01-06-2004, 03:06 PM
Well, after a bit if surfing I happened upon a website with a totally horrid design (madcap colour scheme, improper use of midi background music) that was made by one of those Society for Creative Anachronism freaks.
Nonetheless it actually had a bit of somewhat interesting information, for example some schematics of a prototype repeating crossbow.
It also had a section about Roman legionaries and their tactics and armament. It happened upon me that it could be useful for a somewhat fun Diablo variant with focus on roleplaying.
Let me first announce that this is intended to be a team variant. While many of the characters could probably be played solo with great success there is really no point in being a legionary if you don't belong to no legion.
Anyways, legionaries can be divided into two groups: Legionaries and officers. The officers can be things such as commanders, standard bearers, etc.
A unit of Roman legionaries should never have more officers than basic legionaries. Ideally there should be more basic legionaries, but an equal amount might work out as well.
Legionaries.
Basic legionaries are to be built as directly offensive characters and solid tanks. They will advance in tight formation throwing javelins at the enemy while closing in. In melee they might either opt to keep using their javelins (the historical romans had usually expended their supply by now, but we'll see through this) or use their gladius.
Item restrictions:
These restrictions are common to all legionaries, regardless of class. They might seem pretty harsh, but standardisation was one of the things that made the Roman armies so effective.
They MUST wear a tower shield (or it's exceptional/elite iterations) at all times. Before they acquire a tower shield and learn how to use it they are still considered trainees. There is to be NO exception to this rule. Abandoning rank and not keeping up your shield is considered an act of treason. The tower shields and their discipline was what kept the historical roman legionaries alive.
The roman legionaries are always equipped with two kinds of weapons. The javelin and the gladius. All legionaries must carry at least one of each. Even those who elect to use the javelin for close combat too, must carry a gladius anyway for backup.
A gladius here is defined as either a short sword (and it's exceptional/elite iterations) or a war sword (and it's excep/unique versions). A case can also be made for allowing the broad sword, but besides that all is disallowed. Roman Legionaries NEVER use two handed weapons since they need the protection of their tower shields at all times).
Since communication between the troops and their commanders are vital they are only allowed to use openface helmets. In case you wonder what this means skull caps, helmets, crowns, barbarian jawbone caps, fanged helms, horned helms and druid pelts are considered openface. Caps and circlets does not cover the head adequately.
It should be said that druid pelts are reserved for a special role, the standard bearer. One could also make a case for restricting crested helms (crowns and horned helms for commanders) though I will not pass final judgement over this matter here.
The legionaries must wear a type of body armor that combines protection with ease of manufacture and repair. The two armor types that expemplify this are scale mails and splint mails. Hard leather armors and studded leathers might be worn while still trainees though.
The other items are not restricted in any way.
Classes and builds:
The best charactes for making legionaries are amazons, barbarians, necromancers and paladins. A case can also be made for melee sorcerers, but both druids and assassins are out of the questions since both rely too singularily on close combat in opposition to throwing.
Barbarian legionary:
A reformed barbarian who have shown the discipline to fight in the great roman forces. He might retain a bit of local colour, but he will value the needs of the legion over his own dispositions. His weapons training is excellent and he makes a fine addition to the Roman shield wall.
The barbarian legionary will be built somewhat around the line of a Concentrate barbarian with the added Throw Mastery. He might choose Sword Mastery or Spear Mastery after which weapon he attends to use in close combat.
Double Throw and Frenzy is firmly out fo question because it capitalizes the shield. Whirlwind is also banned because it encourages one to break formation and strike out on his own. Concentrate, on the other hand is highly encouraged.
The barbarian legionary is allowed one single point in Berzerk. He will only use this dangerous and risky skill in the UTMOST emergency.
The barbarian legionary is also discouraged from spending too much points in the warcry skill tab. This is a job meant for the commanders. Maxing Shout is OK, though.
Paladin legionary:
A proud warrior and true believer of the power of Rome. Either from one of the esteemed patriarchal families or just a roman citizen who has shown extreme conviction towards the Republic. Though only a common infanterist his example can have great impact on his companions.
