Guild Wars 2

So I have been talking to my guild leader about doing Guild Wars 2 Roleplay
I have researched the lore very extensively and im still trying to come up a with back story for my character. However I’m not sure how to rp a guardian/Dragon hunters abilities. I have read all three guild wars novels. To see what there was that could help, but I found my self craving more info and got more questions than answers. I get where guardians get there power.

character lineage: Ascolan
race: Human
social standing: noble
class: guardian
Order choosen: Vigil

So the questions that I wish to ask are thus:
How do you Roleplay your guardian/Dragon hunter?
What motivates them IE. what is there belief/faith that drives them?
What are the Limits to their abilities?
Is normal to just specialize in one form of guardian type magic or does your character pull out all the stops to achieve their goal?
What are there reactions to other classes such as necros, mesmers, revanants, etc?

I’m not really into roleplay so I can’t help you a lot but…
What motivates them?
One of the best thing to look at here is their virtues.
Virtue of Justice, a strong feeling and opinion on what is just drives a Guardian towards protection of their allies and the smiting of their opponents.
Virtue of Resolve, Guardians make a decision and stick to their beliefs. Their resolve makes them sturdy, trustworthy characters.
Virtue of Courage, Guardians are Courageous, they don’t hide behind their allies, they stand in front of them, facing dangers as an impenetrable wall to shield their allies.

Dragonhunters are said to be based on Witchhunters and have a strong resolve to eradicate all dragons and their minions.

What are the limits to their abilities?
Guardians are very powerful.
Take Logan for example, he’s able to shield his allies from enemy attacks for a long period of time although this takes a lot of effort/concentration.
Logan is however likely an exceptionally gifted Guardian.
I’d focus on not being too powerful. If your Guardian shields his/her allies make the shield have a duration that isn’t too long.

Guardians still have amazingly strong shields, walls, wards and heals. (100% health in a single cast that takes a while to cast!)

Specializing in Guardian magic types normal?
I believe you should answer this question yourself, regarding the characteristics of your Guardian. Here I’d suggest your Guardian to focus on a certain type of magic.
Either defensive or offensive, perhaps even utility-magic in the shape of immobilizing or warding off enemies. This doesn’t mean your guardian is locked out of other types of magic, but you could say he/she is less confident in magic that isn’t their specialty

In my opinion it depends on every guardian if they choose to stick to a certain type of magic/combat or not.

Reactions to other classes?
I believe the Guardian defines others rather for their character than for their profession. Necromancers aren’t inherently evil, nor are Berserker-warriors inherently brutes. It once again depends a lot on the specific characters and thus I can’t give you a straight answer.

As for playing Dragonhunter.
Play however you like. We got no real reason why Guardians call themselves DH, or why they use bows.

Officialy it was a throw away idea, that ended up being something along the line of old fashioned vampire/demon/witch hunter or so.

They say, that they hunt everything that is dragon, which opens another bag of worms (Like how they would go out and hunt Sylvari, as they are from the dragon for example)

So yeah. Their mission is basicaly the same as every order. Just a special guardians club or so. They bet they even got a special handshake.

All joking and bashing aside. DH are suppsosedly extreme against everything dragon. Let your witch hunter, lawful good side out and have some fun.

Zakhelm.4618:

character lineage: Ascalonian
race: Human
social standing: noble
class: guardian
Order chosen: Vigil

Not a bad setup, depending how you play it out.

So the questions that I wish to ask are thus:
How do you Roleplay your guardian/Dragon hunter?

My guardian is a vigil warmaster, norn elder (97 years old). She is protective and caring for her squad, allies, and civilians, and will stand in the line of fire to shield them from harm at risk of her own life.

What motivates them IE. what is there belief/faith that drives them?

Guardians are not like typical ‘paladins’ in requiring faith or belief. My Norn is a follower of Bear mainly, but motivation? Fighting the battle against the dragon minions and general evil in place of the many that cannot.

What are the Limits to their abilities?

Mine? She’s very experienced, so her abilities are pretty powerful. But, a thing to note is anybody can over-extend themselves at the cost of their own health.

Is normal to just specialize in one form of guardian type magic or does your character pull out all the stops to achieve their goal?

This falls into a pretty standard discussion regarding any class. A ‘guardian’ who focuses purely in healing magic will be far greater at in the a general ‘jack of all trades’ (My necromancers mother is basically a monk, but for the people who throw a complete fit over that term, she’s a guardian with absolutely zero offensive capabilities at all). For example, my Guardian is pretty good at both offensive and defensive abilities, but the healing area (and summoning the spirit weapons) are stuff she is not the best in.

