Turtles

[StarKeep]

Turtle V 12.1.1 - Snowman Effect
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Steam updated.
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IceTurtle's Icy Shell no longer slows themselves. Double-derp.

[trenggiling]

Wait... WHAT?!
You are the same guy who made the fairy mod?

>sigh<

Well... by a crazy coincidence I have ended up making ANOTHER visual update to one of your mods. XD
(How many do you have?)

This one includes a revamped Ice and Earth turtles, as well as a resizing (tampering) of most of the turtle gear to make it fit better.
(Sorry, nothing for mega turtles)

As always feel free to take and/or leave anything you want.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tbt1j4yoc386x ... g.zip?dl=0

[Sun Tzulander]

Stunt made me do this, Starkeep. HE MADE ME.

Anyway, whenever I try to enter Lake of Nur 2 with a Turtle, it hangs on the loading part and I get this error in te4 log.txt

http://pastebin.com/C8Gkhp7e

[trenggiling]

I really shouldn't be bothering you (my to do list says I should be bothering HousePet)
But while I was doing the VR for the turtles, (you still haven't gotten back to me on that...) I made full versions of all the weapons so that I could make them fit better.
But then I got this crazy idea that I just had to expand upon.

=====Shadow Shells=====

A shadow shell is a turtle that absolutely, utterly, and completely REFUSED to die.
Even after its body had been completely destroyed.
These ghostly creatures use their empty shells as an anchor to the physical plane, and will only pass on when it’s destroyed.
An extremely daunting task, even for the most menacing of foes.
Unlike other undead beings, shadow shells are not created by necromancers, but by their sheer will to survive.
This makes them their own masters and, although shunned by nature, they are relatively accepted by society.
Shadow shells have no bodies beyond their bony shell, making them immune to poisons, bleeding, drowning, stuns, and critical hits.
But they are also unable to use infusions.
Due to their shady nature, shadow shells are also immune to darkness damage, and are 50% more vulnerable to light damage.
And, like all turtles, they are extremely slow, a trait that is only further enhanced by their lack of corporeal limbs.

-50% global speed.
+20 life per level.
25% experience penalty.
-2 strength, -4 dexterity, +4 constitution, -2 magic, +4 willpower, +4 cunning.

=====Intro=====
You are [Insert character name here], a turtle of the turtle mire.
You have lived a peaceful life, and you are very happy to stay out of trouble.
But now the familiar marsh you called home seems to be… fuzzy…
Your surrounding suddenly shift and morph into a dry stone crypt with no visible exit.
In front of you stands a surprised looking wizard.
“A demon turtle?” he mutters in surprise, but after giving you a good look over he says “No just a normal turtle… Blast it! I must have botched the spell!”
He sighs, and then commands you to “die” with a casual flick of his hand.
Your blood suddenly erupts from your veins and shreds your body from its shell.
Everything that you are, is ripped away from you in an instant.
Yet it seems that you have somehow managed to hold on to your mind.
The wizard stares at you in shock before waving his hand again… and again... and again….
You focus your willpower and slowly drag your shell forward.
Perhaps there is still hope for you yet.
The man sneers “FINE!!! If my magic won’t work, then I will BEAT YOU TO DEATH!”
He rushes at you with a strange looking rod in his hand.

=====Le’Ray the Reckless=====

Ingame description: Le’Ray is feared across the land.
Known for his powerful blood magic, he has shattered armies single handed.
But to you, he is just a skinny man with a stick.

Description: Le’Ray is a super high level boss with an insane amount of spellpower.
But he doesn't use any spells, and relies on his pitiful physical power, and bump attacks.
After defeating him you get the rod of recall, which is the only way out of the crypt.
The high level is meant to be thematically correct, and he doesn't give you an unreasonable amount of experience for a level 1 character.

=====Skill 1: Empty Shell=====

Skill use: passive

All you are is an empty shell, and as such you lack weakness.
10/20/30/40/50% chance for you to simply ignore the damage from each enemy attack.

Putting a point in this skill further reduces your global speed by 5%, but gives you extra saves based on your strength, armor based on your willpower, defence based on your cunning, and mindpower based on your constitution.

=====Skill 2: Shadow Mire=====

Skill use: sustain
Cast time: instant
Cooldown: 30
Range: 3

You surround yourself with a thick mire of darkness that reduces your sight range by 3.
Any enemy within range while this sustain is active will take X darkness damage per turn, and will have its saves reduced by X.
The damage and save reduction scales with your mindpower.

