Slime Squisher
Posts: 392
Joined: Sunday, 11th September 2016, 17:21
Abomination player species
Features:
Cannot worship good gods, Fedhas, or Trog
Cannot become berserk
Inherent rank 1 evolution mutation
Chance to lose a mutation instead of gaining is reduced to -1% per existing mutation from -2% (but still capped at -33%)
Can equip or remove shields in a single turn
Does not gain random stat increases from level-ups, but instead gains a variable stat bonus equal to XL/3
Unique nutrition system
Nutrition details:
Cannot eat rations
Can eat any chunks at any time, but never eats chunks automatically
Does not starve or faint, but cannot use abilities that have a hunger cost without sufficient nutrition to pay the cost
HP loss causes proportional nutrition loss (maybe 5 nutrition per 1 HP?)
Eating a chunk applies a small, short-term, stackable regeneration effect similar to killing something with the Powered by Death mutation
Has 5 nutrition states, "Little", "Small", no label, "Bulky", "Large"
[*]Little: (0-2,400) Little size category, gains DEX bonus , -30% HP modifier
[*]Small: (2,401-4,800) Small size category, gains 50/50 DEX/INT bonus, -15% HP modifier
[*]: (4,801-7,200) Medium size category, gains INT bonus
[*]Bulky: (7,201-9,600) Hybrid size category (but can wear boots), gains 50/50 STR/INT bonus, +15% HP modifier
[*]Large: (9,600-12,000) Large size category, gains STR bonus , +30% HP modifier
When splitting an odd stat bonus, INT gets the smaller bonus
Size category changes that invalidate equipped items cause them to merge, similar to transmuting into another form, except that new items can be equipped to replace the merged items (provided the merged items are not cursed).
Stats:
6 STR, DEX, and INT
Aptitudes:
+1 Fighting
-2 Armour
-1 Spellcasting
+1 Summoning
+2 Transmutations
-1 Evocations
+3 Stealth
-1 Experience
+3 MR
Reasoning:
The inherent level of evolution and the inability to worship Zin are intended to force players into the mutation game. Trog is primarily disallowed because berserk is, but also because INT pretty much only matters to magic users. Denying access to TSO and Ely are just for thematic consistency.
Changing chance to remove mutations from -2% to -1% might not be a good idea, but I want to really emphasize the mutations aspect.
The fast shield swapping and special equipment merging is intended to make the equipment-related consequences of changing size as painless as possible. I want to encourage strategic flexibility through size changes, but I don't want the consequences of this feature to be more frustrating than necessary.
The low, balanced stats are meant to compliment the sizeable flexible stat bonus. In theory, being able to reallocate up to 9 stat points should be even more valuable than Demigod's ability to select 9 stat points, so the base stats should be lower to compensate. On split stat bonuses, the preference is against INT because INT is already more prominent being the middle stat, and because STR and DEX are more consistently useful than INT. The HP modifiers on size categories are to respect and comply with the general design trend that smaller species should be harder to hit and larger species should have more HP.
Attaching nutrition loss to HP loss is partly meant to provide an additional means of downshifting sizes, whereas the flexibility in chunk consumption is meant to make upshifting more consistently available. Disallowing ration consumption is meant to make availability of chunks strategically relevant, and the regen effect on consumption is primarily meant to reduce downtime between fights in order to allow chunks to be stockpiled more efficiently but also meant to give DEX-oriented players a reason to care about eating chunks. The restrictions on berserk and use of abilities with a hunger cost are primarily to preserve the relevance of hunger costs, but also to provide DEX-oriented players another reason to care about eating chunks.
For aptitudes, I tried to keep them somewhat well-rounded, with the armour penalty meant to discourage over-reliance on armour (since it's not terribly reliable when changing sizes) and the bonuses to Summonings and Transmutations are a flavorful nod to the chaos theme.