Gauntlet: Dark Legacy Heroes and (Eventually) Quests

[WiseOne]

Alright I have revised this to be where it was. I have taken influences from some other characters I designed (the Sorceress takes elements from the Witch) and I also tried to really get the flavor of each character. The first version was a very rough cut but I have some more specifics with this along with weapons and armor that go with it that I had also previously typed out and lost.

My wife and I have playtested the Knight, Sorceress, and Archer all the way through Ogre Horde and we had a ton of fun with them. As we say, the "Knight is gonna go but slow." In particular the Knight really can stay with the party but have that defensive feel.

I have created a series of characters based on Gauntlet Dark Legacy. Eventually I hope to create a series of quests based on the realms using pit traps as 2 Body point spawns that spawn a monster every round. Wandering Monster is Death that is the Witch lord without spells (version 1) but is defeated by tossing a potion.

The level up abilities are included. A key factor is these are designed with the idea of more monsters showing up or for that Gauntlet feel of crushing your enemies. They really only make sense with the full abilities. As per Gauntlet, the Warrior and Dwarf have the highest Strength and are designed to have similar stats. The Valkyrie and Knight have the highest defense while still being capable Warriors. The Archer and Jester are the roguish/battle mage/light warrior characters that resemble the elf to me. They have the highest speed. The wizard and sorceress have the highest magic capabilities.

Warrior - As Barbarian
Needs Food Badly - Once per quest may heal 2 Body Points
Fire Arc - Once per quest may cast Ball of Flame
Two Handed Slayer - +1 AD with Two Handed Melee Weapons
Is About to Die - Once per quest when you would die you instead ignore the attack or spell.

Knight - As Barbarian but 7/3, Cannot use ranged weapons or run from a winnable fight but only -1 movement instead of -1 Die in platemail
Shield Mastery - May reroll one defend die with a shield equipped.
Ball and Chain - Once per quest attack all adjacent enemies.
Knight's Training - Gain one combat card (if using them) or +1 AD with Knight Weapons.
Guard - May give up any number of defense dice and provide it to an adjacent ally.

Valkyrie - As Barbarian but 7/3
Shield Maiden - May reroll one Dfend die with a shield equipped.
Multi Blade Arc - Once per quest may attack all adjacent enemies
Sky Lance - Once per quest cast Storm Master Lightning Bolt spell
Captain - Once per quest may cast Time Stop after making an attack.

Sorceress - As Wizard but Water, Earth and the following 3 Necromancer Spells (Summon Skeletons, Fear, Skulls of Doom). Begins with a 1AD ranged weapon the Sorceress' Wand.
Charm Monster - Once per quest may ignore a Wandering Monster drawn by you or another hero in the room.
Potion Mastery - Begin each quest with a duplicated potion of one the Sorceress possesses that is lost at the end of the quest.
Familiar - Once per quest may cast a spell from another point in the room.
Undead Mastery - Count as always having the bone wand.

Jester - As Elf but begins with 1 AD ranged weapon usable once per quest (Jester Bomb) and a 2 AD Club "Batter up". Cannot cast spells but may Disarm as with a Toolkit without One and as a Dwarf with a toolkit.
Pirouette - Once per quest may ignore one attack.
Sonic Boom - Once per quest may cast Tempest
Cartwheel - Once per quest may pass through enemies
Oldest Trick in the Book - Once per quest may place an unused piece of furniture on the board. All figures take damage as if under a falling block trap.

Jester v2 The Dodgy version) - As Elf but begins with 1 AD ranged weapon usable once per quest (Jester Bomb) and a 2 AD Club "Batter up". Cannot cast spells but Dodges an Attack if any Shields are rolled. May purchase the Cloak of Protection +1 DD
Magic Toolbox - may Disarm as with a Toolkit without One and as a Dwarf with a toolkit.
Sonic Boom - Once per quest may cast Tempest
Cartwheel - Once per quest may pass through enemies
Oldest Trick in the Book - Once per quest may place an unused piece of furniture on the board. All figures take damage as if under a falling block trap.

Wizard - As Wizard but cannot cast Healing spells but begins with 1 Healing potion that disappears at the end of the quest
Throw Potion - May throw potions at an ally in line of sight causing the effect to go off on them.
Rock Shower - Once per quest may do 1 Damage to all enemies on room. They may defend.
Improved Throw Potion - May throw potions at enemies doing the opposite effect. Healing potions do damage for example.
Demon Skull - Once per quest may cast the Chaos spell Lightning Bolt.

