Ennui_Incarnate

I'm in the process of designing a Necromancer class for an on-line game I help develop. It's a text based PK (playerkill) MUD for those familiar with the type. I've studied various implementations on the bigger MMORPGs like EQ and DiabloII, as well as sundry articles from various tabletop RPGs. What I'm looking for now is some help on ideas for class design, so far as equipment, powers, and suchlike. I'm being deliberately vague about the specifics of our implemention (other than it's being text-based) so you guys will think outside the box, and not be constrained by any preconceptions of how out specific game is played. If you have an idea other than the basic "summon/control dead things, and put disease/rotting flesh/bad affects on people" please post. All submissions are quite welcome, and thanks in advance for the assist in brainstorming.

Gotenks

When I think of necromancer (gaming), I think of a strong silent type of character, who does just fine by himself. I think of a character who can siphon life from living things, and maybe siphon mana from undead. Usually a scithe sits in his right hand, an evil robe drapes from his shoulders, eyes that glow etc...

Spells:

Impliment high mana spells that do extreme damage over short amount of time. (IE: 1000mana - 50dmg per 5 seconds over 1min span)

Impliment medium mana spells that do unheard of damage over long spurts (until dead (IE: 500mana - 200dmg per 30 seconds))

Impliment Siphon Health spells that do a one shot DD that gives the necro Damage/#=X amount of health.

Maybe give the necro a snare, 20% decrease in speed to target for X amount of seconds.

Debuff's that drop the targets STR/INT (for both warrior and caster alike)

In EQ they had a long line of mana regeneration spells for the necro, which would take the Health of the necro, and turn it into mana over time. Obviously with a negative ratio so that the necro wouldnt just constantly kill (3:1/4:1 in big spurts like 30hp-10mana every 6 seconds for 5 minutes).

I could think of more things, but i'm not sure what else to go on.

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kutulu

A necromancer controls the dead, therefore he would summon skeletal warriors or demons to aid him in combat or he could raise fallen warriors around him in the form of zombies. The level of the necro and the mana spent would determine the level of the skeleton/demon/zombie.

Those spells seem more like a traditional mage, not really a necro.

I like the idea of a spell that exchanges the necro's health for mana and a spell that drains life from the target and gives it to the caster.

I'd also give him powers that force decay on the target, therefore reducing the targets strength and dexterity and also make the target more vulnerable to physical attacks.

Apokx

You guys are describing EQ necro's in general.

As far as that goes,I would try to stay away from copying another game's setup.(I realize it's hard to avoid,since most of the ideas necros bring to mind are already used)

As far as the suggestions given,those would make a pretty powerful (and unbalanced ) spell-caster.

As far as equipment,cloaks and similar robes made from the sewn flesh of the dead or living would ad an element to the class itself..possibly even granting them bonuses that other classes wouldnt get (like a robe made of skin and ears,giving them the ability to detect sounds better).

Maybe even "devouring" the souls of slain/weakened victims and gaining attribute bonuses/shape changes for doing so.

Maybe gaining a strength bonus from the soul of that burly warrior you just defeated?

The skill by itself wouldnt be very effective..so the necromancer would have to have some basic form of self defense.I couldnt really come up with anything that wasnt already suggested/in use...but Im sure someone else could help you with that.


Anyways,my two cents.

kutulu

I've never played EQ, those are just standard necromancer qualities. They are spell casters that control the dead.

Mephex

That's a good point. I'd give the class a different title. Conjurer, diabolist or something.

And please, do the players a favor and let this class wear some f'ing ARMOR.

The souls thing is a great twist. In addition, instead of just "summoning" dead things out of thin air, I think the player should be able to capture the "essence" or "souls" of mobs, then "re-animate" them.

I'm thinking this class is more defined by the minions then the actual necro. So will it be a defensive class ? It depends on what they're currently controlling etc. Which in turn makes deciding what equipment is needed for the class a very short list.

Just my 2 bits.

diergray

I think a higher level Necro should be able to take control of a lower level necros undead minions.

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Apokx

Yeah,I mentioned that later in my post.

The word "Necromancer" brings to mind certain abilities,I was just making an observation ;p

A possiblity of change on the soul stealing would be to give them spells that tap a targets stat..the stat being determined by the necromancer.

A good way to break someone's strong points..or exploit their weak points.

Still leaves something to be desired for normal spells..every spell caster needs some sort of offensive spell line..so you may be forced into giving them damage spells..unless like D&D the loss of stats can be fatal.

JohnnyRoyale

How about the Necro can use the powers/abilities of defeated foes?


( Sheng sung, mortal kombat)

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Ennui_Incarnate

And I *must* break the class away from "traditional" magery, as they're somewhat of a cub-class of our game's standard mages. They've broken away from the mage enclaves and either sold their soul to a demon prince, or been transformed into undead by a vampire prince in order to gain access to necromantic secrets. They slowly devolve into an undead state, and as they gain their necromantic abilities they also slowly lose their old mage abilities.

I did include some decay and weakening abilities with my initial setup, but I have to be careful there as well, as it treads somewhat on the toes of our current vampire setup.

I love the equipment idea, and I'll definitely include something along those lines, as well as the ability to extrude his own bone through his skin to function as a sort of armour.

I've given them a reap function when wielding a scythe that allows for the necro to aborb a portion of the foe's soul. So far, I'm only allowing these soul points to be used as a way to lessen the cost of training new skills, and as a component in the formation of fetishes - limited charge gear objects that grant special abilities.

I already used a mechanic similar to this in the design I did for our "Highlander" class. They gain quickening from defeated opponents and use this power to emulate certain features of the defeated class. Example: From mages, they learn to enchant their weapons with spell affects for a limited time span.

I certainly appreciate all the input so far, and would love to see more opinions and ideas.

nanofever

My genral thoughts on necros is that they should be entirely focused on draning life and recieving the benfits. Spells that drain stats/ health/ soul/ whatever and then provide a percentage to the caster. Spells that weaken or decay are also a possibility: slow spells, fatigue and aging come to mind. High level spells should be save vs. fortitude or die and become the caster's minion. I think regular "skeleton-like" minions should be low level and high level minions should be near exact replicas of something the necro has killed. If your MUD has perma-death or aging, the necro should age at something like 1/20 human speed and it should take a very powerful act to fully destroy a necro, since the necros you are seeing are somewhat like liches.

This being said I think a necro should take damage from healing spells, sunlight unless fully clothed, blessed weapon and other "holy" effects.

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Aletheia

I agree with nanofever. Necros are usually obsessed with controlling life and death, mainly transfering life to death or animating death. The necro should use vamperic type spells, like draining mana and life from others, to power spells and him or herself. They should be able to animate dead monsters, maybe even clone them.