Curse

Plague · Mar 09, 2006, 02:54 AM // 02:54

I enjoy doing this, and have gotten "wow, nicely thought out"'s and "interesting"'s from most of my previous concept, so I figured I'd make another for the fun of it.

This may be the least balanced of my class suggestions, because I took so many chances in conceptualizing what it would do. Just a forewarning.

The Mercenary

The Mercenary is by trade a support fighter and somewhat a jack of all trades and a weapons master, although most of a Mercenary's skills tend to benefit himself a little more than his allies. A Mercenary may also find that combining professions or even taking another primary profession will result in interesting self-support builds.

Notes: A Mercenary can use the weapon or item of any profession while ignoring requirements, with the exception of damage ratings. To deal extra damage with a weapon (beyond what is incurred naturally), points must be invested in Weapon Mastery. Unlike other classes, Mercenaries use energy for skills in addition to being able to use skills by taking damage.

Natural statistics at level 20:

Health: 530
Energy: 25
Energy Regen: 1

Attribute Lines:

Secondary:

*Misdirection - This is the art of subterfuge; misdirection skills target the decision-making capabilities of the enemy, allowing them to waste their health and energy, or even turning them against each other.

*Guidance - Guidance is an art of suggestion, meant to craft your own plans in the actions of your allies to garner power and strategic positioning for yourself.

*Weapon Mastery - For every point of Weapon Mastery, you deal 3% of your weapons' maximum damage as shadow damage with each made physical attack. Many skills tied to your ability to use those weapons more effectively are tied to Weapon Mastery.

Primary:

*Compensation - For every point of Compensation, whenever you use a skill that targets another ally or a foe, you gain 1 health.

Skill Examples:

Misdirection:

Second Guess
1/4 Cast Time
10% Damage
25 sec Recharge
-Hex. For 3 seconds, if target enemy uses a skill, that skill uses twice as much energy. If the energy requirement for that skill cannot be met, target foe takes (1...3) points of damage for the initial cost of the skill, maximum (10...70), loses only the initial energy cost of the skill and Second Guess ends.

Perplexing Strikes
1/4 Cast Time
10% Damage
40 sec Recharge
-Physical Hex. If this attack hits, target enemy sustains no damage. For (5...15) seconds, each time that enemy uses a physical attack, (15...65)% of that damage is redirected to that enemy's nearest ally.

Gladiator's Challenge
3 Cast Time
5 Energy
20 sec Recharge
-Nature Hex. For 5 seconds, all physical damage caused by all enemies in the area is redirected to you. If this damage is more than (50...20)% of your maximum health, after 5 seconds you are healed for (5...15)% of your maximum health.

Singed Palms
1 Cast Time
10 Energy
30 sec Recharge
-Spell. If target enemy is not wielding a weapon, that enemy loses (15...50) health and 5% of his current energy. If that enemy is carrying any item, he drops that item, causing (5...15) shadow damage to all nearby foes.

Guidance

Chain of Command
20% Damage
2 Cast Time
45 sec Recharge
-Augmentation. Your nearest party member is augmented with Chain of Command. The next time that ally uses a skill, Chain of Command spreads to another nearby party member. Each time Chain of Command is triggered, the damage your physical attacks deal increases by 1. After (4...12) seconds, Chain of Command ends for all allies.

White Lie
15 Energy
1 Cast Time
20 sec Recharge
-Enchantment. For (2...6) seconds, each time target ally's physical attacks connect, your maximum health increases by 5%. When White Lie ends, your maximum health returns to normal. For every (15...8) points of health you lose, you gain +1 armor for (8...24) seconds.

Intervening Guard
10 Energy
1/4 Cast Time
10 sec Recharge
-Enchantment. If target ally would die while enchanted with Intervening Guard, you instead take any damage that ally sustained while enchanted with Intervening Guard, which is deducted by (5...25)%, and that ally is teleported to your location, and you to that ally's previous location.

Warped Imagination
10% Damage
2 Cast Time
15 sec Recharge
-Augmentation. All party members are augmented with Warped Imagination for 5 seconds. Each time an ally augmented with Warped Imagination casts a spell, your attack speed increases by (1...4)%, maximum (15...40)% for (4...16) seconds.

Weapon Mastery

Mage's Zeal
15 Energy
1/2 Cast Time
30 sec Recharge
-Wand Enchantment. If you are wielding a wand, for (3...8) seconds, every time your physical attacks connect, you steal (1...3) energy.

Dust Devil
15% Damage
1/4 Cast Time
15 sec Recharge
-Melee Enchantment. If you are wielding a melee weapon, you swing your weapon and create a Dust Devil at your current location for (5...13) seconds. Each time you connect with a physical attack on any enemy standing within Dust Devil, that enemy's movement is slowed by 33% and is blinded for (2...7) seconds.

