I give you... The Rogue. The Rogue is all about debuffing, the same way warriors are about damage, wizards are about control, and priests are about healing. Technically priests and wizards both do some debuffing but there is a lot of design space for the rogue to expand into. Rogues use bows as their main weapons. Their arrow attacks are generally 3 or 4 range- less than a wizard, but out of melee. They get attacks with powerful effects when used from behind the target. Rogues get a cloak as armor. They don't get much in the way of Armor cards- instead they get movement positive stuff like Dodge. This makes them squishy but also mobile. Enough abstract, lets get to some examples. Backstab stuff: Knockout Blow- dam 5, rng 1, if made from behind the target, the target is Stunned Backstabber- Trait, whenever you hit a target from behind the attack deals +3 damage Slippery Strike- dam 3, rng 1, Step 2, Free Move Debuffs: Strength Sapper- 3 dam, 4 rng, target gets the Wimpy trait (Wimpy is the -1 damage dealt by attacks one) Blind- rng 2, attacks miss except on a roll of 4+, Duration 2 Poison arrow stuff: Pinprick- 1 dam, 3 rng, poison 5, Duration 1 Creeping Death- 3 dam, 4 rng, poison 1, Duration 5 More arrow stuff: Quick Shot- 2 dam, 4 rng, Cantrip Multishot- 3 dam, 4 rng, Burst 1 ...I'll flesh this out more tomorrow. You get the idea.
are they actually planning on releasing more characters ? otherwise this game will get old really fast with just wiz priest and war...the game is amazing up to this point but we really need more than just 3 chars
hmm... i'm not actually sure I agree with this... each class already has dozens (or more?) of possible builds each with unique items, playstyles, strengths and weaknesses. Balance between the classes is already pretty delicate, not sure adding more would do the game a service. Also, each class is little more than the accumulation of the cards they can equip. might make a lot more sense to just add new cards to existing classes if more variety is needed. More items, though? always more races? probably would be awesome more costumes? what's taking you so long BM?
In terms of race, I would like to see a 'Beast' character, a sort of ork/ogre - so a character which takes up 4 slots on the map, is similar to the dwarf (slow and a lot of hp) but doesn't rely on toughness or amour as dwarfs do, maybe some other resistances? When it comes to classes, the typical things they they haven't touched upon yet are - rouge, as mentioned above, and which is coming apparently at some point - summoner, so a necromancer/druid/beast trainer of some sorts who creates new characters that can be either controlled by the player or an NPC who works with you We shall see what comes in, but to be hones I rather stick to 3 classes and 3 races, rather than see the balance go through the window.
Beast won't be practical, I think, as it is too map dependent (on some maps a beast might not fit at all). I think the way the game is designed, more classes does not create any specific balance issues. The fact that the three 'Holy Trinity' classes are represented is a sort of coincidence. More classes makes balance harder of course, but three is not any sort of magic number. Personally I like the idea of more classes from a SP point of view as it gives you more options for variety without making you choose two of the same class.
I wonder if a Bard type character, with persistent buff-clouds, would work. Think of an attachment, with large duration, that says something like "All allies within 2 spaces add 2 to all damaging attacks" or "All allies within 2 spaces at 2 to all rolls for armor." Give him an "Instrument" inventory slot with different songs. On the other side of things, I could see a similar class with persistent area debuffs (sort of like the Cursed class from the roguelike TOME). A guy who carries around a black cloud which debuffs all enemies in its radius.
3 points here: -because of the way classes work (class is enforced by what item you can equip, therefore what card you have access to), I see no reason why these archetypes couldn't be opened up simply with new items (bow weapons, agility/mobility based armors for "rogue" warriors, for example) and perhaps a wider variety of costumes to cover a wider range of archetypes (druids, archers, assasins, etc) ultimately I think with the _wide_ variety of builds available, I'm not sure you need a whole other class to represent "mobile high damage melee character" when warriors can already be built this way. what I think people actually want is the _flavor_ of assassins or rogues more than a whole separate class. -summoner or pet-based class (or, again, simply new items to make an existing class buildable that way) sounds cool. that would genuinely be a new type of play, would love to see exploration in that direction. -I think new races are easier to do/ balance. races only have 3 "stats" to balance: 1)hitpoints- plenty of room for variation here, though too far in either direction could be broken, as this is by far the most significant aspect of race and can't be modified by cards 2)basic move card- the move you are guaranteed each turn. lots of room for fun stuff here; what about a flying race whose basic move is a free move or teleport? or golems or something whose basic move is a quick-step? obv there is risk for OP-ness here, but also room for fun variations. and 3) race skills; tons of room for fun variations here that needn't be overpowered; lizardmen might be like humans but with armor-based racials, or trolls that are like dwarves but with regenerative/cleansing/etc based racials. The possibilities are nearly endless, and the risk/reward for Blue Manchu could be pretty good (easier to balance than new classes, but with just as many new costumes to sell($$) and new variations for players to tool around with).
I came into this thread all set to make my case for the missing rogue / assassin. When I was describing the niche it would fill, though, it wound up sounding a lot like "elf warrior." Their elf skill gives them either the "scouting" or the move cantrips they'd want, use an armor card with Frenzy Aura or Horned Plates, put some step / penetrating cards in the weapon slots and give 'em a shield with duck or acrobatic flip. That's a striker right there, a rogue to a T. I ultimately *would* like to see a new class or two, and I still think there are ways that a rogue class could fit into the game. There might be more opportunities to get backstabbing bonuses, for example, or to replace the "blocking" concept of the shield with a more "dodging" concept (eyewear, maybe? ). But you're right in that it's not actually a hole that needs filling.
Alternatively, a Golemancery line for Wizards might work. Metacards that grant special abilities to summons and such.