WIP Class idea: Verdant Blade

[NemesisZeru]

Verdant Blades are fighters have embraced the power of nature. With thorn and steel, they use their mobility to cut down all in their path. They use Equilibrium, Stamina and combo points. Their most important stats are Strength and Willpower.

So, this stems from an idea for a Samuraish class I had a while back. But upon realizing I've never made it to the Far East, and that it might not fit thematically, it became a typical Swordsman, and now this! This is mostly a WIP while I figure out ideas. If I can figure out how to actually code a class, I might very well try to make this. x3

The general idea is a sorta a Wyrmic who trades tankiness for evasion and controlling the battlefield through speed, and some CC(Mostly from Moss, to create sorta an...arena-y feel.), bouncing between targets and building to a powerful finisher.

Starting stats:

95 Life
Life per Level: +1

+4 Strength
+5 Willpower

(Class)
Nature's Sword
Thorns
Moss
Combat Techniques
Battle Tactics(Locked)(Debating this. Verdant Assault plus Greater Weapon Focus might make bosses TOO easy...but on the otherhand, Verdant Assault is their main burst, so dunno...)

(Generics)

Combat Training
Survival
Call of the Wild

Nature's Sword: 1.30 Mastery(Willpower)

Blade Infusion(Passive): Channel the power of nature through your sword, giving it X Armour penetration and X% nature damage on hit.
Shroud of Leaves(Sustain): Gives X defense and X% chance to dodge attacks when wearing Robes. Gain X combo points for each attack dodged.
Nature's Flow(Passive): A tweaked Combo String that runs off Willpower. Also gives +1 maximum combo points a level(I wanna say maximum combo points is 5, so this would bring it to X. I forget, though. :/ ).
Verdant Assault: A barrage of deadly strikes. Does 5 hits of X% Nature damage, with 1 hit added for each combo point, up to X(based on talent rank). Uses all combo points.


Thorns: 1.30 Mastery(Strength)

Strangling Strike: A dashing strike that does X% damage. puts you behind the target and silences them for X turns. Builds 2 combo points instead of 1.
Storm of Thorns: A AoE spinning strike that causes bleed. At X+ combo points it does extra damage and knockback, but costs no combo points to use.
Surging Blade(Sustain) Reduces Strangling Strike's damage by X%, but killing a target with Strangling Strike reduces it's cooldown by X turns.
Impaling Thorns: Stabs a target for X damage, causing vines to erupt from it, hitting in a cone behind the target for X Nature damage. Builds 1 combo point on the stab, and an extra combo point for each X targets hit by the vines.



The way I see it is you start a fight off with Impaling Thorns, Strangling strike to get in the middle of a mob, Storm to push them to the edge of the Moss, and with Moss holding them down, basically just jump between each one with Strangling Strike and it's passive, building up combo points for a powerful finisher to use on the boss/elite/whatever. Probably could use serious work, but I like the concept.

[malboro_urchin]

I think the concept sounds really cool! However, I'd recommend against making Thorns/Surging Blade a passive. If I were you, I'd make it a sustain (though it doesn't necessarily have to have a cost), so that if players want to use it as a higher damage, higher CD mobility power, or if they want to get to Impaling Thorns without weakening their Surging Blade, they have that option.

[NemesisZeru]

I think the concept sounds really cool! However, I'd recommend against making Thorns/Surging Blade a passive. If I were you, I'd make it a sustain (though it doesn't necessarily have to have a cost), so that if players want to use it as a higher damage, higher CD mobility power, or if they want to get to Impaling Thorns without weakening their Strangling Strike, they have that option.

Hm...that makes a lot of sense, actually. It would definitely work better as a sustain. I'll edit that in.

And now that I think of it, it'd probably make more sense to compare it more to a sorta nature-themed Arcane Blade, since Wyrmics are sorta the nature equivalent of a Bulwark(At least from what I've seen). Semantics, though.


That said...I'm not sure if Blade Infusion should work on all weapons, or just swords. They're designed to use a 2h sword(Sorta a nod to it's roots as a samurai-styled class.), but that won't always be optimal in terms of drops, y'know? As much as they have a certain thematic, I don't want to be TOO limiting in weapon choices.

Although...a sort of more brutish nature tree could be interesting(focuses on greataxes and greathammers. Build up combo points for a single huge hit, as opposed to building up combo points for a barrage of weaker ones.)

How's this look?

Nature's Wrath: 1.30 Mastery(Strength)

Nature's Might(Passive) Boosts Willpower by X% of Strength
Barkskin(Sustain): Boost to armor, and combo points when hit for more then X damage. An inverse Shroud of Leaves, pretty much. Can't be active at the same time as SoL, though.
?????: Something to boost combo points, but in a different way from Nature's Flow, since if you're going deep into one Nature Weapon tree, you're probably not investing heavily in the other. Kinda feel like maybe an overkill mechanic? Like, each % of damage over the target's life gives a combo point?
Verdant Smash: A single powerful blow for X% physical damage. Each combo point adds an additional X% Nature damage, up to X. Uses all combo points. Also pins the target for X turns, since you're literally smashing them into the ground(assuming they survive). :V


Edit: Actually...might be better to switch it a bit. Give the armor penetration to Nature's Might, and switch Blade Infusion tooo...

