New Openish RPG

Warning: Huge Giant Post ahead. I've made the ability descriptions red, since I feel it makes it easier to read.

Well, I've finally gotten started on a major map, and this one is actually moving along nicely. The map is basically an open RPG, with many different quests and a pretty large country to explore.

I'm using an alignment system that keep tracks of the reputation of the player: Killing innocents and completing evil quests will make your alignment go down, while completing good quests and defeating certain unusually evil monsters will make your alignment go up.

Each hero can advance to level 100, and will do a class change twice along the way - At level 25 and 60 right now, although that is subject to change. Whenever a hero reaches a class change, it is replaced with a different improved version with different skills and stats depending on the alignment of the player. Here's a list of the hero classes that are completed so far: (Comments and suggestions are welcome!)

Note: Anyone who has played Seiken Densetsu 3 for the SNES will probably be able to guess where I got the classes from.

First, the Fighter. This is the second strongest physical character, second only to the grappler. (See below)

In its base class, the fighter has access to three abilities:

Critical Strike [15 levels]: A chance to deal triple damage with an attack. Has a pretty low chance of working, starting at 1% and increasing by 1% per level.
This passive ability is useful in almost any situation.

Parry [15 levels]: Another passive ability, this one allows the fighter to prevent (10 * skill level) damage when struck. The chance of this working is 2% per level.
This ability is great when fighting enemies that do little damage, but is less effective against stronger foes.

Cross Slash [30 levels]: The only actively used ability of the plain fighter, this is basically a melee range damage spell that will deal 15 damage per level to the target, and 3 damage per level to enemies surrounding it.
While it is quite weak, this is the only ability a plain fighter has to use his mana on during the first 25 levels.

Now, when the fighter reaches level 25, he turns into a second-tier class.
If he is good aligned, he becomes a Knight with higher defense and one new ability:

Healing Light [30 levels]: A healing spell that works both on the caster and any of his allies. The amount healed is low, at (10 * skill level), but the mana cost is low and the cooldown is quite short.
This ability is the only healing skill avaible to the fighter, and is useful for keeping both himself and his allies alive.

If the fighter is evil when he reaches level 25, he will instead become a gladiator. This class has a slightly higher attack damage than the fighter. It also gets one new ability:[/color]

Whirlwind Sword [30 levels]: This spell immobilizes the targetted unit for 1 second per level by creating a whirlwind around it, and deals 30 damage per second to the immobilized unit.
This spell is very weak at low levels, but becomes very powerful as more skill points are placed in it: Taking an enemy out of combat for 30 seconds is not bad at all.

Now, for the final class change, if a Knight stays good-aligned, he will become a Paladin upon reaching level 60. The final classes have two additional abilities: One normal one with 10 levels, and one ability that is only aquired after performing a certain quest. For the paladin, these abilities are:

Saint Saber [10 levels]: By imbuing the targetted unit's weapon with holy energy, the paladin can make it deal more damage in combat. Adds 5% damage per level, to a maximum of 50%!
Always a good spell to cast on both the paladin himself and any nearby allies.

Light Flash Blade [Quest Skill]: This passive quest skill allows the paladin to create bursts of brilliant light when swinging his blade. Adds 100 splash damage to his attacks, making him one of the best combat classes.

If the Knight fails to stay good-aligned, he will be unable to follow the path of the holy paladin and instead becomes a Lord, a master of defensive combat. The abilities of the Lord are as follows:

Shield Block [10 levels]: The ultimate damage avoidance skill, this ability adds a 3% chance per level to completely negate attacks against the lord.
This passive ability is good in all battles, increasing the survivability of the Lord by almost a third!

Magic Circle [Quest Skills]: Not only a master of physical defense, the Lord can also negate magical attacks. This passive ability allows him to take only 25% damage from damage spells.
A powerful quest skill, Magic Circle will allow the Lord to destroy most spellcasters with ease.

For the fighters who instead followed the evil path of the gladiator at level 25, two other classes are avaible. For a gladiator who turns good before reaching level 60, the Swordsmaster class is the way to go. It has these abilities:

Moon Saber [10 levels]: A both offensive and defensive spell, this allows the Swordsmaster to deal 10 extra damage per skill level with his attacks, and to steal 1% per level of the hit points he removes from his target and add them to his own. This ability is not passive, but activated. The cooldown allows the swordsmaster to have this spell in effect roughly 1/3rd of the time.
A very useful spell, Moon Saber can let the swordsmaster heal himself by slaying weak enemies and survive longer against strong ones.

Vacuum Blade [Quest Spell]: The swordsmaster spins around, creating a vacuum that draws nearby enemy units close to him: Within reach of his blade. This Bladestorm variation lasts for a full 25 seconds, dealing 50 damage per second to enemies in range.
Vacuum Blade allows the swordsmaster to become immune to all hostile spells while dealing damage to a large number of enemies. The vacuum effect also allows him to pull enemies away from threatened allies.

