New Class: Support

[Dr. Spendlove]

I have a suggestion for a new templar class. Any of these ideas could be cannibalized into existing templars but I had some free time so I smashed them into a single class with no real name. I'm just using the term "Support" as a placeholder. In fact, all names are pending.

Base stats:

HP: About the same as a scout per level and starting.
SP Cost: Same as Neptune
Toughness: 150% Fortitude; +6 HP per Fortitude (Giving this class an option to have moderate HP with the right investment.)
Resistance: 75% Willpower (One of the weaknesses of this class.)
Armor Options: Medium Armor
Weapon Options: Soldier Rifles (non-plasma) and Sniper Rifles

Possible Skills: Warrior, Tactics, Evasion, Gunnery, Stealth

~~ Talents ~~

Wounding Shot:
  Weapon Range
  Uses 2 AP and +6 Heat
  Single Target
  +1 Accuracy (+1/level), +2 Damage for Attack (+1.5/level); Hinders with Crit Vulnerability 2% (+2%/level), targets take +24% damage from critical hits (+6%/level) for 4 turns

Grapple:
  As normal.
  
Bullet Spray:
  Weapon Range
  Uses 2 AP and +6 Heat
  Hits small area (like Arc Fire)
  Requires Soldier Rifle
  +0 Accuracy (+0.5/level), +1 Damage for Attack (+1/level); On critical hit (on any target) gain buff of +5% critical hit chance (+1%/level) for 3 turns (+0.25/level)

Burst Overwatch:
  Weapon Range
  Uses 1 AP and +7 Heat to engage
  Covers 2x2 area
  Ends AP/MP
  Requires Soldier Rifle
  Stats otherwise as Soldier's Overwatch

Blinding Shot:
  Weapon Range
  Uses 1 AP and +6 Heat
  Has 4 uses (+0.25/level)
  Hits single target
  Requires Sniper Rifle
  Damage and accuracy bonus equal to Frag Grenade, but to a single enemy. Penetration slightly less than Frag grenade. On hit hinders target with -9 Ranged accuracy (+3/level) and -3 dodge (+1/level)

Ambush Stealth:
  Self-only Buff for 4 turns
  Uses 1 AP and +6 Heat
  3 uses (+0.5/level)
  +1 Stealth (+1/level), +1 All Accuracy (+0.67/level)

Build Advantage:
  Group Buff 3x3 area for 4 turns
  Uses 2 AP and +12 Heat
  4 Uses (+0.5/level)
  Affects number of allies equal to Tactics skill
  Grants +18% Critical Damage (+6%/level), +0% critical chance (+0.5%/level), +5 dodge (+1.5/level)

Reactive Probe:
  Single-target buff for 2 turns (+0.5/level)
  Uses 3 AP and +9 Heat
  2 Uses (+0.75/level)
  3 Range
  Reduces incoming damage from next successful attack against the templar by 50% (+5%/level), +3 Dodge (+1/level), removed if hit.

Medical Probe:
  Single-target buff for 4 turns
  Uses 2 AP and +15 Heat
  3 Uses (+0.75/level)
  3 Range
  Recovers 9 (+1/level) + Tactics HP per turn at end of turn. Also reduces overheating damage by 1d4 (1d6 at level 5, 1d8 at level 10) points per turn.


Commentary to follow.

  

[En1gma]

Great ideas here!

[Dr. Spendlove]

The main theme here is granting bonus damage to a templar battleforce already optimized for critical hits, defending against ranged attackers, and a wide range of supporting skills.

I see three primary build patterns people might take:

Support Gunner:
Chooses +Fortitude, +Strength, +Gunnery (secondarily Tactics or Evasion)
Chooses to use Soldier rifles
Focuses on Bullet Spray to augment personal damage and harm groups
Focuses on Burst Overwatch to provide support with the remaining 1 AP at the end of the turn after using a couple bullet sprays or other 2 AP abilities.
Focuses on Reactive Probe to support allies expected to weather a heavy attack (especially from something with a single attack like a Litch.) This is useful because with the
more limited range of the soldier rifles, it is more likely that this templar will be in range of supporting at least one ally.
-- Downside: Lower critical damage than other builds of this class.

Support Sniper:
Chooses +Strength, (secondarily +Quickness), +Tactics, Gunnery, and Stealth in equal parts.
Chooses to use Sniper Rifles
Focuses on Wounding Shot to augment allies' critical hits against a target.
Focuses on Blinding Shot to provide great focused defense against a single ranged adversary (and make it slightly easier to hit the following turn.)
Puts a couple points into Ambush Stealth to provide the ability to stay separate from allied support without being swarmed (and gain some helpful accuracy.)
-- Downside: Mediocre damage at best, relies heavily on high critical-hit allies to take targets down; very squishy.

Support Tactician:
Chooses +Strength, +Fortitude, +Tactics (secondarily +Gunnery)
Uses Soldier Rifles (probably) or Sniper Rifles if the extra range is desired.
Focuses on Build Advantage to grant group defense against ranged adversaries and a large boost to damage on criticals.
One or three points in Reactive Probe to grant a single target survival if left in a tight spot against a powerful foe.
Focuses on Medical Probe to provide a decent amount of healing over time and particularly support templars that are high on heat.
Gets a single point in Burst Overwatch (if using a soldier rifle) to slow down foes in narrower hallways.
Gest a single point in Blinding Shot (if using a sniper rifle) to provide some last-ditch defense against a ranged foe with 1 AP left in a turn.
-- Downside: Limited damage but with high critical hit chance.

In retrospect, the AP cost of the stealth ability should probably be lowered to 0 and the uses +1.
Also, wounding shot should probably have +3 Heat, not +6 to make it attractive.

[havnor]

So if this is support it should use gun/pistol and shield it would bring one big dream to my Templar squad

[fallen]

@dr. Spendlove - definitely fun looking suggestions. Reading about the probes made me think at first that you'd be summoning small drones to go do remote bidding, which would be really cool.

We're looking at an Assassin expansion to Scout (needle pistol and blade) that would feature a Scout Drone that could fly recon for you.

Having a 100% support featured class would be really interesting. Currently, those capabilities are mixed across the different fight-and-support troops of the game today.

If you make a forum account, I've got a few points of Karma stored up for you

[drspendlove]

I'm not sure what Karma does, but that sounds good. I just wrote up a big post on the Steam forums about ranged dodge improvements. I should've put it here for more karma, I guess?

[fallen]

drspendlove - karma is just a tally of community +/- 1 votes. It doesn't particularly get you anything, but its a nice way to say thanks

[drspendlove]

So long as dodge is all but useless, the idea of a ranged defense buffing unit is not interesting.

Also, instead of a talent that very briefly absorbs x% of an incoming hit (reactive probe), it'd be neater to have temporary hit points for a short period. That is, a special energy shield that lasts 1-2 turns and has 30 + (talent level * 8) + (tactics * (2 + 1/3 * talent level)) HP that can exceed maximum but cannot be restored via healing and is lost when the duration expires.