Class Idea - Zealot

[Lorcanis]

I've decided to come up with my idea of a new class, namely Zealot.
I really love ToME and I would like to be part of this, by seeing this class implemented into game in the future.
I would like to say that this class might be far from complete, and I need your help to tune and balance it a bit, so any feedback will be highly appreciated ! Also english is not my first language, so feel free to point at any absurdities in talents descriptions.

NOTE: this class introduces the generic talents category - exotic weapons combat. It might be good to removing the option of getting the talent from escort and letting the players to learn this mastery for gold in the game (if this class will ever be implemented )


Lore - Zealots hail from the Gates of Morning. Although they draw their powers from the Sun, they are nothing like their counterparts, the Sun paladins. Zealots lust for battle, mastering exotic weapons and slings as their weapons of choice, seeking to purge every foe on the battlefield by light. Excessively harnessing the Sun powers corrupted their flesh, making their skin glow faintly.

Unlocked by - TBD

Stat modifiers:
*+1 Strength, +3 Dexterity, +0 Constitution
*+3 Magic, +0 Willpower, +2 Cunning
Life per level: +1

Class talents:

Known:

Technique / Dual weapons (x1.30)
Technique / Archery - slings (x1.30)
Celestial / Combat (x1.20)

Technique / Graceful combat (1x30)


- Nimble assault:
- Dexterity 12
Use mode: Activated
Stamina cost: 28
Range: 4
Cooldown: 32/28/24/20/16
Usage speed: 1 turn
Description: You rush towards your target. If the target is reached, you perform an attack doing (135+15xtalent level%) weapon damage and knocking the target back 3 tiles.
Wearing leather or lighter armor increases the maximum range by 2.
Knockback chance improves with your Constitution.

- Graceful Evasiveness
- Dexterity 20
Use mode: Sustained
Sustain stamina cost: 30
Range: melee/personal
Cooldown: 30
Usage speed: instant
Description: You start to perform complex moves, making your enemies to fail their attacks against you more often. It gives you (10+6x talent level%) to completely avoid any direct physical or magical attack against you. However this consumes stamina rapidly (-15 stamina/turn) and stamina regeneration has no effect if wearing heavy armor.

- Death from Above
- Dexterity 28
Use mode: Activated
Stamina cost: 40
Range: 2 + 0.5x talent level
Cooldown: 8
Usage speed: 1 turn
Description: You jump into mid-air landing on target square. If equipped with ranged weapon, you fire a shot doing (110+15xtalent level%) weapon damage to closest enemy before jumping. If equipped with melee weapon, you make a powerful swing doing (90+15xtalent level%) weapon damage to all enemies adjacent to landing square. Using whip will also pull every target in radius of 1 from target square into melee range. Target must be an empty spot.
Wearing leather or lighter armor increases the maximum range by 2.

- Elegance:
- Dexterity 36
Use mode: Passive
Description: You can move swiftly around the battlefield, increasing your movement speed by (5+3x talent level%)
At level 4 it grants you (20+5xtalent level%) pinning resistance.
At level 5 the swiftness of your moves allows you to put more strength to every blow or shot, increasing your physical power by (4x talent level).

Celestial / Sun archery(x1.30)

- Sun shot
- Magic 12
Use mode: Activated
Positive energy cost: -10
Stamina Cost: 10
Range: melee/personal
Cooldown: 3
Usage speed: 1 turn
Description: You imbue your shot with the power of the Sun, doing (100+10xtalent level%) damage to target and (40+15xtalent level) light damage to foes around the target in radius of (1+0.2x talent level).
Light damage done increases with your Spellpower.

- Heated shots
- Magic 20
Use mode: Sustained
Sustain positive energy cost: 10
Range: melee/personal
Cooldown: 30
Usage speed: instant
Description: When active, every projectile you shoot travels (30+20x talent level%) faster at the cost of 3 positive energy per shot.
At level 3 it grants your shots (10+10xtalent level%) chance to penetrate the first target, travelling up to your maximum firing range.
If you do not have enough positive energy, the sustain will have no effect.

- Split shot
- Magic 28
Use mode: Activated
Positive energy cost: 15
Stamina cost: 15
Range: melee/personal
Cooldown: 12
Usage speed: 1 turn
Description: You make your shot to split, hitting (2+0.3xtalent level) closest enemies for (50+10xtalent level%) damage. 50% of the damage done is converted to light damage.

