Dragon Strike is a tremendous game. It is limited by the few character classes included in the game: Dwarf, Elf, Thief, Warrior, Wizard. With the intent to build several more classes of characters, I needed to analyze the characters and find a more or less balanced way of creating new ones. It turned out to be easier than I thought.

The main mechanics are simple: You roll a D8, D10, or D12; if you get 6 or more, you succeed.
Attacking works the same way except that you roll against the enemy's Armor Class. Each hit causes 1 HP, no damage roll, although some equipment causes additional damage.
I really like the D8, D10, D12 thing. Commoners (level zero) might get a D6 for most stats, while Heroes range in the D8-D10-D12.
I have stats for monsters as well from the Dragon Strike board game but I won't get into those yet.

Each Class has 11 character points (CP) for a fair build.
Stats for each Dragon Strike character classes are broken down like this:
[table=width: 1000, class: grid, align: left]
[tr]
   [td]Stat \ Class[/td]
   [td]Dwarf[/td]
   [td]Elf[/td]
   [td]Thief[/td]
   [td]Warrior[/td]
   [td]Wizard[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]SPEED[/td]
   [td]4 (0 CP)[/td]
   [td]6 (1 CP)[/td]
   [td]6 (1 CP)[/td]
   [td]6 (1 CP)[/td]
   [td]6 (1 CP)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]ATTACK[/td]
   [td]D10 (1 CP)[/td]
   [td]D8 (Melee) (0 CP)
D10 (Ranged) (3 CP)[/td]
   [td]D8
See Special[/td]
   [td]D12 (2 CP)[/td]
   [td]D8 (0 CP)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]ARMOR CLASS[/td]
   [td]6 (2 CP)[/td]
   [td]5 (1 CP)[/td]
   [td]5 (1 CP)[/td]
   [td]6 (2 CP)[/td]
   [td]4 (0 CP)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]SAVE VS. MAGIC[/td]
   [td]D12 (2 CP)[/td]
   [td]D10 (1 CP)[/td]
   [td]D8 (0 CP)[/td]
   [td]D8 (0 CP)[/td]
   [td]D12 (2 CP)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]FIND/DISARM
TRAPS[/td]
   [td]D8 (0 CP)[/td]
   [td]D10 (1 CP)[/td]
   [td]D12 (2 CP)[/td]
   [td]D8 (0 CP)[/td]
   [td]D8 (0 CP)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]FIND SECRET
PASSAGE[/td]
   [td]D12 (2 CP)[/td]
   [td]D8 (0 CP)[/td]
   [td]D10 (1 CP)[/td]
   [td]D8 (0 CP)[/td]
   [td]D8 (0 CP)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]DEX FEAT[/td]
   [td]D8 (0 CP)[/td]
   [td]D10 (1 CP)[/td]
   [td]D12 (2 CP)[/td]
   [td]D8 (0 CP)[/td]
   [td]D8 (0 CP)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]STR FEAT[/td]
   [td]D10 (1 CP)[/td]
   [td]D8 (0 CP)[/td]
   [td]D8 (0 CP)[/td]
   [td]D12 (2 CP)[/td]
   [td]D8 (0 CP)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]HIT POINTS[/td]
   [td]7 (3 CP)[/td]
   [td]5 (1 CP)[/td]
   [td]6 (2 CP)[/td]
   [td]8 (4 CP)[/td]
   [td]4 (0 CP)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]SPECIAL[/td]
   [td]N/A[/td]
   [td]Spells (2 CP)
2 @ lvl1, 1 @ lvl2[/td]
   [td]5 Sneak Attack cards (2 CP)[/td]
   [td]N/A[/td]
   [td]Spells (8 CP)
4 @ lvl1, 3 @ lvl2, 2 @ lvl3[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]TOTAL CP[/td]
   [td]11[/td]
   [td]11[/td]
   [td]11[/td]
   [td]11[/td]
   [td]11[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

The special stuff:
5 Sneak Attack cards = 2 CP
2 Spell points = 1 CP (non-Wizards pay 1 CP plus regular cost of Spell Points)
Ranged Weapon = 1 CP

These guidelines will serve as a basis for introducing more character classes, as well as leveling up.
I would like to introduce something special that each class might get. Elves, Thieves and Wizards already have special stuff.

