New Species: Mariposa

[Ferociousdragon]

Mariposas would be a half butterfly, half human creature with 3 stages of growth. They start out as caterpillars, with 2 small arms capable of wielding a normally one handed weapon and a buckler, but no armor. They can also bite as an auxiliary. They have average spellcasting abilities, though they have surprisingly good aptitudes with weapons and evocations. At level 12 they weave a durable cacoon, giving a lot of AC, but weakening dodging. With this comes an ability to do controlled blinks, which they will need to move. They also gain the ability to psychically "hold" their weapon and shield (2 pieces max) with increasing weight limit. Soon they become capable of wielding two handed weapons. (Giant clubs are still too heavy.) Their magical aptitudes increase as well. At level 15, they hatch out as adults with six limbs, now able to equip two handed weapons and shields (Does it overlap to much with formicids?), and gaining high magical and martial aptitudes, as well as great speed and rN+. They retain their ability to blink, although it becomes less focused. They also get strong acid spit. Throughout a Mariposa's life, it is weak to poison, tends to have very low HP, and cannot wear synthetic armor except for robes, but excels at dodging, is good at fighting and generally good at magic. They can also slow opponents with their silk.

Playing as a Mariposa would force the player to adapt to the various forms of the growing creature. I took considerations to character builds so that transition to another form wouldn't completely cripple the character. That being said, I would welcome ways to improve this idea.

(Mariposa is Spanish for butterfly, in case you were wondering why I chose that name. I don't know the real name of this hybrid.)

[Quazifuji]

A couple initial reactions:

Being able to move exclusively with controlled blinks for 3 levels sounds really, really annoying, especially if it can't be made compatible with autoexplore. So annoying I can't imagine ever playing this race like that no matter how fun the other two forms are. It's an interesting idea in combat, but would be ridiculously tedious out of combat. (Although a race that can move around freely normally but is cBlink-only when monsters are in sight could be interesting - sort of a Weeping Angels idea, maybe).

Caterpillars should just count as a small or tiny race for the purpose of weapon, rather than "any one-handed weapon and a buckler." I don't think adding yet another race that follows a new rule for handed-ness s a good idea, even if it's a straightforward one (although you could argue that small and possibly tiny races should just be reworked to follow this rule or something similar).

They tried rPois- on formicids, and I remember the general opinion being that it was mostly just extremely annoying, so I'd probably lean away from it here. It's the kind of thing that can make an otherwise interesting and fun race more frustrating than it needs to be.

[reaver]

"Overcomplicated"

Find /one/ theme for your suggestion, and then build the species to be the /simplest/ possible implementation of that theme.

If you want adaption I'd say Ds and Dr fill that niche pretty well. Both those species are also less complicated than this one (well Ds is arguably more complicated but it doesn't force that complexity onto the player all in one game).

There are lesser problems like "moves via. controlled blinks" being one of the most absurdly overpowered suggestions I've ever seen but start with fixing the big picture issues.

[Sar]

I came here expecting this:

Spoiler: show

[mechanicalmaniac]

As I see it, the general idea is a species that progressively changes in significant ways over the course of the game like Ds and Dr, but taking a specific, predetermined course. As I see it, the progression should be something along the lines of:

weak character -> slower but much more durable character -> fragile but quick, elegant, and powerful character

I do agree that controlled blinking for movement would be simultaneously super annoying and stupidly broken. I'd recommend an intrinsic -swift for those levels instead, like a naga. Gaining an at-will blink (possibly cTeleBlink, but not cBlink) when they become a butterfly would be cool and thematic, though.

Caterpillars should have mediocre-to-poor aptitudes, like -1 in most things except for maybe a decent stealth aptitude, compensated by a good EXP boost -- they're very hungry caterpillars, so it makes sense. That + deformed + small/tiny should be enough. "NO ARMOR AT ALL" a la felid adds unnecessary complexity.

Pupae should have, to balance out a big AC bonus, an innate movement penalty, as I already mentioned. Their EXP growth should slow down to about normal, but their attributes should improve to about average, with the exception of stealth and dodging, which should go down. If we are going to start placing bigger armor restrictions, it should be here. A web shot ability is probably unnecessary, but it might create interesting situations when combined with the -swift.

Adult butterflies should have good aptitudes, maybe slowed EXP growth. Flight, antenna. +blink, maybe +cTeleBlink. Good martial aptitudes (except for axes/polearms), better magic aptitudes (especially TLoc, Air and maybe charms), good stealth and dodge aptitudes, bad armor aptitude. Acid spit is dumb.

I wouldn't recommend "two-handers with shields" for the final butterfly stage -- that's a formicid thing, the idea coming from ants being strong as well as the fact that they have 6 limbs. The fact that formicids can do that is a big part of what differentiates them as race. It's a really powerful ability, and that combined with an at-will dig is why they need to be permanently static.

As for the name, we should probably stick with the taxonomical order nomenclature thing we have going already with formicids, felids, and octopodes. The most recognizable scientific classification for is papilionidae, members of which are called "papilionids". "Papilionid" doesn't sound pretty enough for a butterfly, though... what about just "papiliones", with maybe singular being "papilio"? That's what they're called in normal Latin.