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Templar

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Female Templar on the streets of London
Female Templar on the streets of London
Templars are powerful knights. Mixing swords with guns of all types, Templars can be played as ranged or melee fighters, and can even use shields to strengthen their defense for toe-to-toe demon combat. The Templar was the first character revealed in HGL. Templars are their own class faction, but if you're a Diablo II player, you wouldn't go too wrong thinking of them as futuristic Paladins. They have melee skills, defensive skills, and auras, and while none of the skills are exactly like the Paladin's skills in Diablo II, they're often somewhat similar. The Templar classes are Blademasters and Guardians.


Contents

Templar Description

The White Knights
The White Knights
These are the followers of the ancient rites and rituals of the Knights Templar whose writings and disciplines foresaw the demonic invasion centuries ago. Since the Dark Ages their order has been prepared for this apocalypse, training in the ways of holy magic and organizing their followers for the eventual war against the forces of Hell.

Templar are the true believers, the keepers of the faith, and the destroyers of evil. They are extremely organized and regimented, their centuries of preparation giving them the best basic footing for waging war against the demons. They also control and defend the London Underground, which serves as mankind’s sanctuary.

Templar utilize the basic military model of the secular world. Their ability to achieve discipline and uniformity, however, is what sets them apart. They have a clear separation within their hierarchy when dealing with societal administration and battle, and their chain of command is clear and strictly adhered to, making them extremely effective when fighting in groups.

The Order
The ways of the Templar are steeped in ancient rites and rituals. They follow The Rule and maintain their aptly named organization The Order with efficiency and clarity of purpose. In the aftermath of the demonic apocalypse, they have continued with their true purpose - maintaining watch over ancient relics of great power, and protecting the bloodline of man. / Templar techsmiths forge weapons that hold true to their martial and medieval roots, incorporating a mixture of technology and the arcane. Their training and holy rites reflect this melding of tradition and the modern era, as well.


Templar Classes

Templars are divided into furious damage, sword-wielding Blademasters, or defensive, aura-using, tactical Guardians. The Blademaster is a general "melee DPS" class, and the Guardian is the only "tank class" in the game. There is more information on their respective pages.

Templar Skills

All the skills of the Templar is generally about hitting things physically, to take less damage when hit, or to heal or improve in different ways. The Blademaster skills are centred around more offensive uses, and the Guardian is aligned towards damage and survivability. Almost all of the skills are part of one of the seven Templar Skill Groups: Surge Attack (Blademaster only), Group Attack (Blademaster only), Swordmanship (Blademaster & Guardian), Aura (Blademaster & Guardian), Prayer (Guardian only), Taunt (Guardian only), Shields (Guardian only). There is also skills that are ungrouped. Even the Templar Skills that has the same name between the classes usually have some minor differences


Melee Combat

Female Templar slashing through
Female Templar slashing through
Templars are unique at that their primary source of damage is to be up close, in the midst of things. This makes it natural for the Guardian, with all her defensive skills, to be a classical "tank" in a traditional RPG sense, but without loosing too much dealt damage. Blademasters will also be up front and in the midst of things, but they have to rely more on damage to get their kills fast, and trying to limit the current amount of enemies hitting her.

Templars can use some ranged weapons as well, but for the most part, swords will do the highest amount of damage to their opponents. They will use weapons such as a Grappler to pull down flying demons to their blades. With the weapon switching in Hellgate: London, it should be an easy job going between the different weapon setups as well.

"The Templar is our equivalent of the melee oriented Tank class. While Templars are certainly capable of wielding some weapons, and have even been known to combine pistols with swords for killer akimbo combinations, they excel at cutting bloody swathes through the hordes of the underworld with nasty swords and bludgeons."
--Ivan Sulic, April 2006

Templars are designed as the melee/tank classes in Hellgate: London. They can be played effectively in a variety of ways (Hellgate: London characters are designed to offer numerous play style options) but the Templar classes Guardians and Blademasters are well-suited to taking on monsters toe-to-toe.

