'nother character concept thingy, in a manner of speaking, after a fashion
Long story short(ened): I don't have an internet connection of my own anymore, nor a lot of time, thus I haven't done much to work on any of my writing project thingamabobs ... of course, I didn't really work to hard on them when I had both a connection and a lot of time, so in reality I guess you could just say that I'm a horrible person. But I have had a sort of an idea germinating in the back of my head for a while now, a sort of a character concept that spun from the tail end of a deep-sixed story of mine (which of course I don't think I ever even started). I figured it would only take me a couple quarter hours to write up a character concept in full, and even though certain, shall we call them Journals, are left without new entries for the time being, there is this instead. The character class of the future. Yeah.
The character class of the future, almost, but first: some mechanics get in the way.
The way I see it, Diablo 3 will be as different from Diablo 2 as said game was from Diablo 1. Seems obvious. And I'm sick of D2 character concepts. So even though the ideas I have to present will probably not be those actually used in the next Diablo, likely not even close, I will still present them and base a concept on them anyway. To be succinct, which is something I am sublimely skilled at, skill points as we know them are gone. I think synergies were a decent idea gone awry -- I hate their implementation. So even though they might be the way of the future, my proposed solution is this: instead of putting skill points into individual skills, characters will put them into the entire skill tree as a whole. For example, a sorceress with 30 points in the cold tree may have as a result the equivalent of a level 1 frozen orb and a level 10 frost nova and a level 20 frost ball level 1 thingy, etc etc. To create diversity, each class now has 6 skill trees to put their points in, and certain skill trees augment the powers of others. This is both simpler than D2 mechanics, as there are only 6 options rather than 30, but also leads to more expansive skill lists, as the average D2 character had only 6 skills (approx. 120 skill points / 20 give or take) whereas the new characters have access to at least two entire trees.
Hopefully that didn't take too long. So anyway, onto the character class of the future: the totem barbarian!
The totem barbarian is born of the rejoined barbarian and druid clans (neither of which as separate entities are present in Diablo 3 -- well, you can't prove me wrong, yet). Revelling in the shamanistic heritage of his shapeshifter forefathers and the rugged genes of his barbarian ancestry, the new barbarian is empowered with the fury of the earth itself in his unceasing quest ... to kill things over and over again for shiny items.
Totem Barbarian Skill Trees:
- Warcries
- Totems
- Summons
- Were-forms
- Combat Skills
- Combat Masteries
I'd imagine each skill tree has upwards of 10 skills without including the ones granted it from synergies from other trees, such as the were-form combat skills.
My favorite skill was Puppet.
The Roc reminded me too much of warcraft.
Mystic River was robbed.
I'm going now.
p.s. sorry about posting. I apologize.
Long story short(ened): I don't have an internet connection of my own anymore, nor a lot of time, thus I haven't done much to work on any of my writing project thingamabobs ... of course, I didn't really work to hard on them when I had both a connection and a lot of time, so in reality I guess you could just say that I'm a horrible person. But I have had a sort of an idea germinating in the back of my head for a while now, a sort of a character concept that spun from the tail end of a deep-sixed story of mine (which of course I don't think I ever even started). I figured it would only take me a couple quarter hours to write up a character concept in full, and even though certain, shall we call them Journals, are left without new entries for the time being, there is this instead. The character class of the future. Yeah.
The character class of the future, almost, but first: some mechanics get in the way.
The way I see it, Diablo 3 will be as different from Diablo 2 as said game was from Diablo 1. Seems obvious. And I'm sick of D2 character concepts. So even though the ideas I have to present will probably not be those actually used in the next Diablo, likely not even close, I will still present them and base a concept on them anyway. To be succinct, which is something I am sublimely skilled at, skill points as we know them are gone. I think synergies were a decent idea gone awry -- I hate their implementation. So even though they might be the way of the future, my proposed solution is this: instead of putting skill points into individual skills, characters will put them into the entire skill tree as a whole. For example, a sorceress with 30 points in the cold tree may have as a result the equivalent of a level 1 frozen orb and a level 10 frost nova and a level 20 frost ball level 1 thingy, etc etc. To create diversity, each class now has 6 skill trees to put their points in, and certain skill trees augment the powers of others. This is both simpler than D2 mechanics, as there are only 6 options rather than 30, but also leads to more expansive skill lists, as the average D2 character had only 6 skills (approx. 120 skill points / 20 give or take) whereas the new characters have access to at least two entire trees.
Hopefully that didn't take too long. So anyway, onto the character class of the future: the totem barbarian!
The totem barbarian is born of the rejoined barbarian and druid clans (neither of which as separate entities are present in Diablo 3 -- well, you can't prove me wrong, yet). Revelling in the shamanistic heritage of his shapeshifter forefathers and the rugged genes of his barbarian ancestry, the new barbarian is empowered with the fury of the earth itself in his unceasing quest ... to kill things over and over again for shiny items.
Totem Barbarian Skill Trees:
- Warcries
- Totems
- Summons
- Were-forms
- Combat Skills
- Combat Masteries
Warcry - Alarm - Level 1+
Description: the totem barbarian shouts an alarm to his comrades, warning them of danger as well as increasing their alertness.
