Archer/Mage class (alpha 1)

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Instead of making this a slinger class, I would suggest a different slinger class that is an alchemist/slinger hybrid, which actually uses alchemist gems as ammo for its abilities. Of course, he would also lack the golem.

[lukep]

Update and responses:

Updated effects on Arrows tree to: Chance = (10 + Dex/10 + 3 * talent)
Burning: 20 + 5 * talent damage per turn
Frozen: 100 + 50 * talent HP
Acid Splash: 20 + 5 * talent damage per turn, -(10 + 3 * talent) accuracy
Dazed: unchanged
Blind: unchanged
Poisoned: (12 + 3 * talent) damage per turn
Confusion: (40 + 5 * talent) power
Pinned: unchanged
Weakness Disease: (12 + 3 * talent) damage per turn, -(5 + 2 * talent) strength
Silenced: unchanged

I don't think that an arrow directly calling a spell effect on hit would work very well. Most archmage spells are ranged already, so they would either waste that attribute and only give extra damage/effect, or have an unbalanced range of 15-20 or so from beam/cone spells. Of the spells that are melee focused (eg. Blastwave, Nova, Frozen Ground) it would be much easier to make equivalent arrows. Glyphs and Circles triggered by arrows would work very well, but this is trying to be a mage hybrid, not Divine.

As for the -5 mana/shot talents, with resistances factored in are they still going to do 1.5x the damage weapon folding gives? If each damage type is half the temporal damage weapon folding gives, will that be enough in the prides to be of use?

Due to the lack of Quantum Feed, and those resistances being more common than Temporal, it would most likely end up near the same damage as Weapon Folding, but still much more useful. At tlvl 6.5, and 45 dex, there is a 34% chance to apply an effect on every shot (including piercing shot, scatter shot, dual shot etc...) even if rapid fire is active or you are using a bow of Great Speed (or both). The damage would be significant, but I think the disabling effects would be more powerful. That being said, I haven't tested it in gameplay situations that far into the game.

Having four different ranged projection sustains from four separate skills does not seem ideal. I see two different ways around this: make it into a trap style tree, with the other three talents being boosts, or only have three and one boost skill. I am leaning towards the Trap/Boost style now, because even though it gives you many different damage types, it allows you to customize between damage and effects. See below.
Trap/Boost Style
Arrow Access: gives access to arrow sustains. Also boosts power some, but not as much as Power Booster.
Power Booster: boosts arrow damage (redundant, but I couldn't think of three boosts)
Chance Booster: boosts chance of effects
Effect Booster: Boosts power of effects

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Update and responses:
I don't think that an arrow directly calling a spell effect on hit would work very well. Most archmage spells are ranged already, so they would either waste that attribute and only give extra damage/effect, or have an unbalanced range of 15-20 or so from beam/cone spells. Of the spells that are melee focused (eg. Blastwave, Nova, Frozen Ground) it would be much easier to make equivalent arrows. Glyphs and Circles triggered by arrows would work very well, but this is trying to be a mage hybrid, not Divine.

That's the problem, all you have right now is single target arrow attacks with extra damage and effect, nothing else. That doesn't seem very mage-like. On hit trigger spell like effects would do the trick. They don't have to be exactly like an already existing spells and could have a bit lower mana cost to make up for the fact that they could miss. AoE arrows could perhaps trigger even if they miss, just at a slightly ranomize location. I don't see a problem here. So, for example, your classic fireball arrow. Choose a target, which would use the normal bow range, and if the arrow hits a AoE ball would blast centered on the target. If it misses, the AoE would trigger at a slightly randomized nearby area instead.

Other possible ideas, not related to the above discussion would be a mana costing ability that fires a super accurate high crit arrow (an enchant arrow type thing) or a seeking arrow that can do things like go around corners and out of los.

EDIT: Your trap/booster style is the right approach, IMO. Also I'm not saying the arrow triggered spells should take over the concept, just a tree or so would be fine.

[lukep]

Finished an AoE Damage tree, Bombing. It is a trap/boosts style tree that the class will have in addition to the Arrows tree. You cannot spam the five skills that you get from Bomb Mastery, because using one increases the cooldown of all of the others by (2-7, depending on passive boosts). They do about (50-330) damage in an area, plus 200% elemental arrow damage on hit. Here's the tree:

Bombing:
Bomb Mastery: passive, gives access to (fragmenting, obscuring, endothermic, warping, cursed) bombs, as well as increasing power by (21 * talent) %
Bomb Charge: passive, improves power of bombs by (42 * talent)%, and radius to 2 at level 2, and 3 at level 4.
Quick Bombs: passive, reduces cooldown by (2 * raw talent) and cooldown increase by (raw talent)
Renewed Bombs: 50 mana, (60 - 4 * raw talent) cooldown, removes all bomb cooldowns.

