Species Proposal: Manaborn

[Tiktacy]

Here is the basic outline for the new species:

• Name: Manaborn
• Concept: Creatures of unbelievable power and strength, these unsubstantial beings are made entirely out of concentrated mana and are capable of decimating anything in their path with their incredible magical prowess and great skill in hand to hand combat, but they are very weak and their magic is quite unstable.
• Stats:
  
  Spoiler: show

  -Str: 4, Int: 8, dex: 7
  -Every 4 levels, you gain one point in either dex or int
  -Gain +1 MR per level.
• Aptitudes:
  
  Spoiler: show

  Arm: -2
  Ddg: 0
  Sth: +2
  Shd: 0
  Inv: +1
  Evo: +1
  
  HP: -4
  MP: +1
  Exp: 0
  
  Fgt: +1
  SBl: +1
  LBl: +2
  M&F: +1
  Axs: +1
  Pla: +2
  Stv: +3
  UC: +2
  
  Thr: -2
  Slg: -2
  Bws: -1
  Crb: -2
  
  Spc: -3
  Coj: +3
  Hex: +2
  Cha: +1
  Sum: 0
  Nec: 0
  Trl: +3
  Trm: +1
  
  Fire: +2
  Ice: +2
  Air: +3
  Ear: +1
  Poi: 0
• Mutations:
  
  Spoiler: show

  Wild Magic 2-3: They have a lot of trouble controlling their magic since they are creatures born of pure magical energy. They gain wild magic 3 at level 27(this extra bit could be removed if people find it silly though).
  
  Walk Through Walls: When at max HP, you are able to walk through walls as though they were floor tiles. While inside walls, you may not cast spells, you can not regenerate MP, and you cannot attack creatures in any way. This only works on rock walls(walls vulnerable to digging). As a flavor excuse for max HP being required, you need to be all in one piece in order to focus on moving your body through solid rock.
  
  Lightning fast regeneration: Being the insubstantial creature you are, you do not have an issue regenerating your cells.
  
  Disruption: Your physical attacks have a chance of having an anti-magic affect on your opponent.(This sounds kind of game breaking to me, but interesting none-the-less, so I'm just throwing it out their)
  
  Powered by pain: Essentially does the same thing as powered by pain.
  
  Magic vulnerability: Not only do these creatures have terrible magic resistance, they also receive an additional X% of damage whenever hit by non-physical damage spells.(I am not sure what would be a good fit for X, any suggestions?)
• Explainations:
  
  Spoiler: show

  Aptitudes:
  
  Having the HP of a felid with the magic aptitude and weapon prowess as a tengu, but stronger. The high weapon aptitudes allow flexibility in what route you choose to take as you trek through the dungeon, but the HP aptitude and incredible magic aptitudes makes it difficult not to go for at least some support magic before you reach your first rune branch. Crazy high aptitudes, but low HP and bad defenses makes this quite a challenging species to win with(as you could easily be one shotted by many enemies if you aren't careful) and unlike felids, you don't get any extra chances.
  
  Mutations:
  
  Wild magic: This is one of the big themes of the species, it has difficulty casting spells for much of the game, but once they are castable, they have incredible power to go along with it.
  
  Walk through walls: Gives the species the ability to choose its battles, since it will have trouble winning a lot of them if you aren't careful. This is yet another one of the main parts of the species.
  
  Fast regeneration: Makes the early game a little easier and seems interesting enough. This could be removed though if its too similar to trolls.
  
  Disruption: Anti-magic is incredibly strong from what people have told me(and even from my own experience) but this only offers a chance of doing so(maybe 30%?) and is an interesting take on the brand in general IMO.
  
  Powered by Pain: I don't have too much of an explaination for this one, just seemed appropriate that a species living off of mana can feed off of energy forced upon them. But this could be removed if need be.
  
  Magic vulnerability: Yet another weakness to a strong build, I added this not just to be thematic, but also to make the species stand out a bit more.

[reaver]

Move through walls: When HP/MP is at max capacity, they are capable of moving through walls as though they are floor tiles. Doing this takes a large amount of mental focus, so being in one piece is essential. Creatures may not damage you while inside walls, and you may not attack or cost spells.

I don't think this will work. Monster being inside walls was just removed and I don't think that players being inside walls is better. The max capacity thing is a decent idea, but moving through walls as a preparation for combat is mostly covered already by Passwall.

Ethereal armor: This species may only where robes and no other kinds of armor, but will not gain any extra armor from said robe as their armor rating will always read "0". Instead, they have an innate resistance to all forms of physical damage that grows as you gain exp(similar to damage shaving, but only for physical damage).

I dislike "no armor" species. Choosing armor is fun. Why take it away?

Also, the physical damage resistance sounds like Gr's thing.

Mana syphon: Manaborn are vulnerable to damage caused by all forms of magic(special cased against physical damage caused by magic such as stone arrow) but will always gain mana in exchange for the HP lost this way(e.g. the HP lost in addition to what would normally be lost). This could easily be simplified if it is too complicated.

