Character Classes for animal monsters

[The Revanchist]

Stalker

But thats the appeal, the intended value, the main attraction of the concepts... it makes it feel more like a roguelike
its so cruel, so unforgivingly painful to unexpectedly lose a character when you're down and almost out, and you expect to easily win in your current situation[!]

Desynchronized [and] Deranged Lunatic

The lunatic, on the other hand, makes the game very interesting, and should be significantly increased in power from what I had though of; maybe with much lower minimum values than I had listed; it'd make you feel like you're fighting a boss
imagine a WtW deranged lunatic running around nur lvl 3; almost everything there would die on nightmare+, except for maybe other WtWs; and imagine it guarding the staircase after everything else is dead
wouldn't that make the game so much more... interesting?

they make the game stop being a bumpfest in some areas, for example, the 4th, 5th, and 6th T1 dungeons that a player does, or most of old forest on nightmare+, which doesn't get the nightmare+ scaling where enemy level is concerned
Desynchronized does an especially good job at making the player stop in their tracks during a bumpfest and go like, "okay, so theres a desynchronized, what the )!_& does he do, what the &!%^ is he weak to, and what the )!)% do I do to kill it" and then, theres the more obligatory question, "should I get the hell outta dodge?"

I like the stalker idea much more than what I had come up with, and I hope that DG implements this without the one square vault thingy

I also like the randomly blinking around and randomly out of time ideas for the Desynchronized

This seems like it is developing into a massive train of quoting. Or I'm just quoting too much...

Bumpfests are the exact things we seem to be trying to avoid; we want the player to have two choices... Engage or Die. And we want "Engage" to be much more interesting. Having "wildcard" enemies would certainly freshen things up.

Stalker and Lunatic are still two separate ideas, right? Having a creature be both seems like it'd defeat the purpose of... both.

For the Desynchronized, it would make sense for them to be literally "out of time". Whether it is feasible to implement from a design-standpoint... Different story.

For my departure, another idea!
Inclement
Has a smattering of Lightning and Storm talents, a decent global speed bonus, and random teleportation. After all, Lightning is a chaotic element...

[Zeyphor]

Stalker and Lunatic are still two separate ideas, right? Having a creature be both seems like it'd defeat the purpose of... both.

For my departure, another idea!
Inclement
Has a smattering of Lightning and Storm talents, a decent global speed bonus, and random teleportation. After all, Lightning is a chaotic element...

add my "Fast" idea to Inclement

and yes Stalkers and Deranged Lunatics are still two separate ideas

[The Revanchist]

Stalker and Lunatic are still two separate ideas, right? Having a creature be both seems like it'd defeat the purpose of... both.

For my departure, another idea!
Inclement
Has a smattering of Lightning and Storm talents, a decent global speed bonus, and random teleportation. After all, Lightning is a chaotic element...

add my "Fast" idea to Inclement

That'd be an annoying enemy to fight. Especially if you're using something with little mobility.

Also, new idea: Life-thirsty
Significantly lowers the healmod of nearby creatures (or just the regeneration), and uses this vitality to fuel their own power. Gains global speed (small), attack power (high), and resistance (small) for every nearby actor. As well as the obvious "damages others with their presence" aspect.
Might be a nice counter to over-reliance on Fungus, too. Anyone know what happens to health regen if the healmod goes below 0%?

[notacorporal]

Those sound to me actaully more like NPC egos really, which is fine and good =)

I would say what matters most is how they are going to be used. I would prefer a single broadly focussed class to a number of egos piled up on each other.

Happy with both and/either or some weird hybrid, whatever works best

Below, is what I had in mind for character classes. This is the only one I have done in any detail.

Protective Mother

Appropriate Species: Bear, Canine, Feline, Wyrm*

Other Possible Species: Ancient Dragonturtle*, Rodent, Snake

*These monsters have lesser subspecies that would be their young.

Species that already have a mother subtype: Queen Ant, Ritch Hive Mother, Weaver Matriarch

Important stats: Willpower and Strength

Special Talent Trees:
mother/mother's brood
mother/mother's love
mother/stretch marks

Optional Talent Trees (at least one of):
cursed/dominate
cursed/fears
cursed/rampage

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Mother/Mother's Brood

/brood of young [passive]
The monster gains an escort of monsters of the same species. These are either a well defined younger subspecies of the mothers level, or the same as the parent but of lower level. The mother is anchored to her starting location (range 10). The young are also anchored to the mothers starting location (range 5).

/plaintive wail [passive]
The mother becomes alert if any of her young are, and she aquires the same target. She can see monsters that the young can see, even if line of sight is blocked (range X).

/too damn cute [passive]
A Mental Save is needed in order to directly harm any young.

/rush to save [activated] cooldown=3 [instant use]
Controlled phase door to anywhere within X squares of any young.


Mother/Mother's Love
This tree is modelled on cursed/gloom

/maternal ward
This is equivalent to gloom base talent [can be made passive?]
Any non-foe must make a Mental save to enter the gloom affected area. If they do so the mother becomes hostile.

/sanctuary
This protects the young as well as the mother


Mother/Protector
This tree is modelled on cursed/cursed form.

/instinct to protect [passive]
The mother gains hate for each hostile in range of her young.

/restless defender
This is the same as /relentless

/seethe
The benefits are gained of any of the (mother or young) take damage.

/gruesome revenge
The benefits are gained for damage to young.

[Doctornull]

I haven't gone over these for balance or practicality, but wow I really like the basic idea.

This stuff could go a long way to improving replayability of early zones.

[notacorporal]

I'm really pleased with all the positive feedback, but also pretty daunted.

Am I now in charge of a project or something, because I am really not an "In charge of a project" kind of guy. I am more like a perfectionist procrastinator, who will leave a project in bits on the shop floor from now until eternity.

How do good ideas turn into proper real stuff? I would ask for programmers to help with this, but feel that the whole thing needs to be better defined before I can ask for other people's commitment.

[The Revanchist]

I'm really pleased with all the positive feedback, but also pretty daunted.

This is a good thing. That usually means it's a good idea that everyone wants.

Am I now in charge of a project or something, because I am really not an "In charge of a project" kind of guy. I am more like a perfectionist procrastinator, who will leave a project in bits on the shop floor from now until eternity.

Are you volunteering? You don't need to be the "in charge" type of guy to be the "in charge" guy. It's just icing on the cake if you are.

How do good ideas turn into proper real stuff? I would ask for programmers to help with this, but feel that the whole thing needs to be better defined before I can ask for other people's commitment.

Devoting time to it whenever you can, and using the skill you have to make something of the ideas we all pushed in here. I tend to be missing that second piece in my endeavors... If you mean "Where do I start?", then it might be a good idea to get one easier one that trying to put it all into action.

Warning: My advice is backed by precious little experience. If you want experience in modding, or those that are to help you, I'll shut up.