Some stuff tiger eye and myself brainstormed in chat. The basic premise is imitation of the sun. Didn't come up with a good name for the tree but if Maj'Eyal's Sun has a name maybe that could be incorporated. Light of Mulock for instance or something along those lines.
Insert Good Category Name Here
Celestial Motion (costs PE) - Timed effect that draws actors into the caster sorta like the Mouth's Call of Amathukel talent but you cast it once and then it persists for a number of turns.
Super Nova (gives PE but see description) - Grants the caster a large boost of PE and a timed effect that generates PE every turn for 5 turns. When the timed effect expires the caster explodes in a burst of light, draining all but 15% of PE and converting it into damage (similar to the darkest light explosion effect).
Radiance (grants PE) - Long duration low damage AoE aura centered on the caster. Deals stacking fire damage so over the course of a long drawn out fight the spell has the potential to do a lot of damage but doesn't do much damage if it doesn't have time to build up (synergizes well with the tanking aspects of the class)
Heart of the Sun (sustain) - Light penetration and stacking spellpower whenever the caster deals Light or Fire damage (the secondary effect is much like bloodlust, the primary like the mage talents that grant penetration).
Sun Paladin Advanced Tree idea
Moderator: Moderator
Re: Sun Paladin Advanced Tree idea
My two cents worth:
My nomination for the tree name: Radiance
Celestial Motion: The main use I see for this is catching enemies that are running away from you, like archers and spellcasters. The speed that it pulls enemies in would need to be balanced carefully because it could be overpowered if it drew all enemies in faster than they could run away (making escape impossible), but underpowered if they can just leave its effect easily. One way to balance it would be to have the effect be weaker the more enemies it affects.
Supernova: I would have it additionally do one (or both) of two things: have it give a boost to maximum positive energy while charging, or activate when you reach full PE capacity. This is to balance gaining PE to its damage, so there is a consequence for casting it when low on PE (either less power, or a delay).
Radiance: Not sure if I understand it well, as described. Is it simply the Divine version of Ice Storm/Fire Storm, but with damage done over time ( eg. 10, 20, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30 etc... damage each turn)? If so, than I don't understand why it is better suited to long fights unless the duration is very long (enough for hit and run tactics to be effective). If, on the other hand, it deals a stacking debuff that doesn't expire until they leave the effect, then it would be more powerful (with a cap) the longer the enemy stayed in its effects, (eg. 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 40, 40, 40, etc... damage each turn) it would be much more useful in longer fights than shorter ones. I also saw this tree as more light based, so I would make it light damage instead of fire as well.
Heart of the Sun: Again, I see this as a Light based tree, so I would remove the fire damage from activating the buff.
My nomination for the tree name: Radiance
Celestial Motion: The main use I see for this is catching enemies that are running away from you, like archers and spellcasters. The speed that it pulls enemies in would need to be balanced carefully because it could be overpowered if it drew all enemies in faster than they could run away (making escape impossible), but underpowered if they can just leave its effect easily. One way to balance it would be to have the effect be weaker the more enemies it affects.
Supernova: I would have it additionally do one (or both) of two things: have it give a boost to maximum positive energy while charging, or activate when you reach full PE capacity. This is to balance gaining PE to its damage, so there is a consequence for casting it when low on PE (either less power, or a delay).
Radiance: Not sure if I understand it well, as described. Is it simply the Divine version of Ice Storm/Fire Storm, but with damage done over time ( eg. 10, 20, 30, 30, 30, 30, 30 etc... damage each turn)? If so, than I don't understand why it is better suited to long fights unless the duration is very long (enough for hit and run tactics to be effective). If, on the other hand, it deals a stacking debuff that doesn't expire until they leave the effect, then it would be more powerful (with a cap) the longer the enemy stayed in its effects, (eg. 5, 10, 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, 40, 40, 40, 40, etc... damage each turn) it would be much more useful in longer fights than shorter ones. I also saw this tree as more light based, so I would make it light damage instead of fire as well.
