing damage, his weapon does not need to be fantastic.

The shadow walker also has red blue ranged, now that I think of it

Maybe remove the +1 damage surge effect and just leave the surge: burn effect?

That way the lack of surge will affect the character less, since there's only one surge effect to choose from.

Decided to make some changes to the skills. For Reignite I reduced the cost to 0 Stamina but added a knowledge test, I wanted it to have some synergy with the Lasting Burn skill. For Extinguish I buffed it nicely; I made it cost 1 stamina but removed the knowledge test and made it affect any hero within 3 spaces of you. I also changed Streaming Flame on the advice of Alarmed to act more like the Fire Breath ability, except it travels 1 space less and burns. Finally, I changed Lasting Burn so now whenever Burn kicks in for an enemy it does 2 damage to the monster 'and' 2 damage to adjacent enemies.

That looks to be everything for me on this class so the plan is to do up a pdf of skill cards when I get the chance.

Posted a link to the cards I made up for the Pyromancer. Give it a shot!

Back again with some new changes to the Pyromancer. Mostly small changes since I already feel the class is mostly developed. Biggest change is in the skill Molten Absorption, where now you get to place lava in 2 spaces. Looking to get a critique too so go ahead and message me.