heres an idea

[Reece]

How about a mage type class that is almost entirely defensive. The bulk of thier damage based off damaging shield spells. They could have alot of buff spells for resistances, and possibly stat buffs. This is actually how i designed a necromancer class a long time ago. The summons for my necro were shield spells and stat spells such as slow and conf. Just a thought run with it.  ;D

[Reece]

Had another one. How about a class dedicated to debuffing. A class who could make bosses easier to kill would be more than appreciated im sure.

[DeathCow]

Um, I cant seem to recall what I called this f'n class...but I have a debuff class in mind already

This is stuff from somethign else I was in the process of designing when I a started this project, I didnt read through it very carefully so I dont know if there is anything that doesnt apply to GreaterMud, but I intend to use most of the ideas.



Classes:
It is my opinion that the classes in majormud are severly unbalanced. Occationally I catch my self thinking that balance can be achieved with exp modifers, but clearly that is not the case. Although exp modifers *can* play a small part in balance a great deal more is nessicary to make all classes play on near equal grounds. To achieve balance I've refrenced some materials I created for the balancing process of my last bbs. (Which i admit was a giant flop, it doesnt help when the 2 ops mutually agree to never speak again on the 2nd or 3rd day of the bbs's operation) As before i ranked each class in several catagories including both solo and group play capablity. <sarcasm> These values<speaking quickly>, although based enitirly on my own personal opinion</speaking quickly>, are perfect HISS. </sarcasm> I used these values to base the current exp charts of classes that are currently in the game.
As i stated before, i know that simply changing exp charts will not balance classes. So, looking at the classes that still need help I've come up with some ideas.

Thieves:
The point of thieves has been entirely lost in the expansion of majormud over the year. Backstabs, which use to be useful, are now-a-days just away to kill a script. The virtue of the thief class therefore was left to its other abilities, which many other classes have. THUS thieves are useless. I've considered several options. For one I intend to make lockpicking a useful skill. It will be a short ut through quests and dungeon areas and a godsend for deathpile runs. This will make thieves a desirable class, but it of course will not make them "playable."

To make thieves playable I want to expand their combat. While I intend to leave them as combat-2 I also want to grant them the chance to pull off surprise backstab during combat rounds. This should in theory make them far more dangerous in combat. The chance of pulling off an in combat backstab will increase slowly with level.

Defensively speaking thieves are extremely weak. They do have a few options currently in the game for leather defense, but i feel that more is needed. For the purpose of balance and character develpment I think a wide range of armour is important to give them a customizable feel. So new types of armour will be made to allow for that. There will be armour made purely for AC bonuses and other types of armour that give other types of abilities and bonuses.

Gypsy:

The gypsy class is another underpowered, underplayed class that I feel needs extensive reorganization. To make gypsies more playable I intend to give them there own unique types of blesses and curses. Playing on the gypsy tarot theme already present in majormud I've designed combat abilties for gypsys that will randomly allow gypsies to alter the fate of a combat situation. During regular combat gypsies will on occation alter fate blessing themselves and/or their parties. They will also have a chance to cast a wide varity of curses. These abilities will all stay within the altering fate theme.

Gypsies will also have a small % chance to have surprise combat rounds.

Missionary:

The missionary class will be given the ability to preach. Preaching will have random effects, but will always take the form of combat blesses. Preaching will be a turn on turn off abilty so there will be no need to auto-bless with it. Missionaries will also have increased healing ability and will have their group healing spells that will be restricted from clerics. Missionaries will have a tiny chance of pulling off backstabs during combat.

Warlocks:

Warlocks will gain the ability to randomly cast spells during combat. They will still need to have the mana to cast the spell, but a level 10 warlock,for example, will have a small percentage chance to cast spells like Lbol and slow. There are some draw backs to this, as I cannot think of anyway to stop them from randomly casting dragonfire on lets say, the adilt red dragon. But I think the out-and-out coolness of the ability overshadows its drawbacks. I'm highly consibering giving warlocks plate armour.

