Class for this Archetype

Sarook

Hey folks,

Before I start - I am VERY new to the game.  I've rolled a couple of characters that I've gotten out of the tutorial, but I'm looking to get into a single role and live there for a while.  Over the coming weeks my teenage kids and I will be joining in and playing.

The concept that I have is the big, dumb brute.   The race I think will either be human or troll and I'm leaning towards troll.    I especially like their racial ability related to blunt weapons as that matches my concept of a smashing brute.

My problem is this.... I can't find a class that would match that somewhat common archetype.    I thought blade-master, but I don't want to use bladed weapons only "smashers".  Most of the melee classes I see are what I would categorize as "finesse" fighters.   Swashbuckler, blademaster, Paladin, Infernal, and runewarden all seem to specialize in specific bladed weapons, a specific graceful style of combat,  or dual-wielding.    I looked at Monk and their abilities to use staffs seemed like it *might* work.  However, I don't see my archetype fitting in well as a monk with the focus on mind and body.  

Magic would not be out of the picture.  I am even looking into priest with their specialization in their holy mace.   I've played this archetype as a priest before on another game and it worked out alright, but I'm not sure about how priests in this game are built.   I am also looking into shaman as that fits well with the more primal concept, but I don't see them as melee heavy which I'd want to be.

So my question to you fine folks is this.   Am I missing something in one of these classes that would allow me to roleplay the dumb brute effectively?   Can blademasters focus on maces?   Are monks required by class to be pictures of finesse and mind/body perfection?    Can shamans focus on melee combat?    

I appreciate the help tremendously!

Xli

You could be runewarden and use hammers or clubs instead of rapiers, depends on whether you want to sacrifice some DPS (damage per second) using slower weapons.

Monks don't use weapons at all, aside from the odd thrown dagger or axe for afflictions, but you could go monk and just kick and punch your enemies.

Druid might work - they have quarterstaffs...

Antonius

If you want to play a big, dumb brute that uses blunt weapons, I'm not sure there are (m)any options that won't leave you at a severe disadvantage.

Monk would likely be the best option - Tekura is all about punches and kicks, there's no weapon usage involved - but you'd probably have to ignore, or at least marginalise, the abilities in Telepathy and Kaido if you wanted to remove the mind/body balance aspect of the class. For PvE that would likely work out perfectly well, but for PvP you may find it's not quite up to the task in some fights.

Priest would also be an option if you wanted to roleplay an extremely zealous but not particularly bright one (a blind follower rather than a leader), but abilities that actually focus around the mace are few and far between. Devotion is focused more on faith than actual intelligence, so there'd be no restrictions there. Healing might be a sticking point, I'm not sure.

If you have absolutely zero aspirations to participate in PvP and don't mind severely underwhelming PvE performance, there's nothing preventing you from choosing a class like Runewarden and then using a non-standard weapon like a warhammer. You'd be at a huge disadvantage going down this route, though.

Sidonia

Anything is possible, it just varies from slightly to outrageously suboptimal. No class really uses blunt weapons besides priests and their maces, and the occasional fringe use of flails for the shatter ability in weaponry. There's nothing stopping you picking up a warhammer proficiency as any class and going around bashing people/things with it, it's just that in terms of damage and effects it's going to be inferior to using your class skills.

IMO, the main options here (depending on how much effectiveness you're willing to give up to play the role) would be:

+ Priest: Priests use their maces primarily but they might not fit the brute archetype because of the inbuilt religious rites/angel/healing abilities.

+ Monk: the traditional monk Houses lean towards the mind/body/spirit, inner calm/serene warrior thing, but there's nothing stopping you from playing your monk like a thug, just know that monks fight unarmed rather than with any weapons

+ Runewarden/Paladin/Infernal using battleaxes: these are one handed weapons that you dual-wield, although they're pretty far from 'finesse', being the slowest and most damaging of all possible knight weapons. In today's PvP environment they're considered to be inferior to rapiers because of how slow they are. NOTE: an overhaul of the weaponry system is upcoming (not sure how far in the future we're talking, could be 1-2 years for all I know) that will potentially make other weapons more viable.

+ Druid: Druids use quarterstaves for a few things, but not really for bashing people to death, they do however get an abilitiy in metamorphosis that speeds up the balance times of all your attacks, which would partially offset the handicap if you chose to just pick up a warhammer proficiency and smash things. If you're primarily interested in bashing/RP/PvE then this would be possible, but if you're interested in PvP I wouldn't recommend being a warhammer druid.

Synbios

Sarook said:

looked at Monk and their abilities to use staffs seemed like it *might* work.  

You've read Catarina's fight from the Seleucarian Histories, have you? Bit of a shame that staff-monks aren't implemented here.