The Paladin legionary will invest most heavily into the combat skill tab, especially a skill like Smite will allow him to make use of the big bad shield that he wears. Charge is really antithetic to the slow deliberate advance of the legion and is only allowed as a prerequisite. Some auras are allowed. Especally those who can bolster his ranged attacks or give him added protection. Auras should not take the prime seat though, since this is more a job for a commander.
Skills like Fist of the Heavens, Holy Bolt and Blessed Hammer are not allowed, except perhaps as prerequisites for Holy Shield.
Amazon Legionary:
An odd, and certainly anachronistic thing seeing a woman in the Roman army, but we will allow ourselves the advantage of living in an enlightened age where women are considered equal to men in most non-physiological matters. Anyway, getting somewhere in the military as a woman requires some skill and this one has mastered the javelin to perfection.
Legionaries could not summon freakish things and neither can this one. Decoys and Valkyries are OUT. The amazon legionary should be safe enough if she stays in formation and keeps her shield up at all times.
Being a master of the javelin she will avoid the entire Bow/Crossbow skill tab as well.
The amazon legionary should also avoid the very pyrotechnical grossly magical skills like Lightning Strike, Lightning Fury and Plague Javelin as well. Charged Strike is OK in my book though.
One skill that should recieve extra attention is Pierce. One of the great advantages of the Roman legionaries was the abilities of their javelins to pierce enemy shields. Piercing attacks are highly encouraged.
Necromancer Legionary:
A dedicated soldier and javelin master as well he has specialised in high powered penetrating javelin attacks and defensive positions. He is responsible for setting up fortified camps and an excellent guard.
The skills he should focus on are: Bone Spear, (a penetrating javelin). He can only use this skill while actually wielding a javelin, not a gladius. Bone Wall and Bone Prison (setting up palisades). Poison Dagger for the "passive" melee AR bonus and Bone Armor. A few points in Amplify Damage or an Iron golem might be used as well (the golem MUST be made out of a tower shield).
Sorceress legionary:
Smiths and other craftsmen were somtimes enlisted in the armies in order to provide field repairs and set up fortifications. Also their physical fitness makes for great soldiers.
The sorceress legionary is a melee sorceress with emphasis on Enchant and the cold armors. The cold armors might be of tremendous aid to her companions if they manage to stay in formation. And a high power enchant can significantly increase the damage output of the whole unit. All the flashy stuff should stay unused, perhaps with the exception of a low power Lightning to represent a piercing javelin. Still it would look better if she kept to chugging enhanted javelins.
Play style: While on the battlefield the Legionaries should strive to keep in formation at all times possible slowly and meticulously advancing while keeping the enemy under constant bombardment of javelins. They should walk, not run, not to compromise the blocking power of their mightly tower shields. Formations might be altered to suit the circumstance, shield wall, spearhead, circle, single rank with best tank in front etc, but they should never totally abandon coherence. Only under very special circumstances (such as a heavy Gloam bombardment) should the scatter. Officers are to be kept safe behind the ordinary legionaries until melee where they might break out to challenge foes in melee too.
Officers:
Officers are various leaders and military specialist who aid the foot soldiers in various ways. They should never comprise the majority of a unit. Good support characters include the Barbarian, the Druid, the Paladin and the sorceress.
Item restrictions:
The item restrictions for commanders are somewhat eased. Especially important they are able to wear breast plates and should do so as a badge of their rank. They are also allowed a slightly larger selection of shields. They may wear round shields such as small shields, large shields and round paladin shields. Kite shields, gothic shields, and paladin heraldic shields are fixtures of the later Teuton empire and is thus disallowed. Bone shields and severed heads are just too plain freaky. The standard bearer may and should wear wolf or spirit pelts. Javelins are not really an officers weapon and should be kept among the common legionaries.
Barbarian commander:
A commander from one of the conquered tribes who have now sworn allegiance to the Roman emperor. He is nonetheless a formidable commander with an array of of various commands and inspiring speeches. He is also an inspiring example of the might of Rome that strikes fear into the hearts of the enemy.
Skills wise the barbarian commander is a barbarian with a strong emphasis on warcries. He is barred from the same skills as the barbarian legionary and should not put point into Throw Mastery and Spear Mastery.
