just some partially developed ideas i've thought about. make of them what you will:
-i would like to see a new character who uses a kite shield and a longsword or mace/morningstar, wearing heavy mail-type armor, with a stout disposition, and a strong, experienced personality. the character would be neutral, or conservatively evil masquerading as good, with emphasis on honor, duty, and following a warriors code, but only when it suits them. this character would lack some maneuverability but would make up for it in guard crush potential. this character would have average damage. they would be a mid range character capable of some zoning, with shield bashes, pomel smashes, and kicks in close and sword strikes from afar. this character would be centered around knocking the opponent down, and following up with solid crush attacks. they would have relatively ok pokes, but would be weak mixup wise. the character wouldnt be overly unsafe, but there would be a decent amount of risk towards their heavier damage knockdown tools. this character would more combo off knockdowns rather than stuns or launchers, and would be the type of character that knocks an opponent around the ring. this character would have a very solid wall game, but a relatively average RO game, with no rear RO game. this character would have a couple of shield parries to help defend against rushdown, and would maintain momentum through brute force, rather than through speedy frame lockdown. stepkill capabilities would be consistent, but not of high damage. block punishment would be average. the character overall would be balanced between offense and defense.
-i would like to see a new character who uses a bastard sword, or a small, skinny two handed sword. the character would be a young individual, dressed in studed leather armor, or light mail, with a somewhat hot-headed and reckless, yet cheery personality, who doesnt always think their actions through(cannot forsee consequences well) but would be good natured in general. this character would have a decent zoning game, but would be agile and made for contending at the closer end of mid range, and as a trade off for this range versatility they would be rather unsafe, and below average in a guard crush game(though still capable). damage would be average, but very easily accessible, at a high risk. this character would be all about momentum and finess suitable to the weapon they use, and would focus on meduim length stun combo's, charging knockdowns, and quick low sweeps. the character would be able to combo off their launchers for decent damage, but the combos would also send the opponent flying away far, making it so that they must take risks and rush them down again to maintain momentum and keep good damage flowing. this character as a consequence would have a strong ring out game. stepkill capabilities would be decently strong, involving broad sword sweeps, and the character would be able to control the opponents movement/actions while retaining offensive momentum. this character would have three stances: one where they would hold the sword in conventional stance, one where they would charge at the opponent, and one where they would hold the sword in a close range agressive stance, a tradeoff in range and safety for hard hitting quick, successive attacks and speedy and aggressive mixups. the character would have a decent poking game for interrupts, and average punishment in terms of speed, but it would lend low damage results, and would only help them build momentum by being at advantage. the character would get big damage through taking risks through big agressive mixups, with risk proportional to reward. the character as stated before would be agile enough that this would be very easily accessable. at further range, the character would gain medium damage from movement control tools if the opponent read poorly, but would not otherwise get any sort of significant damage, only the advantageous positioning of the zoning itself. all in all the character would play lax and slow at range, and very fast paced, bloodthirsty, kill or be killed style in close quarters, with momentum constantly changing. the character would be offensive and nature, only using zoning to try to draw out a battle, or open up an opponent so that they can get in and tear them up.
-i would like to see a new character who uses a singular polearm or spear type weapon, who's main focus is zoning/keeping the opponent out, relying on strong defense at close range, but being very effective in keeping the opponent out. close range attacks would consist of quick, medium strength knockdown/stun attacks that would be moderately unsafe. long range attacks would consist of heavy crushing sweeps coupled with quick jabs and slices. the character would be quite strong at baiting reactions from opponents, and would have the ability to parry lunging-stab type moves. mid range poking would be key to keep this character effective. up close the character would be somewhat succeptable to being locked down, but they would retain ways to strongly push the opponent back out. overall damage would be averagely strong and comparable to the speed of the attack. guard crush game would be solid, but block punishment game would be terrible. the character would rely on heavy hitting whiff punishment to score big damage. the character would be capable at killing step at mid range and closer, and would be capable of containing movement at long range via weapon sweeps. the character would lack solid offensive lows, but would have many safe, long range low pokes. the character would be defensive in nature, constantly biding their time, and would be well suited in waiting for the opponent to act, and trying to react to counter their actions and hurt them badly.
-i would like to see a character who utilizes the abilities of a khopesh. i havent developed this idea fully, but this character would be a relatively speedy rushdown character, who specializes in breaking through an opponents guard(frame trapping into fast attacks for guaranteed damage on block(low-medium damage, but this would be a consistent goal of this character, with many set ups into doing so)). to compensate they would have a terrible crush game, and below average block punishment, but powerful oki. the character would also have decent mixup tools, but would be relatively unsafe.