- Dawn Breaker
- Magic 36
Use mode: Activated
Positive energy cost: 30
Stamina cost: 30
Range: melee/personal
Cooldown: 20
Usage speed: 1 turn
Description: You unleash your fury into one single shot, using all your remaining positive energy, doing (200+35xtalent level%) damage and blinding the target for (1+1xtalent level) turns. Every point of positive energy drained increases the damage done by 1/1/2/2/2%.
Using this ability also burns all your remaining ammo.

Celestial / Zealotry (x1.30)

- Fanaticism
- Magic 12
Use mode: Sustained
Sustain positive energy cost: 10
Range: melee/personal
Cooldown: 10
Usage speed: 1 turn
Description: You are driven by rage. Whenever you spend your positive energy using your activated abilities, you gain stack of Fanaticism. Every stack of Fanaticism increases all outgoing and incoming damage by (1xtalent level%) and can stack up to five times to a maximum of X%.
Using activated abilities that generates positive energy removes one stack of Fanaticism.

- Fervor
- Magic 20
Use mode: Passive
Description: When Fanaticism is active, whenever you are dealt more than (15-2.2xtalent level) of your maximum life in a single hit, you channel the power of the Sun through your pain, restoring 1/1/2/2/3 positive energy per every 5% of maximum health lost.
This effect can only happen at most once every 6/5/4/3/2 turns. Gaining positive energy this was does not remove stack of Fanaticism.

- Invigorate
- Magic 28
Use mode: Passive
Description: Whenever you gain or lose stack of Fanaticism, you are refreshed by the power surging through your body, healing you for (5+5x talent level).
The amount healed will increase with your Spellpower.

- Purged by Light
- Magic 36
Use mode: Activated
Positive energy cost: 30
Range: melee/personal
Cooldown: 60
Usage speed: 1 turn
Description: Requires 5 stacks of Fanaticism to activate. After activating this powerful ability, the Zealot is surrounded by impenetrable shield of light 3 turns, blocking all incoming damage while returning the (5+4xtalent level%) blocked damage back to enemies as light damage.
Activating this ability removes all your Fanaticism stacks.

Locked:

Celestial / Glyphs (x1.10)
Technique / Combat Veteran (x1.00)


Generic talents
Known:

Technique / Combat Training (x1.10)
Celestial / Chants (x1.10)

Technique / Exotic weapons combat (x1.30)

- Exotic weapons mastery
- Dexterity 12
Use mode: Passive
Description: Increases Physical Power by (10x talent level), and increases weapon damage by ((sqrt(talent_level / 5) / 2) * 100)% when using exotic weapons.

- Knee Breaker
- Dexterity 20
Use mode: Activated
Stamina cost: 15
Range: melee/personal
Cooldown: 6
Usage speed: 1 turn
Description: You aim at your opponent's legs, doing (120+5xtalent level%) weapon damage and pinning the target down for (3+1xtalent level) turns. Using whips increases the range by 1.

- High Five
- Dexterity 28
Use mode: Activated
Stamina cost: 15
Range: melee/personal
Cooldown: 8
Usage speed: 1 turn
Description: You aim at your opponent's hands, doing (120+5xtalent level%) weapon damage and disarming them for (3+1xtalent level) turns. Enemies without weapon have their damage reduced by (5+5x talent level%) for the duration. Using whips increases the range by 1.

- Exotic weapons focus
- Dexterity 36
Use mode: Sustained
Sustain stamina cost: 30
Range: melee/personal
Cooldown: 30
Usage speed: 1 turn
Description: You handle your exotic weapons with great focus. While equipped with whip, all attacks now inflict an additional (5+3xtalent level%) of your attack's damage in bleeding damage, divided over 5 turns.
While equipped with polearm, all your attacks have a (10+3x talent level%) chance to strike with greater power, increasing the damage done by 50%.
Learning this talent also increases the whip range of Knee Breaker and High Five by an additional 1 range.

