Sorcerers

[Cocacolagua]

This'll be a bit of a long post regarding an idea I had for a new antagonist, so here we go.

 

General Information:

• They are solo non-conversion antagonist.
• The amount spawned in the gamemode would be 1 + (num of players / 8)

 

Antagonist mechanics:

Knowledge points: This is the equivalent of swarmer points to sorcerers, they have a starting maximum of 100, are obtained through absorbing items and are spent in abilities.

Arcane Torch: This is the only ability that sorcerers spawn with, it has no cooldown and it's effect is summoning/unsummoning an ethereal hand that baps items to drain them, and giving the sorcerer X amount of points depending on the item. A specific sorcerer can only absorb one type of item per game, so you cannot absorb a red toolbox twice. Absorbed items are easily recognizable as they are gray, have a special name/description, and are rendered useless. Absorbing an item leaves your fingerprint on it. Here's an example on how absorbing an item looks like:

Spoiler

In this gif, I use the arcane touch on a can of space cola, which grants me 45 knowledge (testing value), with the downside of being very easy to detect.

 

Leveling up: Sorcerers have levels, you start at level 1 and get the ability to level up when you reach your maximum knowledge points (100 for the most part). Leveling up awards the sorcerer with a couple of goodies depending on the level:

• Every level you level up, you are given a choice between 3 spells, the effect of these spells depend on the effect of the items you absorbed (if you absorb a lot of combat items, you have a higher chance of combat spells, medical items for healing, and so on). Choosing one of these spells grants you the spell. (all of this spell stuff is explained soon).
• Every two levels you level up (lvl 2, 4, 6...), you are allowed to upgrade one of your spells, the upgrade depends on the spell.

 

Spells: Spells are the sorcerer's abilities, they are gained and upgraded by leveling up, and these are their unique quirks:

• Not all of your spells are active at once. Each time you level up, you randomly replace your current active spells with 4 random spells from all spells you own. Only active spells can be activated, the rest cannot be seen / used.
• Spells do not have a cooldown, but they consume knowledge points to activate and charges, each spell has their specific amount of charges, and each time you use a spell, one charge is consumed. Consuming all charges off a spell removes it as an active spell.

Here is an example of the active spell mechanic:

Spoiler

(Ignore the pogfish, he is my debug friend) In this scenario I have three active spells, two copies of Asclepius' Will (which injects everyone around me with a healing chemical that has the side-effect of not allowing you to use weapons) and one copy of Hot Potato (which gives me a hot potato bomb that explodes in 10 seconds, cannot be dropped and is instantly transmitted to someone by clicking in them). As I am cornered by these security officers, I give the hot potato bomb to the head of security to distract him, then use Asclepius' Will to make them all pacifists and unable to stun me. As both of these spells only have 1 charge, they are instantly removed from an active spell slot when used, and each one consumed 25 of my current knowledge, leaving me at 50 knowledge.

 

The one part I have not come up with yet are appropiate objectives, but ideally they'll be revealed to the sorcerer when they level up to a specific level (10, 15?).

Posting this to see what the general opinion is, before I continue coding.

[Viz]

This is REALLY interesting. Looking forward to how this idea develops.

[Charliminator]

bro I need a debug pogfish. where can I get one?

Cool idea, looks interesting.

[Crazyhair]

I love this idea so much. It's like a long term wizard which I really think could be cool. Hope this is added/reviewed.

[Smokincheez]

I love this idea. If you ever want help with sprites I'd be glad to make some.

[Viz]

I would also like to add that regardless of what happens I WANT to see that hot potato spell in the game in some way. Can people pass it to each other or does it prevent that after first pass?

Just the idea of a bunch of seccies passing each other a primed explosive in a panic is hilarious to me. 

[Smokincheez]

10 hours ago, Woje said:

I would also like to add that regardless of what happens I WANT to see that hot potato spell in the game in some way. Can people pass it to each other or does it prevent that after first pass?

Just the idea of a bunch of seccies passing each other a primed explosive in a panic is hilarious to me. 

Does it count as assault to pass a hot potato? Will officers legally be allowed to give it to some greytider in self-preservation?

[Coolrune206]

1 hour ago, Smokincheez said:

Does it count as assault to pass a hot potato? Will officers legally be allowed to give it to some greytider in self-preservation?

A good IAA could spin it as self defense I'm sure

[Viz]

1 hour ago, Smokincheez said:

Does it count as assault to pass a hot potato? Will officers legally be allowed to give it to some greytider in self-preservation?

It's you or me man... Hold this L potato.

[DevL]

Thread VS A very hot potato

Thread derailed, defeat.

 

Sick idea though, sorcerer to. :)

Edited July 26, 2021 by DevL
spelling

[Sweaterkittens]

9 hours ago, Woje said:

It's you or me man... Hold this L potato.

My favorite part of this is you're going to VERY quickly see who everyone likes more. When the HoS passes it off to a sec officer instead of the Clown, you know there are gonna be some words after.

 

 

More on-topic, my only question, Coca, is what is stopping a Sorcerer from going to a place with a mass amount of different items (such as one of the medbay backrooms, some of the RnD areas, etc.) and just spending a few minutes absorbing everything to gain a ton of levels super fast? Would there a be downside to that? It seems like you could potentially spend the first X minutes of the round hiding and absorbing to just be super strong when you come out. Or am I misunderstanding some of the mechanics at play?

This looks super cool though, man, I'm excited to see where it goes!

Edited July 27, 2021 by Sweaterkittens

[DevL]

I think that would be a valid strategy yea, but of course when someone sees an entire power zapped room your stealth will be gone. Could also make it so certain item paths like guns, containers, etc, take time to absorb, as opposed to instant

(Also definetly make sure you cant absorb the NAD >:| )

[Viz]

2 hours ago, Sweaterkittens said:

More on-topic, my only question, Coca, is what is stopping a Sorcerer from going to a place with a mass amount of different items (such as one of the medbay backrooms, some of the RnD areas, etc.) and just spending a few minutes absorbing everything to gain a ton of levels super fast? Would there a be downside to that? It seems like you could potentially spend the first X minutes of the round hiding and absorbing to just be super strong when you come out. Or am I misunderstanding some of the mechanics at play?

Presumably they have a cooldown, and most of these storage areas contain mostly multiples of the same object, and basic objects probably would be worth almost nothing, also it'd be super obvious and immediately get sec on your ass. Though I do wonder still what Coca has to say about it.

[Smokincheez]

On 7/26/2021 at 9:49 PM, Sweaterkittens said:

My favorite part of this is you're going to VERY quickly see who everyone likes more. When the HoS passes it off to a sec officer instead of the Clown, you know there are gonna be some words after.

 

 

More on-topic, my only question, Coca, is what is stopping a Sorcerer from going to a place with a mass amount of different items (such as one of the medbay backrooms, some of the RnD areas, etc.) and just spending a few minutes absorbing everything to gain a ton of levels super fast? Would there a be downside to that? It seems like you could potentially spend the first X minutes of the round hiding and absorbing to just be super strong when you come out. Or am I misunderstanding some of the mechanics at play?

This looks super cool though, man, I'm excited to see where it goes!

Original post says they have a point limit. They then probably have to go somewhere secluded to use them or something.\