New Class: Runesmith

[evilcat]

Just a random idea for new class:

 

Runesmith

Premise: Eldricht Knight class, mix of casting, melee and armors. Primary close combat.

Casting:

1. Use Runes.

2. Runes consist of Signs. Yeach Rune consists of several Signs (3). Rune is a spell. Sign is a keyworld or feature (like shape, size, power, dmg type, extra effects). Similar to Paradox game Magica.

3. Signs are physical objects. We need to find them in the world. Sometimes buy, sometimes get as reward. Gonna catch them all. Each object could be use only in one Rune. But there may be multiply coppies of sign in the world.

4. Runes are crafted out of combat, there is limited number of Runes we can prepare.

5. Runes alwas center on Runemaster, either attacks (weapon runes) or self (armor runes). Cant craft runes on others (they are not attuned).

6. Each Rune could be use only once per combat (then it faids). With talent it regenerates after 30sec.

7. (Optional) Runes are not one time effect but more like stances. Like "Your crits now burn enemies" or "Get resistance to cold, and deal cold around you". Runesmith can switch them off and on, but can only few have active at once.

8. (optional) To unlock bonus effects Runesmith need to collect 3 signs and seal them to craft master rune. This consumes signs. And masterful rune is pernament. Could erase it from inventory but will not get signs back (need to find a new one).

9. (optional) Temporary Runes: at the very high levels Runesmith learns to conjure Runes over allies for short period of time. Small effect.

10. Recipies: Exploring the world runesmith could find recipies with instruction how to mix signs to craft MasterRunes.

 

List of signs:

4 Elements

Life - heal or life steal

Soul

Matter

Space - area of effect

Time - slows and dots

Protect

Harm

 

There are Rune slots for armour and weapon.

Each sign have small effect for being either weapon or armour.

Combining signs of same time amplify the effect.

Combining different signs have bonus effects some are possitive, other not really, or mixed. (you harm others, and yourself).

Not all combos have special effects.

 

Example:

Ice Ice TIme on Weapon = our AS and  deals a lot of Ice dmg and chills target.

Ice Time Fire - deals bonus Ice and Fire and increase AS, but there are no bonus effects.

 

Progression:

Even levels=bonus talent as normal

1. Runesmith could keep 1 weapon rune and 1 armour rune active at the same time. Runes consists of 1 sign.

3. Runes now can hold 2 signs.

5. Tunes now hold 3 signs, and could craft masterful rune for special effect.

7. Get bonus weapon and armor rune so Runesmith could switch during combat

9. Get bonus weapon and armor rune to switch during combat.

11. Temporary Rune: Protection (single target ally defensive temporar buff)

13. Temporary Rune: Furry (single target all offensive temporary buff)

 

Basicly i wanted something "new". And arcane knight is new enought, and some people like this archetype.

I also wanted magic system which would be different, outside spellbook, or chanter magic, or cipher build up.

Finding signs could potencially be fun (looking for Pokemons).

 

This will probably aint gonna happen, since a lot of coding but little reward. From the other side... avarage caster class is 45 spells and some talents.

Runesmith is 15 base signs and 30 special combinacions of masterful runes. So it is similar.

Edited December 20, 2015 by evilcat

[anameforobsidian]

That would add another set of loot to distribute which is probably the last thing Obsidian wants.  Also there's the whole runic magic being fixated on the past, which is antithetical to the Renaissance-ish setting.  Finally, if Obsidian really is doing multiclassing, I doubt they're going to be adding much more in the way of classes.

 

If you want an arcane knight, why not just devise an arcane knight.  Just make an order of warriors dedicated to protecting mages who survived after their mages died. Then give them a different set of modals.  They could have some cool reflect spell abilities, increased chance to interrupt, or a modified arcane veil.

Edited December 21, 2015 by anameforobsidian

[anameforobsidian]

However, if we're throwing out crazy unfeasible classes, here are mine.

 

Animancer:  makes nastly little constructs to fight in their stead, and can reanimate corpses.  Could get significantly more power when an enemy dies.  DnD artificer could inspire, without gamebreaking part.

 

Shifter / Blue Mage type:  Rangers gone a step further.  They can shift into the form of any foe they've killed and eaten, occasionally gaining special abilities.  Or these druids can mimic the attacks of beasts once they see them.

 

Ethik Nol blood druid.  Hurt some party members to buff other ones, restore health on enemy death.  There are some interesting possibilities with this one.

 

Illusionists:  A special class for priests of Wael.  Illusions can daze, shift, and transform the party.  This one may  overlap too heavily with ciphers.

 

Xaurip stunlocker:  a debuff focused warrior, who heavily controls one character.

[Zenbane]

I second the vote for each of these whacky classy char's   

[Boeroer]

I agree that we definetely need an animancer as playable class who uses constructs. I so loved the Engineer and his bots in Torchlight II.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Just play a wizard for Eldrich Knight. Granted they could do a lot to improve classes in non-standard roles, but a whole new class requiring specific equipment and lore is not the way to go about that.

