Assuming Bardin is going to have the next career because of the order of the heros in the menu…
…and assuming the new careers are all going to be support based, I’d have to assume he would be a Runesmith. Note-this is what I think would be the best and coolest if this type of character were to be implemented. That is also applies to my ideas in the rest of the thread.
Why Runesmith?
Runesmith would be the best choice because in lore and in tabletop they are known for their supportive runes and dampening of enemy winds of magic. I think this would be a better choice than a Master Engineer because game wise, the Engineer buffs war machines and range units, instead of the whole army. Master Engineer would also be way harder to implement because (A) It would be too similar to ranger veteran in terms of ranged weapons and gameplay (B) Master Engineers are known for their use of war machines, which would be difficult to implement and probably hard to balance. Overall I think a Runesmith would be better.
Lore-wise, how would it work?
Well we know Fatshark puts gameplay first, and lore second so that in itself isn’t a problem, as most of the careers are what if situations. So I’m going to write a little snip-bit on how Bardin could become a runesmith.
Bardin hails from a long line of Runesmiths and Runelords from Karak Norn, and he now returns looking for ways to aid the Ubersreik 5. His great uncle see’s great fury and pride in him, so as a Runelord he bestows some of his rune knowledge to him, but of course not all of it. So now Bardin continues his quest to find Karak Zorn, and maybe uncover some master runes along the way.
Of course this isn’t a flawless backstory, but it may do.
What would his gameplay be like?
I’m going to be taking inspiration from the lore, the tabletop game and Warhammer games for this.
He would act as a support character with decent melee killing potential and being able to essentially cancel blightstormer and lifeleech casts with a click of a button. Now the problem is here now is how he deals with ranged threats. You could go three ways about this.
(1) Have him equip a Forgehammer or a Runestaff as his melee weapon, and then any Ranger Veterans ranged weapons he could use. Runesmiths aren’t often seen use guns and crossbows but this is possible lore-wise.
(2) His runestaff could shoot out magic that’s embeded into the runes on the weapon and from the book. This would be basically be like Sienna’s staffs and could potentially have its own overheat meter. This would be pretty cool and interesting in my opinion but I don’t think it would make sense lore-wise. However, Warhammer age of reckoning did do this.
(3) His rune weapons could have Rune of flight, essentially it would be exactly like Bardin’s throwing axes, but on his Forgehammer and his Rune staff. He could also be able to use the throwing axes.
<-Runelord w/ ForgeHammerBase Stats:
Base HP: 125HP
Career Skill Cooldown: 90 to 120 seconds (Depends on talents)
Perks:
- 50% damage reduction to all types of magic.
- Runestaff can interrupt and dampen enemy spells for 5 to 10 seconds with a cooldown of 30.(possibly on bosses as well with talent)
Passive ability:
The Runesmiths passive could be two passives in one, and these passives could be enhanced by pressing Mouse 5 after a visible cooldown you could see on the Forgehammer. The passive could be called something basic like ‘runic power’. (Rune staff could also interrupt enemy spells by pressing Mouse 5 on the target).
Forgefire: Aura that increases power versus armoured or power by 10-20%
Ancestral Shield: Aura that reduces damage taken by 10-20%
Active ability:
Rune of Wrath and Ruin/Rune of Slowness: Essentially this would act as a crowd control ability that would reduce enemy movement speed by 50-70% for 10 seconds. Instead of acting like an ability that you press once and all enemies get stunned for a bit and then continue on like IB ult, I would imagine it would be like a banner around the Runesmith and it would follow him around for 10 seconds. All man sized enemies would get knocked down to the floor from charged attacks if they are in the radius. Maybe Chaos warriors as well, but thats pushing it as it is.
<-What I would imagine it would look like
Terms of talent wise, different types of runes could be implemented into his gameplay. For example Rune of Parrying could increase block cost reduction etc, etc. The list could go on. But thats my thoughts on how a Runesmith career could be potentially added to Bardin. I would love to here some thoughts and feedback on this as I find Runelords and Runesmiths very cool.