Putting aside the debate whether or not warriors should have clearly supernatural capabilities and outright magical abilities, what would be some intresting and flavorful ways to implement that other than simply giving them wizard-esque spells or simply becoming a Superman?
I mean, there's a fuckton of intresting ways wizards and the magic they cast has been implemented and fluffed, but I never really see supernatural warrior stuff that much. You'd think that it'd be possible to make up some great lore and mechanics for supernatural warriors, but it just seems to boil down to "I hit that shit even harder" much of the time.
So, if you had to come up with some more intresting stuff, how would you do it?
There are two ways to answer the "How strong shoulder warriors be?" question.
1. Magic is limited in someway. Either its dangerous, its very limited in uses [that is, more then D&D], its unreliable, or it just isn't that powerful in terms of maximum output possible.
2. Warriors are mythological. What does that mean in practical terms? The ability to fight large groups of enemies as once, the ability to fight giant monsters easily, supernatural immunities to various things, superior athletic ability such as leaping far distances, lifting heavy loads, moving very quickly, breaking hard objects, having supernatural luck, having the ability to buff other characters or armies through morale, being able to stealth so good you're essentially invisible, having persuasion on par with mind control, etc etc etc.
The short answer is, the only solution to giving mages powerful easy safe super powers is to give warriors powerful easy safe super powers.
>"But doesn't that make them the same/make a warrior only a wizard with a sword!"
No. No it doesn't. Because the powers are different or are fluffed differently. If you honestly see every single fictional heroic character you ever witness as simply a D&D wizard refluffed, a truly pity you.
>>44350543
Martial arts styles, which have weaknesses and strengths, more than just bonuses and penalties.
Personal quirks affecting the flow of combat, such as someone being hesitant to kill, or preferring a signature weapon, or battle cries.
More depth than just full attack.
Skills like
>Copper Blade: Does straight extra damage.
>Silver Blade: Undercuts armor/damage resistance
>Golden Blade: Heals user based on dealing damage
>Platinum Blade: Combined effects of above skills
Don't think about why it exists in the universe, think about what it does for the game.
Those skills give different benefits in different situations, some more useful than others, which is what a lot of combat systems sorely lack.
>>44350543
Why give a martial class supernatural, or even magical abilities. Though it'd be far more tangible for supernatural means to intrude on the mundane warrior classes of a fantasy setting, underlying traits of natural magics being the base of their feets as they draw strength from within themselves, the flavor in these events devalue the warrior as an archetype.
And wizards are a cheap implementation to insert the fantastic into a setting, they create more mundane effects of the unknown within the bounds of the world. They solve and easily fix problems, and are normally the answer to most dilemmas. Magic is a crude way of saying; Because plot. Or in some instances; Because Macguffins.
That's why warriors, through self improvement, careful choice of equipment, and use of strategy, are vastly superior as characters than those who can simply wave their hands and solve what ever ails them. They don't need magic and require story to entertain the answers to their problem. They are what makes the adventurer, the embodiment of the journey from start to finish in well rounded characters.
Its why Superman is a shit tier character, Goku is just above that, naruto making leaps over his identity, with deep characters like Jet being overall the best kinds of characters.
>TL;DR My opinion is that spell casters are shit characters, and warriors embody story.
I've always kind of liked the idea of Celtic warrior feats that were described. I mean, some of them were ridiculous shit like a special attack that kills hundreds of enemy warriors at once, but there was some good warrior mysticism in there. Individual, learned supernatural talents that allow the warrior to achieve impossible things, like hold his breath for hours or climb more or less any surface or shit like that.
I mean, stuff like that could be pretty cool for a lower-powered game, which is what I usually do. I like the idea of warriors being capable of things outside of sheer combat by being badasses and pushing themselves over boundaries. I also like the flavor of these being something you learn and hone, not just catch-all supernatural powerups.
Something like that would also make skilled warriors in lower-powered games very fearsome, as they would not be held back by common obstacles, and could redefine the situation to work in their favor.
I've been kind of toying with the idea of making mythical warrior feats into actual supernatural talents, and adding my own stuff with similar flavor. To me, it sounds pretty badass if warriors had this mystic, very physical lore they could utilize, and it was actually portrayed as learned skills as well. It meshes well with what I like about warriors.
>>44351430
Oh, and also I've toyed with the concept of supernatural warriors a lot otherwise as well. I seem to recall liking stuff like warriors being able to fabricate their own, short-lived magic weapons or turn defeated monsters into equipment or stuff like that.
Hell, I guess that could work with ideas like these as well. If I just tone it down a bit.
>>44351429
Sorry, but what the fuck are you actually trying to say? I seriously can't read this. Who the fuck is Jet? What?