Scorched Earth {E}
20% Damage
1/4 Cast Time
1 sec Recharge
-Bow Enchantment. For (3...8) seconds, all of your arrows are fired into the sky at your targets' current locations. When Scorched Earth ends, your arrows strike those locations and knock down any foes in those locations at once, dealing an additional (2...10) Earth damage and setting their targets on fire for 5 seconds.

Shadow Game
10 Energy
5 Cast Time
5 sec Recharge
-Augmentation. Target enemy is augmented with Shadow Game for (10...25) seconds and your skills cannot be interrupted for (3...8) seconds. Each time an enemy augmented with Shadow Game uses an attack skill, if you are wielding the same weapon type as that enemy, you inflict the same damage caused by that enemy's skill to all foes adjacent to you.

Compensation

Spiritual Loan
5 Energy
1 Cast Time
5 sec Recharge
-Spell. Transfer an additional 5 energy from yourself to target ally. The next time that ally uses a skill that costs energy, you gain (70...200)% of the cost of that skill as health, maximum (5...40).

Blood Loan
10%
1 Cast Time
1 sec Recharge
-Spell. Transfer an additional 10% of your current health from yourself to target ally. The next time that ally connects with a physical attack, you gain (25...100)% of the damage that attack caused as energy, maximum (3...12)

Debt of Confidence
10 Energy
1 Cast Time
30 sec Recharge
-Enchantment. The next time target other ally uses a spell that restores health, or alternatively is healed himself, that amount is increased by (20...80)%.

Keoradine's Interest
15 Energy
1/4 Cast Time
3 sec Recharge
-Hex. Target enemy is dazed for (1...3) seconds. If that enemy is interrupted while Dazed, that enemy begins carrying Keoradine's Interest. If that enemy drops Keoradine's Interest, you steal (8...20) health from each foe adjacent to that location. If target enemy does not drop Keoradine's Interest after 5 seconds, you steal 5 energy from that foe and Keoradine's Interest ends.

Soul Shaker · Mar 09, 2006, 03:39 AM // 03:39

Nice....favourite ones are intervening guard and scorched earth...though, that could also be a ranger skill...

/signed for implementation, original as far as i'm concerned.

zoozoc · Mar 09, 2006, 03:46 AM // 03:46

so does he use adrenaline or are you adding a different mechanic into the game? Also the fact that he can use anyones weapon is sorta pointless, anyone can do that, all it means is he can use staffs with having nothing in the needed attribute and still get full energy, which sounds unbalanced to me.

Nevin · Mar 09, 2006, 04:01 AM // 04:01

He doesn't really have a role in the games mechanics, although I'm sure a Mercenary appearance would make up for it.

If you're gunna go for versatile, ditch the unique masteries and go for the basics.

Like..
Close Combat Mastery
Ranged Mastery
Magic Mastery
Etc.. etc..

Personally I think the Mercanery should have something unique to him, wether it be claws or a polearm..

Plague · Mar 09, 2006, 04:07 AM // 04:07

Well, you can actually do that with any profession. My Ranger uses wands when I act as a trapper for the extra energy.

The point was that a Mercenary doesn't use weapons unique to his class, just whatever he finds lying around, if he wants to work as a weapons expert anyway; he can just as easily not use a weapon at all and act as sort of a support caster. Since damage is usually linked to how fast a weapon attacks, it's fairly balanced enough.

actionjack · Mar 09, 2006, 04:22 AM // 04:22

"wow, nicely thought out!" and "interesting!"

Some very creative skills, I especially like Guidance lines.

However, some issue with it... the class name doesn't seem appealing, since "Mercenary" seem too general of a Profession description in what they do. They also seems to be too much of Jack-of-all-trades, which lost the "specialization" that the other GW classes have. And the Weapon Mastery attribute seems a bit like a filler, and having the ablity to use all weapons doesn't seem to to work too well.

But still, most of the skills are those of the most creative I saw. Can I steal some for my "Commander" class?

Plague · Mar 09, 2006, 04:28 AM // 04:28

Go ahead, I just do this for personal entertainment. It's not as though ANet cares about integrating any of OUR ideas, after all.

Ken Dei · Mar 09, 2006, 05:47 AM // 05:47

Love this class. A.Net does care, a lot of use wanted an Assassin type character and we got one.

calamitykell · Mar 09, 2006, 05:56 AM // 05:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plague

Go ahead, I just do this for personal entertainment. It's not as though ANet cares about integrating any of OUR ideas, after all.

You're kidding with that, right?

zoozoc · Mar 09, 2006, 06:08 AM // 06:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Plague

Go ahead, I just do this for personal entertainment. It's not as though ANet cares about integrating any of OUR ideas, after all.

Maybe not any crappy ideas.

But seriously, that was a joke right? Because its pretty funny.

lyra_song · Mar 09, 2006, 11:03 AM // 11:03

Interesting. Its like a mix of the mesmer and the necro but with the physical skills warrior with even less regen XD.

I love the skills that make them carry an item.

I dont really think mercenary is the proper name for it though. We need a better name for it ^^