Paladin decurion:
A born leader with, probably of a highly esteemed family. His mere precense consolidates the ranks of the legionaries, he is also a capable warrior in the eve of battle.
Skills wise this is an Aura paladin. Almost all auras besideds Holy Fire, Holy Freeze and Holy Shock is available. You could even make him a cleric for added support character role, though he should Ideally preserve some melee power in the form of combat skills. His auras should ideally be able to help the legionaries out in some fashion.
Druid standard bearer:
The standard bearer is a very special characters. He is the emissary of the great mythical she-wolf that nurtured Romulus and Remus. The founders of the Republic. He can call upon her powers, either through calling forth canine companions or by the powers of his Battle Standard (Spirit Pet).
The standard bearer must keep up a standard at all times and must max at least two standards (spirit pets). His skills outside the summoning tree is sorely limited. Really only Cyclone Armor is allowed. The standard bearer is allowed to put points into Grizzly only for the synergy effect. He can only summon wolwes. Ravens might be pumped freely.
For added visual effect the standard bearer might be the only character to forgo a shield for a two-handed weapon. The weapon should in this case either be a long staff, a battle staff or a war staff (looks standard'ish). Having a gladius/shield setup on switch is advicable.
Some notes:
Run/walk equipment should be distributed somewhat evenly to ensure a harmonious speed and ease keeping in formation. In a few circumstances it might be allowed that a legionary breaks rank, but only by the direct orders of a superior.
Officers should try to keep their hands free enough to bark orders most of the time. Therefore they are all given relatively unencumbering support roles.
If mercenaries are used these are considered barbarian servant forces used as cannon fodder with extreme prejudice. They can't figure out to stay in formation so they do not deserve much respect and second rate equipment. Hiring new mercenaries instead of ressurecting old ones should be a common practice.
It goes without saying that this variant should ideally be played totally untwinked. Twinking a few nonmagical tower shields to characters still in act 1 might not be the most stupid idea however.
If playing in a public game try to hold a military parade in town and proclaim that this town has been annexed by the republic of Rome. Just to freak out the pubbies.
Nonetheless it actually had a bit of somewhat interesting information, for example some schematics of a prototype repeating crossbow.
It also had a section about Roman legionaries and their tactics and armament. It happened upon me that it could be useful for a somewhat fun Diablo variant with focus on roleplaying.
Let me first announce that this is intended to be a team variant. While many of the characters could probably be played solo with great success there is really no point in being a legionary if you don't belong to no legion.
Anyways, legionaries can be divided into two groups: Legionaries and officers. The officers can be things such as commanders, standard bearers, etc.
A unit of Roman legionaries should never have more officers than basic legionaries. Ideally there should be more basic legionaries, but an equal amount might work out as well.
Legionaries.
Basic legionaries are to be built as directly offensive characters and solid tanks. They will advance in tight formation throwing javelins at the enemy while closing in. In melee they might either opt to keep using their javelins (the historical romans had usually expended their supply by now, but we'll see through this) or use their gladius.
Item restrictions:
These restrictions are common to all legionaries, regardless of class. They might seem pretty harsh, but standardisation was one of the things that made the Roman armies so effective.
They MUST wear a tower shield (or it's exceptional/elite iterations) at all times. Before they acquire a tower shield and learn how to use it they are still considered trainees. There is to be NO exception to this rule. Abandoning rank and not keeping up your shield is considered an act of treason. The tower shields and their discipline was what kept the historical roman legionaries alive.
The roman legionaries are always equipped with two kinds of weapons. The javelin and the gladius. All legionaries must carry at least one of each. Even those who elect to use the javelin for close combat too, must carry a gladius anyway for backup.
A gladius here is defined as either a short sword (and it's exceptional/elite iterations) or a war sword (and it's excep/unique versions). A case can also be made for allowing the broad sword, but besides that all is disallowed. Roman Legionaries NEVER use two handed weapons since they need the protection of their tower shields at all times).
