I take a lot of inspiration from a fantasy series that not everyone's had the chance to read - the Gord The Rogue novels by Gary Gygax.
The character of Gellor was my inspiration for the concept of a warrior-bard: a musician and swordsman of gregarious nature but serious, purpose-driven mind. There are several scenes that demonstrate how bards use music for combat inspiration, D&D Style (it IS Gygax...); for example, one of my favorite scenes with the character involves him in combat with demons, using his Frost brand, and shouting a battle chant to time and attune his strikes and parries to the rhythms, in a very Western fashion.
For Marauder, the character of Chert makes a great inspiration; the stories describe his axework, and his magic weapon, Brool, was empowered to "strike true" upon the shouting of its name. Thus, most of Chert's fights are loud, boisterous, butchering affairs, very much like FFXIV's Curious Gorge.
The protagonist, Gord, remains to me a powerful example of how to do a "Ninja" without using a single Asian influence or trope to do it. Gord was an incredibly gifted Thief-Acrobat, trained in sword/dagger duel wielding, who incorporated his acrobatics into his combat in a way that a lot of kids of the time would not see until Anime put ninjas everywhere.
Now, my good bard Nathan is not like any of them. I have avoided making him too much like some fictional god-archer like Legolas or Robin Hood. I have drawn from two examples for him, though: Odysseus from THE ODYSSEY and Subotai from the CONAN THE BARBARIAN film. The idea is that, as an archer, Nathan relies more on the natural strength of his bulk to pull a very powerful bow and do as much damage as possible with a single strike, rather than the stick-and-move archery of more flamboyant heroes; his style is very practical and direct, with little showmanship, comparable to Subotai. This is in fact a contrast to Nathan's performance and social personality - he takes the idea of using arrows to kill things with a calm seriousness not found in other aspects of his character...
...including his hand fighting. Nathan is also quite a decent brawler, and I discount all the "chakra" business in playing his Monk abilities. Nate learned unarmed fighting with and from his long-deceased troupe, and so his moves rely on a lot of grappling and haymakers, putting a lot of gusto into each one. He's not the sort to go the distance, but prefers to incapacitate or clobber senseless an opponent as soon as possible. This means that small, quick and skilled opponents could wear him down quite handily if they fought with those tactics in mind, but they should expect no mercy if he gets his hands on them. My best vision of him in unarmed combat would be something between Indiana Jones and Fezzik from THE PRINCESS BRIDE - a bravado-laced performance that might seem laughable to ninjas and monks, until they get their noses cracked or end up in a hammerlock from failing to take him seriously.
In short, I don't like Eastern influences for Nathan.
The character of Gellor was my inspiration for the concept of a warrior-bard: a musician and swordsman of gregarious nature but serious, purpose-driven mind. There are several scenes that demonstrate how bards use music for combat inspiration, D&D Style (it IS Gygax...); for example, one of my favorite scenes with the character involves him in combat with demons, using his Frost brand, and shouting a battle chant to time and attune his strikes and parries to the rhythms, in a very Western fashion.
For Marauder, the character of Chert makes a great inspiration; the stories describe his axework, and his magic weapon, Brool, was empowered to "strike true" upon the shouting of its name. Thus, most of Chert's fights are loud, boisterous, butchering affairs, very much like FFXIV's Curious Gorge.
The protagonist, Gord, remains to me a powerful example of how to do a "Ninja" without using a single Asian influence or trope to do it. Gord was an incredibly gifted Thief-Acrobat, trained in sword/dagger duel wielding, who incorporated his acrobatics into his combat in a way that a lot of kids of the time would not see until Anime put ninjas everywhere.
Now, my good bard Nathan is not like any of them. I have avoided making him too much like some fictional god-archer like Legolas or Robin Hood. I have drawn from two examples for him, though: Odysseus from THE ODYSSEY and Subotai from the CONAN THE BARBARIAN film. The idea is that, as an archer, Nathan relies more on the natural strength of his bulk to pull a very powerful bow and do as much damage as possible with a single strike, rather than the stick-and-move archery of more flamboyant heroes; his style is very practical and direct, with little showmanship, comparable to Subotai. This is in fact a contrast to Nathan's performance and social personality - he takes the idea of using arrows to kill things with a calm seriousness not found in other aspects of his character...
...including his hand fighting. Nathan is also quite a decent brawler, and I discount all the "chakra" business in playing his Monk abilities. Nate learned unarmed fighting with and from his long-deceased troupe, and so his moves rely on a lot of grappling and haymakers, putting a lot of gusto into each one. He's not the sort to go the distance, but prefers to incapacitate or clobber senseless an opponent as soon as possible. This means that small, quick and skilled opponents could wear him down quite handily if they fought with those tactics in mind, but they should expect no mercy if he gets his hands on them. My best vision of him in unarmed combat would be something between Indiana Jones and Fezzik from THE PRINCESS BRIDE - a bravado-laced performance that might seem laughable to ninjas and monks, until they get their noses cracked or end up in a hammerlock from failing to take him seriously.
In short, I don't like Eastern influences for Nathan.
"But in the laugh there was another voice. A clearer laugh, an ironic laugh. A laugh which laughs because it chooses not to weep."