Abyss Ambulator
Posts: 1189
Joined: Friday, 28th January 2011, 21:45
Revamped God of the Wilds proposal
Wiki page here: https://crawl.develz.org/wiki/doku.php? ... asts_god&s[]=rrragathor, which has not been updated yet and contains the old version. I'll update it after I get some feedback on the revamp.
===== Rrragathor, god of the Wilds (Overview) =====
A god of the Wilds, Predators, and the Hunt. Rrragathor is a god who is primarily themed around animalistic aspects and druidic aspects, with a bit of a stronger leaning towards the former, the result of me combining two separate ideas that never saw the light of day for an animal god and a druid god. While just about any playstyle can take advantage of this god, it favors unarmed combat and, coincidentally, Felids. However, there is nothing to stop a player from using weapons and armor if they so choose. They'll just have a few less abilities and slower piety gain.
I'd like to give thanks to everyone who gave feedback on the forums, as that helped refined this idea quite a bit.
===== Basic Information =====
Rrragathor is the god of the Wilds. It is a nature god, like Fedhas, though goes in a much different direction. Rrragathor watches over the wild, untamed, and savage predators of the world and is interested in keeping the lands pure for them. Everyone else is either prey or a defiler. Followers are encouraged to strip themselves of their civilized tools and hunt with their own natural might.
He is a Temple god. He could also have a high chance for an altar in the Lair with the greatest chance on Lair 8. Or Lair 7 if it'd possibly interfere with the Lair 8 vaults. Also more likely to appear in Swamp and possibly Spider (for the non-Spiders should we get that Spider God), though not as likely as in Lair. Can also appear anywhere that other Temple god's altars appear. Mini-vaults would likely contain wild, predatory animals around it appropriate for depth.
The general idea for a player following this god is they will become more animalistic and gain some perks for shunning equipment. This god will favor players pursuing unarmed combat or playing Felids, but most of the benefits can be utilized even if you're using a weapon. Alternatively, players can keep their equipment on and play as more of a wild Druid-type, though this won't be optimal.
====Altar ideas====
* A roaring altar
* a savage altar
* a skin covered altar
* a wild altar
* an animalistic altar
====Rank names (not entirely satisfied here)====
* No Stars - Predatory <species>
* One Star - Hunting <species>
* Two Stars - Stalking <species>
* Three Stars - Animalistic <species>
* Four Stars - Bestial <species>
* Five Stars - Savage <species>
* Six Stars - Primal <species>
====Species restrictions====
Rrragathor will not accept undead, Demonspawn (maybe), Spriggans, Centaurs (both herbivores), and Demigods. Possible special messages for rejecting undead and, if also banned, Demonspawn: "Rrragathor does not tolerate defilers of nature!". For Spriggans and Centaurs: "Rrragathor does not accept prey."
=====Piety=====
====Appreciates====
* When you kill prey (rats, yaks, humanoids, etc.) ("Rrragathor accepts your hunt.")
* When you kill demons, undead, and angelic beings ("Rrragathor appreciates your killing of a defiler of nature." or something to that effect) (1)
(1)Undead as defilers are self-explanatory. Demons and angelic beings less so. But basically, they're removed from the wilds and the food chain, so they interfere with it when they interact with nature. Also, so piety isn't very difficult/impossible to gain in Hell and Pan.
====Deprecates====
* Necromancy
* Eating fruits, vegetables, and bread (Rrragathor does not approve of a prey's diet!)
* Wearing equipment over god given mutations/abilities(1)
* Abandoning it(2)
(1)Rrragathor grants several mutations based on having open equipment slots, such as fur for no body armor. Wearing something in a slot with a god given mutation will eventually cause it to disappear and incur piety loss. This ONLY happens if you wear the piece long enough for him to take away the mutation. If you never took off your robe to begin with, then you won't have to worry.
(2)Rrragathor does not mind if the player switches to Fedhas. However, if they switch to any other god or remain aetheist for so many turns (enough to safely switch to Fedhas, but not long enough to accomplish much godless), Rrragathor will start penance. A player can switch to Fedhas during Rrragathor's penance and he will pause it, but will resume if the player abandons Fedhas or goes under Fedhas' penance for any reason.
The reasoning for this is that both gods are nature gods and are interested in preserving nature. Both of them consider undead to be defilers and harmful to the eco-system. Both watch over a particular part of the natural world as well. This alliance isn't absolutely mandatory for this god and this aspect can be simply tossed out if it is not wanted, but I like it.