Heart of the Sun: Again, I see this as a Light based tree, so I would remove the fire damage from activating the buff.
Re: Sun Paladin Advanced Tree idea
The general idea behind the tree is an advanced sun tree with the theme being taking on aspects of the sun rather then just firing off bursts of fire and light (like the current sun tree). I think fire damage is very appropriate considering the theme.
Radiance was also an idea I had for a tree name but I don't find it very fitting to the theme (at least not the 'sun aspect' theme) but could work if everything was changed as you suggested (the two fire effects changed to light) and super nova and celestial motion scrapped (both of these have nothing really to do with light and everything to do with taking on aspects of a sun).
More specifically to your suggestions.
Celestial Motion I agree it needs consideration. The effect could vary depending on distance and/or it could fire off every other turn. There's a few ways to go about it but ultimately the idea is for this to be a way to close or maintain melee range with retreating ranged AI and draw enemies in for all the sun paladin AoE.
Supernova I like the idea of it going off when full PE is reached rather then when the timed effect expires. If it goes this route though the initial PE boost should probably be small or non-existent. In other words if you just want to use it for damage you cast it when PE is nearly full, if you want to take advantage of the PE regen you cast it when low and use the PE it's giving you. Would also give the player a way out if he didn't want to lose most of his PE. This spell could easily do fire + light damage to better fit the aspect of the sun theme.
Radiance Yup. Basically a divine version of Fire Storm with lower base damage and a longer duration. It deals 'burn' damage which is the stacking fire damage type. For a good example of how this might work in practice look at Ashes to Ashes (though Ashes to Ashes has a shorter duration and deals it's damage more quickly then I'm thinking Radiance would). Also a spell that could deal some light and some fire damage instead of just one damage type.
Heart of the Sun Again, a sun tree, not a light tree
Radiance was also an idea I had for a tree name but I don't find it very fitting to the theme (at least not the 'sun aspect' theme) but could work if everything was changed as you suggested (the two fire effects changed to light) and super nova and celestial motion scrapped (both of these have nothing really to do with light and everything to do with taking on aspects of a sun).
More specifically to your suggestions.
Celestial Motion I agree it needs consideration. The effect could vary depending on distance and/or it could fire off every other turn. There's a few ways to go about it but ultimately the idea is for this to be a way to close or maintain melee range with retreating ranged AI and draw enemies in for all the sun paladin AoE.
Supernova I like the idea of it going off when full PE is reached rather then when the timed effect expires. If it goes this route though the initial PE boost should probably be small or non-existent. In other words if you just want to use it for damage you cast it when PE is nearly full, if you want to take advantage of the PE regen you cast it when low and use the PE it's giving you. Would also give the player a way out if he didn't want to lose most of his PE. This spell could easily do fire + light damage to better fit the aspect of the sun theme.
Radiance Yup. Basically a divine version of Fire Storm with lower base damage and a longer duration. It deals 'burn' damage which is the stacking fire damage type. For a good example of how this might work in practice look at Ashes to Ashes (though Ashes to Ashes has a shorter duration and deals it's damage more quickly then I'm thinking Radiance would). Also a spell that could deal some light and some fire damage instead of just one damage type.
Heart of the Sun Again, a sun tree, not a light tree
Re: Sun Paladin Advanced Tree idea
My top suggestion for tree name is Heliacal Rising.
Other brainstorming idea are [Solar/Celestial/Stellar/Astral/Cosmic/Heliacal] + [Emergence/Dawn/Heritage/Ancestry/Kinship/Rising]. Couple other ideas are Inner Sun and Child of the Sun.
Celestial Motion: I think I'm of the same sensibilities of edge and lukep, so we'll need to find a balance that's useful and interesting, but not overpowering. Giving it a higher range, but reducing its effectiveness or probability of occurring at higher range could make sense. Max number of actors affected could be added if needed, I suppose, but it's not always a good thing to be surrounded by a dozen enemies and keeping them close.