Putting a point in this skill further reduces your global speed by 5%, but gives you 15% darkness damage amplification.

=====Skill 3: Sudden Velocity=====

Skill use: active
Cast time: 1 turn
Cooldown: 15
Range: 3/4/5/6/7

The darkness that animates your shell is quite powerful indeed.
Powerful enough to throw yourself great distances, with great force.
If you collide with an enemy then you are blocked, and the enemy takes X physical damage and X darkness damage.
The physical damage scales with your max health, and the darkness damage scales with your mindpower.

Putting a point in this skill further reduces your global speed by 5%, but gives you 5% resist all.

=====Skill 4: The Gathering Dark=====

Skill use: active
Cast time: 1 turn
Cooldown: 20
Range: 1/2/3/4/5

You draw in the darkness from all around you, gaining a X damage shield for 10 turns.
Enemies that are within range of you will take X darkness damage, and be pulled towards you.
The shield scales with your constitution, and the damage scales with your mindpower.

Putting a point in this skill further reduces your global speed by 5%, but gives you a 100% chance to heal for %10 of all damage you deal.


=====A Humble Request=====
I was wondering if you could make shadow shells a thing? (if you have the time of course)

I would do it myself, but I'm not much of a programer, (at all…)
If your interested then I’ll send you the visual portion.

[jayseesee]

Shadow Shell? I NEED DIS.

[StarKeep]

Alrighty, sorry.

First off, the Ice and Stone turtles look amazing.
They'll almost certainly go in once the next update is ready.

...I'm not a fan of the kit for Shadow Turtles.
I feel like it could be doable, but the kit offered... doesn't seem 'fun' long term.
The IDEA of the race is great though, don't get me wrong. It's just the kit itself.

In hope of helping you see why I'm not a fan of it, instead of just bashing you over the head with a 'no' and making you feel bad, heres a quick run-down.

General note: Turtle Racials tend to have a 'theme'.
I'm willing to break it if enough people tire of it, but so far, it's done me pretty well, and I'd recommend you try it for a re-design of Shadow Turtles.
(Not a requirement, but just a thought. Simplicity goes a long way for usability, especially on a race.)

First Racial tends to be a Sustain or Passive, which defines the turtle in general.
Second Racial tends to be a passive that benefits from or interacts with the first racial.
Third Racial tends to be a powerful Active.
Fourth Racial is where you give the player a bonus for stacking Constitution. (And perhaps a second stat.)
General note: I tend to limit Turtles to 1 or 2 stats, one of which is always Constitution, to make certain turtles more 'themed' towards different builds.
Not required, mind you, but just a thing to keep in mind.

As for your kit:
General note: (Passive bonuses for all racials I'd move to it's own 4th talent, as stated above, and add half Constitution scaling to everything, to give Con value to this Turtle. By itself, Con is normally worthless, and you have to sweeten the deal to the player.)

Innate: Crit Shrug-Off is insane.
Immunity to Crits is more insane.
I'd change it so be normal crit Shrug-Off (which reduces the damage % of crits) and tie it to the 4th/a Racial.


Empty Shell: (Cover your ears, rant incoming.)
I HATE % CHANCE STUFF.
With a passion.
Nothing I ever do will have a % chance, unless there is no other way for me to make it work.
(That does not apply if others offer me a well-rounded idea. I just purely will always do my best to design around it, and will always recommend others never try to design something around it.)
It is just such a... lame way to lose a run if a % based thing fails to proc, imo.

(It feels like the talent is just overloaded with passives in it's current form.)

Shadow Mire: Interesting idea, but the effect for it is a tad weak.
I'd recommend adding a powers reduction as well, as giving up sight range for a simple save debuff is pretty hefty.

Sudden Velocity: A gap closer on a Turtle! The universe would explode you mad man.

More seriously, could work as their 'powerful' active, though I'd shave the % max health damage off.
% max health damage can go bad, fast, when given to bosses.
I'd also try attaching some form of bonus for using it to enter combat, instead of just escape, like an aoe daze or, in the theme of shadows, blindness.

The Gathering Dark: Now this here, has a good idea for the purpose of a turtle design.
The idea of a Shadowy turtle of death, pulling in all his foes every turn is wonderful.

Locking it to the 4th racial though... eh?


