Race: Golem, song of fire and ice

[Sokengo]

The idea is to have a slow, massive and durable elementalist who gets his defenses from natural mutations.

Innate Abilities, Weirdness & Mutations:

Your size is large.
Slow 2: You cover ground very slowly.
Stone skin: Provide AC+4 at start, with an additional +1 AC every 4rd level.. Vulnerability to Shatter and LRD.
No-living resistances: rPois+++, rRot, rN+, rTorm, Unbreathing.

At XL14 they gain:
Crystal Form (Cost MP 5, Hunger, Exhaustion):
Pros
UC+6+(Strength/3)
A AC and GDR bonus
+2 strength
rF++ and rC++
Crystal Bolt: launches an unusually reflectable bolt of fire or cold damage(50% chance of each). (Cost Pain)

Cons
Bolts of electricity multizap in you, hitting you twice.
The base cost of all actions is increased by 50%
-2 dexterity

Aptitudes:

  Code:

Fighting: 2, Short Blades: -2, Long Blades: -2, Axes: -2, Maces & Flails: 0, Polearms: -1, Staves: -1, Slings: -3, Bows: -3, Crossbows: -3, Throwing: 0, Armour: N/A, Dodging: -5, Stealth: -5, Shields: 0, Unarmed Combat: 0, Spellcasting: 0, Conjurations: 1, Hexes: 0, Charms: 0, Summonings: -2, Necromancy: -3, Translocations: -3, Transmutations: +1, Fire Magic: 3, Ice Magic: 3, Air Magic: -2, Earth Magic: +1, Poison Magic: 0, Invocations: -1, Evocations: -1, HP: 2, MP: 0, Exp: -1

Stats

Strength: 13 / Intelligence: 10 / Dexterity: 4
Gain +1 to strength or intelligence every 4th level.
Gain +6 magic resistance per level.

Special start notes:

Helmets are replaced with hats.
Any Armour skill is replaced by Dodging.
Golem hunters are given a choice of large rocks instead of javelins.

Preferred Backgrounds: Fighter, Monk, Transmuter, Wizard, Conjurer, Fire Elementalist, Ice Elementalist.

[tasonir]

Giving them more or less every resistance in the book (rF++ rC++ rPois+++ (I assume you mean poison immune here, aka statue form) rRot, rTorm, rN) is far too easy. I understand they're large/giant, and can't really dodge, but giving them natural AC and all those resists would probably be rather overpowered. I don't think they'd play terribly different from similar races (nagas, arguably trolls/ogres) although there's a bit more incentive to try to cast. I'm not entirely clear on what armor slots you want them to have - large races would generally have limited body armor choices, hats only, and no gloves/boots. CPA isn't allowed, although since dragon armors usually are, they should be able to train armor skill. A reasonably heavy body armor is more than enough reason to train the armor skill, even if you don't have boots/gloves/helmet.

[duvessa]

just what I always wanted to play, a race that gets worse when it levels up

[Sokengo]

I don't think they'd play terribly different from similar races

Well, considering that there no race good with fire or ice magic and neither of the larges races is good with magic I think they are unique enough, plus no other race changes size.

I'm not entirely clear on what armor slots you want them to have

Sorry, forget about that, all the body slot are Weapon, Shield, Hat, Cloak, Amulet and Rings, the part about CPA was more about flavour but really isn't necessary. Because their limited options and their almost nonexistent ability to dodge I want them to have good natural defense and resistance but if this is way too overpowered the rF++ and rC++ can be reduce one rank or just go with the same resistance that a Gargoyle.

just what I always wanted to play, a race that gets worse when it levels up

I don't see how they are worse with more levels, sure, be slower and unable to dodge is tough but have good HP, AC and resistance should be more than able to compensate for that. See it as a Troll of Cheibriados that is good with magic and has a Gargoyle resistance.

[milski]

Duvessa believes that speed is basically the only important stat in Crawl since every threat can be mitigated simply by moving faster than it. Given the choice between resisting 98% of damage by fighting or resisting 100% of damage by walking 0.1 AUT faster, the latter is always seen as preferable.

[jason0320]

With guaranteed slow 3 and no body armour after XL 14, it rather needs more natural AC than naga or maybe let them be at large size and only able to wear crystal plate armours like the old draconians being able to wear dragon armours and robes?

[Lasty]

Growing size is also a drawback, since it's mostly just a penalty to EV. Growing size means weird interactions with equipment slots as the species levels up, as well as needing progressively less shield skill to mitigate the penalties of a given shield -- it'd be frustrating to see all your equipment fall off when you level up, as well as frustrating to be incentivized to undertrain shield until you get to your maximum size.

The extreme aptitudes mean that the species would be more or less forced into a small number of playstyles.

[kuniqs]

Incredibly good racial mutations, horrible aptitudes...
I'm beginning to see a pattern in the race feature requests

[byrel]

How is extremely slow a good racial mutation? Am I confused?

[Sokengo]

If the change in size doesn't work then a special transmutation would do.

At XL14 they gain:
Crystal Form (Cost MP 5, Hunger, Exhaustion):
Pros

UC+6+(Strength/3)
A AC and GDR bonus
+2 strength
rF++ and rC++
Crystal Bolt: launches an unusually reflectable bolt of fire or cold damage(50% chance of each). (Cost Pain)

Cons

Bolts of electricity multizap in you, hitting you twice.
The base cost of all actions is increased by 50%
-2 dexterity

And their normal mutations would be: Slow 2, No-living resistances, Stone skin (provide AC+4 at start, with an additional +1 AC every 4rd level. Vulnerability to Shatter and LRD) and large size (Weapon, Shield, Hat, Cloak, Amulet and Rings slots). Plus a small change in attitudes so that they wouldn't be "forced" into certain roles and instead simply more inclined to certain roles.

  Code:

Fighting: 2, Short Blades: -2, Long Blades: -2, Axes: -2, Maces & Flails: 0, Polearms: -1, Staves: -1, Slings: -3, Bows: -3, Crossbows: -3, Throwing: 0, Armour: N/A, Dodging: -5, Stealth: -5, Shields: 0, Unarmed Combat: 0, Spellcasting: 0, Conjurations: 1, Hexes: 0, Charms: 0, Summonings: -2, Necromancy: -3, Translocations: -3, Transmutations: +1, Fire Magic: 3, Ice Magic: 3, Air Magic: -2, Earth Magic: +1, Poison Magic: 0, Invocations: -1, Evocations: -1, HP: 2, MP: 0, Exp: -1