Medieval Henchmen?

[Shazbotacus]

I don't know how feasible or difficult making a whole new primary set is at the moment, or at all, but I feel like sharing this want of mine.

 

I like medieval things: HEMA, archery, and the aesthetic of medieval fighting gear; shields, armor, weapons, etc. But I have absolutely no henchmen to go with it. I also think magic is pretty dope. Necromancy is the closest we have, but not quite what I'm after. I hope I'm not the only person interested in something like this, so who wants some medieval soldiers? But how should a set of medieval soldiers work next to the other Mastermind primaries? That's a really good question. What do you guys think? More swords than bows or vice versa? Focused on damage or toughness? If you care enough about having these kinds of pets, I'd like to know you're out there and what specific hopes you have, if any, for what kind of game play this set should bring.

 

Every Mastermind set recognized as being good, if not at least decent, has some damage potential and some way of improving their staying power. Ninjas front load damage with a side of... some defense I guess, Thugs have very strong damage and defense, Demons have solid damage and resistance, Beasts have a balance of damage and defense, Robots have very good defense from Protector Bots and a ton of AoE from their Assault Bot, Necromancy has just okay damage but excellent staying power from great -To Hit and crowd control from Lich plus every henchman having a self-heal in the form of life drain, and Mercenaries have nothing. cough

 

So, for picking out this set's form of survivability, I'm thinking perhaps primarily resistance based for their buffs from the Tier 3 henchman with some melee defense for flavor for henchmen with shields and maybe even parrying skill. There's enough defense based henchmen anyways. So how do we make these? There's a couple of ways I can think of actually, and one thing is common between them.

 

Well, I guess here's something I might have in mind.

 

Tier 1, Men-at-Arms/Swordsmen(/whatever)

I think it appropriate to design the Tier 1 henchmen with hand weapons and kite shields, with the third of them being a healer of sorts. These henchmen carry longswords (more technically arming swords but whatever) and deal high melee damage with only melee defense from their shield and Parry to keep them alive, and so rely on other henchmen and the Mastermind to provide their survivability much like Thugs and to an extent Demons. They should appear lightly armored; I think the Luddites uniform with different bottoms (tucked in baggy, "Barbarian" style boots, beige/brown color) is perfect if you add the Saxon helmet to it to set it apart better. Their power progression might look like: Slash, Throwing Knives -> Hack -> Parry.

Tier 1, 3rd Henchman, Cleric/Friar(/whatever)

To provide the first half of the set's survivability, the third Tier 1 henchman will be a Cleric or something of the sort. The uniform and shield stays the same, but the weapon changes into a mace. Power progression might look like Bash, Heal Other -> Pulverize -> Healing Aura. Overall this tier's very single target focused in its damage.

 

Tier 2, Archers/Longbowmen(/whatever)

The Warrior robe with baggy style pants tucked into Barbarian boots with a hood of some sort would look well here. As for role, I think these guys should be heavy on damage with a dash of CC. Their weapon model, of course, is the Longbow, and power progression might look like: Snap Shot, Aimed Shot -> Burning Arrow, Ranged Shot -> Ice Arrow, Entangling Arrow

 

Tier 3, Wizard

The AoE damage source for what has so far been largely single target, and the other half of the set's survivability. However I'm stumped on just what their power effects should look like or be themed off. Maybe Thermal Radiation's shields and... a mix of Fire and Electrical Blasts, but I'd rather the shield buffs not be so visually, um, loud. Something minimal FX. I'm not even sure what power progression might look like here. I definitely want to see this guy with Fireball and some high, say 20%, resistance shields to put on henchmen. Maybe even a passive resistance aura to go with it like a modified Ember Shield that Demons get, total up to 25% resistance against most types maybe excluding only psionic. This, coupled with the Cleric and a /Thermal Mastermind, should give the set a lot of staying power.

I dunno, maybe he can spam AoE in an attack chain like... uh, Fireball, Ball Lightning, and Fire Breath. Or something.

 

Alternatively, you could call him a "War Mage," give him a longsword, and let him charge in with Slice, Whirling Sword, and Parry while exploding enemies around him with Combustion from Fire Manipulation and throwing out Ball Lightning with his left hand from Electrical Blasts and make Scirocco all jealous. I think that sounds nice.

 

Whatever, this took too long to write. Far longer than it deserves.

 

EDIT: Oh, right, the level 18 power and attack powers. Uh... I'm actually stumped here. I kinda want to say use the Archery powers that the Ninjas set gets, but part of me also says Slash, Hack, and Parry from Broad Sword and just Tankermind with this. As for the level 18 power, I'm just really not sure. Um... place a banner down, and the banner is treated as a targetable pet entity that uses a sort of "Rain of Arrows" power to make it look like a bunch of longbowmen just volley fired arrows on a bunch of enemies. Can be targeted and destroyed by enemies.

Edited September 12, 2019 by Shazbotacus

[biostem]

A medieval themed MM set would be cool.  I'd go with something like this:

 

1. Power bolt

 

2. Summon footmen, (1st 2 use broadswords & shields, 3rd is a "cleric" that uses war mace & shield with heal other instead of one of its attacks)

 

3. Lightning bolt

 

4. Equip warriors, (1st upgrade)

 

5. Fire ball

 

6. Summon rangers, (summons 1-2 archers that use archery attacks and perhaps a power or 2 from plant control or nature affinity, depending upon upgrades)

 

7. Battlecry - A PBAoE click power that temporarily increases damage, tohit, and movement speed

 

8. Summon wizard, (summons a wizard that uses a combination of fire, ice, and lightning attacks, possibly with a hold mixed in)

 

9. Masterwork weapons, (final upgrade power)

[Shazbotacus]

"Masterwork Weapons." I like that.

[biostem]

6 minutes ago, Shazbotacus said:

"Masterwork Weapons." I like that.

Thanks!  Maybe "Masterwork equipment" would be more appropriate... *shrugs*