I think I want to go with the "feel" of the show, instead of emulating it, and therefore think I will not be giving the character a mech... though perhaps a suit of armor would do. What I want to achieve is a character that is kind of "meh" during normal situations, but when the going gets tough, really begins to kick ass. I am definitely thinking non-conventional class features... Leaning either to Leader during "good" moments, and Striker during intense situations.
Any and all suggestions are welcome!
The anime Gurren Lagann is an inspiration to most who watch it. Determination, friendship, and progress are the driving force of a Sprial Knight. So, if someone wants to take the AWESOME might of Spiral power from the screen to their game table, how do you do it? I think I want to go with the "feel" of the show, instead of emulating it, and therefore think I will not be giving the character a mech... though perhaps a suit of armor would do. What I want to achieve is a character that is kind of "meh" during normal situations, but when the going gets tough, really begins to kick ass. I am definitely thinking non-conventional class features... Leaning either to Leader during "good" moments, and Striker during intense situations. Any and all suggestions are welcome!
Hmmm... I think before anyone should start, you need to outline things you actually want the class to do.
So you want it to be a something a hybrid Leader/Striker role?
Do you want it to actually have mech, but not a mecha? As in have a suit of armor that is specific to the class or are you just happy with armor proficiencies?
What effects of Spiral power do you want?
Note: I've watched about half the show... First season anyway.
YOUR DRILL IS THE DRILL THAT WILL PIERCE THE HEAVENS!
Warlord. Bravura Presence. Done.
I know you might be tongue and cheek with the suggestion, I always hate suggestions that do that. It's brushing off the challenge presented, and doesn't lead much to actual homebrew.
I know that people can just re-fluff or even re-imagine mechanicals things, divorce them from presented fluff, and make it thier own or whatever, so a Barbarian doesn't have to be a Barbarian, but could be presented as something that in a tough moment gains some berserker damage or what not...
Note: thinking about it, you could go that Charisma Barbarian build and hybrid Bravura Warlord or the other way around...
But I think that's the easy way out.
It's kinda like slowly falling into the slippery slope of "why bother having more than 3 classes? Warrior, Mage, and Healer?" Since you can feasibly boil down each class to that.
Nothing against you or anything, it's just those suggestions always irk me.
Spiral power was something that any spiral creature could produce, and even non-sprirals could manipulate. It seems to me that a theme (or a set of themes) might be more appropriate.
Like, I guess if you wanted something closer to a character that could summon a suit of armor, do special things with that armor, and use spiral energy as the basis for their fantastic actions - a class would be good. Leader base, with a very strong secondary Striker cover; quite possibly fills an the idea of Dual Role class that changes based on situation ie Bloodied.
Themes would better if you just wanted to add it to an existing character or a concept that isn't much different from "fighter that somehow uses spiral energy".
I'd just like to see someone tackle it.
Good themes, are a way to represent character concepts that are too large for any one class or build to encompass.
For example: Kazuma and The Spiral King
Both are Spiral energy users correct?
Kazuma was reckless, encouraging, bold, and possessed of an infectious confidence, he was a wild untamed warrior who relied more on brute power and determination than any great skill. Probably a thaneborn barbarian, or a bravura warlord.
Spiral King was cold, implacable, educated, he was nothing like Kazuma in battle style, or even equipment. He had to be packing at least one artificer multiclass feat, and lots of ritual training.
Warlord. Bravura Presence. Done.
I know you might be tongue and cheek with the suggestion, I always hate suggestions that do that. It's brushing off the challenge presented, and doesn't lead much to actual homebrew.
I know that people can just re-fluff or even re-imagine mechanicals things, divorce them from presented fluff, and make it thier own or whatever, so a Barbarian doesn't have to be a Barbarian, but could be presented as something that in a tough moment gains some berserker damage or what not...
Note: thinking about it, you could go that Charisma Barbarian build and hybrid Bravura Warlord or the other way around...
But I think that's the easy way out.
It's kinda like slowly falling into the slippery slope of "why bother having more than 3 classes? Warrior, Mage, and Healer?" Since you can feasibly boil down each class to that.
Nothing against you or anything, it's just those suggestions always irk me.
So does the suggestion of building a class that can easily be covered by one that exists already (read: Seeker, Runepriest). Therefore: Warforged Bravura Warlord = Gurren Lagann. Simple as that.
Besides which, it's impossible to do as requested without shattering the game anyway. Spiral Power is, after all, limitless.
The anime Gurren Lagann is an inspiration to most who watch it. Determination, friendship, and progress are the driving force of a Sprial Knight. So, if someone wants to take the AWESOME might of Spiral power from the screen to their game table, how do you do it? I think I want to go with the "feel" of the show, instead of emulating it, and therefore think I will not be giving the character a mech... though perhaps a suit of armor would do. What I want to achieve is a character that is kind of "meh" during normal situations, but when the going gets tough, really begins to kick ass. I am definitely thinking non-conventional class features... Leaning either to Leader during "good" moments, and Striker during intense situations. Any and all suggestions are welcome!
You haven't actually given anything to go on. "Determination, friendship, and progress" can describe literally any character. Heck, both the martial and psionic power sources rely largely on determination and willpower to overcome great odds, psionic power literally being "humand will is awesome and can overcome anything." Building a character like the one you suggested doesn't really sound like a great idea to me, because being functionally a dead weight half the time and overpoweringly awesome the other half sounds a little too swingy and not in the general idea spirit of 4e. More importantly, there is no real mechanic for telling how much trouble you're in other than Encounter Level or just eyeballing it. The closest thing 4e has to a reliable and often-encountered "danger" mechanic is stuff like the bloodied condition (there are other conditions that are dangerous, but having a class whose entire gimmick relies around a status condition not likely to be encountered in every fight is not good game design). If I were you, I'd take a Dragonborn, pick Bravura/Inspiring Warlord, Thaneborn Barbarian, Valorous Bard, Euphoric Ardent, Battlemind, Cavalier of Sacrifice/Valor, or even Wrath Blackguard and stack things that give you bonuses in a fight while you're bloodied. A high Charisma is pretty much the "determination" stat since gives you a high Will defense and boosts your friendship and yelling abilities, while these classes all revolve around throwing yourself into battle with little regard for things like planning or self-preservation. Leaders heal and inspire their friends, defenders protect their friends, strikers beat things that threaten their friends.
If you wanted a theme centered around determination, it would probably be stuff like saving throw bonuses and bonuses to various abilities while bloodied.
Mech combat is actually amazingly easy in 4e. You have a 4e character... you are now a mech pilot. All you need to do is pretend you're Iron Man sized, throw down a coaster to serve as your mech on the battlefield, or change the scale of the map. Getting a larger base on a normal map means that you can block and threaten more space than you normally could, so keep that in mind or scale the enemies up in size accordingly.
Combined with certain feats (Frantic Recovery, Crusader's Fury, and Action Surge, among others), the "becoming more powerful in tough situations" theme really comes out.
Then, its just flavor to make it work. Thank you guys a ton!