A specialist can beat a jack of all trades in one area, but will be weaker at everything else. This can be played on for interesting results though, such as a ‘tank’ of a Guardian could absorb damage and shield friends for a long time, but require the help of their allies to actually push the enemy back.

What are there reactions to other classes such as necros, mesmers, revanants, etc?

This is purely and utterly a personal thing, as there is no lore-based hard feuds between any classes. Sure, in GW1 some mesmers found necromancers icky, but in a general sense just being a necro or mesmer isn’t going to cause a guardian to hate them. So you can have your character personally react in a certain way for backstory reasons, or simply play it as “They don’t care.”

My norn, since you are kinda asking about others take on it, doesn’t care a bit about what magic class or profession somebody is, but instead how they behave and act (Like the other person said).

Nero.8047:

I’m not really into roleplay so I can’t help you a lot but…
What motivates them?
One of the best thing to look at here is their virtues.
Virtue of Justice, a strong feeling and opinion on what is just drives a Guardian towards protection of their allies and the smiting of their opponents.
Virtue of Resolve, Guardians make a decision and stick to their beliefs. Their resolve makes them sturdy, trustworthy characters.
Virtue of Courage, Guardians are Courageous, they don’t hide behind their allies, they stand in front of them, facing dangers as an impenetrable wall to shield their allies.

An interesting take, one that you can twist for each race to generate a more unique stance on even. I like that.

What are the limits to their abilities?
Guardians are very powerful.
Take Logan for example, he’s able to shield his allies from enemy attacks for a long period of time although this takes a lot of effort/concentration.
Logan is however likely an exceptionally gifted Guardian.
I’d focus on not being too powerful. If your Guardian shields his/her allies make the shield have a duration that isn’t too long.

Guardians still have amazingly strong shields, walls, wards and heals. (100% health in a single cast that takes a while to cast!)

All spellcasters can be incredibly powerful, it’s just a matter of if they can support it. In Sea of Sorrow’s (I haven’t read it personally), I’ve been told about a scene where they are five or so Krytan guardians on a ship. As the Risen start using Orrian magic to assault the ship, the guardians, one at a time, generate a protective shield, expending their entire lifeforce to shield against that one, powerful strike.

As for the other, don’t always take game mechanics as 100% lore. But yes, I agree Logan is probably one of the more powerful defensive guardians alive right now.

Specializing in Guardian magic types normal?
I believe you should answer this question yourself, regarding the characteristics of your Guardian. Here I’d suggest your Guardian to focus on a certain type of magic.
Either defensive or offensive, perhaps even utility-magic in the shape of immobilizing or warding off enemies. This doesn’t mean your guardian is locked out of other types of magic, but you could say he/she is less confident in magic that isn’t their specialty

In my opinion it depends on every guardian if they choose to stick to a certain type of magic/combat or not.

Agree entirely. Another thing to add is in Age, training, and experience. Obviously, to the OP, your character is ‘noble-born’ and has access to better training and tutors, but if he’s like, 20 years old, he won’t be nearly as powerful as an older, more experienced guardian.

Reactions to other classes?
I believe the Guardian defines others rather for their character than for their profession. Necromancers aren’t inherently evil, nor are Berserker-warriors inherently brutes. It once again depends a lot on the specific characters and thus I can’t give you a straight answer.

Honestly, I think most of (rational)Tyria acts this way.

Well gorram it I just wrote a whole essay on my two guardians and when I said to post it I got tossed to log in and it’s all gone.

Sorry, I’m not trying to reconstruct it ><

Zakhelm.4618:

How do you Roleplay your guardian/Dragon hunter?

As a dim-white knight. While she might not be particularly compassionate, or kind, or inspiring, she does throw herself wholeheartedly into making the world a better place, and she takes pains to be honest and fair.

What motivates them IE. what is there belief/faith that drives them?

While she has a strong faith in, and fear of, the gods, her real driving passion is her conviction that Heroes aren’t just stories, that they do exist and do keep the monsters at bay- and that, if she works at it hard enough, one day she just might be one of them. Call it a mix of desperate idealism and a devotion to self-improvement.

What are the Limits to their abilities?

Extensive. Her guardian mojo manifested spontaneously, and she’s never had, or sought out, formal training. The result is a pretty good grasp on healing, both of herself and others, but only a handful of other abilities scattered sporadically across the guardian’s talents. As for what she does know, it’s powerful enough to keep her alive, and usually to pound what she’s fighting into paste, but it’s not going to set any records. She’s careful not to get in over her head.

Is normal to just specialize in one form of guardian type magic or does your character pull out all the stops to achieve their goal?

See above. She’s got a little bit of most things, but she’s not a specialist, nor is she able to ‘pull out all the stops’.

