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Perhaps the Coolest Character You Will Never See!
I’ve already discussed what I think is more likely for the remaining D3 characters. (You can read that here, if you're so inclined.) This is more of my ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if...’ kind of idea.
It's long too... so get comfortable.
I have (for a long time now) wanted to see some of Sanctuary's non-human denizens doing a bit of work in the battle against the Prime Evils. I figure that if you have the Khazra and Claw Vipers running around, somewhere in the mix there could be room for a sentient non-human race, so disturbed by what's going on that they are coming out of hiding and getting a little involved.
What form would this inhuman protagonist take? Glad you asked... In short: I want to see a Lizardman! (or Lizardperson, I suppose, if we're going to be all gender-neutral and politically correct about it... in fact, to avoid all that, I’m going to run with Lacertilian [‘Lacertilia’ = ‘Lizard’. See Wikipedia if you want more details] and just be done with it.)
I am picturing someone roughly anthropomorphic, with scales and a reasonably long tail. Sandy brown in colour, about the same size as your average human – in short, humanoid enough to (conveniently) fit into average human clothing & armour and with opposable thumbs.
In terms of character origin/mythology, I would cast the Lacertilians as an ancient race – perhaps an old Horadric experiment long since lost. Dwelling in vast underground caverns beneath the Dry Steppes they have used both the isolated nature of their territory and their skilled Geomancers to keep their existence as little more than a whispered rumour.
Following the destruction of the Worldstone, and recent upheaval in Sanctuary, their way of life has been threatened to the point where debate has raged amongst their subterranean society. The ruling Elders advocated maintaining their secrecy and not becoming involved in the affairs of Man – however some young warriors have declared their desire to assist in the battle.
Exiled by their society for breaking a centuries-old code of isolation, they remain committed to the protection of their homeland, and the destruction of the evil that threatens it.... Even if the price means that they will never be permitted to return.
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From a skills point of view, being non-human there are numerous natural abilities you could introduce with little danger of overlapping with existing skills. One place that a lot of typical character builds fall down is that at the end of the day, they are 'only human' and originality gets difficult.
In physical combat, the Lacertilian can make use of ‘human’ weapons, but also has the ability to wield their tail as a whip-like instrument. The tail can be wielded one handed (with a shield) or as a two-handed weapon. Obviously, using both hands and foregoing the shield will allow you to do more damage, but comes with a blocking/defense penalty.
In addition to have the tail, there extra bonuses like sharp teeth, venom, scales and the like to assist in combat.
As magic users, the Lacertilians have perfected the art of geomancy and can call upon the earth for both offensive and defensive purposes, and even to grant them allies in battle.
The joint magical & physical combat prowess gives a bit of versatility build-wise. You could specialise as a fighter, as a geomancer, do a bit of both or go feral and use your natural abilities.
In terms of class-specific items (assuming that we have them), the Lacertilians use a tail barb, which would occupy the weapon slot on the character, but is actually a vicious looking piece of armour that fits onto the end of the tail to enhance the damage it deals in combat. When equipped in the weapon slot, the Lacertilian takes his or her tail in hand. If a shield is equipped, they wield it one handed, if not, they use both. (If you have no weapon/tail barb equipped at all, the tail becomes the default weapon.)
On to some skills! I’ve broken the three trees up into rough groups of skills just for ease of reading/understanding
Tree 1: Natural Abilities
Digging:
Reptilian Physiology:
Scales:
Hissing & Spitting:
Tree 2: Lacertilian Combat
Teeth & Jaws:
Tail:
Words of the Elders:
Tree 3: Geomancy
Sand Skills:
Stone Skills:
Volcanic Skills:
Geology:
I’ve already discussed what I think is more likely for the remaining D3 characters. (You can read that here, if you're so inclined.) This is more of my ‘Wouldn’t it be cool if...’ kind of idea.
It's long too... so get comfortable.
I have (for a long time now) wanted to see some of Sanctuary's non-human denizens doing a bit of work in the battle against the Prime Evils. I figure that if you have the Khazra and Claw Vipers running around, somewhere in the mix there could be room for a sentient non-human race, so disturbed by what's going on that they are coming out of hiding and getting a little involved.
