Doomed are afflicted mages, right?
Posted: Sat Nov 02, 2013 9:30 pm
Magic requires the development of the capacity to engage in a certain kind of spiritual process (the magic stat). It seems therefore that the doomed are afflicted because something has gone very very wrong with that process. Something in their spirit has opened that should never be opened, and this distorts their spirit, their body and their mind. Currently the afflicted classes come across as allies of Nature because antimagic is such a good choice for them, and doomed especially are now built to make use of mindstars. But are these classes really so entwined with nature in an intuitive sense? Think of the Withering Thing...
So while my understanding is that doomed have a strong urge to go antimagic as a way of defending against casters, I thought it might be interesting to give them a more magical route for the same sort thing. As doomed, you are a former mage, and where there's a will, there's a way! There's bound to be a way to use magic again, to diagnose, repair, and fix what's wrong with you...you think...maybe...you hope...or maybe you can just find a way to share your misery with those who don't share your misfortune.
So I'd propose that doomed be excluded from the option for cursed items tree since that was never well-designed for them, anyway, and that we instead add a locked generic tree to the class, featuring 'spells' that function mostly as a way to counter casters. A sketch:
Tree name: Afflicted Magic
1. Afflicted arcana: Passive. Converts the effects of arcane-powered items and spells as follows:
Damage, +Damage, damage on hit, damage conversion, resistance bonus, resistence penetration, etc, are converted from off-elements to the main elements of doomed class as follows:
Blight, light and arcane convert to physical
fire, lightning and acid convert to dark
cold, temporal, and nature convert to mind
Also spellpower bonus converts to a mindpower bonus, magic stat damage modifier converts to willpower stat damage modifier, and "command staff" becomes "plea with staff": instead of configuring an elemental damage bonus, you choose a bonus in the synergistic effects of one of your four main class trees. Conversion efficiency is poor at low talent level, but scales with talent level. At level 5 staves are as light as rotting wood in your grasp, and mindstars as soft as putty; you may offhand a mindstar when wielding a staff.
2. Hateful Fugue. Active, and is a spell. K hate. Maybe 20 cooldown.
Something analogous to mana clash: lower-powered, but in addition to affecting magic resources, also affects psi and equilibrium. Damage for the drained resources is dealt as dark, rather than mind. You get a recovery over time of health and hate that scales with the damage you deal. The size of the clash scales with talent level, and the recovery effect scales with your talent in Unnatural Body.
3. Intrusive thoughts. Sustain, is a spell.
Whenever an enemy at distance 5 to 5+tlvl casts a spell or uses a mind power, you pay K hate to launch a preemptive attack. This deals mind damage, reduces their effective spellpower and mindpower for the purposes of powering the casting of that talent, and has a chance to brainlock. Damage and power reduction scales with mindpower and talent level. Hate cost can be reduced with increasing level in Unnatural Body.
4. Unspoken word. Active, is a spell. About 40-50 hate. Range 5+tlvl.
You can recall a deep understanding of certain things, and try to share your understanding with your target. You are brainlocked for a turn or so and lose N% of your life; the target is pulled toward you up to three spaces with chance to brainlock. The spell will cause your target to forcibly displace other monsters along the way. Each time this happens, both target and the displaced enemy take physical damage; your shadows take no damage. Damage scales with mindpower and talent level, and the reduction in your own life can be reduced by increasing your level in Unnatural Body.
So while my understanding is that doomed have a strong urge to go antimagic as a way of defending against casters, I thought it might be interesting to give them a more magical route for the same sort thing. As doomed, you are a former mage, and where there's a will, there's a way! There's bound to be a way to use magic again, to diagnose, repair, and fix what's wrong with you...you think...maybe...you hope...or maybe you can just find a way to share your misery with those who don't share your misfortune.
So I'd propose that doomed be excluded from the option for cursed items tree since that was never well-designed for them, anyway, and that we instead add a locked generic tree to the class, featuring 'spells' that function mostly as a way to counter casters. A sketch:
Tree name: Afflicted Magic
1. Afflicted arcana: Passive. Converts the effects of arcane-powered items and spells as follows:
Damage, +Damage, damage on hit, damage conversion, resistance bonus, resistence penetration, etc, are converted from off-elements to the main elements of doomed class as follows:
Blight, light and arcane convert to physical
fire, lightning and acid convert to dark
cold, temporal, and nature convert to mind
Also spellpower bonus converts to a mindpower bonus, magic stat damage modifier converts to willpower stat damage modifier, and "command staff" becomes "plea with staff": instead of configuring an elemental damage bonus, you choose a bonus in the synergistic effects of one of your four main class trees. Conversion efficiency is poor at low talent level, but scales with talent level. At level 5 staves are as light as rotting wood in your grasp, and mindstars as soft as putty; you may offhand a mindstar when wielding a staff.
2. Hateful Fugue. Active, and is a spell. K hate. Maybe 20 cooldown.
Something analogous to mana clash: lower-powered, but in addition to affecting magic resources, also affects psi and equilibrium. Damage for the drained resources is dealt as dark, rather than mind. You get a recovery over time of health and hate that scales with the damage you deal. The size of the clash scales with talent level, and the recovery effect scales with your talent in Unnatural Body.
3. Intrusive thoughts. Sustain, is a spell.
Whenever an enemy at distance 5 to 5+tlvl casts a spell or uses a mind power, you pay K hate to launch a preemptive attack. This deals mind damage, reduces their effective spellpower and mindpower for the purposes of powering the casting of that talent, and has a chance to brainlock. Damage and power reduction scales with mindpower and talent level. Hate cost can be reduced with increasing level in Unnatural Body.
4. Unspoken word. Active, is a spell. About 40-50 hate. Range 5+tlvl.
You can recall a deep understanding of certain things, and try to share your understanding with your target. You are brainlocked for a turn or so and lose N% of your life; the target is pulled toward you up to three spaces with chance to brainlock. The spell will cause your target to forcibly displace other monsters along the way. Each time this happens, both target and the displaced enemy take physical damage; your shadows take no damage. Damage scales with mindpower and talent level, and the reduction in your own life can be reduced by increasing your level in Unnatural Body.