Curse

BahamutKaiser · Jun 23, 2006, 12:14 AM // 00:14

The Stalker

This is my class idea, for what is typically known as a Vampire. A vampire usually has roots and origins in mythos and historical events, like Christianity, and Dracula, but those things don’t exist in GW, so trying to draw conclusions about vampires based on real world mythos isn’t appropriate, this includes their origins, weaknesses, or powers.

I already wrote a nice long story, “Tale of the Dark Stalker”, which is an elaborate idea for a chapters background, as well as an explanation of the First Vampires origin. The stereotypical vampire is weak to crosses, evil, and blasphemous to “God”, so in this case I have developed a class which uses powers which are now forbidden by the gods because of the calamity they caused, interestingly enough, this is the reason why Vampires are only on Forlusha (the continent in the story), which goes along with the natural construct of only being able to make this new class in this chapter.

Here is a link to the story.
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s....php?t=3035147

The class is similar to Elementist, in that he uses powers derived from each god, but each power is focal on countering a certain kind of attack, or an alternate version of that gods powers, all of which are unnatural, and now forbidden.

The name for the class could most classically be called Vampire, but from the start it automatically mirrors Necromancers vampiric skills in the Blood Attribute. Because of the comparison, another name may be better, but the way Necromancer utilizes blood magic in a life stealing manner in comparison to this Vampires physical “assaults” which not only siphon life from their enemy, but immobilize them, are quite different, this I will explain further as the more unique feature of this class. Some other titles which would fit the class would be Stalker, Forsaken (by the gods), or some kind of Vampire hybrid title like a Vampir or the like. The other title which would well suit the class could be something like Incubus or Succubus, but it would have to be one title for male and female, and unless there is ambiguous title for male and female seduction demons, this wouldn’t work, although it would be a great set of armor.

Vampire may be too similar to Necromancers blood magics to be considered as a class, I know. But since classes like Ritualist, which use the spirits of the dead instead of the corpses of the dead, share a name with some of the skills a necromancer has, and moreover, are known as necromancers in the White Mantle army, as well as serve Grenth, since Ritualist is so similar to necromancer, I don’t feel an actual vampire class is uncalled for. Vampires are yet unknown, leaving the origin of such titles like Vampiric Bite miscellaneous. If Vampire isn’t going to be a class, it should at least be an enemy.

And the usual argument, a vampire can be made putting this or that class together like Ranger/Necro, will always come up. Wile ranger can use necromancers life stealing skills well, this Vampiric classes skills will be about as similar to necromancers blood magics as Ritualist Spirits are to Elementist Wards.

If you’ve read the story, you already know what the powers are for the vampire will be.

“Seduction”, the attribute which uses gender specific hexes, which will cause alternate effects depending on whether you use them on the opposite gender or same gender.
Against the opposite gender, Seduction hexes naturally seduce your enemy, against the same gender these same hexes will cause jealously, and likewise have a different effect. This attribute is focal on gender specific hexes and hex defense, with stances that increase the casting time of hexes targeting you from the opposite gender, as well as some natural defensive stances which screw around with both opposite and same gender enemies. Some examples would be a stance which causes enemies at your location to miss 50% of the time against any target besides you, a kind of actual distraction, and the skills which throw hexes you are suffering onto an enemy. The skills in this attribute should gear toward hex manipulation and defense, along with some generally effective techniques. This power comes from Lyssa.

“Transformation”, this attribute transforms you into a monstrous beast.
One of the big pitfalls of transformation would be enemies, especially demihumans which transform into a were creature, so a certain form isn’t appropriate, instead, this creature is simply a monstrous creature which is not particular to one creature, it just has large claws, large fangs, maybe horns and a hardened hide, something like a saber tooth tiger mixed with a reptile, the monstrous creature could looking different for other races. This Attribute focuses on adapting to melee comba. There would likely be a few different kinds of transformation, some transformations would be to add more damage to your attack wile reducing attack rate, some would be to add more defense, and perhaps some stronger transformations like an Elite would improve attack and defense. This attribute would include attack skills which work wile in a transformation. Increased points in Transformation increase your damage and chance of critical with any melee weapon wile your in a Transformed state. Using Transformation would increase your attack and critical with more points in this attribute, and then some more based on the transformation skill you used, this attribute has the capability to increase your characters attack power a great deal wile in a transformed state, but casting spells will transformed take twice as long, making it difficult to use any spell casting wile in this state. This attribute also includes skills which resist the effects of conditions, and reduce condition durations. This power comes from Melandru.

