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11

Discussion / Re: Theorycrafting! (Because I like competitive metagames too much)

« Last post by metroid composite on April 26, 2024, 09:48:33 PM »

Oh I mean, in terms of the DM stepping in and making a ruling, I think it's very reasonable to outright ban Peace and Twilight domain clerics, and do a small edit to what Chronurgy Wizards are allowed to do (limit Arcane Abeyance to only casting 1 action spells, for example).

But there's a problem of where exactly do you draw the line?

A DM could also reasonably ban Gloomstalker Ranger--that's probably good for the overall health of the game--and suddenly you'd see a much bigger variety of rangers, and wouldn't need to worry about designing the storyline so that the characters rarely fight in darkness.  And yeah, if Gloomstalker Ranger doesn't exist, Ranger's tier ranking probably slips.

A DM could also reasonably be like "I'm sick of seeing hexblades, no hexblades!" and yeah, that probably affects Warlock's tier rankings.  Suddenly you can't dip warlock to learn the shield spell and get proficiency in medium armor and shields.

A lot of DMs just don't allow any Wildmount content, because it tends to be really weird with the rules.  Echo Knight jumps to mind--officially the echo can move in any direction including straight up into the air, and is not a creature so can't be targeted with certain spells and doesn't trigger attacks of opportunity.  Just...weird rules-wise, independent of any balance concerns (although it's also very strong of course).  Banning wildmount content also happens to ban Chronurgist.

And...honestly, I would totally get it if a DM was like "I don't like Eloquence bard; when there's an Eloquence Bard in the party, the rest of the party stops talking in social situations cause they know the bard can't fail".

And...I could see a DM objecting to Moon Druid at some very specific levels (level 2 one-shots.  Level 20 one-shots).

And...some DMs do ban Conjure Animals and similar spells just because it takes too long to resolve the actions of 16 summons (less of an issue on some digital tabletops).

I guess I can't really imagine a DM banning any additional subclasses beyond those 9, however.

I suppose I could do a second ban-a-thon assuming those 9 subclasses are off the table (Chronurgist, Echo Knight, Graviturgist, Peace, Twilight, Gloomstalker, Hexblade, Eloquence, Moon).  Also additionally banning any spells from wildmount, and any swarm style playstyles (conjure animals.  Creating skeleton armies with animate dead.  Etc).

12

Discussion / Re: Theorycrafting! (Because I like competitive metagames too much)

« Last post by SnowFire on April 26, 2024, 05:31:14 AM »

But if I'm thinking of "what's the best way to protect saving throws with Paladin and Wizard banned" it's not a bard with bardic inspiration, it's not an artificer.  It's any party member grabbing a 1 level Peace cleric dip.

I get that this is assuming a "power player" perspective, but I feel like if there's one area where this really shouldn't be assumed and the GM should step up, it'd be the Cleric class, and especially for something like Peace as a domain.  Obviously Level 1 Clerics are fairly easy to justify via backstory, but if an existing character wants to take a level in Cleric strictly for what provides the best benefits in battle, I as a DM would say great, your domain is apparently War without some really good explainin'.  (And yes, I know that 5e is a little less eager to just have the DM veto stuff, but I'd say this is an exception.)

13

Discussion / Re: Theorycrafting! (Because I like competitive metagames too much)

« Last post by metroid composite on April 25, 2024, 07:58:13 AM »

D&D 5e ban-a-thon continued

8. Bard

So...I thought this next one was going to be tough.  Turns out...not really.

So I mean, we're definitely starting to feel a lack of party diversity.  Stuff like AoE damage, kinda hard to come by.  Stuff like the shield spell, kinda hard to come by.  Stuff like Counterspell, kinda hard to come by.

But Bard has this ability called Magical Secrets, where they get to pick spells from any spell list, and that just plugs a lot of holes.

This on top of being just generally a solid class--full caster with decent spells.  Bardic Inspiration being generally better than the Artificer Flash of Genius.  Being good at skill checks.  They're also the last remaining class that wants high charisma, whereas Druid, whom I assume is one of the major points of competition here, is not the last remaining class that wants high WIS.

I think there's a good case to be made that if magical secrets didn't exist, Druid would look like the stronger class--better base spell list, and they come with medium armor and shield proficiency (with the asterix of "won't wear metal armour").

But I think banning Bard next just more significantly limits what parties can do.  Like for example, let's say the party has a barbarian.  Someone needs to be able to make the Barbarian fly in case you fight a flying enemy.  Druids...well no subclass gets the fly spell, but maybe you could cast conjure animals and get giant owls or giant bats and mount them, and then hope that the giant owls don't lose their 19 HP (by the way, Druids don't learn Feather Fall).  Artificers could cast fly, but at much higher levels, and they would have trouble upcasting it if multiple party members needed to fly.  Although they can just spend an infusion on Boots of Flying at level 10.  Bards?  No questions asked, Lore Bard can just learn Fly from magical secrets at level 6 if that's a concern.

Now that we're down to like...6 classes and the potential for party diversity is dwindling, the number of holes Bard can fill just seems like a bit too much to leave them unbanned.

9. Druid

Once we ban Bard, it's going to be Druid next, right?  You want party diversity, this means you want a full caster.  Druid is the last option for a full caster.  If all the other martials were banned, we would ban the last martial here probably.

I guess the one point of comparison would be Artificer, who can definitely lean more into the full caster role by infusing items like Pipes of Haunting.  But like...nah, it's not the same.  Druid gets Revivify and Dispel Magic at level 5.  Druids make better use of ritual casting than artificers.  Druids can take something like Moonbeam, upcast it like a full caster, and then every martial who can grapple or push can shove enemies into it for extra damage (enemies taking damage both when they enter and when they start their turn in it).  There's still multiple sources of Pass Without Trace even this deep into bans, but Druid is a pretty good way to get PWT.  Druids get polymorph at a level when it's relevant (like conjure animals it doesn't scale up in hit rate, but it's great at level 7).  Druids get Wall of Stone.

10. Artificer

OK, I'll admit I'm not sure what's next.  Intuitively, on the same "party diversity" line as Druid, it feels like kicking out the last half-caster in Artificer should be a real kick to party diversity.  But...is it that bad though?  Rogues have Arcane Trickster, which...while Arcane Trickster gains spells slower than artificer, it does pick from a bigger spell list.  There's a few Monks that can cast spells.

Mmm...no, it probably is still Artificer.  Basically the only healing outside of Mercy Monk.  Has Revivify, yeah level 9 is late for revivify, but Mercy Monk doesn't get a similar feature till like level 17 or so.  Flash of Genius is good.  Has some ritual casting, even if it doesn't mean as much due to being a half-caster.  In a party full of martial characters, Spell Storing Item is great cause it lets party members who don't have a use for their concentration concentrate on something.

Artificers can also adapt on a long rest.  Swap out infusions.  Swap out spells.

Yeah, they're still not a full caster, but they bring enough more from the spellcasting side of things compared to something like an Arcane Trickster that they're probably still the ban.

11. Monk

So...both rogues and monks can heal, Rogue, you pick Thief Rogue, and you pick the healer feat, and now as a bonus action you can use an item (healing kit) to restore a bit of health to people.  But...a creature can be healed in this way only once per short rest, so it's not actually great healing.  In fact...ehh...you kinda want your bonus action for steady aim or rogue damage won't be great.  So Monk is quite a bit better at covering the healing angle.

Pass Without Trace...obviously monk can cover that with Shadow Monk.  Rogue could also cover it by picking Arcane Trickster and being an Earth Genasi.  Earth Genasi learn pass without trace and can cast once without spell slots and later through their spell slots.  But...honestly being locked into Earth Genasi is kind-of pretty bad for Rogues who lean pretty hard towards picking elf for Elven Accuracy.

What about Barbarian?  Well...Barbarians definitely add to parties like these, Barbarians hit harder, they can take more hits, they can grapple better, but do risk struggling with flying enemies cause Monk and Rogue are really not well equipped to make them fly.  (Although technically both of them can--Arcane Trickster and Four Elements Monk can both cast fly).

So...what are Barbarian's options in that regard?  Giants Barbarian is decent at throwing weapons, and Beast Barb can jump pretty high or walk on walls and upside down on ceilings (just not both at the same time).  I think you'd probably want to stick to those subclasses cause you're not getting help in terms of getting airborne, but those do happen to be two of the better barbarian subclasses anyway so you won't be too sad with those picks.

So...maybe it is Barbarian just because Barbarian is more different than the other two.

The one thing I will note is that it's not necessarily bad having an all ranged party.  Classic kiting strats are good in any movement based game.  (The one caveat being you do need to be able to switch to melee in case an enemy gets on top of you--but every remaining build can do that).

Although...classic kiting strats do call for pretty specifically monks and not rogues.  Rogues if they want to use steady aim will not be kiting.  Unless there's a melee barbarian next to their target, then they can kite while still using sneak attack although with less damage due to not having advantage, but...regardless in that scenario they don't get the benefits of doing a full party kiting strat cause the barbarian is still gonna get hit.

I dunno, maybe Rogue and Monk have so much overlap that I ought to pick Barb, but I feel like Monk is just looking all around good here.  Better at healing, better at using pass without trace without sacrificing too much of their build, better at kiting, ranged damage monk builds are keeping close enough to ranged damage rogues without sacrificing movement.  Monks also offer some funny strats like running up walls and across water and stunning enemies, which won't come up all the time, but are kind of great when they do.

12. Barbarian

If it comes down to two classes in a ban-a-thon and one of them is rogue, I suspect letting the rogue slip through is the correct choice.

Yeah, maybe Rogues are abstractly "more flexible" cause of stuff like arcane trickster.  But if a party of 4-5 mono-classed rogues ever come across a situation where they can't sneak attack, like maybe there's an enemy they just have disadvantage to attack for some reason like an invisible enemy, or maybe they all got hit by the dragon's frightful presence and the dragon is now flying, the whole party is going to deal their non-sneak attack damage and that's just a disaster.  It's a disaster because the whole party implodes at the same time.  One or two party members being ineffective in a fight is often fine in D&D, but the whole party being ultra ineffective?  That just sounds like a TPK waiting to happen.

Yeah, in a party full of barbarians you probably do want to build some Barbarians with DEX and use a bow.  But like...you know what?  That's not that bad.  Ancestral Guardian barb with a bow is honestly not awful for the same reason Echo Knight+Ancestral Guardian barb is really good.  Same idea where an enemy loses basically all their offence if they can't hit you thanks to being a ranged Ancestral Guardian; just you know...with way less damage cause you're a barb with a bow.  Zealot barbarian with a bow gets to deal their divine fury damage while raging, and...as a result actually keeps up just fine with a ranged level 11 monk or rogue.  Path of the Giant Barb's elemental cleaver similarly just works on a weapon, so they can get their fire bow or ice bow or whatever and also keep up reasonably well on damage.

Obviously don't make a fully ranged barbarian party, that would be silly.  But the point is that Barbs can diversify a bit better than rogues can--every rogue struggles at the same time if sneak attack is turned off for some reason

13. Rogue

To be clear, I don't think rogue is "bad", any more than in the FFT ban-a-thon Samurai often got banned very late, and I don't think Samurai is "bad".

Ban-a-thons just kind of get weird towards the end, and yeah, full rogue-parties just have a massive Achilles heel of if for some reason sneak attack can't be activated, the party is screwed.

14

Discussion / Re: Theorycrafting! (Because I like competitive metagames too much)

« Last post by metroid composite on April 25, 2024, 05:44:37 AM »

D&D 5e ban-a-thon continued

5. Fighter

Okay, so 5th spot actually requires some thought.

On the caster side, Druid, Bard, and Sorcerer are all pretty good, but don't necessarily stand out next to each other.  There's also warlock, which is a really common dip for Bard and Sorcerer.  Warlock and Sorcerer have one of those interesting standoffs you sometimes see in ban-a-thons where they're the last two easy ways to access the shield spell, so when one of them goes, probably the other one goes right afterwards.  That said...I'm not seeing an obvious weak link that would dramatically lower the power level of parties if it was removed here.  Dipping hexblade warlock for medium armor is popular, but dipping a level of Artificer would be an easy enough replacement.

But meanwhile, on the martial side, there is a dream team that I think I want to break up, and that dream team is Echo Knight Fighter + Ancestral Guardian Barbarian.  You can recklessly attack through your echo while being nowhere close to a target.  And then Ancestral Guardian Barbarian will make that enemy basically harmless at attacking anyone other than you while you're out of range (the enemy has disadvantage to attack anyone but you, AND if they hit, the party member gets resistance to the damage too LOL).

Now, I mean, is the ban Barbarian, is the ban Fighter?  I think it's Fighter.  For one thing, Echo Knight is probably the real power behind the build here (infinitely spawning echos, free teleports, a 7th level feature that's really good for scouting).  For another thing, Fighter has a lot more scope for other builds, like fighter still can do archer builds, which Barb cannot.  Fighter's now the only easy way to get a fighting style, and some fighting styles are very good (like Archery fighting style).  1 level dip of fighter is not a bad dip on mages.  Some mages even take 2 level dips for action surge.  Action Surge is good on martial builds too.

---

I suppose I should make a note on Druid, cause like...I don't know if a typical RPGDL reader would object in this way, but there are random people on the internet who will say things like "conjure animals outdamages any martial in D&D" and like...it's not like there aren't calculations to back that up, but I calculate slightly differently and I'd like to explain my calculations real quick.

Conjure animals damage is a lot worse if you go by the Jeremy Crawford tweet where the DM picks the animals (if we just assume the DM randomly rolls for animals among CR 1/4 beasts in the monster manual).  I'm also making an assumption slightly different from the rest of the internet which is that you get some basic magic items.

Like...let me do a very basic level 11 fighter with no subclass using crossbow expert, sharpshooter, and 20 DEX.  Variant human or custom lineage.  With a +2 hand crossbow because that's the level when I said they'd get up to +2 magic weapons.

To hit the fighter has +4 from proficiency, +2 from archery fighting style, +5 from DEX, +2 from their hand crossbow.  So...+13 to hit.  They will take -5 to hit for sharpshooter, so that will drop down to +8 to hit.  Let's say they're facing...18 AC; that AC seems reasonable, given the level and the +2 weapons.  55% chance to hit,

By comparison, a lot of CR 1/4 beasts have +4 to hit (Axe Beak, Giant Lizard) and some have +3 to hit (Boar, Giant Frog).  But let's assume your DM is rolling on a table of beasts to decide what spawns, and you get something above average like a Draft Horse--+6 to hit, 9 damage.  Excellent.

Fighter with no subclass not using action surge is dealing 45.8 damage per turn.

Conjure Animals with 8 Draft Horses is dealing 34.4 damage per turn.

And then if you low roll on the animal, the DM rolls randomly for an animal and gets something mildly below-average like Giant Lizards, then we're talking 20 damage per turn from 8 giant lizards.

Now, granted, Conjure Animals can be upcast for 16 animals out of a 5th level slot, so with a relative highroll like Draft Horses yeah, now that's 69 damage per turn.  And 40 damage with a relative lowroll like Giant Lizards.  But also...I've watched Conjure Animals in action in high level games--AoE damage happens, the animals die.  You also need to be specifically Shepherd Druid or you'll do half damage to some percentage of monsters.

And...we could start adding in stuff like...Bless despite banning paladin and cleric still isn't that hard to get, either from Fey Touched or from Divine Soul Sorcerer.  And Bless gets more value buffing a single fighter than it does buffing 3/8 of a Conjure Animals spell.

Or we could consider that some enemies fly--presumably your DM isn't so strict with conjure animals that they will give you cows against a flying dragon, presumably they'll pick randomly between flying beasts in the monster manual--Giant Owls, Giant Bats, or Swarms of Bats, but all three of those deal pretty bad damage, so your damage will always be low-ish vs flying enemies.

We could also consider subclasses for the fighter, we could factor in stuff like Action Surge.

And then there's just party diversity to consider--one of the roles of a martial character in a party is to bail the party out if there's anti-magic stuff--like an anti-magic field, or like a monster that has some level of magic immunity.  And a lot of that stuff does stop conjure animals.

This isn't to say that Druids can't deal good damage with conjure animals.  Druids can absolutely do good damage, even with my extra assumptions.

