fandomhigh | Adventuring!, Thursday, Period 3

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adventuring survival tactics

Adventuring!, Thursday, Period 3

When the class stepped through the Danger Shop, they'd think they stepped into a...wardrobe mixed with an armory. On hangers and stands were various styles of armor, for both ladies and even a few for guys. Hey, he wasn't going to assume anything about the tastes of his students! The one thing no one would find was stereotypical underwear armor. Hardison didn't have time for all of sexist nonsense. Not in his classroom.

"Welcome back," Hardison greeted when his students entered. He was dressed appropriately. "A'ight, so I probably don't even have to give this lecture, cause either this won't apply to your life or it does an' so you probably already know better'n me, but weird things happen on this island, so I'mma just say this to be clear. This course is based on fantasy media, not fact. Everythin' we learn about, everythin' we cover, it comes from adventures that take place in folks' imaginations. Please don't take anythin' we learn here as anythin' other than fun an' games for summertime."

And that over with, he gestured to the costumes around him. "A'ight, so the adventurin' class we're studyin' today is Fighters. They're pretty much the most basic of all classes; they make up the backbone of most adventurin' parties. Fighters is a pretty broad umbrella term; there are a buncha different varieties of fighters to serve peoples's individual tastes. For the most part, though, they got a few basic things in common. They're usually tanks--that means that they wade in an' do serious damage. They usually ain't the fastest fighters--heavy weapons that do a lot of damage are pretty slow to swing. They also generally wear pretty heavy armor--thick hides, heavy leather, and strong metals, either as chainmail or plate. As a tank, you end up takin' a lot of hits as well an' you need to be able to keep goin' an' not end up skewered, sliced, or scored. A good set of armor can turn a blade an' leave you with bruises insteada stab wounds."

Important life advice, even if a lot of the armor was pretty impractical. Or, it would be if it were anywhere other than the Danger Shop.

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Fighting!

Listen to Hardison's explanations, ask questions, talk to one another, look around at the costumes, wonder how anyone moved around in some of those getups.

Edited 2015-07-07 10:41 (UTC)

Show off what you decided on! There are plenty of costumes to choose from ~~either from the Pinterest page or find your own~~. Be prepared to explain to Hardison why you chose it and any flaws that would make this untenable in a real combat situation.

Is there type that fits your imagined fighting style best? Experiment with the following varieties and see. Each explanation comes with the chance to try out the weaponry and fighting style.

Clad in shining armor, paladins are divine knights of righteousness and order. Sword to uphold the law of their chosen deities, they carry the fight against evil to the furthest corner of the world. They also have some divine spells at their disposal and bond with a steed who carries them into battle. This is a good fit for anyone with a strong arm and a strong moral fiber, with a firm sense of right and wrong.

There are swords, axes, and lances, each of them beautifully crafted and decorated.

Edited 2015-07-07 10:49 (UTC)

An exception to the armor rule, monks wear cotton and cloth armor to give them the most freedom of movement. They fight unarmed, using a flurry of strikes and blows, a whirlwind of movement. They aim for the vulnerable parts of the body, finding places where the armor doesn't fully cover, and take full advantage of those spots. This is a good fit for fast, acrobatic fighters who dart in and out of the fray.

No weapons, but there's a dummy to practice kicking and punching.

One of the most iconic classes, barbarians dress is hides, leather, and scraps of chain--you will never spot them in plate the way you might a paladin or generic fighter. Originally from a wild place far away from civilization, barbarians are best known for their frenzy ability, where they go into a kind of battle madness allowing them to do devastating amounts of damage and ignore wounds. This is a good fit for people who like to wade into the thickest parts of battle and whale at their enemies.

There are plenty of clubs and axes, along with maces and flails. They looked cruel and harsh, with jagged edges.

Another of the exceptions, rangers are warriors of the forest and other wild places. Rather than being primarily a melee class, rangers' main weapon is a bow or crossbow, with either a short sword or some long knives to serve as a backup melee weapon. They also have an animal companion and some limited magic spells. This is a good fit for anyone who is a fan of nature and wants to fight to protect it, preferably from a distance and with a bit of guile.

There are a variety of bows: long, short, and crossbows and a series of targets set up at a distance. There are also sets of short swords and long knives to practice against the dummies.

