So I've been playing Deadlock recently. Played it a bunch last year and playing it a bit more now that more characters have been added and it's been getting some decent updates. While the game at its core is a hyper-competitive MOBA mixed with MOVEMENT SHOOTER elements, and is as such even more repellent to the casual gaming audience who only sometimes plays only competitive games like me, I DO quite appreciate the design of many of its heroes.
Deadlock's heroes all have their own gimmicks and niche, but one thing I appreciate is that many heroes have a "balanced" kit.
Teamwork Focused TTRPG Classes
The idea here is to steal a MOBA or Deadlock style active abilities and shift them for TTRPG classes. So each class would have three abilities in this simple example, one focused on offense, survival or escape, and healing/support of teammates. This would be in addition to attack, move, using items, etc.
Whenever you level up, in addition to your hit points and to-hit bonuses, you get to increase the Y value of one ability, forcing you to specialize in your niche of support rogue, or offensive fighter, etc.
Fighter
Power Strike- The classic. You swing your sword, but harder. You must declare this move before you make your attack roll; which is modified by Y-3 (this means you actually get a higher chance to hit with enough investment, what of it?) and on hit you deal damage +Y. Each time you use this, reduce your Y by -1 until you take a short rest to recoup your strength.
Second Wind- Instead of attacking, you can spend your round breathing in deep and restoring some of your endurance and strength. You restore 1d6+Y Hit Points, usable once per day.
Defender- Whenever adjacent to an attacked ally, you can step in the way of the attack and have the enemy try to hit you thru your AC instead of your ally. Whenever you do this, you can increase your AC by +(1/2)Y.
Rogue
Cheap Shot- If you attack a target upon whom you have some advantage; such as the target being blinded, you being behind them, the target is tripped, etc. You automatically deal maximum damage on a hit and add an additional +Yx2 damage.
Evasion- Instead of attacking, you can spend your round dodging enemy attacks. You ran tumble (move-thru) and force enemies to use their prepared attacks or attacks of opportunity on you. You can do this a number of times or squares equal to Y, but enemies still get a chance to hit you using your normal AC or saving throw chance. You can increase your AC when performing this action by +(1/2)Y.
Distract- Whenever you are adjacent to an enemy, you may choose to distract them instead of attacking. Each adjacent enemy gets a negative of Y to their To-Hit modifier. Whenever you move-thru or tumble past an enemy, they also receive this negative for the round.
Note- Instead of directly healing allies, the Rogue distracts enemies. This could be like a bard issuing taunts and making fun of the enemies, a thief-acrobat tumbling past them and tying their shoes together, maybe a monk hitting pressure points, etc.
Mage
Empower Spell- By taking an extra round to incant a magic word, you can increase the Spell-Level of a Spell you cast by one, up to a maximum of Y.
Jinx- Select an enemy within view and gesture at them, hitting them with a minor curse. If they perform a specific action you dictate on the next round (such as "attack me"), they take Y damage automatically. This manifests as bad luck, something breaking, random sparks jumping at them from a nearby fire, etc. All enemies hit with a Jinx always know what action they are forbidden from taking and can choose to do something else to avoid triggering the Jinx. You can also only forbid one specific action with a Jinx, so "advancing towards me" could be a Jinx, but "moving at all" can't be.
Power Ward- Blocks (Y-1) Spell-Levels worth of spells targeted at you or any party member. Once you activate the ward, it requires constant concentration to maintain and you cannot perform any other action then keeping the ward up. Once the ward is broken thru, or your concentration is broken, you must prepare to cast the ward again by studying your spellbook as per any Spell.
Cleric
Burning Light- Creates a light source equal in luminosity/radius to Yx5 in ft or squares. Deals one damage per round to all undead or evil beings illuminated by it. Lasts Y rounds.
Desperate Plea- Instantly heals one person by (1/2)Y Hit-Points. Instant as in instant. Can be done even if the Cleric is stunned, immobilized, turned away, blinded, etc. They just have to pray and believe, and it happens. Usable once per day.
Blessing of Protection- Gives a party member +1 to AC and Saves for Y rounds. Takes a round to bless them, but otherwise no limit. Blessing someone again with this just refreshes the duration.
