New mage class: The Elementalist

[Delmuir]

My theory for this class is a mana-based summoning class that derives its power from having a summon in play, i.e., you summon one elemental into the field of play, and for the duration that it exists, you gain a collection of elementally-derived powers.

The drawback being that if you can't summon anything, you're a sitting duck. That would make first-strike status effects like stun or sleep especially brutal on this class.

More so, the class would be magic and constitution based.

You'd possess eight total summons, one lesser and one greater of each of the elements. You *should* only control one at a time. Controlling more than one reduces your ability to control them BUT grants even greater power in the right combination, although you wouldn't be able to control diametrically opposed elements at the same time, such as fire and water. Combining multiple lesser elementals would be standard play. Advanced would be a lesser and a greater of the same type. Risky would be lesser and greater of different type. Reckless would be combining two or more greater elementals.

The lesser ones grant numerous abilities and last for "x" turns. Ideally, you'd finish the fight while the summon is in play. Once its duration expires, the summon returns to the elemental plane, or whatever.

Greater summons are riskier... they grant huge abilities BUT they're immensely hard to control and there is a risk of them breaking free from your control (there would be an ability to mitigate that risk but at the cost of global speed) and either becoming neutral or even hostile.

All summons would be hard to kill, possessing massive life and 100% absorption and resistance penetration for their element and over 50% resist to two of the other three, each also possessing an elemental weakness. In other words, it'd be best to ignore or displace elementals as enemies and focus on killing the Elementalist itself.

The summons would have most of their power constrained, i.e., used by the Elementalist. They'd basically just be simple golems and meat-shields, so to speak. However, should a greater one escape control, it'd possess full control over its power and the Elementalist would lose said power, making escape prudent. In that situation, its duration would increase by an indeterminate amount, but eventually it'd go home.

All summons could be canceled, while under control, thus allowing you to get rid of a greater summon before you lose control (there'd be a percent warning). That wouldn't be possible if you're put asleep or frozen so losing control would generally be rare, but dangerous.

Most talents would be oriented around increasing duration of control, defense, escape, and status-effect mitigation. Each elemental would grant between two and four abilities, changing depending on type and combination.

I'd suggest having the lesser and greater in the same unlocked tree, one in the first, and one in the capstone skill. The locked trees would include all of the ancillary skills for defense, escape, and status-effect mitigation.

Basically, if you want to ignore safe play, you'd be able to max the unlocked trees, although it'd be a suicidally reckless style of play. You could also focus on one element and the locked trees for safety... or some combination. Ideally, this class would play anywhere from hype-offensive glass cannon all the way to absurdly defensive tank, and everywhere in between.

I'll try and lay out some talents in an update IF anyone actually likes this idea.

[Erenion]

So you would have five unlocked trees and four locked trees, right?

Spell/Fire Summoning
Spell/Ice Summoning
Spell/Air Summoning
Spell/Earth Summoning
Spell/Elemental Shaping (also includes skills for control)

Spell/Infernal Power
Spell/Glacial Power
Spell/Static Power
Spell/Deep Power

Just one question: Wouldn't controlling elementals be based on Willpower? It just feels like it should be that way to me.

[Delmuir]

Just one question: Wouldn't controlling elementals be based on Willpower? It just feels like it should be that way to me.

I haven't exactly thought this out terribly well but I did like the idea of a magic/constitution based mage. I don't think enough classes focus on constitution and I figured it'd make for fun and interesting equipment choices.

That's not to suggest that it's a good idea, ha ha.

As for your other questions, I think 5/4 seems about right. Four summoning categories, one supplementary, and then four locked classes, each with a gameplay focus, i.e., each locked class really focuses you in a particular style of play.

My primary idea was just the notion of creating a class that had some added risk/rewards plus a lot of variability in terms of builds.

Having said that, I'm not entirely sure what the skills and categories ought to look like so I encourage anyone who likes the idea to offer up suggestions, criticisms (preferably constructive ones), and so on. No idea is a bad one, given that I currently have few ideas beyond what I've already posted, ha ha.

Here's a first run at an idea, using your category descriptions:

Fire summoning (primarily offensive): Also, all elementals can be canceled at any time.

1. Summon lesser elemental

Elemental would have melee attacks, a ridiculous (per level) amount of life, and have 100% resistance penetration and absorption. Would last for 6 turns. Cool down 24.

Would grant you two skills:

a. Fire blast with range 6 and hits a 3x3 area for decent damage.

b. Fire wave... a 3x1 wave of fire that travels range 8.

2. Consuming flame

An active skill that suppresses any active fire elemental's global speed and life by 50-20%.

A lesser elemental would grant you a fire aura, radius 5. The fire aura does "x" damage every turn to everyone, excluding yourself, within it for as long as a fire elemental is active and under your control.

A greater elemental would grant you fire shield, radius 3. Another aura but this one slows down all incoming projectiles with a chance to burn up the projectile. Additionally, inflicts "x" fire damage on strike.