New Character Classes:

Barbarian
I think the Barbarian should be close to the Warrior as far as stats, but should differ or have a special ability.
[table=width: 300, class: grid, align: left]
[tr]
   [td]Stat \ Class[/td]
   [td]Barbarian[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]SPEED[/td]
   [td]6 (1 CP)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]ATTACK[/td]
   [td]D12 (2 CP)
See Special[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]ARMOR CLASS[/td]
   [td]5 (1 CP)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]SAVE VS. MAGIC[/td]
   [td]D8 (0 CP)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]FIND/DISARM
TRAPS[/td]
   [td]D8 (0 CP)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]FIND SECRET
PASSAGE[/td]
   [td]D8 (0 CP)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]DEX FEAT[/td]
   [td]D8 (0 CP)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]STR FEAT[/td]
   [td]D12 (2 CP)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]HIT POINTS[/td]
   [td]7 (3 CP)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]SPECIAL[/td]
   [td]Rage (2CP)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]TOTAL CP[/td]
   [td]11[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

Rage: lasts for 5 rounds, hits all adjacent enemies, causes 2 damage instead of 1.

Cleric

Druid

Halfling

Paladin

Ranger

Good stuff. Dragonstrike is a forgotten gem. It's timing system and DM vs. Players stance was top notch.

Were there ever any expansions?

Quote from: Spinachcat;954763Were there ever any expansions?

There weren't any official ones, but I managed to find a fan-based supplement which listed other character classes and even advancement.

I was lucky enough to playtest the game with some new character classes this weekend. I'll be posting the stats for the new classes I've come up with.
The first thing I noticed is how weak the monsters stats are in the original Dragon Strike game. They don't pose a real challenge to the PCs in and of themselves, but that makes sense since Dragon Strike is supposed to be a fast-paced game and dispatching enemies quickly is essential to each mission (before the dragon is released upon the players).

These are the stats, base values and point costs I decided on. (CP = Character Point; each class is built on 18 CPs)

[table=width: 900, class: grid, align: left]
[tr]
   [td]STATS[/td]
   [td]Speed[/td]
   [td]Melee Attack[/td]
   [td]Ranged Attack[/td]
   [td]Armor Class[/td]
   [td]Hit Points[/td]
   [td]Search Room[/td]
   [td]Tinker[/td]
   [td]Forage[/td]
   [td]Dex Feat[/td]
   [td]Str Feat[/td]
   [td]Save vs. Magic[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]BASE
(0 CP)[/td]
   [td]4[/td]
   [td]D6[/td]
   [td]-[/td]
   [td]4[/td]
   [td]4[/td]
   [td]D6[/td]
   [td]D6[/td]
   [td]D6[/td]
   [td]D6[/td]
   [td]D6[/td]
   [td]D6[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Increase
/CP[/td]
   [td]+1(1CP)
+2(2CP)
+3(3CP)
+4(4CP)[/td]
   [td]D8(1CP)
D10(2CP)
D12(3CP)[/td]
   [td]D6(1CP)
D8(2CP)
D10(3CP)
D12(4CP)[/td]
   [td]+1(1CP)
+2(2CP)
+3(3CP)
+4(4CP)[/td]
   [td]+1(1CP)
+2(2CP)
+3(3CP)
+4(4CP)[/td]
   [td]D8(1CP)
D10(2CP)
D12(3CP)[/td]
   [td]D8(1CP)
D10(2CP)
D12(3CP)[/td]
   [td]D8(1CP)
D10(2CP)
D12(3CP)[/td]
   [td]D8(1CP)
D10(2CP)
D12(3CP)[/td]
   [td]D8(1CP)
D10(2CP)
D12(3CP)[/td]
   [td]D8(1CP)
D10(2CP)
D12(3CP)[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

I added Forage as a skill.
I combined searching for traps and secret passages to just Search.
Unlocking and disarming traps is now Tinker.
I'm tempted to give two Character Points for players to customize their characters a bit, and basically set a +1 in two of their stats, so for example Melee attack would be D12+1 if a Warrior chose to add a +1 to his attack. That might also make leveling up easy: each level, you get a +1 to add to one of your stats.

Base Mechanism:
Roll D6, D8, D10, D12.
6 or more = action success.
5 or less = action failure.