“Frozen Fire”, or Frozen Flame, or Freezing Flame, this attribute has the power to deal ice damage which causes burning, and raise Barriers.
Technically it is an unnatural freezing inflammation, but in actuality they are just ice damage spells that cause burning, instead of fire spells. This attribute is focal on reducing elemental damage at your location, and gains special effects if you are attacked by Fire or Ice damage. The idea for this attribute is a class which casts a Ward like effect at his location. But unlike Elementist Wards, the caster becomes immobile, and cannot activate any attack skills wile he is maintaining this effect, we can call these Barriers. Wile this attribute would contain some offensive spells, similar to fire magics, with ice damage, the majority of these skills should be geared toward making Barriers. These Barriers create effects on an area the radius of a location, and perhaps larger. Offensive
Barriers would have an radius as small as a location, and perhaps 50% wider, they can deal Heavy DoT damage on that location, because they require closer proximity to an enemy to deal damage on them, and because the Vampire becomes immobilized until the Barrier ends, or it will interrupt the effect, the Vampire is also unable to use physical attacks in the case that someone comes near them, but they can continue to cast other spells. Some of the Defensive Barriers can extend to effect areas the same radius as a binding ritual, these barriers would focus on reducing elemental damage, and perhaps causing Frozen Flame damage to enemies attacking your allies. Attack spells in this line would include effects which deal extra damage if you are hit with damage or conditions/hexes related to fire or ice spells.

“Vampirism”, this attribute has a unique skill as well as some attacks, defensive stances, and movement skills.
The Vampires Bite type skills are a new kind of stance/shutdown, which has a very unusual effect. First of all, in order to “feed” on an enemy, you have to be within touching distance, when the skill takes effect, it immobilizes the target, so they can’t move, at which time you feed on them in a particular feed stance. Wile you are feeding on the enemy you cannot use any other skills, or the feeding will end, different feeding skills will gain health from the enemy in different ways and last for different amounts of time. When an enemy is being fed on he can still use skills, but he cannot move, he can also not be attacked by any other enemies, so in a way it works as a sort of protection against any other enemies. If the person who initiated the feeding is damaged wile feeding, the damage is also dealt equally to the victim, degen conditions or hexes will not effect the victim, but if you start attacking the Vampire wile he is feeding on your teammate, you will be damaging your teammate as well. With added points in Vampirism, Skills related to vampirism will increase in power, and if you take damage wile feeding, you will absorb a certain amount of life from the enemy, increasing with points in Vampirism.

Vampirism is a melee attack attribute, and the only attribute which has a weapon associated with it, added points in this attribute will also increase your damage with this weapon (elemental spirit claws) but does not increase your rate of critical. This attribute also includes some very interesting skills, like blood attack skills, which cost adrenaline and health (not sacrifice but a certain amount of health), if you are already bleeding when you use a Blood attack skill, you do not lose the designated amount of health the skill requires. These blood attack skills increase in Damage and health loss as you increase points in vampirism, some of these attacks are ranged, and they are part of your weapons attack so they add to the damage of your weapons attack, they are attack damage not spell damage. The typical blood projectile attacks fire a homing projectile (spinning crescent blade), which moves half as fast as an arrow. Because of the speed of the projectile, you can run from it, but it is homing so it will continue to follow you until it hits you or a blocking object, although some may work like normal projectiles or move faster. Unlike first three attributes, this was not created by one of the gods, but rather stolen, from Dwayna, her powers of life and air have been reversed into life stealing and blood mixed with the power of air (this is where the flying blood blades come from). This attribute also has a stance which has high evasion and a stance which has increased speed. As for Feeding counters, when the Vampire activates a feed skill, he is in a special stance, any of these can be interrupted by a stance breaking skill, and these can be interrupted by a knockdown, if an enemy doesn’t have these abilities then he can try keeping his teammate alive by healing them, although these feeding skills don’t kill very fast unless you start attacking the Feeder only doing more damage to your teammate. Any skill which prevents knockdown also prevents feeding. Feeding Stances are different from normal stances, and cannot be mirrored either, they are like Weapon Enchantments compared to Normal Enchantments, similar but not quite the same. This attribute could also include some energy feeding bites as well.