Blade Infusion: Infuse the power of nature into your blade, boosting Strength by x% of Willpower, and adding X% Nature damage to strikes. ((alternatively, an attackspeed boost in place of the Willpower>Strength thing(Perhaps scaling with willpower, though?), since I'm thinking a 2h VB would be more speed and onhit focused)

Might make the differences between the two more apparent: 2H Sword'd focus more on willpower and onhits at the cost of big hits, and 2H axe/hammer'd focus more on strength and big numbers, at the cost of not being able to take advantage of onhits and the like as much. Thoughts?

Edit2: Thinking up better names for Surging Blade, too. Just doesn't really fit the naming theme. Eh, we'll see. Minor thing, really.

[NemesisZeru]

Here we go again! Made some tweaks and added a new skill tree or two.


Starting stats:

95 Life
Life per Level: +1

+4 Strength
+5 Willpower

(Class)
Nature's Sword
Nature's Onslaught
Thorns
Verdant Combat
Moss(Depends on how big the radius on Moss skills get. Worst case, make a tree that's similar, but with more customized skills. Nature's Domain, maybe?)
Combat Techniques(Not sure if they REALLY need Rush, though. It'd have longer range then SS, at least)

(Generics)

Combat Training
Survival
Call of the Wild


Nature's Sword: 1.30 Mastery(Willpower)
The 'main' skill tree for VBs. Nature's Sword is for fast strikes, and works particularly well with onhit damage.

Blade Infusion: Infuse the power of nature into your blade, boosting attack speed by X%(Scales with Willpower), and adding X% Nature damage to strikes.
Shroud of Leaves(Sustain): Shroud yourself in mystical leaves that baffle attackers. Gives X defense and X% chance to dodge attacks when wearing Robes. Gain X combo points for each attack dodged.
Nature's Flow(Passive): A tweaked Combo String that runs off Willpower. Also gives +1 maximum combo points a level(I wanna say maximum combo points is 5, so this would bring it to X. I forget, though. :/ ).
Verdant Assault: Channeling the power of nature, you unleash a barrage of deadly strikes. Does 5 hits of X% Nature damage, with 1 hit added for each combo point, up to X(based on talent rank). Uses all combo points.


Nature's Onslaught: 1.3 Mastery(Strength)
A more strength based skill tree for tankier VBs. Slower, but higher damage per hit.

Verdant Might(Passive) Gives +X Armor penetration(Scales with Strength), but -% attack speed.
Barkskin(Sustain): With your connection to nature, your skin becomes far more durable. Boosts Armour by X, and gives 1 combo point for every time you're hit for more then X damage. Can't be active at the same time as Shroud of Leaves.
?????: Something to boost combo points, but in a different way from Nature's Flow, since if you're going deep into one Nature Weapon tree, you're probably not investing heavily in the other. Kinda feel like maybe an overkill mechanic? Like, each % of damage over the target's life gives a combo point?
Verdant Smash: Channel the might of nature into a single powerful blow for X% physical damage. Each combo point adds an additional X% Nature damage, up to X. Uses all combo points.

Thorns: 1.30 Mastery(Strength)
The main damage skills, pretty much.

Strangling Strike: A dashing strike that does X% damage. puts you behind the target and silences them for X turns. Builds 2 combo points instead of 1.
Storm of Thorns: A AoE spinning strike that causes bleed. At X+ combo points it does extra damage and knockback, but costs no combo points to use.
Surging Blade(Sustain) Reduces Strangling Strike's damage by X%, but killing a target with Strangling Strike reduces it's cooldown by X turns.
Impaling Thorns: Stabs a target for X damage, causing vines to erupt from it, hitting in a cone behind the target for X Nature damage. Builds 1 combo point on the stab, and an extra combo point for each X targets hit by the vines.

Verdant Combat: 1.30 Mastery(Willpower)
A hybrid tree. Benefits both styles a bit.

Nature's Focus(Passive): Boots Willpower by X% of Strength, and Strength by X% of Willpower(using base strength/willpower, so it can't infinity loop or anything.)
Grasping Vines(Sustain): You channel the power of Nature through your sword, covering your weapon in vines. Each hit does X Bleeding damage, and has X% chance of entrapping the opponent in vines, dazing them for 1 turn(Stacks with successive hits. So if Verdant Assault procs Grasping Vines 3 times, it'd daze for 3 turns. Not sure if it would be possible, though.)
?????(Sustain): Boosts critical chance by X% with 2h axes/maces, and lowers the cooldown of your Thorns/Nature's Onslaught skills by 1 for each X damage you deal.
Inner Thorns(Active): Unleash vines from within your body, doing X damage in an area of X. This skill does low damage, but lowers the physical and nature resists of each target hit by X% for X turns.


