Mob variations.
I've thought a lot about different kinds of mobs as I've played various RPGs over the years. I hate when every enemy is basically the same. So, here are some variations.
Shield & Ax Gunts – Standard mooks. These are humanoids of large or medium size carrying a simple wooden shield and a hand-axe and equipped with light armor. When approaching an enemy they rush forward slightly and shield-bash as they enter combat, pushing past allies of other types. They do get shield-wall benefits and will try to align their shields to maximize these.
I've thought a lot about different kinds of mobs as I've played various RPGs over the years. I hate when every enemy is basically the same. So, here are some variations.
Shield & Ax Gunts – Standard mooks. These are humanoids of large or medium size carrying a simple wooden shield and a hand-axe and equipped with light armor. When approaching an enemy they rush forward slightly and shield-bash as they enter combat, pushing past allies of other types. They do get shield-wall benefits and will try to align their shields to maximize these.
Pike Grunts – Standard mooks. These are humanoids of large or medium size carrying a boar spear and equipped with light armor. If directly confronted, or separated from the enemy by up to two ranks of allies (since the spear has reach), they attack and defend with the spear. They cannot fight effectively at short range because the butt of the spear is blocked by allies to the rear.
Spear & Shield Warriors – Improved mooks. These are humanoids of large or medium size carrying a short-spear and a shield, with 3 javelins on their backs, and equipped with light-medium armor. If directly confronted, or separated from the enemy by a single rank of allies (since the spear has reach), they fight with short spear and block attacks with the shield. If they are unable to reach an opponent but are within javelin range, they will switch the short-spear to their shield hand (held behind the shield) and then throw their javelins in quick succession to briefly increase the group’s rate of DPS output, then switch back to fighting with spear and shield.
Axe Berserkers – Dangerous enemy humanoids of medium or large size with poleaxes and protected by light armor. Once they are close and have a clear line of movement to their enemies, they rush forward with a powerful charging blow that has a strong ability to knock back and stun their opponents and can often break shield-walls. Though they are relatively easy to destroy, they have moderately high ordinary damage and can often one-shot players if they get a good critical hit with their poleaxe so fighting them is never a casual affair.
Spear & Shield Warriors – Improved mooks. These are humanoids of large or medium size carrying a short-spear and a shield, with 3 javelins on their backs, and equipped with light-medium armor. If directly confronted, or separated from the enemy by a single rank of allies (since the spear has reach), they fight with short spear and block attacks with the shield. If they are unable to reach an opponent but are within javelin range, they will switch the short-spear to their shield hand (held behind the shield) and then throw their javelins in quick succession to briefly increase the group’s rate of DPS output, then switch back to fighting with spear and shield.
Axe Berserkers – Dangerous enemy humanoids of medium or large size with poleaxes and protected by light armor. Once they are close and have a clear line of movement to their enemies, they rush forward with a powerful charging blow that has a strong ability to knock back and stun their opponents and can often break shield-walls. Though they are relatively easy to destroy, they have moderately high ordinary damage and can often one-shot players if they get a good critical hit with their poleaxe so fighting them is never a casual affair.
Knights – Strong enemy humanoids of medium to large size from well-organized and well-equipped enemy factions. These are armed with a longsword (a.k.a. bastard sword) and equipped with strong armor, while also carring a shield on their back. Once reduced to ⅔ health they will switch to using the longsword 1-handed while blocking with the shield. In groups, the knights that switch will tank while their fellows continue to attack at high rates of DPS by wielding their longswords two-handed. Because of this tactic, and because knights do usually fight in groups, focusing on taking down individual knights is not the optimum strategy for dealing with them. Rather it is better to attack each knight in turn until they switch to using their shields to reduce their damage before focusing them down.
Acolytes – humanoids of medium to large size from well-organized enemy factions that are moderately effective fighting with shield and mace, and light armor, but if unable to reach their opponents in combat they switch to producing a healing aura which functions as an area-of-effect heal-over-time spell. This can make all enemies they are grouped with far more effective, especially the heavily defended Knights.
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