If your chosen armor doesn't fit the fighting subset you liked best while experimenting with them, feel free to go back and change.

Once you're suited up appropriately, take the opportunity to fight one another, or try your hand against various fighter style NPCs.

Hardison has her pegged as a Barbarian.

He's such a Paladin. It's not even funny.

The inability to edit a comment after I already replied to it made today's class very frustrating.

Raven Darkholme

Raven spent rather awhile sifting through all the costumes and pieces, occasionally shifting to try out different looks and see how they moved. One of the fun things about being a shapeshifter: clothing always fit you perfectly.

She finally settled on a mix of leather and chainmail, with a long leather bodice and skirt over a loose chainmail shirt. She went with a tights look on the bottom, though it was hard to tell, under firm leather gaiters and the length of that split skirt. She topped it all off with leather bracers over her forearms and a piece of metal plate over her right shoulder.

She looked pretty awesome, if she did say so herself, though it all felt a little heavy for real combat.

Her whole bar brawl style of "jump on the big guy's back and hit him on the head with something" certainly suited that. Though Raven liked the descriptions of the monks and rangers better.

Kira Yukimura ~~(needs more people to make belt sword icons)~~

After trying on a few of the lighter outfits, Kira ended up picking dark, thick leather to cover herself with, all down her arms and legs. It wasn't fun to move in, but she could still be mobile if she had to be.

Kira didn't think she was going to be a fighter type, but then she caught sight of the swords and figured she'd give it a try. She had a good sense of right and wrong, as long as no one was trying to convince her to do something wrong.

"Lookin good," Hardison said, shooting her a thumbs up. "So, talk to me. Why this combination? What're you goin' for?"

"So talk to me, Kira," Hardison said, shooting her a grin. "I saw you lookin' over some of the lighter armors first. Why'd you settle with this instead?"

"Well, I was mostly looking for something that would cover and protect as much as me as possible -- while still letting me move freely. The leather is still pretty firm while being lighter and more flexible than metal plate, and the chainmail adds extra protection to my central mass and upper arms without being too restricting. The plate here is mostly because it looks neat, though."

"So much of the armor here is because it looks neat," Hardison said with a laugh. "How a giant chunka decorative metal strapped to your arm is s'posed to protect you is beyond me, but it looks cool as hell, though, so I'm inclined to forgive it. There any downsides to your armor? If you were s'posed to go off an' fight in it for real, I mean."

"Well. . . . It doesn't matter how 'unrestrictive' you make something, it's always going to slow you down more than just being naked would." And now Hardison got to meet Raven's nudist side. "So there's that, though I guess that would mostly just take getting used to. With this many edges to things, there's always going to be ways under or around the armor, or places for weapons to get caught on. And if it's hot out, you're pretty much out of luck."

The monk version seemed to be the closest that these fantasy adventure fighters go to actually fighting naked, so this was where Raven gravitated. Her look quickly ended up stripped down and altered to better match the cotton-and-cloth look, and she attacked the dummy as best she could, trying to copy some of the martial arts moves she'd seen on the internet.

She was going to need a lot more practice before she could really get full ninja, but she was getting close to managing the whole jump-up-and-wrap-your-thighs-around-the-guy's-head-to-take-him-down thing without smacking her head on the floor!

"That's what endurance trainin' is for, or so I hear," Hardison said. Because, honestly, the only endurance training he'd undergone were for hours of hacking, coding, or video games. "For the most part, you don't become a fighter if speed is your thing, unless you're a monk an' not wearin' much armor anyway. But you make good points, there're lots of places for weapons to catch an' snag an' there are a ton of weapons out there designed to do just that."

Rogues often had them.

"So, in that getup, what would you say your best fightin' style would be?"

Raven tilted her head and thought about that for a few moments. "Probably distance stuff. The bracers would be good for a bow and arrow, especially, and if I get rid of the plate, I still have full arm mobility for drawing and firing."

~~But wherever would you get an icon of JLaw with a bow?!?!~~

"Then I'mma suggest you try out bein' a ranger," Hardison suggested. "I mean, I'mma suggest you try out alla 'em, obviously, but ranger's the only fighter specialty with a bow. Give it a look."

