Race Proposal: Armor

[ayayaya]

Armor Race

Tl;dr:
Spells costs 1 AC.
AC regenerates quickly over time.
Less HP you have, the slower all actions are
Slow 2
+40% HP
Good aptitudes
No body armor

Description:
Armors are abandoned suits of armor controlled by intelligent colonies of bacteria. These bacteria are adept at learning almost anything. The metallic exterior makes this species remarkably resilient, albiet rather slow.

The reliance on armor comes at a price, however. Sustaining too much damage disrupts the colonies' ability to coordinate, slowing all actions. Furthermore, as their magic essence is linked to the armor itself, Armors temporarily weaken their defenses when casting spells.

Attributes
HP: +40%, MP: N/A
Base Stats: Str 6, Int 8, Dex 4
Stat Increase: 1 Str/Int every 4 levels
Exp Gain: 0
Suggested Classes: Berserker, Fighter, Wizard, Summoner

Innate Abilities:
Slow 2
Speed scales with health (every 33% health lost = .1 aut added to every action)
Spell casting costs 1 AC.
AC recovers at about the same rate as MP regen of other species.
Armor's metallic exterior grants them 5 AC at start, with an additional +1 AC every 3 levels.
Cannot wear body armor.

Aptitudes:

  Code:

Armor: N/A
Dodging: -2
Stealth: -3
Shields: 2
Invocations: 0
Evocations: 1

Fighting: 2
Short Blades: 0
Long Blades: 1
M&F: 0
Axes: 1
Polearms: 0
Staves: 1
UC: 0
Throwing: -1
Slings: 0
Bows: 0
Crossbows: 0

Spellcasting: 2
Conjurations: -1
Hexes: -1
Charms: -1
Summoning: 1
Necromancy: -2
Translocations: 2
Transmutations: -2
Fire: 0
Ice: -2
Air: 0
Earth: 0
Poison: -1

Is this race interesting enough to be in crawl? Why or why not?

[bcadren]

From a flavour perspective, maybe.

From a practical perspective; this race has -a lot- of negatives. Innate slow. Additional slowness for damage. rC-. VERY low base stats. Relatively low AC with -4 AC -4 Slay every time you cast any spell?
And no positives or actually interesting mechanics. No one would want to play it and the slowing would make it a -really- hard challenge to play. [Die the first time you lose significant HP kind of challenge]. Slowing your melee hit is no joke.

[ion_frigate]

Seriously, bump the AC up to 20, with an extra +1 every 5 levels, or maybe 15 with +2 every 5 levels. Assuming all other slots filled, that leaves you with 37AC, which is a decent amount (though for an AC-based character it would still be 'good, not great') - as it is right now, you end up with 22AC, which is achievable with mundane scale mail.

Flavour-wise high AC makes perfect sense, these are living suits of armor presumably with few vulnerable spots. Gameplay-wise, that would make the early game, with innate slowness and nasty penalties for HP loss, somewhat more bearable.

[ayayaya]

From a flavour perspective, maybe.

From a practical perspective; this race has -a lot- of negatives. Innate slow. Additional slowness for damage. rC-. VERY low base stats. Relatively low AC with -4 AC -4 Slay every time you cast any spell?
And no positives or actually interesting mechanics. No one would want to play it and the slowing would make it a -really- hard challenge to play. [Die the first time you lose significant HP kind of challenge]. Slowing your melee hit is no joke.

I was worried about the race being overpowered with +40% HP, but there are indeed too many downsides and nothing interesting.

Here are the changes I've made:
Armors have no MP. Instead, spells cost 1 AC instead of MP.
No rC-.
Better stats.
Lessened the slowing caused by damage.

Seriously, bump the AC up to 20, with an extra +1 every 5 levels, or maybe 15 with +2 every 5 levels. Assuming all other slots filled, that leaves you with 37AC, which is a decent amount (though for an AC-based character it would still be 'good, not great') - as it is right now, you end up with 22AC, which is achievable with mundane scale mail.

Flavour-wise high AC makes perfect sense, these are living suits of armor presumably with few vulnerable spots. Gameplay-wise, that would make the early game, with innate slowness and nasty penalties for HP loss, somewhat more bearable.

15 innate AC would be good early on. Draconians have to wait til level 27 to get even 13 innate AC.

[WingedEspeon]

From a flavour perspective, maybe.

From a practical perspective; this race has -a lot- of negatives. Innate slow. Additional slowness for damage. rC-. VERY low base stats. Relatively low AC with -4 AC -4 Slay every time you cast any spell?
And no positives or actually interesting mechanics. No one would want to play it and the slowing would make it a -really- hard challenge to play. [Die the first time you lose significant HP kind of challenge]. Slowing your melee hit is no joke.

I was worried about the race being overpowered with +40% HP, but there are indeed too many downsides and nothing interesting.

Here are the changes I've made:
Armors have no MP. Instead, spells cost 1 AC instead of MP.
No rC-.
Better stats.
Lessened the slowing caused by damage.

Seriously, bump the AC up to 20, with an extra +1 every 5 levels, or maybe 15 with +2 every 5 levels. Assuming all other slots filled, that leaves you with 37AC, which is a decent amount (though for an AC-based character it would still be 'good, not great') - as it is right now, you end up with 22AC, which is achievable with mundane scale mail.

Flavour-wise high AC makes perfect sense, these are living suits of armor presumably with few vulnerable spots. Gameplay-wise, that would make the early game, with innate slowness and nasty penalties for HP loss, somewhat more bearable.

15 innate AC would be good early on. Draconians have to wait til level 27 to get even 13 innate AC.

Draconians aren't slow and don't lose AC when casting. Something like doubling base AC from armour (acting like having 22 armour skill) would fit with the theme and let you give them more armour without giving them a bunch of AC on D:1.