Celestial / Lucidity (x1.30)

- Lucidity
Starts at level 1 and cannot be unlearned.
- Magic 12
Use mode: Passive
Description: You became altered by light, increasing your light radius by (1+0.5 for every 10% positive energy stored towards maximum), your stealth detection by (5+3x talent level) and slowly replenishing your positive energy level to (10+3x talent level%) of its maximum.
However you are more susceptible to darkness damage, increasing all darkness damage done to you by 25%.
The light radius increases with your current positive energy level.
Bonuses are temporary lost when invisible.

- Luminescence
- Magic 20
Use mode: Passive
Description: Increases the maximum positive energy you can store by 10/20/30/40/50
At level 4 Whenever you deal light damage to foes, you have a chance to blind them for (1+0.5x talent level) turns.
Blindness chance increases with your Spellpower.

- Radiance
- Magic 28
Use mode: Passive
Description: You feel more potent as the light around you grows. You gain a bonus to your Willpower and Spellpower equal to your light radius (Currently: X).
At level 3 it increases your Mental save by (3x talent level).
At level 5 the bonus to your Spellpower is doubled.

- Brilliance
- Magic 36
Use mode: Activated
Positive energy cost: -20
Range: 3
Cooldown: 60/50/40/30/20
Usage speed: 1 turn
Description: For 4/5/6/7/8 turns your body emits bright flashes of light in a radius of 2/3/4/5/6, reducing the Light resistance of affected foes by 10/20/30/40/50% and making them to fail their attacks more often, giving them a (4+4x talent level%) chance of targetting a random square within 1/1/2/2/3 of you.
Any foes adjacent may also become blinded each turn, for 4 turns.
When the effect ends, you burn-out, losing all your Lucidity talents bonuses and penalties for 3 turns.

Locked:
Technique / Conditioning (x1.10)

[Sirrocco]

I don't think we really need "Angel, the class" in the game. Doesn't really fit the lore all that well. Also, the unlock is a bit odd. In general, unlocks should be single events. Even the Necromancer unlock is basically "do this while also having that lore". Fallen From Grace is likewise weird - apotheosis quests (like Necromancer Liche and Cursed acorn) shouldn't just be grab bags. Also, it implies that there is a Grace to be fallen from - again, contradicting the lore. Having someone in tune enough with the powers of the Sun to project wings of light is at least explainable under the current lore. Having that person suddenly lose that ability because they'd failed and/or become evil is not. There are orcs and horrors out there throwing around light magic.

Having a "cannot be unlearned" attack is also a bit off. Generally, "may not be unlearned" skills are either class-defining skills that come packaged with some class-defining drawback, or skills that can make permanent changes int he world.

Vigorous Wings/Fallen From Grace is ridiculously overpowered as a skill.

Righteous Fury is kind of odd.

Shield of Justice is odder. It's a massively powerful panicbutton that requires you to have already blown most of your energy, requires careful setup, debuffs your damage-dealing ability, and seems to pretty much require 5 points (for a variety of reasons). When would you use this? You're already celestial, so you can't go antimagic - when is this a better choice than your teleport rune?

Having a mage generic (conveyance), even locked, on a celestial (especially one who's supposed to be deeply in tune with the light) is a bit strange.

No chants? Why not? Chants and the light tree are like the defining traits of Celestials (at least the ligth-oriented ones)

[Lorcanis]

I don't think we really need "Angel, the class" in the game. Doesn't really fit the lore all that well.

The question is, if it can fit. And I think it can, unless I wouldn't be bothering with even thinking about this class. Yes, it might be required to add or change existing lore. But there is no contradiction afaik. Also, the word "Angel"... yuck !.

Also, the unlock is a bit odd. In general, unlocks should be single events. Even the Necromancer unlock is basically "do this while also having that lore".

Well, if they really should, as you say, I can bring up some more interesting ways to unlock this class (or there might be a single achievement for all those save/rescue events).

Fallen From Grace is likewise weird - apotheosis quests (like Necromancer Liche and Cursed acorn) shouldn't just be grab bags. Also, it implies that there is a Grace to be fallen from - again, contradicting the lore. Having someone in tune enough with the powers of the Sun to project wings of light is at least explainable under the current lore. Having that person suddenly lose that ability because they'd failed and/or become evil is not. There are orcs and horrors out there throwing around light magic.

I disagree. Wings are the sign of the highest rank of devotion, if Archons are truly sworn to protect those in need, failing to do so should be punishable.

