Druid Mod (v1.4)

Discussion in 'Mod Releases' started by Syphonix, Apr 29, 2012.

  1. OmniaNigrum

    OmniaNigrum Member

    Dwarf Beards:
    This Fungus is odd in that like the Dwarves, it grows into the Earth rather than over it. Also, it hates pointy ears.
    30 turn buff, +5 :armor_asorb: +3:dodge: -4 :edr:.

    Diggle Ticks:
    As awful as it sounds, this is no joke. These are ticks from everywhere in the dungeon. They cannot bite Humans though, and require Diggles to reproduce.
    30 turn buff that spawns a cloud around you every five turns that persists for a few turns afterwards and inflicts a weak :dmg_putrefying: DoT that is taxa animals. (If it turns out to be too weak it can be made more potent and allow them to inflict a smaller DoT on the player too.)

    Magical Beans:
    Even the Druids will not explain the horrible magic of these cursed beans to other Druids.
    15 turns of a massive, smelly AoE :dmg_toxic: cloud that hurts the player just as much as everything else. (5 :dmg_toxic: per turn while in the cloud? It should probably be flat damage without scaling. I cannot imagine how "Beans" would cause more damaging gas due to any particular stat.)

    Take any, all, or none if you like. I can keep coming up with crazy ideas if you need some more.
     
  2. Syphonix

    Syphonix Member

    Nice. I'm digging the Dwarf Beard, I think I will certainly add that at some point. The idea of the stink cloud is cool, but I would probably turn that into some kind of thrown fruit so the player doesn't have be in it when it begins.
     
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  3. On scavenge - you could essentially turn it into a low CD eat corpse ability that gives a small chunk of exp, and has a small chance of producing something amazing. The fluff would read something along the lines of "you return the dead bodies of your enemies to nature. I.e. you drop something unspeakable on their corpses, which causes them to decay at an alarming rate. Sometimes leaves a dangerously potent consumable behind. Best not think of the process that causes it appear. Oh, and pass me some of the shroom."
     
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  4. Syphonix

    Syphonix Member

    If I did something like this and it gave experience, players would feel obligated to sit and wait near every corpse possible, trying to snag xp and a chance for a buff fruit. I'd rather avoid this. The 3% chance to proc on ANY kill I'm testing right now is quite nice. It doesn't proc alot, but I'm currently sitting on a few buff fruits in case I need them, probably a few more than I should. Tempted to drop the fruit buff to 2%, but that 1% difference could mean an awful lot.

    As for the Barkskin in the current testing: 9% off of any swing is way too much healing coming in. This may need to come down to 8% and I may have to shave a few more points off of the later Tiers that add to Guardian Seed.
     
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  5. Well the rationale is that you're not getting it for free - You have to make the effort of using the ability. Besides, if the cooldown is really low (as low as 3-5 turns), it won't even be a tangible waiting time. The general idea is to up early game appeal of a level hungry tree. In GR, people typically pick up 1/3 of their final level total within the first 2 floors or so. After that, the amount of level/floor quickly slows down to a trickle. This means that the levels you pick for these first 10-12 levels essentially affect you get to play around with in a very meaningful way. Considering that the tree doesn't really come into its own until you get past the 4-5th level, and that it gets very hard to get those 4-5 consecutive levels afterwards, you essentially end with a "support" tree that puts the player in a very awkward position. Yes, it's a lot of utility, but it's also a big investment for a lot of utility. Getting an Exp booster (through the corpse eating means, or otherwise) makes it a better deal for the player. It's still a big investment for a lot utility, but now you know that you are getting some of that exp back. It doesn't have to be a corpse eater (which all told, is actually a pretty wanky mechanic that also competes with other trees for corpses), but I personally like it because, while you do get extra exp, you're not getting it for free.

    My next best alternative would actually be to turn this level into active-able low-mana drain buff (say 1 mana every 4-5 turns) buff that gives you extra exp from kills/rare fruit drop from kills, and procs barkskin on playerhit (makes more sense than hit, imo, from a logical point of view). That way, you could also justify the 9% proc rate, because it is costing you mana to sustain. The reason why this is not my first choice is because it comes back to back with the capstone. Admittedly, this is not an issue unless you are going very warrior heavy with your build, but if you are going to go warrior, then you'd have to be quite the alcoholic to sustain this tree. Which may not be such a bad thing, considering I never quite figured out what to do with all the booze from dire gourmand.

