Wishlist

[Qesidus]

Vampirism List:

- Unarmed Combat

There are no monks in this, or 'these' games. That is, good ol' "...so i punched him in the face for asking..." attitude and approach. Greco-roman-fist style.

I was thinking that of all the masteries, Vampirsm could sport an 'open-hand' (no weapon) style the best. Since some of the greatest vampire films depict some vampires as sans-weaponry, and rely on their supernatural strength and claws to beat the enemy down.

I was wondering if it could be implemented into the draculian way.

This "skill" should be self balancing and in some way require (or add to) the draculian way.

I know it's possible to require a weapon for a skill to function, i was wondering if it would be possible to require NOT using a weapon for the skill to function, or, if perhaps 'unarmed' is listed as a weapon-type possibility.
In this, the skill would require "unarmed" or "not spear, not sword, not etc."

The skill would provide strength bonii, and raw damage output so long as the vampire did not wield a weapon.

On Balance: Seeing as how the character will never be using a weapon, this would be realatively easy to balance. In order to scale, both with the skill's level and with the character throughout the game, prodigious use of %'s would be recommended. Also shields should be prohibited.

Something like:

Rebuking Palms (16 Ranks, suggested tier 3)
adds to draculian way; requires lack of a weapon/'unarmed'; requires lack of a shield
+5-10 Damage (increases 5-10 per skill rank)
+3 Str (Increases 3 per skill rank)
+5% attack speed (increases 1% per rank)
+50% Offensive Ability
+50% Damage
+50% Strength

1st Special Abiltity:
(begins at rank 4)
+7 Elemental Damage (Increases 4 per rank)
+25% Elemental Damage

2nd Special Ability:
(begins at rank 8)
50% chance of 1.0 second stun on hit (increases .5 seconds per rank)
50% chance of 20% slow on hit (increases 5% slow per rank)

3rd special ability:
(begins at rank 12)
5% chance to reduce life by 25% on hit (+5% chance per rank)


So, at level 16, you'd be doing:
80-160 damage +50% = 120-240 per hit +strength bonii
+ 62.5 elemental damage
at 120% attack speed
with a 50% chance of a 5.0 second stun
and a 50% chance of a 60% slow
and a 25% chance to reduce life by 25% on each hit
and at a +50% offensive ability.
To be perfectly fair - there's a lot of weapons out there that can beat those stats easily.

And for defense:

Artful Dodger: (8 ranks, teir 3? 4?)
adds to draculian way; requires lack of a weapon; requires lack of a shield
+25% Dodge melee attacks (increases 5% per rank)
+35% dodge ranged attacks (increases 5% per rank)
+50% defensive ability.

1st special ability: (requires rank 4)
50% chance of 100% damage reflection on being hit(increases 10% chance per rank)

Thanks for considering,
-Qesidus

[The Rock-man]

Its not possible to require no weapons to my knowledge, as if there was i think someone would of done it by now.
Also it will be very hard to improve your damage and remember that your 80-160 damage is not boosted by strength so any normal act 4 weapon will out damage this easy. The only way to make competitive (but not being uber at low lvls) is to find a way of factoring your character lvl into the calculation.

As this is not possible it means that at lvl 9 your be doing enough base damage to kill legendary monsters (ignoring OA & DA) or your never going to be able to scratch them.

Though kudos on think of a good idea its just to hard to do and balance in this game.

[Qesidus]

Its not possible to require no weapons to my knowledge, as if there was i think someone would of done it by now.
Also it will be very hard to improve your damage and remember that your 80-160 damage is not boosted by strength so any normal act 4 weapon will out damage this easy. The only way to make competitive (but not being uber at low lvls) is to find a way of factoring your character lvl into the calculation.

As this is not possible it means that at lvl 9 your be doing enough base damage to kill legendary monsters (ignoring OA & DA) or your never going to be able to scratch them.

's why I factored in at the end the % chance to take of % life from the monster. That can be thousands and thousands of damage depending on what your fighting. In essence, late game it's all going to be about that % chance. Getting in as many hits as you can, then finishing off the creature with a blood-based attack.

The stats i gave were a suggestion, the goal, ultimately, to have a reasonable skill that precluded the use of a weapon, and roughly balanced damage output in a gradiant to what could be obtained through weapons gathering/selection.

I know that it becomes either 'too powerful' too quickly, or 'not powerful enough' late game if one relies soley on the nature of additive damage and scaled numerals. This is why %'s are so important to the concept of the skill. As the % will mean more the more 'substanitive base' there is.

You did make a good point however, in that STR wouldnt actually add to the damage as i'd been thinking. Int would, becuase it's a 'skill'.

I wonder if there isnt some way to impart that differently. I for one dont have a clue.

Still - even if the idea, as it is, isnt possible, perhaps it will inspire someone to do something similar coming up with better suggestions.

I still think that the answer, fundamentally lies in the % chance to do % of life damage. Perhaps the skill should focus on that exclusively and ignore str, and base damage. For example:

-Rebuking Palms (Tier 3, 16 Ranks)
requires lack of weapon, lack of shield; adds to draculian way
+5-10 Damage (increases 5-10 per rank)
+100% Damage
25% chance to reduce life by 25% on hit (increases 5% chance and 2% reduced life per rank)
+5% attack speed (increases 1% per rank)
***

In this, at 16 youd still have that 'minimum' damage number needed to kill off a creature, but you'd be relying on those %i'll hits to kill things.
160-320 Damage
100% chance to reduce life by 55%
at 120% attack speed.

? Better?
-Qes

Edit: Also, the game seems to know when you dont have a weapon in your hand that you can still hit things, and do (minimal) damage. Isnt there some way to get the game to identify when that's happening and accordingly refer to it in a skill as a requisite? Perhaps i'm oversimplifying in my hope, but hope springs eternal.

[The Rock-man]

It a good idea the only way to find out if it will work is to get a good modder to try and make it. (the numbers can be worked out to balance it later.)

Though of cause if it not possible to set it so that no weapon is needed then it be far to powerful. Imaging a good spear or sword and all those bonuses.

[i.n.s.a.n.e]

It a good idea the only way to find out if it will work is to get a good modder to try and make it.

...and another mod... PinkFrog does not want to change anything THAT significantly anymore.

So, please Qesidus, think out only some balance changes or very screwed skills, otherwise you are typing all these letters to no avail...thanks.

[Qesidus]

...and another mod... PinkFrog does not want to change anything THAT significantly anymore.

So, please Qesidus, think out only some balance changes or very screwed skills, otherwise you are typing all these letters to no avail...thanks.

I understand, having modded in my time. As it approaches a 'clean' version, rash choices to change things are unwelcome.

I was just wishing for a monk-possibility, and I dont demand, i can only wish.
-Qes

[AusWilko]

In regards to the no weapon couldn't you make it invisable the moment it is equipped ?

not suggesting add it to the mod but merely asking is all.

[I_Raps]

In regards to the no weapon couldn't you make it invisable the moment it is equipped ?

not suggesting add it to the mod but merely asking is all.

I don't think you can do that. You could do it with ARMOR because armor uses two entries for meshes - the one as an "actor" (lying on the ground, for example) and a different one when worn.

Weapons only use one mesh, though.

[AusWilko]

Ah I see, thanks I_Raps. Pity but there you go.

Could you add invisability as an effect to the weapon like the Furies uses that cool red thing.

[Grail Quest]

Here's another suggestion: For Draculian Way, maybe we could bring back Mind Control. Have one power that is a targeted one like on the vanilla Mind mastery, and a passive % chance one that only works on certain types of "beasts of the night" (bats, wolves, weak rat men?)