Custom Species

[Abominae]

Uh, I'm not positive exactly where to place this, but I would like some feedback on this species I'm working on. I'm not posting this in GDD as this species would be a replacement for both Felids and "monstrous" Demonspawn. In other words, I have zero thoughts or hopes of this making it into the game. I'm just working on a custom race that I would like to play over Felids because, well... Felids.

Anyway, the name I've chosen for this species is Monstrosity, but I'm not really interested in flavor or back story. They're heavily mutated humanoids and because of this, they cannot equip any armor. Unlike Felids, they can still use weapons and shields, and they can also manipulate devices like wands. However, they're extraordinarily bad at doing so. Monstrosities are also the slowest species to level, requiring twice as much exp as humans.

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Stats & Mutations

Stats:
Str: 8
Int: 7
Dex: 8
Gains 1 of either Strength or Dexterity every 5 levels.
Gains 5 Magic Resistance per level.
Medium Size

Mutations:
Fangs 3
Talons 3
Horns 3
Pseudopods 3
Bone Plates 3
Spiny 3
Adaptation (When damaged by an attack that checks resistance, Monstrosities temporarily gain that resistance.)
Your grotesque physique prohibits you from wearing armour of any kind. (No cloaks, no torso armour)

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Aptitudes:

HP: 0
MP: 0
XP: 200

Fighting: +5
Short Blades: -3
Long Blades: -3
Mace and Flails: -3
Axes: -3
Polearms: -3
Staves: -3
Unarmed Combat: -2

Throwing: -2
Slings: -3
Bow: -3
Crossbow: -3

Armour: N/A
Dodging: -1
Stealth: -1
Shields: -3

Spellcasting: -3
Conjurations: -3
Hexes: -2
Charms: -3
Summoning: -3
Necromancy: -2
Translocations: -3
Transmutations: -1
Fire: 0
Ice: 0
Air: 0
Earth: 0
Poison: 0

Invocations: -1
Evocations: -4

Here are some of my current concerns:
1) They are completely too powerful at the beginning of the game. The amount of damage they can deal from D:1 is incredible, and they have great starting AC/SH. I'm trying to avoid using levels for higher levels of mutation; it feels too much like a Demonspawn. I'm hoping a horrendously bad experience aptitude along with their terrible aptitudes in general will help to balance this. It doesn't change the fact that they get to grind up the first few floors with little to no risk of death.

2) Resistances. I've had a couple ideas about how to handle this, and, so far, I've settled on "Adaption". Would a passive like this be overly difficult to code? Another idea I had was giving them a random scale out of Molten, Icy, Green, or Metallic upon reaching XL 15. That feels like a rather poor fix; however, I just feel a species with such low AC and limited slots needs a pip of something from somewhere. I'm also considering scrapping the idea of any innate resistance entirely. They do get weapon/shield slot, which allows a bit more resistance options than Felids have.

3) HP/MP aptitudes. I don't know what to do with these. I'm fairly happy with 0/0, and I would not like to compound low HP with such horrendous experience gain. I don't know if negative MP would make a real impact or if this penalty would be in anyway needed.

4) Aptitudes. They pretty much suck across the board. I'm not sure about +5 Fighting, but I know I'm pretty stuck on extremely high fighting and uniformly bad weapon skills. I'm not sure what I'd like to do with the magic schools. I gave them 0 in all elements due to the idea of adaptation, and I liked the idea of sucking at the primary magic schools. I'd love some suggestions on aptitudes; I feel like I could be a bit less linear with them.


Any suggestions or criticisms are very welcome. Thank you.

[IronJelly]

I don't think all the -3 aptitudes make up for the fact that no species has a +5 in any skill, and this does. Not sure how powerful that would or wouldn't be, but it seems like too much, especially for Fighting. You'd be better off increasing the frequency they gain HP up from the zero you have.

We don't need another species that sucks at all magic. With you being uninterested in backstory, I couldn't begin to tell you what weapons to improve. Based on my limited knowledge of what you have in mind, maybe polearms because reach would keep "normal" people away from the hideous blob that the members of this race seem to turn into?

Overall, maybe I just don't get it, but I don't see what this species would bring to the table or how it would fit into the game. I don't understand if you're proposing the mutations are random, or that you eventually get all of the ones you listed, nor do i see any indication of how often, nor in what order. These would be important points to know before real feedback can be given.

Adaptive resistances sound interesting, but it also means you can't be prepared, and will generally either have
1) the wrong resistance, especially in D, but in any non-themed place, because that one efreet that attacked and gave you fire resistance doesn't change the number of other fire-themed monsters that may or may not be present.
or 2) the right resistance all the time in all branches. Don't you think that certain branches with an element as a theme might be made too easy if you could always have the right resistance (especially as much as 5 per level) just from getting hit once there, without the need to find and swap gear?