But if you relied exclusively on Druids and not martial characters to deal damage, the party would have some real weaknesses--some real fights where they would really struggle.  Flying enemies, anti-magic fields, enemies with limited magic immunity, enemies that can center AoE damage on themselves.

---

6. Warlock

So okay, what's going on with martials at this point?  Barbarians do the most damage, and soak more hits than Rogues and Monks usually, but they're mostly limited to melee.  And they can't concentrate on spells while raging, which is noteworthy--you can't dip a couple levels of say, druid, to concentrate on pass without trace with a barbarian build, but a rogue or a monk sure could do that.

Monks and Rogues can both go ranged, which...ranged physical attackers are worth having.  Rogues deal a bit more damage than monks by going Elven Accuracy, and then using Steady Aim to get advantage every turn.  Although gunner monks can technically sink a lot of ki into Focused Aim to pull ahead on damage, but with small ki investments it's a bit lower on average.

I suppose there's also Barb/Rogue multiclasses to consider (Rogue is a better exit multiclass for Barb than Monk is).

Artificer probably also pops into consideration at this point.  They get extra attack, they hit things.  Hmm...ok well actually, running some numbers gunner monk and steady aim rogues should out-damage battle smith artificers by a decent amount.  But artificers come with some party support, and they're kinda tanky so that's nice.

Mmm...It's not clear that losing any one of these would hurt all that much to lose though.

What about the casters?

...I am side-eyeing one combo on the caster side, which is Eldritch Blast plus quicken Eldritch Blast, which does actually pull into the lead for ranged damage at level 11 when Eldritch Blast gets the third beam (pull into the lead in terms of damage compared to ranged rogues, monks, etc).  This is with no hex or hexblade's curse or anything like that, so you can be concentrating on a real spell while you do this--maybe a Tasha's summon with more ranged damage--Aberrant Mind Sorcerer gets Summon Aberration for example.  I mean, it's not free, but 2 sorcery points a turn can be sustained for quite a while if you convert sorcery points to spell slots, the range is good, and it comes with some utility (repelling blast).

Yeah, I mean, I don't think I necessarily made an error banning fighter first, the echo knight combo is still very unique, but this combo it is starting to stand out a little now.

And...as mentioned earlier, the moment we ban one of Sorcerer/Warlock, the other one probably goes next, cause they'd be the last easy access to the shield spell.

Sorcerer without Warlock...you would just dip a level in...probably Artificer instead for medium armor and shields.  I suppose Druid also an option if your DM is nice about offering non-metal armor or isn't super stringent about enforcing the "druids will not wear metal armor".  The main thing you would lose is access to a strong at-will option in Eldritch Blast, but you would pick up more spell slots.  But also worth noting, Bard would also lose access to Eldritch Blast and probably its favourite dip target for getting medium armor and shields and access to the shield spell.  Swords and Valor bard in particular basically would not want to focus on weapon attacks at all with no hexblade dip.  You also wouldn't be able to be a mono-class warlock, which...isn't nothing, Geenie Warlocks are pretty good, Hexblade Warlocks are kind-of like fighters, and those just got themselves banned.

Warlock without Sorcerer...there's basically no access to metamagic, but that's not necessarily a dealbreaker.  Divine Soul Sorcerer is still a pretty good one-level dip for anyone with spell slots who doesn't have the shield spell (lets you pick up shield, and bless, and the 1st level DSS feature which is a once-per-rest +5 to a saving throw).  If you're going primarily sorcerer, I will say I think Clockwork Soul Sorcerer is probably overall better than any official Bard, just gets so many more spells prepared than any bard, and with Wizard banned sorcerer in general gains a lot of uniqueness from Wizard spells like Web and Haste and Fireball.  (These are available from other classes like Artificer, and some Circle of the Land Druid subclasses but the opportunity cost of getting them from those methods is much higher).  If for some reason you really want Spirit Guardians, Divine Soul Sorcer is probably the best way to grab that, though I don't see an obvious build where the party would suffer without spirit guardians.

Interestingly Warlock and Sorcerer have a lot of overlap--like one of the things sorcerer does that Bard does not is AoE damage like fireball which is now becoming relatively scarce with Wizard and Cleric banned.  But warlock does that too.

That said, I think going back to a bit of utility discussion--Bard is still worth considering bringing with the current class limitations.  It's a ritual caster, it has Leomund's Tiny Hut and Detect Magic; yeah, you have to prepare them but better than wasting a feat on them.  Bard also has skill checks and expertise.  Bard protects your saving throws a bit.  And if you have a bard in your party, you probably don't bring a sorcerer (too similar, not good for party diversity) but the bard could easily dip Warlock.  Full warlock teamed with bard also arguably makes a bit more sense than full sorcerer teamed with bard (less overlap).

I think Warlock is probably the link that hurts the jenga tower the most here.

7. Sorcerer

OK, so I predicted whichever of Sorcerer/Warlock went first, the other one would go right afterwards.  Am I still sticking with that?

Mmm...sorcerer is a pretty good 1 level dip on a Bard or a Druid, gets CON saving throws, the shield spell, and a subclass (usually divine soul on a 1 level dip).  Whereas dipping the other way around, sorcerer dipping druid or Bard...probably not.

This is in addition to a select few subclasses of Sorcerer like Clockwork Soul just having a lot more spells prepared and a lot more access to wizard spells than their Bard or Druid counterparts, so you might just want to bring a full Sorcerer anyway.

There are other ways to get the shield spell of course--3 level dips into artificer.  Picking a specific race from monsters of the multiverse.  But these are much more expensive.

Yeah, I think it's still Sorc next.

15

Discussion / Re: Theorycrafting! (Because I like competitive metagames too much)

« Last post by metroid composite on April 25, 2024, 02:58:14 AM »

D&D 5e

So...lots and lots of blathering has happened on the internet in terms of class balance.  And I kind-of tuned most of it out, cause like hey, balanced parties work better than parties of all wizards anyway.

But recently it occurred to me...what if I do to D&D 5e the same thing I did with FFT and do a ban-a-thon.  If I ban one class, how much does it hurt overall party strength?

Assumptions

No Combos: Much like I assumed no full party combos in FFT (no sunken stated dance, no quickening) I will also assume no full party combos here (e.g. no Haste + Spike Growth + high movement grappler parties).

No scaling to party: I will also assume, and this needs to be stated because it's D&D and often in D&D the DM will just scale the difficulty to the party.  But I will also assume that parties are facing the exact same scenario, the DM isn't adjusting difficulty to the party.  Maybe it's a pre-made module.

Basic magic items available: The official adventure league has a list of "evergreen" items, which are bag of holding, +1/+2/+3 weapons, +1/+2/+3 shields, +1/+2/+3 wand of the war mage, +1/+2/+3 rod of the pact keeper, +1 armor (or barding), potions of healing (any), spell scrolls (any).  None of this is unlimited of course, loosely it should cost gold.

If it comes up, I will assume +1 stuff in tier 2 (level 5-10), +2 stuff in tier 3 (level 11-16), and +3 stuff in tier 4 (levels 17+).  Except for +1 armor which I will only assume in tier 4.

The reason for doing this is to correct a bit for the internet, which tends to assume no magic gear at any point.  And it's worth noting that magic weapons are a bit better than wands (e.g. +2 sword is a bigger damage boost than a +2 wand).

Basic adventure league rules assumed: so this means stuff like if you have your simulacrum wish for something big, and it backfires and they lose the ability to cast wish, you also lose the ability to cast wish and so do your future simulacrums.  This also means stuff like max 2 short rests per adventuring day (mostly to stop short rest spam from sorcerer/warlock mutliclasses).

All official Subclasses assumed: yes, even the busted ones.

Up to date races assumed, within reason--no flying races: So like races in monsters of the multiverse minus Fairy and Aarakokra.  Plus like variant human.  I don't know if this will come up, but maybe.

I'll assume 3-5 combats, and more often than not 1 short rest rather than 2: I know some people say they run more than this, or less than this, but I've watched a number of one-shots on youtube with various famous youtube optimisers playing, and it's pretty consistently between 3-5 combats in that format.

Anyway...assumptions out of the way, the first few classes I think are fairly obvious.

1. Paladin

The first class to ban seems very straightforward to me.  The difference between a party with aura of protection and without aura of protection is noticeable.  And Paladin Subclasses offer some very nice additional bonus auras (like everyone adding your proficiency bonus to their initiative score for Watchers Paladin).  This is simply not a replaceable feature--artificers and bards can use their inspiration or their flash of genius to help a little bit, but they are limited in use, and need to spend bonus actions or reactions.

Now I mean, if Paladins themselves were terrible at everything other than giving the party a big  stat buff, maybe they would not be so high, but you know, they are decent at damage, they are decent at healing, they get find steed and find greater steed which are very nice.  They would be a reasonable but not standout class without the auras.

2. Ranger

There's a basic plan with ranger which is pretty good, and it goes like this:  Concentrate on Pass Without Trace to give the full party +10 to stealth, this theoretically allows the party to avoid trouble, or sneak up on enemies and get surprise.  (Which...official rules on surprise are super busted--basically a full extra turn.  Not all DMs run it that way).  And then other than that just be a high damage character (which a lot of full spellcasters would struggle to do without dropping concentration on Pass Without Trace--they generally need to pick between continuing to concentrate on PWT, or dealing damage).  Use remaining spell slots on Goodberry or whatever.

Now I mean, there's some obvious objections--Ranger isn't the only place to get Pass Without Trace, Shadow Monk could be the Pass Without Trace bot, and shadow monks...you could build them for damage, or at least I've seen someone claim they succeeded at building them for damage.  There's just one problem: the high damage shadow monk build I saw dipped 3 levels into Gloomstalker Ranger.  As do...many of the damage builds I see, TBH.  Gloomstalker is just the universal "dip this to make your damage build deal more damage".

It is pretty specifically Gloomstalker Ranger in particular that lifts Rangers up above other options here.  If they ever fight in darkness, they become invisible for free, get advantage on all their attacks, land most of their sharpshooter hits and that's very very strong.  A DM that gets used to having a gloomstalker ranger with sharpshooter in the party will plan around this, be very careful with where they place darkness.  But one of my starting assumptions was that there would be no adjusting for the party.  A pre-made module where there's a fully dark corner in every fight would just get trivialized by a gloomstalker.

But wait, there's more!  Let's say there's zero fights in darkness, Gloomstalkers aren't necessarily a problem class without darkness but they still get some nice 3rd level features, and in particular a lot of nice 3rd level features for dealing damage.  Particularly with the new bugbear from Monsters of the Multiverse.  If Bugbear beats enemies on initiative, all their attacks deal extra damage round 1.  Well guess what?  Gloomstalker gives a boost to initiative and an extra attack on round 1.  Everything Bugbear cares about.  They just fit together like puzzle pieces.

3. Wizard

I think #3 gets a lot more murky.  There's maybe some arguments for cleric because Twilight and Peace cleric are silly overtuned subclasses.

There also might be some argument for fighter.  With ranger and paladin out of the picture, if you want to have a balanced party that won't die in, say, an antimagic field, not having fighter as an option probably does hurt.

That said, I think this has to go to wizard.  Cutting out wizard means you just won't have access to certain spells, unless you use Bard Magical Secrets.  Like...passwall for example, which is a spell that can really stand out when you give the same dungeon to multiple different parties.  Or Arcane Eye, which is very strong for scouting ahead.

Cutting out Wizard means it becomes kind-of expensive to get someone who's good with rituals.  Now I mean, anyone in the party, even a fighter or a barbarian can grab the ritual caster feat.  But that does weaken the character that grabs it, whereas wizards are good at rituals almost for free.  Similarly, a warlock could go pact of the tome and then take the book of ancient secrets invocation.  But that's not free either--requires an invocation and a pact selection.

Of course, classes like Cleric and Bard do get ritual casting, but they need to spend spell preparations preparing all their rituals.

These aspects on their own might not be enough.  But on top of those nice things I think there's a decent amount of power here is coming from Wizard subclasses as well.

Chronurgy Wizards are famously busted when they get to level 10, because they (or even their familiar) can use Arcane Abeyance to cast Leomund's Tiny Hut with one action.  Leomund's Tiny Hut should never be castable with an action--nothing can enter it, no spell, no object, but anything that starts inside it is free to move in or out, so like...the party archer who has their arrows inside the hut can just shoot out of the hut.  Oh, and the dome is also transparent from the inside but opaque from the outside, so archers on the inside should be attacking with advantage being unseen by their targets.  It's...yeah, not like there's no way ever to break it, dispel magic can break it, enemies running away and hiding down the road is an option, but it still should never have been castable as an action.

But I mean, for another much lower level subclass, lets say you know your party isn't going to have a paladin and you're worried about your saving throws on your fighter or barbarian or rogue.  Well...have you considered a 2 level War Wizard dip?  Get yourself +4 to any saving throw as a reaction useable infinite times per day!

Admittedly, War Wizard dips are not as impactful as just...one person in the party grabbing a peace cleric dip (+2.5 to the whole party's saves and doesn't even take a reaction), but War Wizard dip is still a pretty good dip.

Just...losing wizard means you need to work quite a bit harder to get versatility tricks such as rituals, passwall, arcane eye.  And while yeah, arguably there are still stronger subclasses out there because Tasha's Clerics are dumb like that, Wizard subclasses are certainly on the high end of the remaining ones.

4. Cleric

You know, if this was just player's handbook versions, I think Cleric would actually slide down the list quite a bit.  But if I'm thinking of "what's the best way to protect saving throws with Paladin and Wizard banned" it's not a bard with bardic inspiration, it's not an artificer.  It's any party member grabbing a 1 level Peace cleric dip.  If I'm thinking in terms of what will hurt party damage more, missing out on fighter as a class, missing out on barbarian as a class, or missing out on a 1 level peace cleric dip somewhere in the party--yeah, when I've plugged stuff like this into spreadsheets before, the +2.5 hit rate to the whole party was just such a big deal.  So peace cleric dip is more impactful than missing any one of the remaining damage classes.

And then like Twilight Cleric does some goofy stuff too with handing out temp HP every turn, and having 300 foot darkvision which can be shared with the whole party.

Note that none of this really has anything to do with cleric's spells (unlike the wizard ban).  They could be a martial with these subclasses, and probably still get banned at this point.

16

Unranked Games / Re: Unicorn Overlord

« Last post by Pyro on April 24, 2024, 11:18:34 PM »

Amalia
Equipment: Vorpal Sword, Steel Greatshield, Carnelian Pendant, Gold Bangle
Type: Armored
HP: 105   P.Atk: 87   P.Def: 48   M.Atk: 7   M.Def: 21   Init: 11   Acc:145   Evade: 9   Crit: 1   Guard Rate: 60   AP: 3   PP: 2
HP%: 114%    Physical Durability: 268%    Magical Durability: 73%    Evasion%: -29%    Init Stdev: -1.85
Base Accuracy: 105%

Active Skills:
Heavy Slash (1): 80 Damage. [150 Phys Potency]
Penetrate (2): 53 Damage to a column. Unguardable. Inflicts Defese -30% [100 Phys Potency]
Omega Shatter (2): 106 Damage. Unguardable. [100 Phys Potency][ 2 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Heavy Guard (1) : Activates before being hit by a physical attack: Blocks an enemy attack string with a Heavy guard (reduces physical damage by 75%)
Wild Kick (1): 27 Damage. Activates after an enemy guards against an ally's attack. Follow-up attacks a single enemy and inflicts stun and guard seal. [50 Phys Potency]
Hawk Eye (2) : Activates before attacking with an active skill. Makes the attack a Truestrike and critical hit (all hits of the attack)

Comments: Smash. Hawk Eye -> Omega Shatter kills things dead. She has tremendous physical durability too. Mages she doesn't KO can punish her.



Gilbert
Equipment: Vorpal Sword, Gold Bangle, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
HP: 84   P.Atk: 59   P.Def: 34   M.Atk: 36   M.Def: 38   Init: 30   Acc:136   Evade: 45   Crit: 18   Guard Rate: 20   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 90%    Physical Durability: 98%    Magical Durability: 103%    Evasion%: 7%    Init Stdev: -0.09
Base Accuracy: 96%

Active Skills:
Banishing Stab (1): 25 Damage. Removes all of the target's buffs. [100 Phys Potency]
Defensive Order (1):  Grants all allies +20% Defense
Offensive Order (1):  Grants all allies +20% Attack.

