East Asian Inspired Weapon / Class System Which is Pretty Different than the Normal FE System

[AnonymousSpeed]

I was quite struck by this throwaway idea that came up in another thread for an East Asian inspired Fire Emblem setting which threw out most of the traditional weapon types and replaces them with gauntlets and hidden weapons and stuff. So I decided to run with it. This idea is obviously like Fire Emblem but I decided I might as well do whatever I feel like and not worry too much about keeping in line with the previous conventions. Many of these changes are mentioned in the description of weapon types, but here's a few changes I "decided on" while describing the weapon types:

Magic and Strength are unified into a single stat. Resistance is gone because it was super low for most units anyway. Reducing magical damage is now done strictly through skills.

Each of these weapons and classes get fancy Asiatic names for theming reasons. Most of these names are Japanese derived because laziness, but a few are Korean derived.

Weapon weight is FE4 style, being subtracted directly from speed.

***

Here's a description of the weapon types and classes which are associated with them:

Spoiler

Katana

Parallel to swords in main series Fire Emblem games. Katanas are the most familiar weapon type and arguably the most basic. There exists a wide variety of katanas with various effects. There's a katana which deals effective damage to dragons. There's a katana which negates a portion of the enemy's defense. There's a katana which is extremely heavy but usually crits on a counter, and another katana which is just a killing edge. Katanas are the only weapon type which is capable of scoring critical hits.

Context changes the role katanas take compared to swords. While still the most accurate weapon type, they are also the most powerful in terms of raw might (aside from hwachas). This is a necessity of the other main weapon types relying on traits other than power to distinguish them. Their very solid performance is limited by their basic nature. While there is a katana for nearly every situation, it is mostly just a bunch of 1-range physical weapons which occasionally deal triple damage.

Katanas are the primary weapon of the Samurai class, well rounded fighters who are just as flexible as their weapon options. One promotion of the Samurai is the Ronin, a katana locked class which receives a significant critical hit boost, akin to a swordmaster. Also available is the Daimyo, which gains access to Tekko and focuses more on power.

 

Tekko

Parallel to the gauntlets from Three Houses. Tekko are weaker than katanas and also less accurate, but these fisticuffs augments compensate by all being brave weapons. This makes them well suited to high strength characters who can defeat enemies in two hits even with a weak weapon. Their lower accuracy can make using them a little bit more of a gamble, though. In the hands of a sufficiently skilled fighter, they can serve as your most reliable means of dealing damage. Tekko are locked to one range.

Tekko are the weapon of the Monk class, which emphasizes HP and strength so as to best utilize their weapon type. Monks can promote to Daimyo to gain access to katanas which keeping their emphasis on power. They can also promote to Masters, gaining the use of shurikens. Master is a class which depends heavily on the original class for its statistical layout.

 

Shuriken

Essentially the hidden weapons from Fates. Shurikens are the weakest weapon type of all and can only double on player phase. However, while Katanas and Tekko can double whenever they have enough speed, they are also locked to one range. Shurikens are all 1-2 range weapons, though this is mostly to give them flexibility to avoid being countered when they engage. Units wielding shuriken tend not to be very defensive. The main draw of these little throwing blades is that they reduce the stats of an enemy after combat, making them easier targets for your samurai and monks.

Shurikens are the weapon of the ninja class, which emphasizes speed at the expense of power and defense.While they might be able to dodgetank a few enemies, they are not suited for mass debuffing incoming waves of opponents. Ninjas can promote to Masters, like Monks. While monks produce slow and powerful masters, ninjas produce masters with exceptional speed. Their low strength makes it somewhat difficult to utilize Tekko but they can easily score quadruple hits. Ninjas can also promote to Ikko-Ikki, gaining access to sutras but remaining fast, weak units.

 

Sutras

Parallel to the tomes in main series Fire Emblem games. Sutras are only able to function at 2 range, though this is not a massive drawback in practice, as you generally want to attack from out of your opponent's range and sutra users are not tough enough to stand up to foes on enemy phase. Sutras are the lightest weapon type, which makes it quite easy to double with them. While extremely weak, they also ignore enemy defenses entirely. Very few units ever had much resistance anyway, so let the whole thing be done away with. These factors come together to make Sutra users into incredibly potent player phase nukes for enemies stopped up against your front lines.

Sutras are the weapon of the Diviner class.  There stats are fairly unimpressive at a glance, but their weapon type brings them up quite a bit. The lightness of sutras lets them double most samurai and their defense penetrating effect turns mediocre power into a severe threat. None of this will resolve their paper thin defenses, though. Diviners can promote to Ikko-Ikki, gaining access to shurikens and increasing their speed but gaining little in terms of raw damage. They can also promote to Omnyoji, gaining access to khakkharas for added versatility.

