One way to intertwine narrative and mechanics in a game is to do so through character classes. In order to have unique feeling classes, the class style needs to match the narrative of what they are. For example, a warrior needs to feel like a physical powerhouse, and a mage needs to feel like a squishy, but powerful spellcaster.
War Sorceress:
In Draconic Echoes: The Ardent War, the raw magic damage dealing class is Lyrra’s “War Sorceress” option. The in-game description of the War Sorceress is as follows:
Selecting this option will change Lyrra to the “War Sorceress” class. She will focus on obliterating her enemies with powerful fire, lightning, water, and fusion spells. She will also gain the ability to use heavy armor, shields, and off-hand weapons. As a War Sorceress, Lyrra’s combat options become exceptionally versatile. Due to her [character background], Lyrra is capable of being anything from a spellcasting tank to a high damage magic archer. In fact, due to her mastery of fusion magic, the War Sorceress has the highest single-target damage potential of all the advanced classes. However, compared to the Songstress, the War Sorceress falls behind in terms of healing and TP generation, but can still output viable support.
Draconic Echoes: The Ardent War
The War Sorceress is meant to feel like a master of magic in all forms. She can use her magic despite wearing heavy armor, use it to empower weapon attacks, fuse raw magical elements together with ease, and still cast support magic. Normally in fantasy settings, mages are restricted by mechanical restrictions, such as heavy armor hampering the motions to cast spells. However, the War Sorceress, casts away those restrictions, and with her exceptional magical skill, takes the concept of a weapon-wielding spellcaster further beyond, gaining access to powerful weapon-based spells and raw magic spells. To elaborate on how the War Sorceress works in this manner, I would like to describe some of its skills in more detail.
Heritage Blade – Muster your power and enchant your blade with an unknown element. After the caster strikes, she is filled with courage and gains the “mocking” effect. (Must have a sword or dagger equipped.)
Bard’s Arrows – Conjure arrows of an unknown element. When the arrows hit the target, they burst into soothing magic that applies the “inspired” effect to all allies for this turn only. (Must have a bow or crossbow equipped.)
Flaming, Lightning, and Water Arrows/Blades Level III -Enchants the weapon attack to deal magic damage of the respective element. Level III elemental arrows buff the user’s luck stat temporarily, while level III elemental blades buff the user’s endurance stat temporarily.
All of these skills demonstrate how the weapon choice of the War Sorceress matters. If the player chooses a blade, then the War Sorceress gains some tank-like abilities and damage reduction, but if the player chooses a bow or crossbow, then the War Sorceress takes a more traditional role for a mage, sticking to support-like spells and the magic element mechanics in the game via increased luck.
Fusion Magic – Fusion magic combines multiple elements into a single spell. Fusion spells can apply “fusion primer,” increasing the damage of following fusion spells by 25%.
The War Sorceress gains an assortment of fusion spells that combine the fire, lightning, and water elements, and they cost MP to cast, meaning that they are able to be used frequently. Fusion magic is especially powerful as it allows the player to create some devastating spell combinations.
Elemental Control Aria – An aria that forces any single-target magic attacks to be redirected to the caster. Also, it grants the caster fire, lightning, and water absorption.
Not only is the War Sorceress a master of her own magic, but she is skilled enough to draw in the concentrated magic of other spellcasters. Whether she is specialized to be a tank role or a damage dealer, the War Sorceress is able to support the party by mitigating incoming magic attacks.
With all of these things considered, the War Sorceress is a versatile class that can be specialized even further based on the player’s choice of weapon. With magic, anything is possible, and that’s just how the War Sorceress operates. The War Sorceress’ tool kit is designed in such a way that it is meant to make the the player feel that this class is the master of many advanced types of magic, and can shift between them with ease.
If you’re curious about how all my nonsense actually plays out in a game, check out Draconic Echoes: The Ardent War on Steam!