Melee Classes

In other words, don't bring a knife to a gunfight.

## Playing as melee

The average opponent is, on average, *average*. Players will face a series of opponents that may or may not have increasing challenges in each chapter of their campaign. The resources that Primal Magic afford to House Stonehearth mean this isn't a slow climb to a single major boss, but rather a series of campaigns in a theater of war that is intended to be the end game that allows civilization to thrive in the Forgotten Realms.

The melee class may feel slighted if only because most lower-level fights will be over at a distance (and if they aren’t, there’s something wrong). For the sake of the players and feelings of involvement, it's recommended that even melee specialists have some sort of ranged role that will keep them in the game until such a time that opponents are significant enough to last past the first ranged round of combat.

That said, when the combat reaches melee range, those who fight at touch-distance will have their chance to shine. Like a nova, it will likely be very bright and very brief: the melee weaponry created by Stonehearth industry and charged by primally-powered enchantments make them the match of their ranged teammates *once they can bring their weapons to bear*.

### Stonehearth Campaigns vs Primal Campaigns

The difference between these campaigns will dictate the early involvement of melee. Stonehearth Campaigns focus on the threats nearby North Point, and are troll-centric. Open-field battles will be over quickly and at range, though following the trolls underground or into the forest will be closer and more chaotic.

In this case, the role of tanks in the fantasy world are literally personified – and nothing embodies that more than the existence of a division’s worth of raging chaotic evil tanks in the form of trolls. Not only are they large, they move in packs and take special fire treatment to fully destroy.

Once past the trolls, however, the Stonehearth strategic objectives vary widely enough that opponents will very likely fall back into that average humanoid pattern that will be quickly dispatched by ranged fire.

Primal Campaigns may or may not be direct Stonehearth missions, but they tend to focus on longer-range, geographically farther objectives, and often with less concentrated power in the ranged arsenal. That may vary per table and party composition.

## Learning to Wield Primal-Powered Weapons

One of the keys that keeps melee relevant in the primal world is *corners*. Then there are the middle-grade opponents that, due to resistances, cover or other factors, might not drop to ranged combat. There will always be moments where deconstructive physics is most efficiently delivered by hand. It is in this mode that primal magic will affect a melee character.

Primal magic has brought on a sea change for melee power – *when it can be used*. The quality of weapons and the range of enchantments that can be layered on them produce weapons that would've been beyond legendary just two centuries ago.

There are different dynamics to interacting with these high-level enchantments, especially if there are layered enchantments. It may not feel different at first: the old-school sword +1 may feel functionally identical to a normal sword, but picking up a sword that looks the same but packs a +4 punch may hold a few surprises (which could be very unpleasant if a character gets fancy without knowing how to wield it). Attunement will be key for characters gaining access to high-level enchanted melee weapons.

Sword fighting is a lot more than *"the pointy end goes in the other guy..."*

## **Primary Melee Classes in a Primal World**

### **Barbarian**

The courage, constitution and near-supernatural strength of true barbarians make them formidable personal-distance warriors. Their lack of armor ultimately limits the density of a battlefield on which they're effective, but when they can dictate that battlespace, they can often dictate everything in the space around them. Put a primal-powered weapon in the hands of a barbarian and they'll be a high-powered machine of destruction.

As potent as a barbarian can be, due to the nature of Chain-of-Command and Rules of Engagement restrictions, the Stonehearth Arms do not employ barbarians. There are exceptions to every rule, but those exceptions usually prove the rule. It’s not unheard of for former “barbarians” to join the arms and level up as dragoons (close-combat specialists).

Barbarians don’t typically utilize ranged weapons, but they do have access to enchant-weight-controlled weapons of massive size – *that do commensurately massive damage*. There are a dozen other enhancement types, many in combinations, that can be sold to Private Military Contractors, including barbarians.

From Baldur's Gate through the Marquisate, there are very few barbarians in the area. Most that qualify are passing through, probably looking to shop for enchanted weapons. The tiny number of resident barbarians are in Baldur's Gate as professional gladiators; performers in regular (usually) non-lethal combat, complete with their own fan clubs.

### **Fighter**

Many of the scenarios of this campaign are built around mission profiles that are typical of the Stonehearth Arms. The backbone of the Arms, and those involved in the missions, are the soldiers of the Mobile Infantry. The Infantry, in turn, are divided into two groups: the Dragoons and the Musketeers. Even these names are slightly archaic but still reverent references to the weapons and tactics that solidified Stonehearth Arms as producers of the premiere military force of Faerûn.

* **The Stonehearth Arms:** *an overview of the military of The Coronet*
* **The Soldiers of the Arms****:** *a Player-Character's path within the Arms*

A few Private Military Contractors (PMCs) are technically extended forms of government service: the private retinues of local nobility, including their personal bodyguards. More often, the PMCs operate at the edge of the Coronet’s reach. PMCs may be hired in areas within the Coronet’s jurisdiction, but beneath a level where military deployment is practical. One of the issues of maintaining a “small standing force” in comparison to aggregate temporary armies is that… it’s a small standing force.

The College of Arms is the training center for the Stonehearth Arms, but it's not the only area for combat training in the Marquisate. There are three licensed sword fighting schools in North Point alone, all of which are capable of training aspiring warriors into stock levels of Fighter-1 and beyond.

