Wandering Blades Dev Diary: Class Basics & the Youxia

As Breakout Con approaches, I've completed working drafts of 3 core classes for Wandering Blades: the Youxia, Vagabond, and Bandit! My design partner, Liana, is working on a magic user at the moment!

Here is a breakdown of the class system and the Youxia. You'll notice that the Youxia is fairly short compared to games like Pathfinder and D&D. Each class table will look very different as well.

*At the moment, we are only designing 5 levels for each class. This will allow us to establish a base and then build a long-term journey from that.

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In Wandering Blades, a character’s class defines what they can do and their worldview.

Class Abilities

Each class has its own set of class abilities. These outline a class’ hit dice, starting equipment, and unique adventuring features.

Bonus Qi Points

Each class receives bonus qi points at each level. These add to their base qi point pool.

Techniques

Techniques are powers and special abilities that characters choose from their class. There are four types of Techniques: Combat, Reactive, Support, and Esoteric. Qi points are required to use Techniques.

Combat techniques are special martial arts attacks. In combat, unless it is otherwise stated, a character can only use one combat Technique per turn.

Reactive techniques are used in response to what is happening during a scene. In combat, reactive techniques can only be used once per turn.

Support techniques are used to aid your allies or disrupt adversaries in combat. In combat, support techniques can only be used once per turn.

Esoteric techniques are magical actions. They require item slots to use because of the paraphernalia (such as manuals) required to wield them. In combat, esoteric techniques can only be used once per turn.

Learning Techniques

Characters start with a number of known techniques determined by their class. When a character levels up, they are able to select 1 new technique.

Optional rule: Instead of adding a technique every level, new techniques must either be learned from martial arts manuals, masters, or through creativity and diligent practice (negotiated with the GM).

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Youxia

You are a youxia [yo she-ah] - a wandering hero who protects the innocent and seeks to correct injustices using their martial skills and diplomacy. You are neither a knight or a bandit. You have no allegiances to orders, monarchs, or noble families. Driven by an unwavering sense of justice, you avenge wrongs and help the poor - often through acts of violent heroism.

A youxia favours the ideals of justice, altruism, individual freedom, and challenges traditional Confucian gender expectations. To a youxia, personal loyalty is more important than family loyalty and conformance to ideals of law and order expressed by the highest social classes.

Class Abilities

Class Hit Die - 1d10 per level.

Starting equipment - 1 weapon, 1 piece of light armour, Traveller’s Kit

Hero in Disguise - You have a unique disguise, persona, and identity that allows you to blend into certain areas (GMs discretion). Any non-combat checks that leverage your disguise are amplified. This false identity must be a labourer, peasant, or farmer. It takes less than an hour to become their alter-ego and they can remain in it indefinitely or until they are discovered or reveal their martial prowess. Once a youxia removes their disguise or is discovered, they may not use it again until they have completed a long rest.

Signature Weapon - You have a few signature weapons that you wield, each with their own unique name. A signature weapon deals damage one category higher without changing the weight category. The number of signature weapons a youxia can possess is dependent on their level. When you attempt to use your signature weapon to influence the outcome of a social situation, your rolls are amplified until you fail a check.

Youxia Techniques

A youxia starts with three techniques of their choice.  Add one technique each time a new level is gained.

• Focused Strike (1 Qi Point - Combat) - A single attack is amplified and cannot be modified by a target’s Guard.
• Twilight Thrust (1 Qi Point - Combat) - You may Move in a straight line and make an Attack as a single action.
• Focused Dodge (1 Qi Point - Reactive) - Add your Focus bonus to your dodge against a single attack.
• Disarming Strike (1 Qi Point - Reactive) - Disarm an adversary - make a check against their Agility score to disarm an opponent. If able, you may take and ready their weapon.
• Gale Slash (2 Qi Points - Combat) - A single attack creates a gust of wind that can knock a single opponent within close to mid-range off balance. They must make an Agility saving throw with a difficulty equal to your attack roll. On a failed roll, they must use an action to regain their footing.
• Whirlwind Strike (2 Qi Points - Combat) - Using a single attack action, strike two nearby adversaries with a single attack roll. You may add one qi point for every additional target.
• Heroic Strike (3 Qi Points - Combat) - Deal maximum damage on a single attack. This technique can be declared after an attack resolves.