Curse

dikelly1983 · Oct 17, 2006, 08:58 PM // 20:58

Armor, weapons, or other special items used by the pets must be crafted by special crafters, with common crafting materials creating low damage/low protective items and rare crafting materials creating high damage/high protective items. This pet is not the same as the Ranger’s pet, and thus a Ranger may have two pets at the same time. The initial amount of damage and armor rating of the pet should depend on the level of the caster. No upkeep is necessary, but skills to carry a pet and to heal/resurrect a pet must be carried in the skill bar, much like a Ranger’s pet (these are not the same skills as the Ranger’s ordinary pet, thus if the Ranger wanted both pets, he would have four of his skills slots used by those pet skills).

There should be a limit to how many pets per group. As creator, I suggest a maximum of two pets per group, with a maximum combination of Players, Heroes, and Pets at five, seven, and nine, depending on location in the game world. The reason I suggest increasing the number of the group above eight is that the pets, while adding one to the party, are not equal in power to other Players or Heroes. This limit of two may elicit complaints, but would encourage group discussion and approval. For example: which is better, a Level 5 Pegasus with all armor and weapons, or a Level 8 Pegasus without any additional weapons or armor? Each pet would have five pre-determined/non-interchangeable skills (skill types open for discussion).

Pets do not do large amounts of damage, but are present more for damage saturation than anything else. They should stay within a certain range of the caster, as befits the pet status.

How does one find a pet? I believe it would best be accomplished after the secondary profession choosing, as a one-time-only event. The quest would be in some remote corner of the realm, but still accessible, where the monsters would be difficult. Then of course, the Player would reach a settlement, named The Hidden City (where only those who have chosen a secondary, but not continued to the next primary quest would be allowed to enter, thus barring others from entering). The Hidden City would only be accessible from the point after choosing a secondary profession until the next Primary Quest is accepted. After that, The Hidden City would no longer be able to be found. Also, it would never show on the map. This quest should only be done with the Player, and he/she would be granted the pet capture skill for the duration of that quest only. The environment of the Pet Quest would depend on the Primary Profession of the Player (the Warrior would find himself in a battlefield with no enemies, the Paragon in a Heaven-like setting, the Monk in an abbey, the Elementalist on an island where the winds blow, and a volcano erupts, the Ranger in a forest, the Assassin in a cramped, dark city, the Necromancer in a graveyard, the Mesmer in a maze of mirrors, the Ritualist in a peat bog, and the Dervish in The Hall of Judgment before each of the Gods). Each of these environments would be foggy with few but constantly spawning enemies, and who are surprisingly easy (think enemies who show up as Level 20’s, to scare people, but do so little damage as to be simple to kill), with the exception of the boss, who should be somewhat challenging, but not too hard. During this quest, the Player would be sent to the location suggested to find Stone of Capture. Upon locating the Stone, the Player would then be tasked with hunting down the pet. The suggested time for this quest would be one hour.
Suggested pets for each character class:

Paragon: Pegasus
The Pegasus is able to equip armor to decrease damage. The armor can be equipped with one signet of strength. This armor does not encompass the head or legs, but only the trunk of the body. Damage and armor can be increased by equipping the Pegasus with Sharp-Metal Horseshoes (increases damage) and a Horned Faceplate (increases damage and armor). The Pegasus has the spear skills of a Paragon. The Pegasus does high damage, but is slow. It also is easy to hit, but can withstand heavy damage.

Warrior: War Horse
The War Horse is able to equip armor to decrease damage. The armor can be equipped with one signet of strength. This armor does not encompass the head or legs, but only the trunk of the body. Damage and armor can be increased by equipping the War Horse with Sharp-Metal Horseshoes (increases damage) and a Horned Faceplate (increases damage and armor). The War Horse has the hammer skills of a Warrior. It does high damage, but is slow. It also is easy to hit, but can withstand heavy damage.

Monk: Phoenix
This Phoenix has the ability to resurrect the nearest adjacent ally upon its death. Damage and armor can be increased by equipping the Phoenix with Sharp-Metal Claws (increases damage) and a Horned Faceplate (increases damage and armor). The armor can be equipped with one signet of healing. This pet has the Healing skills of a Monk. The amount of health healed as well as the amount of health and energy gained during resurrection are determined by the level of the caster. The Phoenix does medium damage at medium speed. It can withstand moderate damage, but is just as likely to be hit as not.

Elementalist: Golem (fire, water, earth, or air)
The Golem can only be created with the aid of a signet. This signet (fire, water, earth, or air) determines the type of golem created, as well as the type of damage it does. Upon the Golem’s death, all adjacent foes are hit elemental damage, as determined by the element of the Golem and the level of the caster. The Golem, like the Doppelganger, has the ability to equip a weapon. The weapon of the Golem is a hammer (the level of hammer that can be used is equal to the level of the caster). The Golem has skills of an Elementalist (type depending on the type of Golem it is). The Golem does high damage, but is slow. It also is easy to hit, but can withstand heavy damage.

Ranger: Plant Golem
The Plant Golem can only be created with the aid of a Signet of Nature Ritual. Upon the Plant Golem’s death, all adjacent foes are entangled (unable to attack) for X seconds (X being equal to the level of the caster). The Plant Golem, like the Doppelganger, has the ability to equip a weapon. The weapon of the Plant Golem is a tree trunk (a staff, whose level is equal to the level of the caster). The Plant Golem has the trap skills of a Ranger. The Plant Golem does high damage, but is slow. It also is easier to hit, but can withstand heavy damage.