Since communication between the troops and their commanders are vital they are only allowed to use openface helmets. In case you wonder what this means skull caps, helmets, crowns, barbarian jawbone caps, fanged helms, horned helms and druid pelts are considered openface. Caps and circlets does not cover the head adequately.
It should be said that druid pelts are reserved for a special role, the standard bearer. One could also make a case for restricting crested helms (crowns and horned helms for commanders) though I will not pass final judgement over this matter here.
The legionaries must wear a type of body armor that combines protection with ease of manufacture and repair. The two armor types that expemplify this are scale mails and splint mails. Hard leather armors and studded leathers might be worn while still trainees though.
The other items are not restricted in any way.
Classes and builds:
The best charactes for making legionaries are amazons, barbarians, necromancers and paladins. A case can also be made for melee sorcerers, but both druids and assassins are out of the questions since both rely too singularily on close combat in opposition to throwing.
Barbarian legionary:
A reformed barbarian who have shown the discipline to fight in the great roman forces. He might retain a bit of local colour, but he will value the needs of the legion over his own dispositions. His weapons training is excellent and he makes a fine addition to the Roman shield wall.
The barbarian legionary will be built somewhat around the line of a Concentrate barbarian with the added Throw Mastery. He might choose Sword Mastery or Spear Mastery after which weapon he attends to use in close combat.
Double Throw and Frenzy is firmly out fo question because it capitalizes the shield. Whirlwind is also banned because it encourages one to break formation and strike out on his own. Concentrate, on the other hand is highly encouraged.
The barbarian legionary is allowed one single point in Berzerk. He will only use this dangerous and risky skill in the UTMOST emergency.
The barbarian legionary is also discouraged from spending too much points in the warcry skill tab. This is a job meant for the commanders. Maxing Shout is OK, though.
Paladin legionary:
A proud warrior and true believer of the power of Rome. Either from one of the esteemed patriarchal families or just a roman citizen who has shown extreme conviction towards the Republic. Though only a common infanterist his example can have great impact on his companions.
The Paladin legionary will invest most heavily into the combat skill tab, especially a skill like Smite will allow him to make use of the big bad shield that he wears. Charge is really antithetic to the slow deliberate advance of the legion and is only allowed as a prerequisite. Some auras are allowed. Especally those who can bolster his ranged attacks or give him added protection. Auras should not take the prime seat though, since this is more a job for a commander.
Skills like Fist of the Heavens, Holy Bolt and Blessed Hammer are not allowed, except perhaps as prerequisites for Holy Shield.
Amazon Legionary:
An odd, and certainly anachronistic thing seeing a woman in the Roman army, but we will allow ourselves the advantage of living in an enlightened age where women are considered equal to men in most non-physiological matters. Anyway, getting somewhere in the military as a woman requires some skill and this one has mastered the javelin to perfection.
Legionaries could not summon freakish things and neither can this one. Decoys and Valkyries are OUT. The amazon legionary should be safe enough if she stays in formation and keeps her shield up at all times.
Being a master of the javelin she will avoid the entire Bow/Crossbow skill tab as well.
The amazon legionary should also avoid the very pyrotechnical grossly magical skills like Lightning Strike, Lightning Fury and Plague Javelin as well. Charged Strike is OK in my book though.
One skill that should recieve extra attention is Pierce. One of the great advantages of the Roman legionaries was the abilities of their javelins to pierce enemy shields. Piercing attacks are highly encouraged.
Necromancer Legionary:
A dedicated soldier and javelin master as well he has specialised in high powered penetrating javelin attacks and defensive positions. He is responsible for setting up fortified camps and an excellent guard.
The skills he should focus on are: Bone Spear, (a penetrating javelin). He can only use this skill while actually wielding a javelin, not a gladius. Bone Wall and Bone Prison (setting up palisades). Poison Dagger for the "passive" melee AR bonus and Bone Armor. A few points in Amplify Damage or an Iron golem might be used as well (the golem MUST be made out of a tower shield).
Sorceress legionary:
Smiths and other craftsmen were somtimes enlisted in the armies in order to provide field repairs and set up fortifications. Also their physical fitness makes for great soldiers.
