[semi-serious] New Class: Wrestler

[Zonk]

First: this is something I thought up while bored, and not to be meant 100% seriously.

I had read some people wanted an unarmed/monk class too.

Now, I'm not a fan of the stereotypical D&D monk - nothing against martial arts themselves, I just think that there's too much emphasis on 'eastern' fighting style/martial arts and mystical abilities used to justify a lot of things which, mental discipline or not, might as well be considered magic.

So I started designing this - again, mostly for myself and as a joke, as should be obvious from the many tongue-in-cheek comments.
However it it grew so much I thought it would be a shame not to share it.
It would of course take some serious editing to 'fit' in the ToME game world(rebalancing too, it's probably horribly under/overpowered), but even if it doesn't, some ideas here can be recycled elsewhere, say as fighter/berseker/monster talents.


WRESTLER

ALSO KNOWN AS Pugilist, Athlete, Brawler

STATS

Pretty important:

Strength to beat up stuff harder and get some extra benefits from the most brutal talents.

Constitution to resist getting beat up and avoid getting tired from all these fancy moves.

Dexterity, because you're tough, but not getting hit in the first place is an idea worth considering. Also makes your attacks actually connect, which is pretty important. And lets you target more vulnerable spots(low +damage).


Important-ish:

Cunning, so you can fight smarter when doing it harder isn't enough. Those who think you're just a dumb brute will be (unpleasantly) surprised...

Willpower. This is 'heart' - you're the champion and are never gonna give up, that kind of inspiring stuff the people love. Important for some 'heroic'/recovery talents too.




Yes, it looks like they use 5 stats...however they have a talent that helps with physical str/con/dex, as you'll read later on.
Ideally, 4 stats would be enough : you'd just raise str/con/dex and then choose whetever to go for the 'Cunning' or 'Willpower' route.

CLASS THEME, OVERALL MECHANICS AND TALENTS

You travel the world beating the shit out of monsters, just like Herakles!
Then you get the shit kicked out of you and make a fantastic comeback like Rocky!
Also you show-off with fancy(some would say ridicolous) moves - which however require genuine athleticism. Just like professional wrestlers.
Some of your higher level talents would actually look pretty fitting for some brick-type superheroes.

So basically, you're pretty badass and you don't need to wave a fancy metal stick around like these wannabes, the Fighter and Berserker.

But enough with the flavour, let's get to the technical part: despite the name you rely mostly on strikes.

Ideally there should be some finesse/dex based stuff at mid-high levels, but I want to avoid this turning into a generic 'oriental'/D&D/wuxia monk or martial artist.

However I would not oppose oppose some occult-ish abilities if they were interesting and not ridicolous - no shooting energy from your hands.
However that would make Mag a required stat which would suck so perhaps on a different class, which would be to Wrestlers what Arcane Blades are to Fighters.

Anyway, about mechanics:
Wrestler talents use stamina, and they're not supposed to use heavy armour.
Ideally, no armour at all, but leather is alright.
However flat-out disallowing some talents based on what you wear - or worse NOT allowing the wrestler to wear armour at all - would just be wrong.

So here's how it works:

You wear all the armor you want. You want to wrestle in plate mail? Sure, if that's your thing. I don't care.
But keep in mind ALL of the wrestler talents with a stamina cost - and this includes drains from some sustains - use doubled fatigue. Yes, just like mana - you have something in common with these delicate, spell-muttering pansies.

Here are the talents, not yet organized in trees though I have some ideas.
I know some are reflavourings/rip-offs of abilities from other classes but I don't think it's so bad.

Also, assume the following by default:
level = adjusted talent level, rank=unadjusted talent level, talents are activated, sustains drain stamina.

Unarmed combat: Passive, and what you start with. Gives decent damage when attacking unarmed, uses 80% strength and 20% dex as a damage bonus. Not sure about APR but should be fairly low.
Weak? Could make the % higher. Keep in mind that especially at lower levels you're more of a glorified brawler, so dex should matter way less(but eventually you might get better talents that use Dex more).
Note that this should be pretty good, and include +hit, as Wrestlers should not spend points in Weapons Mastery/Training.