Standard response: Dance in front of a monster to heal up. Made worse because you need a particular damage type. I guess it might be ok because Powered by Pain works.

Super fast healing: These creatures have very low HP, but they are able to regenerate at incredible speeds.

Define "super-fast" 0.5 HP per aut or 1 HP per aut or 10 HP per aut? Trolls mostly have this covered.

Wild Magic seems like it would make a nice species mutation, but it isn't large enough to be worth building a species around. It'll go in when a place for it appears.

Overall, I have two major problems with this proposal:
a) There's too much stuff stapled on. Walk walk, Regeneration, Mana syphon, etc. Could all be proposals in their own right. It wouldn't be a good idea though, because:

b) There aren't any interesting mechanics here. pecies work best if they have an extremely interesting and unique mechanic behind them {Op rings, Ds mutations, Na slow speed, Dj mana==health, DD no healing, Gh constant stat drain, Dr color, LO temperature, Fe lives, Fo stasis, Gr weird defenses etc.}. This proposal doesn't really have anything like that. There isn't really any effect that make me think "There's nothing like this in the game right now."

[Tiktacy]

The interesting mechanic was meant to be walking through walls and wild magic. The powered by pain ripoff was just meant to work together with quick regeneration. Fast regeneration is similar to trolls in some ways, but then again, you could also argue ogres are similar to trolls since they both can't use body armor and can use large rocks and GSC.

In my mind, the thing that makes this species unique is it's felid like weak body, but super powerful offensive capabilities. Similar to trolls, but more of a stealthy approach to defense. Should I try to give more explanation of what makes it different? I was pretty vague with my proposal, I kinda just wanted to get it out their and watch it grow from their.

[WalkerBoh]

Should I try to give more explanation of what makes it different? I was pretty vague with my proposal, I kinda just wanted to get it out their and watch it grow from their.

VI. Work hard on your proposal. Provide details, and flesh out ideas as much as possible. Consider special cases and how your proposed changes interact with the rest of the game. Provide numbers and formulas when you can. Try coding at least some of your proposal. For help with coding species, see this post. The more work you put into your idea, the more likely it is to receive serious consideration.

[cerebovssquire]

This seems borderline OP for speedruns though. I can hit myself with a damage spell to regenerate my MP, then regenerate HP quickly because that's also a species perk, and then avoid basically any enemies I want in many areas to to the wall walking feature. Like, I can walk through all of Pan except vaults because I am immune to attacks, not to mention the branches before Extended.

[Sar]

"Borderline"?

[cerebovssquire]

If they were given felid-size HP, vulnerability to magic and no extra lives and fast movement, then getting through the places where you can't walk through walls (I assume this would include stone and metal, therefore rune vaults) would be pretty hard. But yes, it's still OP, also for stabbing if we aren't just talking about speedruns.

[Sar]

the places where you can't walk through walls (I assume this would include stone and metal, therefore rune vaults)

I just assumed you can walk through any walls. It doesn't say otherwise in the OP and it would not be the silliest thing I saw proposed in GDD.

[Tiktacy]

Should I try to give more explanation of what makes it different? I was pretty vague with my proposal, I kinda just wanted to get it out their and watch it grow from their.

VI. Work hard on your proposal. Provide details, and flesh out ideas as much as possible. Consider special cases and how your proposed changes interact with the rest of the game. Provide numbers and formulas when you can. Try coding at least some of your proposal. For help with coding species, see this post. The more work you put into your idea, the more likely it is to receive serious consideration.

Ok, fair enough, Gimme a minute.

[Tiktacy]

Should I try to give more explanation of what makes it different? I was pretty vague with my proposal, I kinda just wanted to get it out their and watch it grow from their.

VI. Work hard on your proposal. Provide details, and flesh out ideas as much as possible. Consider special cases and how your proposed changes interact with the rest of the game. Provide numbers and formulas when you can. Try coding at least some of your proposal. For help with coding species, see this post. The more work you put into your idea, the more likely it is to receive serious consideration.

Ok, fair enough, Gimme a minute.

Ok, I updated it and changed a few things up, I also added more details and more explainations, and tried to make it a little prettier.

[Klown]

UC, Fire, and Ice are the only skills without a +2 by a species(not counting trunk). So what I like the most about this is that it does just that.

[Tiktacy]

If they were given felid-size HP, vulnerability to magic and no extra lives and fast movement, then getting through the places where you can't walk through walls (I assume this would include stone and metal, therefore rune vaults) would be pretty hard. But yes, it's still OP, also for stabbing if we aren't just talking about speedruns.

You can only walk through vulnerable to digging.

Also, you could make it so walking through walls when you are already in them takes a lot of time. I don't think this would be all that OP for stabbers, but if you think so than I am sort of inclined to trust you. I changed the aptitudes from +4 to +2. Now its a little less OP, but i don't know if that would entirely fix the issue.