For the Gladiator who chooses to stay evil, there is only way way to go: The Duelist, master of single combat. Its abilities are:

Dark Saber [10 levels]: The Duelists's dominance in duels is largely thanks to this skill. It adds 20 damage per level to his attacks, and also makes him stun any unit he strikes momentarily! (0.2 seconds for units, 0.1 for heroes.) It is also passive!
Can't say no to this skill: It's just plain great.

Eruption Sword [Quest Spell]: This ability hurts. If you didn't catch that, allow me to type it again: This ability HURTS. Calling up incinerating flames from far below, the Duelist deals an almost unbelievable 3000 damage to all nearby enemies! If there are any survivors, they are stunned by the power of this attack and unable to act for 5 seconds.
Such power comes at a price, however: It uses basically all the Duelists's mana, and has a massive cooldown.
Any melee heroes that attack a Duelist when he has the mana to cast this spell and it is not cooling down will most likely regret it.

That's it for the Fighter. I'll probably make a post the Grappler a bit later.

Also, as I said, comments and suggestions are welcome.

Here's the grappler, as well. No color in this one, though.

The Grappler, being a Beastman, will turn into a type of werewolf depending on his class when there's a full moon out. The full moon is in effect roughly one night in five, and the Grappler will be in wolf form for the whole duration of those nights.

The basic Grappler has these three abilities:

Double Strike [15 levels]. The reason why this hero is the most powerful melee fighter: This ability allows him to attack twice as fast as usual. Cooldown goes down with level while duration goes up, allowing the user to keep it going all the time at level 15.

Dodge [15 levels]. One percent chance to dodge an attack per level. No more, no less.

Vital Points [30 levels]. A passive ability that gives the grappler a 3% chance to deal 10 extra damage per level on an attack, as well as stunning the target for 0.33 seconds per leve. (Up to 10 seconds on units, caps at 4 seconds for heroes.)

At full moon, the Grappler turns into a simple werewolf with slightly increased attack power.

Second tier, Good alignment: Monk. One ability:

Pressure Point [30 levels]. Another simple passive ability, this one adds 1% to the damage of the monk per skill level.

At full moon, the Monk turns into a simple werewolf just like the Grappler.

Second tier, Evil alignment: Bashkar. One ability:

Bastard Slam [30 levels]. A pretty simple melee-range damage ability, it will deal 25 damage per level to the target. It has a quite long cooldown, though.

At full moon, the Bashkar turns into a Black Fang: A more powerful werewolf than the standard one.

Third tier, Good -> Good alignment: God Hand. Two abilities:

Aura Wave [10 levels]: One of the most useful spells around, if you have powerful allies. This ability resets all the ability cooldowns of the targetted unit, instantly. Extremely effective when paired with things like the Duelists's Eruption Sword. Cooldown goes down with level.

Byakko Shockwave [Quest Ability]: This powerful damage spell sends out a slow-moving shockwave that deals 900 damage to any enemy caught in its path.

At full moon, the God Hand turns into a Golden Wolf: The third most powerful werewolf.

Third tier, Good -> Evil alignment: Warrior Monk. Two abilities:

Leaf Saber [10 levels]: The strongest anti-spellcaster ability in the arsenal of this hero. It acts like feedback, destroying 30 mana per level on non-heroes, and 1 mana per level on heroes and dealing damage equal to the amount of mana destroyed.

Genbu 100-kick [Quest Ability]: The Warrior Monk moves faster than the eye can see, kicking the targetted enemy 100 times for 10 damage per kick. This ability has a shorter cooldown than most other quest abilities.

At full moon, the Warrior Monk turns into a Silver Wolf: The weakest of the third-tier werewolves, it is only slightly stronger than the bashkar's Black Fang.

Third tier, Evil -> Good: Dervish. Two abilities:

Moon Saber [10 levels]: See Swordsmaster in the first post: It's the same skill.

Sazuku Sky Dance [Quest Ability]: A powerful area-damaging spell, it acts like starfall with a much shorter duration but higher damage.

At full moon, the Dervish turns into the second most powerful werewolf: The Bloody Wolf.

Third tier, Evil -> Evil: Death Hand. Two abilities:

Dead Crush [10 levels]: Not only does this passive ability add 15 damage per skill level to the Death Hand's attacks, but it also reduces the armor of the attacked units by (5+skill level) for 15 seconds.

Seiryuu Death Fist [Quest Ability]: With a cooldown almost as long as Eruption Sword, a hefty mana cost and targetting only one enemy in melee range, this ability is lacking in all departments except one: Pure Damage. It deals 7000 damage to the target: That's it. The only hero with a reasonable chance to survive being hit by this is the Lord.

At full moon, the Death Hand turns into the most fearsome beast ever seen in the known world: The Wolf Devil. Almost twice as massive as the other werewolves, it is easily the most powerful melee hero. Disadvantage? The owner of this hero sometimes loses control of it for a few moments during which it will attack enemies and allies alike.