“Forbidden Power” is the last Attribute, it doesn’t come from any of the 5 original gods, instead it comes from the patriarch of the Vampire Race, a self proclaimed god. In the story Eathin Rosha gains these powers from the gods, but along with his powers from the gods he also has an inward power he gained from elsewhere, which further enhances his powers, and made him a threat to the gods themselves.
Forbidden Power, which is the vampires primary attribute, increases the vampires health which each point in Forbidden power, adds an additional amount of life stealing per second to feeding skills, and adds regeneration to transformations. For each point in Forbidden Power increases the health stolen per second wile feeding by 2, increases the vampires health by 7 or 10, and add 1 point of health regen for every 4 points in this attribute wile in a transformation. Exactly how balanced it would be would have to be put to the test, it may not work quite right, but the attribute should increase the vampires health and increase health stolen per second by feeding skills by at least 2 for each point. This attribute would also include some ambiguous skills, similar to divine Favor. This is much like Elementists Energy storage attribute, but because giving a class twice as much health is broken compared to giving a class twice as much energy, I tried to divide it up among several smaller improvements. It may be very appropriate for this class to have a lot of extra health in the advent that many of his skills in all of his attributes have health costs besides just Vampirism.

The vampire doesn’t use health sacrifice like Necromancer, skills which cost health on the Vampire deal more damage to the enemy and himself as you raise points in Vampirism, this is offset by the Vampires higher health and can be avoided by bleeding. There will likely be an enchantment in Vampirism which allows the Vampire to cast his self damaging attacks and skills without losing health as well, and an Elite, which steals health in the amount lost when he uses an attack that cost him health. The Feeding skills would range in capabilities, the first and most common feeding skill can only work if the enemy is bleeding, in which case you gain health regeneration in the amount of their degeneration, lasting about 5 seconds, this skill could be cast often, perhaps every 15 seconds, but not only could this skill be interrupted by a stance break or knockdown, and defended from anti-knockdown skills the same as any other feeding skill, but if the enemy is cured of bleeding wile your feeding on them, it is also interrupted. Some of the more advanced feeding skills would steal a certain amount of life per second for 5 seconds, or Health Siphoning directly. A good Elite would hold onto the enemy for 10 seconds and siphon 2 degen, and when the feeding ends it steals a certain amount of health for each second you feeding on the target. Feeding skills would usually cost adrenaline, and you lose all adrenaline when you use a feeding skill.

To elaborate on the weapons a bit, they are Spirit claws, typically of an elemental type, these are typically elemental, and can be modded. They are naturally melee, but some of the blood attack skills can actually deal ranged damage with these melee weapons as a modifier, giving them mid and full ranged attacks. These claws would look like translucent blades attached to the outside of the tip of the finger, with the hand straight they extend off the finger tip, but also down the outside of the hand, but with the fingers bent, they remain aligned with the furthest joint of the finger tip, with the blade protruding forwards from the finger and backwards. This is where I wish I could draw a diagram and knew how to post my pictures on the forums.

These weapons are made of the vampires spiritual power, the average claw does air elemental damage, if it doesn’t have any other mod added to the weapon, it will be air elemental damage. Vampiric mods would actually be bad for a Feeder Vampire because you sitting there with degen wile your feeding…. Not good. These weapons take up both hands, they attack at the same rate as Hammer, but the damage is weaker, like horn bow, they have a natural 10% armor penetration. You need these weapons equipped in order to use Blood Attacks from the Vampirism Attribute, but the Transformation Attribute has skills which add damage to any melee weapon you use, sword, dagger, hammer, or spirit claws.

The armor is also made of Spiritual Power, often looking formal similar to Mesmer, but having a hard consistency which repels attacks well. I will try to get some pictures to show what I mean, maybe I will post them here if someone can show me how.
The base armor rate is 75 or 80, and the armor has +5 energy on the leggings, also including some very effective mods for different builds. Stalker armor looks very rigid and formal, each piece adding an extra 20 armor wile feeding, and the body armor reduce bleeding degen by 1. Destroyer armor is made for the Transformation Vampire, adding damage absorption of 2 wile transformed, it looks like a draping cloak and pants or gown made of loose flaps of cloth. The Incubus/Succubus armor would look particularly seductive, with very tight cloths that enhances their attractive features, muscles on men, you know what on women, this armor has an extra 10 AL vs attacks from enemies of the opposite gender, and the body armor increases the casting time of hexes targeting the Stalker by 1 second (because their attraction distracts people universally?). The Dark Mage armor would have a very unique look, the armor would be more colorful than the others, with a flashy embroidery, higher energy of course.