>>44351552
>Not watching Cowboy Bebop
>Not enjoying the ex-cop amputee
>Being illiterate
>Not understanding Magic is a cheap excuse to advance plot
>Not understanding magic doesn't give a character personality
Preternatural and mystical abilities are by definition not magical abilities. Unless you're a Nu Atheist who can't into anthropology/philosophy/history, maybe.
>>44351821
>Not being able to communicate any of this properly in English
Learn to use coherent sentences, then revise your original post, then try again.
>>44351821
>Personality
Yeah, yeah, I know. Fighters are the Nice Guys of fantasy.
"But muh personality is good, surely I need nothing else!"
>>44352086
If you don't understand my communique, perhaps you should accommodate yourself to more grammar schooling lessons. I'm here to argue the point of why fighters make better rounder, archetypes without magic than with it.
>>44352106
I think you misunderstand, let me clarify; Being a martial archetype makes a character approach all things different from a mage archetype. Characters who are all powerful or close to inevitable for problem solving, are useless as far as a story plot goes. They can just fix problems instantly. There would be no lord of the rings novels if Gandalf could have just taken the ring, teleported and been done with it. Or if they could have just flown there.
>>44351429
I disagree, but only because you're making assumptions about the positions of wizards. The thing is that people will almost always root for the underdog, which is usually what warriors represent, but that's mostly because most games, DnD being the most notorious, are known for giving mages tools for everything, magic to the point of reaching things usually reserved only for gods in many myths.
It's a two sided problem, mages usually get too much power for what would be reasonable and challanges are never geared towards them. So while it doesn't happen often, a magical character outsmarting people to rob, kill someone and incriminate another person, or using their skills to beat a superior force not through sheer firepower or I win buttons, but through slowly wearing them down or even better, just misleading and stalling until they put themselves in a unfavourable position or help arrives is very interesting. And for every warrior type that does succed through their wits and skills, there are the boring ones that are also simply about overpowering the opponent and marching forth while winning what could be an interesting fight through sheer force of will and persistence.
Oaths - By swearing to uphold some value, gain a related boon. Swear to never refuse another's hospitality and gain immunity to poison and a bonus to detecting ambushes from your hosts. Swear to never eat dog and gain the ability to command hounds and wolves. Swear to protect someone and gain the ability to arrive to protect them whenever needed, even across impossible distances.
Your own terms: You can negate magic that would attempt to charm you or simply defeat you outright - instead, your opponents must face you in honest battle. The wizard who wants to raise chest-high walls for cover and throw firebolts at you is still fine, but you get to laugh off effects that would take you out without giving you a chance to go down swinging.
Canny nature: While the wizard may be able to look things up in a book, the fighter can bypass knowledge and go with his gut - He can tell that the elven assassin is actually something else disguised at an elf, that the weird rock troll he just ran into is weak against cold and iron, or that something's not right with the cup labelled "holy grail" in the ancient tomb he's looting.
Fairytale Logic - Let them be a larger-than-life figure who can establish certain facts about themselves as true, and then take them to impossible levels - the Strong Man can pick up and carry a house, the Drinker can drain a lake, the Swift can travel faster than you (no matter who you are) and so on.
Don't play D&D.
No, I get it, you're already frantically scrolling through your reaction image folder for a disappointed anime girl, but I play Barbarians of Lemuria because I like settings and systems where wizards aren't overpowered instant-win machines.
The best solution is "don't play D&D", even if you don't like hearing that.
>>44352334
you use a lot of big words incorrectly, is this purposeful?
>>44353589
Considering you recognize how stupid your opinion is that you already tried to preempt the reaction, here is a smug anime girl that you dread so much, and maybe next time you'll hesitate just a little longer before you try to provide a solution that doesn't even come close to addressing the problem.
You never stop getting stronger.
Your soul is like a fire full of power. The more experience you get, the brighter it burns inside of you, giving you innate strength.
I'd do kung fu instead.
Lots of magical rituals before and after battles.
Unnatural luck and morale.
Warriors doing a war dance literally weaken their enemies spirits, lowering their abstract HP.
When a Warrior kills a foe, they get a burst of speed and strength which can chain off each other as they kill endlessly. Really high level fighters can literally fight armies because they don't get tired.
Warriors take a trophey from the meanest things they kill and use them to either attract fighting buds or wearing them as talismans to increase their strength.
Animal totems are sometimes channeled by Warriors, giving them slight animal traits but also boons of their animal spirit.
Mutated warriors have tentacles, extra long arms, bladed tails, armored scaly skin, a ton of stuff.
There are lots of ways to do it, OP. Just be a little creative.
>>44350543
Watch eastern kung fu movies for inspiration.