Having a "cannot be unlearned" attack is also a bit off. Generally, "may not be unlearned" skills are either class-defining skills that come packaged with some class-defining drawback, or skills that can make permanent changes int he world.

Its not about the attack, but about the wings the Archon have. I might change the description a bit to clarify.

Vigorous Wings/Fallen From Grace is ridiculously overpowered as a skill.

I can think of a few talents that are even more overpowered than this one. It really does not add much, even if it adds to multiple areas. Fallen From Grace might seem a bit off, but losing some of the range and reducing the incoming healing is something that everyone will consider before making a permanent decision.

Righteous Fury is kind of odd.

Can you specify ?

Shield of Justice is odder. It's a massively powerful panicbutton that requires you to have already blown most of your energy, requires careful setup, debuffs your damage-dealing ability, and seems to pretty much require 5 points (for a variety of reasons). When would you use this? You're already celestial, so you can't go antimagic - when is this a better choice than your teleport rune?

How many times you found yourself at 10% hp, surrounded by enemies, afflicted by powerful DoTs, having your tp rune on cd while facing a hard hitting boss, etc. etc. ? I can imagine you wont be using this talent much, but it might be a life saver in oh shit situations. I agree on the 5/5 part, the penalties shouldn't be so discouraging at early levels.

Having a mage generic (conveyance), even locked, on a celestial (especially one who's supposed to be deeply in tune with the light) is a bit strange.

Quote: they seek justice mastering the staff or bow, learning the basics of arcane magic and unleashing their holy fervor to help those in need.
I just wanted to make them a little arcane friendly as Staff Combat talents are mana dependant. Conveyace can be replaced by a less odd choice of generic talent.

No chants? Why not? Chants and the light tree are like the defining traits of Celestials (at least the ligth-oriented ones)

Having chants would make Archons a little too op with its synergy with Lucidity. But the possibility remains.

Thanks for the feedback ! If possible, help me to make this class something we would want instead of something we would rather not. I am open to anything, even renaming the class (Zealot for example) and changing its core talents !

[Sirrocco]

First, most basic question - why? This is clearly dragging the Celestial powersource over towards "Christianity expy" territory - devotion to the light giving you mystic wings and all. I see this as a disadvantage, rather than an advantage. Is this the purpose? If not, what other purpose is there here? The combination of bow skills, staff abilities, and melee powers with knockback (one of which actually involves charging into battle, and then applying knockback) is disjoint enough that I'm pretty sure that's not what you're going for. It clearly invites comparisons with Sun Paladin (the other primarily light-oriented character). For the Archon, how would you fill in teh sentence "I like ____ about the Sun Paladin, but I think it woudl be nifty if ____?"

Also, the question is not "Could it conceivably fit?" but "Would it add?". A sufficiently interesting/enjoyable class is potentially worth deforming the lore for, but the ways in which lore is deformed are pertinent to its quality as a potential class.

Unlocks should probably be dealt with later.

As far as "devotion" and "punishable" - the Celestial power source is a source of power that people learn how to use. It doesn't have a moral factor. By and large, Sun Paladins and Anorithil are trained in the Sunwall with specific indoctrination, sure. I can buy, provisionally, the idea that the most devoted of them are indoctrinated even further, and trained in somewhat different ways. I don't buy the idea that the Light side of the celestial powersource is watching and judging them in any meaningful way - unless you suggest that there's something about them that renders them so fragile psychologically, that they viciously punish failure within themselves. After all, sun Paladins can do things like killing townsfolk for the look and teaming up with the Grand Corrupter without so much as a twitch in their powers - and that is specifically functioning as intended, by Word Of (Dark)God.

If you want to have them all have wings, and you want the wings to be a level 1 unremovable things, then the level 1 wing skill should be a passive with some drawback associated with the lvl 1 version. It's more flavorful that way anyway (and more plausible). Anyway, they wouldn't just grow physical wings. As such, I see no reason why you might not have wingless Archons (or whatever they wind up being called) (unless, as noted, it's part of a class-defining passive). Why remove that choice?

