#knifefair

[gascon-en-exil]

How Knives in Three Houses Could Have Worked

I've had this thought for a post for quite some time. Knives are probably my favorite secondary weapon type in FE, and after Fates made them so interesting and powerful I was disappointed to see Three Houses remove them in favor of brawling (but it also came with the return of light magic and pseudo-Catholic classes - IS gives and IS takes). But now we have Engage which has both, so...what would FE16 have looked like if it had had knives as well?

Stats and Parameters

Knives in Three Houses would have been a natural evolution of their appearance in Fates: low might but with reliable 1-2 range. Let's say IS came up with the concept of Engage knives a little early, and so had the poison mechanic as well as stronger, 1 range knives (which were also present in Radiant Dawn). Knives would have very low might, comparable to gauntlets only without the auto-brave effect, although 1 range knives would be only slightly weaker than swords of similar rank to compensate for the lack of versatility. Knives could also replace spells in the secondary weapon triangle (gauntlets > magic > bows > gauntlets), because magic has always seemed a bit awkward grouped in with those as it's a completely different system.

Although Engage has wolf knights, I prefer that knives be unusable by mounted units, like gauntlets, because the alternative seems a bit silly. That said, unlike gauntlets knives could be used by pure magic classes, and indeed would be a solid options for casters who don't want to expend spell uses and still want to debuff the enemy while attacking safely from range. There would also be at least one magic knife to match the other magic weapons, which would be particularly helpful for certain mage characters with knife boons (see below).

Class Changes

Myrmidon would be available with either a sword or knife rank, like how fighter and monk work already.

Thief, assassin, and trickster would have their sword requirements changed to knives. This would also remove the need for trickster's odd thief prerequisite, as the two classes would be more strongly tied together by their weapon type. Assassin would of course have Swordfaire replaced with Knifefaire.

Archer would boost knives rather than swords, to facilitate archer -> assassin

The master tier would be the most difficult, as I don't want to alter mortal savant and none of the other existing classes are really viable knife wielders. Instead, I'd add another class based on Fates's master ninja, with knife and sword requirements. Dread fighter, maybe? It would have Knifefaire, Stealth, and...some other new class skill, possibly one based around improving poison damage.

Boons and Budding Talents

Probably the most interesting thing to consider, as we get to talk about characters. I will be adhering to the unspoken rule in-game that no character can have more than three weapon boons, with budding talents included. That means that if I think a character would have had a knife boon but already has three weapon boons, one of them will have to removed to compensate.

Hubert - an obvious choice, a personal favorite, and half the reason I even thought of this concept. If three weapon boons (with lances/bows) is too much for a primary mage character, then I'd remove his boon in bows which in his case feels like a stand-in for the lack of knives anyway.

Linhardt - in the actual game Linhardt stands out as the only character to not have a single weapon boon, so let's give him one. It can be his budding talent, as something he'd pick up later despite his hemophobia because of his inspiring self-insert teacher, etc.

Petra - her "canon" class is thief/assassin, and she's a dagger unit in her only Heroes appearance, so this is a natural fit. I'd drop her sword boon to make room, leaving her with bows for assassin and axes for wyvern rider which is also semi-canonical for her (at least in terms of wearing her unique outfit)

Ashe - a former thief, and he has assassin available in Cindered Shadows. He already has three weapon boons, so I'd see him drop axes so he can keep his bow focus as well as his lance budding talent as a reflection of his aspirations to knighthood.

Ignatz - a bit unusual, but he's got room for a third weapon boon and this way he's still got a path to trickster for the support role for which he's more designed.

Leonie - if only to give her boons more diversity than simply the list of bow knight requirements, and to further distinguish her from Jeralt. Also, hunters use knives.

Hanneman and Manuela - I think both of them could use knife boons, in each case replacing an existing weapon boon that would no longer seem thematically necessary: bows for Hanneman, swords for Manuela. For Manuela they make sense as a medical instrument, whereas Hanneman can lean into the idea of knives as an off-weapon for mages. More comically, this would also make for a more natural lead-in to a meme build like Aura Knuckles Hanneman.