Bards:

I'm going to make bard spells much more effective. I know people use bards still but I dont think they know that the only use for bards is bard bugging and making elves have enough str to use certain weapons. Their bless spells will become a much power potent force. Did ya'll know that currently a warlock blessing a party adds like 9 more max damage than a bard does! More over gypsies actually have the highest max dammage of any of the one handed classes :0. I also plain to make bard bless have other effects besides just increasing combat damage, such as improving spells like song of soothing and song of life.

Witchhunters:

Omg.this link shows my current opinion on the class. Exactly what I'm gonna do with them is currently up in the air. I don't know what to do with them exactly. Any ideas would be nice

Spell casters:

I'm intending to use the spell caster addon-mod as a sort of start for fixing these classes. I'm really not happy with the way the spell mod works out. I don't think it throughly adresses the problems, I also think it does to much in the way of altering monsters that are currently In the game. I'll have to go through and make basic damage modification by hand. I think ill simily make a max damage chart for every 5 levels. The max damage will be based on whatever race class combo i think will do the most damage at that level and then I will give mages a 15% increase in damage over that, so that if we are talking about a monster with 50 ac and 75 mr, a mage will avg 15% higher damage per round than the best combat fighter. A druid will avg 5% higher and a priest will avg 30% less.

I think room spells are just about perfect, so unless something happens to change my mind on that, I will not change them.

New Classes:

The driving force of many edited bbses are its unique classes. I have 3 classes currently have 3 classes in mind. Although i can think of many classes Id like to see in mud, it would be extremely difficult to find ways to make many new classes without stepping on every other classes toes. So for the time being I'm sticking with 3 class. 1 of the 3 classes is still very very iffy, and may, after testing, never see the light of day.

Enchanter:
The enchanter class is common in many other online role playing games. Its purpose is to attempt to control the flow of battle with spells that paralyze and stun enemies, and in so cases even enslave them. The enchanters main ability will be to prevent monsters from attacking while slowly damaging them. In game play this will work by having a chance to stun monsters for short periods. For example I have designed a version of the spell that will stun a monster for 1 spell round. The enchanter will cast his attack spell, that will do a small amount of damage and then the monster will be unable to attack during the same combat round. Assuming that the enchant continues to get combat initiative the enchanter will kill the enemy without ever being attacked. This is a particullarly deadly ability in player versus player. In a pvp battle, so long as the enchanter attacks first he will have a chance of preventing his enemy from attacking every combat round. Spells similar to this will be the main power of the enchanter. The enchanters abilities will be very impressive when using room spells at higher levels. In an attempt to limit the power of the enchanter I've decided to use spell immu as the key factor on how easily the enchanter can affect a monster. So many of the spells an enchant will use will link to spells that have a much lower level. Many of the enchanters spells will have no effect on boss monsters. As a sort of compensation I've given enchanter the chance learn spells with lower chances to stun and higher damage output. There will be very little in the way of blesses for the enchanter class. And many of their curse spells will be damage over time spells rather than traditional status changing curses. This will give enchanters the chance to cast damage over time combat spells then use low to non-damaging stun attacks. Enchanters will share spells with no other classes and there mana rgen will be based on intellect.

Witchdoctors:

Witchdoctors will specialize in lowering the combat effectiveness of their enemies. They will have a completely unique spell set and their mana rgen will be based on both intellect and willpower. They will have combat abilities similar to a bard but will have the option of wearing chain armour. The witchdoctors abilties will function as spells that they cast on themselves. The cursing effects effect monsters and players in the room with the witchdoctor, and these types of spells will no cause the witchdoctor to take evil points. Many of the witchdoctors curse spells will be unresistable, and some of them may even be stackable. The witchdoctor will also have a wide range of spells that will require a target. These will be much more powerful than the basic witchdoctor curses and will cause the witchdoctor to gain evil points if they are used on the wrong targets. The witchdoctors most unique combat ability will be the ability to drain hps from enemies and deliver them back to himself or his party. I'm toying with certain ideas to cast spells that take multple rounds to cast. These spells, if I decide to use them will be very dangerous, but very powerful.


