The Ironclad, a Mörk Borg optional class

21 Aug, 2026

Slay The Spire gets a lot of well-deserved credit for its fun deckbuilding mechanics, but I don't see a lot of people talking about the weird fantasy world the game is set in. There is a lot of cool worldbuilding being done by cards, events, relics... Basically everything has a bit of flavor in it and I love this kind of indirect storytelling that game pieces provide us with.¹

I've been thinking about adapting stuff from the game into Mörk Borg. Even if Spire's aesthetic isn't really punk or doom metal, there are a lot of things that ring a similar bell of dark sillyness in the game. The Sssserpent or the face trader, I don't know. The Phrog Parasite from StS 2 is straight up disgusting, but looking at it I can't help but to think about Shrek's frog balloon.

Anyway, you clicked this because I said I had an optional class for you. Here you go.²

Ironclad

HARDENED GREY SKIN, CLAD IN IRON. No one knows exactly where you came from and no one can stop you from going where you're going, wherever that is. The important thing is that you keep moving, no matter how much your blood boils or the voices in your head murmur. There used to be more like you, but you haven't seen them in a long time.

BURNING BLOOD: If you have suffered damage during a combat, you may test DR 8 Toughness after it ends. On a success, heal D4 HP as your wounds sear themselves shut.

Begins with 2D6 x 10 silver and D2 omens. HP: Toughness + 2D6

VIOLENT REMINISCENCES (D6)

1. Months, maybe years spent under a giant rock, bruised and smashed.
2. People in familiar armor threw you off of a pit, with spiny cracks and jagged edges.
3. Your brothers and sisters charred, consumed by their own blood.
4. A horned creature in a broken mirror, offering you strength.
5. A training ground of sorts, with bloodied stakes and broken longswords.
6. A many-limbed blacksmith, smelting and hammering your armor into your body.

ABILITIES

POWERFUL AND STURDY, roll 3D6+1 for Strength and Toughness. A BIT AGGRESSIVE, roll 3d6-2 for Presence. ALWAYS ARMORED, start with Tier 3 iron armor and a zweihänder (D10) instead of rolling for weapons and armor.

ALSO BEGIN WITH ONE OF THE FOLLOWING (D6):

1. HEMOKINESIS: as one of your daily powers, you may control your blood freely for a few minutes - bending it into shapes, hardening it, and so on. If you fail the Presence test, take D4 damage instead of rolling on the Magical Mishaps table.
2. PERFECTED STRIKE: The only way to get better at killing things is killing things. Whenever you successfully attack an enemy, your following attacks deal 1 additional damage until you miss an attack.
3. COMBUST: as one of your daily powers, you may slash yourself, bleeding out fire and dealing the same amount of damage to all those around you. If you fail the Presence test, simply bleed normally and suffer from it, no combustion involved.
4. RED SKULL: from your belt hangs a cranium so drenched in blood that it glistens in crimson glow. If you have half or less than half of your starting HP, Strength tests have DR-3.
5. BRIMSTONE: you hold three vials of chunky yellow powder with a strong smell. Crushing and inhaling one of them rasps and stings every one of your nerves, making it so you deal and receive double damage for the next hour.
6. BARRICADE: Start with a Shield. Knowing every inch of your armor makes it so Fumbles on Defense don't reduce your armor tier.

I wonder if I should write more of these or actually start working on a full Mörk Borg hack that I've been thinking about for years now... Who am I kidding, I can't even blog weekly, let alone write a full game these days. Here's to hoping I got some Slay the Spire lore wrong!

anb

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