Sorcery Ability Ideas

The harnessing and manipulation of nether.
Post Reply
User avatar
Irylia
Posts: 274
Joined: Tue Apr 30, 2019 5:20 pm

Sorcery Ability Ideas

Post by Irylia »

This thread is for sorcery ability suggestions that might apply to any guild that has access to sorcery - or at least some of them depending on what the ability is. Some of these may be intended to not cost an actual ability point, but more be a passive bonus for reaching certain levels of skill (if that's a thing). So if anyone has ideas, please post them. I'll start:

Quickchannel - Single or multi-tiered ability to reduce roundtime of activating a channel of sorcery. Since melee folks seem to be able to instantly spring into action, it might be nice if sorcerers can at least get a channel or two up without becoming totally vulnerable in the process due to roundtime.

Sorcerous Efficiency - At higher levels of sorcery, the energy cost of channeling or employing multiple channels is reduced significantly as through experience you have strengthened your precision and knowledge of sorcerous manipulation. (I was thinking you might be able to pick up a single ability for this and as your skill improves, it gets better automatically and is not tiered).

Crushing Tendril - Similar to Binding Tendril, this is it's more destructive form. The nether wraps tightly around an area of the body and rather than simply binding, begins to condense and constrict - both binding and crushing at the same time. (Not sure if this is possible in-lore or not).
TheCacklackian
Posts: 47
Joined: Sat Jan 25, 2020 3:59 am

Re: Sorcery Ability Ideas

Post by TheCacklackian »

I had an ability idea I wanted to throw in, not sure if it'd fit with warlock, or be best to hold off on it until rooks are available but it's a sorcery ability nontheless

Wraithwalk-

Using their ability to manipulate the spirit, a sorcerer is capable of detaching their own spirit from their body and sending it out as a nethrim. In this state, they will have the same capability of incorporial nethrim, being able to fade in and out of sight (however being unable to attack whilest faded out of sight), the ability to attack via raw sorcery casts, and the ability to use draining nether claws in melee. As a wraith however, one will be unable to generate their own energy, relying on draining, essence transfers, and nether restoration in order to sustain themselves.

If a sorcerer is killed while in wraith form, they will immediately rebound back into their bodies with no energy, leaving them unconscious until their energy is restored. If the sorcerers body is killed while in wraith form, the wraith will die as well.

I'm honestly not sure how this would be balanced, but I think it would be a super badass ability. Perhaps the maximum energy in this could be based on a sorcerers sorcery skill? It could even involve some occult diagram that sustains the sorcerers body whilest wraithwalking. I can think of practical uses of this being as an invisible scout/spy that could be detected via soul detection or perhaps high perception while invisible (chilly feeling in the air, muted lights, signs of a haunting?)

Bonus points for the type of nethrim you are changing as your sorcery is higher and or based on skills, perhaps you start out as a weak shade and progress into a spectre, or eidelon!
User avatar
Rias
DEV
Posts: 2024
Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2017 4:06 pm
Location: Wandering Temicotli

Re: Sorcery Ability Ideas

Post by Rias »

I've been trying to find a way to incorporate a "wraith form" type idea since the day I decided to make a MUD. The trick is finding a way to make it useful, balanced, and lore-friendly all at once, but I'm determined to make it happen one day.
<Rias> PUT ON PANTS
<Fellborn> NO
TheCacklackian
Posts: 47
Joined: Sat Jan 25, 2020 3:59 am

Re: Sorcery Ability Ideas

Post by TheCacklackian »

I think some uses for this form could be to bypass the need for swimming/climbing for scouting at least temporarily and in a limited way. Example:big fancy occult ruin at the top of a really hard cliff to climb. Sorcerer goes into wraith form and is able to float up to the cliff safely to study the ruin. Another idea is allowing them to bypass doors that are not made of iron steel ect even if they are locked.

Alternatively it could be used as a way to do disposable damage if you don't make the penalties of losing it super high risk. Example:Really big baddie in the next room. You wraithwalk to enter the room, and deal damage without risking your health, however you could be risking sanity, energy and moral, also your body would be defenseless.

Another idea is upon death, a sorcerer enters wraithwalk, they will be in this form, and must leech energy from living beings to grow in power enough to self reanimate there body. After self reanimating there is a 30 second period where bleeding wounds do not bleed, and your energy upon reanimating could be based on how much you leeched as a nethrim, meaning if you didn't leech enough you could easily die from bloodloss before coming out of unconsciousness. This could be a way to lessen the sanity/moral hit for dying. It could also be a way for non undying to have a 'second chance'. If you die while in wraith form, normal death occurres.

