I like the idea of a class that can benefit from either Ranged or Melee weapons and not be forced into just one. It's a little late here so I'll give my 2 cents tomorrow.

I like the idea of a class that can benefit from either Ranged or Melee weapons and not be forced into just one. It's a little late here so I'll give my 2 cents tomorrow.

Yes, choosing a warrior class and then being dependent on that particular shop item card appearing can be frustrating (Looking at you Skirmisher...). Descent made the rules so that every hero can equip any weapon, but they can never really do anything very useful with it. I am a little bit worried that this class might be too versatile/powerful. They main challenge is balancing the skills in a way that there is no 'obvious' path. A class (or certain class skills/hero for that matter) that is the best choice 90% of the cases is not a good class because it limits your choices for optimal play. The Spritspeaker is a very cool class, but the Disciple is just better 90% of the cases so that class gets picked all the time. Shame really..

What about a topic to include all the custom class stuff?

Starting skill

Side arm

Exhaust this card to equip/unequip a bow and/or a 1-handed melee weapon. You may not equip items traded in this turn and you can not trade bows or 1-handed melee weapons when this card is exhausted.

What about a topic to include all the custom class stuff?

Yes, or more subfora in general: Painting, rules question, custom content etc.

Starting skill

Side arm

Exhaust this card to equip/unequip a bow and/or a 1-handed melee weapon. You may not equip items traded in this turn and you can not trade bows or 1-handed melee weapons when this card is exhausted.

Is this skill intended to allow you to use a 2 handed ranged weapon and a 1 handed melee weapon at the same time? If so, I would remove the exhaust part altogether and do something like this so it doesn't require constantly exhausting and refreshing it:

Side Arm

At the start of each quest, you may place a hero token on a one-handed Melee weapon in your possession. Treat this weapon as an Other item instead and it cannot be traded.

It is intended to bypass the restriction of only equipping items at the start of your turn. The Mercenary may not wield a bow and 1-H weapon at the same time . But allows him to make an attack with a bow, unequip it, equip a sword, and perform a melee attack/ use Desperate Measures/ Parry. The exhaust part is there to prevent trade abuse.

Edit: it also prevents too much switching back and forth. Like attack with a sword, a bow, and then getting ready to Parry in the OL turn

1EXP

Parry: When you are targeted by a monster adjacent to you and have a 1-handed melee weapon equipped, you may exhaust this card and unequip a 1-handed melee weapon to add 1 shield to your defense result.

This card requires you to unequip a weapon implying it can only be used once per overlord turn, but the card exhausts anyways guaranteeing one use. And you'll still get to re-equip the weapon at the start of your turn. I would rewrite it to remove the unequip rule:

Parry: Exhaust this card while you have a Melee weapon with 1 hand icon equipped and an adjacent monster performs an attack targeting you, after rolling defense dice. Add 1 shield to your defense results.

1EXP

Parry: When you are targeted by a monster adjacent to you and have a 1-handed melee weapon equipped, you may exhaust this card and unequip a 1-handed melee weapon to add 1 shield to your defense result.

This card requires you to unequip a weapon implying it can only be used once per overlord turn, but the card exhausts anyways guaranteeing one use. And you'll still get to re-equip the weapon at the start of your turn. I would rewrite it to remove the unequip rule:

Parry: Exhaust this card while you have a Melee weapon with 1 hand icon equipped and an adjacent monster performs an attack targeting you. Exhaust this card to add 1 shield to your defense result.

The exhaust in addition to the unequip is there to prevent it from triggering twice if the Mercenary has 2 1-handen weapons. It is intended as a little nerf.

Take Aim, 1 fatigue: Exhaust this card you perform an attack with a bow, before rolling dice. Test Might, if you pass this attack gains +2 range. If you fail this attack gains -2 range.

For a 2XP skill I feel that this skill could use a buff of some kind. Maybe a damage buff since it's a Might test, but you already have Full Draw which kind of already fulfills that purpose. Just any kind of buff in general would do.

Take Aim, 1 fatigue: Exhaust this card you perform an attack with a bow, before rolling dice. Test Might, if you pass this attack gains +2 range. If you fail this attack gains -2 range.

For a 2XP skill I feel that this skill could use a buff of some kind. Maybe a damage buff since it's a Might test, but you already have Full Draw which kind of already fulfills that purpose. Just any kind of buff in general would do.

This skill can be used in combination with Staggering Shot and Full draw so that makes it more a utility skill. Like, okay let's do some crowd control with that huge range (since warriors have at least 3 strength overall). But maybe removing the -2 range penalty, or dealing +2 damage in addition to the +2 range.