Statistics: covers a large area quickly, lasts for a short duration increasing slightly with level.
Use: increases Awareness, lessening a running character's defense and block penalty, increasing light radius, decreases damage/sec from damage over time sources hitting the character while under Alarm. Also has a vast range of trigger properties (alerting sentinels, guards, mercenaries etc).
Synergies: none
Warcry - Rage - Level 6 +
Description: the barbarian screams in anger, filling himself and his companions with an insatiable blood lust.
Statistics: covers a large area for a long duration but effect stops when a character is no longer in line of sight with the barbarian.
Use: decreases fear penalties, increases physical damage dealt and recieved.
Synergies: none
Warcry - Bark - Level 12 +
Description: the barbarian lets fly with an earth-splitting howl, dropping into a fearless charge ... or that's what it seemed like he was going to do, but he hasn't run full tilt into your shield yet, so maybe you should lower it and find out what's really going on?
Statistics: affects foes directly in from of the barbarian.
Use: enemies recoil in fear: weak enemies run a full-tilt retreat and even foes stronger than the barbarian himself interrupt their current action to block, leaving them open to attacks when they lower their defenses.
Synergies: Combat Mastery: a tight self-control is necessary to bluff intelligent enemies. Increased mastery of the mind heightens the chance of fooling a tough enemy.
Warcry - Pain - Level 30 +
Description: the totem barbarian has developed his voice to the point where it can emulate human emotion -- and suffering. The barbarian relays all the pain and agony of shapeshifting into a blood-curdling scream.
Statistics: requires the barbarian to be a master at shifting forms (at least 20 points? in were-forms) as well as warcries.
Use: Pain is used automatically during the shift into animal form (but not backwards into human form) with no penalty or mana cost, and can be considered a passive skill. It deals damage and causes fear in enemies even at long distances.
Synergies:
Were-forms: the larger the form shifted into, the more bone-cracking skull-splitting pain the barbarian endures, and can pass along to his enemies. No bonuses are accrued for actual skill in Were-forms, only in base damage for the form shifted into.
Combat Masteries: a talented barbarian can keep his composure even during the pain induced by shape shifting. Increased combat mastery allows the barbarian to channel his scream more effectively, doing more damage over a larger distance.
Totem - Nature Sign - Level 1 +
Description: the totem barbarian constructs a design on the battlefield, as a sign to allies who journey after the him.
Stastics: no height (affects distance, how far away the totem can be seen from), lasts until walked over/disrupted.
Use: reveals a large area of the map to allies who study it, as well as revealing the barbarian's location on the map despite distance.
Synergies: none
Totem - Banner - Level 6 +
Description: the barbarian erects a flag bearing the insignia of the heavens.
Statistics: height increases with level (affects how far away the totem can be seen from), long duration, but disappears when the barbarian leaves it.
Use: greatly enhances the armour of nearby allies. The bonus is greater to heavier types of armour, and thus melee characters benefit more from it than do casting classes.
Synergies: none
Totem - Puppet - Level 18 +
Description: the barbarian is a master of ventriloquism, throwing his voice.
Statistics: is gained when high levels of warcries and combat masteries are attained (as well as totems). Height increases with totem level, has a long duration until its use (see below).
Use: creates an empty totem at target location. The barbarian can then cast a warcry overtop the puppet, which will continue to carry the warcry, allowing him to reach allies further away (such as across chasms or rivers). The barbarian can create multiple puppets and make a "chain" of warcries. The puppet can only carry certain warcries, and does so at decreased effect, and crumbles after it is used.
Synergies:
Combat Masteries: decreases the penalty given to warcries used with a puppet.
Warcries: increases the number of times a puppet may be used before crumbling.
Totem - Skeletal Construct - Level 24 +
Description: the barbarian dismantles slain opponents and makes a fearsome effigy from their bones.
Statistics: high height, short duration
Use: creates fear in nearby enemies, decreases their damage. The skeletal construct can be climbed by allies (or fearless enemies!) and provides a defense bonus (useful for archers, mages, etc) but will damage them if it collapses will they are atop it.
Synergies:
Combat Skills: enough points in combat skills allows the barbarian the option of lighting the construct on fire, increasing its range and effect but decreasing its duration.
Summons: enough points in summons allows the barbarian to animate portions of the construct, giving it a thorns-like defense (construct only).
Summon - Summon Raven - Level 1 +
Description: the raven is an intelligent bird, jet black and swift.
Statistics: raven count increases (very slowly) with skill level, raven speed increases with level, ravens last until used.
Use: summons a raven which flies about, increasing the totem barbarian's light radius (field of vision). Can be used to pick up an item or activate a shrine (but not well, switch or similar item) but does not attack or do damage. Can't be targetted but is affected by area of effect spells.
Synergies: none
Summon - Summon Strangle Vine - Level 12 +
Description: the strangle vine comes from the jungles of Kurast, where it lives as a tree parasite.
Statistics: short range, one time use, hit points and defense increase with level.
