What Strategies/Abilities/Effects Are Missing?

[Grape_You_In_The_Mouth]

I read Eder's Scale Mail upgrades again and fell in love with Veteran's Maneuver - immunity to reflex attacks until hit twice.  Similarly, tactical abilities like Brilliant Tactician and Checkmate are so cool and different than just the generic +10% burn damage.  I want to make more cool effects like this, but it's hard to dream them up.  What are some tactical strategies or abilities that you've found to be missing in Deadfire?  Anything cool like this that you'd want to see in the game?

Here's a list of other "strategic" abilities already in the game that I noted:

    - drawing cut - first wpn hit +dmg +acc
    - drawing parry - first 8s +defl
    - first to the fight - first 10s +10 all def - armor
    - capture - swap to near 2 allies/foes, +10 acc, stun, courageous
    - blessed defiance - near 2 foes +1 engagement
    - coordinated escape - immune engagement near 2 allies
    - unseen demise - untargetable 10s if killed 10s after escape
    - squid's escape - escape + immune to engage 3s + blind + confuse
    - attempted parlay - threatened by 3, +20% atk speed
    - certain mutiny - if ally charmed, swift + intuitive
    - shadow form - invisible on kill
    - bushwack - stun on invisible attack
    - mystical celerity - if mind inspiration, +10% atk spd
    - immune to push and pull - helm and belt
    - shadow fang - stealth attacks add raw DoT
    - hearth and home - teleport to ally
    - immortal will - can't be interrupted if injury
    - authority - vs mind afflictions +5 will aoe
    - veiled hood - when first attacked, arcane veil
    - veteran's maneuver - immune to deflection attacks until hit twice by other defenses'
    - tactician - +resource on interrupt
    - brilliant tactician - flanked all foes, no flanked allies, brilliant
    - tactician - not attacking same target -1 pen -acc
    - tactical dilemma - when flanked, shaken, confused
    - persistent distraction - on engage, distracted
    - sweep off your feet - prone foe if perception affliction on crit
    - insistence - instant recovery 10% when missed melee
    - chain breaker - instant recovery 10% when crit melee
    - subjugation - prone on crit
    - dug-in - until movement +2% atk spd when hit melee x10
    - blessed by the void - affliction tier I on foe 25% when hit by affliction (upgrades to tier III)
    - dispersed suffering - hostile duration +20% aoe on kill    
    - opening shot - recovery -5% melee per atk with this ranged wpn 30s
    - highwayman - +2 acc ranged per atk with this melee wpn 30s
    - fair trial - on first affliction, random tier I inspiration
    - grave bound - paralyze on crit if 10x stacks
    - hel sickness - sicken on crit if 10x stacks
    - misotheist - reflect punishment or condemnation attacks 20% aoe
    - reject the wheel - +10 fort,refl,will aoe 30s on kill
    - obfuscation - invisibility 8s 10% on crit
    - unseen killer - invisibility via shadowing beyond 1 per rest
    - mob rule - when 3 allies near +10 acc
    - Wrong Place, Wrong Time - when 3 allies near, vs no enemy allies near, +10 acc 25% interrupt
    - skrim - when using shield, +10% damage +5 acc
    - devious - when attacking same target +1 pen
    - quieting - can't use active abilities on foe if lower level 2s on crit
    - stand guard - can't move, +def as hp decreases
    - strategist - on engage, confuse
    - tactical - when engaged, smart
    - tactician - on engage, interrupt
    - leap - jump to area, daze removing engagement
    - Captivating Crystal - when crit 50% confuse, charmed if crits
    - warped scales - immune to gaze

[Lamppost in Winter]

Baldur's Gate III's equipment has a lot of good examples. I like in particular the items that specifically interact with class features, e.g., Blazer of Benevolence granting temporary HP to the bard when they use Bardic Inspiration, and the items that grant a status effect that several other items can synergise with, e.g., all the various items that grant Lightning Charges or a bonus/effect based on Lightning Charges.

The main thing I think is missing from Deadfire is cool features for support casters - offensive characters get to choose from all kinds of bonuses that activate upon hitting things, but support characters don't really get anything like that. Something like receiving/granting a bonus upon applying an Inspiration or healing, or adding effects to specific support abilities like a paladin's Lay on Hands. For example, a mod I made a while ago added an aura to the Priest of Eothas subclass that granted increased healing and resistance to Resolve Afflictions to nearby allies when they had a Protection keyword effect on or an Inspiration, respectively.

Some love for underused keywords would also be nice, e.g., Protection, Echo, Decay.

[Boeroer]

I'd like to have a 1/encounter pulling effect. A reverse "Clean Sweep" if you will (a Dirty Sweep hehe). Or like "Into the Fray" but in an AoE.

All enemies in a circular AoE (which are not missed) get pulled towards the user (and maybe gain +3 engagement for x seconds if I'm feeling greedy). 

I wished my main tank had such an ability. 1/encounter would be enough. 

[Chaospread]

I wish a druid spell to morph in a treant, ent or whatsoever you wanna call it, 9 level, high duration, many (at least 6) attacks with branches, low speed, defenses high to the skies, immunities to crush damage, a very large moving tree who smashes up anything in its way.

And brilliant for everybody, too.

Edited October 1 by Chaospread

[thelee]

i want more keyword-interacting stuff. especially for priest and druid - afaict "cleansing" and non-damage "decay" (which is most of 'em) have no mechanical support either from class or from items, and most of the other ones that have support (especially for priest) are extremely niche and focused on defense (+bonus against like condemntation-keyword spells, like sorry i'm not worried about an enemy priest hitting my character with barbs of condemnation).*

preferably something more interesting than just +1 PL or something. like 20% chance to echo a condemnation spell. 10% chance to summon a skeleton when casting a decay spell. if those are possible with modding.

