A New Class - Symbiont

[darcstarmerc]

The class is reminiscent of a certain movie you guys know well with the black parasite or a pink one from a favorite anime series. The idea of its abilities mechanically is that the player would attach to a host whether enemy or ally for a certain length of time ( if an enemy then the player would control it like normal but with limited abilities and it has to be organic; if a player then you will use abilties on or around the player to support the team). It will be unique from most of the classes in the game but also it will play as a support class. 

So I would imagine, the player whos getting bonded to will get a prompt to allow it to latch on, then when the other player gets on the host, the host will still be in control but with extra features and abilities. When the host is defeated, the Symbiont takes over for a brief period of time before it detaches and becomes blob form again, lets go with 2 minutes. 

While in blob form, it has the ability to shapeshift into any "organic" enemy. So mechanical enemies don't count. I am not sure about supernatural enemies like ghosts or demons as such, maybe they were organic so in some sense it might be possible to shapeshift. While shapeshifted there is limited abilities as well because blobs can't use magic or shoot beams of light and such.

That's my idea of the class. I had to get it out so i won't think about it.

Edited December 26, 2024 by darcstarmerc

[SeraphimKensai]

A couple points:

• Kheldians are symbiotic space entities that need a host a survive, this bonding with humans and granting them powers.
• Also as a bonus Bio Armor was originally called Symbiotic Armor back in closed Beta and then name changed to be Bio Armor due to the likeness of the name Symbiotic with Marvel's Symbiotes.

So given that Kheldians exist in-game, you have 2 player classes: Peacebringer or Warshade to play with having an alien symbiote. Or alternatively can roleplay Bio Armor (or something like Dark Armor) as a symbiote as well.

[Rudra]

There are some rather major flaws/problems with the OP.

 

First, what does the character do when not controlling someone else's character or morphed into an enemy?

 

Second, if the symbiote character can morph into any organic enemy, how does that interact with ambush spawns and how do the enemy mobs act when your character attacks them?

 

Third, what do you do when your character is bonded to someone else's character granting them extra powers? If the answer is nothing, then why would anyone want to bond their character to anyone else's character?

 

Fourth, while shapeshifted into an enemy, do you retain that enemy's HP, damage rating, and tier? (Thus making you extremely vulnerable when running around as a Small or Minion tier enemy.)

 

Fifth, if you can shapeshift into any organic enemy, what is to stop you from simply shapeshifting in the Hydra, Jack in Irons, or the Seed of Hamidon? If GMs are not possible, then what is to stop you from turning into Maestro, Statesman, Tyrant, or any other AV? If both AVs and GMs are not possible, then what is to stop you from turning into Noble Savage or any other EB?

 

(And I have no clue what you are talking about with the black parasite or pink one from a favorite anime series. So your lead in statement makes a huge assumption that fails. We don't all watch the same things.)

 

Edit: Sixth, if you are controlling the defeated character of another player, is that character still at 0 health and so able to be rezzed but not further harmed? If not, how much health does the defeated character get, how long does it take to apply, and is there an untouchable period to get toggles back up (and can that character still be rezzed while you are controlling the defeated character despite the game no longer seeing that character as defeated)?

 

Edit again: Seventh, how would you use enhancements? The mobs you morph into have different powers available to them, so slotting enhancements based on enemy available powers while morphed doesn't work. Players are even more varied and you aren't even running the bonded character while that character isn't defeated. So how would enhancements be determined/applied for the AT?

 

Edited December 26, 2024 by Rudra
Edited to add "or morphed into an enemy". And again to add part in parenthesis of the edit.

[srmalloy]

1 hour ago, Rudra said:

First, what does the character do when not controlling someone else's character or morphed into an enemy?

And you define a valid target for being controlled for enemies as being organic, which eliminates Clockwork, robots, presumably the DE stone and crystal mobs, etc., but all player characters are vulnerable, even when their character concept is that they are a sapient machine or some other non-organic construct/entity. While this is understandable, given the difficulty of determining whether any given player character is vulnerable or not, it still represents an ability where players and NPCs are treated differently, which is a dubious basis to build an archetype from.

[Laucianna]

I mean you are literally describing the Nictus already in game, who take over peoples bodies and give them amazing powers, then when the host dies reverts to their natural state with some even turning into dwarves or novas. There is a ton of lore about how and why Kheldians do what they do, but honestly if you want to RP as your Kheldian being a legally distinct Venom no one is stopping you 💛 Personally I would love to just see more Kheldians 😜

[TheMoneyMaker]

11 hours ago, Laucianna said:

 Personally I would love to just see more Kheldians 😜

Earth is for Humans

[UltraAlt]

On 12/26/2024 at 7:20 AM, darcstarmerc said:

So I would imagine, the player whos getting bonded to will get a prompt to allow it to latch on, then when the other player gets on the host, the host will still be in control but with extra features and abilities. When the host is defeated, the Symbiont takes over for a brief period of time before it detaches and becomes blob form again, lets go with 2 minutes. 

While in blob form, it has the ability to shapeshift into any "organic" enemy. So mechanical enemies don't count. I am not sure about supernatural enemies like ghosts or demons as such, maybe they were organic so in some sense it might be possible to shapeshift. While shapeshifted there is limited abilities as well because blobs can't use magic or shoot beams of light and such.

You want an archetype that can take over another player character and controls them (so the player of the character has sit around while you play their character until they are defeated - gaining them the debt ... I'm assuming)?

And the Symbiont is a blob that moves around - I'm assuming slowly - until it can latch onto another player character to control?

 

Yeah. Not for that at all. In any aspect.

[UltraAlt]

On 12/27/2024 at 5:26 PM, TheMoneyMaker said:

Earth is for Humans