Adventurer
Fair Warnings
Before you play an adventurer, or if you have already started one and someone has sent you here due to some IG dispute, please read this entire page thoroughly. Adventurers are Different, and require some special considerations during play.
Family Connections and Commoners
Please note that Adventurers are commoners. They are not a recognized and acknowledged part of your noble family. If one of your noble characters claims that they have a sister/brother/cousin/son/etc. who is a commoner, you should expect a very serious backlash against your character and family. Acknowledging a connection between your family and common blood is akin to saying that your brother is an orangutan. Not all of the players in BattleMaster take this aspect of adventurers so seriously, while others do. Some characters will use it to their advantage, as the situation dictates.
Remember that nobles do not "renounce their birthright" or "prove their worth by living the life of a commoner". They are nobles. You cannot "become a commoner" or "become a noble". You are born a noble/commoner, and you die the same way. When a commoner ascends to nobility, the official story is that they were always nobles, but their nobility was unrecognized until they found a way to prove it.
This may differ from popular fiction or common fantasy tropes. However, this is the way they are treated in BattleMaster. If you attempt to have your noble characters recognize a familial connection to a commoner (adventurer), make sure you are prepared to accept the potential backlash. This could amount to anything from insults to your character and family, being ignored and shunned, all the way up to banishment from your realm, and possibly even challenges to death duels.
The Adventurer Game is Different
The adventurer has less options and less "things to do" than other classes. That's why you can't make one as your first character. To get the most out of an adventurer, you will want to enjoy roleplaying and plain talking, and leveraging what little you have to maximum effect through the art of personal diplomacy.
If you're looking for the strategy gaming aspect of BattleMaster, adventurer is the wrong place to look.
Overview
The adventurer is a bastard or disowned family member who is not enjoying the usual family perks - he will start out alone, without a unit and with no gold or other support. He will have to prove his value and if he succeeds in doing so, he may become a proper noble one day.
An adventurer character counts against your per-family and per-island character limits. Before you create an adventurer character, you should be aware that playing an adventurer also means missing large parts of what BattleMaster is all about. The adventurer is quite limited in what he can do - but in return there are unique things that only an adventurer can accomplish.
Your adventurer character will be created in a random region on the island of your choice, and belong to whatever realm rules that region. You can not choose which realm he belongs to.
Most important for roleplaying: You are a commoner, not a noble. You will be treated like an animal by nobles, and if you are wise you will address every noble as "Sir" or "Lady" at the very least. At the beginning of every sentence. With additional "I'm unworthy" thrown in between for good measure.
Because playing an adventurer can be so different and challenging new players are not allowed to create an adventurer character during their first 30 days playing BattleMaster.
Player Contributions
This page is kept to a minimum intentionally. It only gives you an overview so you can decide whether or not you want to try an adventurer. Check the Adventurer Game page for contributions, speculations and advice from other players.
Game Mechanics Differences
Adventurers work much like priests in regards to travel and time - they do not move on the turn, and they do not gain hours on the turn. Instead, travel happens instantly (if enough hours are in the time pool) and they regain one hour per hour of real-life time up to a maximum of 16 hours.
Adventurers also have to watch out for fatigue. All actions other than resting adds fatigue. Fatigue can be regained by resting. In addition, every hour that passes when an adventurer is at his 16 hour time pool maximum will automatically be spent resting, reducing fatigue by 1/hr.
There is also hunger, but it's not explicitly tracked. Instead, you will silently pay about 2 silver on food and drinks per day.
Hunting / Adventuring
Adventurers are the only characters capable of dealing directly with monsters and undead before these form a group/horde and cause trouble in the region they are in. Adventurers can find and eliminate the evil creatures before they become a problem, and thus are quite valuable to a realm that wants to keep its regions peaceful and trouble-free.
Adventurers can (and often should) work together to eliminate these foul beasts.
In addition, by defeating large groups, adventurers can get Unique Items - and are thusly the only source for new unique items in the entire game.
There is one risk to this, though. You can die. Yes, I said die - what do you think a large, hungry beast will do if you go down fighting it? You're as tasty a snack as the next guy.
Limitations and Disadvantages
Lots. You get no taxes, but still pay them, you don't get to command a unit, can be arrested by a noble at any time for no reason at all, and the list goes on and on...
Adventurers also have limited messaging options - nobles don't listen to common peasants and they don't talk to them, either.
Finally, as they are but commoners, if they get captured and imprisoned, they can almost always be banned or executed.
The major difference is in roleplaying. You are a commoner, someone who - according to the law of most medieval countries - can be beheaded on the spot for insulting his lord. Someone who if a knight kills or wounds you that knight would have to pay for damages to your lord, but never to you. Heck, we've made a page called Adventurer Roleplaying to gather these tiny things like class differences that most of us don't know about living in modern times. Another negative aspect of playing this class is that you are very likely to become target practice for the infiltrators who are around, and you have no means available to protect yourself.
Becoming a Knight
Adventurers can rise to the ranks of nobility and become true knights, if they can meet all of the following requirements:
- gain 5 prestige
- gain 10 honour
- get at least 3 Recommendations