The sorceress legionary is a melee sorceress with emphasis on Enchant and the cold armors. The cold armors might be of tremendous aid to her companions if they manage to stay in formation. And a high power enchant can significantly increase the damage output of the whole unit. All the flashy stuff should stay unused, perhaps with the exception of a low power Lightning to represent a piercing javelin. Still it would look better if she kept to chugging enhanted javelins.
Play style: While on the battlefield the Legionaries should strive to keep in formation at all times possible slowly and meticulously advancing while keeping the enemy under constant bombardment of javelins. They should walk, not run, not to compromise the blocking power of their mightly tower shields. Formations might be altered to suit the circumstance, shield wall, spearhead, circle, single rank with best tank in front etc, but they should never totally abandon coherence. Only under very special circumstances (such as a heavy Gloam bombardment) should the scatter. Officers are to be kept safe behind the ordinary legionaries until melee where they might break out to challenge foes in melee too.
Officers:
Officers are various leaders and military specialist who aid the foot soldiers in various ways. They should never comprise the majority of a unit. Good support characters include the Barbarian, the Druid, the Paladin and the sorceress.
Item restrictions:
The item restrictions for commanders are somewhat eased. Especially important they are able to wear breast plates and should do so as a badge of their rank. They are also allowed a slightly larger selection of shields. They may wear round shields such as small shields, large shields and round paladin shields. Kite shields, gothic shields, and paladin heraldic shields are fixtures of the later Teuton empire and is thus disallowed. Bone shields and severed heads are just too plain freaky. The standard bearer may and should wear wolf or spirit pelts. Javelins are not really an officers weapon and should be kept among the common legionaries.
Barbarian commander:
A commander from one of the conquered tribes who have now sworn allegiance to the Roman emperor. He is nonetheless a formidable commander with an array of of various commands and inspiring speeches. He is also an inspiring example of the might of Rome that strikes fear into the hearts of the enemy.
Skills wise the barbarian commander is a barbarian with a strong emphasis on warcries. He is barred from the same skills as the barbarian legionary and should not put point into Throw Mastery and Spear Mastery.
Paladin decurion:
A born leader with, probably of a highly esteemed family. His mere precense consolidates the ranks of the legionaries, he is also a capable warrior in the eve of battle.
Skills wise this is an Aura paladin. Almost all auras besideds Holy Fire, Holy Freeze and Holy Shock is available. You could even make him a cleric for added support character role, though he should Ideally preserve some melee power in the form of combat skills. His auras should ideally be able to help the legionaries out in some fashion.
Druid standard bearer:
The standard bearer is a very special characters. He is the emissary of the great mythical she-wolf that nurtured Romulus and Remus. The founders of the Republic. He can call upon her powers, either through calling forth canine companions or by the powers of his Battle Standard (Spirit Pet).
The standard bearer must keep up a standard at all times and must max at least two standards (spirit pets). His skills outside the summoning tree is sorely limited. Really only Cyclone Armor is allowed. The standard bearer is allowed to put points into Grizzly only for the synergy effect. He can only summon wolwes. Ravens might be pumped freely.
For added visual effect the standard bearer might be the only character to forgo a shield for a two-handed weapon. The weapon should in this case either be a long staff, a battle staff or a war staff (looks standard'ish). Having a gladius/shield setup on switch is advicable.
Some notes:
Run/walk equipment should be distributed somewhat evenly to ensure a harmonious speed and ease keeping in formation. In a few circumstances it might be allowed that a legionary breaks rank, but only by the direct orders of a superior.
Officers should try to keep their hands free enough to bark orders most of the time. Therefore they are all given relatively unencumbering support roles.
If mercenaries are used these are considered barbarian servant forces used as cannon fodder with extreme prejudice. They can't figure out to stay in formation so they do not deserve much respect and second rate equipment. Hiring new mercenaries instead of ressurecting old ones should be a common practice.
It goes without saying that this variant should ideally be played totally untwinked. Twinking a few nonmagical tower shields to characters still in act 1 might not be the most stupid idea however.
If playing in a public game try to hold a military parade in town and proclaim that this town has been annexed by the republic of Rome. Just to freak out the pubbies.