What form would this inhuman protagonist take? Glad you asked... In short: I want to see a Lizardman! (or Lizardperson, I suppose, if we're going to be all gender-neutral and politically correct about it... in fact, to avoid all that, I’m going to run with Lacertilian [‘Lacertilia’ = ‘Lizard’. See Wikipedia if you want more details] and just be done with it.)
I am picturing someone roughly anthropomorphic, with scales and a reasonably long tail. Sandy brown in colour, about the same size as your average human – in short, humanoid enough to (conveniently) fit into average human clothing & armour and with opposable thumbs.
In terms of character origin/mythology, I would cast the Lacertilians as an ancient race – perhaps an old Horadric experiment long since lost. Dwelling in vast underground caverns beneath the Dry Steppes they have used both the isolated nature of their territory and their skilled Geomancers to keep their existence as little more than a whispered rumour.
Following the destruction of the Worldstone, and recent upheaval in Sanctuary, their way of life has been threatened to the point where debate has raged amongst their subterranean society. The ruling Elders advocated maintaining their secrecy and not becoming involved in the affairs of Man – however some young warriors have declared their desire to assist in the battle.
Exiled by their society for breaking a centuries-old code of isolation, they remain committed to the protection of their homeland, and the destruction of the evil that threatens it.... Even if the price means that they will never be permitted to return.
-----
From a skills point of view, being non-human there are numerous natural abilities you could introduce with little danger of overlapping with existing skills. One place that a lot of typical character builds fall down is that at the end of the day, they are 'only human' and originality gets difficult.
In physical combat, the Lacertilian can make use of ‘human’ weapons, but also has the ability to wield their tail as a whip-like instrument. The tail can be wielded one handed (with a shield) or as a two-handed weapon. Obviously, using both hands and foregoing the shield will allow you to do more damage, but comes with a blocking/defense penalty.
In addition to have the tail, there extra bonuses like sharp teeth, venom, scales and the like to assist in combat.
As magic users, the Lacertilians have perfected the art of geomancy and can call upon the earth for both offensive and defensive purposes, and even to grant them allies in battle.
The joint magical & physical combat prowess gives a bit of versatility build-wise. You could specialise as a fighter, as a geomancer, do a bit of both or go feral and use your natural abilities.
In terms of class-specific items (assuming that we have them), the Lacertilians use a tail barb, which would occupy the weapon slot on the character, but is actually a vicious looking piece of armour that fits onto the end of the tail to enhance the damage it deals in combat. When equipped in the weapon slot, the Lacertilian takes his or her tail in hand. If a shield is equipped, they wield it one handed, if not, they use both. (If you have no weapon/tail barb equipped at all, the tail becomes the default weapon.)
On to some skills! I’ve broken the three trees up into rough groups of skills just for ease of reading/understanding
Tree 1: Natural Abilities
Digging:
- Dive: Allows the Lacertilian to dive beneath the surface of the ground and temporarily hide from most attacks. Being underground increases the rate of health, stamina & mana recovery. You can’t cast spells from underground and any summoned allies you have will be remain above ground when you do this. You can still be affected by some magic and AoE attacks when underground.
- Burrow: Allows the Lacertilian to move around beneath the soil.
- Bury: When underground, allows you to grab and pull down an enemy. While they are buried, they suffocate, losing health. After a time period, they escape and resurface. Or they die down there... one of the two...
- Sinkhole: Creates a large area of loose soil, which traps any enemies that wander across it. Being trapped slowly damages and greatly slows them.
- Emerge: the Lacertilian bursts forth from the soil, damaging and stunning nearby enemies and sending rocks flying in all directions. Obviously, you have to be underground to use this skill.
- Subterranean Mastery: improves the effectiveness of your work underground.
Reptilian Physiology:
- Reptilian Vision: A subterranean lifestyle has allowed the Lacertilians to see in a much wider spectrum than humans. Reveals enemies at a greater distance and reduces their defense (similar to ‘Zon’s Inner Sight/old school Infravision)
- Metabolise: Replenishes health & stamina at the cost of mana (it’s a healing spell!)
- Elemental Endurance: Passively increases resistance to elemental magic
- Consume corpse: The Lacertilian eats a few bites of the corpse of a dead enemy. Consuming an animal-type heals you, consuming an undead corpse temporarily increases your strength (and the damage you do), consuming a demon corpse grants you a temporary movement and attack speed bonus. Obviously, a consumed corpse can’t be raised or used in any other way.