Summoner:

The Summoners main ability will be to summon monsters to aid his party. These monsters will range greatly in power and usefulness. Exactly how the summoner class works is still in development. The most annoying feature of this that monsters attacking other monsters tend to share your exp. And thats just f'n wrong. Although now that i've been siting here typing this I know how to fix that. So very mind. Summoners will be in the game. And they will have hella pimp combat effects..it will rock, dont question it. Summoners will be able to summons monsters into combat. Combat monsters will attack the same target the summoner has targetted with combat. The summoner will have no attack spells so he will have to attack with his own weapon. He can summon monsters that will aid in combat by blessing party members as well. Summoned monsters will disappear after a short while and they will need to be resummoned. Summoners will only be able to control a limited number of monsters at one time.
Summoners will pwn. Summoners will take hours to build. Summoner might cause me to develop a drinking habit.

[Reece]

on the thieves you could make all swings on a blind oponent backstabs. priest/thief combo anyone ?

[DeathCow]

Rofl no.  I dont need level 12 thieves with a 600 avg combat round.

[Reece]

LOL, i know it was a bit of humor, but seriously maybe give thieves and ninjas a kai type of mana. and some abilities to say vanish and distract. things that would allow them to hide in a crowded room and backstab on another round.

Frozen lake of blood
You notice 43 platinum pieces here.
Also here: blood snake.
Obvious exits: east, west
bs snake
*Combat Engaged*
You suprise slash blood snake for 120 damage!
The blood snake lunges at you!
The blood snake lunges at you, but you dodge out of the way!
You Use distraction, you are hidden.
Frozen lake of blood
You notice 43 platinum pieces here.
Also here: blood snake.
Obvious exits: east, west
bs snake
You suprise slash blood snake for 110 damage!
The serpent hisses, and dies.
You gain 550 experience.

This was jsut a mock up of what it could look like in combat, what do you think ?

[DeathCow]

LOL, i know it was a bit of humor, but seriously maybe give thieves and ninjas a kai type of mana. and some abilities to say vanish and distract. things that would allow them to hide in a crowded room and backstab on another round.

Frozen lake of blood
You notice 43 platinum pieces here.
Also here: blood snake.
Obvious exits: east, west
bs snake
*Combat Engaged*
You suprise slash blood snake for 120 damage!
The blood snake lunges at you!
The blood snake lunges at you, but you dodge out of the way!
You Use distraction, you are hidden.
Frozen lake of blood
You notice 43 platinum pieces here.
Also here: blood snake.
Obvious exits: east, west
bs snake
You suprise slash blood snake for 110 damage!
The serpent hisses, and dies.
You gain 550 experience.

This was jsut a mock up of what it could look like in combat, what do you think ?

Its not so bad.  It would have to be carefully looked over of course to prevent abuses.  It wouldnt be a kai/mana type ability though.  Theives are going to be able to make backstabs by random chance during combat rounds, though they will be more like extended critical hits rather than real backstabs.  I do intend to make backstabs useful though.  This is a nice idea, although I imagine this as a skill for the higher level thieves. 

[Reece]

Hmm, how about a stamina energy bar simular to kai but with even less regen. You dont want a level 50 thief to have 49 uses. maybe where they get one point every 10 levels and only regen one a? tick. So lets say a level 50 rogue would have 5 stamina points. A skill like the one i proposed (lets call it distraction for now) would be effective against so much perception .. lets say 85 and use one point. Later on skills like vanish could be more effeicient and use 2 points. Also i was thinking witchhunters and warriors could use stamina for smash and other special attacks. Give them a little more flavor because warriors are so very dull. kill kill rest move kill kil rest move ect.....

edit

I personally don't care for the random backstab in combat. The whole point of the backstab is them not knowing your there. I think it goes against the essence of what rogues are suppose to be. Rogue types aren't known for standing up to another in combat, hence the whole subterfuge thing. Giving them the ability to run from comabt and renenage from a strategically better standpoint. You dont know im here so ill hit you now goes much better with the ideaology of rogues. What your proposing isnt sneaky your just making them better fighters. With distract and vanish you gain the ability to stop fighting and run with is what rogus are known for. You might as well give them +(insert crit amount here) and call it a day.