Sarook

Synbios said:

Sarook said:

looked at Monk and their abilities to use staffs seemed like it *might* work.  

You've read Catarina's fight from the Seleucarian Histories, have you? Bit of a shame that staff-monks aren't implemented here.

Nope.     Just the Achaea help files.   I've read quite a few.

To quote from the main page:

The origins of the monk class are lost to antiquity. What is known is that an ancient order of monks called the Sentaari (still in existence today) had developed the ability to use telepathy and harness kai energy. They also mastered the art of edgeless weapons, including the staff and the cane. These weapons allowed them to defend themselves against attackers without killing them, while still letting them strike mighty blows in the defense of the peoples of the continent, as during the invasion of the Tsol'teth known as the Black Wave. However, during a civil war in the ancient Seleucarian Empire, the invading forces stripped the monks of their weapons to impair their ability to assist the rightful rulers.

Thanks so much for all of the advice folks.   To answer a few questions/comments:   My primary goal is roleplaying.  I don't mind taking a bit of a nerf to effectiveness to get that done, but obviously prefer not to.   For this archetype I'm very surprised its not supported within the current race/class combos.  I've never had to squeeze the brute into a fantasy system.  

That said... I'll probably either take the advice from Antonius and Sidonia about priest not being intellectually based and go with that for the brute  or just go with another character concept.

Again thanks guys.  Look forward to meeting some of you.

Eld

Sarook said:

Synbios said:

Sarook said:

looked at Monk and their abilities to use staffs seemed like it *might* work.  

You've read Catarina's fight from the Seleucarian Histories, have you? Bit of a shame that staff-monks aren't implemented here.

Nope.     Just the Achaea help files.   I've read quite a few.

To quote from the main page:

The origins of the monk class are lost to antiquity. What is known is that an ancient order of monks called the Sentaari (still in existence today) had developed the ability to use telepathy and harness kai energy. They also mastered the art of edgeless weapons, including the staff and the cane. These weapons allowed them to defend themselves against attackers without killing them, while still letting them strike mighty blows in the defense of the peoples of the continent, as during the invasion of the Tsol'teth known as the Black Wave. However, during a civil war in the ancient Seleucarian Empire, the invading forces stripped the monks of their weapons to impair their ability to assist the rightful rulers.

Thanks so much for all of the advice folks.   To answer a few questions/comments:   My primary goal is roleplaying.  I don't mind taking a bit of a nerf to effectiveness to get that done, but obviously prefer not to.   For this archetype I'm very surprised its not supported within the current race/class combos.  I've never had to squeeze the brute into a fantasy system.  

That said... I'll probably either take the advice from Antonius and Sidonia about priest not being intellectually based and go with that for the brute  or just go with another character concept.

Again thanks guys.  Look forward to meeting some of you.

The bolded is relevant, as well - the Sentaari did use staves, but learned to fight without them during the civil war, leading to the development of Tekura. As for your brute, it's not so much that the archetype itself isn't supported as that blunt weapons in particular don't have a whole lot of use in the current state of the game. There's a rework to the weaponry system planned (though not expected to come to fruition for quite a while yet) that may change that. 

Trevize

Priests? Beat things with a mace, be very devout but slot-witted? Can work. Attribute your powers to the Gods and your faith rather than any intelligence.

Could work!

Iocun

GOD SAY ME SMASH SO ME SMASH

Melodie

It works for me!

Nim

I'm not sure if it counted as roleplaying, or if anyone else had the same take on it, but from what tiny interaction I had with him, I totally imagined Cain as pulling this character archetype off as a magi.

So anything's possible!

Iocun

Well, with Cain the smashing just happens to be a bit less virtual and more based around his RL furniture.

Nim

He's just getting into character!

Jonathin

Coming soon to an Achaea near you: forging, knight, and weaponry overhauls will hopefully bring more viable variety to knight classes.

Skye

Nim said:

I'm not sure if it counted as roleplaying, or if anyone else had the same take on it, but from what tiny interaction I had with him, I totally imagined Cain as pulling this character archetype off as a magi.

So anything's possible!

Actually that is sort of feasible. IIRC, Coran was a troll magi he did not use most of the typical magi abilities at the time (no staffstrike back then), instead he killed people by stonefist-punching for the high-damage/stun in retardation and then beheading.

Iocun

Iocun said:

GOD SAY ME SMASH SO ME SMASH

Even found some pictures for this!

Strata

Iocun said:

Iocun said:

GOD SAY ME SMASH SO ME SMASH

Even found some pictures for this!

Is it just me or does the picture on the left look like Vicious wielding the corpse of his dead baby dolphin - ready to beat your face in with it?