Useful abilities for a warrior include:
Currently all warriors basically look the same. This is a bug. There are several distinct kinds of warrior:
There should be enough skills in Warrior that players of straight Warriors have a meaningful choice of skills, rather than everyone having the same skills.
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So, an attempt at a class rewrite:
Warrior 15XP, as per usual
Tank abilities:
Fitness, requires Warrior of equal level, 6XP, a HP skill and now also a prerequisite
Fortitude, 6XP, a HP skill and now also a prerequisite
Armour, requires Fitness of equal level, 6XP, otherwise as usual
Shield Style, 6XP, requires Fortitude of twice level minus one: I: You can use a shield in your off hand. [Yes, you're still doing halves with the weapon in your on hand.] II: You are beginning to learn how to use the momentum of your shield to aid your attacks: when using a shield in the off hand, Strikedown by weapon once per day. III: You have mastered the art you began to learn in II: when using a shield in the off hand, Strikedown by weapon once per encounter. IV: You are an expert at deflecting blows with your shield, or by using its momentum to carry you out of the way: when using a shield in the off hand, gain a point of DAC. [This might want to be some kind of freaky regenerating natural armour thing instead, but hopefully we'll clean up DAC soon and so we won't have to argue about how it's overpowered, especially as someone buying Shield Style can only buy two DAC skills.]
Skirmisher abilities:
Combat Awareness, requires Warrior of equal level, 6XP, 1/4 a point of DAC
Grace, requires Warrior of equal level, 6XP, 1/4 a point of DAC incompatible with 4-pt armour and Fortitude
Agility, requires Warrior of equal level, 6XP, 1/4 a point of DAC incompatable with 3-pt armour and above, Fitness and Fortitude
Single Weapon Style, 6XP, requires Combat Awareness of twice level minus one: I: You can use one specific kind of single-handed weapon for singles. Whilst you can't use two weapons at once, you may use this kind of weapon in either hand and swap hands whenever you feel like it. II: Your careful targetting of blows lets you do Through damage once per encounter. [This is quite powerful, and might want to be 'once per day', but this is meant to be a powerful style as the actual weapon combination is rubbish.] III: You have mastered the art of knocking a similar weapon out of your opponent's hand: when using a single one-handed weapon, you may call "Disarm that item" on a single-handed weapon you have just struck once per encounter. (There's nothing like seeing someone else get disarmed to strengthen people's grip on their weapons.) IV: Your careful eye for detail and accurate targetting of blows allow you to do Through damage consistantly with any single one-handed weapon.
General weapon styles:
Staff Style, 6XP, requires Warrior of twice level minus one: I: Once per encounter, you can pull off a good swing with your weapon which does +1 degree of damage. (Note that you have not yet got singles by two-handed weapon when you first buy this!) II: Sometimes you hit an enemy's legs just right and they trip on your polearm. Strikedown by blow to the legs once per day. III: You master the art of tripping your enemies. Strikedown by blow once per encounter. IV: +1 degree of damage, as you master the art of using the length of the weapon to add strength to the blow.
Great Weapon Style, 6XP, requires Warrior of twice level minus one: NOTE: Great Weapons are not just *any* two-handed weapon. Specifically, they are two-handed weapons which are not staves or similar 'reversable' two-handed weapons. Staves and reversable polearms are significantly easier to fight with than true Great Weapons and use Staff Style instead, which removes the third-level damage increase from these weapons, to avoid the 'hitting you with both ends of the staff moving less than your sword per blow and still doing doubles' effect. I: Once per encounter, you can pull off a good swing with your great weapon which does +1 degree of damage. (Note that you have not yet got singles by two-handed weapon when you first buy this!) II: +1 degree of natural damage from two-handed weapons. III: You can deal such a tremendous blow with your weapon that your enemies fall to the ground: Strikedown by two-handed weapon once per encounter. IV: Another +1 degree of natural damage from two-handed weapons. [This *does* give rise to natural quins. Other options are: disarm one-handed weapons (because they get knocked out of people's hands by your mighty blows) one/encounter or 'if someone attempts to parry you', strikedown once per enemy or a number of times per encounter.]
Ambidextrous Style, 6XP, requires Warrior of twice level minus one: I: You may parry with a weapon in your off hand. II: You may do your normal damage with your offhand weapon. III: Your parrying skills improve: gain two levels of Combat Awareness. [Might want to make it one level, or a whole point of DAC, or see what we come up with as a DAC replacement if we decide to make DAC into global armour at the OGM.] IV: You have mastered the art of feinting with one weapon to get in a devastating blow with the other: +1 degree of damage to one of your weapons (you may change which weapon between encounters). This skill may explicitly add damage *after* the damage cap - so a dagger could do Double and a shortsword could do Triple.
Weapon Competency, 6XP, requires Warrior of twice level: I: Ability to do Singles by any weapon. You must designate a hand that you can do this in, but you may do Halves by a weapon held in the other hand if you are not holding a weapon in your 'on' hand. II: Either: ability to use a 'small' shield (I'm not sure what the exact measurements should be, but basically they should permit Tom's Uruk shield and disallow lmm's shield, Tom's larger shield and the Fried Egg of the Light) in your off hand, or: ability to use either hand as your on hand. [This is flagrently a space-filling exercise. Better space filling suggestions appreciated.] III: +1 degree of damage with any weapon. IV: +1 degree of damage with any weapon.
Miscellanery:
Brawling: as currently except just requires Warrior I rather than Melee I.
Duelling: as currently. Might want to have some synergy with Single Weapon Style, possibly even as much as +1 level of duelling for each level of Single Weapon Style.
Subdual: as currently except just requires Warrior rather than Melee.
Blindfighting, 5XP, requires Weapon Competency of same level: [This is intentionally a level lower. This assumes we don't nerf Blind durations at the OGM. If we do nerf Blind durations, then it should be put back up a level or possibly even two levels.] I: May parry as normal under the effect of the BLIND call, but may not call any damage (call NOTHING if you accidentally get a blow through) II: May fight at -1 degree of damage under the effect of the BLIND call III: May fight at full damage under the effect of the BLIND call (but you're still blind for purposes other than fighting).
Missile Competancy, 10XP, requires Warrior III: may do SINGLE THROUGH with a bow or crossbow.
Thrown Competancy, 5XP, requires Warrior II: may do SINGLE with a thrown weapon.
Beserker, as currently
Control Rage, as currently