Imagine this:
You came to Yeld with your Friends, through a magical door. You were only 10 at the time! You had your first adventure, catching Broccoli Lobsters for the mysterious Sushi Kid. After the magical door closed and trapped you in Yeld you took on a Job, eager to be a hero and help the people of Yeld. Now you’re 12 years old. You’ve faced monsters and magic like you’d never imagined. You’ve traveled to the strangest places and collected weird and powerful treasure. You’d faced three of the dreaded Hunters of Yeld, and survived! Now you’ve begun to hear whispers of Jobs that are more mysterious and powerful than the ones you and your Friends have already dedicated yourself to. What are these “Advanced Jobs”?
Advanced Jobs are a set of 8 Jobs that become available once the Friends reach Rank 2 and collect a certain number of Keys by defeating Hunters of Yeld. While the 8 basic Heroic Jobs are meant to complement each other and cover all bases, Advanced Jobs are focused around a specific niche. They are each designed for players who want to explore a very certain narrative or mechanical theme. Advanced Jobs are meant to complement and work alongside the Heroic Jobs while being more powerful in very specific ways. When you choose an Advanced Job you are choosing a narrow focus over versatility. But not TOO narrow, of course!
In the oldest drafts of the Yeld rulebook (from as early as 2005!), each Advanced Job was only available to two Heroid Jobs. For example, only a Black Mage or a White Mage could become a Drudge Angel. Since then our design has changed, and any Heroic Job can “advance” to any Advanced Job. However, you can still see this element in the canonical Drudge Angel featured in the Yeld rulebook, who is our Black Mage Naomi!!
The 1st Edition Drudge Angel had a few defining features. Of course they used both Black and White Magic and had access to their own unique Wrath and Prayers spells. They also used a relatively rare weapon, the Polearm, and had several Special dice and spells that complemented their combat ability. The Drudge Angel’s role was to step between life and death, and several of their spells reflected this. They also started with 1 Good! and 1 Evil! Special die, and many of their benefits required them to have either one or the other.
In reimagining Drudge Angel for Yeld: 2nd Edition we’ve kept these core concepts. The Job was meant to reflect a hero who was both righteous and dark. The visual design of the Drudge Angel has always reflected this, with dark armor and cloth contrasting against shockingly bright hair and unnaturally bleached skin. The Drudge Angel radiates cold light through the darkness.
The biggest change to Drudge Angel is how they actively generate and use Good! and Evil! dice. Each time a Drudge Angel makes a Restore Roll they also gain Good! and Evil! dice. This gives the Drudge Angel a limited but replenishable source of these dice to spend. Which is important, because she’ll now need to spend these dice each time she casts her (Prayer) or (Wrath) spells.
For example, to cast a (Prayer) spell the Drudge Angel will roll her Core Smart dice, and add other dice as normal. But she also must add at least 1 Good! Special die to the roll. This has both an upside and downside. The upside of course is that the Drudge Angel gets to roll at least 1 extra die any time she casts a (Prayer) or (Wrath) spell. The downside is that the number of these spells she can cast is severely limited. A Drudge Angel can only have a total of 3 Good! and 3 Evil! Special dice.
To make up for this limitation we’ve increased the power of (Prayer) and (Wrath) spells, reworking many of the spells in the process. We’ve also introduced 2 new (Prayer) and 2 new (Wrath) spells to round out the Drudge Angel's casting capability. The (Prayer) spell Good Intentions allows the Drudge Angel to collect Good! dice when defeating a Monster. The (Wrath) spell Walk in Shadows lets the Drudge Angel travel to any space on the Action Board affected by the Darkness Hazard.
Drudge Angels have also had their magical arsenal expanded! In addition to (Prayer) and (Wrath) spells they can now cast (Raw White) (Raw Black) (Raw Red) (Fairy) (Raw Blue) (Mermaid) (Raw Green) and (Math) Spells. They do not need to spend Good! or Evil! dice to cast these spells, but must hold a Spell Book or Scroll that contains the spell they wish to cast.
Drudge Angel’s starting kit has changed quite a bit too. When you choose the Job you will now receive +1 Strong and Smart Core dice. This allows the Drudge Angel to be both an effective fighter and caster. The Drudge Angel still receives +1 Jump Special die, as well as +1 Nap to help them with their important Restore Rolls (and to get a good rest!). The Drudge Angel’s Weapon choices have been limited to just the Polearm, which has received a rework.
In 1st Edition, Polearms were a relatively rare Weapon type that provided Strong and Smart dice, as well as +1 Reach Special die. The sole reason this Weapon provided Smart dice was to assist the Drudge Angel’s spell casting. Now that we’ve changed the way the Job casts spells we felt free to redesign the Polearm. The Weapon now provides Strong dice as well as Charge and Reach Special dice. Charge has become more useful, so we feel like the Polearm is going to be deadly in the hands of the Drudge Angel!
Drudge Angel comes with a selection of new and reworked Job-Specific Special dice. 6 in total. Angel Step allows you to temporarily gain Fly Special dice after defeating a Monster. Armored Angel is a (Solo) die that reduces the Tough requirement to wear Armor by 1. The Drudge Angel will also be in an excellent position to make use of the MANY revised Special dice from the Normal Special die list!
Most importantly, we’ve expanded the lore surrounding Drudge Angels. In 1st Edition these secretive warriors were a little TOO mysterious! In Yeld: 2nd Edition you’ll discover why the Drudge Angels serve the Last Princess of Yeld in her long war against Prince Dragul. We’ll explore their role as takers of the dead and learn what the people of Yeld think of this nearly mythical Job. We’ll also get a look at their legendary floating castle Barroh Droh!
We’re excited to show you all the changes we have in store for Yeld: 2nd Edition. Like the Drudge Angel, the rest of the Advanced Jobs have changed in both obvious and subtle ways. So has the rest of the game! We’ll be revealing more about Yeld: 2nd Edition in the weeks leading up to the Kickstarter. Make sure to sign up to be notified when the Kickstarter launches!
- Jake