# New Profession Proposals

This document proposes new hero professions for Eagle0. Each profession should matter in both the Eagle strategic layer
and the Shardok tactical layer, and should be earned through a prime stat in the same way existing professions are.

## Current Professions Reference

Professions are currently gained when a no-profession hero crosses the profession stat threshold and wins a profession
roll. The current stat mapping is:

| Prime Stat | Professions |
|------------|-------------|
| **Strength** | Champion |
| **Agility** | Engineer, Ranger |
| **Wisdom** | Mage |
| **Charisma** | Necromancer, Paladin |
| **Constitution** | None |

The current profession capabilities are:

| Profession | Eagle Ability | Shardok Abilities | Current Niche |
|------------|---------------|-------------------|---------------|
| **Mage** | Control Weather: start/end blizzards and droughts in the current or neighboring province | Lightning Bolt, Meteor, Freeze Water, Start Fire access/enhancement | Strategic weather control and high-impact elemental battlefield effects |
| **Necromancer** | Start Epidemic in the current or neighboring province | Raise Dead, Fear | Attrition pressure, undead creation, morale attack |
| **Engineer** | Improve command recommendation and bonus improvement output | Repair, Fortify, Build Bridge, Reduce siege | Infrastructure, battlefield construction, mechanical support |
| **Paladin** | Alms priority and increased support from food | Holy Wave | Public support, holy area effect, anti-undead flavor |
| **Ranger** | Recon against enemy provinces | Scout, Hide access/enhancement, Brave Water enhancement | Information, stealth, terrain crossing |
| **Champion** | Train command recommendation and training bonus | Challenge Duel | Martial excellence, battalion training, direct hero confrontation |

## Recommendation

Add **Warden** first.

Warden is the cleanest next profession because Constitution is the only hero stat that does not currently unlock any
profession. A Constitution profession also creates a distinctive tactical identity: not another caster, scout, or damage
dealer, but a durable hero who keeps important units alive. That fills a real mechanical gap without forcing a large
rewrite of the profession system.

The first version should be intentionally simple:

- **Prime stat:** Constitution
- **Eagle ability:** Garrison, a defensive province action or passive defense bonus when a Warden is present with enough
  vigor; or Custody, a prisoner-control ability for captured heroes
- **Shardok ability:** Guard, a command that marks an adjacent friendly unit until the Warden's next turn; the first
  attack against that unit is redirected to the Warden's unit or reduced by a fixed amount
- **Battalion suitability:** Optimal with durable melee infantry; suboptimal with fragile archers or stealth-focused
  units if we want a stricter identity
- **Balance direction:** Spend action points and/or vigor to protect another unit, rather than adding free passive
  prevention every round

This keeps the profession legible: high-Constitution heroes become the people who can hold formation, anchor a province,
and protect fragile specialists.

---

## Proposed New Professions

### 1. WARDEN (Defense & Protection Specialist)

**Fantasy:** The stalwart defender who holds the line and protects allies.

**Why it fits now:**
- Gives Constitution a profession path
- Adds a defensive/tank identity that no current profession owns
- Creates counterplay to burst damage, duel pressure, and fragile high-value units

**Eagle Ability: "Garrison"**
- A province with a Warden-led unit gets a defense bonus when attacked
- Alternative active version: spend vigor to fortify the province until next round
- Synergy: works well in border provinces, choke points, and provinces recovering after losses

**Alternative Eagle Ability: "Custody"**
- A Warden can handle captured heroes with extra authority: execute them immediately or move them to a neighboring ruled
  province before normal prisoner management
- Passive custody version: each new round, prisoners in a Warden-guarded province become more likely to join the ruling
  faction
- Prefer implementing this as a small positive addition to the prisoner's existing `factionBiases` entry for the ruling
  faction, rather than changing the prisoner `roundsInType` multiplier from `+5/round` to `+10/round`
- Rationale: changing the multiplier would be retroactive. A prisoner held for ten rounds would immediately receive a
  large odds jump the moment a Warden arrived. Accumulating a Warden-specific bias only rewards rounds actually spent
  under Warden custody, and the existing faction-bias decay makes the effect fade naturally if the Warden leaves
- Stronger version: if the Warden's side captures enemy heroes during battle but still loses the province, the Warden can
  evacuate one captured hero to a neighboring ruled province instead of losing custody
- This should be limited to one captured hero per battle or require a high-vigor Warden, because keeping prisoners after
  losing the battle is a major strategic swing
- Best flavor: Wardens are not just defenders of walls, but keepers of oaths, chains, and battlefield custody

