Tell me about Iron Kingdoms

[hewhosaysfish]

I've recently been invited to play in an Iron Kingdoms game that's starting up but I know very little about it so I'd like to ask a few questions of those of you with more experience.

Setting-wise:
I know it's a a steampunk fantasy setting and there's big stompy robots. I know there's a half-a-dozen countries all at war with eachother (to act as a backdrop to Warmachine game). There's [/url=http://ironkingdoms.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page]a Wiki[/url] for the setting but most of the entries are under construction (for example, their entire entry on the Orgoth is two words: "Big meanies").

The GM has said that we're going to be part of mercenary company.

I'm not sure I know enough to ask meaningful questions. Can anyone give me a quick overview of the important points?

System-wise:
I know the system uses 2d6 and that you have 2 classes.

1) How does this two-classes thing work?
2) What sort of classes and races are available?
3) How do the big stompy robots fit into the game?
4) What does the magic system look like?

[NoldorForce]

How does this two-classes thing work?You pick two "careers", each of which has certain starting options and access to later stuff. With enough XP you can get access to more, though you don't get the starting options for later-chosen ones.

2) What sort of classes and races are available?The races are human, dwarf, elf (Iosan and Nyss), gobber, ogrun, and trollkin. As for careers, there's a significant variety (given the quirks of "career access") to what you can do. A bunch get good stuff in combat since this is based on a wargame, but several can do some cool things out of combat instead. Given that you pick two you can generally fit whatever niche you like.

My favorite career is Fell Caller, the gist of such being that you're a trollkin who can yell at his enemies so hard that it causes physical damage.

3) How do the big stompy robots fit into the game?Steamjacks are an extra little subsystem to run - they're nasty in combat but require lots of fuel for anything above idling.

4) What does the magic system look like?Depending on your career you're get different access to spells. Each has a certain cost which is debited against a pool of points equal to your ARC stat. (If you're a caster you want this as high as possible.) Focusers can't go beyond this but can spend points to do other nasty things like helping 'jacks or getting extra attacks, while will weavers can go beyond that limit at the cost of potentially being exhausted for a round and unable to cast.

Oh, one more thing - healing is draining and time-consuming. There exist meaningful penalties in battle for certain levels of damage without actually dropping (ask about the life spiral), and if you do drop you may take some permanent loss. (The nastier ones have in-setting ways of being mitigated if you spend some effort.) Also, there is one healing spell in the game...but every time you get magically healed, EVER, you have to roll against a penalty chart. And every time after the first, your rolls against that chart gain +1 (bad) for each previous time you've been magically healed.

[hewhosaysfish]

Thanks, NoldorForce!


You pick two "careers", each of which has certain starting options and access to later stuff. With enough XP you can get access to more, though you don't get the starting options for later-chosen ones.
Do you have to "complete" your careers before you can start a new one, as in WFRP?


The races are human, dwarf, elf (Iosan and Nyss), gobber, ogrun, and trollkin.
Of course no fantasy RPG can make do with just one flavour of elves...
Are the gobbers, ogruns and trollkin basically goblins, ogres and trolls with silly names?


My favorite career is Fell Caller, the gist of such being that you're a trollkin who can yell at his enemies so hard that it causes physical damage.
Is there a knockback effect to the yell? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8THFJ3siv0)


Also, there is one healing spell in the game...but every time you get magically healed, EVER, you have to roll against a penalty chart. And every time after the first, your rolls against that chart gain +1 (bad) for each previous time you've been magically healed.
How serious does the bad stuff get?

[NoldorForce]

Do you have to "complete" your careers before you can start a new one, as in WFRP?No - in fact each career on its own probably has more options than you could even take, even at 150 XP (maximum).

Of course no fantasy RPG can make do with just one flavour of elves...
Are the gobbers, ogruns and trollkin basically goblins, ogres and trolls with silly names?Sort of, but they're definitely not D&D standard stuff. Ogrun, for instance, are a cohabiting minority within the dwarf lands, and trollkin are literally that. (The wargames have actual trolls which are larger.)