3. Raging fire

Active skill that causes fire damage to burn more intensely, granting additional (up to) 100% damage over 5 turns.

4. Summon greater elemental

Elemental would have melee attacks, a ridiculous (as per level) amount of life, and have 100% resistance penetration and absorption. Would last for 4 turns. Cool down 40.

Greater elemental's have a 5% chance to break free after 1 turn (plus whatever is gained from Control), growing 3% each turn thereafter.

Would grant you three skills

a. Incinerate... strikes one enemy for intense "x" fire damage (akin to shock). Must be within range 5 the greater fire elemental.

b. Destructive flame... active skill that grants resistance penetration for fire.

c. Inferno at level of skill.

Having both a lesser and a greater in play grants this skill:

Hellfire:

Active skill that rains down fire akin to Aether Breach except over a larger range. In combination with earth or air, this skill changes into an even more powerful skill.

When combined with an earth elemental, it turns into Meteor Storm. Over range 10, causes fire/physical damage combination by hitting 100% of squares, causing stun and bleeding. VERY POWERFUL.

When combined with an air elemental, it turns into Firestorm - akin to Hellfire but causing a hurricane-like effect as well. VERY POWERFUL.


Water summoning:

1. Summon lesser elemental: Same as above except slightly longer duration.

Grants two skills:

a. Form of water: passive skill that grants cold resistance, absorption, and raises resistance cap. Any melee enemies that strikes you gains wet effect.

b. Rainstorm... Causes frigid rain to strike 50% of all squares in radius 5, each turn for 3 turns.

2. Fog Sustain

All water/ice attacks leave a burst of fog/mist behind which temporarily reduces sight range through it.

3. Blastfreeze... active skill, up to 50% chance to freeze any wet target.

4. Summon greater elemental

Same as fire except a slightly longer duration. Grants three skills:

a. Frostbite... active skill that causes additional damage when freezing an enemy (increases resistance penetration on any skill that freezes).

b. Black ice... active skill that freezes the ground, reducing movement along it by up to 50%. Causes cold damage every step.

c. Ice wall... active skill that creates an ice block 1-5 thick around you. Enemies can attack it, if they're not encased in it, just like any iceblock.

Having a greater and lesser in play grants additional skill:

a. Hailstorm... Same as rainstorm except causes serious cold damage over range 8.

b. Ice armor... Reduces all damage by flat amount. Any attack produces a frost backlash, causing "x" percent chance to freeze IF the enemy is wet.

When combined with an air elemental it grants Blizzard... massive storm that obscures vision, lasts multiple turns, and does massive damage.

When combined with an earth elemental it grants Glacier... A slow moving but near impenetrable moving wall of ice. Does massive damage when if it hits.

---

This is just my first attempt.

[Arcvasti]

Random Feedback:

-I'm not sure that giving them really high health is the best way to make elementals durable. I think that either having Ghoul resilience or something like Unstoppable/whatever Temporal Hounds get would be better.
-Greater elementals having a chance to turn hostile per turn is simply terrible. Its good thematically, but wouldn't work well in practice. It'd either have a trivially low chance to happen or make every long fight into a deadly slog. A better way would probably be having them gain a chance to turn hostile the more you use the abilities they grant, in proportion to their power. Elementals could ramp up their power as you used them more, but with a greater risk of losing control. Elemental Shaping could include talents that do cool things with hostile elementals or set the chance for hostile elementals to zero for a few turn, kind of like Static History.

[Delmuir]

Random Feedback:

-I'm not sure that giving them really high health is the best way to make elementals durable. I think that either having Ghoul resilience or something like Unstoppable/whatever Temporal Hounds get would be better.
-Greater elementals having a chance to turn hostile per turn is simply terrible. Its good thematically, but wouldn't work well in practice. It'd either have a trivially low chance to happen or make every long fight into a deadly slog. A better way would probably be having them gain a chance to turn hostile the more you use the abilities they grant, in proportion to their power. Elementals could ramp up their power as you used them more, but with a greater risk of losing control. Elemental Shaping could include talents that do cool things with hostile elementals or set the chance for hostile elementals to zero for a few turn, kind of like Static History.

Interesting feedback. Thanks.

Let me stress that I'm not wedded to any of these ideas, I just want to articulate my reasoning.

My theory on the health was to discourage attacking them at all by giving them obscene amounts of life, rather than making them "durable" per se because they aren't really a minion in any classic sense. They'd be like a mobile wall of sorts.

Good idea? I don't know... but I wanted to make the reasoning clear because maybe that's poor reasoning or maybe someone will have a better application of the idea.

As for turning hostile... the key, at least to me, is that you can avoid that by canceling them at any time. If you mess up, you'd have to run. It's a risk-reward situation. The way I'd avoid letting fights turn into a long slog is by having the higher-risk talents do massive damage.

Still, your proposal is a good one although then it operates like a battery for each skill, akin to essence of the dead. You could "pre buff." I want there to be some time pressure, but then again, I don't know if that plays better... it's just my theory.