=====Given Abilities=====
Note: I've removed Totemizing and the various differences involving that. While it's cool and flavorful, it's hard to balance or come up with a lot of unique differences. Plus Rrragathor also feels more streamlined without it.
Additionally, no more ally support. You want allies, better pick up Summoning.
====Piety: No stars====
* Gives you Carnivore 1 and prevents the Herbivore mutations or removal of Carnivore. If a character has Herbivore, they lose it and gain Carni 1 on joining (rememeber, Spriggans and Centaurs cannot join).
* Also grants Fangs, Foot Claws (similar to Talons and Hooves), and Claws 1, all which grow to rank 3 as piety grows. Requires the helmet, boot, and glove slots to be empty, respectively.
====Piety: One Star====
* Grants protection from sickness and nausea, becoming more effective as piety rises, mainly so the player can eat contaminated chunks better.
* Grants Fur 1 if the body slot is empty. Eventually grows to 3 as piety rises. This fur mutation could, perhaps be stronger than the normal version (3, 6, 9 AC maybe?)
====Piety: Two Stars====
* Roar (Food, MP, Piety): Sort of like a Scroll of Fear. Most effective on prey animals, least effective on predator animals, neutral effectiveness on everything else.
====Piety: Three Stars====
* (Passive) Chance for the player to increase their satiation level with biting attacks, similar to vampires. Only works on living monsters. ...although it could be amusing to pop a flavor message for attacks against undead on occasion, such as "The Orc Zombie tastes terrible!"
* (Passive) Player attacks can trample, but only if they do not have weapons equipped. This includes pounces! May or may not allow for knocking monsters into deep water or lava?
* Pounce (Food, MP): Player targets a monster and blinks next to it via shortest distance. The player also gets a free attack on the monster, including a stab if applicable. This is partly for flavor and partly to prevent the player from pouncing pack members and summons to escape a situation (they'd get piety loss), as this is supposed to be an offensive ability. The player cannot leap over monsters and other obstacles that cannot be walked through, excluding deep water and lava. If it's too strong to do at LOS range, shorten the range to only a few squares. Maybe increase it as piety grows? Another suggested alternative is for a "Pounce" timeout to prevent repeated pouncings. A minimal range (can't pounce something next to you or one square away) could also be implemented.
====Piety: Four Stars====
* (Passive) Rrragathor protects the player from the elements. rFire and rCold for sure, maybe a few others with rAcid coming to mind to help make up for the lack of damage reduction provided by armor. Granted only if the player wears no armor.
====Piety: Five Stars====
* Bestial Fury (Food, MP, Piety): With the wild power of Rrragathor flowing through the player's veins, they tap into their animalistic side fully and unchain the beast within, literally becoming a supreme predator of the dungeons. The player turns into a massive, sabre-toothed tiger. This form has high damage biting and scratching attacks, Fast Movement 1 (or 2 if Fast Movement 1 suggested below is granted somewhere), boosted damage for Pouncing, can See Invisible (again, if not granted elsewhere), increased attack speed, boosted HP, slightly boosted AC, and greatly increased EV. The sabre-toothed tiger also gains the "Leap" ability, similar to Jumping Spiders. This ability is only usable if the player wears no armor whatsoever and has the same item limitations as Felids.
Another idea for the form is a Velociraptor with the same powers.
====Other possible abilities====
I'm not sure if these should be included at all, but still listed here as they could be handy.
* Fast Movement 1
* See Invisible
* Carnivore 2 and 3
* Supports the wearing of hides (and maybe hide armors too)
* Gifts skins and hides. Perhaps a one time, guaranteed randart gift on the altar at high piety?
=====Punishments=====
I know god wrath's are changing, so this may or may not fit with the new direction since I don't entirely know what that direction is.
* Instant: All god given mutations are lost and any predator allies you have turn against you.
* Summons wild predators to fight you, up to and including Dragons and possibly a "super beast", which would be the Bestial Fury form.
* Rots your vegetables.
* Gives you the "Armor fits poorly" mutation, or makes it worse.
* Takes away mutations Rrragathor normally grants.
* Howls at your location (attracts all predators and wakes up other monsters).
=====Notes=====
* Mutations are used as that system is already in place and working for giving the player claws, talons, etc. Workable alternatives would, of course, be welcome, but I'm not sure making up a new system to achieve the exact same effects is worthwhile.