As for the elves, there's decent in-setting reason for the distinction - the main line (Iosans) are a fading and very insular civilization trying to find their lost gods, while the branch line (Nyss) are nomads who specifically worship the deity of winter (Nyssor). Oh, and the Nyss despite obviously being the IK take on "dark elves" (since IK began as a variant on D&D even though a lot of the features were incompatible) are far less of jerks than some of the Iosans.

Is there a knockback effect to the yell? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e8THFJ3siv0)Neither of the starting Fell Calls do that, but one does push and another knocks down.

How serious does the bad stuff get?You roll 1d6, +1 per previous instance of magical healing. At 9+ you take a permanent -1 to a stat.

[ShadowFighter15]

I'm not sure I know enough to ask meaningful questions. Can anyone give me a quick overview of the important points?

Okay, I'll be covering this in pretty broad strokes for the most part and I may miss stuff, but here we go.

Thankfully, most of ancient history isn't important for the most part. Only important stuff from that time was that, outside of Ios (the elven nation) the only magic humans/trollkin/etc had access to was either granted by a deity or rather unsavoury stuff like necromancy and blood magic. And the only human deity back then was Menoth the Creator, who can best be described as Old Testament God with a worse temper and a touch of pyromania (and so far Menoth's held off on apocalypse-level stuff). Two humans - the twins Morrow and Thamar - ascended to godhood roughly 2,500 years before the present.

Cut forward to circa 600 BR (current year in the setting is 608 AR, so this is roughly 1,200 years ago) when Western Immoren is invaded by the armies of a mysterious empire from a distant continent, the Orgoth. Their magic let them swiftly conquer the human nations and numerous black citadels and necromantic devices were built by them.

Around 150 BR, non-divine magic starts to appear among humanity - mostly in the spontaneity of sorcery but many harness the Gift. The Orgoth move to kill any sorcerers who appear along with their entire family. Sebastian Kerwin rises to prominence as a powerful arcanist and many of his principles of magic are still used in the present day. In 1 AR, the humans rebel against the Orgoth Occupation. Firearms are developed 25 years later and the rebellion lasts for 200 years in total, ending with the creation of Colossals - giant, steam-powered war machines capable of shattering a castle wall in a single blow.

http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs70/f/2010/016/4/5/45f34643b2b7c31ad060a9e5a2a40e35.jpg

With the aid of the Colossals, the Orgoth are quickly forced off Immoren. Curiously, the Orgoth engage in a scorched-earth tactic as they retreat - burning and destroying anything that could give the Immorese people insight into just who the Orgoth were, leaving them a mystery for the next 400 years.

Another invention of the Orgoth Occupation was mechanika - a fusion of magic and technology that was far safer and easier than creating traditional magical devices. The colossals were the prime example of mechanika of the era - their cerebral matrices allowed them a degree of automation previously thought impossible.

Eventually, the colossals are deemed too difficult to maintain (especially after The Colossal Wars, where the recently-defined nations of the Iron Kingdoms waged war on each other) and research leads to their miniaturisation as the modern warjack (steamjacks had been invented a few years prior, but more for labour than combat).

482-484 AR saw a large civil war in Cygnar that culminated in the formation of the Protectorate of Menoth and the Cygnaran capital city of Caspia being split in two - half was still Caspia while the other half became the Protectorate city of Sul.

In 579, Cygnar's King Vinter Raelthorne IV creates the Inquisition - ostensibly to root out dangerous sorcerers and workers of black magic, Vinter quickly turned them against his political enemies as his regime grew worse. During his reign, Cygnar's coastline is attacked by the Nightmare Legions of Cryx - a necromantic empire in the Scharde Islands ruled by Toruk, the First Dragon.

In 594, Vinter IV is overthrown by his younger brother, Leto Raelthorne, in what would become known as the Lion's Coup. 604-605 sees the Llaelese War, ending with the nation of Llael effectively ceasing to be its own political entity and being incorporated into the Khadoran Empire.

