[Fantasy Craft] Class Act: The Captain

Today’s Class Act brings us to the Captain:

Captain by Slipgatecentral, click to view their DeviantArt!

Among all the Classes in Fantasy Craft, the Captain is the one character that exists to be obeyed.  That said, the Captain is also one of the classes that exists for the purpose of being with a team.  As the old saying goes, a leader is nothing without his people, and many of the abilities of the Captain class highlight the innate ability to lead, assuming of course, the other party members actually listen to what he has to say.

Thankfully, Crafty-Games has once again thought one step ahead by providing the Captain class with his own Right-Hand Man, a non-animal Personal Lieutenant Special Character loyal to the Captain character.  This of course insures that the Captain’s Cadre core ability isn’t wasted when he’s not with any of the other PCs… which is a good thing, as Cadre is particularly interesting since it allows the Captain to bolster his teammates by granting them use of 1 of his Basic Combat feats for the rest of the scene.  This might not seem like much, but a cursory glance over the Basic Feats section of the book reveal a lot of handy feats that are useful to anyone… granting the entire team access to Iron Will, for example, or even Wolf Pack Basics or Surge of Speed are all very interesting choices for a tactical player.

Over time, the Captain gains even more abilities that hammer home his strategic expertise.  Master and Commander, for example, grants extra Terrain Feats and boosts the maximum rank for the Tactics Skill.  Battle Planning introduces battle plans, which are +2 bonuses to specific rolls that are granted to you and any teammate who can see or hear you, depending on which plan is active at the moment.  But one of the most amusing abilities that the Captain can boast of is the Virtues of Command ability that can grant a chosen hero the abilities of 2 additional levels of one of his classes until the end of the current session.

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I’ll be honest and admit that I’m a very big fan of assist / backup roles, and Captain is one of my personal favorites among the Fantasy Craft Classes.  The ability to grant bonuses upon your teammates without directly seizing control of their movement, or prompting attacks is up my alley in terms of “player empowerment” without stepping on the line of “indirect control.”

So, now that we’ve taken a look at the Captain’s abilities, here’s a few things that might be of use:

• Choose your Feats Wisely – Basic Combat Feats and Terrain Feats are a huge part of the Captain’s arsenal.  Consider getting Feats that will benefit the party as a whole, rather than just yourself.  It’s a slight change of psychology, but an important one.  Consider the following Basic Combat Feats for use with the Cadre ability:
  • Elusive – Grants your more fragile teammates with a means to boost their defense, good for a party consisting of characters which have generally low Vitality scores.
  • Iron Will – Extra defenses against Will-Save prompting opponents, and also good for forcing a recovery for teammates who are Shaken or Fatigued.
  • Surge of Speed – An extra non-attack Half Action can go a long way when everyone in your team benefits from it.
  • Wolf Pack Basics – An additional +2 bonus when flanking an opponent (for a total of +4) is good when you’re on the offensive, and your teammates all like to get up close and personal.
• Brush up on Tactics – The Tactics skill is the hallmark of the Captain.  Aside from helping set up Ambushes, the use of the Tactics skill to Outmaneuver the opponent is a great way to stack things in your favor.
• It pays to Impress - Another interesting skill for Captains would be the Impress skill, for Influence and Persuade Checks, that can shift the Disposition of characters to the Captain’s favor and get them to do things for you.  Ever think of a scene where a commander rallies troops and earns their loyalty with a stirring speech?  I think that paints a very vivid picture of a good Impress Check.
• Consider a Pet - For Captains that feel that a Right-Hand Man is not enough, there’s also the Animal Partner Terrain Feat to consider, which grants you a comparably capable animal companion to go with your Right-Hand Man.  It’s an interesting combination, and one that maximizes your Cadre and Battle Planning abilities.

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The Captain is by far one of the most interesting Classes as it introduces a lot of empowering abilities that benefit an entire crew, without leaving the Captain cold.  Fantasy Craft has come up with clever solutions to get around the fickle nature of other PCs with the Right-Hand Man, while further bolstering the Captain’s reputation as a capable leader.