The real point about Shield of Justice is that it's a panicbutton. It drops your damage-dealign ability, so it's not likely to be the sort of thing you drop until you're concerned about dying. As a panicbutton, it's subpar for two reasons. First of all, panicbuttons are the sort of thign you need when you need them. A full stack of Righteous Fury is going to be difficult to keep together. Gettign yourself into a situation where you both have a full stack running and 30 points of light to throw around is going to involve a fair amount of juggling. Turning a fair amount of juggling into a single, highly potent attack can work, but it makes this a failure as a panicbutton - you'd be much better off spending those resources on other survivability answers.

Further feedback awaits a clearer idea of your objectives.

[snoop]

Hmmm... just a semi-random musing here, but if you're really set on a new class with wings and some Celestial trees, that fits better with the lore, perhaps you could rework things into a sort of Light/Nature build. Seems like a nice combo and one that's not really done by any other class/race I can think of. And Nature vs. Blight is the closest thing Maj'Eyal has to a moral compass, so if you take the "morality" of the Archon from there instead of the Celestial part it might work better.

[Lorcanis]

First, most basic question - why? This is clearly dragging the Celestial powersource over towards "Christianity expy" territory - devotion to the light giving you mystic wings and all. I see this as a disadvantage, rather than an advantage. Is this the purpose? If not, what other purpose is there here? The combination of bow skills, staff abilities, and melee powers with knockback (one of which actually involves charging into battle, and then applying knockback) is disjoint enough that I'm pretty sure that's not what you're going for. It clearly invites comparisons with Sun Paladin (the other primarily light-oriented character). For the Archon, how would you fill in teh sentence "I like ____ about the Sun Paladin, but I think it woudl be nifty if ____?"

I wanted to avoid "Christianity expy" territory. There is no devotion to the light, but to the Sun, where they draw their powers from. As for the staff and knockback - its obvious you will want to use your Staff Mastery talent often. Even with staff chosen as your primary weapon, you are not going to smash their heads in melee most of the time, anyaways. Its more effective, but you can wait for them to get close for sure.
Sun Paladins are something different, its like comparing berserker to brawler. They are the paladin/templar class of ToME, while Archon should be something completely different and new.
For a moment, try to forget about every cliché you see in other games and then you might see Archon as something that looks promising. Or not, thats what Im trying to find. I did.

Also, the question is not "Could it conceivably fit?" but "Would it add?". A sufficiently interesting/enjoyable class is potentially worth deforming the lore for, but the ways in which lore is deformed are pertinent to its quality as a potential class. Unlocks should probably be dealt with later.

I think it would. But if people will really keep to see this class as "holy molly its angel class, we dont want this sh*t in our game", then I will drop from this idea and make a new one, keeping the celestial and staff/bow combat.

As far as "devotion" and "punishable" - the Celestial power source is a source of power that people learn how to use. It doesn't have a moral factor. By and large, Sun Paladins and Anorithil are trained in the Sunwall with specific indoctrination, sure. I can buy, provisionally, the idea that the most devoted of them are indoctrinated even further, and trained in somewhat different ways. I don't buy the idea that the Light side of the celestial powersource is watching and judging them in any meaningful way - unless you suggest that there's something about them that renders them so fragile psychologically, that they viciously punish failure within themselves. After all, sun Paladins can do things like killing townsfolk for the look and teaming up with the Grand Corrupter without so much as a twitch in their powers - and that is specifically functioning as intended, by Word Of (Dark)God.

If you kill townsfolk and team with the Grand Corrupter as a Sun Paladin, you are deforming your own lore in your own game. Dont mix player's choices with whats expected from the classes, how they should behave and what lore says about them. Everyone can justify their doings in the game in their own ways. Or they should, its RPG after all

If you want to have them all have wings, and you want the wings to be a level 1 unremovable things, then the level 1 wing skill should be a passive with some drawback associated with the lvl 1 version. It's more flavorful that way anyway (and more plausible). Anyway, they wouldn't just grow physical wings. As such, I see no reason why you might not have wingless Archons (or whatever they wind up being called) (unless, as noted, it's part of a class-defining passive). Why remove that choice?

I agree to replace the passive wings talent for level 1 talent and maybe tune it a bit. Physical wings or not, its delicate. Its much easier to work with the talent category if they actually grow (or partially lose) physical wings. Either way, wings are meant to define this class, make it really unique and the choice should be only the moral one.