606-607 is the Caspia-Sul War. Menite forces attack Cygnar while they recover from the Llaelese War but are temporarily beaten back into Sul before rallying behind their leader, Heirarch Voyle, and pushing deep into Caspia. The war comes to a sudden end when Voyle is slain in single combat with Cygnaran warcaster Lord Commander Coleman Stryker. The sudden change was due to Menoth's blessing on Voyle that was supposed to make him invincible.


System-wise:
I know the system uses 2d6 and that you have 2 classes.

1) How does this two-classes thing work?
Like the others have said - you pick two careers in character creation and that determines what skills, abilities and gear you begin with as well as how high you can raise certain skills and what abilities you have access to. At two or three points in character advancement, you can take additional careers, though these only provide a couple of non-combat skill boosts and you'll have to earn more experience to take some of the new career's abilities.

So right out of character creation, you'd have characters like an Aristocrat/Investigator (Castle, anyone? :smalltongue:), a Knight/Man-At-Arms, an Arcane Mechanik/Warcaster and so on.

2) What sort of classes and races are available?As they've also said, there's seven races - humans, dwarves, gobbers (http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/gallery/mercenaries/solos/reinholdt-gobber-speculator), Iosans (http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/gallery/retribution-of-scyrah/solos/narn-mage-hunter-of-ios), Nyss (http://privateerpress.com/files/products/mercenaries/units/cylena-raefyll-and-nyss-hunters-unit.png), ogrun (http://privateerpress.com/files/products/OgrunAssaultCorps.png) and trollkin (http://privateerpress.com/files/products/mercenaries/units/boomhowler-and-co-unit.png).

There's about 30 careers in the core book, two more added in No Quarter Magazine (the Doom Reaver (http://privateerpress.com/files/products/khador/units/doom-reavers.png) and the Long Rider (http://privateerpress.com/files/products/71080_LongRiders5manWEB.jpg)) and several more in the first softcover supplement, Urban Adventure.
These are the careers in the core book and a short description of what they do:
Alchemist - Alchemy plays a big part in the Iron Kingdoms and is the only reliable source of faster healing (beyond conventional first-aid, at least). An Alchemist aids his party by brewing healing salves and other concoctions outside the battle and with an array of grenades in the battle.
Arcane Mechanik - Mechanika is a part of daily life in the Iron Kingdoms, from the labourjacks working at the docks to prosthetic limbs, all the way up to warcaster armour and the mighty warjacks used by the various military forces. And the Arcane Mechanik is the one who builds and maintains them.
Arcanist - The basic spellcasting class, the Arcanist is a trained practitioner. The career lacks any Military Skills, so the second career should be one that'll provide at least one combat skill.
Aristocrat - A natural leader and socialite, the Aristocrat is still no fop when it comes to battle and has access to a variety of weapon skills.
Bounty Hunter - Exactly What It Says On The Tin; the Bounty Hunter is who you call when you need a criminal brought in alive.
Cutthroat - A killer, plain-and-simple. If you want an assassin-style character, this is the one for you.
Duelist - A nimble fighter focussed on quickly moving about the battlefield and fighting with sword, pistol or both. A smattering of social skills further help the swashbuckling image.
Explorer - Delving into lost ruins and deep into forests and jungles, the Explorer is perfect for those Indiana Jones fans.
Fell Caller - Trollkin who can work magic with their booming songs. Think big, Scottish bards (possibly voiced by BRIAN BLESSED!).
Field Mechanik - The Arcane Mechanik may know the fundamental points of a piece of mechanika and be able to make them from scratch, but a Field Mechanik works best when it's the non-magical parts of a machine that aren't working. Begins with the 'Jack Marshal ability and a light labourjack.
Gun Mage - A mage who channels his magic through specially-made bullets and a specially-made firearm.
Highwayman - A mounted fighter with a penchant for the ambush. Perfect for those who've been wanting an excuse to call out "Stand and deliver!"
Investigator - Sherlock Holmes in the Iron Kingdoms.
Iron Fang (http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/gallery/khador/units/iron-fang-pikemen) - The renowned pikemen of the Khadoran military.
Knight - A melee powerhouse, the Knight also possesses some skill at Command and Etiquette.
Mage Hunter - The elite assassins of the Retribution of Scyrah, who believe human magic is to blame for their last living god's ailment, magical defences are useless against them.
Man-At-Arms - A military career with an array of combat skills.
Military Officer - A soldier and commander, the Military Officer is at home directing and supporting his allies.
Pirate - An underhanded, close-in fighter with skills suited to the open seas. A requirement for games starting on Talk Like A Pirate Day.
Pistoleer - A narrowly-focussed career based solely on fighting with pistols.
Priest - Effectively two careers - Priest of Morrow and Priest of Menoth - both versions gain various support magic as well as some combat skills. More faiths will be added in future books.
Ranger - A stealthy, skilled woodsman and wilderness scout.
Rifleman - A rifle-based version of the Pistoleer.
Soldier - A career with a broad choice of weapon skills and a variety of combat abilities.
Sorcerer - An instinctive spellcaster with an elemental focus. Has access to some basic weapon skills.
Spy - James Bond of Immoren (usually without the gadgets, though - unless the Spy (or another player) is also a very creative Arcane Mechanik).
Stormblade (http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/gallery/cygnar/units/stormblade-unit) - A knight in Cygnar's military, the Stormblade begins with a powerful weapon and sturdy armour, though with minimal skills beyond this.
Thief - A skill-focussed career about obtaining things people don't want to lose. An Alchemist/Thief could be an interesting combination with knockout gas.
Trencher (http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/gallery/cygnar/units/trencher-unit) - Another combat-focussed career, the Trencher is a front-line infantryman in Cygnar's military.
Warcaster - A rare and powerful battle mage with the unique ability to telepathically bond with steamjacks.


