[Race idea] Deep dwarves

[Asmageddon]

Unlocked by collecting large amounts of gems.
Very durable, low willpower, very low strength by default. Racial skills:
[*] Increase in strength with gems collected
[*] Chance to dig out gems from walls when digging
[*] Infusing body with gems, higher level allow for using better gems and add more slots
[*] Something more. Sorry, no more ideas.

Well, this is very crude, but I think a new kind of dwarf would be a nice addition.

[Grey]

I think digging for gems would just make everyone dig through every single level for more. Would be scummy and imbalancing.

Not objecting the the race idea, though I think it needs some more interesting ideas behind it. Making it based entirely around gems just makes it sound like alchemist stuff.

[Asmageddon]

Well, there are three primary things that I think of when thinking of dwarves - booze, beards and riches.

Existing dwarf race has a talent based on gold which leaves only gems from the "riches" class, currently there is no booze and beards are... well, growing beards doesn't sound very epic, does it?

[Grey]

Well, there's no booze association with dwarves in ToME4. They're mostly shrewd and hard-working.

Still, could have a Deep Dwarves race with a "Booze Up" talent ;) And a passive "Epic Beard" talent that increases cunning and willpower.

[Asmageddon]

Or you level up the beard by drinking. I don't see what it could do, though. Perhaps entangle enemies?

[greycat]

"I held my tongue at dark elves, grey dwarves, and even deep gnomes, but this has gone on long enough. Is the subterranean world utterly bereft of creativity? Everything we encoutner is the same as on the surface, only with the appelations 'deep' or 'dark' added."

"What is next? Deep humans?"

"They have those already. They're called underfolk."

"Deep orcs?"

"Those, too."

"Deep dwarves??"

"Yup."

"ALL DWARVES ARE DEEP DWARVES!"

- Vaarsuvius & Haley

[Frumple]

[dragonlance] Except hill dwarves, of course, but we don't speak of those in polite dwarven company. [/dragonlance]

Anyway, re: racial idea. Turn the 'dig' to 20,40,60,etc percent to cause an elite to drop a gem when you kill it and explode in a <gem element> AoE blast. Wouldn't hurt the player, or possibly give a <tlvl/2> power elemental harmony effect.

1/4th chance to cause the explosion on non-elites for random elemental damage, but only 1/40th (or worse) chance to produce a gem from them. Ideally, this would be tied into either a buff on player or debuff on enemy/enemies active.

Last tier effect would be a sustain, blocking <(tlvl/2)*#equipped gems> hits worth of equipped gem element damage, then going on a lengthy (100-tlvl*10) cd. Would be instant cast, to allow autouse.

Lastly, the first tier talent (Strength based on gems carried) would naturally cap. Probably max out at tlvl 5 for 20 points of strength. If you wanted to add more, give it an additional +1 all per 4 points of strength, tapping out at +5 to everything but strength. This would probably occur around 250-500 gems, at 5/5 (which would max gem to stat efficiency, same as dwarf's cash talent.).

The gem-equip thing sounds really nice, but also horrifically overpowered. I have no idea how to balance that -- perhaps make it a short turn active buff (max 5-8 turns, if that), allowing you to temporarily gain the power of your equipped gems.

[Nevuk]

Beard : In Maj'eyal, a dwarf's business acumen is known to be directly related to the length of his beard, granting them better relations with merchants. It is thought that the beard may even magically attract gold.
Passively increases gold gain by 10/20/30/40/50%.

[Asmageddon]

Hmmm, what about this?:

Ancient dwarves: There is only one thing dwarves love better than good booze - rare metals and gems. Unlike immortal elves and short-lived humans, lifetime of dwarves is bound to the treasures of underground. Many dwarves cannot resist the call of depths and descent into the underworld, living last moments of their lives scratching walls with their nails, trying desperately to reach veins of rare metals and crystals. Very rarely, such a dwarf can survive and emerge to the surface hundreds of years later. A dirty, insane creature with a beard so large that it becomes hard to tell if it's a dwarf with a beard or a beard with a dwarf.

Two racial talent ideas:

* Increase in strength(and perhaps other stats a little as well) with amount of gems carried. Capped.
* Awakening - The dwarf begins to remember it's past and comes back to mind - Increases all stats by 10/20/30/40/50% (they could be down to 70% of original values by default since the dwarf is insane)

Or you could give them more racial talents, but slap a 80% experience penalty and allow gaining experience by eating gems and other rare materials(if you add crafting or at least metal ores/bars).

Perhaps to prevent from making ancient dwarf alchemists overpowered, make the dwarf lose health when losing gems in other way than eating them.

[Tom]

Well, there are three primary things that I think of when thinking of dwarves - booze, beards and riches.

Sounds like you played a MUD called Genesis.
There is a dwarven racial guild with booze and beard....
(Perhaps not unique for any game I admit)

Tom

[Asmageddon]

Actually most of my ideas about dwarves come from Dwarf Fortress, so, yes, I omitted slaughtering elves and flooding the world with magma. Except for beards which are mentioned in nearly every single world with dwarves.

[CaptainTrips]

Maj'Eyal has a history, and mythology, and I think any new race should be a product of thinking about this how this mythology might be enhanced by the addition of a new race, rather than just looking for a way to invent new racial abilities. The dwarves you're talking about simply have next to nothing to do with the current mythology of Maj'Eyal - it feels like you're trying to merge ToME with Dwarf Fortress. I wouldn't necessarily be against having a dwarven sub-race, but it needs to be tailored to ToME, instead of relying on typical fantasy clichés or concepts employed in other games.

Edit: Rereading what I just wrote, I think it sounds a bit harsh - this wasn't my intent. It's great that you're trying to add to the game, just try giving it a bit more thought with regards to story and originality if you want your ideas to be accepted.

[Asmageddon]

Meh. You're completely right. I will consider that when making next suggestion, although the race having to do something with mythology severely limits possibilities.

[Grey]

Well, I think gameplay should be the primary motivation of any new race. It should fit in with the mythology, but since it's a fantasy setting it's really not that restrictive. I suppose an important point though it to not assume the races in Maj'Eyal will follow all the same tropes and stereotypes as in other games. Dwarves are greedy in the game, but they're also highly disciplined, hard-working, savvy, and intensely secretive. They're not the same as the drunken weirdos in Dwarf Fortress ;) On a similar vein ToME has arrogant, militaristic halflings, cultist elves, and orcs that are more persecuted outcasts than dumb evil beasts. Personally I rather like the way the races go against the grain compared to other fantasy settings, and the freedom when creating race and class ideas to have truly inventive ideas.

[bricks]

There seems to be a largely unexplored mythos regarding the Deep Bellows and whatever horrible influence brought it about, not to mention the partially-developed, dwarf-specific class that's sitting in the files.