**Shardok Ability: "Guard"**
- Target adjacent friendly unit is protected until the Warden's next turn
- First incoming attack against the protected unit is redirected to the Warden's unit or reduced
- Costs action points and cannot target self
- Creates a clear positioning puzzle without introducing another long-range damage button

**Implementation Notes:**
- Add `Warden` to the Scala profession enum and common/client profession enums
- Map Constitution to `Vector(Profession.Warden)` in `HeroStatGainAction`
- Add display names, profession-gained notification copy, tutorial trigger mapping, and headshot bucket support
- Add strategic availability and command handling only after deciding whether Warden uses Garrison, Custody, or both
- For Custody, prefer extending the existing captured-hero/prisoner-management flow instead of creating a parallel
  prisoner system
- For passive prisoner conversion, update `NewRoundAction` near the existing unaffiliated-hero `roundsInType` and
  `factionBiases` maintenance. If the province is ruled, contains a ruling-faction Warden, and the unaffiliated hero is
  a prisoner, add the Warden custody bonus to that prisoner's `factionBiases(rulingFactionId)`.
- For Shardok, start with a single-turn guard status before attempting more complex interception chains

**Current Follow-Up Priorities:**
- Teach the Shardok AI when to use the Warden evacuation command. The command is valuable when the Warden's side has
  captured enemy heroes and can secure them by leaving the battle, especially when the battle outcome is uncertain or
  trending against that side.
- Add the strategic passive custody bonus: each round, prisoners in a province guarded by a ruling-faction Warden should
  get a small accumulated positive bias toward joining that faction. Prefer storing this as an addition to the existing
  `factionBiases` entry rather than changing the global `roundsInType` multiplier, so the bonus only reflects rounds
  actually spent under Warden custody.
- Make tactical AI more protective of heroes at risk of capture when a Warden may be present. Warden evacuation makes
  captured heroes harder to recover, so the AI should treat exposing high-value heroes to capture as more dangerous than
  before. This matters even when the AI does not have perfect knowledge that a Warden is in the battle.

### 2. HERALD (Morale & Communication Specialist)

**Fantasy:** The inspiring leader who rallies troops and carries messages across the battlefield.

**Eagle Ability: "Rally Province"**
- Spend vigor to boost recruitment in a province for one turn, or reduce unrest
- Synergy: Pairs well with provinces in turmoil or after losses

**Shardok Ability: "Inspire"**
- Target friendly unit within 3 hexes gains +1 action point this turn
- Creates interesting tactical choices about when to act vs. when to buff allies
- Cannot target self (prevents simple optimization)

---

### 3. ALCHEMIST (Fire & Transformation Specialist)

**Fantasy:** The mad scientist who manipulates the elements through science, not magic.

**Eagle Ability: "Transmute"**
- Convert one resource type to another in a province (gold to food or vice versa, at a loss)
- Provides economic flexibility during shortages

**Shardok Ability: "Wildfire"**
- Start a fire that spreads to 2 additional adjacent hexes immediately (not just at end of round)
- More aggressive than Mage's Start Fire but less controlled
- Cannot freeze water (that's magic, not science)

---

### 4. INQUISITOR (Anti-Magic & Intelligence)

**Fantasy:** The witch-hunter who counters supernatural threats and uncovers secrets.

**Eagle Ability: "Expose"**
- Reveal hidden information about enemy heroes in a province (stats, profession, vigor)
- Counter to Ranger's stealth/recon advantages

**Shardok Ability: "Dispel"**
- Cancel an active magical effect: stop a meteor cast, remove Fear from friendly unit, or reveal a hidden unit
- Direct counter to Mage and Necromancer abilities
- Creates meaningful profession rock-paper-scissors