3) How do the big stompy robots fit into the game?Well as I mentioned for the Field Mechanik career above, they're the only career to start with a light labourjack (they also get 200 gold worth of weaponry for it, but that won't get you much - a steamjack-sized halberd costs that much). Obviously, the labourjacks aren't the best in a fight, but the 'Jack Marshal ability gives the 'jack's controller ways to make the 'jack's attacks more accurate or hit harder.

In the cities and even some rural areas, labourjacks are pretty common - heavy labourjacks are used for heavy lifting around docks and warehouses (like how we use forklifts in the real world) while lights are sometimes used to plough fields out in the countryside.

Warjacks are a little harder to find, although there's plenty of decommissioned ones for mercenaries to buy when they have the money. The core book only provides stats for two warjacks - the Talon (http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/gallery/mercenaries/warjacks/talon) light warjack and the Nomad (http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/gallery/mercenaries/warjacks/nomad) heavy - but their combat stats in the RPG are identical to their stats in the wargame so you can easily port just about any 'jack in from the wargame as long as you've got the statcard (which comes with the model). Unless you need pricing, in which case the GM'll have to come up with his own or wait for a future book or No Quarter article to reveal it.

EDIT: A quick note on size, too - light 'jacks are typically about 8-9 feet tall while heavies are usually about 11 or 12 feet tall.

4) What does the magic system look like?You can find the details in the quickstart rules that PP made free on their website (down the bottom of this page, titled Fools Rush In: http://privateerpress.com/iron-kingdoms/downloads ) but for most spellcasters it works like this.

Every spell has a Cost - this is how many fatigue points your character will gain when they cast it. If you gain more fatigue points than your Arcane Stat (which starts at 3, but can be raised to 4 during character creation) then you have to make a Fatigue Roll - 2d6 and you're trying to roll above the number of fatigue points you have. Pass, and you can continue your turn, even casting more spells if you have the actions, though you'll force another Fatigue Roll after every spell (since your fatigue is still above your Arcane). Fail, and your turn immediately ends and you won't be able to cast spells next turn.

You lose a number of fatigue points equal to your Arcane at the start of each turn - so if you pushed yourself beyond that limit the previous turn, you'll start the following turn with the leftover fatigue points still there.

Focussers (who are all warcasters at this stage) work slightly differently - at the start of each turn, they gain their Arcane stat in Focus Points (while losing any unspent Focus from the previous turn) and spend those to cast spells, rather than gain fatigue. A focusser can't push themselves like a will weaver, but they're more reliable in that they can never lose their spellcasting ability like an over-eager will weaver can.