Scales:
- Camouflage: Blend in with your surroundings – this skill comes with a small speed penalty, but makes it harder for enemies to hit you.
- Hardened Scales: Passive increase to defense (similar to the Barbarian’s Iron Skin)
- Spines: Passive – enhances the damage of the Lacertilian’s naturally spiny skin, dealing damage to melee attackers. Small chance of triggering open wounds.
- Toxic Scales: The Lacertilian excretes a potent poison through glands beneath their skin, dealing poison damage to melee attacking enemies.
- Enhanced Scales: Mastery – passively improves effectiveness of Camouflage, Hardened Scales, Spines & Toxic Scales
Hissing & Spitting:
- Hiss: Normally issued as a challenge prior to combat, the hiss causes nearby enemies to attack you recklessly – lowering their defense and attracting enemies towards you.
- Snarl: A roar directed at a single opponent prior to attack. Provides you with an attack/damage bonus against the targeted enemy, but a defense penalty against all others while you are attacking them.
- Noxious Spray: Shower a group of nearby enemies in venom & saliva (only useful for close range, like a brief poisonous version of the Druid’s Artic Blast)
- Venom Spit: Lob a large blob of phlegm and venom onto an enemy. With practice, you can achieve impressive distance and accuracy. The concentrated nature of the venom stuck to your enemy slows & damages them, with a reasonable chance of blinding them as well.
- Venom Potency: increases effectiveness of all mouth-based venom attacks.
Tree 2: Lacertilian Combat
Teeth & Jaws:
- Bite: Take a chunk out of your enemies. This attack damages and slows them. Damage would be based on strength of the Lacertilian. Increased levels would obviously increase damage and slowing effect. In addition, you can draw strength from your opponents. Biting an animal gives a slight healing bonus, biting an undead creature gives you a slight strength bonus and biting a demon gives you a slight speed bonus.
- Lockjaw: Sink your teeth in. This attack holds your enemy in place while you launch a rapid series of attacks. While you’re chomping down, both you and your enemy suffer a defense penalty.
- Toxic Bite: Make use of the venom glands in the Lacertilian’s mouth to inject your enemy with a poison that damages them with a small chance of confusing them. Effects stack to a point.
- Infectious Bite: A bite that infects your target with a fast-acting wasting disease (think Necromancer’s Decrepify). They are damaged and slowed, and they can transmit the effects to surrounding enemies.
- Mouth Mastery: Increase the effectiveness of all tooth-based attacks.
Tail:
- Tail swipe: An arcing attack with the tail that hits all enemies in a small area in front of the Lacertilian
- Flay: A series of rapid attacks with the tail (similar to the Paladin’s Zeal)
- Whirl: A rapid spin that hits and knocks back enemies all around the Lacertilian. Has a small charge-up time, so you can’t just spin around like the Barbarian’s whirlwind. More useful as a one-off when in a mob. (Use Hiss to bring a mob in close, then use this to deal heavy damage to an entire group.
- Thump: A head-high attack with the tail that stuns and knocks back a single enemy. Chance of dealing crushing blow damage.
- Crippling Lash: A rough body blow that injures and slows your enemy
- Constrict: Wrap your tail around a single enemy, stunning and crushing them. Deals heavy damage over time to a single target, but if you’re attacked while using this skill it is interrupted
- Toxic Lash: Releases poison from glands around the tail, adding poison damage to your attacks.
- Tail Mastery: Passive skill that increases damage done by tail attacks
Words of the Elders:
- Blessing of the Elders: This incantation briefly grants the Lacertilian a large speed bonus – to be used either in a furious attack, or rapid retreat
- Curse of the Elders: A good old-school style curse. Magically fools your enemies into believing they are being buried alive. While they are affected, they are slowed and confused and lose a little health over time.
- Breath of the Elders: Summons a whorl of sand that mimics and enhances your melee combat for a certain time. (I envisage this working like this: Say you are attacking with your tail, you get a mass of sand around your tail, increasing its size/damage/range while you attack. Same goes for regular weapons – giant blades/maces/clubs etc of sand, wrapped around your actual weapon.
- Bite of the Elders: A basic form of Geomancy, this is a ‘stacking’ style skill. Each successive melee hit turns more and more of your enemy to stone – obviously the more stony they are, the slower they move. After a certain number of hits (maybe 5?), they are a solid rock for a few seconds. During this time, they cannot attack, but also take less damage. If they are killed while in this form, the body explodes, sending rocky shrapnel all over the place, injuring nearby enemies.
