Character Classes (The Telepath Tactics Bestiary)

[CraigStern]

This post is going to serve as a sort of definitive guide to the character classes in Telepath Tactics. I'll be updating this with info on the individual classes as the game progresses. Here are the classes, in all their pixelated glory:

Swordsman

A strong melee fighter with two counterattacks and the ability to "disarm" enemy counterattacks using Feint. She has a Double Strike attack that uses up all of her Energy in order to inflict double damage. She can use Shove to push enemies and certain destructible objects.

Spearman

A strong melee fighter with one counterattack and the ability to throw his spear. He has Impale, which can hit two enemies in a row at substantial cost to his Energy. He also has the ability to adopt a Defensive Stance, which gives him a 50% chance to block non-Mental attacks for one turn. Finally, he can use Shove to push enemies and certain destructible objects.

Lizardman

A strong melee fighter with one counterattack, the lizardman is unarmored but has a 15% chance to dodge all non-Mental attacks. He moves quickly, covering up to 6 spaces per turn, and has a variety of special crushing attacks that can inflict status ailments like Slow and Weakness. However, as an ectotherm, he is weak against Heat and Cold attacks. He can use Shove to push enemies and certain destructible objects.

Cavalry

Cavalry are strong melee fighters that ride giant mantises. Though they possess no counterattack, they can move a whopping 7 spaces per turn. What's more, they can move, attack, and then continue moving afterwards.

Engineer

A weak fighter, he can build bridges and barricades to open and close routes across the battlefield. He can also lay explosive charges which, when detonated, deal massive damage to anything in their explosive radius.

Assassin

A fairly weak fighter, but she gets a huge backstab bonus (and smaller sidestab bonus). What's more, she can move 9 spaces per turn, Leap over obstacles, and has a 20% chance to dodge all non-Mental attacks.

Bowman

A strong attacker, the Bowman has a ranged counterattack and the longest range of any unit in the game. He can shoot an arrow and continue moving afterwards. He is frail, however, and can quickly be killed if not protected.

Crossbowman

Somewhat hardier than the Bowman, she has less range and no counterattack, but more staying power. She has a Bayonet attack for melee combat and an explosive Powder Bolt attack for detonating Charges and quickly destroying destructible objects.

Pyrokineticist

A middling fighter that attacks with Mind Blast. She has Heat psy attacks and can set enemies on fire, dealing continuous Heat damage until they die or are put out.

Cryokineticist

A middling fighter that attacks with Mind Blast. He has Cold psy attacks and can freeze enemies, preventing them from moving or acting until they thaw.

Skiakineticist

A middling fighter that attacks with Mind Blast. He has Shadow psy attacks and can inflict Slow, reducing enemies' movement range.

Photokineticist

A middling fighter that attacks with Mind Blast. He has Light psy attacks and can inflict Blind, reducing enemies' chance to hit with non-Mental attacks.

Psy Healer

She has no offensive moves; instead, she heals with a variety of shields, and can create a movable battlefield obstacle with Solid State Shield.

Mentalist

A middling fighter that attacks with Mind Blast. She uses telekinesis to push and pull enemies and allies at a distance, which can be absolutely lethal on maps with major environmental hazards. She can also Levitate, gaining flying for a turn. Likewise, she can use Gravity Spike to make a flying character crash into the ground, losing flying for the turn and taking damage.

Spirit

Flying. She can Transfer Energy to an ally. She possesses both Soul Suck (damages enemy Health to restore her Energy) and Drain (damages enemy Energy to restore her Health). She is resistant to physical attacks but weak to Mental attacks.

Shadowling

Flying. He or she moves up to 7 spaces per turn and can Shadowport through walls and obstacles. Weak to piercing weapons.

Red Spriggat

Flying. He moves up to 6 spaces per turn and attack with Claw in melee. He can also use Fire Breath to damage multiple enemies in a row. He is resistant to Heat but weak to Cold and especially weak to piercing weapons.

Frost Spriggat

Flying. He moves up to 6 spaces per turn and attack with Claw in melee. He can also use Frost Breath to damage multiple enemies in a row. He is resistant to Cold but weak to Heat and especially weak to piercing weapons.

Black Spriggat

Flying. He moves up to 6 spaces per turn and attack with Claw in melee. He can also use Dark Breath to damage multiple enemies in a row. He is resistant to Shadow but weak to Light and especially weak to piercing weapons.

Gold Spriggat

Flying. He moves up to 6 spaces per turn and attack with Claw in melee. He can also use Light Breath to damage multiple enemies in a row. He is resistant to Light but weak to Shadow and especially weak to piercing weapons.