[hewhosaysfish]

Okay, I'll be covering this in pretty broad strokes for the most part and I may miss stuff, but here we go.

Thanks! This will help me understand the factions and rivalries so I don't end up asking things like "Wait, what? Cryx? We're supposed to be killling those guys? I thought they were working for Lord Whatshisface, the one with big hat? The guys with the blue uniforms?"



Like the others have said - you pick two careers in character creation and that determines what skills, abilities and gear you begin with as well as how high you can raise certain skills and what abilities you have access to....

...As they've also said, there's seven races - humans, dwarves, gobbers (http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/gallery/mercenaries/solos/reinholdt-gobber-speculator), Iosans (http://privateerpress.com/warmachine/gallery/retribution-of-scyrah/solos/narn-mage-hunter-of-ios), Nyss (http://privateerpress.com/files/products/mercenaries/units/cylena-raefyll-and-nyss-hunters-unit.png), ogrun (http://privateerpress.com/files/products/OgrunAssaultCorps.png) and trollkin (http://privateerpress.com/files/products/mercenaries/units/boomhowler-and-co-unit.png).
How big an impact does race have on a characters strengths (and advancement potential) compared to careers?


There's about 30 careers in the core book, two more added in No Quarter Magazine (the Doom Reaver (http://privateerpress.com/files/products/khador/units/doom-reavers.png) and the Long Rider (http://privateerpress.com/files/products/71080_LongRiders5manWEB.jpg)) and several more in the first softcover supplement, Urban Adventure.
*plugs numbers into his calculator*
That's 435 combinations out of the core book. Crazy.
Though I do have to wonder how big the difference is between a Solider and a Man-At-Arms. Or a Knight and a Stormblade.



You can find the details in the quickstart rules that PP made free on their website (down the bottom of this page, titled Fools Rush In: http://privateerpress.com/iron-kingdoms/downloads ) but for most spellcasters it works like this.
I'm definitely going to check the quickstart rules out. Thanks.


A focusser can't push themselves like a will weaver, but they're more reliable in that they can never lose their spellcasting ability like an over-eager will weaver can.
But from what you explained, if a weaver never casts a spell with a higher Fatigue cost than his Arcane then he will never be at risk of messing up and will automatically regenerate the Fatigue at the start of his next turn. So a weaver could be just a reliable as a focuser as long as he stays within the same limitations as a focuser... bt has the option of stepping outside those limits when he needs to to.
Are the weaver-type casters just strictly better than the focusers?

EDIT: Also, you mention that priests come in both Menoth and Morrow flavours, and that Menoth is Old Testament God + fire. But what's Morrow like?

[The Glyphstone]

If it's similar to the game, the Focuser casters have a benefit in that they can spend Focus for things other than casting spells, like giving themselves a defensive force field or making their attacks more accurate/stronger. It looks like will-weavers can only boost magic attacks.

[ShadowFighter15]

How big an impact does race have on a characters strengths (and advancement potential) compared to careers?Your species determines the starting values and maximums for your stats as well as giving you some other benefits - like how humans get +1 to one of their Primary stats or Iosans get a bonus Ability from either of their careers.



*plugs numbers into his calculator*
That's 435 combinations out of the core book. Crazy.
Though I do have to wonder how big the difference is between a Solider and a Man-At-Arms. Or a Knight and a Stormblade. It's a bit less than that - some careers restrict what they can be paired with at the beginning (ie - Stormblade can only be paired with Aristocrat, Knight, Man-at-Arms, Military Officer, Soldier or Warcaster).

As well - some are restricted by species (Knight is limited to Humans and Iosans, for instance) or nationality (can only be a Trencher if your character's from Cygnar). Both in a couple of cases (have to be a Khadoran Human to take the Iron Fang career, for instance). On top of that, some can only be taken during character creation.