Shamir - similar to Leonie, it would suit her as a hunter/assassin...but Shamir's boons and banes are structured to parallel Catherine's, so I'd remove her random lance boon to preserve that dynamic.

Yuri - the most obvious fit of all, as he's a dagger unit in Heroes and they suit the thief/trickster identity perfectly. He can even still keep his sword boon, as he's got space for it.

Banes

These are a tougher call, but I can identify a few logical choices. In some cases I'd swap out an existing bane so I don't feel like I'd be nerfing the character too much.

Ferdinand - yes, this would actually give Ferdinand a bane and would remove him from the exclusive club of characters without them, but he already stands above the rest with his number of boons. Also, this would make for entertaining contrast with Hubert - and a parallel with his tea friend Lorenz who already has a single weapon bane to his name.

Caspar - swap out his bane in bows for one here, to better parallel Linhardt.

Raphael - similar to Caspar, changing his bane in bows to one in knives better highlights his lack of precision and preference for the brute force approach (I'd do this for Edelgard's bow bane too, but the house leaders' banes seem to have been designed with each other's in mind so it's worth keeping).

Seteth - either swap it out for his riding bane (kind of weird that he has this when cavalier is in his base class set) or just add to what he's already got, because Seteth's doing fairly well either way. As with Ferdinand, it would match his straightforward approach to combat and dislike of subterfuge.

Gilbert - I really don't want to give him a bane, as the lack of them is one of the things that allows Gilbert to be nowhere near as much of a headache as Jeritza when it comes to 100%, but it is still a bit odd that this guy has no banes to speak of.

Hapi - as a replacement for her random brawling bane, I think this works, setting her apart from the other female characters unfortunate enough to have brawling and heavy armor banes (Bernadetta and Marianne) while also not giving her a bane in the weapon type that is her friend Constance's budding talent.

That's 10 boons and 6 banes. For reference, in the actual game 10 characters have brawling boons and 5 have banes - so that's reasonable.

Regrettably, I have a pretty good guess as to why knives were left out of Three Houses, related to Koei-Tecmo's involvement and the difficulty of using such small weapons in the big, flashy sorts of attacks favored by Warriors games...but still I can dream, right?

[safitechs]

Damascus handmade tracker knife

[somnusheir-blog]

@knifefaire​

It took only a whole day of laying around on his bed to realize something. He has no job, no money, and no idea how to get a job or money. His only job had been part-time at a sushi place in Insomnia. Even then, Ignis had gotten him that job. Although if he did it once, maybe he’d do it again.

And it’s that hope that has him walking into the cafe where his companion works. Despite the loss of sight, he still manages to bake and cook. Just another point to add to the list of things about Ignis that are impressive. Noctis takes one look around the front of the cafe and doesn’t find Ignis anywhere. He must be in the back...

He almost considers yelling to the back kitchen just to irritate Ignis. But instead, he settles for the next best thing. Going to the door that leads to the kitchen, Noctis peeks through the window and knocks on it loudly.

     “Ignis!” Even with the slightly hushed tone, it does distract some of the others in the cafe.

[shieldoflucis-blog]

@knifefaire

"ignis... how much is it that you are actually planning on buying?”gladio grunts out with a small grin, arms already holding two grocery bags full of produce. ignis wasn’t particularly known for impulsive spending habits, unless it came to food, naturally, but generally gladio didn’t have any complaints considering these sprees ended with his belly full and satisfied. 

he’s delighting in how light the air feels, how easy it is now, following him around this new city with our fear. the heaviness of insomnia isn’t missed, not in the slightest, and there’s a calm about them that hasn’t been felt in ages. a calm that’s allowed them to mourn, to rest, to finally just be. 

“you know that noct is an adult, right? or is all this for me?” he continues to tease with a small chuckle.