Dwarf - As Dwarf but 8/2. May only use Axes and Hammers. Begins with a 2 AD Hammer.
Dwarf Strength - +1 AD with Hammers and Axes.
Thunderclap - Once per quest, when you hit an enemy they lose 1 DD and adjacent enemies do as well.
Mercenary - Once per quest, instead of drawing for treasure, roll a red die and gain that many gold coins.
Fire Fissure - Once per quest may cast the Storm Master Earthquake spell

Archer - As Elf but begins with 2 AD Weak Shortbow but may only shoot with 5 Arrows per quest. Also starts with a dagger. Cannot cast spells or wear a helmet but gain +1 DD for every 2 squares you move away from your starting position. Roll 3 Red Dice and take the highest when moving.
Great Speed - Gain +2 to all Movement rolls.
Scout - Once per quest may cast Clairvoyance
Arcing Shot - May ignore Heroes in Line of Sight
BFG - Once per quest may attack all enemies in Line of Sight with Bows

New Weapons and Armor (the Prices aren't fully balanced yet)

Magic Wand 1 AD - 150 Gold Coins. Only usable by Sorceress.
Advanced Wand 2 AD - 300 Gold Coins, Only usable by Sorceress.

Shortbow 2 AD - 250 Gold Coins
Bow - 3 AD As Crossbow
Longbow 4 AD - 500 Gold Coins
Great Bow 5 AD 1000 Gold Coins

Axe - As Broadword
Hammer - As Shortsword
Warrior's Axe/Great Hammer, 2 Handed - 5 AD 1200 Gold Coins

Jester's Bomb (Single Use) - 1 AD 15 Gold Coins
Jester's Grenade Pack - 2 AD 250 Gold Coins
Jester's Incendiary Pack 3 AD and does 1 AD against an adjacent enemy 1000 Gold Coins

[Gold Bearer]

I love Gaunlet.
Your heroes aren't ballanced, how about something like this:

Warrior - As Barbarian but 7/3 and rerolls black shields once when attacking in melee or throwing.

Valkyrie - As Barbarian but 6/4 and rerolls black shields once when defending.

Archer - 5/5 and moves with the highest two of three dice but cannot use a Helmet or Plate Armour and begins with 2 AD Shortbow, attacks with 3 AD with a Bow (250gp)and 4 AD with a Longbow (500gp), other heroes attack with one dice less using bows.

Wizard - As Wizard and chooses spells in the same way with the Sorcerer replacing the Elf.

Dwarf - As Dwarf.

Knight - As Barbarian but 6/4 and cannot use ranged weapons but uses the lowest two of three dice with Plate Armour and is immune to hostile magic.

Jester - 5/5 and can dodge attacks rolling one combat dice for each skull scored and avoiding the attack if you roll at least one white shield but can't use any type of armour of double handed melee weapons.

Sorceress - As Wizard but has but has one element spell set and the three WoM spell sets.

[WiseOne]

I have now revised everything and updated what I had before. That first version was pretty rough.

Take a look at the level up abiliteis as they pull the defensive feel out more. I really tried to mimic also the stats of the characters from Gauntlet. They aren't designed to be balanced fully to the original heroes but more of an overhall. Also the original heroes have a more Gygaxian the goal of Zargon is to crush the heroes feel. These have a more mow throw armies in Gauntlet feel that I am going for. We did play through with the Knight, Archer, and Sorceress and they were fun, though at the time we kept the spells and No point blank shot for the Archer. I took liberties in keeping disarm traps with the Dwarf and Jester to allow for use in the original game.

Gold I do like the idea of the penalty to other heroes with bow/crossbow. Personally I find the Red Warrior really feels just like the Barbarian and so I went with that. The Sorceress's is equal in magic to the Wizard hence going that way and I did. The 3 selected Necromancer spells we found pretty fun and reasonable. I wouldn't take away helmets from Archers. Some of these I hadn't gotten around to writing and they are implicit in our games. The Archer cannot use Borin's Armor or Platemail.

The other thing these heroes do is have heroes you might not expect do things. Warriors casting spells? Wizards throwing potions? Sorceress summoning Skeletons? Jester throwing tables?

[WiseOne]

I took some of your ideas and made a more dodgy version of the jester (though I still like having a second character in the group disarm traps well, even if its just a level up ability) and created a version of the archer where speed = defense. I altered the starting equipment to be more toned down. People can pick up and choose from any of the versions, pull them apart, or use their own. Zargon is the master of the Hero Quest World! My wife is really interested in the spawn falling furniture ability so we will probably playtest that and a few others next.