    Edit: On adding more fruits - Imo, I think that we should stop somewhere with the fruit spawn (five seems to be a good number). If you want this to give more value, you should think of instead introducing level 0 crafting recipes based on these unique items. E.g. 3 Atomic Apples give you The Triple-A Drink. Which would give you something like 50 sagacity for 10 turns, do a nukular explosion about you when it wears off, then apply a -50 sagacity debuff for 10 turns or so. The ability to turn a warrior friendly item into a mage friendly item and vice versa would greatly increase the appeal of this level for both archetypes.
     
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  6. Syphonix

    Syphonix Member

    I should have specified that in the current test build, Barkskin is in fact triggered off of playerHit. Being a passive 9% chance to be healed on top of Guardian Seed is a little over the top. I'm going to just change up the trigger chance. I really don't want to add another skill that needs to be actually used to this set, especially right before the capstone. While I originally labeled this as a support tree, its starting to get a bit more tricky, considering it can bring a decent amount of damage on its own . I think its grown to be more of a hybrid. Regardless of this, that doesn't change the fact that the skill set is so long and requires a devoted number of points to become a serious force in and of itself. Alleviating this with XP is a good idea. Maybe adding an XP booster to Earth Rune on slaying Animals while the buff is UP and RUNNING would give it a bit more of a kick, and I could nip 2 problems in the butt with 1 change.
     
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  7. Syphonix

    Syphonix Member

    Revision 1.3

    Updated Thursday, May 3rd, 1AM EST


    Changes

    - Earth Rune (Tier 1) now grants an additional 4:magic_resist:. Taking Earth Rune now grants a passive that grants you 8 experience upon slaying an animal.

    - Venomous Rain (Tier 2) has had its mana cost reduced slightly, and scales better to Savvy.

    - Cleanse (Tier 3) has had its passive chance to trigger Guardian Seed reduced to 8%, from 9%.

    - Gift of the Mountain (Tier 4) has had :resist_conflagratory: removed and has been granted 2:dmg_crushing: instead (in order to not counteract Barkskin's weakness). Gift of the Mountain's proc chance decreased to 6% from 7%, and has been increased in damage by the following : 1:dmg_crushing: with a 3.2 scale from :life_regen: (up from 1.0 scale from :life_regen:), 1:dmg_blast: with a 0.6 scale (up from 0.3 scale), and 1:dmg_conflagratory: with a 2.4 scale from :mana_regen: (up from a 1.2 scale from :mana_regen:). In addition, the proc now paralyzes for 5 turns.

    - Pillar of Wild Growth (Tier 5) no longer triggers Guardian Seed when cast and passive chance to trigger it reduced to 10% down from 11%. Mana cost reduced to 20 from 24. Savvy scaling increased slightly.

    - Heart of the Wood (Tier 6) no longer triggers from slaying Vegetables. Instead, Barkskin has an 8% chance to be triggered upon being hit, and Scavenge has a 3% to create a fruit upon slaying any enemy. Barkskin now grants 4:magic_resist:, but no longer grants 1:sagacity: or 1:burliness:.

    - Nature's Wrath (Tier 7 Capstone) has been buffed significantly. Mana cost reduced slightly and scales better off of Savvy. Wrath Fire now scales at 3.0:life_regen: up from 1.2:life_regen: and causes burn. Wrath Frost now scales at 3.2:mana_regen: up from 1.8:mana_regen: and has been changed to a cone attack. Wrath Lighting now scales at 3.0:mana_regen: up from 1.8:mana_regen: and causes paralyze in an X formation. Wrath Boulders now scales at 3.6:life_regen: up from 1.2:life_regen: and causes knockback. Trigger chance of Nature's Wrath reduced to 65%, down from 70%.
     
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  8. OmniaNigrum

    OmniaNigrum Member

    Looks good. Sorry I have not been more vocal, but the DLC has been stealing all my time. Every minor bug I find has already been reported, so I may as well make another Druid build.
     
