Halls Hopper
Posts: 76
Joined: Sunday, 15th December 2013, 19:43
Iron Dwarf, the Scrollless Species (Now With Spellcasting)
Their iron skin interferes with magic, causing them to be less effective as spellcasters and completely unable to utilise scrolls. However, it also has its upsides. They have a multitiude of defences, including a high resilience to magical effects. They have a high resistance to magic, take less damage from enemy spells, are less adversely affected by miscast effects, and are able to short out the binding nature of cursed equipment.
Additionally, their inability to use scrolls and difficulty with spellcasting has caused them to master alternate means of accessing magic. As such, they are highly skilled at evocations. On top of that, they are able to get the maximum use out of a wand, even if they are not fully familiar with the wand in question.
Species Attributes
HP: +10%, MP: -10%
Base Stats: Str 12, Int 6, Dex 6
Stat Increase: +1 Str once per 5 levels.
Magic Resistance: +6 per level.
AC Bonus: Iron dwarves gain a +1 bonus to AC per 4 levels.
GDR Bonus: Iron dwarves gain a bonus to GDR. The base AC of an iron dwarf's body armour is increased by 2 for the purposes of calculating GDR.
Rot Resistance: Iron dwarves have their flesh imbued with iron magic, making them impervious to rotting.
Life Protection 1: An iron dwarf's life force is partially insulated by the iron magic within them.
Unscrolled: Iron dwarves are unable to use scrolls.
Increased Casting Difficulty: Iron dwarves find it harder to cast spells. (Permanent -Wiz of low severity.)
Spell Damage Reduction: An iron dwarf takes less damage from spells with wizard, magical or demonic flags. (Damage from such spells is reduced by 1% per XP level.)
Miscast Resistance: Iron dwarves have a natural resilience to miscast effects. (For each level of the miscast, there is a separate roll to reduce the level of the miscast by 1. Each roll has a 50% chance of succeeding. The effects of each roll stack.)
Wand Affinity: An iron dwarf doesn't waste charges when using an unidentified wand.
Cursebane: Cursed equipment loses its curse on contact with an iron dwarf's antimagical body.
Aptitudes
- Code:
Fighting: 2, Short Blades: 0, Long Blades: 0, Axes: 2, Maces & Flails: 2, Polearms: -2, Staves: -1, Slings: -1, Bows: -2, Crossbows: 1, Throwing: 0, Armour: 2, Dodging: 0, Stealth: -2, Shields: 0, Unarmed Combat: 2, Spellcasting: -1, Conjurations: 0, Hexes: -1, Charms: -1, Summonings: -3, Necromancy: -1, Translocations: -3, Transmutations: 1, Fire Magic: 0, Ice Magic: -2, Air Magic: -2, Earth Magic: 1, Poison Magic: -1, Invocations: 0, Evocations: 2, Experience: -1
Old Version
EDIT: Just updated this proposal. The largest change was giving iron dwarves spellcasting. Admittedly hampered spellcasting, but still spellcasting. The reason for giving them spellcasting is to give players more options. The reason its hampered is otherwise I feel players will focus on spells to make up for their lack of scrolls. The reason it's hampered specifically in the way that it is, is so that the difficulty comes primarily from spell failure, not spell power. This means it also acts as a counterbalance to Miscast Resistance. Iron dwarves are protected from the brunt of miscast effects, but have an increased likelihood of being targeted with miscast effects.
Another change is actually giving numbers and explanations on how the mechanics behind proposed attributes would work. None of these are finalised but most of them are in the vague region of what feels right. The aptitudes are especially subject to change.
Some concerns still remain, though. Wand Affinity feels out-of-place and a little overpowered; perhaps giving it only a percentage chance of working, or allowing iron dwarves to give something up (such as a permanent point of MP) to fully identify a wand would be better. All the various resistances together might also be a bit of a problem; it'd almost be shorter to list the things that iron dwarves don't have special protection against. More generally, I suppose there's still the issue that this is a scrollless race and yet they are actually being denied very little that scrolls have to offer. Not necessarily a huge problem but still a cause for concern.
- For this message the author BobIsDead has received thanks: 5
- Fishman, jason0320, Pollen_Golem, tasonir, The Ferret