Aaand that's all I got so far. Seems pretty solid, though.

[PureQuestion]

Verdant Might is probably not a skill I would recommend doing; -attack speed is a really harsh penalty.

[NemesisZeru]

Verdant Might is probably not a skill I would recommend doing; -attack speed is a really harsh penalty.

Hmm, fair enough. I was just trying to figure out how to give it a penalty to make it less appealing to the Blade side(Otherwise the Blade side could sue both passives for a nice boost, while Might gets less of a bonus from Blade Infusion). Wasn't realizing it was that harsh of a penalty. xP

[malboro_urchin]

The Verdant Combat tree, as it is now, feels kind of weird in the context of ToME's skill prerequisites. I can imagine wanting to use 2h swords, and Verdant Combat lets me take advantage of that earlier than using 2h axes or maces, for some reason. Also, the player will very likely be focusing one way or the other, and so they'll 5 Grasping Vines, for example, and put 1 point into the axe/mace skill that follows so they can get Inner Thorns. If you want the tree to be a hybrid, don't just alternate between weapons; actually make each skill in the tree have some benefit for both 2h swords and greatmauls

[PureQuestion]

Also trying to make a class that differentiates between weapon types usually doesn't work out! Cursed used to specialize in two handed axes and it just meant they had one third as many useful items and was just annoying.

[Crim, The Red Thunder]

But this is the way most classes are. Nature classes insist on a single weapon type, mindstars. Mages insist on a single weapon type, staves. Rogue's insist on a single weapon type, daggers. Archers insist on either bows or slings, whichever they specialize in.

Lots of classes already have this specialization. Only the bump-boring melee classes can choose among several, and arguably, that's what needs a rebalance.

[malboro_urchin]

But this is the way most classes are. Nature classes insist on a single weapon type, mindstars. Mages insist on a single weapon type, staves. Rogue's insist on a single weapon type, daggers. Archers insist on either bows or slings, whichever they specialize in.

Lots of classes already have this specialization. Only the bump-boring melee classes can choose among several, and arguably, that's what needs a rebalance.

Most nature classes, and all mages, never actually bump with staves though. They're just tacked on for the stats, more or less decorative. A wyrmic that goes out of their way for Psiblades, or an Oozemancer (never unlocked/played one, so I'm guessing here) are the exceptions. Summoners, the wilder class least likely to wade into melee, the class that needs that capability the least, starts with Psiblades, and more or less wields them for the stats.

You have a point with rogues and archers, and I currently like the design of this class, where you can choose between different styles of damage dealing by specializing in either swords or axes/maces.

[NemesisZeru]

The Verdant Combat tree, as it is now, feels kind of weird in the context of ToME's skill prerequisites. I can imagine wanting to use 2h swords, and Verdant Combat lets me take advantage of that earlier than using 2h axes or maces, for some reason. Also, the player will very likely be focusing one way or the other, and so they'll 5 Grasping Vines, for example, and put 1 point into the axe/mace skill that follows so they can get Inner Thorns. If you want the tree to be a hybrid, don't just alternate between weapons; actually make each skill in the tree have some benefit for both 2h swords and greatmauls

Fair enough. I'll think about it and see if I can tweak it to make each skill in Verdant Combat useful for both sides.

Also trying to make a class that differentiates between weapon types usually doesn't work out! Cursed used to specialize in two handed axes and it just meant they had one third as many useful items and was just annoying.

Which is why I added an axe/hammer tree. Iunno, but I can't imagine doing some of the skills with say...a hammer instead of a sword. Probably just me derping, but I figured swords and axes/hammer would give two different playstyle choices. It limits things a bit, yeah, but not as much as them being pure swords, like the original idea.

[malboro_urchin]

FWIW, I like the idea of trees allowing you to spec into weapon type. I think restricting a martial class to *one* weapon type may not always work out, but that's a somewhat different situation from this class, where the player at least has the option to spec lightly into either weapon spec. Also, the hybrid tree should help to alleviate the issue as well.

[NemesisZeru]

FWIW, I like the idea of trees allowing you to spec into weapon type. I think restricting a martial class to *one* weapon type may not always work out, but that's a somewhat different situation from this class, where the player at least has the option to spec lightly into either weapon spec. Also, the hybrid tree should help to alleviate the issue as well.

FWIW?

And yeah. One weapon type was a bit much..you could really get screwed over, and be crying when that mega hammer of doom drops, but you can't really use it. Sorta creates a scenario where you sorta base your style off lucky drops that happen early on...but then again, I feel that's sorta the fun of it. I kinda wish more classes had that kind of...spontaneity, I guess? I can see why that'd be frustrating to plan around, though.

((Sorry if that's sorta rambly and possibly unrelated. Been up all night. xD))

[malboro_urchin]

FWIW = for what it's worth

[NemesisZeru]

FWIW = for what it's worth

Ah, makes sense. For some reason my brain didn't make the connection, haha