how about a spell for warlocks that involves breaking limbs, it could be used in a similar manner as a crush or sever limb ability but would just be used as a spell instead of a physical action
in response to your poll on warlocks...I think they should function much like the medicine men who practice "bad medicine" in traditional african tribes...in that they are nesscearly evil or shunned from society. They are often called upon in times of tribal war because they can make people sick, bring famine, etc. They have their purpose but most people are scared of them because they CAN do evil things, but also they CAN do evil things with a good purpose in mind...if that makes any sense.
Nick (my brother, co-owner of the Shards of Orn, and our first Head of Plot) has some hang-ups about having PC warlocks at the game's inception. However, I like to go with the flow of player interest, and since you're the only player who's expressed an interest so far, you've definitely got my attention. I can't make any guarantees that you'll be permitted to play a warlock from the get-go, but if you'd like to help out and the class is eventually offered to players, I can promise you'll be first in line. ;)
That being said, the way to help out most would be to familiarize yourself with the action system. Basically, special in-game actions are built using components that determine what they do (Effect and Intensity), how they're performed (Method), how long they last (Duration), and any other special modifiers that apply to them (Meta). The rating of each component goes into a formula that determines that action's rating, which determines how difficult it is to learn and how often it can be used. It sounds complicated, but the website handles all of the calculations for you.
What I'd like you to do is come up with as many warlock actions as you can think up (as above, by using the action suggestion form). Pay particular attention to the Effect components you use. Some effects that seem especially appropriate for warlocks include Carry (animate a dying or dead character enough to walk with you), Fear, Feign, Freeze (rigor mortis), Maim (wither limb), Mute (sew your mouth shut), Ruin (rust), Slay, Slow (a form of weakness that targets the legs), Snare (undead hands reaching out of the ground), and Strike (warlocks will primarily use the void damage type). These should all have nice, descriptive names. I imagine most will be packet-delivered and use verbals.
As a side note, the system can accommodate any number of components, so if there's one you think of that doesn't exist, I can add it. Animate, for example, is an effect component that I'm planning to create for the warlock's use. It will function much like Summon or Shapeshift in that you make another player into a monster under your control. The main difference will be that the player in question must be dead first, must be at least the same level as the undead created, and does not have to be willing. ;)
I'll go ahead and give warlocks approved status for the time being so you can see what you have to work with. Let me know if you have any questions.
I saw Ryllen. Glad to see you're having fun building characters. ;)
Apologies for not making it clearer. New character options can be suggested via a link at the bottom of each character option section in the left-hand menu. For example, if you've got an idea for a race, just go to Races under Character Options, then select, "Suggest a New Race," at the bottom of the list. In your case, you'd go to Actions and select, "Suggest a New Action." You'd then be able to fill out the form that creates the action. In your case, you'll want to set "Usable By:" to Warlock, set "Effect:" to Maim, and set "Method:" to Single Packet. Everything else should be fine as is.
On a side note, I haven't been covering my tracks well enough, because Warlock is slated to be a restricted character option. Basically, this means it requires administrator action to gain levels in warlock; you can't become one without approval. In fact, you're not even supposed to be able to see it without admin privileges. This is used for character options that are still being playtested, as well as character options that are intended for little or no use by players. Warlock falls into the latter category due to its evil flavor. After all, in a game of heroes, we can't have half of the characters running around being warlocks, now can we? ;)
Hopefully this helps. Please let me know if you have any other questions.
That's not to say these options won't be available at all, only that they'll carry additional story requirements and will only be given to our most experienced and loyal players. The same applies to monstrous races and the like. For instance, since monsters are built using the same system as PCs, it won't be out of the question to make, say, a fiend or beast PC... oops, there I go saying too much again. :P