Initiative Order:
At beginning of combat, roll Dexterity Feat.
Initiative Order is highest to lowest.
GM-controlled enemies always go last.

Attack:
Roll D6, D8, D10, D12.
Enemy's AC or more = enemy loses 1 Hit Point (HP).
Less than enemy's AC = attack failure.

Multiple Attacks:
Roll all attack dice at once, but each die counts as a separate attack.
Multiple attacks must target the same character that round.
Note: only some monsters get multiple attacks at this time.

Dying
When a character's HP reaches 0, they die, unless they benefit from a spell or item that restores Hit Points before the end of the next round.

Special Powers / Abilities:
Breath - Encounter Power : Blast 3x3 square, starts any square adjacent to character.
Cleave - 3 times per Encounter : Roll your melee attack, all adjacent enemies with AC equal to or lower than your roll are hit by your attack.
Kiho - Encounter Power : Cancel all damage for one round, or deal double damage for 3 rounds.
Pickpocket - With a successful Dexterity Feat can take items from characters who are alive.
Rage - Encounter Power : Deal double damage for 5 rounds.
Shapeshift - Daily Power : Turn into a Bear, Wolf or Hawk for 4 rounds, then back into a human.
Sneak - Daily Power : Use D12 for melee Attack Roll, 5 times per day.
Spells - Daily Power : Choose spells with combined spell levels equal to twice the cost of this ability (example: Spells (2) grants spells with 4 combined levels; 1 spell at level 2, 2 spells at level 1).

Bear Stats - Speed 5, Melee Attack D12, Armor Class 5, Hit Points 10, Forage D12, Strength Feat D12, Save vs Magic D6.
Hawk Stats - Speed 8, Flying Melee Attack D12, Armor Class 6, Hit Points 4, Forage D8, Dexterity Feat D10, Save vs Magic D6.
Wolf Stats - Speed 6, Melee Attack D12, Armor Class 5, Hit Points 6, Forage D10, Dexterity D10, Strength Feat D10, Save vs Magic D6.

All characters built with 18 Character Points (cost is the number in parentheses).