---

### 5. BEASTMASTER (Animal Control)

**Fantasy:** The wild one who commands beasts and understands nature's fury.

**Eagle Ability: "Suppress Beasts" (Enhanced)**
- Already exists in game, but Beastmaster does it at reduced vigor cost
- Additionally: Can redirect beast attacks to enemy provinces instead of just suppressing

**Shardok Ability: "Beast Call"**
- Summon a wolf pack (weak undead-style unit) that attacks the nearest enemy
- Wolves act immediately but disappear at end of round
- Provides disposable units for screening or harassing archers

---

## Design Philosophy

These professions were designed to:

1. **Fill mechanical gaps**: Warden gives Constitution a profession and adds defensive depth
2. **Create counterplay**: Inquisitor vs Mage/Necromancer, Warden vs burst damage, Beastmaster vs beast events
3. **Avoid overlap**: Each profession should own a tactical and strategic niche not covered by existing professions
4. **Support both layers**: Each ability should be meaningful in Eagle and Shardok
5. **Enable interesting decisions**: Guard creates positioning choices, Inspire creates action economy choices, Transmute
   creates resource tradeoffs

## Unified Candidate Ranking

This ranking considers every candidate together, regardless of where the idea came from. The main criteria are mechanical
fit, overlap with existing professions, implementation clarity, strategic-layer value, Shardok value, and narrative
payoff.

1. **Warden**: Best immediate fit. It gives Constitution a profession path and creates a distinctive custody/protection
   identity.
2. **Quartermaster**: Best strategic depth after Warden. Logistics touches resources, armies, travel, and attrition
   without adding another damage specialist.
3. **Envoy**: Best diplomacy/prisoner-system extension. Strong narrative payoff and clear Eagle-side value.
4. **Surgeon**: Best loss-mitigation role. Makes battle aftermath less binary and gives non-magical healing a place.
5. **Herald**: Strong morale and action-economy support. Distinct from Paladin if kept secular and battlefield-command
   focused.
6. **Marshal**: Strong army identity, especially for formation play and troop organization, but needs careful separation
   from Champion.
7. **Inquisitor**: Useful counterplay against Mage and Necromancer, though anti-magic should not become too narrow.
8. **Pathfinder**: Good campaign movement role, but should focus on routes and terrain rather than replacing Ranger
   scouting.
9. **Alchemist**: Good resource and terrain manipulation fantasy, but risks crowding Mage and Engineer unless scoped
   around risky transformations.
10. **Spymaster**: Strong flavor and intelligence value, but needs slow strategic effects to avoid replacing Recon.
11. **Artificer**: Fun temporary-device fantasy, but overlaps Engineer unless it owns one-shot preparation rather than
    construction.
12. **Beastmaster**: Connects nicely to beast events, but overlaps Ranger unless focused on province events and wild
    allies.
13. **Harbinger**: Excellent flavor, but probably later because fear/morale already touches Necromancer and Paladin
    space.

The best near-term sequence is likely **Warden**, then **Quartermaster** or **Envoy**. Avoid adding another pure damage
caster until defensive, logistical, diplomatic, morale, and aftermath niches are better represented.

## Additional Candidate Details

These ideas come from looking at open mechanical space in Eagle and Shardok: logistics, loyalty, prisoners, province
events, diplomacy, battlefield control, and non-damage support.

### Marshal

**Fantasy:** The army organizer who turns a pile of units into an actual campaign force.

**Best stat fit:** Strength or Charisma

**Eagle Ability: "Muster"**
- Reorganize, reinforce, or prepare battalions more efficiently than a normal hero
- Could reduce vigor cost for Organize Troops or improve training/armament transfer efficiency

**Shardok Ability: "Command Formation"**
- Adjacent friendly units gain a small defensive or morale bonus while holding formation
- Creates a tactical identity around positioning several units together

**Why it is interesting:** Champion currently owns heroic combat and training, but not army-level coordination. Marshal
would be about disciplined formations rather than duels.