The real point about Shield of Justice is that it's a panicbutton. It drops your damage-dealign ability, so it's not likely to be the sort of thing you drop until you're concerned about dying. As a panicbutton, it's subpar for two reasons. First of all, panicbuttons are the sort of thign you need when you need them. A full stack of Righteous Fury is going to be difficult to keep together. Gettign yourself into a situation where you both have a full stack running and 30 points of light to throw around is going to involve a fair amount of juggling. Turning a fair amount of juggling into a single, highly potent attack can work, but it makes this a failure as a panicbutton - you'd be much better off spending those resources on other survivability answers.

Damage from RF stacks is nothing major and I dont think it will be any difficult to keep full stacks in long terms due to Lucidity. But I can get what you point at. I can probably either lessen the requirements to use this ability, lessen the drawbacks (or remove them completely), or make that ability a little more rewarding (like convert the damage blocked to positive energy etc.).

Further feedback awaits a clearer idea of your objectives.

The idea is flexible and you are helping me to get it where most players will want it. Thanks for that !

[Lorcanis]

Hmmm... just a semi-random musing here, but if you're really set on a new class with wings and some Celestial trees, that fits better with the lore, perhaps you could rework things into a sort of Light/Nature build. Seems like a nice combo and one that's not really done by any other class/race I can think of. And Nature vs. Blight is the closest thing Maj'Eyal has to a moral compass, so if you take the "morality" of the Archon from there instead of the Celestial part it might work better.

I will think about that if the prime idea is rejected en masse.
I might want to get rid of wings and redo this class using its core to some Zealot/Fanatic etc. class. But only if there is no other way.

[Lorcanis]

Looks like nobody really likes the main idea.

There are three options how to make this class less contradicting (involves forgetting the whole wings idea completely):

1. Zealot - keep the main idea of being the servant of the Sun, making this class something like marauder amongst celestials, something furious and careless. Slings would work better than bows and staff combat might be replaced by ability to use exotic weapons efficiently.

2. Damned (we might be more creative there) - Afflicted sub class, something less melee oriented than Cursed, with access to ranged weapons. Hate as resource might work well with the original idea.

3. Tainted - Defiler sub class. Being twisted by corruption. I did not think this one through, not sure what weapon combo would be most enjoyable, but I can work on this.

I need your opinions there, guys !

[The Revanchist]

Zealot or Damned, definitely. I prefer the former, however.

[darkgod]

I'm the silent (but interrested) watcher in this kind of threads, just wanna give my view of how celestial things work.
They get their power from the innate magic that moves things in the universe, there are indeed no greater being or greater force.
Gods & such do exist but they are a contingency of each world, more akin to a local phenomenon than anything.

So you cant really be a servant of the sun, you can use its power for your own goals. That's why sun paladins are called sun paladins and not just paladins

[Sirrocco]

I think the "oh look, it's christianity" thing comes from the light/devotion/wings/morality-based powers combination, with the name adding to that. Taken together, they're pretty evocative.

I actually think that the winged devotee of light/nature idea had some promise, perhaps with bow/sling/unarmed as weapon base. Alternately, having the viable choices be staff and mindstar would simplify the statlines, and that's certainly not a combo we see often. They're not going to get mindstar mastery from the Zig, so they'd need a new tree for that.... there are things that could be done there.

I *like* the Zealot. We haven't really seen a dedicated exotic user yet, and the "scourge the enemy in a frenzy of devotion" works pretty well. If there weren't so few of them around, i'd want to focus them around dual-wielding whips (or at least give them a viable build that did). DG's point is well taken - you cant' really serve the Sun. On teh other hand, you can totally have someone who combines the celestial power source with zealotry.

Actually, here's an interesting thought - give them some sort of "permanent alteration" power that lets them basically craft nonunique whips out of other weapons. Alternately, let them start game with a whip that can be fed other magical items and/or gems to improve in tier and associated abilities (rather like the spellhunt remnants). Lets the character have a decent weapon without depending so much on the vagaries of the loot drop system, without significantly warping the loot drop tables themselves.

I'd love to see some sort of chant mastery skill tree, too. It would be a cool way to differentiate the character. Possibly have a sustain that gave buffs to their attacks based on which chant they were using. Possibly crank chant damage across the board, or give the individual chants some additional special ability. Possibly come up with some reason to actually swap chants from time to time. Possibly, at the higher levels of mastery, let you maintain two at once. Possibly something like...