The most unique and enjoyable part of the Vampires armor would be the head gear, which would actually be a cape. This cape would override any guild cape you have, it would still have your guilds emblem on it, but it would look different. This cape is a full cloak, the seducers cloak would wrap over the shoulders with an opening in the front, and have a hood. The Stalkers Cloak would have a slight point in the shoulders, and a tall pointed collar, it would cover the front of the shoulders with a wide parallel opening in the front. The Destroyers Cloak would be thrown over the shoulders so it doesn’t cover the front. The Dark Mages Cloak would be 2 separate flaps laying on both shoulders, connected in the back down to the waste, but flowing to the ground on the sides. All of the cloaks flow all the way to the ground. If your wearing the cape you can choose to hide it like any normal “head gear” and instead your cape would show, hide your cape as well you see nothing. If you hide your cape but not your Cloak you will not see the emblem on your cloak, unless your in PvP. Basically, as long as you wear the Cloak “headgear”, it replaces your cape, and the only thing left of the cape is the emblem which will be added to your Cloak. The basic look I’m going for is Dracula in Castlevania, and the vampire Myer from Vampire Hunter D BloodLust. Hopefully there would be enough vampire armors for players to emulate whichever look they desired (within reason).

This class serves as a close range “trapper” and anti class, most of his skills have melee or short range, so he has to get close to you, but because of the potency of his techniques, it would be most effective to run, thus the title Stalker may be appropriate. Each attribute is focal on countering a type of attacker, Hexes and certain gender, heavy damage and melee, fire and ice damage, and damaging attacks in general. The idea is to make a class which is alternate to shutdown counter, instead of countering the enemy with shutdowns, it counters the enemy by punishing them for making an attack.

I will continue with some examples if anyone needs more elaboration on the classes skill types and functions, but they are not perfectly balanced figures, just guidelines for a kind of attack. And when I get some time I will also add my ideas on attack, blood attacks, spell casting, and feeding looks, or how the character may look wile using these skills. No stupid buffy vampire faces when they feed, soooo lame.

Nevin · Jun 23, 2006, 01:00 AM // 01:00

Over all you’ve created a very original profession, although I do disagree with a few things and have some questions. First, is he a melee/caster? Such versatility would be fresh in Guild Wars and fully support it. But I find it a bit harsh to only have the profession available in this Chapter, I read the majority of the story mind you. Will it at least be available in PvP? Also I think a demonic/winged/horned figure would fit the transformation line better, even though that would be rather generic.

BahamutKaiser · Jun 23, 2006, 01:37 AM // 01:37

It can only be made in this Chapter, just like Assassin and Ritualist. When the chapter comes out there will obviously be some new event that allows people to enter and leave Forbidden Continent, it will be a new class which is previously undiscovered because of the barriers that were in place, but just like Canthans, after the chapter comes out they will be a new class you can take with you.

I went with the mixed "beast" transformation because he is basicly a monster, this can be used by just about any demihuman and still be logically benificial. Demonic would definetly describe this creature, and it could have some cool looking horns, but wings and flight are a whole other set of capabilities, and I don't want to push them that far.

I was thinking about some fast movement, floating type movement stances which would be available in the Vampirism Attribute, and perhaps that the class itself float over the ground instead of walk, like in light steps which hover momentarily, and if they use a speed increase skill they would fly over the ground altogether, but that is only in look, not some special capability.

What I was going to say about the Vampires casting motions is that they float over the ground a little, and their cape flairs out as if a a wind is lifting them (not out of control winds though). They cast with their left hand, raising their fist in front of them, than flinging their open hand out toward the enemy. Necromancers float off the ground wile they cast their dark magics, but they twist around in agony, a Vampire is literally casting from the bowls of power within, and makes motions as if it is easy, wile his capes flashing about makes it look like he is summoning the fires of hell.... Oh wait, he is, "Frozen Fire".

