Temple Termagant
Posts: 10
Joined: Sunday, 18th May 2014, 07:12
Species Proposal: Colossus
Colossi would begin the game with a very large HP pool. However, this HP represents their core. It does not regenerate and cannot be healed, increased, or replenished in any way. A Colossus player has that much HP to get through the entire game and escape the dungeon with, and any losses are permanent and irreversible. What they do have, though, is the ability to shield this HP with their outer shell. While their shell is intact, it will absorb any and all hits completely and be immediately repaired from internal reserves of rock and metal. When those reserves run out, it breaks and the core is exposed to damage. Reserves are represented by Nutrition. Essentially, they take hits with Nutrition instead of HP until they run out(since obviously they can't have 12000 max HP this would be at an increased rate, and the rate at which HP damage would be converted to Nutrition damage would depend on their xp level). Colossi aren't really organic, so the kind of things most species eat have no value to them(potions still work, because they're magic). They eat rock, stone, and metal to feed themselves. Any metal or stone object is edible, with things like stones and ammunition providing tiny amounts of nutrition and things like Large rocks providing large amounts, with metal weapons in the middle depending on their size(EDIT: or maybe not weapons so as to prevent the player from accumulating an inventory full of junk). And the special materials contained with metallic artifacts provide enough nutrition to immediately engorge them, if they're willing to sacrifice something so valuable. Once the Colossus hits Starving and their shell breaks, they need to reach Satiated in order to turn it back on.
Colossi cannot mutate, rot, or be poisoned. They naturally have RN++, RF+, and RC+ but lose all of them while their shell is not up. They are Large and have everything that brings with it. They would have good strength, okay Int, and bad Dex, and gain experience slowly. They would have mostly flat fighting aptitudes with the exception of terrible short blades and bad dodging. They would be bad at most magic and unable to get much use out of Transmutations or Necromancy, but their metal bodies would give them an understanding of both Air and Earth magic. They would have positive aptitudes for Invocations and Evocations, and awful Stealth. They can't worship Yredelemnul, because they aren't really alive, Jiyva, because it can't alter them, or Fedhas Madash, because they're artificial constructs.
The core concept of this proposal is the use of Nutrition to absorb damage directed at a very vulnerable HP pool, which I think is an interesting twist on the usage of a food clock.