[KhalidtheGrey]

Time to get kicked in the teeth.

So, I've been mulling over the idea of 'finesse axeman' for a while and thought it was just ridiculous. At first. I've been warming up to the idea though. I thought up a set of skills to throw on duelist and a modification for Vent Petal to accommodate this properly.

This first one has been the worst to figure out how to do. It's the axe idea of Sil/Sidecut. The targeting line I've been leaning toward is a crescent style dash. You move forward one space, then diagonally left (or right), forward, then diagonally right (or left) to have the same ending position as Sidecut while attacking in a sweeping, wide attack. It would perform a basic attack and cost 10/8/6/4/2 FP, as with the rest of them.

The second one, the AoE to go along with Crystal Rose and Cyclone Spear, would be to just hurl your axe down and cause AoE earth damage that inflicts Slow. Same size, range, and cost as Crystal rose. Same Scaling too but with Defense. The slow's level would be 1/2/3 at ranks 1, 3, and 5 with a duration of 2. I know the worst part about this one is coming up with augments but I would love to see Flatfooted level 20 on the Quaking Augment.

Third skills was a double-tapping basic attack skill described as a downward chop followed by a lunge with the axe head's upper point. You attack twice against a target within one range and deal 60% damage during the action (so you can't do things like dagger dance shenanigans). Probably with a debuff to hit of -20/15/10/5/0. Same cost as Power Gradation.

Fourth skill targets someone within one range and performs a basic attack. You target their armor directly and shred 2/4/6/8/10 (+50% on crits) Armor (Not defense, armor) but deal 10% less damage with the attack. Same costs as L'au-Dela. Debuff lasts 3 rounds.

The Vent Petal change was to just allow Axes to be valid. Can't use two of the same weapon still but an axe, sword, and/or spear would all work to get the benefits.

Personally... I would very much like to see Duelist's Vent Petal lose the FP cost reduction and grant +1/2/3 Skill Pool since they're one of the more skill pool intensive classes when coupled with Kensei or Ghost as their promos. I can honestly be a pure Ghost or Kensei and use nearly every single skill pool I have if I don't build Will, Skill, and Guile through the roof.

Alright, tell me why this is all a horrible idea. I'm expecting points like 'Soldier is already an axe class and is the only one to have all three weapons available!' What about Bonder? And why wouldn't the master duelist have mastery over whatever not-piddly weapon they want but the soldier would? They both live, eat, sleep, breath battle. Soldier is the more tanky approach, duelist is the, well, duelist, they run up and beat you to death. 'Duelists don't need more skill pool! Rogues and mages are the skill pool monkeys!' And what about that educated swordmaster over there who has both trained by practice and learned through study with treatises?