What are there reactions to other classes such as necros, mesmers, revanants, etc?

She’s more about what people do with their abilities than what label gets slapped on them, but she can’t abide sneaky and underhanded sorts (so most thieves.) She also disapproves of throwing one’s life away without gain, especially when justified as ‘for a cause’ (so some warriors, and less-able guardians, although see doesn’t spare any of the less martial types who try it either), and she keeps a suspicious eye on anyone who claims to consort with the villains of history (revenants). She’s also got a bit of a grudge against rangers, although that’s more due to one in particular than any trait of the profession as a whole. On the other side of the coin, she admires anyone else who chases ideals or holds themselves to a standard, and she also appreciates inventiveness and learning (engineers and any of the scholar professions, especially elementalists.)
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Now, all of that should just be taken as an example of how one person does things, not of ‘the right way’ to do it. As vague as our sources on most professions are, the canon lore only amounts to a loose framework. I know that can be frustrating, but in practice, what it means is that you’re free to make your own answers as you go, and as long as you don’t go over the top, most roleplayers will take it in stride. Just try to keep the overall power somewhat short of superhero, and respect what lore is around (which you seem to have already done), and you’ll do just fine.

Oh, and one more thing- I don’t play a guardian. Not in my mind, anyway. I play a person, and she just happens to be a guardian. Don’t let what your character does define who they are or how they act. It contributes, sure, but if you’re playing a two-dimensional profession instead of a character you’re selling your own concept short.

I guess I’ll give the real short form of my previous essay:

Sylvari guardian — protection/support, fanatic for the Dream and the Tree, a Valiant whose Hunt is to find the most beautiful place in the world (which of course changes moment to moment and even once found there’s still another more beautiful still out there). Simplistic ideas of right/wrong, smites those who are bad, protects those who are good. Quick combat shouts, not drawn out meditations, consecrations, or spirit weapons.

Human male: “selfish” guardian whose powers of protection and healing work best on himself, ok on those he cares about, lousy on strangers. A childhood bully once he got his blue force field defense, parents shipped him to the Seraph to straighten him out. That got rid of the bullying but he remained shiftless and lazy until he was discharged for gross dereliction of duty for going swimming when he was supposed to be on gate guard duty — and the centaurs attacked (his absence made no difference, but it was the last straw). He works as a bodyguard to rich people who aren’t in danger but want to seem more important. They dress him up thematically for the events for which he’s hired (every new outfit is a new gig RP idea!). He just wants enough coin to keep food and beer handy. He hates armor as confining (blue force fields do him fine), is a slob, isn’t very smart, and is casually prejudiced against non-humans but doesn’t give a darn what profession anyone is as long as a necro doesn’t offer a handshake after going elbows deep in dead flesh or a mesmer doesn’t try to muck with his mind. His limits are that he struggles to heal or shield anyone but himself and doesn’t use a lot of finesse, he’s just a guy with a big sword and blue fire. Also he has a severe phobia about heights, and the only reason he’s so handsome and muscular is that his subconscious feels that’s how he should be so his healing powers keep him that way. He can get drunk fairly easily since deep down he knows booze should get him drunk but other toxins get healed out pretty fast.

I say let the profession and the race guide you in your characterization but as Aaron Ansari wrote, they aren’t rigid limits. I think my bit above about my sylvari makes her sound more stereotypical sylvari, and in some ways she is, but all my nuances that differentiate her from others got lost when the forum ate my last post

I don’t have a guardian currently.

I DID have a rather nice idea for a human guardian who was Ascalonian/Krytan mix. He was a former blacksmith who took to the drink when his sons died in the war against the dragons. Became a drunken wastrel. But ended up being deployed to Orr himself as a weaponsmith on the front lines. There he had a religious experience near the shrine of Balthazar and changed his ways, becoming a Priest of Balthazar and choosing to purge Orr of the Risen blight that infests it in order to atone for his shameful past.

He used sword (fiery dragon sword) and torch and used the spirit weapons to fight, owing to his past as a blacksmith. Forming his magical energy into weapons came naturally to him.

A good dragonhunter could be a norn who took up the way of the Guardian and just adapted those skills to his already impressive hunting skills. Alternatively you could fulfill the witch hunter model and go after the Sons of Svanir in an inquisitorial manner. Purge Hoelbrak of the dragon worshiping menace!

| How do you roleplay your Guardian/DH?

Actually, I haven’t yet. But my sylvari DH, Eirwen, is fairly fleshed out.

| What belief/faith drives them?