[table=width: 900, class: grid, align: left]
[tr]
   [td]CLASS[/td]
   [td]Speed[/td]
   [td]Melee[/td]
   [td]Ranged[/td]
   [td]Armor
Class[/td]
   [td]Hit
Points[/td]
   [td]Search[/td]
   [td]Tinker[/td]
   [td]Forage[/td]
   [td]Dex Feat[/td]
   [td]Str Feat[/td]
   [td]Save vs.
Magic[/td]
   [td]Special[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Barbarian[/td]
   [td]6 (2)[/td]
   [td]D12 (3)[/td]
   [td]-[/td]
   [td]5 (1)[/td]
   [td]8 (4)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D6 (0)[/td]
   [td]D10 (2)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D12 (3)[/td]
   [td]D6 (0)[/td]
   [td]Cleave (1)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Cleric[/td]
   [td]6 (2)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]-[/td]
   [td]5 (1)[/td]
   [td]5 (1)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D10 (2)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D12 (3)[/td]
   [td]Spells (4)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Dragonborn[/td]
   [td]6 (2)[/td]
   [td]D10 (2)[/td]
   [td]-[/td]
   [td]7 (3)[/td]
   [td]6 (2)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D10 (2)[/td]
   [td]D10 (2)[/td]
   [td]Breath (1)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Druid[/td]
   [td]6 (2)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]-[/td]
   [td]5 (1)[/td]
   [td]5 (1)[/td]
   [td]D6 (0)[/td]
   [td]D10 (2)[/td]
   [td]D10 (2)[/td]
   [td]D10 (2)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]Spells (2)
Shapeshift (3)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Dwarf[/td]
   [td]5 (1)[/td]
   [td]D10 (2)[/td]
   [td]-[/td]
   [td]6 (2)[/td]
   [td]7 (3)[/td]
   [td]D12 (3)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D6 (0)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D10 (2)[/td]
   [td]D12 (3)[/td]
   [td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Elf[/td]
   [td]6 (2)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D10 (3)[/td]
   [td]5 (1)[/td]
   [td]5 (1)[/td]
   [td]D6 (0)[/td]
   [td]D10 (2)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D10 (2)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D10 (2)[/td]
   [td]Spells (2)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Halfling[/td]
   [td]6 (2)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]-[/td]
   [td]5 (1)[/td]
   [td]6 (2)[/td]
   [td]D10 (2)[/td]
   [td]D12 (3)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D12 (3)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]Pickpocket (1)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Monk[/td]
   [td]8 (4)[/td]
   [td]D12 (3)[/td]
   [td]-[/td]
   [td]6 (2)[/td]
   [td]6 (2)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D6 (0)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D10 (2)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]Kiho (1)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Orc[/td]
   [td]6 (2)[/td]
   [td]D12 (3)[/td]
   [td]-[/td]
   [td]5 (1)[/td]
   [td]8 (4)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D12 (3)[/td]
   [td]D6 (0)[/td]
   [td]Rage (1)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Paladin[/td]
   [td]6 (2)[/td]
   [td]D10 (2)[/td]
   [td]-[/td]
   [td]7 (3)[/td]
   [td]6 (2)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D10 (2)[/td]
   [td]D10 (2)[/td]
   [td]Spells (1)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Ranger[/td]
   [td]6 (2)[/td]
   [td]D10 (2)[/td]
   [td]D10 (3)[/td]
   [td]5 (1)[/td]
   [td]7 (3)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D6 (0)[/td]
   [td]D12 (3)[/td]
   [td]D10 (2)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D6 (0)[/td]
   [td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Thief[/td]
   [td]6 (2)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]-[/td]
   [td]5 (1)[/td]
   [td]6 (2)[/td]
   [td]D10 (2)[/td]
   [td]D12 (3)[/td]
   [td]D6 (0)[/td]
   [td]D12 (3)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]Sneak Cards (1)
Pickpocket (1)[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Warrior[/td]
   [td]6 (2)[/td]
   [td]D12 (3)[/td]
   [td]D6 (1)[/td]
   [td]6 (1)[/td]
   [td]8 (4)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D6 (0)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D12 (3)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]-[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
   [td]Wizard[/td]
   [td]6 (2)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]-[/td]
   [td]4 (0)[/td]
   [td]4 (0)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D6 (0)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D8 (1)[/td]
   [td]D12 (3)[/td]
   [td]Spells ([/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

Good stuff. Tell us about your playtest. Any new scenarios?

Also, I've been wondering about the idea of replacing the dragon with other Mega Foes (demon, beholder, etc).

Dragonstrike seems like a good boardgame to be cloned and Kickstarted.

Quote from: Spinachcat;955224Good stuff. Tell us about your playtest. Any new scenarios?

Also, I've been wondering about the idea of replacing the dragon with other Mega Foes (demon, beholder, etc).

Dragonstrike seems like a good boardgame to be cloned and Kickstarted.

No specific scenario, since I was also trying out the Dungeon Dealer 2 deck by Justin Sirois, which I recently received in the mail. The only bummer with this particular way of creating a dungeon is that the architecture makes little sense, so it was more of a maze than anything else. Another bummer is that relying on random cards can give us some weird results, for instance after an hour and a half of play, none of the rooms had traps in them (though plenty of enemies).

The Dungeon Dealer decks, by the way, shows a layout of the room, where any enemies are located (I rolled a D20 to determine what type of enemy, a low roll meant low level, high meant one of the big ones), also it indicates if any traps exist and where. I also got the Castle Builder deck but haven't tried that one yet.

After a few rooms of dull combat I introduced a spot marked with the darkness token and improvised from there based on the players' reactions. The wizard 'Charmed' the troll in the room successfully, sent it into the darkness spot with no result, then sent it after a beholder in the room next door. After killing the beholder, the players found a magical hourglass (one of the special items from Dragon Strike). The wizard decided to go onto the darkness spot with the hourglass, so I, of course, teleported him away from his companions and into another part of the maze.

We had a good time with it, HOWEVER:
Combat was very easy for the players. The Monster stats are very low and need to be beefed up a bit in my opinion. I think raising each creature's Hit Points by 2 would be a good start, leaving their Armor Class and Attack Dice the same.
Another thing was that one of the players experienced rolling lots of 1s, 2s, and 3s, for almost an hour and it did suck the fun out of the game for the player after a while. I did not have the built-in impending doom of the Dragon counter coming down each full round, so instead of the players panicking as the pressure built up, it kinda caused frustration rather than excitement/fear. I think that is a cool feature from the board game (the countdown) and I need to find a way to get that in there as part of each session. I think having a raid of enemies show up, or something big other than the dragon like you said would work.