Use: summons a white vine that wraps around a victim, suffocating and immobilizing it. Some enemies cannot be suffocated, however as it grows stronger it also grows thorns and does additional damage.
Synergies: Were-forms: points in were-forms gives the strangle vine a more animated life, allowing it to lay in wait like a trap for an enemy, instead of having to be summoned on an existing foe.
Summon - Summon Bramble Hulk - Level 24 +
Description: also originating from Kurast, the bramble hulk is a peaceful tree awoken to terrible reality.
Statistics: maximum 2 hulks, high hit points and low defense, thorns damage
Use: summons a bramble hulk with low intelligence to follow the barbarian. Cannot be given commands, primary source of damage is its thorns.
Synergies: Totems: points in totems allow larger hulks to be created, vastly increasing its hit point pool.
Summon - Summon Grizzly Bear - Level 30 +
Description: found across the land and usually solitairy, the grizzly bear is a formidable foe, and at the top of the food chain.
Statistics: maximum 1 bear, high hit points, defense and damage.
Use: summons a grizzly bear with medium intelligence. Can be given rudimentary commands (attack, run, hold position). The bear progresses with kills, gaining as much as a 15% increase in strength. This is lost if the bear dies.
Synergies: none
To be honest I dunno how I feel about this character, it might be too ... much like something, I dunno what. Nothing? But I wouldn't mind looking at two barbarians and not be able to find any similarities. Anyway, I'm not going to bother with the last two tech trees, as this is quite clearly enough too much already. Basically the idea is that you can either create a bunch of summons, then warcry them to insane proportions, or strategically trap enemies with totems and then bombard them with summons, or be pretty well equivalent to a D2 barbarian with lots of combat skills like a frenzied whirlwind with combat masteries, or transform into a monstrous beast and then do the whirlwinding, or transform and then summon things, or trap things with strategically placed totems and then transform into a monstrously huge beast and hurl yourself at the aforementioned trapped things, or pick up items with ravens, or summon things and kill alongside them like a barbarian, or do just about anything that doesn't involve the elemental side of things. Because that side is exceedingly small and has mold on it and smells funny.Were-forms - Lycanthropy - Level 1 +
Description: The totem barbarian can perform supernatural feats, but it is beyond even his ability to transform immediately into creatures of great power. Even though he can turn himself into a 30 foot long worm or a tremendous thunderbird, to do so in haste can cause great damage.
Statistics: passive skill.
Use: when transforming into larger forms, the totem barbarian must first transform himself into a lower form to help rid himself of his vestigal humanity, or risk being damaged in the process. A druid who transforms immediately into a large form without making an intermediary step will end up with as low as half his hit points remaining.
Synergies: none
Were-forms - Wolf - Level 1 +
Description: it's the wolf.
Statistics: medium duration, short transformation time. Shifts from and into many different forms with ease.
Use: shifts the totem barbarian into a wolf with a faster attack and movement speed, and access to the widest variety of combat skills available to shifted forms.
Synergies: dunno. Lycanthropy?
Were-forms - Vine Worm - Level 24 +
Description: with this transformation the totem barbarian melds his body into a gnarled wooden vine, capable of moving at great speeds and dealing large amounts of damage.
Statistics: Requires a large mastery over summoned creations. Has a long duration and very long transformation time. Is not capable into shifting into any form other than human, which will deal the barbarian damage upon transformation.
Use: most damage and defense of the barbarians were-forms. The vine worm has a low acceleration but high top speed, and has no penalties for running (or wiggling real fast). It has a low attack speed and cannot use warcries, however it can construct totems.
Synergies:
Summons: the vine worm may use summoned vines to attach to it and increase its power, for example the strangle vine gives it thorns damage and the solar creeper adds to its mana leech and nighttime regeneration.
Combat Skills: the vine worm has two exclusive combat skills: Engulf and Strangle, but cannot use any other combat skills.
Were-forms - Roc - Level 30 +
Description: the thunderbird, a legendary creature of dignity and ferocious raw power.
Statistics: long duration, slow transformation.
Use: shifts the barbarian into a Roc, giving him limited ability to fly, (he can cross rivers and chasms but not ascend cliffs), more attack damage and hit points and bonus lightning damage.
Synergies:
Totems: upon death the barbarian leaves behind a dream stone, the mythical rock located in the base of the Roc's brain. This can be used by any character quick enough to pick it up to resurrect any one nearby dead ally, including the barbarian. Once picked up, the stone must be used quickly, before it becomes ephemereal and disappears.
Warcries: the Roc's power over thunder grants it increased power with war cries. Enemies tremble at its call.
Combat Skills: with practical martial experience, the druid can unleash the Roc at its full potential, greatly increasing its attack speed. The Roc also has exclusive access to the Rend combat skill.
I'd imagine each skill tree has upwards of 10 skills without including the ones granted it from synergies from other trees, such as the were-form combat skills.
My favorite skill was Puppet.
The Roc reminded me too much of warcraft.
Mystic River was robbed.
I'm going now.
p.s. sorry about posting. I apologize.