New characters suggestion thread.

[TeeGee]

Don't worry, I won't .

Anyway, I'm thinking we're moving into the right direction, but still none of the names seems to be the one. Anyone recalls any steampunk comic/movie/book/novel/game with something like this?

[Marius]

I'm thinking. I've also spend some time on wikipedia and google searching for things like "electricity+magic". On electricity, I only find suitable latin words like "electro". However, electromancer doesn't appeal to the steampunk sort of character.

Have you thought of story behind this character? Like, how he intends to achieve immortality. I remember some talking about that quite a while ago, when we were discussing grimoires. Someone (maybe TeeGee) suggested that each character could have a short individual storyline on what they wanted to do to overcome death. Archpriest relies in gods, technolich tries to make itself a cyborg and live forever thanks to computer technology etc.
So, what if this electromancer is going through science? Could that make him something like a "Spell Physicist", "Arcane Scientist" or something?

[TeeGee]

Yeah I thought of his story. Good idea to post it - maybe it'll inspire someone.

He's trying to achieve immortality through wacky science and the partially-mystical (for him at least) power of electricity - a mysterious energy that powers both the machines and organisms. You know, Frankenstein-based idea. BTW - I think we could expand the "story behind the characters" idea. It might proove useful in the near future .

[Dormouse]

Now, I've got to ask myself a question... why did I skip this topic for such a long time?

You've all got some really inspiring ideas. I love the Siren. Well, as Tom already wrote, I like drawing women. And singing women - especially weirdly singing women are an absolutly bewitching subject for a concept artist. I also like the name Maestria, but come to think of it, I guess Siren has a better feeling to it. Maestria is like a creepy opera singer with an enormous white wig. Siren's got this mysterious, ethnic touch to it. And I'd definately draw the Siren with a bit of Sainkho Namtchylak's looks (for those who don't know Sainkho and her unearthly vocal abilities: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0y6PS9K_1CU, and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyoIYcH7oaU - but I warn you, the second one is extremely creepy, and I don't really understand the tree footage. But she does this little dance routine and the end, which is quite adorable ).

The Martyr, though only briefly mentioned by Tom, is yet another concept I'd love to work on. I mean, I'm Catholic, so the idea naturally appeals to me . That's something really dramatic.

Now something a bit off the topic, but maybe interesting for non-Polish speaking forum users : actually when I read "siren" I immediately thought of a mermaid, because both creatures have the same name in Polish (syrena). Thinking of a mermaid was probably also a sign of my inner patriotism - we have a marmaid as the coat of arms of Warsaw (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coat_of_arms_of_Warsaw - BTW, I never knew Warsaw has a city motto ).

[Cosmar]

I love all these ideas, like the electricity guy and the Starcaller, or whatever you'll call it (personally I liked Astral Mage). I really like the idea of the Druid too. I have a class idea too even if I took forever in responding to this topic:

Geomancer (earth based character)

Edge: Resistance

Ability 1: Dust storm
--Stuns the enemy caster for 10 seconds, and his incantation is slowed down by 5 for 20 more seconds.
Ability 2: Earth elemental--power 20, health 400
Conjures a mighty earth elemental that is resistant to magic.
Ability 3: Earth spikes-- power 30
--Shoots a row of spikes out of the ground in a line from the caster to the enemy. It lasts for 20 seconds, doing 30 damage every 5 seconds to the enemy caster and any summons he has. If the enemy is casting a spell when he gets hurt, the spell dissipates and is lost.

[Marius]

Gee, that's one heck of an overpowered character
But of course, it's the idea that counts, not the numbers.

Hey, when thinking of new characters, I guess you could give them some more abilities. 7 tiers should do.

[TeeGee]

Hey, when thinking of new characters, I guess you could give them some more abilities. 7 tiers should do.

In translation: we're too busy working on the sequel to implement new characters to the old MAGI, but we could use these ideas in the sequel. And in the sequel characters will have 7 abilities instead of 3.

.

[Marius]

Oh well, I was trying to me a little mysterious and obscure, but...

[Cosmar]

Ooh, I have another idea! I think this one is better than the Geomancer, though I still think it would be cool to have an earth-based character.