Passive Skills:
Rapid Order (1) : Activates at start of battle. +20 Initiative to entire team.
Guard Order (1) : Activates before an ally (including user) is attacked. Grants row of allies 100% Guard rate for one attack.
Sniping Order (2) : Activates before an ally makes an attack with an active skill. Makes a row of allies' next attack a Truestrike.

Comments: A leader of men with no men to lead. Light. His Orders don't do much for his damage or durability



Ochlys
Equipment: Vorpal Sword, Steel Shield, Lapis Pendant, Carnelian Pendant
Type: Flying Angel
HP: 74   P.Atk: 55   P.Def: 30   M.Atk: 25   M.Def: 37   Init: 37   Acc:142   Evade: 73   Crit: 11   Guard Rate: 45   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 79%    Physical Durability: 74%    Magical Durability: 86%    Evasion%: 35%    Init Stdev: +0.55
Base Accuracy: 102%

Active Skills:
Spiral Sword (1): 21 Damage. Inflicts Evasion -20. Grants user +20 Evade [100 Phys Potency]
Shield Smite (1): 21 Damage. Inflicts Defense -20%. Grants user +20% Defense [100 Phys Potency]
Honed Slash (2): 44 Damage. Becomes a truestrike if user is buffed. [70 Phys Potency][ 3 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Accelerate (1) : Activates after an enemy attacks with an active skill. Grants user +20 initiative and +30 accuracy (Stacks)
Diurnal Guard (1) : Activates before being hit with a physical attack. Blocks an enemy attack with a medium guard (50% physical damage reduction). Grants user +1PP during the day.
Discharge (1) : Activates before attacking with an active skill. Consumes all of user's buffs. Increases attack power for the attack by 15% x number of buffs consumed.

Note: Shield Smite increases Shield Smite/Spiral Sword by 7, and Honed Slash by 15. It also increases Pdur/Mdur to 93%/124%
Discharge increases Spiral Sword/Shield Smite by 8 per buff consumed, and Honed Slash by 17 per Buff consumed.

Comments: Spiral Sword to buff evade. Discharge and Honed Slash to beat things. Accelerate and Spiral Sword into Discharge Honed Slash yields 3 buffs being expended... It's a fair bit of damage added on top of Honed Slash so she'll probably KO most things with that. Diurnal Guard can help with the bad physical durability and her Guard Rate and Shield along with reducing ground melee hit rate helps further.



Umerus
Equipment: Vorpal Sword, Steel Shield, Lapis Pendant, Carnelian Pendant
Type: Flying Angel
HP: 76   P.Atk: 62   P.Def: 29   M.Atk: 32   M.Def: 35   Init: 31   Acc:142   Evade: 68   Crit: 13   Guard Rate: 44   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 81%    Physical Durability: 74%    Magical Durability: 81%    Evasion%: 30%    Init Stdev: 0
Base Accuracy: 102%

Active Skills:
Spiral Sword (1): 28 Damage. Inflicts Evasion -20. Grants user +20 Evade [100 Phys Potency]
Shield Smite (1): 28 Damage. Inflicts Defense -20%. Grants user +20% Defense [100 Phys Potency]
Honed Slash (2): 59 Damage. Becomes a truestrike if user is buffed. [70 Phys Potency][ 3 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Accelerate (1) : Activates after an enemy attacks with an active skill. Grants user +20 initiative and +30 accuracy (Stacks)
Diurnal Guard (1) : Activates before being hit with a physical attack. Blocks an enemy attack with a medium guard (50% physical damage reduction). Grants user +1PP during the day.
Discharge (1) : Activates before attacking with an active skill. Consumes all of user's buffs. Increases attack power for the attack by 15% x number of buffs consumed.

Note: Shield Smite increases damage by 25%, and increases Pdur/Mdur to 91%/113%
Discharge increases Spiral/Shield smite by 9 per buff consumed, Honed Slash by 20 per buff consumed.

Comments: Spiral Sword to buff evade. Discharge and Honed Slash to beat things. Accelerate and Spiral Sword into Discharge Honed Slash yields 3 buffs being expended...~60 more damage on Honed Slash. It's a fair bit of damage added on top of Honed Slash so she'll probably KO most things with that. Diurnal Guard can help with the bad physical durability and her Guard Rate and Shield along with reducing ground melee hit rate helps further.



Virginia
Equipment: Vorpal Sword, Greatwood Shield, Blue Rose Shield, Carnelian Pendant
HP: 111   P.Atk: 70   P.Def: 46   M.Atk: 19   M.Def: 37   Init: 22   Acc:136   Evade: 25   Crit: 13   Guard Rate: 63   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 121%    Physical Durability: 244%    Magical Durability: 132%    Evasion%: -13%    Init Stdev: -0.83
Base Accuracy: 96%

Active Skills:
Vertical Edge (1): 36 Damage. Becomes a truestrike, ignores 50% Defense, and gains +50 Potency vs flyers [100 Phys Potency]
Iron Crusher (1): 36 Damage. Unguardable. If target is armored then Ignores 50% of defense and gains +50 Potency [100 Phys Potency]
Brandish (2): 80 Damage. Unguardable. Ignores 50% of target defense. Grants user +1PP if attack hits. [50 Phys Potency][ 3 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Maiden's Hammer (1): 54 Damage. Truestrike. Activates after an enemy attacks user with an active skill. Counterattacks. Potency increases linearly from 150 at 100%HP to 250 at 0%HP [150 Phys Potency]
Iron Veil (1) : Activates at start of battle. Grants +50% Guard rate and +30% Physical defense to all allies!
Undying Will (1) : Activates before attacking with an active skill. Adds damage to a single hit related to HP loss (Full HP is 0 potency, 0%HP is 100 potency). Grants the ability to survive a lethal attack string with one HP.

Note: Undying Will's Bonus damage goes from 0 to 36 damage from 100% to 0% HP.

Comments: Yikes. Probably 2HKOs. Counters can see it done sooner. Iron Veil leads to her mocking defense-subject physicals. Against powerful magic that would 2HKO her, she can leverage Undying Will to squeeze out more damage. Powerful heavy?


Berengaria
Equipment: Vorpal Axe, Steel Greatshield, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
HP: 86   P.Atk: 65   P.Def: 41   M.Atk: 33   M.Def: 33   Init: 38   Acc:155   Evade: 50   Crit: 24   Guard Rate: 51   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 92%    Physical Durability: 137%    Magical Durability: 86%    Evasion%: 12%    Init Stdev: +0.65
Base Accuracy: 115%

Active Skills:
Carnage (1): 31 Damage. Inflicts -1AP on target. [100 Phys Potency]
Death Spin (1): 23 Damage to a row of enemies. Inflicts Stun. +75 Potency to afflicted (status ailment) targets. [75 Phys Potency]
Vicious Torment (2): 47 Damage. If target is Afflicted potency increases by 75 (double damage) and gives user +1PP [75 Phys Potency][ 2 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Sanguine Pursuit (1): 31 Damage. Activates after another ally attacks with an active skill. Follow-up attacks a single enemy. Heals user for 50% of damage done. Grants +1PP against afflicted targets. [100 Phys Potency]
Eye of the Warrior Princess (1) : Activates at the start of battle. Inflicts Attack -20% and Initiative -10 on all foes.
Painbringer (1) : Activates before being attacked. Grants the user +1 AP, +20% Attack, and +10 Initiative (Effect stacks)

Notes: After Eyes of the Warrior Princess, her Pdur is 371% and her Mdur is 155%...
Painbringer adds 13 danage to Carnage.

Comments: Eyes of the Warrior Princess buff her physical durability to absurdity and her magical durability to impressive. It also gives her very very good initiative. Then Carnage makes it so an enemy probably only gets 1 out of ever 3 turns. Paingbringer helps to make sure they probably won't get more than that one turn. Berengaria is mean.



Rosalinde
Equipment: Twinned Bough, Royal Scarf, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
Type: Elf
HP: 65   P.Atk: 52   P.Def: 20   M.Atk: 64   M.Def: 47   Init: 34   Acc:133   Evade: 89   Crit: 7   Guard Rate: 4   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 74%    Physical Durability: 52%    Magical Durability: 143%    Evasion%: 51%    Init Stdev: +0.28
Base Accuracy: 93%

Active Skills:
Primus Edge (1): 34 Damage. If user is at 100%HP grants +1PP and +1 Fairy [50 Phys Potency] [100 Mag Potency]
Sylphic Wind (2): 30 Magic ranged damage to a row. +20 Potency vs flying targets (1.5x dmg). Grants 1 Fairy. [40 Mag Potency][ 3 Hits]
Elemental Roar (3): 30 Damage to all enemies. Potency increases by 30 for each fairy. Dismisses fairys [70 Phys Potency] [70 Mag Potency]
Freezing Thrust (1): 43 Damage. Inflicts Freeze. +25 Potency (1.25x damage) if any fairys are present. [100 Phys Potency] [100 Mag Potency]
Passive Skills:
Curing Heal (1) : Activates after an ally (including self) is hit by an attack (not status-only). Heals HP equal to 50% of user's magic stat. Removes all Debuffs (Status/stat-downs)
Rage of the Faeries (1): 25 Magic ranged Damage. Activates at start of battle. Attacks a row of enemies. Inflicts Stun. Grants +1 Fairy. [100 Mag Potency]
Elemental Impetus (2) : Activates after using an active skill. Grants +1AP and +1 summoned fairy.

Note: Freezing Thrust does 54 damage with a fairy out.

Comments:Rage of the Faeries into Freezing Thrust. This stuns an enemy with initiative and then freezes them. Then Rosalinde can either wait till next encounter to do it again (wasting all her foes' turns) or just finish them off with another Freezing Thrust. Really solid strategy. The counter-healing would be good her her physical durability were better, but she has not insignificant evade to help too.



Eltolinde
Equipment: Twinned Bough, Royal Scarf, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
Type: Elf
HP: 58   P.Atk: 38   P.Def: 25   M.Atk: 63   M.Def: 53   Init: 35   Acc:139   Evade: 89   Crit: 9   Guard Rate: 5   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 66%    Physical Durability: 53%    Magical Durability: 237%    Evasion%: 51%    Init Stdev: +0.37
Base Accuracy: 99%

Active Skills:
Primus Edge (1): 26 Attacks a single enemy. If user is at 100%HP grants +1PP and +1 Fairy [50 Phys Potency] [100 Mag Potency]
Faerie Heal (2): 63 Restores HP to a row of allies. Grants target immunity to damage for one attack. Grants user +1 Fairy. [100 Mag Potency]
Elemental Roar (3): 20 Attacks all enemies. Potency increases by 30 for each fairy. Dismisses fairys [70 Phys Potency] [70 Mag Potency]
Lightning Thrust (1): 28 Attacks a single enemy. Inflicts Stun. +25 Potency (1.25x damage) if any fairys are present. [100 Phys Potency] [100 Mag Potency]
Passive Skills:
Curing Heal (1) : 31 healing. Activates after an ally (including self) is hit by an attack (not status-only). Heals HP equal to 50% of user's magic stat. Removes all Debuffs (Status/stat-downs)
Boon of the Faeries (1) : Activates at start of battle. Restores HP to a row of allies. Grants a buff that negates a single debuff/status. Grants the user a fairy.
Elemental Impetus (2) : Activates after using an active skill. Grants +1AP and +1 summoned fairy.

Note: Lighting Thrust does 35 damage with a fairy out.

Comments: Boon of the Faeries isn't as good as Rage for a duel but it's still good! Counter-healing and a healing spell helps too. The stun on Lightning Thrust can help her KO enemies while keeping them stunned if they are in a durability range to polish off.



Ithilion
Equipment: Spellsteel Sword, Royal Scarf, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
Type: Elf
HP: 79   P.Atk: 49   P.Def: 23   M.Atk: 66   M.Def: 40   Init: 26   Acc:136   Evade: 85   Crit: 15   Guard Rate: 16   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 90%    Physical Durability: 69%    Magical Durability: 113%    Evasion%: 47%    Init Stdev: -0.46
Base Accuracy: 96%

Active Skills:
Lightning Blade (1): 32 Damage. Inflicts stun. [75 Phys Potency] [75 Mag Potency]
Nature's Wrath (1): 27 Damage to a column. Ground-based. Inflicts -1PP to cavalry. [100 Mag Potency]
Mirage Stab (2): 32 Damage to a row of enemies. Grants user the ability to evade one attack string. [75 Phys Potency] [75 Mag Potency]

Passive Skills:
Sylphic Barrier (1) : Activates before an ally (including user) is hit by a ranged physical attack [includes flyer melee]. Evades the entire attack.
Remove Weakness (1) : Activates after the user is debuffed. Removes the user's debuffs/status. Grants user buff to evade one attack (all hits).
Evasive Impetus (1) : Activates after evading an attack Grants user +1AP.

Comments: Mirage Stab and Evasive Impetus play nice together. Sylphic Barrier helps vs ranged/flying physicals...



Railanor
Equipment: Spellsteel Sword, Royal Scarf, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
Type: Elf
HP: 73   P.Atk: 46   P.Def: 24   M.Atk: 63   M.Def: 40   Init: 28   Acc:142   Evade: 85   Crit: 16   Guard Rate: 16   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 83%    Physical Durability: 65%    Magical Durability: 104%    Evasion%: 47%    Init Stdev: -0.28
Base Accuracy: 102%

Active Skills:
Lightning Blade (1): 27 Damage. Inflicts stun. [75 Phys Potency] [75 Mag Potency]
Nature's Wrath (1): 24 Damage to a column. Ground-based. Inflicts -1PP to cavalry. [100 Mag Potency]
Mirage Stab (2): 27 Damage to a row of enemies. Grants user the ability to evade one attack string. [75 Phys Potency] [75 Mag Potency]

Passive Skills:
Sylphic Barrier (1) : Activates before an ally (including user) is hit by a ranged physical attack [includes flyer melee]. Evades the entire attack.
Remove Weakness (1) : Activates after the user is debuffed. Removes the user's debuffs/status. Grants user buff to evade one attack (all hits).
Evasive Impetus (1) : Activates after evading an attack Grants user +1AP.

Comments: Mirage Stab and Evasive Impetus play nice together. Sylphic Barrier helps vs ranged/flying physicals...



Ridiel
Equipment: Spellsteel Bow, Gold Bangle, Carnelian Pendant, Silver Bangle
Type: Elf
HP: 69   P.Atk: 37   P.Def: 29   M.Atk: 63   M.Def: 57   Init: 39   Acc:155   Evade: 39   Crit: 16   Guard Rate: 9   AP: 3   PP: 2
HP%: 79%    Physical Durability: 72%    Magical Durability: 662%    Evasion%: 1%    Init Stdev: +0.74
Base Accuracy: 115%

Active Skills:
Wind Arrow (1): 20 Damage. Inflicts Evasion -50. [75 Phys Potency] [75 Mag Potency]
Mystic Conferral (1): 0 Grants a buff to an ally that gives them additional magic damage (equal to 50 potency from the user)
Icicle Arrow (2): 20 Damage to two different enemies. Inflicts freeze. [75 Phys Potency] [75 Mag Potency]

Passive Skills:
Quick Cure (1) : Activates after an ally (including self) is debuffed. Remove all debuffs. Grants target immunity to one debuff.
Selfless Heal (1) : Activates after being healed. Restores HP to all allies (50% of user's magic stat) and removes all debuffs.
Pure Field (1) : Activates at the start of battle. Grants all allies a buff that negates a single debuff/status.

Comments: Would be a terrible fighter but Icile Arrow squeaks out a win against the slower who aren't immune to freeze.



Lhinalagos
Equipment: Spellsteel Bow, Gold Bangle, Carnelian Pendant, Silver Bangle
Type: Elf
HP: 65   P.Atk: 39   P.Def: 29   M.Atk: 65   M.Def: 56   Init: 39   Acc:160   Evade: 36   Crit: 16   Guard Rate: 9   AP: 3   PP: 2
HP%: 74%    Physical Durability: 67%    Magical Durability: 465%    Evasion%: -2%    Init Stdev: +0.74
Base Accuracy: 120%

Active Skills:
Wind Arrow (1): 23 Damage. Inflicts Evasion -50. [75 Phys Potency] [75 Mag Potency]
Mystic Conferral (1): 0 Grants a buff to an ally that gives them additional magic damage (equal to 50 potency from the user)
Icicle Arrow (2): 23 Damage to two different enemies. Inflicts freeze. [75 Phys Potency] [75 Mag Potency]

Passive Skills:
Quick Cure (1) : Activates after an ally (including self) is debuffed. Remove all debuffs. Grants target immunity to one debuff.
Selfless Heal (1) : Activates after being healed. Restores HP to all allies (50% of user's magic stat) and removes all debuffs.
Pure Field (1) : Activates at the start of battle. Grants all allies a buff that negates a single debuff/status.