- Claw of the Elders: Another ‘stacking’ style skill. Each hit does slightly more damage, and on a certain strike (maybe 3rd hit?) in addition to your blow, several stalagmites shoot up from the ground and pierce your enemy, dealing additional damage and a chance to cause open wounds. If the third strike is a critical hit, a whole bunch come up, dealing damage over a wide area.
- Knowledge of the Elders: Master, increasing the effectiveness of the Words of the Elders.
Tree 3: Geomancy
Sand Skills:
- Dust storm: Whips up a choking cloud of dust around an enemy. Does some damage, but also makes it very difficult for casters to get spells off – effectively giving a high chance to silence as well. Could be cast some distance from the target
- Sand blast: Think Sorceress’ Inferno skill, but with sand. Blast the skin from your enemies with this close-range attacking spell. Reasonable chance to blind enemies as well.
- Sandstorm: Conjures up a stationary vortex of whirling sand that slows and damages all enemies that pass through it, with a chance of blinding them as well. Knocks any missiles that pass through it off-course.
- Sand Spirit: Call forth a beast made of sand to assist you. Something along the lines of an amorphous blob which lashes out with tentacles of sand. (Kind of like Venom of Spiderman fame). Attacks have a chance of blinding enemies. When health falls to a certain level, it loses some cohesion and breaks down in to several, smaller sand spirits.
- Sand Mastery: Does what it says on the packet. Passively increases the effectiveness of sand-based Geomancy
Stone Skills:
- Stalagmites: A group of jagged stalagmites shoot up from the ground, piercing your enemies. Chance to cause open wounds (if Open Wounds still exists in D3)
- Rockwave: A wave of rock rises up in a cone-shape from the caster, damaging and knocking back (maybe also stunning) enemies in its way
- Rock wall: summons a wall of stone from the ground. Could be used either as a defensive barrier, or to herd enemies a certain way
- Collapse: causes your rock wall to fall over. If you’re clever you could get it to land on your enemies and crush them... just a thought...
- Stone Spirit: Summons beast made of rock pet to run around and clobber some of your enemies. Has a reasonable chance of stunning your enemies. Would be capable of picking up and hurling rocks at enemies as well as melee attacking.
- Rock Mastery: Passively increases effectiveness of the rock & stone based skills.
Volcanic Skills:
- Open Vents: Opens up steam vents beneath your enemies (a lot like the Druid’s Fissure spell), nicely toasting any enemy unfortunate enough to be standing above
- Lava Stream: The floor is burning hot lava! Calls forth a stream of lava that snakes it’s way away from the caster
- Volcano: (Yes, it’s ripping off the Druid, but you can’t do geomancy properly without one). Summons a volcano out of the ground, which spews forth Lava Streams and hurls a few big, hot rocks about
- Pyroclastic Flow: A nova-style spell of fast-moving fire and ash scorching and scalding all who stand nearby.
- Magma gouts: A spell that ‘follows’ the caster around (Like the Sorc’s Thunder Storm), randomly spurting little springs of molten rock out of the ground beneath nearby enemies.
- Lava Spirit: Summons a beast of lava to assist you in battle. Deals fire damage to melee attackers and has a chance of casting small lava streams. Gives off a powerful Pyroclastic Flow when killed.
- Volcanism: Mastery of lava based attacks
Geology:
- Gemology: (Passive) A keen eye for precious stones increases your chances of finding them. More gem drops for you and your party.
- Gem Infusion: (Passive) When summoning a Sand, Stone or Lava Spirit, you draw power from a gem in your inventory, and the attributes of that gem pass to your summoned creature. (Eg. A sapphire will give them cold damage, topaz gives them lightning damage etc.) If you drop it/use the gem whilst the summon is alive, the summon disappears. The effectiveness will be determined by the quality of the gem. By default, the skill will use the best quality gem available.
- Fool’s Gold: The Lacertilian conjures up a small pile of shiny crystals which attract nearby enemies. While it won’t necessarily draw them away from you, it could get them in a nice little group for you to attack.
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There you go. Is it the perfect character? No.
Will we ever see a non-human playable character? It's possible, but I have my doubts.
Is that going to stop me from hoping? Definitely not!
Comments/ideas/criticism welcome!