"Ranger," Raven repeated. "I like the sound of that."

Raven had done a bit of archery in gym classes back home, and had picked some up here and there in Fandom as well, so she didn't do too badly with a simple short bow in class. She liked the crossbow better, though. Like a gun only more interesting to look at!

"Do we get to practice having animal companions too?" she asked teasingly. "Can I get a big feathery dinosaur companion?"

"No such luck," Hardison said, grinning. "You'll have to settle for standard fantasy animal companion, like a wolf or a bear or something."

"A bear!" Raven cheered. "I want a big grizzly with battle scars!"

TRU FAX! My first D&D campaign I played a ranger with a fuzzy dinosaur companion. It was shaped like a velociraptor from Jurrasic Park and had the personality of a particularly young and ditzy golden retriever. She kept it on one of those teddy-bear backpack children's leashes.

"An' as soon as you hit fourth level, you can have it," Hardison teased, even as he made a few quick program adjustments to create an appropriately battle-scarred grizzly.

Yeah, okay, rangers never got bears in game. So?

"Well, I figured if I was going to be fighting, I'd be going up against people with weapons, and that would mean needing something stronger than light armor," Kira said. "In a hand to hand fight, I could dodge enough to get away with something light, but against a sword or a club? I know metal would be even better, but being able to dodge the bad guys a big part of my style."

Alluka Zoldyck

Cosima Niehaus ~~whose weapon is science~~

When it came to fashion, Cosima was always more interested in style than in functionality. Which was how she ended up in shades of tan and gold, with a kimono-style top tapering to complicated leather leggings covered in buckles. Her hands and feet were wrapped in strips of cloth; her toes, oddly, were bare.

She left off the jewelry that went with the outfit, though, and wound her braids into a tight bun at the nape of her neck. She might have wanted to look good, but she wasn't stupid enough to give an opponent an easy target to grab.

Kaylin Neya

Kaylin went with the ~~elf woman~~ outfit that seemed to suit her best. She put it on right over her tunic and pants because, no, she was not exposing her marks to anyone, thank you very much.

Okay, it might look a bit odd, but that's the way it was.

Ah, short swords and, well, she had her own daggers. She liked the idea of a Pladin, but she didn't exactly believe in any of the gods. She didn't exactly not believe in them either, but she didn't think that would fly. Monk, well, clearly not that either. Barbarian, no she didn't think so.

She'd have to make do with Ranger, even if too much nature made her a little nervous.

Alex Mack

Alex looked over the costumes and decided to settle on a blue and brown costume that would at least be practical to move in and still had a reasonable amount of armour to protect her.

Hanna Heller

Edited 2015-07-08 02:29 (UTC)

"You mentioned likin' sneaky fighters last class," Hardison agreed, because he had been paying attention. "So, you're lookin' for a fighter class that's closer to that--sacrificin' damage for speed an' agility." He nodded. "What're some flaws you can think of about this gear specifically."

"Smart, Cosima." Hardison said, noting her more utilitarian take on the armor. "You'd be surprised how many people fail to take into account all the things that can be used against 'em. Today's big, fancy necklace is tomorrow's choke chain an' that ain't never fun. So, why'd you go with this, rather than somethin', say, a bit flashier?"

It did look odd, but Hardison wasn't going to pry. There were plenty of reasons someone might not be willing to strip down to put on a new outfit and the vast majority of those reasons were none of his business, unless and until she wanted it to be.

"Goin' with some lighter armor then?" he asked. "Not a fan of plate or chain?"

Did no one want to strap on a suit of plate or chain? That was fine, Hardison would just clank around the Danger Shop by himself.

"Alex, right?" he checked. "What've we got here?"

"It's too heavy," Kaylin said. "You can't move well in it."

Well, not if you were as skinny as Kaylin was anyway. A full set might just have toppled her over if she'd tried to fight in it.

"This, well, it could use a bit more protection, but I can run and jump and fight."

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Adventuring!, Thursday, Period 3

Sign In Week 2

Listen to the Lecture

Get Dressed!

Fighter Classes

Paladin

Monks

Barbarian

Rangers

Melee

Talk to the TA

Talk to Hardison

OOC

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