Classes
A promoted soldier inherits skills and reactions from earlier classes, except for abilities excluded by the new class. Fighter, Hunter, Cleric, Witch, and Wizard promotions cost 300 Glim. A Knight can then choose Cavalier or Bulwark Knight for 500 Glim.
Promotions can change equipment access. The promotion panel shows any gear that will be unequipped and active or reaction orders that will be removed before you spend Glim. Other equipment and orders stay in place.
The soldier's line — Fighter, then Knight
Fighter — a front-line soldier drilled in sword and axe work. Sword, axe, and shield; steady accuracy and guard. Skills: Heavy Slash, Stunning Blow, Armor Break, Sand Toss, Blade Flurry, Ruinous Onslaught — and Sky Cutter, the answering half of the launch combo (the launch itself is the Knight's). Reactions: Riposte, Brace, Skyward Answer.
Knight — a heavy vanguard whose discipline anchors the line. Everything the Fighter knew, heavier armor and surer hands, plus Guard Crush, Cleaving Sweep, and Rising Cut, the launch that opens the combo — and the Bodyguard reaction, which is the reason the back rank sleeps well.
Cavalier — a knight who takes to the saddle. Lance and shield; Heavy or Light armor. Better accuracy and attack, with the inherited Fighter and Knight kit except the aerial sword combo (Rising Cut, Sky Cutter, Skyward Answer).
Bulwark Knight — a heavily armored knight who holds the line. Sword, axe, and shield; Heavy armor only. It carries only Heavy shields: promotion swaps a Light shield for the Bulwark Shield, which cannot be removed afterward, though it can be replaced with another Heavy shield. Stronger physical defense and guard come at the cost of accuracy and evasion. Its grounded kit excludes Sky Cutter, Blade Flurry, Rising Cut, and Skyward Answer. It retains the other Fighter and Knight abilities and adds Shelter: spend 2 PP to take a hit for an ally with 75% damage reduction. Bodyguard remains available at 1 PP. Put Shelter above Bodyguard in your orders to use stronger cover first and cheaper cover when only 1 PP remains. Both reach the same distance — an ally in the bulwark's own column or beside it in its own row — so where you stand it decides who it can cover.
The archer's line — Hunter, then Sniper
Hunter — a wiry archer at home behind the front line. Bow work: Sniper Shot, Twin Arrows, and Skewering Shot, with the Return Fire reaction. Quick, evasive, and already flirting with critical hits.
Sniper — a marksman who turns distance into certainty. No new tricks — just the same bow drawn much better: sharper accuracy, harder evasion, and a crit chance that turns "eventually" into "regularly."
The mender's line — Cleric, then Bishop
Cleric — a field healer channeling light through a staff. The squad's spine: Heal Light, Blessed Renewal, War Chant — and Hex Bolt, for when nobody is bleeding. Reaction: Mender's Reflex.
Bishop — a senior cleric whose blessings outlast any siege. The same writ, cast from a much deeper well of magic, behind sturdier robes.
The arcane lines — Witch and Wizard, then Archmage
Witch — a woman schooled in the wild hedge-craft of the deep Reach. Hex Bolt, Venom Dart, and — unusually for a damage-dealer — Heal Light. Slippery rather than sturdy. Reaction: Magic Parry.
Wizard — a man of the collegium towers, precise in his battle-magic. Hex Bolt, Cinder Burst, and Firestorm: fewer tools than the Witch, much more fire. Reaction: Magic Parry.
Archmage — a master of the arcane; witches and wizards alike end here. Both roads meet in the same tower: the deepest magic in the game, and every art learned on the way up.
The near hedge — Hedgeblade
Hedgeblade — a hedge-witch who carries her curses to the enemy's skin. The same tradition as the Witch, practised at arm's length instead of across the field: Venom Dart and Hex Bolt still, plus Armor Break, Vampiric Strike, and Sky Cutter, swung with a sword. She takes no shield and wears nothing heavier than light mail or robes. Reactions: Parry, Skyward Answer.
What keeps her alive is not armour but the drain — Vampiric Strike returns a share of the damage it deals as healing, so a Hedgeblade in the thick of it mends herself by fighting. That is also exactly how to beat one:
- Blind her. A missed strike deals nothing, so it heals nothing. Sand Toss is enough.
- Put plate in front of her. The drain is a share of damage after the target's armour has eaten it, so against a Knight it barely pays. This is why her own writ should open by stripping armour.
- Kill her before she is hurt. She is at her weakest opening a fight, and strongest in the middle of a long one.
She has no promotion. That is deliberate for now, not an oversight.
A writ built around her almost always wants the drain gated on her own health
— Own HP Below 50% — so she spends her opening turns disrupting and only
falls back on sustaining herself once the fight has cost her something.
Choosing a squad
| Need | Take |
|---|---|
| A line that holds | Fighter → Knight → Bulwark Knight |
| A mounted front line | Knight → Cavalier |
| The enemy's back rank dead | Hunter → Sniper |
| To survive your mistakes | Cleric → Bishop |
| Poison and reach | Witch |
| Raw magical harm | Wizard |
| To bleed the line and live on it | Hedgeblade |
A promotion widens what a writ may say — Guard Crush appears in the Knight's skill list the day they are raised. New abilities are not automatically slotted, and orders that depended on removed equipment are pruned. After a promotion, review your Standing Orders and put the new ability to work.