Pikeman Archive

I just recently got my way around to this forum, and I noticed that a lot of people want pikeman to get jousting abilities... Nay, I say... Make it its own profession. So here I present to you my textbook-ish idea for the new class, Lancer.

LANCER
This profession is devoted to the art of mounted combat and effectiveness. From the time of novice, a Lancer is trained in the use of a unique weapon, the lance. This polearm is derived from traditional spears, but shaped so that it can be thrust easily while riding. Followers of this profession also learn to be unified with their animal, allowing for increased mounted mobility and precision.
Naturally, a lancer must first be proficient in the use of polearms. When one has obtained mastery in Polearms, and a proficiency in Hunting (Polearms IV and Hunting IV), this profession is available to them.

Skill Tiers:

Tier 1 - Offensive Lance Maneuvers (Jouster)
This path leads to the mastery of using a lance as an offensive weapon of force. Most, if not all, lance skills are used on a mount. These skills might include: Charging blow, Lance hit, and Joust. Lance attack speed and/or damage would also increase.

Tier 2 - Defensive Lance Maneuvers (Knight)
The opposite of the offensive path, this tier trains a lancer to use a lance defensively. The skills learned would be used to incapacitate in target in some way and might include: Sweeping swing, Blind, and Area attack. Lance defense would increase as a result.

Tier 3 - Mounted Combat Effectiveness (Cavalier)
Because of the broad applications of mounted combat, a lancer may also use various other weapons when mounted. The secondary of choice is usually a rifle due to its long range. This path leads to the general ability to use weapons on a mount effectively. Certain things like ranged damage, defense, and speed may increase.

Tier 4 - Riding Proficiency (Rider)
The general knowledge and skill in riding an animal. This tier increases the skill one has when riding a mount. This increases the potential of a ridden animal, and may result in: Faster and/or longer galloping, less terrain penalties while riding, and increased mounting skills.

Additional Notes:

1. Because of its nature, a lancer may easily spread into other areas effectively. The two obvious implications of this would be Creature Handler (To increase the availability of one's mount) and Pikeman (To further increase skill with a lance). Other choices might be rifleman, ranger, or even combat medic.

2. Obviously, a Lancer is limited to the animals that he/she can ride. While the animal that the character is riding does not influence combat much (if at all), it may impact speed and overall effectiveness of the Lancer.

3. I know that there are restrictions from using many skills while on a mount, which is exactly the reason for the creation of the profession itself. As of right now, mounts have no use other than as modes of transportation. By the way, Mounted Combat Effectiveness does not have to lift the restrictions on ranged skills (ones you may get from being a marksman), but may provide additional skills that don't have the restriction in the first place.

4. In case you were wondering, vehicles had no plan to be in part of this profession, but could easily be adapted to fit into it. I think that the landspeeder is a bit big to work, but the bikes are perfect, and would look kick ass while holding a lance.

PLEASE, I urge you to reply with comments and suggestions regarding this idea. I would really like feedback on my ideas. Also, note that some of the ideas conflict with some of the ideas for pikeman (mainly the weapon), but kind of use your best judgment.