Comments: Would be a terrible fighter but Icile Arrow squeaks out a win against the slower who aren't immune to freeze.



Galadmir
Equipment: Spellsteel Bow, Gold Bangle, Carnelian Pendant, Silver Bangle
Type: Elf
HP: 71   P.Atk: 42   P.Def: 28   M.Atk: 68   M.Def: 56   Init: 37   Acc:155   Evade: 36   Crit: 15   Guard Rate: 9   AP: 3   PP: 2
HP%: 81%    Physical Durability: 71%    Magical Durability: 509%    Evasion%: -2%    Init Stdev: +0.55
Base Accuracy: 115%

Active Skills:
Wind Arrow (1): 28 Damage. Inflicts Evasion -50. [75 Phys Potency] [75 Mag Potency]
Mystic Conferral (1): 0 Grants a buff to an ally that gives them additional magic damage (equal to 50 potency from the user)
Icicle Arrow (2): 28 Damage to two different enemies. Inflicts freeze. [75 Phys Potency] [75 Mag Potency]

Passive Skills:
Quick Cure (1) : Activates after an ally (including self) is debuffed. Remove all debuffs. Grants target immunity to one debuff.
Selfless Heal (1) : Activates after being healed. Restores HP to all allies (50% of user's magic stat) and removes all debuffs.
Pure Field (1) : Activates at the start of battle. Grants all allies a buff that negates a single debuff/status.

Comments: Would be a terrible fighter but Icile Arrow squeaks out a win against the slower who aren't immune to freeze.



Gloucester
Equipment: Vorpal Axe, Steel Shield, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
Type: Cavalry
HP: 104   P.Atk: 78   P.Def: 36   M.Atk: 45   M.Def: 24   Init: 25   Acc:127   Evade: 22   Crit: 11   Guard Rate: 45   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 113%    Physical Durability: 133%    Magical Durability: 79%    Evasion%: -16%    Init Stdev: -0.56
Base Accuracy: 87%

Active Skills:
Vengeful Axe (1): 22 Damage. Damage increases linearly as HP goes down to 3x (150 potency) at 0% HP. [50 Phys Potency]
Venom Axe (1): 33 Damage. Inflicts poison. [75 Phys Potency]
Dark Flame (2): 25 Damage to a row. Costs 30% of own MHP to use (self-damage leaves with 1HP if it would reduce to 0). +50 Potency (double damage) to debuffed targets. [50 Phys Potency] [50 Mag Potency]

Passive Skills:
Vengeance (1) : Activates after being attacked. Grants user +20% Attack and +20% Defense (Stacks). Grants +1PP if user is at 50% HP or less.
Sanguine Arts (1) : Activates before attacking with an active skill. Recovers HP equal to 50% of damage done.
Demonic Pact (1) : Activates after using an active skill. Sacrifice 25% HP to grant +1 AP.

Notes: Vengeance increases his Pdur/Mdur to 187/92% and then to 319/109%
Note: Each use of Vengeance increases his damage by 35%.

Comments: Being Cavalry is good. His passives give him a tremendous number of options... but his magical durability is poor. A Middle of some flavor?



Govil
Equipment: Vorpal Sword, Gold Bangle, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
Type: Bestral
HP: 89   P.Atk: 60   P.Def: 30   M.Atk: 10   M.Def: 26   Init: 33   Acc:160   Evade: 47   Crit: 20   Guard Rate: 11   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 96%    Physical Durability: 90%    Magical Durability: 71%    Evasion%: 9%    Init Stdev: +0.18
Base Accuracy: 120%

Active Skills:
Finishing Stab (1): 26 Damage. Grants user +50% Phys Attack if target is defeated. [100 Phys Potency]
Decimate (1): 20 Damage. Increases potency based on how many enemies there are. +100 (2.33x dmg) if only one... [75 Phys Potency]
Wild Fang (2): 16 Damage to a row. Potency increases the less HP a target has (maximum +50) [20 Phys Potency][ 3 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Nocturnal Strike (1): 39 Damage. Activates at start of battle. Attack a single enemy. Grants user +1PP at night. [150 Phys Potency]
Bestral Howl (1) : Activates before attacking with an active skill. Grans allies in the user row (including Govil) +15% Phys Attack.
Killing Pursuit (1): 26 Damage. Activates after another ally attacks. Follow-up attack a single enemy. Grans +1AP if target is defeated. [100 Phys Potency]

Note: Each use of Bestral Howl increases his damage by 35%.

Comments: Nocturnal Strike into a buffed Decimate is powerful opening move. Decimate is almost cheating with how ogod it is but he can't use Killing Pursuit so that's not too unfair. The durability isn't good so he hopes to win fast. The speed isn't good enough to ensure that. Maybe a low Middle?



Dinah
Equipment: Vorpal Spear, Royal Scarf, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
Type: Bestral
HP: 58   P.Atk: 55   P.Def: 19   M.Atk: 24   M.Def: 30   Init: 51   Acc:153   Evade: 118   Crit: 28   Guard Rate: 9   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 60%    Physical Durability: 41%    Magical Durability: 50%    Evasion%: 80%    Init Stdev: +1.85
Base Accuracy: 113%

Active Skills:
Piercing Lance (1): 21 Damage. Inflicts Guard Seal. [100 Phys Potency]
Passive Hold (1): 21 Damage. Inflicts Passive Seal. [100 Phys Potency]
Venom Thrust (2): 16 Damage to a column. Inflicts poison and debuffs target HP recovery by 50%. +50 Potency vs poisoned targets. [75 Phys Potency]

Passive Skills:
Nocturnal Evade (1) : Activates before being attacked by an attack that would hit. Evade a single hit of that attack. Grants +1PP at night.
Shadow Pursuit (1): 16 Damage. Activates after an ally attacks. Follow-up attack a single enemy. Inflicts Blindness. [75 Phys Potency]
Weakness Hunter (2): 47 Damage. Activates after an enemy is debuffed. Attacks an enemy with an unguardable attack. Ignores 30% of target's defense. [150 Phys Potency]

Comments: Evasive and hyperfast and Venom Thrust into Weakness Hunter is pretty mean considering it leaves the foe poisoned. Nocturnal Evade is somehow even better than the Rogue evade skill. May want a Silken Scarf to bump up the evade even further? Really strong as a dueler due to the evasion. Really bad off if she can't rely on it.



Yunifi
Equipment: Frostbloom Bow, Royal Scarf, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
HP: 69   P.Atk: 57   P.Def: 20   M.Atk: 27   M.Def: 30   Init: 32   Acc:169   Evade: 121   Crit: 46   Guard Rate: 7   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 79%    Physical Durability: 56%    Magical Durability: 66%    Evasion%: 83%    Init Stdev: +0.09
Base Accuracy: 129%

Active Skills:
Mystic Arrow (1): 23 Ranged damage. Adds a magic attack at 100 Potency to armored targets (Yunifi may need a Spellsteel bow to take advantage of that) [100 Phys Potency]
Sonic Shaft (1): 50 Ranged damage. Deals the target's initiative stat as additional fixed damage (not reduced or increased by defenses/weaknesses/crits). [avg enemy initiative is ~27, stdev 10] [100 Phys Potency]
Glacial Rain (2): 41 Charge for 1 turn and then attack. Attacks all enemies and inflicts freeze. User cannot evade or use passives while charging... [60 Phys Potency][ 3 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Eagle Eye (1) : Activates before attacking with an active skill. Makes next attack a Truestrike
Triple Counter (1): 23 Activates after an enemy attacks user with an active skill. Counterattacks three enemies (can't focus on one) [100 Phys Potency]
Snow-white Strike (1): 17 Damage. Activates after an ally attacks. Follow-up attack a single enemy. Inflicts Freeze. +100 Potency vs frozen targets. [75 Phys Potency]

Comments: Sonic Shaft  is a good move. Her evasion and counter rounds her out with the ability to score a kill on round 2 against most things. She's in a bad spot if she can't rely on her evasion. May want a Silken Scarf instead of a Pendant...



Bertrand
Equipment: Vorpal Axe, Steel Greatshield, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
Type: Bestral, Armored
HP: 154   P.Atk: 66   P.Def: 41   M.Atk: 7   M.Def: 5   Init: 10   Acc:117   Evade: 9   Crit: 11   Guard Rate: 69   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 170%    Physical Durability: 253%    Magical Durability: 78%    Evasion%: -29%    Init Stdev: -1.94
Base Accuracy: 77%

Active Skills:
Bear Crush (1): 32 Damage. Unguardable attack. Inflicts Stun. [100 Phys Potency]
Round Swing (2): 24 Damage. 75% accuracy. Unguardable attack to a row. Damage increases the more HP the user has (3x at full HP, 1x at 0%) [25 Phys Potency][ 3 Hits]
Earthshaker (2): 24 Damage to all enemies. Damage increases the less HP the user has (maximum 2x damage at 0% HP, 1x at 100%) [75 Phys Potency]

Passive Skills:
Heavy Guard (1) : Activates before being hit by a physical attack: Blocks an enemy attack string (reduces damage by 75%)
Nocturnal Rest (1) : Activates after attacking. Recover 30% HP. HP recovery doubled to 60% at night.
Life Blow (1) : Activates at the end of a battle. Unguardable attack that deals ITD damage = 80% of user's HP. Attack can not critical.

Comments: Durable against physicals and self-heals. Against magic he's in a rough spot... but might survive if he can rely on Nocturnal Rest. I'm not sure about taking skills at day/night, but his lack of reliable accurate damage is painful. Stun can be a curse in that he might give a foe multiple turns to off him where he can't use Nocturnal Rest to heal between them.



Raenys
Equipment: Vorpal Bow, Lapis Pendant, Carnelian Pendant, Royal Scarf
Type: Flying Angel
HP: 70   P.Atk: 60   P.Def: 17   M.Atk: 32   M.Def: 33   Init: 38   Acc:155   Evade: 98   Crit: 15   Guard Rate: 7   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 74%    Physical Durability: 49%    Magical Durability: 69%    Evasion%: 60%    Init Stdev: +0.65
Base Accuracy: 115%

Active Skills:
Delaying Shot (1): 26 Damage. Inflicts Initiative -20. [25 Phys Potency][ 4 Hits]
Saint's Shot (1): 21 Damage. Inflict PP-1. Inflict another PP-1 to ground-based targets. [80 Phys Potency]
Photon Arrow (2): 21 Damage to two enemies. Inflicts Phys. Defense -50%. Inflicts Passive Seal during the day. [80 Phys Potency]

Passive Skills:
Aerial Pursuit (1): 26 Damage. Activates after another flying ally attacks with an active skill. Follow-up attacks a single enemy. [100 Phys Potency]
Tailwind (1) : Activate after using an active skill. Grants row of allies +10 initiative. Effect doubled for flying allies.
Shining Light (2) : Activates before an enemy uses an attack skill. Inflicts Blindness on that row of enemies

Comments: Shining Light is really amazing in-game. She has good evasion (moreso against ground melee). She may not even want a Lapis Pendant unless she can also get a weapon that gives PP (Wingcrest Bow, Icefall Bow). She'll be trying for a 4-5HKO while hoping a foe doesn't score a kill on her through her evasion. Middle/Light?



Fodoquia
Equipment: Vorpal Sword, Steel Greatshield, Carnelian Pendant, Royal Scarf
Type: Flying, Angel, Armored
HP: 89   P.Atk: 48   P.Def: 43   M.Atk: 23   M.Def: 58   Init: 36   Acc:136   Evade: 89   Crit: 13   Guard Rate: 57   AP: 3   PP: 2
HP%: 96%    Physical Durability: 159%    Magical Durability: 1207%    Evasion%: 51%    Init Stdev: +0.46
Base Accuracy: 96%

Active Skills:
Impulse (1): 14 Damage (Ranged). Inflicts Mag. Defense -50% to ground-based targets. [100 Phys Potency]
Row Resistance (1):  Grants allies in the users's row +50% Mag. Defense. Extends to all allies during the day.
Mystic Shield (1):  Grants the user +50% Magic defense and +2PP.

Passive Skills:
Reflect Magick (2) : Activates before enemy uses a damaging magic attack skill. Reflects magic attack back at enemy. Fodoquia's party does not take the attack.
Sacrifice (1) : Activates before an ally is attacked. Covers ally with no guarding.
Mirror Weakness (1) : Activates after the user is debuffed. Removes the user's debuffs. Inflicts all removed debuffs on a target.

Comments: Unimaginably tanky. Non-debilitating status/debuffs are a waste of time, and Reflect Magick means trying for fatal status with damage attached is suicide. The problem is the total lack of damage... A Light or Quirky weak Middle at best. Would have been HILARIOUS with healing.



Nigel
Equipment: Vorpal Sword, Steel Greatshield, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
HP: 100   P.Atk: 63   P.Def: 47   M.Atk: 33   M.Def: 39   Init: 34   Acc:147   Evade: 41   Crit: 17   Guard Rate: 61   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 108%    Physical Durability: 234%    Magical Durability: 129%    Evasion%: 3%    Init Stdev: +0.28
Base Accuracy: 107%

Active Skills:
Burning Edge (1): 44 Damage. Inflits Burn. Grants user +1PP if target is already burning. [75 Phys Potency][ 2 Hits]
Death Spin (1): 22 Damage to a row. Inflicts Stun. +75 Potency (double damage) vs afflicted targets. [75 Phys Potency]
Inferno (2): 29 Ranged damage to a row. Ignores 50% Defense. Inflicts Burn. Grants user +1PP. [100 Phys Potency]

Passive Skills:
Advance Cover (1) : Activates before an ally is attacked. Covers ally with medium guard (50% damage reduction) and grants user +1AP.
Phantom Counter (1): 29 Damage. Activates after an enemy attacks user with an active skill. Counterattacks. Inflicts Burn. Removes target's buffs. [100 Phys Potency]
Parting Death (1): 29 Damage. Activates at the end of a battle. Attacks a single enemy. Inflicts a Deathblow if target has 50% HP or less. [100 Phys Potency]

Burning Edge is mean. Phantom Counter with Burning Edge is also mean. Parting Death is just rude. Death Spin synchronizing with a foe already being on fire (Causing them to lose their turn but take the damage) is the incendiary icing on the cake. A Heavy of some flavor?



Josef
Equipment: Vorpal Sword, Templar's Shield, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
Type: Cavalry
HP: 92   P.Atk: 47   P.Def: 26   M.Atk: 30   M.Def: 42   Init: 29   Acc:131   Evade: 21   Crit: 11   Guard Rate: 40   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 99%    Physical Durability: 82%    Magical Durability: 138%    Evasion%: -17%    Init Stdev: -0.19
Base Accuracy: 91%

Active Skills:
Slice (1): 13 Damage. Grants user +1PP if target defeated. [100 Phys Potency]
Heal (1): 36 Healing to one. [100 Mag Potency]
Divine Cross (2): 7 Damage. Removes all of the target's buffs. Grants user +1PP if target defeated. [50 Phys Potency] [50 Mag Potency]

Passive Skills:
Holy Barrier (1) : Activates before an ally is attacked. Reduces damage by 50% and prevents debuffs/ailments.
Holy Guard (1) : Activates before being attacked by a physical active skill. Guards attack (50% reduction) and prevents ailments/debuffs
Pursuit (1): 10 Damage. Activates after an ally attacks. Follow-up attack a single enemy. [75 Phys Potency]

Comments: No damage to speak of, but fairy tanky as a result of Holy Barrier/Guard, and he has some weak healing. A good Light or quirky weak Middle.