Assassin: Rat
The Rat can summon more of its kind. This summoning of rats occurs at only one time: the death of the caster. When the caster dies two instances occur: one, a swarm of rats attacks all foes adjacent to the caster’s body (causes multiple low-damage attacks), and two, the caster’s body spawns an undead creature that attacks any foes within range. The amount of rats summoned on death is determined by the level of the caster. The Rat can not wear armor, but can be equipped with Sharp-Metal Claws to increase damage. One signet may be equipped by the Rat to increase Shadow Stepping. The Rat has the Shadow Stepping skill of the Assassin. The Rat does low damage but is fast. It is also difficult to hit, but cannot withstand much damage.

Necromancer: Snake
The Snake can summon more of its kind. This summoning of snakes occurs at only one time: the death of the caster. When the caster dies two instances occur: one, a swarm of snakes attacks all foes adjacent to the caster’s body (causes multiple low-damage attacks), and two, the caster’s body spawns an undead creature that attacks any foes within range. The amount of snakes summoned on death is determined by the level of the caster. The Snake can not wear armor, but can be equipped with Sharp-Metal Fangs to increase damage. One signet may be equipped by the Snake to increase Death skills. The Snake has the Blood Magic skills of a Necromancer. The Snake does low damage but is fast. It is also difficult to hit, but cannot withstand much damage.

Mesmer: Doppelganger
Like the Golem, the Doppelganger can equip a weapon. The weapon of the Doppelganger is a wand (the level of wand that can be used is equal to the level of the caster). The Doppelganger is able to equip one signet of Illusion. Upon the death of the Doppelganger, all adjacent foes are struck blind for X seconds (X being equal to the level of the caster). It has the Illusion skills of the Mesmer. The Doppelganger does medium damage at medium speed. It can withstand moderate damage, but is just as likely to be hit as not. The Doppelganger cannot travel out of touching range of the caster. Enemies (both EvP and PvP) see the Doppelganger as an exact copy of the caster, thus making it difficult to know which is the real foe, and which is merely an illusion. Allies, on the other hand (both in EvP and PvP) see the Doppelganger as a ghostly copy of the caster.

Ritualist: Unbound Spirit
The Unbound Spirit is unique in its lack of “normal” attacks. Rather, it attacks by creating a pool of Spirits of the Damned. The Spirits of the Damned appear as the arms and faces of spirits attacking from below the ground. The Spirits of the Damned form a protective Area of Effect around the Unbound Spirit (much like a Well of Blood). This attack forces the Unbound Spirit to stay in the spot it cast the spell until the spell has ended. The Spirits of the Damned continually drain the health and energy of the attacker. The Unbound Spirit, upon death, creates a portal. This portal has an Area of Effect that will instantly cause X damage (X equal to five times the level of the caster) to all adjacent enemies and a critical hit (chance 5%) that will instantly destroy a foe with less than 50% health. The Unbound Spirit has the Channeling Magic skills of a Ritualist. It does low but continuous damage, and can withstand high damage. As a spirit, it can not wear armor, but its magic can be supplemented with one signet of Channeling.

Dervish: Avatar
The Avatar is, in reality, a piece of each of the five gods. It randomly assumes the aspect of one of the Gods (Balthazar, Dwayna, Grenth, Lyssa, or Melandru) to cast its entrapment spell. From Balthazar it casts Rings of Fire that deals negative one to negative five continuous fire damage and binds for X seconds (X being equal to the level of the caster). Dwayna’s spell appears as a Fist of Air that causes knockdown for one to five seconds and X damage (X being equal to the level of the caster). Grenth casts Spear of Ice that causes X damage (X being equal to the level of the caster) and freezes for one to five seconds. Lyssa casts Hall of Mirrors that causes the foe to miss attacks for the next one to five seconds, with one third of the damage redirected to the enemy. From Melandru it creates Bog of Thistles that cripples the foe and causes one to five damage per second for X seconds (X being equal to the level of the caster). This pet can not wear armor. The weapon of choice for the Avatar is a scythe. Each spell is cast at the expenditure of all energy, with a minimum cost of 30 energy. The Avatar does moderate damage and can withstand moderate damage.

Alternatively, to cut back on programming and implementation, one could suggest these pets for the professions:

Paragon and Warrior: War Horse
The War Horse is brute force like the Warrior and Paragon.
Elementalist and Ranger: Golem
The Golem is a being of elemental forces, aka forces of nature.
Necromancer and Assassin: Rat
The Rat is good at sneaking and is seen as a creature of the dead.
Ritualist and Dervish: Unbound Spirit/Avatar
Both the Avatar and Unbound Spirit use Area of Effect, non-aggressive spells. Instead they try and persuade enemies not to attack them through bindings, or Area of Effect spells that cause damage to the enemy non-directly.
Monk: Phoenix
. Mesmer: Doppelganger

Knightsaber Sith · Oct 17, 2006, 10:04 PM // 22:04

/notsigned

Not seeing this as improving on the game much and just sounds like more clutter.

actionjack · Oct 17, 2006, 10:37 PM // 22:37

Its a interesting and delightful idea, but I don't really see much reason for it.

The idea of pet would certainly attract certain set of players, and will surely be visually pleasing. But for functionality, not see how it would impact the game much.

As it sound, it is much like extra runes or enchantment, passive effect from using one skill slot. Since would expect their attack power or effect to be low (not as good as ranger's pet), and would either tend to be over-powering or under-powering.

That is not to say there are no viture in it. Some modification I would made would be: Make those pets smaller, (like a bird or ferret size), and not as big as a man (horses are big). Another alteration would be just make each proff have some sort of "summon" skill that is link to their primary attribute.

On side note, I would hope to see Pet-armor on Ranger's pet, as well as giving those pet passive attacking effects, in order to boost up Beastmaster's usablity. Also a bump to me doemstic pets...