What do you want out of a main FE lord?

[Dinar87]

Long post incoming!

Okay... I actually have two lord ideas. The general concept is that both are lords of different kingdom statuses. One kingdom is the capital of a well known continent that has an allegiance of the founding nations make the important decisions of each. The other is a small, up coming kingdom that's still developing it's culture and not on the map as a well known nation. Both lords will be responsible for leading and managing an army.

The lord of the capital nation is assigned as a leader of a small army to learn how to lead and to learn about how different people of different statuses of class behaves and how to relate to them. The lord is a good fighter taught by said lord's father, and very laid back, barely acting like a noble at all. The lord never really focuses on learning leadership and honestly doesn't want to even lead the nation, because the lord is afraid of the change that might happen when that time comes. The lord doesn't want to be a commander, but her parents stay firm with they're decision. As the journey progresses and the lord meets more people, the lord realizes the importance of protecting these people and the continent. and grows bond with the soldiers that are recruited/joins the lord from the start. This lord is a female who, although is a very good fighter story wise, starts out kinda weak. She mainly uses an axe, but after the game progresses a little, she can use swords, and uses lances when she promotes. Her personal axe will be good against horse and armor units, but she won't get it till the story progresses in terms of recruiting new units. The legendary axe that she gets is a special axe linked with other legendary weapons that other units can use. In terms of stats, she'll have good HP and skill, okay defense, low strength(though her starting strength is good) and speed, bad luck and resistance, and no magic growth.

The lord of the growing nation decides to lead the nation's main army in order to prepare for conquistadors who might try to take the small growing land. and is the opposite gender of the great continent's capital noble. As a fighter, he's self taught, only going by from what he sees from the neighboring large continent's visiting soldiers who sends aid and funds to the growing nation. As a person, he's actually a very hostile and bitter person who shows no signs of humility and downright insults others who he thinks outclasses him and makes a mistake. Because of this, his troops start to tire of his behavior, and they stop treating him as their commander altogether. They instead treat the Jeigan character as the commander instead. Due to this, he decides to try and change how he acts and talks to people, with some units that didn't hate him guiding him. He then grows into a sarcastic, blunt leader who knows when he's gone too far. As a unit, he's like the female, but with a few differences. His main weapon is a lance, and after the game game progresses a little, he can use staffs, and when he promotes he can use Dark tomes. His personal lance will be good against any mage unit. Like the female lord, he doesn't get it until the story progresses for sometime, but he gets his weapon even later then the female lord. His legendary will be a more modified version of his personal. In terms of stats, he'll have good HP, resistance, and speed, okay magic and slightly lower strength than his magic, low luck, and bad skill and defense.

[spoiler=for a bonus]The lords' kids will have the same gender of said lord.

The child of the female lord isn't as out there as her mother. She's actually rather timid, but isn't afraid to help others as well as give advice. As a unit, she starts off as a staff user, but gets able to use swords later on, and gets a flying mount when she promotes. At a base, her HP, skill, and defense is lower than her mother's, but her magic and luck are greatly higher, and her speed and resistance are slightly higher. She share's her mother's strength growths, though.

The child of the male lord isn't super blunt like his father, but he does give out good criticism. He doesn't have any good common sense, however. As a unit, he starts off using Dark magic, but gets able to use Light magic later on, and uses Anima magic and a grounded mount when he promotes. At a base, his HP, speed, and resistance will be lower than his father's, but his skill is greatly higher, and his defense and luck are slightly higher. He shares his father's strength and magic growths, though.

I think it'd be interesting to have a bunch of chapters for both countries and then have them fight RD-style.

[Valkarian]

I want an up beat and carefree lord who would much rather explore the vastness of the world and let his brother do the busy work rather than sitting down signing a bunch of documents. He isn't afraid to hire the scummiest of mercenaries or pirates and is a lady's man to boot. These endearing personality traits must also result in his flaws, as due to the fact that he improvises a lot due to his carefreeness, he always ends up getting results that aren't always desirable. He also needs a motivation other than saving my homeland. Maybe something like finding his father will that was lost on the tragic night his fathers ship was raided by pirates and he just so happened to get into another countries squabbles while on his treasure hunt, resulting in him intervening while still trying to look for his will.

Of course everything I stated was über specific, but you can see the type of main character I want.