They did manage to keep the careers unique - both from what gear, skills and abilities they start with, skills and abilities they can take and how high those skills can be raised (each career has a limit on how high certain skills can be raised - if its on both careers, you use whichever's higher). The Knight, for instance, has access to a lot of abilities related to mounted combat as well as a few leadership-related ones while the Stormblade is very heavily focused on beating the hell out of stuff with a lightning-shooting claymore. Man-at-Arms is a bit of a defensive-oriented melee career while Soldier is a very flexible career you can direct towards just about any style of combat (although is a touch biased towards ranged combat in what abilities it can take).


But from what you explained, if a weaver never casts a spell with a higher Fatigue cost than his Arcane then he will never be at risk of messing up and will automatically regenerate the Fatigue at the start of his next turn. So a weaver could be just a reliable as a focuser as long as he stays within the same limitations as a focuser... bt has the option of stepping outside those limits when he needs to to.
Are the weaver-type casters just strictly better than the focusers?

Like Glyph mentioned, Focus can be used more flexibly than what will weavers can do. They can allocate it to their steamjacks (allowing them to do stuff that they'd otherwise need a 'Jack Marshal Drive for), they can use it to boost attack or damage rolls with a mechanikal weapon, unspent points improve their Armour (assuming they're wearing and are bonded to a suit of warcaster armour). The only unique thing a will weaver can do is gain an extra point of Fatigue to increase the range of their spell by 5". Both can spend additional Focus/gain additional Fatigue to boost their attack or damage rolls with a spell. Since it's more flexible, combined with the potential power of the Warcaster career (which is the only way to be a focusser), a focusser character's Arcane starts at 2, while will-weavers start at 3. Both can easily be raised to 4 in character creation, but the warcaster would then be lagging behind in his other stats a bit more than the will weaver.*


EDIT: Also, you mention that priests come in both Menoth and Morrow flavours, and that Menoth is Old Testament God + fire. But what's Morrow like?

Morrow's basically a Neutral Good deity, to use DnD alignment, who believes that kindness and selfless acts can lead one to enlightenment and to transcend mortality. He and his sister, Thamar, have had some of their followers do this and are revered by their respective faiths akin to saints. 11 each, to be precise. Morrow's are known as Ascendents while Thamar's are called Scions.

The curious thing with both faiths is that, while opposed, they're still linked by more than just their respective deities having been siblings while mortal. They share a holy book - the Enkheiridion. Read it from front-to-back and you're reading Morrow's writings from when he was alive. Back-to-front and you get Thamar's. It's not just a case of using Thamar's writings as an example of what not to do. It's a complex subject, I'm afraid.


*You get 3 points to spend on your stats in character creation - they're raised on a 1-to-1 basis - to get a warcaster's Arcane up to 4 means spending two of those points while a will weaver doing the same only needs to spend 1.

[hewhosaysfish]

Thanks, guys! This has all been really helpful.
I've still got no idea what sort of character I'm going to end up playing but now of got some facts to mull over.

EDIT:
New question! (Sorry, if you though I was finished.)

What are the naming style of the different cultures?
From the wiki, it seems that Cygnar have English-style names and Khador have Russian-style ones. Does this apply to gobbers/ogrun/trollkin in those nations too or do they have their own customs?

And the Protectorate, having previously been part of Cygnar, do they have mostly Cygnaran/English names? And I have no idea about Llaelese or Ordic names, or Rhul, Ios or Nyuss names.

[ShadowFighter15]

This is probably the easiest to answer. Can't mention specific countries (since I'm not 100% sure on Llael and Ord) but this thread on the IK forums has huge lists of names (http://privateerpressforums.com/showthread.php?122817&p=1641029) that were printed in the old version of the RPG (when it was just a campaign setting for 3rd edition DnD) organised by species/place of origin.

Doesn't cover Iosans or Nyss, though, but for a lot of those you can kind of get away with taking a fancy-ish normal name and adding extra Ys. Like turning Silas into Sylys, or Gareth into Garryth.

[Leon]

Gobber names tend to be a long string a smaller names that mean something with the first three to fours letters being a common usage nickname

[ShadowFighter15]

The post with gobber names in the thread I linked explains it:

Gobber names are a single long name which is a compound of a first name + mother's first name + father's first name + descriptive name. Most humans simply use some nick name to address gobbers.

