[B-] 'San Aldirz, Syhar Raincaller

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Panda_of_Doom
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[B-] 'San Aldirz, Syhar Raincaller

Post by Panda_of_Doom » Fri Feb 15, 2008 10:53 pm

'San Aldirz
The Syhar Raincaller
Melee, Strength
The Hallowed Order


Model: presumably some reskinned Archmage, although many others would work. Raincallers are a form of specialized shaman of nomadic desert-dwelling human tribes whose primary functions involve keeping the stories and accumulated knowledge of the tribe, reading omens of the future, and providing their people with shelter and sustenence. They master a form of magic that controls the local weather, especially the scarce water resources.

He's a tough guy. He lives in the harsh desert, after all. The object is to create something like a Maltheron, a tough caster.

Level 1 Skill: Blessed Oasis
  • Active; AOE targetting a point; medium range
    Causes a small wellspring to bubble up explosively from under the sand at the target location after a short (1 sec) delay. The font of blessed waters washes away conditions, reducing the remaining length of conditions suffered by allies by 40% every second. Additionally, every second the spring inflicts a 4-second Blind on any enemies within it. AOE and duration increase with levels. Medium-long cooldown, around 30 sec.
Notes: an excellent covering spell, useful against the occassional creep wave as well. Perhaps a lower CD. It should be good for using against creep waves for the longish Blind, but cost too much mana to be used repeatedly for long.


Level 1 Skill: Vaporous Phantasm
  • Active; single allied target; medium range
    Shifts the heat and water vapor in the air currents to make the target unbreakably invisible, creating a mirage nearby with identical hit points and mana. The target is unbreakably invisible until the mirror image dies. The mirror image is under the control of the target and takes no increased damage, but disappears after it has been damaged a few times, or if it goes too far from the target. Leash, hits it can take, and mana cost increase with levels. Duration around 20 seconds; CD around a minute.
Notes: original design involved the target going windwalked (no contact) and the mirror image being uncontrollable (constant deselect) and following the target around (with a patrol order, thus attacking whomever the target attacks). I liked it better but it seems more complicated, and it would take more skill to use effectively (would be hella fun though). Original name was Mirage, scrapped 'cause Soz has a skill of that name; then it was Refraction, also scrapped for similar reasons. Name still sucks.

Used for cover and tactical invisibility/ganks. Illusions are lots of fun; illusions that require the real guy to be around are even better.


Level 1 Skill: Parched Exhaustion
  • Activatable AOE centered on caster; short range
    Expels all the moisture in the area around the Raincaller as the searing sun beats down ever harder, causing enemies and allies alike to suffer terribly. Drains mana over time to extend ALL conditions except Knockdown suffered by ALL units (including self and allies) within range by one second and deal 20 damage per condition suffered every 4/3/2.5/2/1.5 seconds. Only extends extant conditions; does not apply them (i.e. breaks the good old 0 + 2 = 2 rule). Proc rate and damage increase with levels.
Notes: killer on Cripple and in skilled ganks; counterable by applying a condition of one's own and by using that awesome pink pot or the killer Whitewater item. Damn, I love those. Damage rate isn't really high enough for him to easily kill running alongside a fleeing enemy (but is relatively efficient against creep waves that have been Blinded with Oasis), and besides, said fleeing enemy should have cover arriving posthaste to apply a condition to Aldirz. Regardless, Aldirz should never have enough mana to keep this sort of thing up for long, unless he's fresh off the fountain. The meanest thing to do is to Silence Aldirz while he's got this active.

If'n nobody likes the layer of complexity implied by changing the traditional DoE meaning of "extension" here, one could make the spell reset the original durations of conditions instead, to a maximum that increases with level (i.e. resets extant conditions to a 1/2/3/4/5 sec duration), while the proc rate stays constant. Also possible is changing the nature of the spell from activatable to an active spammable nova.


Level 6 Ultimate: When it Rains ...
  • Channelled; Large AoE targetting a point; short range
    The skies grow ominously dark, and an ill wind blows. The Raincaller summons a massive thunderhead, complete with gale-force winds, driving rain, and lightning. The AoE is visibly demarcated, preferably with some angry graphics. After two seconds of channelling, every three seconds all enemies within the AoE will suffer from one random condition for EACH condition they currently suffer from. The new conditions last 2/3/4 seconds. Max duration and mana cost also increase with levels. CD long, around 120 sec.
Notes: at max level, this can cause a condition cascade, which is awesome. Requires channeling but will very effectively disable enemy heroes who stick around too long—provided he or someone else can nail them with a condition. Pair with Exhaustion for real hard-to-use fun. Again, counterable with a pink, provided you get it off before you're Muted. Which shouldn't be too hard.



The objective is to design a true support/cover hero for the Order, of a less defensive nature than Vic. I believe that he does require some skill to use well, although it may be that much of it is more teamwork-skill rather than landing a hit. He interacts nicely with conditions but has a bit of trouble applying them himself—in my mind, everything that a support hero/gankster should be.

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Rising_Dusk
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Re: 'San Aldirz, Syhar Raincaller

Post by Rising_Dusk » Fri Mar 21, 2008 11:58 am

Review:
  • General Pros:
    - Holy shit, awesome invisibility interaction. That's brilliant dude. Invisibility until your mirror image dies, why didn't anyone else think of that? You get mad props for that one, even if the rest of your hero fails I'm highly impressed with this blessing of ingenuity.
  • General Cons:
    - Too much story fluff, makes it very hard to read skills
    - Don't like the random fountain blinding thing, makes no sense
    - I cannot find the value in the third skill -- Hurting allies? No thanks.
    - The ultimate has the problem that once you suffer 2 conditions you then suffer 4, and then all. It might as well be an AOE wrath after 6 seconds.
  • Final Thoughts:
    - I really loved your invisibility idea, but I would've made it cast on himself only and then made all of his skills interact heavily with it. I actually get some cool inspiration from this guy as well, even if the hero isn't all that great other than the invisibility. Nice job, inspiration, even in its most mundane form, makes for great stuff.
  • End Grade:
    B-
"I'll come to Florida one day and make you look like a damn princess." ~Hep

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