Vengeance. She had a girlfriend (Lyri) in the Dream, but the Shadow of the Dragon intruded into the Dream (that’s the sylvari tutorial instance) and killed Lyri just as she was about to awaken. Eirwen wound up killing the Shadow with the help of other awakening sylvari, but she swore she’d avenge her best friend. (And cut her hair in mourning too. Yup, she has that hairstyle with the edgy asymmetrical bangs. :P)
Like all sylvari PCs, Eirwen was given a Wyld Hunt to slay Zhaitan just before the Shadow showed up. Lyri, meanwhile, was assigned to slay Kralkatorrik. The two of them were supposed to complete each other’s Wyld Hunts together, but since Lyri never awakened, Eirwen vowed to complete both tasks on her own. Then, after Eirwen found out that Mordremoth was behind the Shadow of the Dragon, she added Mordy as #1 on her hit list, because “You killed my girlfriend, prepare to die.” Of course, though, one does not simply awaken and slay a dragon…

| What are the limits to their abilities?

I wouldn’t make a perfect character, so of course Eirwen has limits. She isn’t well-trained in the use of defensive magic (like any good Guardian, she can encourage and aid her allies, but she finds it difficult to put up a magical shield/wall or summon weapons) and is still learning to use a bow.

| Does your character specialize in one form of guardian type magic, or do they pull out all the stops to achieve their goal?

See above. Eirwen was heavily using holy fire (OOC, it’s because burn guardian is best guardian), but found that wasn’t necessary once she learned to fire a longbow. She is relying more and more on blades and arrows than on magic.

| What are their reactions to other classes such as necromancers, mesmers, revenants, etc?

Direct quote (really though, I made this up): “Never mind your race or fighting style. If you’re against the dragons, you’re with me.”

To begin, here’s some background on mine.
Human, Commoner, Vigil, specialties are Scepter/shield and Hammer.

Zakhelm.4618:

How do you Roleplay your guardian/Dragon hunter?

A Veteran who has seen plenty of destruction and wants to stop what he can.
When I first played GW2, I kept my character close to the “lost sister” story that Personal Story supplied.
Initially he hated the Centaurs, all of them, “Four legs bad, two legs good” kind of mentality. (Yes a complete reversal to Animal Farm’s quote)
Then he met a Sylvari (one of my alts) and realized that the plant people are a product of sorts from the Centaurs, or at least a peaceful one who was friends with a human.

After traveling Drytop, meeting peaceful Centaur herds, his viewpoint changed. He could let go of all that hatred for them. Yes he’ll still fight the malevolent herds in his lands, but not with the same “exterminate zem ALLLL” mentality he had before.

What motivates them IE. what is there belief/faith that drives them?

His sense of right and wrong, plus his recent experiences, cause him to fight hatred where he can. Ironically using the same pool of anger he had for Centaurs originally.

When Scarlet attacked, he thought she was just a rogue Sylvari who went nuts.
Then Aerin killed some Zephyrites, who were a peaceful people.
This almost twisted my Guardian to hate Sylvari until evidence of Mordremoth came to his attention.
Now he sees there are some Sylvari fighting this, but they’re also forced to fight people that once stood by them.
My Human guardian reasons that if he can trust the non corrupted ones, help them burn the dragon into cinders with holy fire, maybe that will make up for the constant vile hatred he had for just one of many Centaur herds.

What are the Limits to their abilities?

He doesn’t have a concept of battlefield honor. No one on one duels, no gallant sense of adventure. There’s only “can it kill the enemy? Good, use it.” which might cause some to see him as slightly dark at times. He sees it as pragmatism later. Judge him after the enemy is long dead and buried. So in a way that makes him reckless when he’s pushed over the edge.

Is normal to just specialize in one form of guardian type magic or does your character pull out all the stops to achieve their goal?

Though he prefers to use scepter/shield or Hammer to protect those who can’t fight. He will use any weapon, any spell, anything to burn Mordemoth down. He believes that a young race like the Sylvari shouldn’t start their early years with this hatred bearing down on them.

What are there reactions to other classes such as necros, mesmers, revanants, etc?

His reactions to the other classes is best summed up here.
“Are you here to fight dragons? Are you here to protect Tyria? Would you sacrifice a piece of your soul if it means peace of mind for everyone else? If yes to all these questions then I’ll bleed alongside you. We attack at dawn.”

At the end of it all, maybe he will put down the armor and wear a farmer’s tunic like his grandfather. Putting some life back into Tyria to balance all the life he pulled out of it.

I still remember a short story someone wrote on gw2roleplayers back before the first beta. It was about a beat-cop, essentially, a guardian with the Seraph walking patrol and letting an urchin get away with stealing something to eat. He was world-wise and world-weary and I thought it was a very nice change from the typical paladin-of-light motif.