[filia-florum]

@knifefaire

Once upon a time, monsters were the only thing she had to fear stalking about in the night. Monsters and beasts, as aggressive towards their own kind as they were to humans. That she could handle. The calluses on her palms and the sword at her hip used to attest to that. But having never really experienced her home city of Zaphias left Estelle without any sense of urban danger. And here? Well, she hadn’t exactly arrived with a full arsenal of weaponry. 

So when she leaves work long after the sun has set, she thinks nothing of it. Only when half her journey home has passed do her senses prickle and she is forced to look over her shoulder one too many times. She knows eggbears and entelexeia don't roam freely in Septaneus but there is a familiar unease that washes over her all the same. Yet, given that nothing is overtly making its way over to eat her, proper strategy elludeds her.

Estelle glances across the street and sees only one other individual making their way along the this particular stretch of sidewalk. What the tall stranger was doing this late at night, she hadn't the faintest clue. But maybe he had a way to ward off whatever was trailing her. And so, the princess makes her way across the street and lets her footsteps mark her arrival alongside him.

"Um, pardon me..." she begins quietly, trying to find the right words to explain her situation. Head straight forward, pace steady; keeping it casual is her aim but Estelle's shoulders are tense, as if she were ready to launch into an arte at any moment. "I know this is rather sudden but might you be able to tell me if there is something...odd behind us?"

[lifelovervienna-blog]

🔪Call me Mr. Knife🗡️ 🤙Having a great time at IWA, checking out all the latest knives and gadgets for my shop😁 #IWA #Nürnberg #fontenillepataud #knives #knivesofig #knivesdaily #knifestyle #knifeshop #messergeschäft #messerfamily #messerfans #messerwien #messerwien #couteaufrançais #couteauxpassion #moustache #gentlemanedc #gentlemanstyle #gentlemanpocketknife #schnurrbart #coltello #coltelli #navajas #cuchillo #cuchillos #hietzing #wien #vienna #knifefair https://www.instagram.com/p/BuwcNV7BtIh/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1bdynt4ib2lqe

[starshelles-blog]

@knifefaire​

Prompto stares at the outside of his new apartment door and sighs. Scratches the back of his neck, sighs again, and wonders how the hell he’s going to get him out of this one. 

You really did it now, Argentum, he tells himself, albeit a bit bitterly.

He steels himself for whatever is waiting for him on the other side of this door -- hopefully his roommate is nice and is willing to put up with him -- and gently pushes the door open.  ❝Hello? Is anyone here?” 

His voice echoes throughout the living room, and he lets his eyes examine the space curiously. It's a decent size, bigger than he had been expecting and decorated modestly. It doesn't look very lived in, now that he thinks about it. What if he beat his roommate here? Prompto drops his bags by the front door and sits on one of the couches to wait for them. 

Whoever it is, it shouldn’t take too long, right?

[championmage-blog]

@knifefaire

          [ ♣ ] - Poinsetta Park. Hawke sighs. Why did he think it was a good idea to come here? He doesn’t know what he’s doing. He’s never been the kind of person to just chill out around public -- honestly he’s never been afforded the luxury to be able to, and definitely not back in Kirkwall. But, here he is, spending free time in a park and pretending he knows what he’s doing.

         [ ♣ ] - Hawke looks around the park, eyes glancing over the small group of children feeding the ducks by the lake, over the couple underneath one of the bigger trees with a picnic basket and loud smiles. His eyes eventually find a man a few yards away who catches his attention. 

         [ ♣ ] - The man is tall, sitting on one of the park benches with his legs crossed. He’s wearing sunglasses, though they don’t do anything to hide the vicious looking scar that peeks out above them. Hawke feels the sudden urge to go talk to him. He’s quite the social creature, and he can’t remember the last time he had an actual conversation with someone. 

        [ ♣ ] -  Hawke supposes the guy could always tell him to bugger off if he’d rather be left alone, and that’s what pushes him forward into closing the distance between them. He clears his throat. 

“Is this seat taken?” He asks. This is the only park bench that isn’t completely occupied, after all.