Name: Cleric/ some other priesty name that doesn't have the word 'priest' in it.
Edge: Incantation
Special Abilities:
1) Conversion--this spell will convert whatever summon the enemy has over to the side of the caster, at a cost of 30 health to the caster.
2) Symbiosis--this ability establishes a spiritual connection between the caster and his enemy; for 30 seconds, whatever damage the Enemy does to the caster is done to the Enemy as well. This doesn't include damage to shields or summons--the player has to get hit in order for the Enemy to be hurt also.
3) Avatar--for 60 seconds this ability boosts all attributes of the caster by 3.

What do you think?

[TeeGee]

I like these abilities. We might have something like them in the sequel.

[Cosmar]

Oops, I just saw that there will be 7 abilities in the sequel.

In addition to the three abilities for the Cleric, I think the other 4 could be things like:

1) Chastise--this ability abolishes all of the highest-tiered spells that the enemy has. (i.e. kind of like Dispell except instead of destroying all channels except blue, it destroys all of the highest channels open. So if the enemy has opened 5 red channels, 4 blue, 6 gray, and 7 green, after this ability the enemy only has 4 red, 3 blue, 5 gray, and 6 green.)
2) Retribution-- For 30 seconds, whenever the enemy destroys any of the player's shields or summons, the Enemy's own shield or summon is also destroyed.
3) War Prayer-- this ability, for 20 seconds, lessens all of the enemy's chance of spell success by 10% (I was thinking 20% but that might be too powerful...maybe 20% loss for 10 seconds)
4) Cleansing--this ability gets rid of any negative effects on the mage and restores 50 health.

I think the order of these abilities, from first acquired to last acquired, would go like this: War Prayer, Cleansing, Conversion, Chastise, Retribution, Symbiosis, and Avatar. But that's just my opinion.

I really want there to be a holy/paladin/cleric good type of character in the sequel.

[TeeGee]

2) Retribution-- For 30 seconds, whenever the enemy destroys any of the player's shields or summons, the Enemy's own shield or summon is also destroyed.

This is a very interesting spell idea. Some kind of spell mirror. We're missing few abilities for Sorceress at this point and this could be it. Thanks.

4) Cleansing--this ability gets rid of any negative effects on the mage and restores 50 health.

Ha, ha. There's already a basic spell that pretty much does that in the sequel .

I really want there to be a holy/paladin/cleric good type of character in the sequel.

Hmm... I can't promise that. We already have one religious characters - the Archpriest. Also, new Pure One and Caligrapher resemble Asian monks/sages and are both "positive" characters. I definitely want to keep the old team, plus few additional characters picked from your suggestions. However, we need to be extra picky as lot of work goes into making a character that has seven abilities and animated graphics like this one :

(Yes, this is an actual sprite from MAGI's sequel.)

[ribbonwing]

for the chronomancer, you could have them get a bonus to thier lifespan and only have two abilities.

3rd ability-time distortion. halves the rate at which time moves on opponents side of th field and doubles the rate of time on your side of the field. this affects- the speed of missiles, the speed of summons, the time it takes to cast spells, poison, fire, abilities charging, curses, everything. lasts 3 seconds. probably overpowered, you may need to decrese the rate of time distortion.

on the subject of vampires-depending on the fiction, a female vampire is sometimes called a succubus. other times it referes to a type of demon. incubus is the same, except for male vampires.

[Wizard]

(Yes, this is an actual sprite from MAGI's sequel.)

Goddamit!!! This is like a total pwnage! I want more!

[Roman-the-evil]

Well something I thought of:

Lord of Dust
Egyptian themed mage. Looks like Pharaon of sorts
Edge: resistance

Abilities:
MAgi 1:
Quicksand: for 10-15 seconds creates a pool of quicksand in the middle of the field, which slows down a lot melee creatures, and deals some damage to them as they walk.

Summon mummy: summons a undead monster, which can cast weak version of hex and lower defense on opponent. Low HP, weak to fire.

Sand Storm: for 10-15 seconds creates a powerful sandstorm that lowers incanation of both mages to minimum(1) and deals minor damage to both opponents (1/2 damage to Lord of Dust though) and their creatures.

Possible Magi 2 abilities, in addition to ones above.

Summon sand storm elemental (looks like a sand whirlwind): this is a melee flying attacker which also distracts opponent like swarm. Medium HP, but high physical damage resistance

Fury of sand: does one time low damage to opponent (around 30-40), ignoring all defenses, and lowering accumulated energy to 0

Sand form: for a low period of time ~10-15 seconds makes Lord of Dust immune to all melee damage and increases resistance by 5-10

Summon greater mummy: summons a mummy of one of the ancient kings. This one can cast dissonance, and sleep(with low chances of success though). Also can go melee but only if opponent is sleeping. Medium HP, weak to fire.