 

* history lesson, this is a side effect of priest subclasses originally being like wizard subclasses and the various deities supported certain keywords and banned other keywords. after the switch to the current system of deities providing bonus spells, the keywords basically fell into disuse.

Edited October 1 by thelee

[Grape_You_In_The_Mouth]

I thought of some more.  Any of these look good or great?

    - specialist defense - +1 def vs defl/fort/refl/will when hit, -1 def all others
    - thinly veiled - -5% damage from non-veil percing
    - dazzling motions - distract 10% when grazed or hit
    - cross hazard - if foe is stunned, after 10s, paralyze 6s
    - suscept - AfflictionResistance -1 (upgrade affliction) to dex afflictions on non-resistant or immune foe
    - +1 armor if engaged or engaging two or more foes or flanked
    - insider threat - +10% damage when near 3 foes but not engaged, flanked, or suffering hostile damage within 6s
    - pin - immobilize flanked foe nearby after 6s if still flanked and the owner and another ally is still near
    - tailor-made - first hostile attack recieved yields +5 of the targeted defense until end of combat
    - setup - +2 acc with aoe attacks per engaged foe
    - mulligan - instant recovery if attack launches and no hits are scored within 2s, per 12s
    - settler - after attack launch, +10% damage on the next attack until movement
    - voyager - movement adds +10% damage for an equivalent number of seconds moved
    - if any enemy is stunned within 20s of combat, +5 acc to constitution afflictions until end of combat
    - first enemy damaged is immobilized via Halt casted on them
    - one chance - maximize damage, +100% hit-to-crit, +100% Recovery for one attack
    - +10 fort if under the effects of a damage shield
    - +10 will if under the effects of an arcane reflection or arcane veil
    - +1 penetration vs foes you crit vs reflex
    - Miss Understood - +1% atk spd when missed, if 10x then +1% crit damage per stack but removes stacks on crit, max 20 stacks
    - Still Moving - if you are still and any enemies are moving, +10 accuracy to dex afflictions
    - Wuthering, Wuthering, Wuthering Fights - +15% freeze damage or with wind attacks
    - +15% atk speed until three foes slain
    - cleared - if a nearby foe is killed and three foe corpses are also nearby, +20% damage on your next attack
    - try someone else - range -50% on ranged attacks on foe if foe isn't engaging, is engaged by owner and another, and has no concentration
    - +25 reflex vs dex afflictions after hit by a dex affliction from a hostile foe
    - streaking - on crit, +50% hit-to-crit, -10% on each successive crit
    - chance to stun per burn and shock damage dealt, same for paralyze w/ freeze and poison
    - -1 armor when dealing corrosive damage
    - On the Wrong Foot - Halt to the first enemy to enter an 8m radius around you at start of combat
    - Early Deafening - -10 Accuracy to foes' affliction attacks in aoe aura around you
    - +100% when grazed to miss vs Will until hit or crit
    - when allies are hit but you are not (cleared), +1% dmg up to 25% (aoe 10)
    - when you are hit with damage but allies are not, +2.5% max hp up to +50%
    - whirling - when you crit with slash damage -2% recovery up to +50% 
    - fusillade - when you crit with pierce damage, +3% atk spd up to +30%
    - scorch - +50% chance to crit with fire attacks (impossible?), foe receives +1 armor vs burn when crit with fire attacks by you
    - crack - when you crit with crush damage, -1 crush armor on foe.  When you crit again, -1 to all armor
    - slamming - +20% damage vs prone targets
    - taxing venom - 10% of poison damage increases the enemy's damage from poison attacks
    - restraining cold - 5% of freeze damage lowers enemy attack speed
    - crystal dusting - when you crit with freeze damage, the foe receives 20% increased damage from spells for 8s
    - dissolving - when you crit with acid attacks, foe receives +3% damage from all attacks, up to +30%
    - sleep a target, a quick cast spell vs Will
    - your first hostile spell pushes back foes, slows movement by 50% and deals 6 burn/frost damage per sec for 6s
    - stun nearby foes for 1s whenever you receive a might inspiration, but -5 dexterity and -5 resolve during might inspirations
    - essential phantom on all foes for 6s, unaffected by intelligence
    - ghastly haunt - 5m aoe frighten per 3s for 12s, around target foe (so big you might hit allies)
    - seal of the tyrant - if foes leave 4m aoe, stunned 6s and 18 shock damage vs fortitude
    - invidious - 10% instant recovery vs charmed or dominated foes
    - umbral corruption - party ability - for 15s allies recieve 60 degree 4m cone aura in front of them, each adding +5% damage received to enemies affected 
    - umbral shine - party ability - for 15s allies recieve 60 degree 4m cone aura in front of them, each adding -3 Accuracy to enemies affected
    - blessing of the meek - party ability - +1 power level to all allies with <50% HP
    - ebullient defense - +10% attack speed to allies 4m around you until hit by foes
    - stinging third - every 3rd non-spell single-foe ability gains 100% hit-to-crit
    - blinding haze - foe ranged accuracy in a 4m aoe aura around you is reduced by 12/9/6/3 when 3/6/9/12m distance targeted
    - compounding blows - your melee attacks deal +50% damage but increase the armor of the foe by 1
    - deft strokes - 20% increased damaged with non-spell abilities
    - trapper - +10 accuracy versus foes with a dexterity affliction
    - consequence - +10% damage to afflicted foes
    - isolator - +5 accuracy vs foes alone within 4m
    - blunt affectation - +20% damage until scoring a crit on foes