Annual Ds Mutations Suggestion List

[infinitevox]

It's once again time for...

Infinitevox's Demonspawn Mutation Suggestion List!
We got Sturdy Frame out of the last list, cutesy of Chequers, and after much brainstorming, I've got another list ready to go!

[Slot-Loss Mutations]
Right now, there are 5 of these: Claws (Hands), Horns|Antennae (Head), Hooves|Talons (Feet)
Hooves is just a worse version of Talons. They both give you an aux-attack, but Hooves also gives you a Stealth malus.

[Changes to Old]
Claws: Perfectly fine as it currently stands.
Antennae: Perfectly fine as it currently stands.

Horns: Headbutt aux attack, prior to .17, applied a small stun. It did this at level 1 of the mutation. I propose we add the mini-stun to Horns 3 aux-attack, but only at level 3 of the mutation. (You're already losing 3+ AC, the Sinv or of Int egos, as well as potential artifacts)

Hooves: Hooves 3 now also gives -1 movement delay. (So you go from 10 -> 9) Noise can be upped slightly if this is felt to be too much of a buff, but once again you're already losing 3+ AC and the Running or Flying ego (not to mention possible artifact boots) I think this is a fair trade off. It would now not be worse than useless for a caster.

Talons: Talons 3 now gives a 25% chance to Poison on a successful hit. In reality this won't affect combat too terribly much, it's honestly more of a flavor addition to give the mutation some character. You're running around a nasty ass dungeon with talons, shit is going to get all up in those things, which would easily cause an infection in those who were slashed or punctured by them.

[New Slot-loss Mutations]
Wings (Cloak):
Level 1 - Gives EV +1
Level 2 - Gives EV +2, Evokable Flight, prevents use of a Cloak
Level 3 - Gives EV +3, grants the Flight ability as per "Big Wings"

Tail (Cloak):
Level 1 - Gives auxiliary tail slap attack, negated by cloak
Level 2 - Gives stronger auxiliary tail slap attack, prevents the use of a Cloak
Level 3 - No longer gives aux tail slap attack, instead allows Constriction vs 1 enemy, still prevents use of a Cloak

Tentacle Fingers (Hands)
Level 1 - Grants +1 weapon accuracy and +1 Dex, negated by Gloves
Level 2 - Grants +2 weapon accuracy and +2 Dex, prevents the use of Gloves
Level 3 - Grants +4 weapon accuracy and +3 Dex, prevents the use of Gloves

This gives us a total of 8 Slot-loss mutations, 2 for each auxiliary armor slot, rounding out the slot-loss mutations to be an even affair across the board. It also gives Mons Ds the ability to possibly use gloves instead of a cloak, as there are now 4 slots for mutations instead of 3.

[Scales Mutations]
Almost all of these are different enough to warrant not messing with them, however...

[Changes to Old]
Iridescent Scales
Old version was just straight AC (4,6,8 iirc), which to me, basically clashed with Black Scales.
New version would be like Molten, Icy Blue, Slimy Green, etc.. in AC progression, but level 3 would now also give MR+

More incoming, I apparently left page 2 of my pen & paper list at work...

[duvessa]

claws, antennae: of the five existing body slot mutations, these are easily the two with the worst design, and you're changing the OTHER three?

headbutt: ministun was removed for a reason, it was incredibly obtuse. it should never come back

talons: if you can't come up with a new idea for talons, it's ok to just say so, instead of giving them the same effect as stinger

wings: this mutation is pretty much always detrimental, since most games generate a cloak, EV is never going to be better than the same number of points of AC, and innate flight is meaningless. horns etc. are bad if you don't use melee, sure, but they're pretty good if you do. this mutation is only beneficial if you don't have a +1 cloak in your game. it would need to give like +8 EV

tail: why make level 3 weaker than level 2?

tentacle fingers: an accuracy buff needs to be like +5/+10/+15 to have any significance

iridescent: i agree that current iridescent scales are overpowered, but making them the same as molten/icy/etc scales is not a good way to nerf them.

all: why are you taking away slots at level 2, instead of level 3 like all the other slot mutations?



p.s. hooves aren't strictly worse than talons at level 3; they do more damage. they are at level 1 and 2 though which is dumb

[Rast]

For the most part, I like it.

However, the way the auxslot mutations interact with aux armour should be standardized. Your examples are all over the place and require the player to learn a different rule for each slot or even each mutation (compare claws to tentacle fingers).

Wings: This is weird, because draconian wings prohibit body armour but do nothing to cloaks. (Draconians are already in a dumb spot with their "no body armour but here's a ton of free AC and a resistance to make up for it" mechanic. This is supposed to point them towards a hybrid playstyle but IME it's easier on the xp to play them as fighters with less AC and more EV).

Also, wings could give SH instead of EV.

Tentacle fingers should be tentacle hands IMO, and give just the +2/4/6 dex

[Airwolf]

Wings: This is weird, because draconian wings prohibit body armour but do nothing to cloaks...

Tengu and Gargoyle get flight (presumably through wings) but with no impact on cloaks *or* body armour.

[minstrel]

Some ideas to vary things up a bit and add utility for ranged/magic characters:

Horns - make it retaliatory like MI
Tail - manticore type ranged attack, with damage at level 1, 2, barbs at 3
Tentacle fingers - extend accuracy bonus to spells