 

Khakkharas

Parallel to the staves in main series Fire Emblem games. Khakkharas heal dudes, mostly. Sometimes they do it from a little farther away, sometimes they do it a little more potently. Sometimes they unlock doors and sometimes they power up an ally. They make your units better and healthier and all that, and fulfill whatever form of that can be done.

Khakkharas are the weapon of the Shrine Keeper class. Shrine Keepers are quite bulky in comparison to Diviners but should still be kept away from the front lines. Their power is a bit lower than Diviners, though. Shrine Keepers can promote to Omnyoji, allowing them to fill offensive roles as well as supportive ones. They can also promote to Yamabushi, gaining access to Tekko. Promotion to Yamabushi significantly increases strength and defense, though they'll still be lesser combatants than promoted Monks.

 

Hwacha

Parallel to the ballista from Shadow Dragon. Hwacha cannot counter or be countered, meaning they only attack one enemy per turn at the most. However, these slow attacks pack extreme punch and boast exceptional range. Hwacha are easily the most powerful weapon type there is. Most have 10 as their max range but some go ever farther than that. As powerful as these rockets are, they are quite cost prohibitive. Hwacha are very expensive and don't have very many uses. This is the price paid for raining down explosives from halfway across the map.

Hwacha are only used by one class, the Engineer. Engineers don't promote. Since Hwachas have to be carried around on carts, Engineers are limited to certain terrain types and are really only mobile on flat roads. Though somewhat bulky, the stats of Engineers aren't exceptional. It's their weapons which carry them.

 

Shakuhachi

Shakuhachi are flutes exclusively used by your refresher unit, who is a Komuso. Their uses are unlimited. Most of them function similar to rallies, though one shakuhachi (the one which the unit starts with) is the tool used to refresh allies.

***

I was also thinking of this other class called Geobukseon. Similar to Engineers, these guys don't promote. They are a heavily armored class of physical tanks wielding katanas, because spears aren't a thing here because I said so. There is a specific nation characterized by their defensive tactics and use of Geobukseon. The other defining class of this nation is Engineers.

Edited February 7, 2020 by AnonymousSpeed

[SoulWeaver]

You've got Onmyoji spelled Omnyoji, not quite right. Seems pretty intriguing, I'd be down for this kind of play in a future mainstream game.

[Shanty Pete's 1st Mate]

These sound pretty cool! I was a fan of noth the addition of Shurikens in Fates (even if they were overpowered) and Gauntlets in Three Houses (even if they were underdeveloped).

One thing I would consider working in is a spear or polearm - either bringing back the Naginata from Fates, or introducing the Chinese Ji. They could be one-range, heavy and incapable of doubling, but offer defensive buffs to the wielder (maybe crit-immunity?). Those could be the weapon-of-choice for Geokubseon. Just a thought!

12 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Magic and Strength are unified into a single stat. Resistance is gone because it was super low for most units anyway. Reducing magical damage is now done strictly through skills.

I can see Resistance being gone, but I'm not sure about creating a unified Magic/Strength. It seems like the unified stat (Stragic?) would be able to totally make-or-break a unit. Maybe you could do a pseudo-Thracia system, and have one stat that boosts magic offense on player phase, but boosts resistance on enemy phase?

12 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Shakuhachi are flutes exclusively used by your refresher unit, who is a Komuso. Their uses are unlimited. Most of them function similar to rallies, though one shakuhachi (the one which the unit starts with) is the tool used to refresh allies.

Crazy thought - what if their uses were limited? Either in total, or per map? That way, you'd have to manage when you choose to refresh or rally for allies, rather than freely spamming it every turn. Kind of like the "rings" from FE7.

[AnonymousSpeed]

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

One thing I would consider working in is a spear or polearm - either bringing back the Naginata from Fates, or introducing the Chinese Ji. They could be one-range, heavy and incapable of doubling, but offer defensive buffs to the wielder (maybe crit-immunity?). Those could be the weapon-of-choice for Geokubseon. Just a thought!

I did actually consider having a defense boosting weapon type in the form of war fans, but this is probably a better implementation of that idea. Maybe a Korean form of polearm, like a Dangpa or Woldo.

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

I can see Resistance being gone, but I'm not sure about creating a unified Magic/Strength. It seems like the unified stat (Stragic?) would be able to totally make-or-break a unit. Maybe you could do a pseudo-Thracia system, and have one stat that boosts magic offense on player phase, but boosts resistance on enemy phase?

I don't know. Only Ikko-Ikki and Yamabushi would be able to use separate strength and magic stats, again barring a Thracia type system where it would only be resistance for most units.

1 hour ago, Shanty Pete's 1st Mate said:

Crazy thought - what if their uses were limited? Either in total, or per map? That way, you'd have to manage when you choose to refresh or rally for allies, rather than freely spamming it every turn. Kind of like the "rings" from FE7.

Yeah, that could work. It would let you justify making them a lot more powerful and therefore more impactful.