Supernova: I get the feeling this one will require the most thought or playtesting, because there are many potential parameters and behaviors to modify. Don't know if I like it bursting when it reaches the max Positive Energy (PE). I envisioned that you would need to wait (and survive!) the full duration, and while it's building (or maxed out) you would have plenty of PE to use for other talents--but the more you use, the less the final burst will be. That said, I'm open for considering and trying other possibilities.
Radiance: Another name for it could be "Blaze" or "Solar Blaze" or some such. "Radiance" is fine, though. Just to be clear, this is not a cloud effect that you can cast in an area then run away. It is centered on the actor--even if you move. The damage stacking could either be associated with (1) actors, so if an actor is in the blaze, then the damage done to that actor is increased, or (2) map grid, so actors could move out of the blaze and be free of further damage, or they could move into a grid that is already highly ablaze and gets dealt lots of damage.
Other brainstorming idea are [Solar/Celestial/Stellar/Astral/Cosmic/Heliacal] + [Emergence/Dawn/Heritage/Ancestry/Kinship/Rising]. Couple other ideas are Inner Sun and Child of the Sun.
Celestial Motion: I think I'm of the same sensibilities of edge and lukep, so we'll need to find a balance that's useful and interesting, but not overpowering. Giving it a higher range, but reducing its effectiveness or probability of occurring at higher range could make sense. Max number of actors affected could be added if needed, I suppose, but it's not always a good thing to be surrounded by a dozen enemies and keeping them close.
Supernova: I get the feeling this one will require the most thought or playtesting, because there are many potential parameters and behaviors to modify. Don't know if I like it bursting when it reaches the max Positive Energy (PE). I envisioned that you would need to wait (and survive!) the full duration, and while it's building (or maxed out) you would have plenty of PE to use for other talents--but the more you use, the less the final burst will be. That said, I'm open for considering and trying other possibilities.
Radiance: Another name for it could be "Blaze" or "Solar Blaze" or some such. "Radiance" is fine, though. Just to be clear, this is not a cloud effect that you can cast in an area then run away. It is centered on the actor--even if you move. The damage stacking could either be associated with (1) actors, so if an actor is in the blaze, then the damage done to that actor is increased, or (2) map grid, so actors could move out of the blaze and be free of further damage, or they could move into a grid that is already highly ablaze and gets dealt lots of damage.
Re: Sun Paladin Advanced Tree idea
as for power of Celestial Motion you can make effect that modifies enemy movement speed this way you can just ourrun enemy - simple and easy to implement : )
You are likely to be eaten by a grue
Re: Sun Paladin Advanced Tree idea
OK, my revised ideas:
Name: I would stick with one or two word names, and avoid the words "Sun" or "Light", because it that be consistent with the other category names.
Celestial Motion and Supernova: I don't have anything new to add, sounds like all it needs is balance and playtesting, not new ideas.
Radiance: My first idea was needlessly complex, this is much better. Maybe add light damage that illuminates the grids to the effect? This would be a cool utility effect that would not improve its combat effectiveness too much while adding flavour. I think that linking the damage to the map grid (basically stacking cloud effects) would be better for the tanking aspect if it was a sustain, but I don't see it being as useful as an activation, in addition, I think that new mechanics should be kept to a minimum.
Heart of the Sun: Fire damage needs some love too. This, combined with Chant of Light would make your light damage much more powerful than your fire damage.
Name: I would stick with one or two word names, and avoid the words "Sun" or "Light", because it that be consistent with the other category names.
Celestial Motion and Supernova: I don't have anything new to add, sounds like all it needs is balance and playtesting, not new ideas.
Radiance: My first idea was needlessly complex, this is much better. Maybe add light damage that illuminates the grids to the effect? This would be a cool utility effect that would not improve its combat effectiveness too much while adding flavour. I think that linking the damage to the map grid (basically stacking cloud effects) would be better for the tanking aspect if it was a sustain, but I don't see it being as useful as an activation, in addition, I think that new mechanics should be kept to a minimum.
Heart of the Sun: Fire damage needs some love too. This, combined with Chant of Light would make your light damage much more powerful than your fire damage.