(chant buffs would be damage to that chant, some additional ability, or both, scaled on skill level. Basically everything scalable would also scale on spellpower)

Skill 1: Chant of Fortitude gains buffed. At lvl 5, dropping a chant grants you a bit of healing (amount based on level of chant)
Skill 2: Chant of Fortress gets buffed. At lvl 5, cooldown for chants drops to 6.
Skill 3: Chant of Resistance gets buffed. At lvl 5, you may sustain 2 chants at once.
Skill 4: Chant of LIght gets buffed. At lvl 5, add your currently sustained chant damage to your melee attacks.

Alternate version...
Skill 1: +spellpower for chants. 1 point lets you use two chants. It essentially becomes a class feature.
Skill 2: individual chants gain some buff to their passive effect (fortitude also gets mind save, fortress gets a bit of direct damage reduction, resistance picks up a few more resistance types, Light adds some fire/light resist reduction for your attacks - something like that.)
Skill 3: individual chants gain a (smallish) chance to apply some negative effect to someone who takes damage from them.
Skill 4: Apply some percentage of chant damage to your attacks.

I'm not saying that these are the two options - I'm sure the basic idea can be adjusted in any number of interesting ways, many of them quite likely superior. I'm just thinking that there's an interesting design space here, both as a class-defining keystone generic (or even class) tree and as a way to have this class approach chants completely differently than anyone else who gets the tree.

[Poe]

Definitely the zealot for me, an all out attack celestial would be very cool, and one that uses exotic weapons especially, they have no love.
In fact if flails got implemented properly they would be the perfect weapon. The head of a flail looks kinda like the sun anyway, you could have two, a sun flail and a moon flail. You could spin and rack up "momentum" points or something as you move and attack and the more you have the faster/more powerful you are but you use them to do big single attacks, i mean the sun and moon orbiting each other, there's celestial power there. Anyway, there is definitely room for a class here. Keep at it.

[Lorcanis]

...

Thanks for the clarification

I actually think that the winged devotee of light/nature idea had some promise, perhaps with bow/sling/unarmed as weapon base. Alternately, having the viable choices be staff and mindstar would simplify the statlines, and that's certainly not a combo we see often. They're not going to get mindstar mastery from the Zig, so they'd need a new tree for that.... there are things that could be done there.

No, I dont want to mix nature with magic. Integrating the nature powers into new celestial class would need more than deforming the lore. Also its smells fairylike, the whole idea would become somewhat cheap. I will stick to the zealot idea, as it brings more options to the class I have already introduced.

Exotic weapons love + chants mastery...

Celestials get alot of tridents from their starting area already. It may not be enough, so there is a room for some thoughts. I like the idea of being able to craft or enhance exotic weapons. There might be some innate ability for that, but it would require a lot of work to perfect. I think that whole exotic weapon mastery tree would work better, something like Mindstar mastery. But then we will need to somehow disallow Zealots to get exotic weapon mastery from escorts (OR !!! finally integrate this tree into the game, giving the escorts the ability to teach whole category everyone else, just like Mindstar mastery).

As for Chant mastery...you idea is interesting enough, but it suits Sun paladins better. I can somehow associate the Lucidity talent tree with Chants using your idea. What about renaming Lucidity to something less resembling beings of light and give number of talents a bonus to existing chants, similar to your thoughts ? I just want to avoid "Chant mastery", as I cant find a way to connect that with zealotry.

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Thanks for the feedback ! Yeah, exotic weapons should definitely get some more love. Flails are great idea, momentum sounds very appealing, you should probably start topic yourself with that idea ! Only a note - we already have Sun and Moon artifact weapons

[Poe]

Heh, i didn't mean artefact weapons, only that you place the power of the sun and moon into whatever flails you have equipped.

[Sirrocco]

I don't see why it would inherently suit Sun paladins better. Sun paladins are a mix of martial mastery and connection to the celestial powers. They're big on shields, and healing/shielding power and overall tankiness. The I'd see the fanatic as someone who's dropped that whole "stamina" thing entirely, and focused fully on the celestial - meaning that he can take his chants to the next level, through purity of focus.

Of course, if you're the one writing this up, then you should write it up like you want it. I'm just putting out what I see.