[TeeGee]

I really like Quicksand and Sand Storm ideas.

[ribbonwing]

Don't worry, I won't .

Anyway, I'm thinking we're moving into the right direction, but still none of the names seems to be the one. Anyone recalls any steampunk comic/movie/book/novel/game with something like this?

why yes, i do. http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20021104

[TeeGee]

I'll take a deeper look on that later. It looks pretty sweet .

Guys, do you have any ideas or suggestions for Sorceress' additional abilities for ArcMagi? We would like to keep her old abilities, but they already combo very well allowing for a quick victory. I wouldn't want to make her overpowered so we have to be very careful. Here's a short description of what we aim for and what we already have:

Sorceress:
Reflex based character able to quickly punish her enemy's mistakes and to deal large rapid amounts of damage in consequence. Emphasis on her ability to quickly get to lots of channels and spells as well as on active defense. She should make a good balanced character that can substitue some blasting by using her abilities. Skill based and punishing in case of bad timing, but the reward for doing her stuff right should be well worth it. Key words: fast, colorful, rainbow, fancy, magical, quick, annoying, pretty, smart, rebellious, homosexual, energetic.

1) :


2) Reflect:
Bounces opponent' missile back with its Power equal to this ability's Power in %.

3)


4) Rainbow Missile
A missile. Power equals X+channels*Y.

5) Absorb
Works like the old protective spell. Gain energy from every enemy missile (it doesn't have to hit the Sorceress).

6) Barrage
Buff that makes the Sorceress launch missiles for its duration. Prevents Energy gathering.

7)

And here are some hints on designing abilities for different tiers:

Tier 1:
Something to give a quick advantage at the start. If the skill can be used in the later game, than it's extra awesome.

Tier 2:
Old tier 1. A skill that can be used to gain a pretty significant short term advantage or a medium advantage in the long term. Should also allow a quicker start or could be a good finishing move if saved for later. Needs to brace the theme of the character.

Tier 3:
Something more powerful than old tier 1, but less than tier 2. It's a bit hard to describe. It can be some effect that comboes well with other skills and allows for chaining them or something to gain a medium overall advantage. Can also be a defensive / supportive move of lower value.

Tier 4:
Old tier 2. Mainly supportive and defensive skills of higher value and with more lasting effects should go here. If this skill is offensive in nature, then it should be really powerful, but other tiers need to be lowered to balance that.

Tier 5:
A powerful skill that could be enough to finish the battle or change it's flow. It should brace the character's theme and sho its power.

Tier 6:
Old tier 3. A mega powerful skill that utilizes the character's theme. In most cases it should be enough to win a battle or turn a lost dueal around.

Tier 7
Something really powerful. Surviving its effect should be a really rare occurrence.

Ideas are very welcome

[Nightshade]

I'll take a deeper look on that later. It looks pretty sweet .
Key words: fast, colorful, rainbow, fancy, magical, quick, annoying, pretty, smart, rebellious, homosexual, energetic.

1) Supercharge:
The sorceress's next spell is cast at 50% greater strength.

3) Dismissal:
A missile that does great damage to summons (like unsummon). If the summon is killed, the enemy caster also takes damage.

7) Breach:
The enemy caster can't summon a shield for a short duration. Does not destroy a shield already in existence.

[TeeGee]

I'll take a deeper look on that later. It looks pretty sweet .
Key words: fast, colorful, rainbow, fancy, magical, quick, annoying, pretty, smart, rebellious, homosexual, energetic.

Umm, yes, Sorceress is a lesbian - it fits her personality. What's wrong with that? Games need more cool characters that aren't all manly/sexy and straight.

1) Supercharge:
The sorceress's next spell is cast at 50% greater strength.

3) Dismissal:
A missile that does great damage to summons (like unsummon). If the summon is killed, the enemy caster also takes damage.

7) Breach:
The enemy caster can't summon a shield for a short duration. Does not destroy a shield already in existence

Thanks. These are pretty good, but they all do or increase damage in one way or another, making her into even more instant-kill combo machine. I would like to avoid that and add her some general skills that don't necessarily translate to damage. That's why this character is causing us problems.