Nevin · Jun 23, 2006, 01:46 AM // 01:46

Quote:

Originally Posted by BahamutKaiser

It can only be made in this Chapter, just like Assassin and Ritualist. When the chapter comes out there will obviously be some new event that allows people to enter and leave Forbidden Continent, it will be a new class which is previously undiscovered because of the barriers that were in place, but just like Canthans, after the chapter comes out they will be a new class you can take with you.

I went with the mixed "beast" transformation because he is basicly a monster, this can be used by just about any demihuman and still be logically benificial. Demonic would definetly describe this creature, and it could have some cool looking horns, but wings and flight are a whole other set of capabilities, and I don't want to push them that far.

I was thinking about some fast movement, floating type movement stances which would be available in the Vampirism Attribute, and perhaps that the class itself float over the ground instead of walk, like in light steps which hover momentarily, and if they use a speed increase skill they would fly over the ground altogether, but that is only in look, not some special capability.

What I was going to say about the Vampires casting motions is that they float over the ground a little, and their cape flairs out as if a a wind is lifting them (not out of control winds though). They cast with their left hand, raising their fist in front of them, than flinging their open hand out toward the enemy. Necromancers float off the ground wile they cast their dark magics, but they twist around in agony, a Vampire is literally casting from the bowls of power within, and makes motions as if it is easy, wile his capes flashing about makes it look like he is summoning the fires of hell.... Oh wait, he is, "Frozen Fire".

I never knew that the Assassin and Ritualist could only be created in Chapter 2. I thought once you bought Chapter 2 you could create them in Chapter 3, Chapter 4, Chapter 5, etc etc etc.

BahamutKaiser · Jun 23, 2006, 03:36 AM // 03:36

We woln't know if they will allow you to make them in other chapters, but it requires a certain chapter to make Assassin and Ritualist. Either way, Vampires should only be made in the continent that they are from, they could be made in other chapters if they wanted to (as if they are going to make this class...), but the story line that I wrote pretty much seals vampires in Forlusha. Although, after you beat the chapter it may break the seal on Forlusha, allowing Vampires to spread..... which might be a bad thing?

I realy don't know how all that will work, but I know you can't make Vampires in Prophecies, we can't even make Assassins in Prophecies, and unless they carry over content for classes which are exclusive to a certian chapter in every chapter, then we woln't be able to make exclusive classes anywhere we want... Vampires or otherwise.

Rikimaru · Jun 23, 2006, 03:43 AM // 03:43

You said someting about a "Vampir" in there, I think you meant Dhampir.
And it's a really well thought out class, obviously you've put more time into it than most people would even consider, lol. But unless you read the story, the attributes don't seem to fit together as a single class, and if they added this class they'd have a hard time summarizing that information into the little box by the class when you're choosing one for a new character.
Each attribute functions both with a completely different means and a completely different goal.

BahamutKaiser · Jun 24, 2006, 12:03 AM // 00:03

Well the Attributes underscore the many different powers vampires are known to have, I actually messed up on the Frozen Fire bit, it was ment to be more of a weather effect which functions alot like a binding rituals effect, I may alter it.

It may seem like randomly thrown together attributes, but anyone who really thinks about a vampire knows these are steriotypical powers of a vampire, seductive powers, transformation into beasts and animals, unnatural magics and of course they feed on blood and could reasonably do special things with their blood. I didn't however do a good job of designing the attack types for these attributes, I ment for them to be more counter based, that way they are used to mount powerful counters against certain attacks, but I ended up making it quite offensive, expecially the transformation and Frozen Fire attributes.

I will probably revise it soon, I kind of rushed it because I had spent so much time writing the story rather than coming up with the idea, and even forgot the focal reason for some of the powers and their intended uses.

BahamutKaiser · Jun 24, 2006, 06:20 PM // 18:20

I revised the concept a bit and totaly redid the frozen fire attribute, it is now an Elemental defense and Barrier skill oriented attribute.

Verlas Ho'Esta · Jun 24, 2006, 07:34 PM // 19:34

Very nice. Very original, and well thought out. I'd definitely like to see this in chapter three (along with Rikimaru's Hollow class, BrotherGilburt's Raider class, and arcanemacabre's Feral class).