  9. Dray`Gon

    Dray`Gon Member

    I like the addition of the notation on that error stating that the game will probabaly crash. XD

    Been following this thread for a while (being a pretty big fan of druids in most games), and decided to chime in for one quick question. You stated some abilities now scaling with Savvy, but I thought Savvy was more of a rogue attribute. If this is correct, is this to also make adding rogue skills somewhat appealing as well, or did you not want to make too much scale off of Burliness and Sagacity?
     
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  10. Syphonix

    Syphonix Member

    *quote removed*

    When I say scales on Savvy, I'm referring only to mana costs. I've been tweaking the spell costs to start lower to help builds closer on the warrior side, and the mana cost scales harder on Savvy to become more friendly to wizards.
     
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  11. Dray`Gon

    Dray`Gon Member

    Ah! That makes sense.
     
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  12. While I do think that it drained a bit too much mana for warriors, I also felt like it was adequate, because of just how valuable a chokepoint on demand is to a warrior. As it were, however, warriors did have to tank one or two roots to take full advantage of the choke, so it was no overboard by too much. However, the current mana useage level makes the tree a bit too wizard friendly imo, for most intents and purposes, it costs twice as much as unliving wall, does twice as much (at least) and more than makes up for the reduced duration with a nifty passive. Perhaps scale back the savvy scaling a bit, then add a little bit of mana to the cost?
     
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  13. Syphonix

    Syphonix Member

    Yeah, it's scaling waaaay too hard now. I'm going to be cutting that back for sure and add 2 mana back to the cost. That should put it where I want it. Just a little bit below where it was originally.
     
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  14. Syphonix

    Syphonix Member

    I just accidentally killed myself on floor 14 by stepping into my own Nature's Wrath fire proc. Sigh. Been a good run though. New build sometime today.
     
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  15. Syphonix

    Syphonix Member

    Update 1.4 Druid Magic Release

    The "Druid" skill shall henceforth be known as "Druid Magic."
    "Druid Magic" now takes itself a little less seriously.

    Changes

    -Guardian Seed (Tier 0) has been renamed to Bloom. Bloom no longer heals the player for 1 upon being triggered, and it should now stack with Fairywodger.
    -Earth Rune (Tier 1) has been renamed to Shelter. Shelter no longer grants experience from animals, but from vegetables instead.
    -Pillar of Wild Growth (Tier 5) has had its mana cost increased to 22, up from 20, and doesn't scale as hard to Savvy. Chance to proc Bloom decreased to 9%, down from 10%.
    -Barkskin now decreases :resist_conflagratory: to -3, down from -2, and no longer grants 4:block:.
    -Enchanted Toadstool has been buffed.

    Small change list this time, things are getting a lot more in line. I now feel this could be considered "released."

    Daynab, I think I will take you up on that offer to move this to Mod Releases, when you get a chance, please and thank you :)
    EDIT: Oh and could you also change the title to reflect that this mod is no longer in a Beta state?
     
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  16. OmniaNigrum

    OmniaNigrum Member

    It has been just shy of two weeks since 1.4 was released. I still love the skill. It is fairly balanced between warrior and mage builds and clearly useful to everyone. I cannot think of what else to add or change. Well done. This should be a part of any good build. :)
     
  17. Syphonix

    Syphonix Member

    Thank you very much :)
    I've got a rogue skill set in the works, but I won't put a great amount of work into it until the next patch. I'll likely update druid magic to take advantage of anything new as well.
     
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  18. OmniaNigrum

    OmniaNigrum Member

  19. Syphonix

    Syphonix Member

    First of all, I'm glad someone likes Druid Magic. I appreciate the thought and the input you have given me since the start.

    The shield is interesting. I like that it supports Druid Magic and it may even be something a shield wielding warrior would use. I'm going to keep this in mind for when I update Druid Magic sometime next month, while I'm working on the next skill set, if it doesn't get added into the previously suggested mod. Would I add it as a dropped fruit from Heart of the Wild, or just a random drop? If it dropped from Heart of the Wild, it would be nice to give it a fruity name and fruit-like graphics.
     
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  20. OmniaNigrum

    OmniaNigrum Member

    Your call. Either option works fine in my never humble opinion. :)

    If you do the spawn via HotW you should add the special flag so it does not normally spawn. This will keep it from getting in the way of non-druidic characters if I understand correctly.