Character
For information on creating a character visit: Character Creation
Family
Main Article: Family.
In the medieval world, nobody stood alone. Especially among nobles, family ties and lineage were of the utmost importance. Every player in BattleMaster represents one influential family. Players can have multiple characters, up to their character limit, but all of the same family. Noble characters share a common surname which will identify them as members of a particular house or claim. Adventurers do not have an advertised surname as no self respecting nobles would claim a peasant as kin.
Please remember: trying to circumvent this by registering for the game more than once is cheating and will be punished with the deletion of all accounts of the multi cheater.
Families accumulate fame, monetary wealth, and a reputation. Fame comes automatically when a character (or in some cases characters) of the family do something notable that brings renown to the family name. Wealth however is accumulated by characters sending money home to their family instead of spending it in-realm.
Fame and wealth in turn helps newly created characters, who can start the game with more prestige and initial gold.
Heraldry
Main Article: Heraldry.
Heraldry is a symbol of your family and is created in-game through the family page. While it does not have any implications in the game mechanics it does add flavour to the game. Your family's heraldry can be seen by other players at the bottom of your letters and on your family page. In terms of role-playing, your family's heraldry could be used as your character's coat of arms. It would appear on your character's shield, surcoat, or tabard.
Age
Age is not simply a measure of time, age reflects how old your body feels. Battle and being wounded cause the body to age more quickly than simply lounging around in front of a computer. In the past when characters started to get older they would lose skills quicker, get less hours per turn, and recover from wounds slower. Currently, only the increase in skill deterioration is active. In the future the other negative effects may be brought back.
Death
Even though it is rare, it is possible for all characters in the game to die. The ways that all characters can die are as follows: execution, dueling, portals, and character deletion. Execution can only happen if you are in the prison of a realm that you are banned from. Duels are only deadly if it is a duel to the death. Portals are unstable and if it turns for the worse then it can result in the death of those involved. Character deletion leaves two options: retirement or death. The character will no longer exist either way but you can choose to say the character died. Only some characters can die in the remaining three ways: battle, hunting, and from being wounded. In battle it is possible for you to die if you are a hero. When you, as an adventurer, encounter an undead or monster champion while hunting, then there is a chance that you will be killed. Finally, when playing on the South Island, it is possible for wounds to worsen to the point of death. On the South Island there is also forced mortality which means that all characters can die in battle and from wounds. Due to this, the chances of death for heroes on South Island is increased.
Attributes
Main article: Attributes.
There are two basic types of attributes: those that represent how others see you and those that represent your character's abilities. Honour is how much respect you have earned. Your honor influences how many soldiers you can have and is used as a requirement for certain positions in government. Prestige is how much influence you have and is also used as a requirement for government positions. Both honour and prestige can be gained through battle. Every character has a set of skills that dictate how well they will perform certain actions. These skills are: sword fighting, jousting, leadership, trading, bureaucracy, infiltration, oratory, adventuring, and spell casting. Skills improve through using them or training them at the academy. Through time the skills of a character will decrease if they are not used. Some skills are limited to only certain classes.
Wounds
Main article: Wound.
A character can receive a wound in battle, through a duel, or from an assassination attempt by an infiltrator. There are several stages and levels to a wounding, the initial wound, a healing phase, a return period, and a recovery period. Any type of wounding, except a light wound, can remove a character from a lordship or council position when initially received, and if healing takes a long period of time due to character inactivity.
Classes
Main article: Class.
Be aware that choosing which class to play as is one of a noble's inalienable rights in Battlemaster. Anyone who gives you orders about choosing which class to play as should be reported to the Titans or Magistrates.
A character's class affects how they act in society. Each character has two classes: a main class and a sub-class. The main class is the area of life your character focuses on. This can be religion, warfare, bureaucracy, or adventuring. The sub-class can be thought of as a refinement of the main class (i.e. how your character achieves the goals of the main-class) or as the occupation of your character (e.g. a Trader.) While all characters have a main class, not all characters will have a sub-class. The adventurer class does not have access to sub-classes.
Main Classes
Further information: Main Classes.
- Warrior - Focused primarily on combat and warfare.
- Courtier - Focused primarily on the court and non-combat activities, such as government, region maintenance, etc. - also often combined with the diplomat or trader subclass
- Priest - Focused primarily on expanding the influence of their religion.
- Adventurer - Restricted to the special Adventurer characters.
Sub-Classes
Further information: Sub-Classes.
- Diplomat - Focused primarily on relations with other realms.
- Ambassador - An officially sanctioned diplomat with the power to sign treaties for the realm.
- Trader - Focuses on the food trade, and making money through financial transactions.
- Infiltrator - Spies, saboteurs, bounty hunters, and assassins.
- Cavalier - Highly respected knights that excel at leading cavalry into battle.
- Hero - A knight that has chosen to personally lead his men in battle. This means taking on the risk of death during battle.
Unique Items
Main article: Unique Items.
Unique Items are items that are completely unique and provide a bonus to the characters attributes. They can be gained by adventurers after defeating a monster or undead champion. Another way for an adventurer to get a unique item is for them to find a sage that can make one. This requires various common items that are not known by the adventurer beforehand. Through time and use the item will deteriorate and need to be repaired by a sage. Unique items can be traded from character to character as long as the two characters are not from the same family.