Brainstorming A Negative/Darkness-Based Celestial

[Lubaf]

Okay, we have the Sun Paladin, who uses Light/Positive, and the Anorithil, who uses both Light and Dark. What does a Dark-using class look like?

My first idea is a Stealthy Archer type that has Stamina and a few Technique trees. (Stealthy, because Darkness, and Archer, because Sun Paladins have melee covered and Anorithils have the magic angle covered.)

Of course, the chief question is "how do they regenerate Negative Energy"? Three/four (depending on how you count) talents are my suggestion: Absorb Light, which grants NE based on how many lighted squares it snuffs out, Focus (which burns a turn and Stamina), and the double act of Sacred Darkness (a sustain that cuts your NE in half (after all other sustains besides the next one), but regenerates NE if you do darkness damage), and Dark Decent (a sustain that cuts your NE available in half (after all other Sustains besides Sacred Darkness), but regenerates NE if you deal non-darkness and non-physical damage). (Yes, if you have both sustains on, you have zero NE.)

From Techniques, the obvious trees to give them access to is Stealth, Archery (bows), Archery training, and Mobility.

They probably need a passive that grants infravision.

What should the class be named? What should their Celestial trees look like (besides the tree mentioned two paragraphs above, which I'm calling "Gathering Darkness")?

Further question: What negativity using classes exist in mods? Are they any good?

Anything else missing?

Thanks
Luc "Obvious Gaps" French

[Radon26]

the similar thought ran through my mind some time ago.
as i didn't feel it to be complete enough i did not suggest before, but here is a few categories you might consider.

shadow forge
t1) shadow armament -sustain-
while sustained, instead of using your normal arrows, you fire shadow forged arrows, at an additional cost of 5 negative.
stat mods: 50%cun 75%mag (or so)
also if empty handed makes daggers too.
t2) no good idea for 2
t3) shadow block -active-
shift shadows creating a shield that can absorb up to xx damage with each hit, up to xxx damage total and lasts up to 3 turns.
t4) shadow projection. -sustained-
create a copy of yourself and take direct controll of it, which will have all (or most) of your default talents.
the copy instead of using your weapons, will make a passive use of shadow armament, have all stamina cost changed to NE, and (since they are shadow forged anyway) swap between bow and dual instantly like warden.


also, to fill its unique shots quota.
shadow archery.
t1) mastery -passive-
it's gotta be somewhere.
t2) hidden shot -active-
fire a shot with increased accuracy.
if undetected, auto hit and crit. but obviously, alerts the enemy to your presence. (maybe no alert if SA is sustained?)
t3) shadow binding -active-
fire an arrow doing xxx% weapon damage and binding the target.
for the next x turns, the target will be disarmed and unable to move, as well as take xx physicall damage a turn.
(what's better than a grapple? A RANGED GRAPPLE!)
from Etl5, it also pulls up to 3 other enemies within radius 3 to the original target, and bind them as well.
t4) i dunno.

a utility category too.
t1) cloak of the shadows -passive-
gives stealth and some other bonuses while on an unlit tile.
t2) flesh conduit -passive-
letting she darkness flow through your body gives you some bonuses. probably. scales with con, because.
t3) shadow stride -sustain-
while sustained, you move xxx% faster, but every step drains cost you 5 mana and 5 negative (maybe less, i am not good with balance).
t4 shadow madness -active- (cost 20 mana and 5 pos)
attempt to confuses everyone in a target area.
any who remain in the area, if a confusion check is failed, the enemy will take a swing at a random adjacent tile, instead of moving randomly.


my idea is probably not very good, but i hope its salvageable.
there were 2 more categories, but one is all about positive energy, and the other dabbles in necromancy just a little. probably wont fit in your version.

[XLambda]

People have been suggesting a celestial dark-based archer for a long time. I myself don't really have a lot of ideas about that, but here are some previous attempts to construct such a class. Maybe you can get some inspiration from there.

edge's Ithiltir: http://forums.te4.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=27616
senon's Moonlit Hunter: http://forums.te4.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=33438
Elkan's Avenger: http://forums.te4.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=28323

You might also want to look into HousePet's Starslinger from his Midnight addon (http://forums.te4.org/viewtopic.php?f=50&t=38683) and Donkatsu's Silvermoon design (http://forums.te4.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=31421), though the latter one is a fighter/rogue based on Celestial Dark.

Anyway, I hope this helps! The Dark side of the Celestial metaclass IMHO is really under-explored in vanilla ToME, and certainly worth some attention.

[astralInferno]

It's not an archer, but I did make the Trench Strider, a moon/sea themed melee negative caster.

[Radon26]

moonlight is not the same as darkness.
moonlight is still a light, therefore it is not darkness.
but yes, the class has been available to download for 3 or 4 months, i think?

[XLambda]

moonlight is not the same as darkness.
moonlight is still a light, therefore it is not darkness.

Excellent argument - under different circumstances, I might agree with you. However, ToME has already associated moonlight with darkness, as the Anorithil's Moonlight Ray (as well as Hymn of Moonlight) does Darkness damage.