[evilcat]

Just play a wizard for Eldrich Knight. Granted they could do a lot to improve classes in non-standard roles, but a whole new class requiring specific equipment and lore is not the way to go about that.

At some point there will be more classes with new lore, mechanic. It is general rule of universe expanding.

IMO it is better to add classes which are more or less new as idea, rather than some small variation like "swashbucker".

PoE already has firearms and magic technology, so it is a bit steampunk.

 

Runesmith would not require special equipmant outside runebook (similar to grimore of wizzard), signs and recipies. They will use normal weapon and armors.

 

Making eldricht knight from wizard has a problem that you could make melee from wizard, but cant do spellcaster from barbarian. Balance issue.

So there is a place for some melee caster as separete class.

 

Ilusionist is a bit of Cipher (they have phantoms)

Control focus should be avaiable for warriors with talents/abilities (to be announced).

Animancer/Fleshbender/Blood mage is cool enought. Good idea.

Edited December 21, 2015 by evilcat

[Sedrefilos]

It is good to add new classes but it will be better if they connect to the lore. If there is an interesting way to connect runes with souls and magic, why not?

 

+1 for animancers btw

[DreamWayfarer]

It is good to add new classes but it will be better if they connect to the lore. If there is an interesting way to connect runes with souls and magic, why not?

Wizards do channel their spells from the writing in their grimmories, so you could justify a class that uses runes to cast custom spells, althought the component hunting does not feel fitting or easily explained.

 

 

 

As for classes, it would be interesting if there was a class which altered the nature of its own soul, gaining powerful temporary buffs, but after they expired suffered a backlash of sorts as their soul violently returned to its normal state. Perhaps it could acumulate strain points over time that made the backlash debuffs worse as the fight went on but also gave some sort of damage or defense bonus.

 

I also think we need a class based on shapeshifting into multiple forms, since the druid shapeshift is not enough in my opinion. Maybe both could be the same class, changing the soul to change the body?

 

 

Ps: +one for combat animancer.

Edited December 21, 2015 by DreamWayfarer

[tinysalamander]

Hard mode: animancer which can be effective without being undead raising maniac.

[Boeroer]

Being a construct raising maniac instead?

Edited December 21, 2015 by Boeroer

[DreamWayfarer]

Giving single target buffs to party members that drain their endurance while active, to simulate the animancer somehow putting their souls on overclock?

 

 

EDIT:

 

Adding to my soulshifter idea, each form would have not only unique strenghts and weaknesses, but an unique backlash debuff after it is abandoned that lasts until the shifter takes a new form or uses the discharge skill.

 

When entering a form, the soulshifter gains x strain points, and the buffs and debuffs of both form and backlash scale with the number of strain points.

 

One can only leave a form after a minimum amount of time, after which there is an optional linger period, and there is a short cooldown between leaving a form and being able to shift again.

 

Each form adds a especific amount of strain, and there is a lower and a highter strain threshold for entering each form.

 

The only way to eliminate strain points during combat is by using the discharge skill, that deals to the soulshifter and all in a small radius an amount raw damage proportional to the soulshifter's strain.

 

This class could have an interesting behavior in longer fights, getting more gamechanging strenghts and more crippling weaknesses as it uses its powers, and having to damage itself and potentialy its allies or foes to reset its state.

Edited December 22, 2015 by DreamWayfarer

[evilcat]

As for Animaniac:

Fleshbending - being able to change own body, grow tentacles or big razor sharp claws or wings to fly.

Gimmick : using powers also drains own endurance over time. So we can use several powers, but after some level there will be too much dot on us to hold it. Anmaniac will literally burn himself. That would be caster with high health pool.

Gimmick 2: To summon constructs/undead some enemies need to die in encounter.

Theme 3: Vessels, Hurt/Stun/Banish/Control vessels. Vessels are popular enought to such power be cool.

Edited December 22, 2015 by evilcat

[Osvir]

For some more potential inspiration, maybe, for summoning mechanics/general class mechanics~ that might sync with some thoughts/concepts here

 

http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/69609-ritualist-class-idea/?fromsearch=1#

[DreamWayfarer]

As for Animaniac:

Fleshbending - being able to change own body, grow tentacles or big razor sharp claws or wings to fly.

That sounds more like a class of its own, like my soulshifter suggestion.

 

Gimmick : using powers also drains own endurance over time. So we can use several powers, but after some level there will be too much dot on us to hold it. Anmaniac will literally burn himself. That would be caster with high health pool.

I like this.

 

Theme 3: Vessels, Hurt/Stun/Banish/Control vessels. Vessels are popular enought to such power be cool.

Like the druid and beasts? Sounds good, as long as the class is not just a vessel slayer.

