Hi everybody! I’m looking at attending my first event at some point this year and I’m looking at playing as a Marcher Battlemage. I was wondering what kind of archetype would suit this. I like the idea of Beaters/Threshers, but would a battlemage suit this? Thanks in advance!
I’ve not played in the Marches since the very first Empire (five years ago next month!), but I think it’s very suitable for a Thresher to be a battlemage themselves. It’s probably easier to track down and combat sorcerers (ie magical criminals) when you have magic of your own.
It kind of depends on what you’d like to with magic more broadly. What other things do you see yourself getting involved with outside of the battles.
I quite like the idea of being a yeoman and battlemage. That’s someone who owns land and goes into battle among the polearm-wielding soldiers of the household, using their mage staff like a polearm, but using supporting magic like Mend on their allies equipment (or Shatter on their enemies’!). Being a yeoman means you can participate in Marches politics and gives you a steady stream of silver crowns to spend.
Battlemage/Thresher absolutely works. All that’s required to be a Thresher is a willingness to hunt down sorcery, and some might say that there’s nowt better for catching a cowardly bad’un than a quick entangle or paralysis.
Ultimately, having magical ability does not preclude you from any archetype - archetypes strike me as more about motive than method. Do you care about your land? Yer a yeoman; if you care about all the land, yer a landskeeper, if you consider dealing with bad’uns to be a high priorty you’re a beater or thresher etc etc
2 Likes