[DeathCow]

Hmm, how about a stamina energy bar simular to kai but with even less regen. You dont want a level 50 thief to have 49 uses. maybe where they get one point every 10 levels and only regen one a tick. So lets say a level 50 rogue would have 5 stamina points. A skill like the one i proposed (lets call it distraction for now) would be effective against so much perception .. lets say 85 and use one point. Later on skills like vanish could be more effeicient and use 2 points. Also i was thinking witchhunters and warriors could use stamina for smash and other special attacks. Give them a little more flavor because warriors are so very dull. kill kill rest move kill kil rest move ect.....

Its not a a bad idea, although I think limiting factors will need to take into consideration the theives abilities.? The skill should be based on the thieves stats.? So that the coding will test their stealth skill or apply the a perception vs stealth roll of some sort.? Maybe only make it so that the thief only needs to apply their stealth against their targets abilities and ignore others in the room.? This ability, at least game play wise shouldnt actually make the theif hidden or sneaking, but just give the chance for a second backstab.

For simplicites sake this skill would test against a monsters backstab defence.

[Reece]

A roll against all unfreindlies perception would be jsut as simple (you have to pass them all or the other guys will point you out). Not only will this make make the thief more fun to play since he will be able to kill bosses better, it will also give him the ability to do what rogues like to do stop fighting and run. On the ninja side of things he could also use these stamina points to go jackie chan on someone. A dodge ability for 2-3 rounds lowering combat, and possibly vica versa.

[DeathCow]

A roll against all unfreindlies perception would be jsut as simple (you have to pass them all or the other guys will point you out). Not only will this make make the thief more fun to play since he will be able to kill bosses better, it will also give him the ability to do what rogues like to do stop fighting and run. On the ninja side of things he could also use these stamina points to go jackie chan on someone. A dodge ability for 2-3 rounds lowering combat, and possibly vica versa.

For the jackie chaning of people I have a few ideas on how this can be done.  Via interaction with anyitem in the sign class.  Such as hills, ladders, alters..could be made real easy by just using the message sections already there for weapons and having them apply to non-weapon combat abilities. 

[Reece]

the message should be like .....



Reece just went Jackie Chan on you for (insert large ass kicking number here).

[DeathCow]

Another thing you said earlier about rogues running from combat then coming back makes me think you've been playing mud for far too long.  Think about this...a dark hooded man creeps up on an an suspecting wild dog plunging a dagger into the creatures back.  The hooded man quickly realizes that the dog is only moderately wounded and he flee to the hills.  The dark hooded man returns again 10 seconds later and plunges the dagger into the wild dog's back.  The now critically wounded dog forgets to follow or flee, and the hooded man escapes into the forest.  He returns stealthily momments later for the kill, only this time barely missing his strike.  Repeating the process he finally kills the dog.

You gain 25 experience.

[lumikant]

I posted an idea on the metro forums a while ago about a "Circle" ability. Basically, dependant on the Theif's level vs the Mobs level, and some other shabaz, including group size, the thief will circle behind the enemy in combat and get an attack in between crit and backstab damage.

[DeathCow]

I posted an idea on the metro forums a while ago about a "Circle" ability. Basically, dependant on the Theif's level vs the Mobs level, and some other shabaz, including group size, the thief will circle behind the enemy in combat and get an attack in between crit and backstab damage.

Thats very similar to what I'm going to do.