Hi!

Im doing a dungeon crawler rpg / tactical game. It's influenced by Darkest dungeon, Battle brothers and tabletop RPGs. You control a party of 3-6 heroes (each has a class like mage, ranger, cleric etc). Fights are started when the party runs into enemies and they are turn-based and units move around on a grid (chess-board style). All ranged attacks/skills reach the entire board.

How would I go about setting class skills for each class? I understand this is a complex issue but any input is welcomed. My idea is this:

1. Basic attack (low dmg but cost no energy ("mana"))
2. Weapon-based attack (low energy cost, 4t cooldown. Spear has chance to cause bleed, mace has chance to stun etc)
   Class based:
3. two mid-range skills (medium energy cost, 2-4t cooldown).
4. one "ultimate" (cost lots of energy, has long cooldown)

Some classes should be tanky, some DPS, some support/buffers. There is no healing through hero skills but there can be shields and damage-reduction buffs.

Should I just look at similar games and start off by mimicking some of the skills from there? I dont want to be too unoriginal but balancing all this seems like a nightmare if I start from nothing

7 hours ago, suliman said:

Should I just look at similar games and start off by mimicking some of the skills from there?

No. You should look at similar games and analyze their systems, then decide which to "mimic" and which to modify and which to omit.

Yes, this is what i meant Tom. Thanks for clarifying.

Any good "bank"/index of basic skills for "typical fantasy classes" that I can use as a base? Or particularly suitable games to look at?

15 hours ago, suliman said:

Any good "bank"/index of basic skills for "typical fantasy classes" that I can use as a base? Or particularly suitable games to look at?

You've already answered your question.

22 hours ago, suliman said:

It's influenced by Darkest dungeon, Battle brothers and tabletop RPGs. You control a party of 3-6 heroes (each has a class like mage, ranger, cleric etc).

Nope I haven't. When it comes to active class skills, these games are not optimal no (battle brothers has none of these for example). I use some of the mechanics and some settings though. And the class skills in darkest dungeon are a bit different.

Let me phrase it like this then: any other games were you think this was done correctly? Good spread of abilities and feel that are still balanced?

On 10/9/2019 at 2:01 AM, suliman said:

Nope I haven't. When it comes to active class skills, these games are not optimal no (battle brothers has none of these for example). I use some of the mechanics and some settings though. And the class skills in darkest dungeon are a bit different.

Let me phrase it like this then: any other games were you think this was done correctly? Good spread of abilities and feel that are still balanced?

The Banner Saga.

I haven't seen anyone else recommend this, Final Fantasy Tactics (Ps1/PSP). In my opinion, it has to be the best tactical RPG when it comes to how the classes are built and how they "play". So that is definitely one game that I recommend you take a lot of inspiration from.

Good luck with your project!