Valkyrie supplement

[Artanisace]

Hey guys! This is an idea I had on my head for some time, and finally got the courage to publish a first 'sketch'... Would like to hear your opinions, and please let me know about special abilities that you think might fight for this class. My idea is to have a really tanky class with some nice offensive abilities also. Thank you everyone!

BF Class Suplemment - Valkyrie - R1.odt

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[SmootRK]

A most excellent first delve into supplements.

I like the concept, and certainly something I can see (in some form) in my own campaign (as one that uses a lot of Norse aspects in my game). I can see this as a bit of a mix of a Paladin sort of character with some Barbarian aspects. Good call.
I would probably call it Shield Maiden (but more than a simple Female Fighter), then at a later level gets the more supernatural sort of abilities and is then titled "Valkyrie".

At a glance, I would say add spear/lance in some fashion. I think just about every classic art piece that I have seen with Valkyrie has one in hand.

But yes, overall great concept/idea to include.

[Artanisace]

A most excellent first delve into supplements.

I like the concept, and certainly something I can see (in some form) in my own campaign (as one that uses a lot of Norse aspects in my game). I can see this as a bit of a mix of a Paladin sort of character with some Barbarian aspects. Good call.
I would probably call it Shield Maiden (but more than a simple Female Fighter), then at a later level gets the more supernatural sort of abilities and is then titled "Valkyrie".

At a glance, I would say add spear/lance in some fashion. I think just about every classic art piece that I have seen with Valkyrie has one in hand.

But yes, overall great concept/idea to include.

Adding something about spear/lance sounds very good! And the progression from 'Shield Maiden' to 'Valkyrie'. I had actually included some other shield special abilities, involving protecting the party (kind of a magic shield that will somehow increase AC of the group), so I think it would be perfect.

If you have any other ideas, I'd be happy to hear! Thanks a lot for your comments

[Dimirag]

The class is open only to dwarves, humans and demi-humans.

I guess "demi-humans" should be half-humans/semi-humans?

I can see them converted into more generic Shield Maiden, and then becoming Valkyries or other generic name...

I would give them:
Riding skills
Lance/Spear skill
Shield skill
Cold resistant
Divine favor which could be a list of different special benefits, something like using the spell table, but the spell level is the favor number, so they earn a specific favor and its "locked" on that spell level, and then they can use it a set amount of times, the favors could be freely chosen for those not using Northern Mythology, or based on the gods themselves, something like:

Odin:
-Bonus on throwing spear
-Magic resistance
-Combat bonus

Thor
-Hammer bonus
-Lightning bonuses
-STR bonus

Bragi
-Wisdom bonus
-Cha/Reaction bonus

[Solomoriah]

Yeah, dwarves are demi-humans. So are elves and halflings. I'm assuming half-humans is what is meant here.

[teaman]

I love where this supplement is going. Something to consider might be flipping the artwork horizontally. Right now she is looking off the page and that leads the reader's eye away.

Content-wise, I'd love to have a player use this at my table. Best of luck with any revisions.

[daryen]

Just a thought. Probably not what you are thinking about, so please discard with prejudice if so desired ...

To me "Valkyrie" refers to an other-worldy divine servant that has human form, but is really not a human (or whatever). In 3.5 parlance, they are Outsiders. So, in a way, this is describing a war-heavy class that is actually trying to emulate Valkyries, not actually be one. This is also an incredibly common trope. Honestly, you could rename this "Amazon", replace the reference to Tyr with Athena, and literally nothing else changes.

Here's what I think would be cool: Take this, make it more general, add some extra options, allow any sex, and it would then work for any martially obsessed type of character. Whether Norse (the Valkyrie wannabes here), Greek (the Amazons I mention), Scottish (stereotypical Highlander type), or just more general "berserkers". Seriously, there are absolutely *tons* of these out there.

Then, to tie it back to the Valkyrie, have it such that when they reach 20th level, or die in a glorious enough battle, they will be immediately elevated to actual Valkyrie (if female) or Einheriar (if not). Or whatever names make the most sense.

Again, just a thought. Do what makes most sense to you.

EDIT: But keep the picture. The picture is awesome!

[Dimirag]

To me "Valkyrie" refers to an other-worldly divine servant that has human form, but is really not a human (or whatever).

The class could be made so that the character is either a resurrection or a former demi-human that "rose" after death and came back as a servant in a copy of his body, but for game purposes its treated as a demi-human, or maybe it can be affected as an enchanted creature, outsider or whatever...

[Artanisace]

Thanks everyone for the comments! I take everything into account, and will keep working on it this week

So my idea came from the 'Valkyrie' class from Nethack, the classic roguelike, and also inspired by the Valkyrie in Gauntlet games (throwing axes... ). I kept thinking on it and decide it was going to be kind of a nordic-viking warrior, but always a woman, like some kind of paladin of a norse religion that has the look and feel of a legendary Valkyrie. That's why I have the class shaped like that; so is not that I want to emulate completely a valkyrie as it is on the folklore... I will end up doing kind of a mixup of some norse concepts and have something cool like a defensive char that is very skilled using a spear (a weapon that you rarely see in BF or OSR games), good at throwing axes and has some benefits also when using a shield.