We come now to, alphabetically, the first of Draw Steel's core classes, but our last deep-dive. I will admit here that I don't really love the name Censor - the folks at MCDM say that the names were not there to be contrarian, and that their ideas for them were organically arrived at to create classes that only coincidentally overlap with classic D&D classes. I'm... skeptical. I mean, fine, whatever, I don't mean to offend: the game looks super cool (I haven't yet had a chance to play it - it might be a while) and I appreciate that part of the ethos of starting from scratch to avoid being burdened by the impulse to do things just because that's how they were always done includes coming up with ideas that don't automatically constellate around classes from D&D.
I guess it's just that, to me, a Censor is some isolated bureaucrat in a government office deciding what material should be removed from public consumption to further the interests of the state. Never have I associated it with someone actually armed to do battle. And perhaps I'm ignorant here of some archaic meaning of the word. Whatever - it's what the class is called. We'll move on.
Censors are essentially your holy knight/paladin/inquisitor class. Like how the Null is a psionic/martial hybrid, and how the Fury is (sort of) an elemental magic/martial hybrid, and how the Shadow is a shadow magic/martial hybrid (though with no "pure caster" equivalent,) Censors blend divine magic with their martial abilities.
Censors have numerous ways to support their parties while also singling out foes. I think you can play the noble righteous protector as well as the zealous inquisitor depending on how you choose to play them and what abilities you take. (I love that, thanks to Kits, you could go Cloak and Dagger and be a kind of secretive "left hand of the church" who quietly silences its enemies).
Censors actually have two separate subclass-like systems. Like Conduits, they interact with divine domains, though they only pick one. In many cases, they get the same features a Conduit gains from their domains, but you also have a more standard subclass.
Censors naturally focus a bit more on single-target damage thanks to their Judgment ability (which we'll get to,) and are inherently a bit self-sacrificial (notably, they get more recoveries than other classes, for a reason that will become clear when we get into core features).
Might and Presence are your primary characteristics, always at the highest level you could have them at, starting at 2.
Subclasses:
In addition to choosing a domain of your god, you also pick one of three subclasses.
Exorcists focus on hunting down hidden enemies.
Oracles broadly open their awareness to supernatural corruption.
Paragons act as examples and leaders to inspire their allies.
Heroic Resource: Wrath
As with all heroic resources, when combat starts you gain Wrath equal to your victories. You also get 2 at the start of each turn. The first time each combat round that a creature you have judged (we'll talk Judgment in a bit) deals damage to you, you gain 1 Wrath, and the first time each round you deal damage to them, you gain 1 Wrath.
Judgment is a maneuver you can use to place your judgment on a target within 10 squares, which lasts until you end the effect (no action,) you use the ability again, or another Censor judges them. When a judged creature uses a main action and is within your line of effect, you can use a free triggered action to deal holy damage to them equal to twice your presence score. If a creature that is judged drops to 0 Stamina, you can use a free triggered action to move the effect to another target.
Additionally, when an adjacent creature judged by you starts to shift, you can spend 1 Wrath to make a melee free strike against them and their speed becomes 0 until the end of the turn, preventing the shift. Also, if the judged creature is within 10 squares and makes a power roll, you can spend 1 Wrath to give them a bane on the power roll. When a judged creature within 10 squares uses an ability with a potency that targets only one creature, you can spend a wrath to reduce the potency by 1 for that creature. And if you damage a judged creature with a melee ability, you can spend 1 Wrath to taunt them until the end of your next turn. (You can only use one of these options on the same trigger).
Each subclass also adds additional functionality to the Judgment maneuver.
Censors get a Kit, as well.
My Life for Yours is a triggered action that you can use on yourself or an ally within 10 squares. When the target starts their turn or takes damage, you can spend one of your recoveries and heal the target for your recovery value (notably, this means you might heal up a lower-stamina ally for more than what they'd normally get with one of their recoveries). You can also spend 1 Wrath to end an effect that calls for a saving throw, or ends on the end of their turn, or allow a prone target to stand up. (Remember that we get a few more recoveries to help fuel this).
Your divine domain also gives you a feature, which I believe are all the same as the Conduit ones (though you only have a single domain). Each also grants a skill from an appropriate group.