Edited December 22, 2015 by DreamWayfarer

[evilcat]

Sudden realisation:

Offensive Eldricht Knight should be doable from Paladin. The problem is that right now Paladin is soso, and more suited for defense/supporting/holding stick. But there could be few talents for Paladins that would make them offensive arcane warrior, like:

Aura of Fire = burn constantly everything around us

Explosion = when slaying enemies they explode

Flame of Devotion = deal dmg worth mentioning

Ignition = Modal which constantly adds bonus fire/acid dmg to our attacks (not only twice per combat).

 

As for Animaniac there could be several themes combined to define a class, especially when we come with something new not just copying well known archetype. Combination of: Fleshbending + vessel manipulation + corpse using + self harm; is enought to define the class as something new and different from just fancy wizard.

Edited December 22, 2015 by evilcat

[Osvir]

A thought/thumbs-up for creativity:

 

The sound, look and title of "animaniac" is great but it feels like a "perk" (talent). Kinda Fallout-esque Perk dark humour

 

I also like the Construct type summoning idea... it feels kind of "Soul Engineer"-ish... a steampunk equivalent... but maybe more accurately "soulpunk"

 

Edit: Runepunk?

Edited December 22, 2015 by Osvir

[Boeroer]

Haha - Soulpunk... maybe we're witnesses to the birth of a new subgenre.

 

But honestly: when you look at the description of some of the spells - for example druid's, it says that the druid amasses stray soul fragments to form blights. So why couldn't an animancer use this soul fragments to power short-lived constructs? I so loved the spidermines of Torchlight II. They are a little bit like the exploding constructs in Glavino's Workshop - just faster. I say it would fit beautifully into the lore of PoE.

 

And for the "mana" resources: maybe nothing too complicated. I really like the idea that he gains additional "mana" or soul power when a foe goes down, but has some resources at the start of the fight. It's a little bit like the cipher's mechanic, but it doesn't matter who kills the foe. Doesn't have to be the animancer.

Edited December 22, 2015 by Boeroer

[DreamWayfarer]

Haha - Soulpunk... maybe we're witnesses to the birth of a new subgenre.

 

But honestly: when you look at the description of some of the spells - for example druid's, it says that the druid amasses stray soul fragments to form blights. So why couldn't an animancer use this soul fragments to power short-lived constructs? I so loved the spidermines of Torchlight II. They are a little bit like the exploding constructs in Glavino's Workshop - just faster. I say it would fit beautifully into the lore of PoE.

Yes, perhaps you could also create some stationary destructible blights that caused AoE damage and debuffs. The whole class could be built to focus on either short-lived blights and instant constructs or powerful vessels it could buff and modify with other spells.

 

Althought I don't think self-fleshbending fits an animancer class, and shapeshifting is a ample enough power to merit its own class. See my soulshifter suggestion above.

[evilcat]

Althought I don't think self-fleshbending fits an animancer class, and shapeshifting is a ample enough power to merit its own class. See my soulshifter suggestion above.

 

Well it depends how we define main theme of class. Manipulatin pure soul is a cipher thing.

So Animaniac would be manipulation of soul and flesh.

As far as we noticed in game Animaniac are proficient in:

Binding souls to flesh golems, and flesh golems are not just ordinary corpses.

Binding souls to armour knights.

turning themselves in the throne statues.

Keeping themselves alive even then the time pass.

 

If Animaniac could form a various form of golems of many shapes then they new how to manipulate flesh. So doing for themselves what they do for constructs is not so far.

 

One way to look at this is: Animaniac have just to specs, two specializations (with different choices of abilities/talents):

1) Shapebending - turns himself into monstrous flesh golem with various secondary powers, more frontline aproach

2) Summoner - summons constructs or other corpsy things (bone walls, pervy hands grabing from the ground stuff like that). And is good with vessel interaction (stun, harm, smite, control) More backline aproach.

Or player could go for mix of these two.

 

And having 2 viable specialization on class is generally good.

Edited December 23, 2015 by evilcat

[DreamWayfarer]

 

Althought I don't think self-fleshbending fits an animancer class, and shapeshifting is a ample enough power to merit its own class. See my soulshifter suggestion above.

Well it depends how we define main theme of class. Manipulatin pure soul is a cipher thing.

So Animaniac would be manipulation of soul and flesh.

As far as we noticed in game Animaniac are proficient in:

Binding souls to flesh golems, and flesh golems are not just ordinary corpses.

Binding souls to armour knights.

turning themselves in the throne statues.

Keeping themselves alive even then the time pass.

 

If Animaniac could form a various form of golems of many shapes then they new how to manipulate flesh. So doing for themselves what they do for constructs is not so far.

The problem is that such flesh constructs are mostly mindless, and while animancers may be able to manipulate their own souls, we only have seem it done in a permanent way that would require a careful procedure or have many unfortunate side effects.

[anameforobsidian]

Shape shifting and summoning are wildly different abilities which don't synergize well.  This suggests two separate classes instead of separate builds.  If there were an animancer class, I would prefer something more along the lines of summoning and buffing.  This synergizes well, while maintaining the possibility of viable builds.