Provides some descriptive names after the first names.

[hewhosaysfish]

Thanks again! (And that list *does* cover Ios and Nyuss names.)

[Ravens_cry]

The system has some quirks, that were also quirky in the war game. For example, unless I misunderstand it, all around vision makes it so you can't make free strikes (attacks of opportunity for D&D players) for someone walking around you.

[ShadowFighter15]

The system has some quirks, that were also quirky in the war game. For example, unless I misunderstand it, all around vision makes it so you can't make free strikes (attacks of opportunity for D&D players) for someone walking around you.

Yeah, because free strikes are caused when someone leaves an enemy's front arc. If you've got a spell or ability that extends your front arc to 360-degrees. Of course then, by my reading at least, you're also immune to backstrikes (since a backstrike bonus only applies if the character starts their activation in the target's back arc and never leaves it).

Besides; don't think there's much benefit to manoeuvring around someone without leaving their front arc unless you're going to use something like a Thunderbolt Rune Shot or a spell to push the other guy back and off a cliff.

[Ravens_cry]

Yeah, because free strikes are caused when someone leaves an enemy's front arc. If you've got a spell or ability that extends your front arc to 360-degrees. Of course then, by my reading at least, you're also immune to backstrikes (since a backstrike bonus only applies if the character starts their activation in the target's back arc and never leaves it).

Besides; don't think there's much benefit to manoeuvring around someone without leaving their front arc unless you're going to use something like a Thunderbolt Rune Shot or a spell to push the other guy back and off a cliff.
Still, it's weird that being MORE aware makes you LESS reactive. The big disadvantage is it lets people move around you with impunity, making you less effective as a block.

[ShadowFighter15]

Still, it's weird that being MORE aware makes you LESS reactive. The big disadvantage is it lets people move around you with impunity, making you less effective as a block.

True, but they can still act as a block - just have to position themselves so that an enemy has to leave their melee reach to hit someone else. So someone with a greatsword and all-around vision is gonna be more than 2" away from someone he's trying to block - someone trying to charge past him to get at someone else will have to leave his melee reach (2" all around).

The IKRPG is a lot more about positioning, really - if you've got all-around vision and are a tank then you just have to put yourself further forward of the others to block charge lanes.

Really, though, I think all-around vision is better on a spellcaster or ranged character, since then they can shoot in any direction. Of course; a melee character with all-around vision and Thresher* is just evil if they let themselves get surrounded.


*Can't remember if it's in the RPG yet, but in the wargame this is a special attack (made in place of a normal one) some weapons have where you make an attack roll against everyone in range of the weapon that has the ability.

[Ravens_cry]

Yes, you can, potentially, negate most of the issues, but it's still an issue.

[hewhosaysfish]

Update:

I now have a Cygnaran Field Mechanik/Rifleman (Skilled) and have played my first session of Iron Kingdoms.

Emery Traherne and his faithful steamjack Sawyer (and the rest of the party) took a bounty to hunt down the mysterious reptilian menace that has been leaving dismember people around the waterfront.
We got ambushed by gator-men; Traherne was immediately stuck in melee, flailed ineffectually and got mauled in return; Sawyer was unable to push his way through to rescue his master before Armagit (the Ogrun Soldier/Man-At-Arms) could.
Now we descend deeper and deeper in the storm drains under the city in search of 1 survivor that got away.

Thank you all one last time for your advice!

[ShadowFighter15]

Hope the campaign goes well for you. Just remember to let the people who don't have guns take point while you're in the sewers.

[lyko555]

also never ever shoot at skigs

[ShadowFighter15]

also never ever shoot at skigs

Yeah, those are cool monsters. Interesting way to do the 'kamikaze' style enemy.

[Leon]

also never ever shoot at skigs


No, shooting at skiggs is the safer way to deal with them. Hitting Skiggis in melee is bad.

[ShadowFighter15]

No, shooting at skiggs is the safer way to deal with them. Hitting Skiggis in melee is bad.

Unless you're inside a powder magazine in which case both are bad ideas and there is only one sensible action:

RUN LIKE HELL!!!