You pick one class signature ability, as well as a 3-Wrath and a 5-Wrath ability. (Most are melee, though some can be ranged, and there's a small number that are pure ranged).
At level 2, you get a perk (interpersonal/lore/supernatural) as well as a pair of subclass features, as well as a choice of 5-Wrath abilities from your subclass.
At level 3, you get Look On My Work and Despair. When you use Judgment, you can spend 1 Wrath, and if the target has a Presence less than your average potency (less than 1 at this level) the are frightened of you (save ends). Also, when a judged creature is reduced to 0 stamina and you use the free triggered action version of Judgment, if the new target has Presence less than your strong potency (less than 2 currently) they are frightened of you (save ends). If they're already frightened of you, they take holy damage equal to twice your presence score instead.
Also at 3, you get a 7-Wrath ability.
At 4, your Might and Presence increase to 3, you get a perk and a skill of your choice, and you now gain 2 Wrath when you deal damage to a judged creature, up from 1.
You also get a new feature form your domain.
At 5, you gain a new subclass feature and your choice of 9-Wrath heroic ability.
At 6, you get Implement of Wrath. When you finish a respite, you can choose one hero's weapons (including your own) to make it magical and gain the following benefits until your next respite: The weapon deals extra holy damage equal to the wielder's highest characteristic. A creature with holy weakness and has Presence less than your strong potency is frightened and weakened (save ends). A minion targeted by a strike using the weapon just dies, and that minion's maximum stamina is removed from the minion stamina pool beofre any damage is applied to the rest of the squad. Finally, the wielder of the weapon cannot be frightened.
You also gain a new interpersonal/lore/supernatural perk, and you get a new 9-Wrath ability from your subclass.
At 7, your characteristics all go up by 1, to a maximum of 4.
You also gain a new divine domain feature.
You also now get 3 wrath at the start of each turn, up from 2. You also get a skill of your choice.
At 8, you get a perk of your choice and a new subclass feature. You also get an 11-Wrath heroic ability.
At 9, you get Improved Implement of Wrath, which adds benefits to your Implement of Wrath. The affected weapon now grants the wielder and allies a +2 bonus to saving throws. At the end of each of the wielder's turns, each adjacent ally can make a saving throw against an effect on them ended by a saving throw. Finally, the wielder has corruption immunity 10.
You also gain a new 11-Wrath heroic ability from your subclass.
Finally, at 10, your Might and Presence are now 5. You gain a skill of your choice, and a crafting/lore/supernatural perk of your choice as well.
You also gain Templar. Now, when you use your Judgment ability, you can use a free triggered action to use a conduit domain effect associated with your divine domain, or one you access via Virtue (which we'll get to). If the effect would refer to your Intuition score, you can use your Presence score instead. If it uses your Conduit level, you use your Censor level instead.
Additionally, when you take a respite, you can open a portal to rest in the presence of your deity and ask it three questions, which the deity will answer truthfully if they know the answers (though they can be cryptic). While in their presences, your deity might give you priority targets to bring to justice. You and your allies have a double edge on power rolls against such targets, but if you try to return to your deity before dealing with them, you will be subject to your deity's wrath (something for the Director to come up with).
Your Epic Resource is Virtue, which you gain in equal amounts to the XP you earn when you finish a respite. You can spend Virtue as if it were wrath. Also, you can spend 3 virtue to access one of your deity's domains that aren't the one you usually have access to. You can then use those domain features until you finish your next respite.
Finally, Wrath of the Gods now grants you 4 wrath at the start of your turn.
So there you have it, the nine core classes for Draw Steel.
Once again, now that I've finished this series, I wonder how helpful it would be to players trying to decide which class to play. The core of your gameplay is going to be your abilities, but you'll always have choices in which ones to go with - even two Exorcist Censors could have a totally different suite of signature and heroic abilities (even when you get a heroic ability from your subclass, you have a choice between two).
Each choice point doesn't overwhelm you with options - usually you have no more than 4 or 5 to choose between (and again, subclass abilities are always a choice between just two options). But it does mean that your character can play a very different role in your group depending on what you choose to specialize in.
Personally, the classes that seem most exciting to me, if I were to play as a PC (good luck with that, me!) are the Shadow, Talent, and possibly Troubadour. But I do appreciate that they all get pretty wild in the higher levels
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