Another idea that could be used for balancing could be the need of a special occult glyph that is time consuming to draw, or even something akin to a phylactery which you could charge with soul shreds to sustain your body whiles the soul is gone.

Obviously I'm just brainstorming random ideas here. They probably aren't very balanced and I acknowledge that.
User avatar
Rias
DEV
Posts: 2024
Joined: Sun Sep 03, 2017 4:06 pm
Location: Wandering Temicotli

Re: Sorcery Ability Ideas

Post by Rias »

The wraith form on death bit is most in line with my original idea. I think stuff like that is really cool.
<Rias> PUT ON PANTS
<Fellborn> NO
Navi
Posts: 350
Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2020 7:07 am

Re: Sorcery Ability Ideas

Post by Navi »

Overall, I really like the sorcery abilities. They're quite useful. I like the cooldowns even. I can toss a binding tendril, leech my target, and cast, then be set to repeat it all again. I enjoy the spirit detection ability the most though. I have noticed you can't count passed a certain number of souls. I took awareness as my stat with the hopes it would help with being more spiritually aware, though reviewing the abilities leads me to believe intuition is more what I should've gone for. I was hoping I would be able to count the number of souls, even in the crowded street with this stat choice. Any chance this could be made possible? An expanded ability could be the ability to track souls in complete darkness, allowing you to dodge attacks made by creatures with a significant soul, and to make attacks against them.
The abilities I like the most are essence transfer and leech. Transfer means I could sell my energy to any blacksmiths, miners, or even fighters, assuming they're okay with sorcery of course. An additional ability that uses the excess energy when transferring or leeching energy to heal light wounds would be a great expansion. If someone is at 490 energy, and uses leech and gains 50 energy, then they've about 40 energy excess. I think a 15 energy to 1 wound point would be a good ratio, so in this case, the user would heal about 3 points. Of course physickers should always have their place, which is why I suggest it only work for light wounds, or even the first level of wounds only.

Becoming a wraith seems like it would damage a person's psyche permanently. This could be reflected by reducing your baseline sanity from 0, to something like paranoid, or at least make you more susceptible to loss of sanity. I don't see a wraith being able to use their body's eyes to see, or their body's ears to hear. They might have to rely on soul detection, or some kind of variant, which would be solved, at least partially by the expansion on soul detection that allows someone to track souls in the immediate area. Additionally, to counteract this, perhaps provide recipes for charms that prevent your soul from being detected. The charms wouldn't have to work against NPC wraiths because npc wraiths have a much more evolved spiritual sense, or whatever you want to call it, since they have to be wraiths all the time. Alternatively, if you did want to allow them to work against NPC wraiths, you could have their level of soul compression, that's what I'm calling it now, based on the crafter's skill.

I see there are a few types of totems you can make. It would be neat if you could do something with them and spiritual energy. Perhaps another ability to leech energy from targets, or yourself, and store it into a totem to be used for later rituals, or to be consumed by someone with the leech ability. Leeching the totem would consume at least part of the material, rendering it useless as a conduit. How much you can store in the totem, or whatever it would ultimately end up being could be determined by the skill, or skills, used. I know bone is a favored material for sorcerers, but I don't think there is any crafting skill for that. The closest I can think of is bushcraft, though I could see woodworking also being effective to some degree, as well as masonry, or whatever skill is used to make stone totems.
wander without wanting, thrust into lands unknown. the shadows shift and change, and the worlds with them.
I'm not a soldier but I'm fighting
Can you hear me through the silence?
I won't give up 'cause there will be a day
We'll meet again
Navi
Posts: 350
Joined: Sat Apr 18, 2020 7:07 am

Re: Sorcery Ability Ideas

Post by Navi »

I managed to get a target's head with my binding tendril. It searched and managed to find me. I don't know what the mechanics are for that, but I would expect it to blind them at least, some disadvantages for perception?
cast btend
Inky black tendrils lash out from your form!
An inky black tendril lashes at a crazed militiaman! Ranged(d*(*x)):140 vs Dodge(d335(-2x)(-2!)):103 = 37 (18%)
5 cold damage (head)

A crazed militiaman searches the area carefully.

You have been discovered by a crazed militiaman!

I died as a result sadly. LOL
wander without wanting, thrust into lands unknown. the shadows shift and change, and the worlds with them.
I'm not a soldier but I'm fighting
Can you hear me through the silence?
I won't give up 'cause there will be a day
We'll meet again
Post Reply