Now, to not be a completely jackass to somebody who was offering me something purely to be nice, I'll say this;
I'm currently working on 4 other Turtle races.
I'll try out making yours in the middle of those, and see how it goes, even if you don't feel like changing the kit.
I owe you that much, at least, for all the work you've given me.

[trenggiling]

Alrighty, sorry.

First off, the Ice and Stone turtles look amazing.
They'll almost certainly go in once the next update is ready.

Oh cool

...I'm not a fan of the kit for Shadow Turtles.
I feel like it could be doable, but the kit offered... doesn't seem 'fun' long term.
The IDEA of the race is great though, don't get me wrong. It's just the kit itself.

In hope of helping you see why I'm not a fan of it, instead of just bashing you over the head with a 'no' and making you feel bad, heres a quick run-down.

No worries!
I'm a pretty tough guy (the "don't judge me" jokes are a lie!) you don't have to worry about offending me.
Also, yay nitpicking... I LOVE NITPICKING!!!!!!!
(no seriously, I THRIVE off of it)

General note: Turtle Racials tend to have a 'theme'.
I'm willing to break it if enough people tire of it, but so far, it's done me pretty well, and I'd recommend you try it for a re-design of Shadow Turtles.
(Not a requirement, but just a thought. Simplicity goes a long way for usability, especially on a race.)

First Racial tends to be a Sustain or Passive, which defines the turtle in general.
Second Racial tends to be a passive that benefits from or interacts with the first racial.
Third Racial tends to be a powerful Active.
Fourth Racial is where you give the player a bonus for stacking Constitution. (And perhaps a second stat.)
General note: I tend to limit Turtles to 1 or 2 stats, one of which is always Constitution, to make certain turtles more 'themed' towards different builds.
Not required, mind you, but just a thing to keep in mind.

Ya I actually noticed that.
ES: is a passive which defines the turtles defenses
SM: is a sustain that is designed for consistent damage.
SV: is a powerful active
And well, all of them are designed around the assumption that you will be stacking Will and Con to get the most mindpower.

As for your kit:
General note: (Passive bonuses for all racials I'd move to it's own 4th talent, as stated above, and add half Constitution scaling to everything, to give Con value to this Turtle. By itself, Con is normally worthless, and you have to sweeten the deal to the player.)

I have one word... MINDPOWER! (wait isn't that 2 words?)

Innate: Crit Shrug-Off is insane.
Immunity to Crits is more insane.
I'd change it so be normal crit Shrug-Off (which reduces the damage % of crits) and tie it to the 4th/a Racial.

Why?
Not many enemies use crits as their main source of damage...
But hey, it was just fluff anyway.

Empty Shell: (Cover your ears, rant incoming.)
I HATE % CHANCE STUFF.
With a passion.
Nothing I ever do will have a % chance, unless there is no other way for me to make it work.
(That does not apply if others offer me a well-rounded idea. I just purely will always do my best to design around it, and will always recommend others never try to design something around it.)
It is just such a... lame way to lose a run if a % based thing fails to proc, imo.

(It feels like the talent is just overloaded with passives in it's current form.)

Hu... I like % stuff... guess it's just a personal preference.
I suppose it could just be the stat scaling stuff...
No wait, shadow shells still need a way to stay tanky...
More thought is needed!

Shadow Mire: Interesting idea, but the effect for it is a tad weak.
I'd recommend adding a powers reduction as well, as giving up sight range for a simple save debuff is pretty hefty.

Ya... the save debuff is mostly a sweetener.
The real reason anyone gets this skill is for the damage over time effect.
So that enemies die as you inch along.

Sudden Velocity: A gap closer on a Turtle! The universe would explode you mad man.

More seriously, could work as their 'powerful' active, though I'd shave the % max health damage off.
% max health damage can go bad, fast, when given to bosses.
I'd also try attaching some form of bonus for using it to enter combat, instead of just escape, like an aoe daze or, in the theme of shadows, blindness.

I always intended it for entering combat.
How about a large cooldown reduction if you hit an enemy?
Or is that possible?

The Gathering Dark: Now this here, has a good idea for the purpose of a turtle design.
The idea of a Shadowy turtle of death, pulling in all his foes every turn is wonderful.

Locking it to the 4th racial though... eh?

Yep I like that one too.
But it doesn't seem to work very well without the rest of the kit.
Ergo, 4th skill.

Now, to not be a completely jackass to somebody who was offering me something purely to be nice, I'll say this;
I'm currently working on 4 other Turtle races.
I'll try out making yours in the middle of those, and see how it goes, even if you don't feel like changing the kit.
I owe you that much, at least, for all the work you've given me.

