The Iron Oath Updates, $32,365 and Counting
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With 19 more days to go, the Kickstarter campaign for The Iron Oath sits at roughly $32,000 with the initial goal set at $45,000. By now it seems more than likely that this campaign will be a success, so it's a good time to check out the available Kickstarter updates to learn more about this turn-based RPG.
For example, Update #2 describes the character classes we'll get to see in The Iron Oath. The release version will have 12 of them that range from the usual stuff, like the Paladin and the Pyromancer, to some more "out there" concepts, like the Grappler and the Shifter (no, not that kind of Shifter):
Grappler: Grapplers thrive in close quarters combat where their fists, mind & reflexes are both a shield and a weapon. While wearing only cloth armor can leave them somewhat vulnerable, they are masters at blocking and countering attacks, and when wounded can slip into a meditative trance to heal themselves.
Hellraiser: Hellraisers are masters of the grave. Their cloth armor makes them vulnerable, but with the ability to summon the undead they can inflict agony on their enemies from relative safety. Their highest Spirit cost ability is Seed of Death. Upon the targets demise, the seed will damage all surrounding enemies and heal the Hellraiser in return.
Shifter: Shifters are able to manipulate matter and distort the fabric of both the mortal realm and the Void. They are an excellent support class that can redirect damage and erect force fields which are capable of protecting their allies and entrapping their enemies. Their most powerful ability is Distortion Bomb which they can place on any open cell. The bomb will gather energy indefinitely until the Shifter triggers it to damage the surrounding cells. With every passing turn however, the spell becomes more unstable and has a chance to outright fail.
Sage: Sages are deeply connected with nature and use it to both heal their allies and harm their enemies. They can be classified as a supporting healer, but are not incapable of dealing significant damage in the right situations. Their Tree of Life ability places a healing tree in a vacant cell that restores the health of nearby allies over time. Their most dangerous ability, Natures Abyss, is a violent upheaval of earth that damages and swallows the enemy, removing them from play for one round.
Warden: Wardens are equipped with plate armor, a mace and a large tower shield. As you might have guessed, they are the prototypical tank class in the game, possessing a range of abilities to disrupt and distract their opponents, while also being able to shield their allies from harm. None Shall Pass is their best defensive ability in which they slam their shield into the ground and steady themselves behind it, forming a defensive barrier that negates all damage coming from the opposite side.
Nightstalker: The Nightstalker is a rogue ranger of sorts that dresses in dark leather armor. Their skill set is geared towards impeding their enemies’ movements and remaining elusive, giving them the chance to use their powerful bow to dish out maximum piercing damage. Their Full Draw ability can be channeled for multiple turns to continually increase its damage output.
Then, after a series of cross-promotional updates, Update #6 covers the attributes that serve as the basis for the game's roleplaying system. Nothing too wild there, just your standard D&D-style attribute list with a bit of a twist when we get to the secondary attributes:
Health(HP): A character’s health is determined by their Constitution & Strength(the latter to a lesser extent).
Spirit(SP): All Abilities expend Spirit on use. Every character has a base Spirit pool of 100(we will be talking in-depth about Spirit in a future update!).
Attack Power(ATK): Attack Power is the damage output of a character’s basic attack before any other calculations(like Critical Chance or Defense) take place. To determine the value, it takes into account a character’s weapon and main stat. For the calculation of an ability’s effectiveness, a unique modifier is multiplied to the Attack Power value.
Perception(PER): Perception functions much the same as it does in D&D. It is derived from Wisdom and is used for spotting traps, sensing dangers and uncovering hidden passages.
Speed(SPD): A character’s Speed is determined by their class. It determines combat order and how often a character gets to act.
Movement(MOV): Movement is also determined by a character’s class. It controls how many hex cells one can move during their turn.
Defense%(DEF): A character’s defense is derived from their Constitution and determines their base damage mitigation against all attacks, traps and hazards.
Evasion%(EVA): A character's chance to evade is determined by Strength or Dexterity. Depending on their class, they will either Block(STR) or Dodge(DEX).
Bonus Accuracy%(ACC): Bonus Accuracy is derived from Dexterity or Intelligence, with the higher value being used. It is added to an ability’s base accuracy to determine the overall accuracy.
Critical Chance%(CRC): Critical Chance comes from Dexterity or Intelligence, with the higher value being used. It is the base percent chance to critically hit with an ability. The damage multiplier of a critical hit is determined by the Critical Damage stat.
Critical Damage%(CRD): Critical Damage is derived from Wisdom or Strength, with the higher value being used. It is a multiplier that determines how much additional damage a critical strike inflicts.
Update #7 follows up with an explanation of the game's damage types and resistances. An excerpt:
Damage Types, Defense, Evasion
As of now we have 11 damage types in the game, they are: Earth(Nature), Force, Fire, Frost, Holy, Dark, Necrotic, Lightning, Slashing, Piercing & Blunt. Most classes have only one damage type assigned to them. Originally, the hybrid classes(such as the Paladin and Pyrolancer) were able to deal two types of damage, but for balance and clarity reasons we decided to reduce it to one.
Rather than have individual resistance values for every damage type, we chose to simplify things a bit(and we think for the better!). Every class and enemy in the game has one Defense stat(derived from Constitution, and any applicable traits or gear) that determines their base damage mitigation. Therefore, more heavily armored characters, and those with high Constitutions will have a greater Defense.
As of now, each class is designated to either block, or dodge, but they cannot perform both. We chose to do this to save some time on animations and we may change it later on, but it doesn't have a huge effect on gameplay. Both block and dodge are rolled into an Evasion stat(derived from Strength & Dexterity) that determines a character’s chance to avoid taking damage. If a class uses dodge, the attack will be avoided entirely. Blocking functions mostly the same, but shields have a damage threshold(some low, some high) which means that if an attack is strong enough, some damage can still be suffered.
And finally, the latest Update #8 shares some tunes from the game's soundtrack that you can listen to on Soundcloud.
