Warlock abilites

Submitted by Zach J. on Mon, 1/12/2009 at 9:15pm

okay so I threw together some warlock abilities, let me know if you like the general direction I've put on them or if you want something else.

Thanks for the suggestions. These are a great start. Here are my revisions so far.

  • I changed the name of "hellbolt" to "Nether Bolt" and "Demonic Presence" to "Fiendish Presence". Silly as it may seem, for game design reasons, religious connotations are best avoided in LARPs. See the Policy on In-Game Religion for more details.
  • I changed the name of "dark light" to "Will-o'-the-Wisp." This wasn't for any other reason than I thought it was a cool name. ;)
  • I removed the intensity component from Demonic Presence. Intensity is only relevant as a modifier to the effect component. For example, it determines the damage of Strike effects. In the case of Fear, you don't get anything special from intensity, so you're better off leaving it at zero.
  • Some effects, like Summon, require you to give additional information. For example, a Summon action summons a specific creature (one you have to build beforehand). Once we've got warlock actions better defined, why not make a 3rd-level fiend warlock, call it an imp, and change your action to Summon Imp?
  • I changed the name of "Death Touch" to "Reaper's Scythe" and changed the method to Single Weapon Strike. I just clarified the entry, but Touch is not intended to be used offensively. If you want an offensive touch action, you can set it to Single Weapon Strike and use an unarmed boffer widget. This is mostly a safety precaution.
  • Nether Bolt, Will-o'-the-Wisp, Fiendish Presence, and Reaper's Scythe are all approved for use. Feel free to add them to Ryllen; they're now a part of the game.

okay added some more (though you prolly already know that) as well as some ranger abilities that I thought might be handy.

I approved Disarming Shot.

I deleted Gather's knowledge. In order to facilitate better party dynamics, healing is generally restricted to Disciples and Druids. A very few exceptions (e.g., Lycanthropes) can use self healing effects, but giving it to approved classes will diminish the usefulness of having a healer-type character around.

I changed the name of "Precision Shot" to "Precise Shot" and approved it.

Void Walk needs additional information. A 10-intensity Teleport lets you teleport to a location at any distance, but the location is specific to the action. Thus, you could create Void Walk: Shady Corners Tavern, for example.

I deleted Fiendish Charm. I need to go back and make it more clear, but detrimental effects always have a duration of instantaneous or one encounter. This is to eliminate the need to call the duration with the tagline in combat, as well as limit the power PCs can exert over one another. Imagine if PCs could permanently Charm, Command, or Critter Form other PCs... scary...

I changed the duration of Dark Speech: Binding to one encounter (for the same reason as above) and approved it.

One thing I'm up in the air about is whether to give warlocks Guard and Strengthen effects. It really depends on how much of a melee class they're going to be. Should they be ranged, like wizards, or a mix of ranged and melee? I'll get back to you on this one, but feel free to weigh in on it.

I think they should have a ranged/melee type build but focuse more on minion summoning/control. and fiendish charm I'm gonna tweek so it only affects "evil" people or fiends. and just a small question about Rangers, are they being built like D&D rangers or did you have something else in mind?

Incidentally, I just added the Drain effect to the component lists, and I'd say it seems more than appropriate for warlocks to use it with impunity. What do you say? Want to develop some warlock life-draining actions for me? ;)

okay so I made 3 diffrent health drain abilities one for early lvls, mid lvls, and upper lvls. just take a look and let me know what ya think plz.

I don't have a great deal of time for a detailed breakdown, but I modified and approved some of your suggestions, as well as added a few of my own to help fill out the Drain progression. I also added some weapon enchanting actions, since I know warriors will be dying to get some of Drains for themselves. ;)

I love the idea of Netherlings. In fact, part of the whole Animate/ShapeShift/Summon trinity I'm planning is for players to be able to suggest monsters for inclusion in the game in the same way that they can for actions, races, classes, and skills. Unfortunately, I've got a large backlog of other features that need to work first (e.g., improved design, downtime activities, character changelogs, character sheet printouts, the reward system, etc.) before I can get to it, but it is coming. I'll keep Summon Netherling as suggested for now so that we can use the monster idea later. If you have any other summonable monster ideas, be sure to add them as well; just keep in mind that they won't work until we can properly create the monsters that they summon. ;)

In a lot of ways, I had intended on druids being pretty opposite from warlocks, so Nature's Reclaims is out. Besides, leaving Drain as a warlock specialty makes the class that much more distinctive.

I like the concept of Dark Speech: Revitalize, and I'm glad to see you're starting to integrate meta components. Again, though, this brings up something that requires further clarification from me, in that spirit actions must be delivered as if you are incapacitated. Thus, it's fine to use a Self method to affect yourself, a Touch method to affect someone who touches your body, or even a Melee Radius method, but packets aren't going to work since you're incapacitated and cannot throw them. I renamed it to Dark Reformation (since you're not speaking, Dark Speech doesn't seem appropriate) and modified it to use Melee Radius instead. Thus, a warlock with this power who falls unconscious can call "Melee Radius 5 Drain" if anyone gets close enough, draining enough health to regain consciousness. Pretty cool, I'd say. Hopefully you don't use it on your friends. ;)

Something important to note is frequency of use. I see in some of your descriptions that you're dictating how often the action can be used. This is actually handled automatically. Whenever you create an action, note that under the action's components and rating, there is a chart listing different levels and frequencies. Essentially, if you know the action, your class level determines the frequency with which you can use it for each preparation. Thus, a 7th-level warlock can prepare seven warlock actions. If he prepares an action with a very high rating, he might only be able to use it once per day. If the action's rating is lower, however, he might be able to use it every encounter. It all scales very nicely, so you don't have to worry about declaring it with the action.

I'm still undecided on whether warlocks should be able to simultaneously drain multiple targets and gain that much health. It would be very difficult to marshal. For example, during an evening field battle, a warlock lobs a five-foot radius on packet Drain effect into a large crowd of enemies. How can that warlock know how much health to gain without stopping the game to count? No, the more I think about it, the warlock gains the same amount of health regardless of the number of enemies affected. Thus, warlocks are probably better off sticking to weapon strikes and packets, since they'll get the most bang for their buck that way.

Keep up the good work, and let me know if you have any questions.