Selvie
Equipment: Shaman's Bonestaff, Lapis Pendant, Carnelian Pendant, Royal Scarf
HP: 92   P.Atk: 47   P.Def: 28   M.Atk: 28   M.Def: 60   Init: 37   Acc:142   Evade: 87   Crit: 18   Guard Rate: 9   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 105%    Physical Durability: 93%    Magical Durability: %    Evasion%: 49%    Init Stdev: +0.55
Base Accuracy: 102%

Active Skills:
Passive Curse (1):  Inflicts PP-1 and Initiative -10 on a row of enemies.
Offensive Curse (1):  Inflicts Phys and Mag Attack -50% on a row of enemies.
Defensive Curse (1):  Inflicts Phys and Mag Defense -50% on a row of enemies. And Guard Seal.
Compounding Curse (1):  Makes Debuffs 1.5x as effect on enemies that have them.
Cursed Strike (2): 13 Damage. Gains +100 Potency and ignores 50% of defense if target is debuffed. [100 Phys Potency]

Passive Skills:
Passives: () :
Quick Curse (1) : Activates before an enemy attacks. Inflicts Attack -20% for that attack. Inflicts Critical Seal.
Cursed Swamp (2) : Activates at start of battle. Inflicts Initiative -10 and Evasion -30 to all enemies. Inflicts PP-1 to cavalry.

Note: Quick Curse increases her physical durability to 142%.
Note: Cursed Strike does 60 damage to a debuffed target (77 to a target with Defensive Curse)

Comments: Go first (Cursed Swamp helps), Offensive Curse -> Cursed Strike.Offensive Curse is so potent that she likely won't take damage after using it. Cursed Strike will do fair damage to a debuffed enemy. One may question the fairness of her getting the Shaman's Bonestaff since generic shamans can use it. She may prefer a Gold Bangle to a Royal Scarf (or, if you let her have it, her starting +10 initiative accessory).

17

Unranked Games / Unicorn Overlord

« Last post by Pyro on April 24, 2024, 11:17:32 PM »

Unicorn Overlord. Levels taken at 43. Enemy stats were an average of endgame enemies.

Unicorn Overlord utilizes an "Encounter" system where, when two units encounter each other on the map, they engage in a turn-based battle.
The turn-based battle consists of characters taking actions in initiative order from highest to lowest. Taking an action consumes "Action Points", and the battle only ends when all combatants have used all of their action points.
If a combatant runs out of AP they can no longer take actions in a round, but there continues to be rounds until all combatant AP is spent.
Given this, it is safest to assume a DL bout would go as a series of encounters until one dueler wins. I assume 3 AP is standard, so once every 3 turns a dueler would be 'refreshed' AP and PP, and use end of battle/start of battle passives. This also means using a 2AP skill would represent 'borrowing' a future turn's action to use a more powerful move immediately.
Additionally, characters have "Passives" abilities that activate when conditions are met. For example countering an attack, increasing defense before being hit, or covering an ally. These consume "Passive Points", and can only be used if the user has enough passive points to do so.
Units are arranged in a 3x2 grid on their side (3 columns, front/back row). In a duel this doesn't matter. In-game units in the back row can't be struke with melee attacks while there are front row units.
I am taking the cast as the recruitable story characters (all of them). I am not including Generics in this. Note that the game does not 'balance' the classes with story characters. There are 4 Great Knights but only 1 Sergeant for example.

Equipment: Characters have 4 equipment slots of varying types depending on their class. I've made the following assumptions:
- Vorpal Weapons are a good representative endgame weapon. There are a fair number of them of the 5 weapon types, and there are a fair number of better things too.
- Steel Shields and Greatshields are assumed where relevant. There are a lot of shield users and not that many great shields.
- I assumed Lapis and Carnelian Pendants as available, and are generally default.
- Where reasonable, I assigned a Gold Bangle or Royal Scarf to a unit, depending on whether they were defense or evasion-oriented. Other relevant game equipment is Silken Scarf (+20 Evade), Veteran Eyepatch (+30 Crit), Elite Beret/Sage's Hood (+12% base P/M Atk).
- Status Blockers: There are some status blocker accessories in the game that guard against Poison, Blind, Burn, Freeze, Passive Seal, Guard Seal.
Game Stats:
Damage: Damage is just (Attack stat - Defense Stat) * Potency/100. There are other modifiers that can come into play but this is the basic formula.
Critical Hit: A Critical hit happens at the character's Crit% rate. These are 1.5x damage (or healing). Some skills increase this damage multipler. Adding 50% to it would make it a 2x crit instead for example.
Evasion: Evade in Unicorn Overlord works against any type of attack (physical/magical/otherwise) unless that attack is specifically a "Truestrike" that ignores evade and evade skills. Hit rate % is simply Accuracy - Evade. One note is that when a move has less than 100% accuracy, that is multiplied by the final hit-rate.
Guarding: Units can 'guard' against physical damage. This happens based upon the unit's Guard Rate %. If an attack is guarded, the physical damage is reduced by 25%. If the unit has a shield equipped, it is a 50% reduction. If a Greatshield is equipped it is a 75% reduction. This has no effect on ITD/magic damage.
Unit Type Bonuses/Penalties:
In Unicorn Overlord, some unit types have advantages over others. These are extreme (double damage or halved accuracy) so it might be reasonable to ascribe half of it to the unit on both ends (for example 41% damage boost or 71% hit rate in the DL against types the unit is strong or weak against).
- Cavalry units on horses deal double damage against Infantry units that are on foot. Infantry includes Beastfolk and elves that are on foot, but does not include winged characters.
- Flying units halve the hit-rate of melee attacks from units on the ground.
- Arrow attacks do double damage to flying units.
- MOUNTED flying units (Gryphon and Wyvern riders) deal double damage to cavalry units. This is in addition to being flying typed and halving accuracy against ground units.
These bonuses are multiplied on top of any specific weakness-hitting skill a unit might have. For example Gryphon Knights have a skill that increases Potency to Cavalry units. That increased damage is then doubled from being mounted flying type against them.
None of these bonuses are included in damage figures, although one could argue that Cavalry face mostly Infantry both in-game and in the DL.
I assumed enemy stats to be an average of the endgame enemies on Tactical mode.
P/M Atk: 60
P.Def: 34
M.Def: 39
Evade: 40. Accuracy: 138.
I include an estimate of physical and magical durability based upon HP% and how effective the unit's defensive stat is. 200% = Unit can take twice as much punishment as a unit with 100%.

For move types. I list the Move, how much PP/AP it costs, and what benefits it has. Almost all moves are more than just damage!

Afflictions (Status effects)
Burn: Unit takes 20 damage before taking an action (using an Action Point). This stacks, so if Burn is inflicted again (Lvl 2 Burn) it is 40 damage. A 3rd stack would make the target unit take 60 damage before it takes an action.
Freeze: A frozen unit can't act to spend AP. It also can't use Passives, dodge, or Guard. If the unit is attacked it unfreezes. If a unit is the last unit with AP but is still Frozen, then it can't use the AP and loses it. This makes Freezing a slower opponent incredibly potent as a dueling strategy!
Stun: A unit that is stunned can't act, guard, or use passives. The condition is cleared after the unit's turn comes up in combat (it loses the turn but not any AP and clears Stun). This means if a unit inflicts Stun and uses all their AP, the foe that was stunned will get to use their AP once their final stun clears.
Blind: The unit's attacks automatically miss. Even Truestrike attacks. The status is cleared after the unit takes a turn.
Poison: The unit takes 30% of their max HP before taking an action. If they were stunned they still take the damage.
Instant Death: Brings a character to 0 HP immediately if it triggers.
Passive Seal: Prevents a unit from using Passive skills (Auto-evade, counters, counter-healing, covering for other units, etc)

Debuffs: Debuffs include AP/PP Draining or damage. Stat-downs which last till the end of an encounter, and Afflictions like above (Afflictions are classified as debuffs).
Debuffs and buffs work on the final equipped stat value in-battle and are very potent (distinct from equipment boost %s that only impact the base unequipped value)
Priests, Ramona, and Featherstaves are not included in averages on account of having no effective attacks. Selvie wouldn't normally have an attack but there is one staff that gives Druids an attack. There is one for Priests and that would be HILARIOUS but unfortunately there are 3 priests.

Averages:
HP: 87.8
P.Def: 31.7
M.Def: 34.8
Initiative: 31, Stdev 10.8
Accuracy: 140
Evade: 55.7
Guard Rate: 28.4%

3-turn damage average: 43 per turn (107 2.5x kill point). [Cavalry with +41% damage assumed is 45 dmg/turn, With +100% damage assumed it is 48]

Notes:
I've already included into the damage effects of moves that partially ignore a target's defense or that add raw damage (like Yunifi's sonic arrow).

I'll include a dueler's type. If there are no notes they are just infantry.

Bestral units' get a +20% base stat buff at night time. I haven't included this.


Alain
Equipment: Holy Unicorn Blade, Steel Shield, Ring of the Unicorn, Gold Bangle
Type: Cavalry
HP: 104   P.Atk: 71   P.Def: 52   M.Atk: 42   M.Def: 48   Init: 45   Acc:152   Evade: 66   Crit: 24   Guard Rate: 57   AP: 4   PP: 3
HP%: 113%    Physical Durability: 399%    Magical Durability: 237%    Evasion%: 28%    Init Stdev: +1.29
Base Accuracy: 112%
Note: Holy Unicorn Blade grants Debuff (immunity to Status, stat-downs, AP/PP damage)
Active Skills:
Lean Edge (1): 37 Damage to one. 25% HP Restoration if attack hits. 50% if attack kills. [100 Phys Potency]
Cavalry Slayer (1): 37 Damage to one. Inflicts -1AP, -1PP, and Guard Seal on Cavalry [100 Phys Potency]
Spinning Edge (2): 65 Damage row attack. Ignores 50% of target Defense [60 Phys Potency][ 2 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Noble Guard (1) : Guard a physical attack (50% reduction). Grants +20% defense for the rest of the battle (not on the triggering damage). +1 PP if Alain is below 50% HP
Luminous Guard (1) : Guards a physical attack for an ally (50% reduction), Grants ally +20% Physical Defense
Rapid Order (1) : Activates at start of battle. +20 Initiative to entire team.

"Comments: Tank who heals himself for 25% with his attacks. Has solid damage in Spinning Edge. Noble Guard makes a mockery of
Physicals while Rapid Order gives him fabulous initiative. Heavy?"



Scarlett
Equipment: Papal Croier, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant, Royal Scarf
HP: 73   P.Atk: 20   P.Def: 27   M.Atk: 66   M.Def: 49   Init: 20   Acc:138   Evade: 95   Crit: 7   Guard Rate: 11   AP: 4   PP: 4
HP%: 83%    Physical Durability: 71%    Magical Durability: 190%    Evasion%: 57%    Init Stdev: -1.02
Base Accuracy: 98%

Active Skills:
Holy Light (1): 27 Magic Damage. Removes all target buffs. [100 Mag Potency]
Curing Call (1): 33 Healing to a row. Removes all debuffs [50 Mag Potency]
Innocent Ray (2): 41 Magic damage to a row. Removes all target buffs. [150 Mag Potency]

Passive Skills:
Passive Miracle (1) : Actiavtes after receiving an ally's passive skill: Healing and one PP to that ally
Saint's Barrier (1) : Activates before an ally or user is attacked. Reduces damage taken by 50% for one attack. Prevents debuffs/status from that attack. Does not trigger on debuff/status-only moves.
Divine Blessing (1) : Activates at start of battle: Grants all allies 25% HP Regen and +10% Defense.

Note: 78% Pdur with Divine Blessing

Comments: Saint's Barrier is very good, halving damage coming at her. She has Divine Blessing's Regen to help survive too. It's a pity Curing Call isn't stronger healing but she might eke out wins in Middle?



Adel
Equipment: Vorpal Spear, Steel Shield, Lapis Pendant, Carnelian Pendant
Type: Cavalry
HP: 103   P.Atk: 72   P.Def: 40   M.Atk: 30   M.Def: 29   Init: 33   Acc:124   Evade: 16   Crit: 22   Guard Rate: 45   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 112%    Physical Durability: 158%    Magical Durability: 91%    Evasion%: -22%    Init Stdev: +0.18
Base Accuracy: 84%

Active Skills:
Assaulting Lance (1): 38  Damage to one. Grants 1 AP to user if target is defeated [100 Phys Potency]
Wild Rush (1): 30  Damage to a column. Inflicts Stun. [80 Phys Potency]
Pile Thrust (2): 57  Damage. Grants 1 AP to user if target is defeated [50 Phys Potency][ 3 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Quick Guard (1) : Activates before being hit by a physical attack: Blocks an enemy attack string (reduces damage by 50%)
Cavalier Call (1) : Activates before attacking with a skill. Grants +20% Attack to user and cavalry allies in same row.
Knight's Pursuit (1) : Activates after another Cavalry Ally attacks: Follow-up attack to the same column.

Note:  Each use of  Cavalier Call increases Assaulting Lance by 14, Wild Rush by 12, and Pile Thrust by 21.

Comments: Cavalry good. Physical attacks are wasting time (Quick Guard and good physical durability see to that).Cavalry Call adds 20% of P.Atk and Knight P.Atk is good. It stacks too so they keep getting stronger. Wild Rush spam can win a match while leaving foes stunned... if their accuracy doesn't sink them.


Clive
Equipment: Vorpal Spear, Steel Shield, Lapis Pendant, Carnelian Pendant
Type: Cavalry
HP: 97   P.Atk: 68   P.Def: 43   M.Atk: 26   M.Def: 33   Init: 32   Acc:130   Evade: 19   Crit: 21   Guard Rate: 46   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 105%    Physical Durability: 174%    Magical Durability: 98%    Evasion%: -19%    Init Stdev: +0.09
Base Accuracy: 90%

Active Skills:
Assaulting Lance (1): 34  Damage to one. Grants 1 AP to user if target is defeated [100 Phys Potency]
Wild Rush (1): 27  Damage to a column. Inflicts Stun. [80 Phys Potency]
Pile Thrust (2): 51  Damage. Grants 1 AP to user if target is defeated [50 Phys Potency][ 3 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Quick Guard (1) : Activates before being hit by a physical attack: Blocks an enemy attack string (reduces damage by 50%)
Cavalier Call (1) : Activates before attacking with a skill. Grants +20% Attack to user and cavalry allies in same row.
Knight's Pursuit (1) : Activates after another Cavalry Ally attacks: Follow-up attack to the same column.

Note:  Each use of  Cavalier Call increases Assaulting Lance by 14, Wild Rush by 12, and Pile Thrust by 21.

Comments: Cavalry good. Physical attacks are wasting time (Quick Guard and good physical durability see to that).Cavalry Call adds 20% of P.Atk and Knight P.Atk is good. It stacks too so they keep getting stronger. Wild Rush spam can win a match while leaving foes stunned... if their accuracy doesn't sink them.



Renault
Type: Cavalry
Equipment: Vorpal Spear, Steel Shield, Lapis Pendant, Carnelian Pendant
HP: 100   P.Atk: 68   P.Def: 45   M.Atk: 26   M.Def: 33   Init: 30   Acc:124   Evade: 14   Crit: 19   Guard Rate: 49   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 108%    Physical Durability: 203%    Magical Durability: 101%    Evasion%: -24%    Init Stdev: -0.09
Base Accuracy: 84%

Active Skills:
Assaulting Lance (1): 34  Damage to one. Grants 1 AP to user if target is defeated [100 Phys Potency]
Wild Rush (1): 27  Damage to a column. Inflicts Stun. [80 Phys Potency]
Pile Thrust (2): 51  Damage. Grants 1 AP to user if target is defeated [50 Phys Potency][ 3 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Quick Guard (1) : Activates before being hit by a physical attack: Blocks an enemy attack string (reduces damage by 50%)
Cavalier Call (1) : Activates before attacking with a skill. Grants +20% Attack to user and cavalry allies in same row.
Knight's Pursuit (1) : Activates after another Cavalry Ally attacks: Follow-up attack to the same column.

Note:  Each use of  Cavalier Call increases Assaulting Lance by 14, Wild Rush by 12, and Pile Thrust by 21.

Comments: Cavalry good. Physical attacks are wasting time (Quick Guard and good physical durability see to that).Cavalry Call adds 20% of P.Atk and Knight P.Atk is good. It stacks too so they keep getting stronger. Wild Rush spam can win a match while leaving foes stunned... if their accuracy doesn't sink them.