Edited August 7, 2016 by Valkarian

[Dinar87]

I want an up beat and carefree lord who would much rather explore the vastness of the world and let his brother do the busy work rather than sitting down signing a bunch of documents. He isn't afraid to hire the scummiest of mercenaries or pirates and is a lady's man to boot. These endearing personality traits must also result in his flaws, as due to the fact that he improvises a lot due to his carefreeness, he always ends up getting results that aren't always desirable. He also needs a motivation other than saving my homeland. Maybe something like finding his father will that was lost on the tragic night his fathers ship was raided by pirates and he just so happened to get into another countries squabbles while on his treasure hunt, resulting in him intervening while still trying to look for his will.

Of course everything I stated was über specific, but you can see the type of main character I want.

So in other words...an even more carefree Uther from FE7x?

[Busterman64]

Hey, you mind if I make a thread for FE game/story ideas later?

I've had a lot of ideas brewing in this head of mine for a whule now(and more so now thanks to this thread) and it's gonna go way off this thread's topic(and go on for a good long while).

Edited August 7, 2016 by Busterman64

[Briver]

I'd really like a lord who isn't "Super awesome hero that everyone loves." I think the whole game would benefit from having less black and white good and evil representations, rather having the main lord do some things that might be questionable to the player.

[Busterman64]

I'd really like a lord who isn't "Super awesome hero that everyone loves." I think the whole game would benefit from having less black and white good and evil representations, rather having the main lord do some things that might be questionable to the player.

So kinda like an Anti-Hero? Hhhmmm...could work...

[Dinar87]

Hey, you mind if I make a thread for FE game/story ideas later?

I've had a lot of ideas brewing in this head of mine for a whule now(and more so now thanks to this thread) and it's gonna go way off this thread's topic(and go on for a good long while).

Go ahead. I don't mind at all.

[saisymbolic]

For the basics of a protagonist, I'd want him to:

1. Have a character arc.

2. Be competent but flawed.

3. Be charismatic but not universally loved.

4. Gameplay-wise, he should be above average but not too strong.

5. Have him use a tome as a starting weapon.

I second this. Here's my protagonist/plot pitch.

The protagonist is a low-born child who has grown up in country that is often at war with its neighbors. Tired of being trodden on by the upper classes and victimized because of the constant wars, he vows to one day be king (not that anyone takes that seriously). Flash forward 10 years (the start of the game) and the protagonist is the co-leader of a mercenary group along with a childhood friend. Their group is similar to the Greil Mercenaries, focused on helping out commoners. The friend is satisfied with being the peoples' heroes, but the protagonist wants to take the group to greater and greater heights. The protagonist is a tactical genius and eventually the group catches the eyes of the nobles. The group is elevated to a national level of importance, being responsible for making their country the dominant power on the continent. As the protagonist continues to rise in society and take victories, his confidence leads to arrogance which makes him underestimate his enemies. At a crucial point, he loses a significant battle which takes away a lot of his stature in the country. Still, he is determined to become the king, which leads to some morally ambiguous schemes.

I want this as well. Except with a lance.

Why does that protagonist remind me of Tactics Ogre a little bit?

[NekoKnight]

Having a moment like that would actually be good; a kind of hopeless battle. Narratively speaking I think the problem with most FE stories is that the characters keep winning and winning and winning and that leads to there being little tension; having a "darkest hour" point in the middle of the story would do a lot to fix that.

I wouldn't say that most FE's are without tension. Even when your characters take victory after victory, there are setbacks or at least the sense that the conflict is long from over. Eliwood's father dies after a long search for him, Lucia is captured and nearly hanged, and the Lycian army is roflstomped by Bern offscreen in Sealed Sword. All of these things happen despite you winning every encounter you come across.

Still, it would pretty neat if the protagonist lost of major battle (maybe represented by an escape or defense map?) and had to deal with the consequences of that. They could cement that drama by having a plot death as the direct result of the protagonist's blunder (as opposed to the random deaths you see if Fates).

I want this as well. Except with a lance.

Why does that protagonist remind me of Tactics Ogre a little bit?

My inspiration was mostly from Breaking Bad and Berserk (Walter White and Griffith's character arcs, respectively). I like the idea of the protagonist starting off with wanting to help people but finding in themselves darker ambitions when actually given a taste of power (Walter). The idea of a mercenary group rising through the ranks by the sheer talent and charisma of their leader is Griffith's tale. Seriously, Berserk does Fire Emblem plots better than Fire Emblem does.

Edit: I'd totally be on board with another Lance Lord too, but I thought tome-use fit better with the intelligence of the character I was imagining.

Edited August 8, 2016 by NekoKnight