[reaver]

I don't think all the -3 aptitudes make up for the fact that no species has a +5 in any skill, and this does.

Naga, Spriggan, and Vampire all have +5 in Stealth

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Adaptation (When damaged by an attack that checks resistance, Monstrosities temporarily gain that resistance.)

Also this will never work because, for example, you can hit yourself with a couple of flame darts before attacking an Orb of Fire.

[Abominae]

I don't think all the -3 aptitudes make up for the fact that no species has a +5 in any skill, and this does. Not sure how powerful that would or wouldn't be, but it seems like too much, especially for Fighting. You'd be better off increasing the frequency they gain HP up from the zero you have.

The incredibly high fighting aptitude serves two purposes: it increases accuracy and damage for all melee weapons and it helps to negate the fact you'll have lower HP throughout the game compared to every other 0 HP species. (HP is based on XL as well as aptitudes and fighting). The problem with increasing their HP aptitude is the fact that once they reach 27 in Fighting and XL 27, they will, no matter what, have higher HP than a 0 HP aptitude species. It would also give them higher HP throughout the game compared to a very high fighting aptitude.

We don't need another species that sucks at all magic. With you being uninterested in backstory, I couldn't begin to tell you what weapons to improve. Based on my limited knowledge of what you have in mind, maybe polearms because reach would keep "normal" people away from the hideous blob that the members of this race seem to turn into?

The weapons are uniformly bad for a reason. If one was made better than the rest, that is the only weapon you will choose. The only flavor associated with this is the fact that this species is horrendous at manipulating items; other than that, this was done for gameplay purposes only.
I'd argue that this game has more than enough species that have a) great magic aptitudes and b) completely, or near so, neutral magic aptitudes. As it stands, I'll probably be dropping the idea of adaptation, so I'll probably scrap the neutral elemental magic aptitudes and possibly tone down the penalties to the other schools. What to do with magic aptitudes is probably my biggest concern at the moment; they will still be rather poor, but I haven't been able to figure out to what extent. Obviously, the starting mutations don't lend to using magic as a primary form of damage, but I do need to rebalance the magical aptitudes in some fashion.

Overall, maybe I just don't get it, but I don't see what this species would bring to the table or how it would fit into the game. I don't understand if you're proposing the mutations are random, or that you eventually get all of the ones you listed, nor do i see any indication of how often, nor in what order. These would be important points to know before real feedback can be given.

All mutations are available from the start. This can be inferred not only from the fact that I did not mention anything to the contrary, but also the fact that I specifically wrote up a concern about this species' starting damage & defensive capabilities. Where this species fits into the game is a direct replacement for Felids and the 10% chance for Demonspawn to spawn as "monstrous". This was specified in my post.

Adaptive resistances sound interesting, but it also means you can't be prepared, and will generally either have
1) the wrong resistance, especially in D, but in any non-themed place, because that one efreet that attacked and gave you fire resistance doesn't change the number of other fire-themed monsters that may or may not be present.
or 2) the right resistance all the time in all branches. Don't you think that certain branches with an element as a theme might be made too easy if you could always have the right resistance (especially as much as 5 per level) just from getting hit once there, without the need to find and swap gear?

I agree entirely; the idea of adaptive resistances was not in any way well thought out. Reaver obviously makes the point that prohibits the idea completely, but your points on the subject are valid as well. However, I'm not sure if you really understood the mechanic; it is meant to lower the damage of repeated attacks for roughly the duration of that encounter. I should have been more clear, but when I said temporarily, I meant very temporary. As in, you will not retain that resistance for longer than the fight you would be in. Nevertheless, I'm going to be scrapping the idea, I do believe.

[Tiktacy]

I don't think all the -3 aptitudes make up for the fact that no species has a +5 in any skill, and this does.

Naga, Spriggan, and Vampire all have +5 in Stealth

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Adaptation (When damaged by an attack that checks resistance, Monstrosities temporarily gain that resistance.)

Also this will never work because, for example, you can hit yourself with a couple of flame darts before attacking an Orb of Fire.

The funny thing is, they all have it on the same skill: stealth.

[tompliss]

A skill where the mean is 1.5, whereas the mean for fighting is 0.08

[BlackSheep]

Fighting used to be more expensive to raise, and Stealth less expensive. When this hidden cost was removed to make all skills the same, Fighting aptitudes we decreased across the board and Stealth aptitudes increased.

Edit: Oops, that was spellcasting, not fighting. Either way, stealth averages out higher because of that change.

[tompliss]

And same for invoc/evoc, right ?

By the way, invoc/evoc giving less MP than spellcasting, how high the difference in apts is needed to be for MP to increase faster with the formers ?