Jerome
Equipment: Vorpal Spear, Steel Shield, Lapis Pendant, Carnelian Pendant
Type: Cavalry
HP: 105   P.Atk: 76   P.Def: 38   M.Atk: 34   M.Def: 27   Init: 30   Acc:124   Evade: 14   Crit: 20   Guard Rate: 45   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 114%    Physical Durability: 146%    Magical Durability: 87%    Evasion%: -24%    Init Stdev: -0.09
Base Accuracy: 84%

Active Skills:
Assaulting Lance (1): 42  Damage to one. Grants 1 AP to user if target is defeated [100 Phys Potency]
Wild Rush (1): 34  Damage to a column. Inflicts Stun. [80 Phys Potency]
Pile Thrust (2): 63  Damage. Grants 1 AP to user if target is defeated [50 Phys Potency][ 3 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Quick Guard (1) : Activates before being hit by a physical attack: Blocks an enemy attack string (reduces damage by 50%)
Cavalier Call (1) : Activates before attacking with a skill. Grants +20% Attack to user and cavalry allies in same row.
Knight's Pursuit (1) : Activates after another Cavalry Ally attacks: Follow-up attack to the same column.

Note: Each use of Cavalier Call increases Assaulting Lance by 15, Wild Rush by 12, and Pile Thrust by 23.

Comments: Cavalry good. Physical attacks are wasting time (Quick Guard and good physical durability see to that).Cavalry Call adds 20% of P.Atk and Knight P.Atk is good. It stacks too so they keep getting stronger. Wild Rush spam can win a match while leaving foes stunned... if their accuracy doesn't sink them.



Chloe
Equipment: Vorpal Spear, Gold Bangle, Carnelian Pendant, Elite Beret
HP: 85   P.Atk: 64   P.Def: 39   M.Atk: 29   M.Def: 36   Init: 33   Acc:134   Evade: 53   Crit: 14   Guard Rate: 14   AP: 3   PP: 2
HP%: 91%    Physical Durability: 122%    Magical Durability: 95%    Evasion%: 15%    Init Stdev: +0.18
Base Accuracy: 94%

Active Skills:
Long Thrust (1): 30 Damage to a column. Cavalry unit's can't guard it and it deals +50% damage to them. [100 Phys Potency]
Javelin (1): 30 Damage to a target. Ranged Attack.. +50% damage to flying targets. [100 Phys Potency]
Honed Spear (2): 39 Damage to a column. Cavalry unit's can't guard it. +50 Potency if user is buffed [130 Phys Potency]

Passive Skills:
First Aid (1) : Activates at the end of battle. Restores 25% HP to an ally
Keen Call (1) : Activates before another ally attacks. Grants 100% Critical rate.
Active Gift (2) : Activates after another ally uses an active skill. Grants them 1 AP

Comments: A support unit with no one else to support. Throwing her a bone (and an Elite Beret) doesn't help too much. She might 4HKO and get a bit of healing at the end of round 3. Light.



Lex
Equipment: Vorpal Sword, Steel Shield, Gold Bangle, Carnelian Pendant
Type: Armored
HP: 97   P.Atk: 61   P.Def: 49   M.Atk: 27   M.Def: 21   Init: 29   Acc:134   Evade: 27   Crit: 14   Guard Rate: 56   AP: 3   PP: 2
HP%: 105%    Physical Durability: 269%    Magical Durability: 68%    Evasion%: -11%    Init Stdev: -0.19
Base Accuracy: 94%

Active Skills:
Warding Slash (1): 27 Damage. Grants the user +20% physical defense. [100 Phys Potency]
Shield Bash (1): 14 Damage. Inflicts Stun. [50 Phys Potency]
Defender (2): 41 Damage. Grants the user +50% Physical defense. Grants +1PP if attack hits. [75 Phys Potency][ 2 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Arrow Cover (1) : Activates before another ally is hit by a ranged attack. Blocks ranged attack and negates damage.
Quick Guard (1) : Activates before being hit by a physical attack: Blocks an enemy attack string (reduces damage by 50%)
Provoke (1) : Activates at start of battle. Force a row of enemies to focus attacks on user (but doesn't force them to use attacks). Grants +50% Guard Rate.

Comments: Not too much point going at him with physicals with the Guard Rate, physical defense, and buffing physical defense. But god help him if a mage has at him.



Colm
Equipment: Vorpal Sword, Steel Shield, Carnelian Pendant, Gold Bangle
Type: Armored
HP: 86   P.Atk: 59   P.Def: 49   M.Atk: 26   M.Def: 21   Init: 31   Acc:141   Evade: 29   Crit: 16   Guard Rate: 56   AP: 3   PP: 2
HP%: 92%    Physical Durability: 236%    Magical Durability: 59%    Evasion%: -9%    Init Stdev: 0
Base Accuracy: 101%

Active Skills:
Warding Slash (1): 25 Damage. Grants the user +20% physical defense. [100 Phys Potency]
Shield Bash (1): 13 Damage. Inflicts Stun. [50 Phys Potency]
Defender (2): 38 Damage. Grants the user +50% Physical defense. Grants +1PP if attack hits. [75 Phys Potency][ 2 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Arrow Cover (1) : Activates before another ally is hit by a ranged attack. Blocks ranged attack and negates damage.
Quick Guard (1) : Activates before being hit by a physical attack: Blocks an enemy attack string (reduces damage by 50%)
Provoke (1) : Activates at start of battle. Force a row of enemies to focus attacks on user (but doesn't force them to use attacks). Grants +50% Guard Rate.

Comments: Not too much point going at him with physicals with the Guard Rate, physical defense, and buffing physical defense. But god help him if a mage has at him.



Hodrick
Equipment: Vorpal Spear, Steel Greatshield, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
Type: Armored
HP: 103   P.Atk: 59   P.Def: 62   M.Atk: 26   M.Def: 2   Init: 12   Acc:127   Evade: 5   Crit: 12   Guard Rate: 71   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 112%    Physical Durability: -1581%    Magical Durability: 49%    Evasion%: -33%    Init Stdev: -1.76
Base Accuracy: 87%

Active Skills:
Sting (1): 25 Damage. +50 Potency (50% damage) if the user is below 50% HP. [100 Phys Potency]
Row Protection (1) : Grants allies in the user's row +50% Physical defense.
Greatshield (1) : Grants the user +50% Physical defense and +2 PP.

Passive Skills:
Heavy Cover (1) : Activates before another ally is attacked. Covers the ally with a Heavy Guard (75% physical damage reduction)
Guardian (1) : Activates after being hit by a physical attack. Grants the user +20% physical attacck and +20% Guard Rate (stacks in a battle)
Row Cover (2) : Activates before another ally is attacked. Covers a row of allies with a Medium Guard (50% physical damage reduction)

Comments: Bring magic or ITD. The damage is so terrible that a suitable healer could somehow eke it out but it would take for-ever.



Bryce
Equipment: Vorpal Spear, Steel Greatshield, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
Type: Armored
HP: 107   P.Atk: 53   P.Def: 68   M.Atk: 19   M.Def: 7   Init: 13   Acc:127   Evade: 10   Crit: 8   Guard Rate: 73   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 116%    Physical Durability: -409%    Magical Durability: 55%    Evasion%: -28%    Init Stdev: -1.67
Base Accuracy: 87%

Active Skills:
Sting (1): 19 Damage. +50 Potency (50% damage) if the user is below 50% HP. [100 Phys Potency]
Row Protection (1) : Grants allies in the user's row +50% Physical defense.
Greatshield (1) : Grants the user +50% Physical defense and +2 PP.

Passive Skills:
Heavy Cover (1) : Activates before another ally is attacked. Covers the ally with a Heavy Guard (75% physical damage reduction)
Guardian (1) : Activates after being hit by a physical attack. Grants the user +20% physical attacck and +20% Guard Rate (stacks in a battle)
Row Cover (2) : Activates before another ally is attacked. Covers a row of allies with a Medium Guard (50% physical damage reduction)

Comments: Bring magic or ITD. The damage is so terrible that a suitable healer could somehow eke it out but it would take for-ever.



Aubin
Equipment: Vorpal Axe, Steel Shield, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
HP: 77   P.Atk: 75   P.Def: 30   M.Atk: 19   M.Def: 17   Init: 36   Acc:139   Evade: 34   Crit: 14   Guard Rate: 43   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 82%    Physical Durability: 77%    Magical Durability: 48%    Evasion%: -4%    Init Stdev: +0.46
Base Accuracy: 99%

Active Skills:
Smash (1): 41 Damage. Inflicts Phys. Defense – 20% [100 Phys Potency]
Rolling Axe (1): 49 Damage to a row. 75% accuracy. Inflicts phys. Defense – 15% [40 Phys Potency][ 3 Hits]
Wide Breaker (2): 41 Damage to a row Inflicts Phys. Defense -30%. +50 Potency vs Debuffed Targets [100 Phys Potency]

Passive Skills:
Parting Blow (1): 31 Activates at the end of battle. Attacks a single enemy. [75 Phys Potency]
Frenzied Strike (1): 21 Activates after an ally (including self) is hit by an attack (not status-only). Counterattacks a single enemy. Inflicts Phys. Defense -15%. [50 Phys Potency]
War Horn (2) : Activates at the start of battle. Makes all ally attack skills unguardable.

Note: Def -20% increases Aubin's damage by 7 (17%)

Comments: Smash reduces enemy defense by 20% (plus 12 damage for a 100 Potency attack). So Smash -> Smash -> Smash. If he survives his foe's third action he might get in a Parting Blow, and he counters with Frenzied Strike. His durability is terrible however... Light? Rolling Axe might punish those with no evasion to speak of.



Rolf
Equipment: Vorpal Bow, Carnelian Pendant, Royal Scarf, Lapis Pendant
HP: 81   P.Atk: 64   P.Def: 15   M.Atk: 29   M.Def: 38   Init: 30   Acc:173   Evade: 82   Crit: 23   Guard Rate: 13   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 87%    Physical Durability: 55%    Magical Durability: 99%    Evasion%: 44%    Init Stdev: -0.09
Base Accuracy: 133%

Active Skills:
Single Shot (1): 30 Damage. Ranged. (Most basic move in the game!) [100 Phys Potency]
Dual Shot (1): 21 Damage to two enemies. Ranged. [70 Phys Potency]
Row Shot (2): 30 Damage to a row. Ranged. [100 Phys Potency]

Passive Skills:
Eagle Eye (1) : Activates before attacking with an active skill. Makes next attack a Truestrike
Pursuit (1): 23 Damage. Activates after another ally attacks with an active skill. Follow-up attacks a single enemy. [75 Phys Potency]
Aerial Snipe (1): 15 Damage. Actives after an ally (including self) is hit with an attack. +100 potency (x3 dmg) vs flying enemies. [50 Phys Potency]

Comments: A weak counter and a weak attack add up to a meager 3HKO? With attrocious durability. Light.



Mandrin
Equipment: Vorpal Bow, Carnelian Pendant, Royal Scarf, Lapis Pendant
HP: 76   P.Atk: 63   P.Def: 17   M.Atk: 28   M.Def: 41   Init: 30   Acc:173   Evade: 82   Crit: 24   Guard Rate: 10   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 81%    Physical Durability: 53%    Magical Durability: 107%    Evasion%: 44%    Init Stdev: -0.09
Base Accuracy: 133%

Active Skills:
Single Shot (1): 29 Damage. Ranged. (Most basic move in the game!) [100 Phys Potency]
Dual Shot (1): 20 Damage to two enemies. Ranged. [70 Phys Potency]
Row Shot (2): 29 Damage to a row. Ranged. [100 Phys Potency]

Passive Skills:
Eagle Eye (1) : Activates before attacking with an active skill. Makes next attack a Truestrike
Pursuit (1): 22 Damage. Activates after another ally attacks with an active skill. Follow-up attacks a single enemy. [75 Phys Potency]
Aerial Snipe (1): 15 Damage. Actives after an ally (including self) is hit with an attack. +100 potency (x3 dmg) vs flying enemies. [50 Phys Potency]

Comments: A weak counter and a weak attack add up to a meager 3HKO? With attrocious durability. Light.



Bereniece
Equipment: Vorpal Sword, Steel Shield, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
HP: 104   P.Atk: 92   P.Def: 36   M.Atk: 15   M.Def: 19   Init: 20   Acc:130   Evade: 25   Crit: 20   Guard Rate: 47   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 113%    Physical Durability: 133%    Magical Durability: 69%    Evasion%: -13%    Init Stdev: -1.02
Base Accuracy: 90%

Active Skills:
Heavy Slash (1): 87 Damage.  [150 Phys Potency]
Killing Chain (1): 58 Damage. Grants +1AP if target is defeated. [100 Phys Potency]
Bastard's Cross (2): 81 Damage. Potency based on target's HP%, (100% → 60 Potency increase (85.8% damage increase), 0% → 0%) [70 Phys Potency][ 2 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Following Slash (1): 58 Damage. 90% Hit-rate. Activates after an ally (including self) is hit by an attack (not status-only). Counterattacks a single enemy. Grants +1PP if attack hits. [100 Phys Potency]
Vengeful Guard (1) : Activates before being hit by a physical attack: Guards an enemy attack string (reduces damage by 50%). Grants user +20% Phys Attack (Stacks)
Bull Force (2) : Activates after using an Active skill. Grants user +1AP, +20% Phys Attack, and +20 Initiative

Note: Each stack of P.Atk +20% Increases Bereneice's Heavy Slash damage by 28 (31%)
Bastard's Cross does 151 damage to a full HP target. [198 after Vengeful Guard]

Comments: Meet pain and death and one of the reasons most units have bad damage. Bastard's Cross opener can OHKO. They have counters, a Guard Skill, and Bull Rush that can actually make them lap an enemy (get 2nd turn before foe)... poor magic durability is the only weakness. Heavy.



Magellan
Equipment: Vorpal Sword, Steel Shield, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
HP: 108   P.Atk: 95   P.Def: 35   M.Atk: 18   M.Def: 18   Init: 18   Acc:124   Evade: 30   Crit: 18   Guard Rate: 47   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 117%    Physical Durability: 132%    Magical Durability: 70%    Evasion%: -8%    Init Stdev: -1.2
Base Accuracy: 84%

Active Skills:
Heavy Slash (1): 92 Damage.  [150 Phys Potency]
Killing Chain (1): 61 Damage. Grants +1AP if target is defeated. [100 Phys Potency]
Bastard's Cross (2): 85 Damage. Potency based on target's HP%, (100% → 60 Potency increase (85.8% damage increase), 0% → 0%) [70 Phys Potency][ 2 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Following Slash (1): 61 Damage. 90% Hit-rate. Activates after an ally (including self) is hit by an attack (not status-only). Counterattacks a single enemy. Grants +1PP if attack hits. [100 Phys Potency]
Vengeful Guard (1) : Activates before being hit by a physical attack: Guards an enemy attack string (reduces damage by 50%). Grants user +20% Phys Attack (Stacks)
Bull Force (2) : Activates after using an Active skill. Grants user +1AP, +20% Phys Attack, and +20 Initiative

Note: Each stack of P.Atk+20% Increases Heavy Slash by 29 (31%)
Bastard's Cross does 158 damage to a full HP target. [207 after Vengeful Guard]

Comments: Meet pain and death and one of the reasons most units have bad damage. Bastard's Cross opener can OHKO. They have counters, a Guard Skill, and Bull Rush that can actually make them lap an enemy (get 2nd turn before foe)... poor magic durability is the only weakness. Heavy.



Jeremy
Equipment: Vorpal Sword, Steel Shield, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
HP: 107   P.Atk: 91   P.Def: 37   M.Atk: 14   M.Def: 20   Init: 21   Acc:124   Evade: 27   Crit: 20   Guard Rate: 47   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 116%    Physical Durability: 142%    Magical Durability: 73%    Evasion%: -11%    Init Stdev: -0.93
Base Accuracy: 84%

Active Skills:
Heavy Slash (1): 86 Damage.  [150 Phys Potency]
Killing Chain (1): 57 Damage. Grants +1AP if target is defeated. [100 Phys Potency]
Bastard's Cross (2): 80 Damage. Potency based on target's HP%, (100% → 60 Potency increase (85.8% damage increase), 0% → 0%) [70 Phys Potency][ 2 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Following Slash (1): 57 Damage. 90% Hit-rate. Activates after an ally (including self) is hit by an attack (not status-only). Counterattacks a single enemy. Grants +1PP if attack hits. [100 Phys Potency]
Vengeful Guard (1) : Activates before being hit by a physical attack: Guards an enemy attack string (reduces damage by 50%). Grants user +20% Phys Attack (Stacks)
Bull Force (2) : Activates after using an Active skill. Grants user +1AP, +20% Phys Attack, and +20 Initiative

Note: Each stack of P.Atk +20% Increases Jeremy's Heavy Slash damage by 28 (31%)
Bastard's Cross does 151 damage to a full HP target. [198 w/ Atk+20%]

Comments: Meet pain and death and one of the reasons most units have bad damage. Bastard's Cross opener can OHKO. They have counters, a Guard Skill, and Bull Rush that can actually make them lap an enemy (get 2nd turn before foe)... poor magic durability is the only weakness. Heavy.