and the bombs:

FOO bomb: 25 mana, (25 - 2 * quick bombs raw talent) cooldown, archery range, (1-3, depending on Charge) radius
Shoots for 200% FOO damage, and explodes for ([30 + spellpower] * [0.7 + 0.15 * bomb mastery + 0.3 * bomb charge]) FOO damage, applying a detrimental effect (when I implement it) Increases cooldown of other bomb skills by (7 - raw quick bombs level).

the types are:
Fragmenting Bomb: fire damage, applies Deep wound
Obscuring Bomb: darkness damage, applies Sticky Smoke
Endothermic Bomb: cold damage, applies Frozen (or maybe frozen feet)
Warping Bomb: temporal damage, teleports (or something else, haven't fully decided)
Cursed Bomb: blight damage, applies random curse or hex (probably)

I still have some work to do on this tree, mostly a few bugs, and implementing the effects.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Eh, two trappish style skill trees allowing the class to do everything possible from the comfort of only two trees? I donno, it doesn't seems like a mage hybrid at all. Maybe I'm just odd here, but that's my point of view. Maybe someone else will really like it though.

[Grey]

I agree, feels more like something very different. That's not necessarily a bad thing, mind, but you might want to consider rethinking the whole theme to centre more on the elements you're adding.

[catwhowalksbyhimself]

Yeah, I have no problem with it being reworked to fit a slightly different concept. It's certainly different, which is a good thing, when it comes to making classes.

EDIT: It was pointed out to me in IRC that this is now approaching my idea of a alchemist/slinger hybrid. Make of that what you will or don't.

[lukep]

"Finished" coding the class, and I'm going to try a real playthrough with one now. The way that I see it right now is less of a mage than an Arcane Blade is, but probably a little more of a mage than a shadowblade is. Decided against trap style tree for Arrows, but Bombs still is one.

[lukep]

I'm in the process of redoing the bombs entirely. As it was before, there was almost nothing that distinguished one bomb from the next. The rest of the tree is unchanged. Might end up doing the same with arrows. Here are the revised bombs (probably needs to be renamed).

Flamewave Arrow: Creates a radius 1-2 explosion every square that it travels over, dealing (5-30) fire damage, with a (10-75)% chance to knockback. Can hit enemies many times as it knocks them back, then hits them again as it travels. The arrow hits for 100% fire damage, and pierces enemies. Coded and working, with minor bugs.

Arrow Spray: Shoots up to (5-10) piercing arrows at targets in a cone of radius (7-10). Each hit deals (5-30)% arcane damage. Many hits is a good synergy with Arrows skills. Coded and working, with minor bugs.

Electrified Arrow: Hits one enemy within 1-3 tiles every square it travels over for (20-100) lightning damage. The arrow hits for 100% lightning damage, and pierces enemies. Not coded.

Redirecting Arrow: works similar to Chain Lightning, but has a chance to miss due to velocity. Not coded.

Shrapnel Arrow: shoots lower powered arrows from the target location on hit, at nearby locations. Similar to a ball effect, but blockable and more powerful at the centre. Not coded.

[lukep]

Alpha 1 release (compatible with b31)! It's not really done, but that's okay, it's an alpha.

Bugs/todo before beta:
make a better way of packaging it.
finish last two bombs
change arrow skills cost to on shoot instead of on hit
fix mana regen sustain being immediately disabled at 0 mana
replace arrows skills with ones that are more differentiated (later)

[marvalis]

I suggest changing the description of bomb mastery from

Code: Select all

		return ([[Learn how to use bombs. Each level you will learn a new kind of bomb:
		Also increases the damage of your bombs by %d%%. (The effect varies for each bomb)]]):
		format(self:getTalentLevel(t) * 14)

too

Code: Select all

return ([[Learn how to use bombs. For each additional point you will learn a new bomb: Flamewave bomb, arcane spray bomb, heartseeking bomb, warping bomb and cursed bomb. Also increases the damage of your bombs by %d%%. (The effect varies for each bomb)]]):
format(self:getTalentLevel(t) * 14)

[lukep]

I suggest changing the description of bomb mastery from

Code: Select all

		return ([[Learn how to use bombs. Each level you will learn a new kind of bomb:
		Also increases the damage of your bombs by %d%%. (The effect varies for each bomb)]]):
		format(self:getTalentLevel(t) * 14)

too

Code: Select all

return ([[Learn how to use bombs. For each additional point you will learn a new bomb: Flamewave bomb, arcane spray bomb, heartseeking bomb, warping bomb and cursed bomb. Also increases the damage of your bombs by %d%%. (The effect varies for each bomb)]]):
format(self:getTalentLevel(t) * 14)

Done, I have to keep reminding myself that not everyone reads the code through to get a more precise idea of the skills. Who all has tried it, and how are you liking it so far?