Thanks!
I wouldn't dream of asking you for anything more

[trenggiling]

Okay how is this.

=====Skill 1: Empty Shell=====

Skill use: passive

You are not but an empty shell, and your attacks make your opponents feel just as empty as you.
Any enemy you hurt will deal 30/35/40/45/50% less damage for 3 turns.
Subsequent damage resets the duration.

Putting a point in this skill further reduces your global speed by 5%, but gives you extra armor based on your strength, defence based on your willpower, saves based on your cunning, and mindpower based on your constitution.

=====Skill 2: Shadow Mire=====

Skill use: sustain
Cast time: instant
Cooldown: 30
Range: 3

You surround yourself with a thick mire of darkness that envelops your enemies, reducing their saves by X, and dealing X darkness damage per turn to them.
The damage and save reduction scales with your mindpower.

Putting a point in this skill further reduces your global speed by 5%, but empowers your empty shell so that it reduces enemy healing by 50% in addition to its other effects.

=====Skill 3: Sudden Velocity=====

Skill use: active
Cast time: 1 turn
Cooldown: 45
Range: 3/4/5/6/7

The darkness that animates your shell is quite powerful indeed.
Powerful enough to throw yourself great distances, with great force.
If you collide with an enemy then you are blocked, the Cooldown is reduced by 30 turns, and the enemy takes X physical damage plus X darkness damage.
The physical damage scales with your constitution, and the darkness damage scales with your mindpower.

Putting a point in this skill further reduces your global speed by 5%, but empowers your empty shell so that it reduces enemy darkness resistance by 20% in addition to its other effects.

=====Skill 4: The Gathering Dark=====

Skill use: active
Cast time: 1 turn
Cooldown: 20
Range: 1/2/3/4/5

You draw in the darkness from all around you, gaining a X damage shield for 10 turns.
Enemies that are within range of you will take X darkness damage, and be pulled towards you.
The shield scales with your constitution, and the damage scales with your mindpower.

Putting a point in this skill further reduces your global speed by 5%, but gives you a 100% chance to heal for %10 of the damage you deal to enemies suffering from the effects of empty shell.

[StarKeep]

Except for the value on the first talent needed to be hit by an insane amount, much better.
The passives being spread out will just be something I need to get used to.

[trenggiling]

Feel free to tweak the kit in what ever way makes the most sense.

[jayseesee]

Except for the value on the first talent needed to be hit by an insane amount, much better.

YUP! Needs some kind of weighting/playtesting.

I have delicious ideas of a Shadow in Tarasca getting high res all + throwing AEs everywhere for like, super low incoming damage.

Now, if you turned the enemies you hurt into "res all", it could be doable, or a lower amount.

Secondly is with their low global, you may have issues keeping uptime with that, which may be good, may be bad.

Definitely all neat ideas, maybe fill that hole Ghourtle left in me.

[StarKeep]

Turtle V 13 - Volcanoes and Tauntlets, oh my
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Added in the Volcanic Turtle, a Strength/Con focused melee-loving Turtle.

'A literal walking volcano.'
A turtle that has managed to install a minature volcano onto its shell.
Their Volcano Shell fires off projectiles every turn at nearby foes, dealing damage.
---
Added in the Tauntlets!

Gloves with lower attack power, but have the ability to block.
(With Ashes installed, these currently will not factor in their own resists. They will, however, correctly stack their block value with either 1 or 2 shields.)
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Non-Turtlemire NPCs have been given talent scaling.
They will only reach their old level of power around level 50 now.
(Oh, and added Volcano Turtle npcs.)

[StarKeep]

Turtle V 13.0.1 - Obligatory on-release bug-fix
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Bug fixes.

Volcanic Shell's Regeneration and Burning effects given their own timed_effects.

Slight buffs to the tier 1 and 3 Tauntlets.

[StarKeep]

Turtle V 13.0.2 - Obligatory bug-fix-bug-fix
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Fixed timed_effects not getting particles correctly all the time.

Fixed Volcano Shell's Burn effect sometimes checking for itself when it isn't there.

[StarKeep]

Turtle V 13.0.3 - Obligatory Tauntlets un-bugfix-b
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Tauntlet's strength modifier has been recorrected.
It might display wrong in some situations.
Stuff happens.
It at least functions correctly.

Last burst of important bug-fixes. Anything else will be bundled into a patch of value.