Yahna
Equipment: Vorpal Rod, Royal Scarf, Carnelian Pendant, Gold Bangle
HP: 63   P.Atk: 10   P.Def: 18   M.Atk: 74   M.Def: 51   Init: 21   Acc:131   Evade: 75   Crit: 7   Guard Rate: 4   AP: 3   PP: 2
HP%: 66%    Physical Durability: 44%    Magical Durability: 184%    Evasion%: 37%    Init Stdev: -0.93
Base Accuracy: 91%

Active Skills:
Icebolt (1): 35 Magic damage. Inflicts Freeze [100 Mag Potency]
Magick Missile (1): 25 Magic damage. Attack two enemies with magic. [70 Mag Potency]
Ice Coffin (2): 35 Magic damage to a row. Inflicts Freeze. +50 Potency vs Frozen targets. [100 Mag Potency]

Passive Skills:
Magick Conferral (1) : Activates before an ally's physical attack with an active skill. Adds a magic attack to it with 50 Potency.
Accurate Conferral (1) : Activates before another ally attacks with an active skill. Makes the attack a Truestrike.
Quick Cast (2) : Activates at the start of battle. Grants user max initiative for next action and -50% Crit rate.

Comments: Go first with Quick Cast. Freeze Enemy. Repeat until victory. If a foe ignores her Freeze she is in a tight spot indeed as then her speed and damage and durability are all horrifically bad. So a flavorful Middle or something.



Auch
Equipment: Vorpal Rod, Carnelian Pendant, Gold Bangle, Lapis Pendant
HP: 59   P.Atk: 6   P.Def: 20   M.Atk: 74   M.Def: 53   Init: 21   Acc:130   Evade: 37   Crit: 10   Guard Rate: 2   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 62%    Physical Durability: 44%    Magical Durability: 223%    Evasion%: -1%    Init Stdev: -0.93
Base Accuracy: 90%

Active Skills:
Fireball (1): 42 Magic damage. Inflicts 1 level of burn if any hits connect. (but no more than 1) [40 Mag Potency][ 3 Hits]
Thunderous Strike (2): 35 Magic damage to a row. 90% Accuracy. Inflicts Stun. [100 Mag Potency]
Volcano (2): 53 Magic damage to a column. 90% Accuracy. Inflicts Burn. [150 Mag Potency]

Passive Skills:
Magick Counter (1): 53 Magic Damage. Activates after an enemy attacks user with an active skill. Counterattacks with a 150 potency magic attack [150 Mag Potency]
Magick Pursuit (1): 35 Magic Damage. Activates after an ally uses a magick attack active skill. Follow-up attacks a single enemy with magick. [100 Mag Potency]
Concentrate (2) : Activates after using an active skill. Grants user +1AP and +40 Accuracy.

Comments: Auch... has no physical durability. An average physical almost OHKOs him probably. But he has okay damage (borderline 2HKO magic counter), so he might get a chance to kill. And his magic durability is great.



Travis
Equipment: Vorpal Sword, Royal Scarf, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
HP: 57   P.Atk: 49   P.Def: 11   M.Atk: 30   M.Def: 29   Init: 52   Acc:151   Evade: 123   Crit: 29   Guard Rate: 4   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 59%    Physical Durability: 34%    Magical Durability: 48%    Evasion%: 85%    Init Stdev: +1.94
Base Accuracy: 111%

Active Skills:
Passive Steal (1): 15 Damage. Steal off of the enemy's PP (does not apply if they guard the first hit. DOES apply if the evade the first hit and get hit by the second) [50 Phys Potency][ 2 Hits]
Toxic Throw (1): 8 Damage. Ranged. Inflicts Poison. [25 Phys Potency][ 2 Hits]
Shadowbite (2): 5 Damage to a row. Inflicts Blindness. [15 Phys Potency][ 2 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Evade (1) : Activates before an attack that would hit the user. Evades a single hit in that attack string.
Sneaking Edge (1): 15 Damage. Activates at the start of battle. Attack a single enemy. Inflicts Guard Seal and Passive Seal if either hit connects. [50 Phys Potency][ 2 Hits]


Comments: Sneak Edge seals off enemy counters/passive skills. A crazy high evasion stat keeps him in the fight. The Evade skill is so good it feels like cheating (but only works vs a single-hit vs multi-hit attacks... if those attacks can get through the ordinary evade).  Poisoning an enemy lets him kill them. Middle/Heavy? One of those cases that might want a Silken Scarf to make the evade even higher.



Gammel
Equipment: Vorpal Sword, Royal Scarf, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
HP: 55   P.Atk: 44   P.Def: 12   M.Atk: 25   M.Def: 30   Init: 55   Acc:151   Evade: 126   Crit: 29   Guard Rate: 4   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 57%    Physical Durability: 34%    Magical Durability: 48%    Evasion%: 88%    Init Stdev: +2.22
Base Accuracy: 111%

Active Skills:
Passive Steal (1): 10 Damage. Steal off of the enemy's PP (does not apply if they guard the first hit. DOES apply if the evade the first hit and get hit by the second) [50 Phys Potency][ 2 Hits]
Toxic Throw (1): 5 Damage. Ranged. Inflicts Poison. [25 Phys Potency][ 2 Hits]
Shadowbite (2): 3 Damage to a row. Inflicts Blindness. [15 Phys Potency][ 2 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Evade (1) : Activates before an attack that would hit the user. Evades a single hit in that attack string.
Sneaking Edge (1): 10 Damage. Activates at the start of battle. Attack a single enemy. Inflicts Guard Seal and Passive Seal if either hit connects. [50 Phys Potency][ 2 Hits]


Comments: Sneak Edge seals off enemy counters/passive skills. A crazy high evasion stat keeps him in the fight. The Evade skill is so good it feels like cheating (but only works vs a single-hit vs multi-hit attacks... if those attacks can get through the ordinary evade).  Poisoning an enemy lets him kill them. Middle/Heavy? One of those cases that might want a Silken Scarf to make the evade even higher.



Miriam
Equipment: Vorpal Sword, Steel Shield, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
Type: Cavalry
HP: 103   P.Atk: 57   P.Def: 31   M.Atk: 46   M.Def: 54   Init: 29   Acc:133   Evade: 14   Crit: 5   Guard Rate: 50   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 112%    Physical Durability: 109%    Magical Durability: 469%    Evasion%: -24%    Init Stdev: -0.19
Base Accuracy: 93%

Active Skills:
Hache (1): 23 Damage. Grants +1PP if attack hits. [100 Phys Potency]
Row Heal (): 46 Restores HP to a row of allies. [100 Mag Potency]
Saint's Blade (1): 23 Damage. +25 Potency (+50% damage) if user is at 100% HP. Grants user +1PP if attack hits. [50 Phys Potency][ 2 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Magick Barrier (1) : Activates before an ally (including user) is hit by a magick attack. Negates magic damage deal to an ally. Also negates any afflictions.
Holy Guard (1) : Activates before being hit by a physical attack: Blocks an enemy attack string (reduces damage by 50%). Prevents Debuffs/status from the attack.
Row Barrier (2) : Activates before an ally (including user) is hit by a magick attack. Negates magic damage to a row of allie. Also negates any afflictions.

Comments: Don't attack with magic. Withthat said, Holy Guard protects against physicals nad she has healing. Middle/Heavy?



Monica
Equipment: Vorpal Sword, Steel Shield, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
Type: Cavalry
HP: 107   P.Atk: 54   P.Def: 34   M.Atk: 43   M.Def: 56   Init: 29   Acc:132   Evade: 19   Crit: 3   Guard Rate: 50   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 116%    Physical Durability: 126%    Magical Durability: 729%    Evasion%: -19%    Init Stdev: -0.19
Base Accuracy: 92%

Active Skills:
Hache (1): 20 Damage. Grants +1PP if attack hits. [100 Phys Potency]
Row Heal (): 43 Restores HP to a row of allies. [100 Mag Potency]
Saint's Blade (1): 20 Damage. +25 Potency (+50% damage) if user is at 100% HP. Grants user +1PP if attack hits. [50 Phys Potency][ 2 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Magick Barrier (1) : Activates before an ally (including user) is hit by a magick attack. Negates magic damage deal to an ally. Also negates any afflictions.
Holy Guard (1) : Activates before being hit by a physical attack: Blocks an enemy attack string (reduces damage by 50%). Prevents Debuffs/status from the attack.
Row Barrier (2) : Activates before an ally (including user) is hit by a magick attack. Negates magic damage to a row of allie. Also negates any afflictions.

Comments: Don't attack with magic. Withthat said, Holy Guard protects against physicals nad she has healing. Middle/Heavy?



Leah
Equipment: Vorpal Sword, Icefall Blade, Royal Scarf, Carnelian Pendant
HP: 62   P.Atk: 66   P.Def: 15   M.Atk: 21   M.Def: 35   Init: 55   Acc:160   Evade: 124   Crit: 38   Guard Rate: -11   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 65%    Physical Durability: 41%    Magical Durability: 65%    Evasion%: 86%    Init Stdev: +2.22
Base Accuracy: 120%

Active Skills:
Keen Edge (1): 32 Damage. Critical rate +50% [100 Phys Potency]
Impale (1):  Damage. Grants +1PP if target is defeated. [100 Phys Potency]
Meteor Slash (2): 58 Damage. Critical Rate +30% [20 Phys Potency][ 9 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Hastened Strike (1): 48 Damage. Activates at the start of battle. Attack a single enemy. With a truestrike. [150 Phys Potency]
Parry (1) : Activates before being hit by a melee attack (melee attacks from flying creatures are considered ranged). Negate melee damage for a single hit in the attack. Grants +1 AP to user.
Charged Impetus (2) : Activates after using an active skill. Grants the user +1 AP and +50% critical damage (2x instead of 1.5x).

Comments: damage, good evade, and truestrike to deal with foe's evasion. Parry can help against accurate single melee attacks (not from flying enemies though!).  Hastened Strike into Meteor Slash KOs. Another case where they might want to sacrifice the Carnelian Pendant (and use Charged Impetus to get the 3rd AP) for a Silken Scarf.



Melisandre
Equipment: Vorpal Sword, Icefall Blade, Carnelian Pendant, Royal Scarf
HP: 62   P.Atk: 68   P.Def: 15   M.Atk: 24   M.Def: 35   Init: 54   Acc:158   Evade: 119   Crit: 40   Guard Rate: -11   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 65%    Physical Durability: 41%    Magical Durability: 65%    Evasion%: 81%    Init Stdev: +2.13
Base Accuracy: 118%

Active Skills:
Keen Edge (1): 34 Damage. Critical rate +50% [100 Phys Potency]
Impale (1):  Damage. Grants +1PP if target is defeated. [100 Phys Potency]
Meteor Slash (2): 61 Damage. Critical Rate +30% [20 Phys Potency][ 9 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Hastened Strike (1): 51 Damage. Activates at the start of battle. Attack a single enemy. With a truestrike. [150 Phys Potency]
Parry (1) : Activates before being hit by a melee attack (melee attacks from flying creatures are considered ranged). Negate melee damage for a single hit in the attack. Grants +1 AP to user.
Charged Impetus (2) : Activates after using an active skill. Grants the user +1 AP and +50% critical damage.

Comments: damage, good evade, and truestrike to deal with foe's evasion. Parry can help against accurate single melee attacks (not from flying enemies though!).  Hastened Strike into Meteor Slash KOs. Another case where they might want to sacrifice the Carnelian Pendant (and use Charged Impetus to get the 3rd AP) for a Silken Scarf.



Aramis
Equipment: Vorpal Sword, Icefall Blade, Carnelian Pendant, Royal Scarf
HP: 65   P.Atk: 73   P.Def: 14   M.Atk: 29   M.Def: 34   Init: 52   Acc:160   Evade: 118   Crit: 36   Guard Rate: -11   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 68%    Physical Durability: 42%    Magical Durability: 66%    Evasion%: 80%    Init Stdev: +1.94
Base Accuracy: 120%

Active Skills:
Keen Edge (1): 39 Damage. Critical rate +50% [100 Phys Potency]
Impale (1):  Damage. Grants +1PP if target is defeated. [100 Phys Potency]
Meteor Slash (2): 70 Damage. Critical Rate +30% [20 Phys Potency][ 9 Hits]

Passive Skills:
Hastened Strike (1): 59 Damage. Activates at the start of battle. Attack a single enemy. With a truestrike. [150 Phys Potency]
Parry (1) : Activates before being hit by a melee attack (melee attacks from flying creatures are considered ranged). Negate melee damage for a single hit in the attack. Grants +1 AP to user.
Charged Impetus (2) : Activates after using an active skill. Grants the user +1 AP and +50% critical damage.

Comments: damage, good evade, and truestrike to deal with foe's evasion. Parry can help against accurate single melee attacks (not from flying enemies though!).  Hastened Strike into Meteor Slash KOs. Another case where they might want to sacrifice the Carnelian Pendant (and use Charged Impetus to get the 3rd AP) for a Silken Scarf.



Bruno
Equipment: Vorpal Axe, Carnelian Pendant, Gold Bangle, Lapis Pendant
HP: 143   P.Atk: 67   P.Def: 18   M.Atk: 2   M.Def: 23   Init: 17   Acc:124   Evade: 14   Crit: 10   Guard Rate: 14   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 157%    Physical Durability: 106%    Magical Durability: 107%    Evasion%: -24%    Init Stdev: -1.3
Base Accuracy: 84%

Active Skills:
Wide Smash (1): 50 Damage to a row of enemies. 80% Accuracy. +50 potency (1.33x dmg) if the user is at 100% HP. [150 Phys Potency]
Mounting Charge (1):  Restores 30% HP to user. Grants user +30% Phys attack
Grand Smash (2): 33 Damage. Attack all enemies on the ground. 80% Accuracy. +50 potency if user is at 100% HP. [100 Phys Potency]

Passive Skills:
Bulk Up (1) : Activates after being hit by an attack. Recovers 40% HP.
Wide Counter (1): 33 Damage. 75% Accuracy. Counterattack a row of enemies. [100 Phys Potency]
Berserk (1*) : Consume all PP to grant user +1AP. User will survive one lethal attack with 1 HP.

Note: Mounting Charge increases his Wide Smash by 30 (60%)

Comments: Okay durability and counters attacks with a 40% heal. Also has a 30% Self-heal. This is really good! The accuracy is very bad however.



Morard
Equipment: Vorpal Axe, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant, Gold Bangle
HP: 146   P.Atk: 70   P.Def: 16   M.Atk: 6   M.Def: 21   Init: 13   Acc:118   Evade: 19   Crit: 15   Guard Rate: 11   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 161%    Physical Durability: 103%    Magical Durability: 104%    Evasion%: -19%    Init Stdev: -1.67
Base Accuracy: 78%

Active Skills:
Wide Smash (1): 54 Damage to a row of enemies. 80% Accuracy. +50 potency (1.33x dmg) if the user is at 100% HP. [150 Phys Potency]
Mounting Charge (1):  Restores 30% HP to user. Grants user +30% Phys attack
Grand Smash (2): 36 Damage. Attack all enemies on the ground. 80% Accuracy. +50 potency if user is at 100% HP. [100 Phys Potency]

Passive Skills:
Bulk Up (1) : Activates after being hit by an attack. Recovers 40% HP.
Wide Counter (1) : Damage. 75% Accuracy. Counterattack a row of enemies.
Berserk (1*) : Consume all PP to grant user +1AP. User will survive one lethal attack with 1 HP.

