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After spending the weekend running a game of Symbaroum at Go Play Leeds and trying out Lestra/o as a playable character, it seemed that the Black Cloaks setup didn’t quite match the background. According to his/her background, she spent time leading Sun Knights in actions against abominations and yet I don’t get the feeling of a commanding leader from her current abilities.
At the same time, the player who took the Witch-hunter on the basis of an interesting character discovered Lestra/o occupied a back-office role in the adventuring party. Not so much the front line soldier, more the outside consultant or brooding HR manager. The character doesn’t come out well in combat when placed upfront, providing a more effective weapon as an advisor to the wider group.
With that in mind and the option to use this new setup in running The Promised Land, you will find both the Witch-hunter and the Barbarian Ranger, Komar/Koma, in the linked Symbaroum Pre-generated Character Sheet on Google Drive.
I have made subtle changes to the Witch-hunter’s Abilities that make the character better able to survive and serve a purpose in a command/support role. At the same time, Man-at-Arms means what armour the Black Cloak possesses she makes the most of for protection.
(Yes, the ranger is called Karla in the core book, but I opted for a change)
I see that Komar/Koma is based on Karla from TPL, and I wanted to highlight some issues with that character that my players noticed.
1. The Crossbow. The Crossbow is a bloody awful starting weapon, because it takes a whole turn to reload. The character will be out of the fight every other turn, and that’s just not fun to play. And it’s compounded by…
2. Accurate 5. Yes, the character has Sixth Sense to be accurate at range, but the Crossbow means that the character will only be able to use its Sixth Sense accuracy every other turn, and if they want to defend themselves in the meantime they’re *shit out of luck*
I’d either give them a normal bow or swap Sixth Sense for Witchsight (which is a more interesting and often crucial ability anyway)
I’ll have a look at that. I haven’t run with the character as written yet; I would have seen it the first time the character got active play.
As mentioned, I thought making Lestra a player character would be a nice idea, but after a single session’s play, I realised it needed tweaking to make it right. I’ll do the same with Komar/Koma – and, for that matter, Fenya and others. I’m not looking to min-max them – I just want to get a more even sense of purpose. Lestra, for example, needed to be more firmly about the control and command that didn’t come across in Medicus and Witchsight!
Good feedback, Isak. Thanks.
I’m honestly not sure about the interpretation that Lestra used to lead templars into battle. Rather I’d read it like she’s used to being surrounded by faithful goons when she’s out on a mission.
If you’re set on making Lestra a useful player character, I’d suggest giving her one or two supportive Theurgy powers like Anathema, Blessed Shield, Holy Aura, or Prios’ Burning Glass. Maybe spend some time making Ansel and Lestra two variants of Theurgists, one being support and one being more offensive.
Switching your Lestra’s Man-at-Arms for Blessed Shield would be more fitting her character (holy servant, defender against abominations) and also protect against more damage (1D4+1D4 instead of 1D6 – you also forgot to apply the Man-at-Arms armor improvement on the sheet).
I intentionally left the improvement off – because I imagine the player will ask whether it was included or not!
I am thinking of allowing my players to roll their stats. That won’t necessarily create balanced characters, but I want them to have the option of doing so.
It’s interesting and I think it could be worth a try. As I’ve discussed my take on the game is that you should drive for the story first and worry about balance later. It isn’t that important providing everyone is enjoying themselves. I may post a little more about Attributes later in the week.