[Fantasy Craft] Class Act: The Lancer

A mounted warrior must have been a terrifying sight.  Being a city-guy, I’ve not had much experience with horses, but the idea of a heavily armored man bearing down on you on a creature that weighed 1,200 pounds while carrying a wicked reach implement designed to skewer you sounds pretty disturbing.

No wonder then that Knights, Mounted Archers, Samurai and Dragoons all have a powerful reputation.  It is this image that Fantasy Craft’s Lancer class aspires to be.  Lancers are powerful mounted combatants, but they also have the ego and force of personality to cow lesser men as they do their beasts.

Lancers are defined by the fact that they are mounted warriors, so it’s no surprise that their core ability, Lifetime Companion, grants the lancer with the Animal Companion feat for their mount.  This mount is replaced at no cost should it be lost or killed, and Lancers enjoy a 20% discount on mounts and mount-related gear.  This doesn’t disallow the Lancer from buying the Animal Companion feat a second time of course, leading me to think of a Mounted Samurai with an Akita hunting dog as an interesting Lancer concept.

The Lancer also sports one of the most interesting “safety net” abilities in the form of Born in the Saddle, which insures that the Lancer never fails an Intimidate or Ride check as long as he doesn’t suffer an error.

Being a combatant, the Lancer also has a variety of abilities to beef up their combat effectiveness.  The Mettle abilities raises the Lancers maximum rank in Resolve while granting access to the Armor Basics, Mastery and Supremacy Feats.  Bred for War grants the Lancer a bonus to Refresh rolls and grants the benefits to his mount as well, while Excellence raises the Lancer’s highest attribute above that of the usual attribute increases.  In addition to this the Lancer also enjoys Bonus Combat or Style Feats at every odd level starting at level 3, making him very versatile, which is appropriate given the nature of most mounted warriors to be good with a ranged weapon as well as a spear and a sword.

Speaking of Style Feats, the Lancer isn’t completely helpless in social circles.  The Promotion ability grants Renown ranks of the Lancer’s choice, making for interesting bonuses when it comes to handling social situations.  He might not be a Courtier, but the Lancer is at least worthy of respect.

Of course, when things get hairy, the Lancer rises to the occasion.  Master Rider is an ability that actually allows the Lancer to automatically succeed in 1 ride check of up to DC 50.  Now I don’t really know what kind of bizarre penalty stacking is involved to actually bring a DC up that high for a ride check, but it’s good to know that the Lancer do it once per adventure as a full action.  Last Stand on the other hand, allows for the Lancer to change the way a fight can turn out.  For a number of rounds equal to the Lancer’s class level, the lancer an all heroes within 10 ft. suffer only half damage after damage reduction and damage resistance is applied (rounding down).  Furthermore the Lancer (not his allies) may continue to act normally even when his wounds are below 0.  He still dies if his wounds drop to below -9, however.

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There’s no mistaking the fact that the Lancer is a true Combatant.  Up until this point, the other characters in the Class Act series have been focused on various non-direct combat specializations.  As such, seeing the Lancer’s abilities is kind of overwhelming.  All those bonus feats on top of the regular feats gained via level advancement are more than enough to make a well-rounded, and fearsome force on the battlefield.

That said there might be a few things that are worth mentioning:

• Gear up – Just because your mount is replaceable at no cost means you can disregard them.  Grab armor for your horse with the Barding Armor Upgrade.  Saddlebags are a good investment as they give a slight Strength boost to the animal for calculating carrying capacity.
• Consider Medicine – While it’s not really part of the stereotype, keeping your Mount alive and healthy is always a good thing.  Investing a few points in Medicine (take note the -2 penalty for treating animals) and having a medicine kit gives the Lancer an extra angle where they can be of use patching up friends as well as their Animal Companions.  Nobody wants to lose a mount when stuck in the middle of the wilderness after all.
• Take advantage of your Mobility – Sure charging at full tilt with a lance sounds awesome, but there’s a certain efficiency in being able to dance away from your opponent’s range and pick them off one by one with the use of a bow or a rifle.
• Diversify your Weapon Selection – Carry a ranged weapon, a reach weapon, a melee weapon, and a shield as much as possible.  Distances are your friend, but when you get caught in a situation where another weapon is much more efficient, switch.  The Quick Draw feat might be useful here.

Lancers give the old chestnut of the knight on a horse a shiny new makeover.  Improved reputation, mastery of mounted combat, and a flexibility that allows them to go beyond the standard charging with lances make this a versatile, and iconic choice.