While templars can handle most small arms and dual-wield weapons in either hand, they remain most comfortable with swords. Originally, the game plan featured the option to swing swords in first person. Not anymore. While you can use the mouse wheel to pull the camera in or out, swordplay happens only in third person.
--CGW Magazine Preview, May 2006

Templar-Specific Weapons

Almost all known swords, melee weapons and shields are Templar-only. The only known exception is the the Gyro Blade, which is a Hunter weapon that works in melee, similar to a "sideway chainsaw".


Templar History and Mythology

Templar concept art.
Templar concept art.
The character of the Templar in Hellgate: London is based on the historical (and legendary) Knights Templar, combined with a lot of other fun stuff Flagship wanted to throw in. See our Story page for more about the overall plot and the struggle of humans vs. demons. Here's some info from Flagship about the Templar class. The official blurb:
Exceptionally organized and hierarchical, Templars are unwavering in their mission to destroy evil. They retain and venerate customs and rituals passed down through the centuries, and just like their predecessors long ago who foresaw a massive demonic invasion, have trained diligently in martial disciplines and holy magic to prepare for the inevitable conflict.

Templars anticipated the coming of the demons, and were the first faction to oppose the monsters when the demonocalypse occurred. The Templars fought bravely and effectively; they were just too few in number to slow the demonic onslaught. Ancient Templar construction techniques embedded some stations of the London Underground with protective runes. These runes repelled the demons and created safe havens for the few human survivors, allowing humanity to survive long enough to begin fighting back against the demonic hordes.

Q: Are any Templars evil/overzealous?
A: "Templars are zealots, but they're not wicked. Though some of the Templars in our game come off as gruff assholes who frown upon other people and classes for whatever reason.

Templars see themselves as the holy might of the land -- the righteous hand that has shielded and saved the remnant of humanity from total annihilation. They believe themselves to be the only true sword capable of striking down the forces of hell that have otherwise obliterated this Earth. And so, because of all this, some Templars strut around with a holier than thou "told you so" attitude. (Rightly so, honestly).

But as far as I know, Templars are still good guys, by and large. In terms of exact story specifics, I honestly don't know whether or not certain Templars have strayed from the path or have used ends to justify horrifying means."

Q: What's the goal of the Templars?
A: "I believe it's to close the Hellgate.

BTW, the Templars were extremely successful at combating the demons. The problem is that there simply are not enough of them. The demon horde is immense...endless, even. Templars are devout and hard as nails, but even the lowliest imp can fell the greatest of champions with a lucky stroke. And when there are millions of imps and greater demons besides, the greatest of champions can do little more than flee and consolidate."
--Ivan Sulic, April 2006


Templar Design

Early Templar promo art
Early Templar promo art
Flagship wanted a big tough guy in armor. A semi-medieval look, but one that's updated for use in a futuristic world. So there are swords and shields and armor, but also guns and electronics and other modern technology. It's an interesting mixture, and not one some people would have expected to blend so well. Sure, swords are cool with pretty much anything, but who knew you could give Sir Lancelot a modified uzi and he'd still look good? Many current Hellgate: London players would say the combination is awesome, especially on the female Templars.

Abandoned Features

The development of Hellgate: London was a dynamic process and lots of ideas were thrown into the game, tested, and rejected. Most of these are known only to the designers, but enough were discussed in various game previews that we can archive a few interesting changes.


Hellgate: London as a Fighter?

Bill Roper, Fansite Interview, September 3, 2005:

"We are toying with the idea of combination moves for the Templar, offering almost a "lite-fighter" gaming experience. For example, you could assign a different combo maneuver to each mouse button and then landing a L-L-R-L click combination would trigger a devastating combination attack."

Ivan Sulic, April 2006:

"We have skills that initiate special attacks (melee ones, too), but it's not like you have to perform a combination of moves to trigger these specials. If you do continuously attack by clicking wildly, your character will appear like he's pulling off advanced combos, but it's not like you're actively doing anything special. You're just hitting and he's animating accordingly."

Further Resources

General Class Information
Factions
Character Overview

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