Power Blow: Unarmed version of Stunning Blow - extra damage, stuns. Actually, instead of giving out a % bonus to damage, we could make Str matter more, say you get +X% of Strength as extra damage.

Slam: Rush + powerful knockback *and* stun. Consumes lots of stamina and has a chance of stunning the user for 1 turn though(or just make it take 2 turns).

Triple/Power Slam: 200% more slamming, yeah! This affects 3 adjacent foes. What's not to love? Well, the even higher stamina cos and chance of stunning yourself, for 1-2 turns.

Grand Slam: Just when you thought we couldn't get more ridicolous. This is a Triple Slam which ALSO affects the row of enemies behind. Extremely fatiguing and risky, higher stun/time cost than the previous versions.

(the four talents above could sorta fit in a tree. Yes, I know the last two names are from non-combat sports but hey, they sounded cool)

Opportunist: Passive. You can spot holes in your opponent's defenses. When performing a basic attack, and some other not-so-special talent attacks, you have a % of getting another, weaker one(say 50% of normal power and no special). % should be greatly increased - maybe even 100% - against stunned, dazed or confused foes. Perhaps at higher levels you also have a % of a 3rd blow. Could scale off Dex.
Alternatively, this could give a % of basic attack when a foe adjacent to you uses a talent(not all talent types would give the same %).
Even more alternatively, this could be similar to riposte and give you extra basic attacks when you avoid being hit.

Dirty Fighting: Yes, I stole the name from Rogues but they're thieves too so it's alright. Sustain, +X% Cun to damage, lowish chance of inflicting random status effects - stun, daze, confusion, blind (you gouged their eyes, or eye-equivalents). Could be renamed to 'Low Blows' but that feels a bit meh.

Footwork: Float like a butterfly, sting like a hummerhorn(poison not included).
This is either a passive or sustain(if so, stronger because of the stamina drain). Significant knockback resistance, +defense and lower +attack, maybe small(say talent level*2%) bonus to movement speed.

Prowess/Athleticism/Fitness: Passive. All that training - those allegations about illegal magical drugs are just slander - paid off. +1 to Str, Dex, Con per rank, except for the 5th, which gives +2. Should help slightly with the 'class requires too many stats' problem.

Heroic Stamina/Fortitude: Passive, +max stamina(life too?), +air capacity, +physical save. +1 Con/raw talent level would fit but we already have Prowess. For the +air thing: it's original(no other talent has that!) and fitting(better lung capacity!). Two birds with a stone.

Fighting Spirit: You get knocked down, but you get up again, they're never going to keep you down. Passive, +mental/spell saves, bonus life and/or stamina regen when below certain % thresholds, like (25-talent level)%. Would make sense to scale this off Willpower.

Cripple: Heavy attack that debuffs the enemy(-stats, speed).
Alternatively, rename to 'Crippling Blows' and make it a sustain or passive that triggers every time you get a critical.

Circle: Basic attack(maybe also dazes?), then move to the opposite square relative to the foe. Gives some mobility.

Size Matters: Passive, gains bonuses against enemies whose size is different from yours. +attack, defense and a chance of slowing vs larger foes(knee-capping), +damage and low +critical against against smaller ones as you stomp/trample/squash them. Could scale off Cun.

Tough as nails: Yeah, maybe armor looks all cool and shiny, but your ridicolously well-built physique shrugs off blows that would cripple others anyway.
Gain +armor and possibly -to enemy crits. Based on Con. Something like (level)*2 + (level+1)*5% of Con armor.
Could provide some stun/knockback resistance too, or a bonus to physical saves, but that's handled by Heroic Stamina(although more doesn't hurt). Maybe some physical resistance, like level*2%.
Keep in mind this should help compensate the lack of proper armour and so should be fairly strong.

Bear Hug: Constriction attack plus high physical damage. You're not just preventing them from breathing, you're also crushing their organs. On the turn after you stop 'hugging', the foe could be dazed or stunned.

Taunt/Goad: Makes ranged foes approach you and maybe use melee attacks, causes them to gain +melee damage/str(but effect
doesn't improve with your talent level) but -defense, also sometimes makes them do stupid things.