### Quartermaster

**Fantasy:** The logistics expert who keeps armies fed, paid, armed, and moving.

**Best stat fit:** Constitution or Wisdom

**Eagle Ability: "Provision"**
- Move food/gold/supplies with less waste or farther than normal
- Reduce attrition or readiness loss for armies operating away from strong provinces

**Shardok Ability: "Resupply"**
- Restore limited ammunition, repair light damage, or grant a one-turn readiness buff to a nearby unit

**Why it is interesting:** The strategic layer already has meaningful resources. A profession that manipulates logistics
would create strong choices without simply adding another combat spell.

### Envoy

**Fantasy:** The negotiator, hostage-broker, and oath-maker.

**Best stat fit:** Charisma

**Eagle Ability: "Parley"**
- Improve diplomacy outcomes, ransom terms, prisoner returns, or truce/alliance offer odds
- Could reduce the risk of ambassadors being imprisoned or create better return-prisoner rewards

**Shardok Ability: "Demand Surrender"**
- Attempt to force a damaged or isolated enemy unit to flee, with odds based on charisma and battlefield state

**Why it is interesting:** Eagle has relationships, ransoms, truces, alliances, and prisoner choices. Envoy would make
diplomacy feel like a profession rather than only a menu action.

### Spymaster

**Fantasy:** The patient handler of informants, rumors, sabotage, and false trails.

**Best stat fit:** Wisdom or Charisma

**Eagle Ability: "Infiltrate"**
- Plant a delayed intelligence effect in an enemy province, revealing troop movements or weakening support
- Could counter or complement Ranger recon without duplicating it

**Shardok Ability: "Sabotage"**
- Before or during battle, reduce one enemy unit's readiness, movement, or first action effectiveness

**Why it is interesting:** Ranger is field reconnaissance. Spymaster can be slower, political, and province-focused.

### Surgeon

**Fantasy:** The healer who saves lives after the dramatic part of the story is over.

**Best stat fit:** Wisdom or Constitution

**Eagle Ability: "Triage"**
- Reduce hero vigor loss, casualty severity, or prisoner death/execution fallout after battles
- Could improve recovery in provinces with many wounded heroes or battered battalions

**Shardok Ability: "Stabilize"**
- Prevent a nearby friendly hero unit from being captured or destroyed once per battle, leaving it routed or exhausted
  instead

**Why it is interesting:** Paladin has holy support, but not mundane medical recovery. Surgeon creates a grounded support
role that can make losses less binary.

### Artificer

**Fantasy:** The maker of rare devices, siege tools, lenses, traps, and battlefield instruments.

**Best stat fit:** Wisdom or Agility

**Eagle Ability: "Prototype"**
- Invest gold and vigor to create a temporary province or battalion enhancement
- Examples: better siege readiness, scouting lenses, defensive traps, or weatherproof stores

**Shardok Ability: "Deploy Device"**
- Place a one-use trap, barricade, signal flare, or field tool on a nearby hex

**Why it is interesting:** Engineer currently owns building and repair. Artificer can own temporary inventions and
one-shot tactical preparation.

### Harbinger

**Fantasy:** The terrifying omen-bearer whose arrival changes morale before the first blow lands.

**Best stat fit:** Charisma or Wisdom

**Eagle Ability: "Portent"**
- Lower enemy support, increase unrest, or amplify the psychological effect of victories and executions
- Could be risky: fear-based rule damages diplomacy or loyalty if overused

**Shardok Ability: "Dread Standard"**
- Enemies near the Harbinger suffer morale penalties or worse flee odds

**Why it is interesting:** Necromancer has supernatural fear, but Harbinger could be political and symbolic rather than
undead-focused.

### Pathfinder

**Fantasy:** The guide who knows hidden passes, river crossings, and winter roads.

**Best stat fit:** Agility or Constitution

**Eagle Ability: "Find Passage"**
- Move armies or heroes through difficult terrain, winter, blizzards, or river-heavy borders with lower penalties
- Could create one-turn temporary travel links between neighboring provinces under specific conditions

**Shardok Ability: "Open Route"**
- Let a nearby unit ignore one terrain penalty or cross a difficult hex safely this turn

**Why it is interesting:** Ranger owns stealth and scouting. Pathfinder owns movement and campaign geography.