Stone Golem

An extremely powerful melee fighter. He can move only 3 spaces per turn, but he's resistant to physical attacks and deals massive crushing damage with his fists. He has a Smash attack that knocks the enemy back a space, and can use Throw to fling an object, ally or enemy up to three spaces away. He can use Shove to push enemies and certain destructible objects.

Bronze Golem

An extremely powerful melee fighter. He can move only 3 spaces per turn, but he has a lot of Health and can slice through up to three enemies in a 90-degree arc with each attack.

[eyhung]

Bandit is missing?

[CraigStern]

Ah, yes--this is an old thread. The bandit was kind of a late addition to the original 22 classes. :)

[Ayra]

The manual
http://sinisterdesign.net/Downloads/Telepath%20Tactics%20Manual.pdf

is a bit more up to date regarding the classes (It has the bandit at least).

Since I'm replying here I might as well ask a few class questions while I'm at it :)

- Is the Bronze Golem actually viable? On paper he's really interesting with his AoE attacks and his lack of weapon (so you can save on $$$), but I'm finding that 3 movement range coupled with maps where you normally are on the offense means that unless you delay the map considerably, he's just going to be lagging behind your entire team. Plus, he can't attack without energy and his energy pool is pretty small, so you have to rest often on top of that.

- Cryokineticist vs Pyrokineticist vs Photokineticist. I'm not adding the Psy Healer (either I'm not far enough in the game or I missed recruiting all of them), the Skiakineticist (same) or the Mentalist (Its skill list is so huge that it'd be unfair to the other mages). I don't have any of those three at a high level, but at this point the Cryokineticist seems to be the no-brainer choice. Able to create bridges, freezing enemies and giving massive defense bonuses. The Photokineticist has the same damage, but can't make bridge, blind is much inferior to freeze and the dodge bonus is tiny. The Pyro has barely higher damage but no utility at all. The manual doesn't indicate anything different (just says that all three get AoE attacks). Am I missing something here?

[bugfartboy]

The manual
http://sinisterdesign.net/Downloads/Telepath%20Tactics%20Manual.pdf

is a bit more up to date regarding the classes (It has the bandit at least).

Since I'm replying here I might as well ask a few class questions while I'm at it :)

- Is the Bronze Golem actually viable? On paper he's really interesting with his AoE attacks and his lack of weapon (so you can save on $$$), but I'm finding that 3 movement range coupled with maps where you normally are on the offense means that unless you delay the map considerably, he's just going to be lagging behind your entire team. Plus, he can't attack without energy and his energy pool is pretty small, so you have to rest often on top of that.

- Cryokineticist vs Pyrokineticist vs Photokineticist. I'm not adding the Psy Healer (either I'm not far enough in the game or I missed recruiting all of them), the Skiakineticist (same) or the Mentalist (Its skill list is so huge that it'd be unfair to the other mages). I don't have any of those three at a high level, but at this point the Cryokineticist seems to be the no-brainer choice. Able to create bridges, freezing enemies and giving massive defense bonuses. The Photokineticist has the same damage, but can't make bridge, blind is much inferior to freeze and the dodge bonus is tiny. The Pyro has barely higher damage but no utility at all. The manual doesn't indicate anything different (just says that all three get AoE attacks). Am I missing something here?

CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT SPOILERS
Although Blind is less effective at impairing enemies, the Photokineticist can learn Light Bomb, an attack that deals damage in a 3x3 square with an epicenter 4 blocks away. Likewise the pyrokineticist, if memory serves, can lean Fire Gate, a move with similar stats to Light Bomb. The Cryokineticist's AOE is called Cryo Cross.  Although Cryo Cross can hit a whopping 12 spaces at once and inflicts Frozen, it can only reach 2 spaces away from the caster in each direction.

[CraigStern]

Also worth mentioning: the Pyrokineticist learns Melt, which is really handy when going up against enemy Frost Spriggats. :)

[Jolima]

The bronze golem's basic attacks don't have any energy cost in my game. Do they really for you? Eventually (lvl 9?) he learns a skill (engine boost) that lets him trade 1 energy for 1 move - which lets him be really fast when it matters. He's probably still too slow for big maps where the enemy aren't coming to you, but for defensive or small maps he's been really good to me. (I've only gotten to a few maps after recruiting him so far though.) He also seems to level really quickly, I think he gets double the normal experience when hitting two enemies?

[CraigStern]

He also seems to level really quickly, I think he gets double the normal experience when hitting two enemies?

He gets experience for every individual enemy he hits--so hitting two enemies will give you as much experience as attacking each of those enemies individually would have.