Champion's Challenge: Long cooldown, 'different'version of Taunt above.
You activate it and target an intelligent monster.
The target is unaffected BUT all other intelligent monsters in LOS must save or stand still/stop attacking you as they witness you and the target duke it out.
If any of the affected 'spectators' are hurt by you an attack from you or the challenged, the effect breaks. It also goes away naturally after a relatively long duration, or if you break LOS for too long('flee').
Also, the target must be a 'worthy foe' - cannot be of a level significantly lower than yours.

Relentless Beating: Sustain(and fairly expensive), this is a one-foe version of Onslaught.
Attack a foe, knock them back, rinse and repeat as long as you have stamina. Maybe a lowish chance of stunning too. If foe would be knocked into an obstacle, they should take extra damage(or have the obstacle be destroyed), but that's more of a general mechanic.

Hurl/Toss: Grab a foe and throw them, maybe at an other foe! Both the hurled and the target take physical damage, and target might take some knockback too.
Range is based on talent level+own size vs enemy size(could tie Str to it but then it gets complicated).

Finishing Move: A rip-off of death blow, with a bonus vs stunned/dazed foes, and without the 'drains all of your stamina' "add-on"(yeah, right) at level 4. If this fails(as in misses or negated by some special ability), you're stunned for 1-2 rounds.

Ground and pound: Stun attack with no extra damage, if it works you get a few - # randomish but based on talent level - extra normal attacks on the foe. Stacks with Opportunist. Ouch.

Recovery: Need a mid-fight break? Activate this, and for a while you get -attack&damage(doesn't scale with level), in exchange for decent +defense and +life/stamina regen. Could use a better name as to avoid confusion with the talent below...

Heroic/Epic Recovery(AKA "I'm Not dead yet"): No stamina cost, but very long cooldown. A variant of Second Wind. Recover a % of max life and stamina which is actually GREATER the more relatively hurt/tired you are right now. So you might be tempted to use this later in the fight. Also, maybe has a % of breaking negative status effect, checked separately for each.

One Against Many: Passive. Gain various bonuses based on # of hostiles adjacent and lowish chance of redirecting missing attacks(even from non-adjacent sources) to one of these adjacents.
Laughing as the big bad boss rushes at you but strikes down a henchman is not mandatory, but encouraged.

Disarm: Nothing fancy here, and sort of an afterthought. Just a way to 'even the odds' by weakening foes which use equipment. Could make this a disarm + sunder arms actually, so foes without weapons are still debuffed, even if not neutralized. Needs a fancier name, like 'Limb Lock'.

Fighting Trance: Another afterthough. Sustain with a steep stamina cost. Significant speed bonus - slightly higher than Blinding Speed - and also +attack/crits/damage effects. Would be cool if there was some cool graphical effect when this was on...reddish tinge, sparkly lights everywhere.


OTHER TALENTS TREES

Combat training, although the only vaguely useful would be Health, or light armour training for leather), the tree with +life/stamina/regen, and perhaps warshouts.

Maybe some berserker talent trees could fit but are not really required.

[kingvictory2003]

You sure you don't mean MMA fighter? Wrestling refers to the grappling aspects of takedowns and takedown defense, although your other suggested names such as Pugilist refer to other combat disciplines.

Being completely non-serious, I had random thoughts of MMA fighter-specific talent trees, some of which could be considered pretty bad fighter bashing, so I won't share here

[Zonk]

Yep, I mentioned that myself - I just thought the name sounded 'better', even if many of their abilities didn't have much to do with wrestling proper.
It's basically supposed mix of most strength-based, "non monkish" fighting arts.
Do post these ideas though, some could be interesting .

[Grey]

I'd say Brawler is the best name for it. Provokes a nice image of a half-drunken mad-man taking on dragons with his fists :)

[Vee]

...*waits for the obvious 'drunken boxing' joke*...

[Burb Lulls]

As much as I like the unarmed classes in games, I would justify the idea of a person being able to punch out a dragon by having them be a bit monstrous. I had a half-formed idea for a "mauler" afflicted class, people who have grown huge and brutish through curses, a while back. That'd certainly fall into the "manhandling" side of unarmed combat.

[Sirrocco]

You could also do something similar and potentially interesting on the wilder side, by having the player do the wilder-emulation thing with something large and brutal. Hydra, perhaps, or leviathan/supersquid