Spider Stomper
Posts: 247
Joined: Monday, 10th November 2014, 21:32
Demonspawn Mutation Reworks:
- Make Demonspawn mutations interesting at Rank #1
Make Demonspawn mutations distinguishable at Rank #1
Eliminate "gimmie" mutations where a 1 or 2-rank mutation has a generic resistance or cloud immunity tacked on to make it three ranks.
Make demonspawn mutations slightly more consistent in terms of level achieved, typing, and being at least somewhat unique to demonspawn
The problem I see with Demonspawn mutations is that there are generally two types of mutations. Mutations that give their benefit immediately and are enhanced with ranks (e.g. demonic guardian, spirit shield), and mutations that give minor benefits with the unique aspect given at rank 2 or 3 (e.g. flaming blood, passive freeze). In addition, frostmail/passive freeze and flaming blood/hellfire are indistinguishable until rank #3 or being spoiled on the tiering of mutations, along with ranks #1 and #2 being redundant.
I view the mutations where you don't get the benefit until Rank #2/3 as generally worse than those where the benefit is immediately apparent; in addition to starting the game with rC+ and freezing cloud immunity being not-unique to Demonspawn, it makes it much harder for new players to learn about the kind of interesting things Demonspawn can do if they need high levels or a lot of luck to get access to the powers. As an aside to this, when mutations are given is very valuable but very random. I respect this and don't want to make many tweaks, but I think a Demonspawn should get rank 1 in their slot loss mutation by level 7, mostly because it makes the decision to adapt to claws a lot more interesting compared to the occasions where you get rank 1 claws at level 12+.
Anyway, as for the actual mutation tweaks:
Icemail:
Rework into a scales facet with no ice resistance attached. +4/+8/+12 AC seems reasonable to match Sanguine Armour's situationality lategame, but since fire is rare early +6/+9/+12 seems too strong. In addition, it may be worth decreasing the timer from 300 to 300/200/100 auts to account for the fact scales facets should be relatively consistent.
Reasoning: Icemail is a facet whose unique benefit is... a situational large AC boost, combined with a minor resistance. I think that fits much better as a Scales facet, and to avoid being nearly strictly better than rC+ scales, ditching the cold resistance seems fine.
Foul Stench:
Give the "sickness on hit" benefit at Rank #1.
Reasoning: Sickness is a relatively weak debuff to apply to monsters, so it is fine to give some indication at rank #1 that you are a rotting hellbeast who causes enemies to hold their nose while trying to punch you.
Ignite Blood:
At Rank #1, give flame cloud immunity and cause your own blood to catch on fire. At Rank #2, give the prior rank #2 "all blood catches on fire" ability. At Rank #3, your high pressure blood sprays further and more often (not quite Jory death levels). No rF+
Reasoning: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8ZqFlw6hYg. Also, because getting the weaker on-hit benefit at rank #1 distinguishes it as a distinctly demonspawn mutation, and high pressure blood is a cool bonus perk that helps its viability lategame when many enemies are bloodless. rF+ is removed as a small nerf. Flame Cloud immunity is kept because it's necessary for the mutation, unlike other instances of tacked on cloud immunity.
Hurl Hellfire:
At Rank #1, give rHellfire (33% or 50% reduction, not immunity). At Rank #2, give the ability to throw a beam of hellfire (single target, lower damage, same HP cost). At Rank #3, give the current ability to throw a hellfire... fireball.
Reasoning: rHellfire would be a uniquely demonic resistance worthy of being at Tier #3. Flame cloud immunity is lame, and letting players access hellfire one rank earlier with while making it even riskier to use is probably a worthwhile tradeoff. It still cannot come early enough to negate the need for a solid ranged option, so I don't think it's an unnecessarily strong buff. You could potentially give Hellfire Beam at Rank #1 and rHellfire at Rank #2, but that could give the Hellfire Beam by late lair.
Passive Freeze:
Make it a three-tier mutation where tier 1 gives a 33% chance to freeze, and each tier increases the chance to freeze by 33%. Give an ice enhancer at Rank #3.
Reasoning: Passive Freeze is a fairly interesting capstone regardless of the damage it deals, but it's not likely to come before the mid 20s. Making it have a chance to affect monsters as soon as you get a rank in your Tier #3 mutation can allow it to actually have a nontrivial impact on the game, while removing the tacked-on resistances makes the ranks feel more impactful. Additionally, the lategame ice enhancer keeps this mutation viable for when "take a big melee hit to freeze the enemy" stops being a worthwhile trade.
Black Mark:
Remove rN+ and give a 10% chance to apply Black Mark at level #1 instead. Keep rTorment and the (overall) 20% chance to Black Mark at Ranks #2 and #3.
Reasoning: Again, front-loading the uniquely demonspawn aspects and allowing the mutation to gain power as it ranks up, along with limiting the number of tacked-on resistance ranks.
Robust:
Rework into an HP focused scales facet, where you gain a rank in Regeneration at ranks #1 and #3, and a rank of Robustness at Rank #2. Alternately, remove Robust entirely.
Reasoning: Robustness is a boring, purely defensive, and totally non-unique mutation. This makes it a much better fit for the Scales slot rather than the Tier 3 slot. However, it's also extremely powerful. For an HP focused mutation, 0.8 Hp/turn and +10% HP is at least comparable to Rugged Brown Scales +3 AC and +7% AC, so that would probably be a worthwhile addition to the scales slot.
Talons/Hooves:
I don't really have a good idea for these two, but they either need something to distinguish themselves from each other more clearly than a hidden stealth penalty to hooves and slightly different damage. Perhaps remove one and replace with some sort of wings/tail option that prohibits the cloak slot?
Reasoning: Two mutations that do the exact same thing don't really do much besides muck up the pool. You can simply double the weight of whichever mutation is kept if you want to keep "loses boots" the same probability.