Rikimaru · Jun 24, 2006, 09:32 PM // 21:32

That'd be kind of cool if they had a barrier skill that trapped you and everyone else in it's radius in a giant jagged block of ice, making it so that no one in it can move or attack, but they can't be targeted, and if someone targets the ice and uses fire damage on it it goes away.
It could be maintained and drop your energy regen to 0.
The problem with that though is that it completely goes against the concept of Frozen Flames. It just sounds cool...

Is the idea behind the Vampirism skills that you clamp on to the person and start feeding off of them? That sounds like a pretty cool skill, latching on to someone and having your health/energy go up as there's goes down.

BahamutKaiser · Jun 24, 2006, 09:50 PM // 21:50

Well the idea for some of these skills would be great to carry over for other classes, barriers in specific would make great new skill types for Elementist.

I don't think putting a large group stuck in a block of ice is quite appropriate, I could see an Elementist using a Blizzard "Barrier" skill which does cold damage over time and slows enemies with ice hex for 1 second on each hit, but freezing them all in place is pretty powerful. The feeding skills freeze an enemy in place, leaving just one person immobile (besides himself), that alone is quite powerful, which is why the feeder can still get hit and the enemy can't, they just screw their own teammate if the enemy starts attacking the feeder.

Anyhow, the idea of a barrier is a mix between Ritualist binding spirits and Elementist DoT spells. Barriers would have defensive and offensive capabilities particularly pertaining to elemental damage, but because it immobilizes yourself wile maintaining instead of making an immobile spirit, it is granted better radius of effect and lower cost, which would be a neccesity for a low energy class.

This class serves as a very good melee range attacker, and a very good secondary for casters, being able to hold an enemy "hostage", is a great way for a caster to keep from getting squashed on the front line, and maintaining a barrier is a good way for Casters to hold their ground wile casting other spells. Because Barriers take away your mobility and your attack ability, it is alot easier to justify some effective numbers on this kind of skill.

lightblade · Jun 25, 2006, 05:42 AM // 05:42

Um...we already had that...and they're very annoying to deal with...

it's called a touch ranger!

Kijik Oni Hanryuu · Jun 25, 2006, 06:03 AM // 06:03

lightblade,not cool, bahamyut thought this very well out and you should not be downsizing his work! ANyways I love the idea, my only problem would be the armor, 75-80 is not too bad but +40 ZOMG thats a good 110-120 they would be the new thing in tankin.

Lets Get to Healing · Jun 25, 2006, 08:06 AM // 08:06

Do some of the hexes affect different genders? Because of so this may cause imbalance issuses.

Verlas Ho'Esta · Jun 25, 2006, 07:56 PM // 19:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kijik Oni Hanryuu

lightblade,not cool, bahamyut thought this very well out and you should not be downsizing his work! ANyways I love the idea, my only problem would be the armor, 75-80 is not too bad but +40 ZOMG thats a good 110-120 they would be the new thing in tankin.

So? My warrior has 120 armor now, before factoring in skills, shouts, and spells. What's your point?

Numa Pompilius · Jun 25, 2006, 08:05 PM // 20:05

No, I fricking HATE vampires!

*No* ninjas, *no* pirates, *no* vampires!

/unsigned!

TheSonofDarwin · Jun 25, 2006, 08:15 PM // 20:15

Quote:

Originally Posted by Numa Pompilius

No, I fricking HATE vampires!

*No* ninjas, *no* pirates, *no* vampires!

/unsigned!

Well, the community has already created an essence of ninja and pirate in the game (annoyingly, might I add).

Well thought out idea, truly. As long as they made it fit appropriately, I don't see why it wouldn't be a nice addition. I tend to enjoy vampire-esque ideas, but when it comes down to actually implementing it almost every other game has fallen far short of acceptable. I would be interested in seeing how they would manipulate this idea, for sure.

Rikimaru · Jun 25, 2006, 08:47 PM // 20:47

I'm going to add that Hostage idea to my Gunslinger concept, just for the hell of it.

M C H A M M E R · Jun 25, 2006, 09:11 PM // 21:11

Lmfao @ Seduction -_-

Alcazanar · Jun 25, 2006, 09:50 PM // 21:50

great job kid you just suggested A/N
NEXT!