Likewise, the Coronet doesn’t openly run operations outside its political sphere of influence. For extremely sensitive operations, they’ll send Sergeants-at-Arms; but there are gray-area operations where they would potentially hire PMCs, especially former Stonehearth soldiers they know they can trust.

Finally, just because something is outside the Marquisate doesn't mean the Coronet has no interest in "how things unfold." Agents of Stonehearth are likely to hire local adventurers to sway foreign events in favorable directions... *like supporting the Sand Kings to overthrow the Shadovar-Netherese*.

* **A Company of Adventurers:** *Swords for hire beyond the Sword Coast*

### **Monk**

People of the cloth, devotees of philosophical and religious matters, share a kinship with clerics and priests, and to a lesser degree, paladins. Likewise, their discipline and quest for insight and understanding set them apart from mere pastors or philosophers. That discipline becomes physically manifest, and likewise their mental self-control is expressed as "ki."

## The Primal Take on "Ki"

There is a great deal of confusion on what exactly "Ki" is. 5e tends to lump it in as a form of magic, in roughly the same way that 5e conflates psionics with magic (mostly for the sake of convenience). General-access builds were once taken as OP, RetCons overcorrected and now nobody is happy. We don't mind: we're ignoring the tedium of balance here anyway.

In the Primal Campaign, Ki is an offshoot of psionics. Further, psionics is utterly unrelated to arcane magic, but does bridge a bit into spiritual energy. Call it a willingness to keep science fiction sensibilities in a simplified fantasy framework.

Psionics, including the stock Unearthed Arcana-style Mystic class (2017), are present in the campaign but play a mostly-peripheral role until the endgame (at which point, they move front and center).

There are a great deal of monks in the Marquisate, dedicated to a wide spectrum of disciplines. Most of them have only a minimal physical routine, more abbots than martial artists. Some may share monastic space with clerics and priests dedicated to the same study. When these lifelong students sally forth from their sanctuary, they can be competent guardians of the greater good.

While there are mounds of monks in the Marquisate, most avoid the adventuring route. Further, stock monks (like stock anything) are woefully underpowered for the series of dangers this campaign will provide. That said, monks bridge the gap to non-magical mentalists. Being able to perform certain functions without the use of magic works out as a potential tactical and strategic advantage – and therefore something worthy of Stonehearth time and development.

#### House Stonehearth

There are a variety of monks directly in the employ of the House itself, and most of them claim their jobs are functionaries, scribes and administrators. In fact, very few monks fit that description. Most are actually part of the Stonehearth Psionics academy, a modular training similar to what the ArCorps provides. Most are directly involved in the esoteric research of Ki itself – and very few would ever be asked to leave the facilities and head downrange.

#### Independent Contractors / Practitioners

It's even chances that a non-Stonehearth monk would find themselves in the position of adventurer. Some might need to strike out on their own for personal enlightenment, while a few others may be assigned a task or quest.

Primal technique won't do anything for monks, though like barbarians and others, the class may benefit from specialized equipment and enchants.

### **Rogue**

Specialists in the combat arts of speed and surprise, with associated experience covert and clandestine activities, there are a plethora of rogues in Baldur's Gate (with fair numbers in the Marquisate). In the Gate, there is a thieves' guild, containing a great deal of the rogues of the city, plus assassins of all stripes and nationalities, most of whom are in the city in an attempt to get the drop on Stonehearth for whatever angle they can find.

Rogues are predominantly non-casting, so primal technique is irrelevant to the rogue class. Primal-powered enchantment, however, with enhanced weapons and operational materiel, is beyond gold to rogues. Also, actual gold, is gold to rogues – and Stonehearth seems to be made of the stuff.

Like the fighter-class combat training academies, there are a number of ways that independent operators can get their start (or practice their craft) in Baldur's Gate and the greater Marquisate. This even includes licensed combat academies that specialize in rogue training.

#### Private Military Contractors (PMCs)

Stonehearth is extremely selective in who it will hire, but they aren't the only employers in the area. There is always work in the Gate and nearby areas, whether legal or not, whether sanctioned or not.

The majority of rogue training is minimal instruction, with leveling marking the progression that experience has made a breakthrough in a characters trial-and-error experimentation to finally grasp some technique.

The *premiere* rogues, however, are trained by Stonehearth themselves. Not surprising given the House resources, nor surprising that it takes an assassin to guard against assassins.

#### The Stonehearth Sergeants-at-Arms

The Stonehearth Arms maintains their own training program for rogue capacity, which is expressed in the **Sergeant-at-Arms** (SA) hybrid class. This is the third stage of a multiclass character journey that usually starts with Fighter (Infantry), a different fighter subclass (Marine or Guard) *or* levels in Ranger, before ever reaching the rogue training stages.

Like the other specialists, a player should consult with their DM whether this is predominantly a Stonehearth campaign or a primal campaign. If it's Stonehearth, the player will likely want/need to remain active duty. In primal campaigns, they'll likely retire and once the player "retires" from the SA, the specialized training is no longer available and they are generally unable to continue leveling up in SA levels. This begins (or resumes) a fourth class.