Azune is making me think about the role of tanks as something we take for granted as being a role above the table but which isā¦ actually kind of fucked up within universe?
Letās put it this way. Azune is, mechanically, a tank. He has 20 AC- which he can INCREASE with Shield! He hits hard, and his primary weapon (war hammer) requires him to get in close to enemies. Mechanically, he SHOULD be in front of everyone else. If Murray- who has an AC of NINE- is in a room with Azune, I would consider it an entirely viable strategy for him to try to soak up hits from enemies so no one hits her. We saw this type of strategy come in to play already with Azune acting as a first/solo attacker against that one Crow Keepers group.
People play tanks like this all the time without thinking too hard about the psychology of someone who thinks, āI should and will throw my body in the line of fire for others.ā And the thing about Azune is- he is a tank that has been given that psychology.
Azune is absolutely, pathologically willing to throw himself on the sword for other people (see: the entire Hal-Azune conversation).
Interestingly, at the same time, heās built to survive (literally, because DnD and in-story, heās extremely good at combat and defending himself), because thatās always been his mission: first from his parents, then in the rebellion. Clearly, he develops a sense of other peopleās importance over his own (his self-worth is external and based on use), but use is still often dependent on survival. There are edge cases, like in Thjaziās execution, but in war? Especially if youāre a good soldier, maybe even have magic (depending on when Azune got his spells), the most useful thing you can do is to survive to keep helping.
So Azune ends up the perfect tank: strong enough to take and deal hits from his decade+ of survival, and utterly willing to defend the people he thinks are important at any cost, including his own well-being. Because of course heās willing to take a blade for Hal, a spell for Murray, a noose for Thjazi.
He can take it, and he wants to. The survival- the living- and the helping end up too intrinsically tied; heās helpful to survive and he has to survive to be helpful. This is what heās for. When you live to take hits for people, you arenāt worried about dying for them.
And if he can take it- isnāt it fine? Isnāt it good? Isnāt it too useful to stop?
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