Note: Mounting Charge increases Wide Smash by 32 (60%)

Comments: Okay durability and counters attacks with a 40% heal. Also has a 30% Self-heal. This is really good! The accuracy is very bad however.



Nina
Equipment: Vorpal Axe, Carnelian Pendant, Gold Bangle, Lapis Pendant
HP: 97   P.Atk: 84   P.Def: 40   M.Atk: 16   M.Def: 36   Init: 31   Acc:130   Evade: 36   Crit: 7   Guard Rate: 19   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 105%    Physical Durability: 148%    Magical Durability: 110%    Evasion%: -2%    Init Stdev: 0
Base Accuracy: 90%

Active Skills:
Heavy Smash (1): 50 Damage. Unguardable. Ignores damage against armored enemies (damage = attack stat) [100 Phys Potency]
Assaulting Blow (1): 50 Damage. Unguardable. Grants user +1 AP if target is defeated. [100 Phys Potency]
Row Smash (2): 60 Damage. Unguardable and uncoverable. Attacks a row of enemies. Ignores defense against armored type enemies (Damage = attack stat) [120 Phys Potency]

Passive Skills:
Binding Guard (1) : Activates before attacking with an active skill. The attack inflicts Guard Seal (which will stop subsequent attacks from being guarded)
Enrage (1) : Activates after an ally (including self) is hit by an attack. Grants user +20% Attack and +20 accuracy.
Heavy Counter (1): 75 Damage. Activates after an enemy attacks user with an active skill. Counterattacks with an unguardable attack. Ignores defense against armored enemies (damage = 1.5x attack stat) [150 Phys Potency]

Note: Enrage increases damage by 34% (+17 damage to Heavy Smash per use)

Comments: Hits hard and counters harder. The end result will be a probably dead enemy. Really good. Note that they can use EITHER enrage or Heavy Counter in response to an attack. Not both.



Mordon
Equipment: Vorpal Axe, Carnelian Pendant, Gold Bangle, Lapis Pendant
HP: 101   P.Atk: 88   P.Def: 37   M.Atk: 20   M.Def: 33   Init: 32   Acc:129   Evade: 34   Crit: 4   Guard Rate: 20   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 109%    Physical Durability: 134%    Magical Durability: 101%    Evasion%: -4%    Init Stdev: +0.09
Base Accuracy: 89%

Active Skills:
Heavy Smash (1): 54 Damage. Unguardable. Ignores damage against armored enemies (damage = attack stat) [100 Phys Potency]
Assaulting Blow (1): 54 Damage. Unguardable. Grants user +1 AP if target is defeated. [100 Phys Potency]
Row Smash (2): 65 Damage. Unguardable and uncoverable. Attacks a row of enemies. Ignores defense against armored type enemies (Damage = attack stat) [120 Phys Potency]

Passive Skills:
Binding Guard (1) : Activates before attacking with an active skill. The attack inflicts Guard Seal (which will stop subsequent attacks from being guarded)
Enrage (1) : Activates after an ally (including self) is hit by an attack. Grants user +20% Attack and +20 accuracy.
Heavy Counter (1): 81 Damage. Activates after an enemy attacks user with an active skill. Counterattacks with an unguardable attack. Ignores defense against armored enemies (damage = 1.5x attack stat) [150 Phys Potency]

Note: Enrage increases damage by 34% (+18 damage to Heavy Smash per use)

Comments: Hits hard and counters harder. The end result will be a probably dead enemy. Really good. Note that they can use EITHER enrage or Heavy Counter in response to an attack. Not both.



Kitra
Equipment: Vorpal Axe, Carnelian Pendant, Gold Bangle, Lapis Pendant
HP: 99   P.Atk: 84   P.Def: 39   M.Atk: 16   M.Def: 35   Init: 34   Acc:129   Evade: 36   Crit: 5   Guard Rate: 20   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 107%    Physical Durability: 144%    Magical Durability: 108%    Evasion%: -2%    Init Stdev: +0.28
Base Accuracy: 89%

Active Skills:
Heavy Smash (1): 50 Damage. Unguardable. Ignores damage against armored enemies (damage = attack stat) [100 Phys Potency]
Assaulting Blow (1): 50 Damage. Unguardable. Grants user +1 AP if target is defeated. [100 Phys Potency]
Row Smash (2): 60 Damage. Unguardable and uncoverable. Attacks a row of enemies. Ignores defense against armored type enemies (Damage = attack stat) [120 Phys Potency]

Passive Skills:
Binding Guard (1) : Activates before attacking with an active skill. The attack inflicts Guard Seal (which will stop subsequent attacks from being guarded)
Enrage (1) : Activates after an ally (including self) is hit by an attack. Grants user +20% Attack and +20 accuracy.
Heavy Counter (1): 75 Damage. Activates after an enemy attacks user with an active skill. Counterattacks with an unguardable attack. Ignores defense against armored enemies (damage = 1.5x attack stat) [150 Phys Potency]

Note: Enrage increases damage by 34% (+17 damage to Heavy Smash per use)

Comments: Hits hard and counters harder. The end result will be a probably dead enemy. Really good. Note that they can use EITHER enrage or Heavy Counter in response to an attack. Not both.



Fran
Equipment: Vorpal Axe, Carnelian Pendant, Royal Scarf, Lapis Pendant
Type: Flying (mounted)
HP: 76   P.Atk: 69   P.Def: 24   M.Atk: 26   M.Def: 40   Init: 27   Acc:129   Evade: 103   Crit: 16   Guard Rate: 7   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 81%    Physical Durability: 64%    Magical Durability: 102%    Evasion%: 65%    Init Stdev: -0.37
Base Accuracy: 89%

Active Skills:
High Swing (1): 35 Damage to a row. Cavalry targets can't guard this attack. Potency +50 vs cavalry... [100 Phys Potency]
Fatal Dive (2):  Unguardable defense-ignoring attack to a column of enemies. Damage = 50% of the user's current HP. Attack can not critical hit.
Aerial Smite (2): 53 Damage to a row. Cavalry targets can't guard the attack. Inflicts AP-1 on a target if the target was at 100% HP. [150 Phys Potency]

Passive Skills:
Wing Rest (1) : Activates at the end of battle. Recovers 25% HP. (50% HP if user has a status ailment)
Feathering (1) : Activates after attacking with an active skill. Grants allies in the user's row +15 Initiative.
Gryphon Glide (2) : Activates before being hit by a ranged attacks (which includes melee attacks from flying creatures). Evade a single hit of the ranged attack. Grants user +1 AP.

Comments: The evasion helps with the bad durability. Gryphon Glide can help deal with the arrow weakness (it also works on flyer's melee and ranged magic). Wing Rest is good for an end of battle heal. Opening with Aerial Smite is usually a good idea as it reduces a full HP enemy's AP by 1.



Celeste
Equipment: Vorpal Axe, Carnelian Pendant, Royal Scarf, Lapis Pendant
Type: Flying (Mounted)
HP: 80   P.Atk: 63   P.Def: 30   M.Atk: 19   M.Def: 46   Init: 28   Acc:128   Evade: 103   Crit: 12   Guard Rate: 9   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 85%    Physical Durability: 80%    Magical Durability: 153%    Evasion%: 65%    Init Stdev: -0.28
Base Accuracy: 88%

Active Skills:
High Swing (1): 29 Damage to a row. Cavalry targets can't guard this attack. Potency +50 vs cavalry... [100 Phys Potency]
Fatal Dive (2): 0 Unguardable defense-ignoring attack to a column of enemies. Damage = 50% of the user's current HP. Attack can not critical hit.
Aerial Smite (2): 44 Damage to a row. Cavalry targets can't guard the attack. Inflicts AP-1 on a target if the target was at 100% HP. [150 Phys Potency]

Passive Skills:
Wing Rest (1) : Activates at the end of battle. Recovers 25% HP. (50% HP if user has a status ailment)
Feathering (1) : Activates after attacking with an active skill. Grants allies in the user's row +15 Initiative.
Gryphon Glide (2) : Activates before being hit by a ranged attacks (which includes melee attacks from flying creatures). Evade a single hit of the ranged attack. Grants user +1 AP.

Comments: The evasion helps with the bad durability. Gryphon Glide can help deal with the arrow weakness (it also works on flyer's melee and ranged magic). Wing Rest is good for an end of battle heal. Opening with Aerial Smite is usually a good idea as it reduces a full HP enemy's AP by 1.



Liza
Equipment: Vorpal Bow, Steel Greatshield, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
HP: 81   P.Atk: 71   P.Def: 37   M.Atk: 17   M.Def: 34   Init: 21   Acc:156   Evade: 28   Crit: 13   Guard Rate: 62   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 87%    Physical Durability: 107%    Magical Durability: 84%    Evasion%: -10%    Init Stdev: -0.93
Base Accuracy: 116%

Active Skills:
Power Bolt (1): 44 Damage. Ranged. [120 Phys Potency]
Toxic Bolt (1): 30 Damage. Ranged. Inflicts Poison. [80 Phys Potency]
Heavy Bolt (2): 74 Damage. Ranged. (only 100 Potency (½ dmg) if in back row) [200 Phys Potency]

Passive Skills:
Medical Aid (1) : Activates at the end of battle. Restores 15% HP to a row. Healing doubles if target is below 50% HP.
Quick Reload (1): 19 Damage. Activates after attacking. Follow-up attacks a single enemy. [50 Phys Potency]
Aid Cover (1) : Activates before an ally is attacked. Covers ally with medium guard (50% damage reduction) and restores 25% HP to that ally.

Comments: Good physical durability and good damage. Heavy Bolt -> Quick Reload -> Power Bolt -> Quick Reload is likely a 2HKO off good accuracy. Toxic Bolt can help even more. Her magic durability isn't good however. Middle?



Hilda
Equipment: Vorpal Spear, Royal Scarf, Carnelian Pendant, Lapis Pendant
Type: Flying (Mounted)
HP: 89   P.Atk: 68   P.Def: 37   M.Atk: 11   M.Def: 21   Init: 33   Acc:140   Evade: 98   Crit: 17   Guard Rate: 13   AP: 3   PP: 3
HP%: 96%    Physical Durability: 118%    Magical Durability: 62%    Evasion%: 60%    Init Stdev: +0.18
Base Accuracy: 100%

Active Skills:
Diving Thrust (1): 34 Damage. Cavalry units can't guard the attack. +50 Potency vs Cavalry [100 Phys Potency]
Fire Breath (2): 26 Damage to a row. Inflicts Burn. [75 Phys Potency]
Tempest Drive (2): 51 Damage to a column. Cavalry targets can't guard this. Becomes a Truestrike and Critical if user is below 50% HP. [150 Phys Potency]

Passive Skills:
Ground Counter (1): 17 Damage. Activates after being attacked with an active skill. Counterattacks. Does +100 Potency (x3 dmg) to cavalry targets. [50 Phys Potency]
Deflect (1) : Activates before being hit by a melee attack (melee attacks from flying creatures are considered ranged). Negate melee damage for a single hit. Grants the user +20 Evasion (effect stacks)
Dragon's Roar (2) : Activates at start of battle. Inflicts Initiative -20 on all enemies.

Comments: A variety of interesting options. Dragon's Roar on foes faster than her. Deflect for ground based melee (whose accuracy she already reduces). Tempest Dive becomes a Truestrike and powerful damage below 50% HP... Fire Breath probably won't see use but vs enormous physical defense.

18

General Chat / Re: What games are you playing 2024? Battle strength determined by frilly outfits

« Last post by Twilkitri on April 20, 2024, 08:04:37 AM »

Logiart Grimoire (Steam)

Regarding the additional puzzles which were added in the post-early-access release, while it's still a bit annoying that they're not integrated into the main game structure, it turns out that they are still at least somewhat thematically linked.

Each of the puzzles is tagged with two or three keywords, often a subject along with an action and/or location, so this is similar to how the majority of the puzzles in the main game need to be unlocked by combining two or three of the other puzzles. For example one might have 'Cat' and 'To Cook' and the puzzle resolves to a cat in a chef hat using a cutting board.

And this actually leads to a lot of these puzzles ending up much more novel than I'm used to seeing in a while, so it was ultimately a good experience despite my previous complaint.


Anuchard (Steam)

Shortish action-rpg where you go into various dungeons to restore various people/entities and parts of the world.

It's trying for some amount of depth re cycles of history etc but ultimately I think it's a bit too short to really reach what it's aiming at. (And it's implied that all the characters in the game are literally the only people in that location, given a few of the events, which makes some of the later events not really make sense.) I did like some of what it was doing.

Never got especially good at the combat but happily it never got especially difficult. (The combat itself isn't particularly deep, either, so that could be a turnoff for some people.)


Dráscula: The Vampire Strikes Back (Steam)

Fairly bad old spanish-developed point & click game.

Crashed on me numerous times, had some issues with the english voice work. Some unfortunate 'jokes'. The interface is also fairly clunky.

The most annoying problem is that often exits which weren't otherwise interactable weren't indicated by anything - you would only know there was an exit if you clicked to walk somewhere and you changed location as a result. The prime examples being a tree, and a non-visible secret passage happening to be in a cupboard which is in the same room as a second, visible secret passage and where when you initially opened the cupboard you got an item out of it. (It also doesn't appear to really work with the geometry of the location, given the cupboard is against a wall with a visible corridor on the other side.)


If On A Winter's Night, Four Travelers (Steam)

Started playing this much more recent point & click only taking into account that it was well-thought-of and short, unhappily completely missed that it was a horror game which I am really not in the right state of mind for currently. Ended up being a much more discomforting experience than I was hoping for as a result.

That said, it's very polished and has some good sequences. There is one sequence in the third chapter that overstays its welcome a fair amount though.

19

General Chat / Re: What games are you playing 2024? Battle strength determined by frilly outfits

« Last post by Cmdr_King on April 16, 2024, 11:17:26 PM »

Final Fantasy VII Rebirth- Fin

Okay so.  There's some parts of this game that smack of lacking confidence in itself and in the player to be willing to roll with what flows naturally in the game.  This is most pronounced in the beginning and parts of the endgame, where it feels like the game is afraid to just not have a driving force moving the plot along beyond "hey Sephiroth is out there, we should figure out what to do about that" and insert action sequences that just don't really jive with the overall mood meant to be set in this portion of the story.  Like yeah, Shinra is a problem and they do rule the planet, but there's a big gap between their city and the rest of the world in how they exert control.  And there are some changes to the big plot modules that don't always work, like I'd say Cosmo Canyon is just overall weaker as a sequence, despite Nanaki's arc being drawn a lot more sharply. 

On the flip side the game's propensity for bombast sells the hell out of other sequences in a way that's amazing.  FFVIIR-2 basically pauses every hour or so to rip your heart out, and at least one time does it so much harder than the original game I was floored by it.  Just a fantastically well-composed scene.

As a game unto itself it feels a lot more able to stand alone than Remake.  Like, when Remake was being a remake it was good, and when it inserted gameplay to fluff out Midgar to a complete game it was kinda the weakest parts of the game.  Now, the stuff with Avalanche being real characters, that was good, but making Hojo's lab an entire Resident Evil Mansion of new dungeon is... a lot.  Making the Shiny Golden Wire of Hope a whole dungeon?  A lot.  Remake has its share of "this did not need to take 2 hours" dungeons but it a lot better about adding gameplay to sequences that were really short in the original, and as you might expect when it has 'permission' to make a dungeon of doom it does it with gusto.  I think I spent more time in chapter 13, which is "Literally just Temple of the Ancients", than any other chapter but it always felt properly paced and appropriate.

So yeah no like.  Go ahead and play this game (once you can, since I'm 100% several of you are just waiting for a PC version).  Even if you felt like Remake kinda fell apart at the end, Rebirth is a lot more thoughtful about its new stuff and is a lot more satisfying about going off the rails for being more reserved with it.

20

Discussion / Re: RPG Ratings

« Last post by Dark Holy Elf on April 14, 2024, 12:17:59 AM »

Unicorn Overlord at 8/10. Good gameplay (which is both unique and well-polished), amazing spritework, kinda eh on writing. I think it would need either A+ gameplay or better writing to get a really good score, but I still had a lot of fun.

Star Ocean 4 down 1 to 7/10
Mario Rabbids 2 down 1 to 7/10
XCOM 1 down 1 to 6/10