I just updated the post with all the stats I came up with. I think that's a decent roster of character classes to start with.
You might notice that a lot of race-based classes are similar to other classes.
Essentially:
Orc = Barbarian (has Rage instead of Cleave)
Elf = Druid (Druid has Shapeshift instead of a Ranged attack)
Dragonborn = Paladin (Dragonborn has breath weapon instead of spells)
Halfling = Thief

I'm not sure what other races/classes to tackle if any. I haven't playtested all of these yet, but we'll see how things go!

This looks really neat. Your charts lay out the game quite nicely and crafting it into a classless game would be rather easy since you already did the work. This could be fun to try. I'm not familiar with the board game but apparently it's available on Steam Workshop for Tabletop Simulator so I'll take a look. Nice work so far.

Quote from: Krimson;955284This looks really neat. Your charts lay out the game quite nicely and crafting it into a classless game would be rather easy since you already did the work. This could be fun to try. I'm not familiar with the board game but apparently it's available on Steam Workshop for Tabletop Simulator so I'll take a look. Nice work so far.

Thanks, it was a fun exercise to reverse-engineer the characters from Dragon Strike. I especially enjoy that the character stats include what the characters are expected to do (Search room, Disable traps, Attack monsters/enemies, etc). I was thinking of adding a social stat, but I think it's fine to hand-wave all of that in favor of good roleplaying rather than complicate character classes further.

Another thing I want to use is the Advantage / Disadvantage from D&D 5e because I think it's a damn clever way to cover a lot of situations without making up a lot of different rules for different circumstances.
When a player character has Advantage in a situation, they roll 2 dice (from their appropriate stat) and keep the highest.
When a player character has Disadvantage in a situation, they roll 2 dice and keep the lowest.

I haven't thought about advancement in terms of XP and levels and such but I would like to keep that as simple as possible.
Starting characters are Level 0 (straight up stats from their character classes with no adjustments).
Earn 10 XP => advance to Level 1
Earn 20 more XP => advance to Level 2
Earn 30 more XP => advance to level 3

Each level, the player can add a +1 to any stat, including speed, AC, etc, OR spend more points on Specials, OR increase the Die Type for a stat, just like in the character class point-buy breakdown.

Each trap, monster or room challenge grants a number of XP based on difficulty.

~~~~~

Another way to do advancement is that each completed adventure counts towards leveling up characters.
At Level 0, successfully complete 1 adventure to advance to Level 1.
At level 1, successfully complete 2 adventures to advance to Level 2.
Etc...

After some thinking and deliberation, I've decided to separate race and class so that you can play a Halfling Barbarian, or a Dragonborn Thief, etc... As long as I stick to these simple stats and give guidelines for everything that needs to be hand-waved/resolved (Nothing like Charisma Feats in this game, etc), I should still end up with a robust system very close to Dragon Strike.

I got to run a complete adventure using these rules and it was a ton of fun. We played for a bit over 2 hours, going through Narran's Seal adventure with the only mods being the character stats as listed above (I wasn't done separating race and class) and that I added 1 Hit Point to each enemy. Players chose: Dragonborn, Druid, & Warrior.

The players managed to get the seal but did not face Brutus (the leader in this adventure). One of the players wandered off on his own to explore the castle while the other two were dealing with the Death Knights (who had the seal, the object of their quest). Said player managed to ignore the warnings and broke through the locked gate separating the Dragon from the rest of the castle. They rallied and defeated the Dragon! While it was a close win, none of them died, but I'm very satisfied with how it went.

Post playtest notes: The Druid player wondered why the Druid didn't get spell but only got shapeshifting. I think Shapeshifting is pretty badass, but the player wanted more: minor spells like growing vines to immobilize or restrict enemies, things like that. Something I need to consider. I think a starting Druid might be fine with only Shapeshifting and with the possibility to pick up Nature-based spells as they level-up.

Everyone had a great time of it, which felt really good: Two new classes that blended seamlessly into the game, had an impact on the game in a positive way, etc.