12 replies to this topic

[Elrik]

I came up with this idea from the concept of Fighters in Role Play Games being used to defend the weaker party members. Here's the basic info:

Protect (or Defend, Guard, Cover)
Would be usable at Level 10.

To use, one would select it on the list where spells/abilities are, and would click on a portrait on the... portrait screen. Once a character is selected, and is attacked by an enemy, the fighter has a chance of protecting that character (perhaps 10% at lv10, 70%+ at lv30). If the character is successfully protected, the damage from the attack will be completely transfered to the Fighter. Otherwise, the character will recieve a partial block (50% at lv10, 20% at lv30) and will have the damage divided between the two.
(note: Math isn't my best subject, so do please forgive my lack of formulas)

This would be in effect for all types of attack, including Berserks, Assassinates, Smites, Rapid Fires, Spells, and so on. Attacks that target everyone in the room wouldn't be affected by "Protect".

It would work against both AI and Human opponents.

My defense of the ability.

Assassination: Even though assassinations come out of nowhere, as seen from the victim's standpoint, the defender will obviously not be halfway accross the room, and would be directly next to, or in front of the character they are defending. Yes, meatshields aren't always effective in real life assassinations, but they are getting better from what I've seen.

Berserk/Rapid Fire: Since both attacks would be very obvious (as they would appear as a normal attack at first from the victim's perspective), the defender would take all the hits until they die or the hits stop. As the defended character is not what took the hits, they wouldn't be subject to any of the remaining stamina of the attack (as the attacker isn't going to appear in mid-berserk right in front of the character after ripping apart the fighter).

Damage Spells: They are magic, yes, but that doesn't stop the fact that they are fired, launched, or summoned. The Fighter can very likely stand in the way of the spell's trajectory and take the damage (for attacks like shock, beam, flame, blast, and jolt, which I believe are launched, rather than summoned directly above the victim), and can probably push their buddy out of the way of spells such as Stormwrath and Devestate (which I don't know how to catagorize). And as far as I know, Beam doesn't pierce the body. Wrath of the Gods hits everyone anyways, so its not going to be defendable against.

Status Spells: Wouldn't be defendable.

PvP: I know already that people will say, "People will just guard thier clerics!". My response will be, "Yes? Why wouldn't they?". The point of this ability is to *Defend The Weak*! I didn't suggest this so the Fighter can defend the Berserkers in the party, obviously. In traditional Role Playing Games, and even in some Video games, fighters do just this, they protect the spellcasters and weaker party members. And besides, it only lasts as long as the fighter does. It basically will:
A- give people a reason to bring fighters training more often, and...
B- give the cleric an "extra life".
If the cleric's protecter gets torn apart by the Berserker with a CSOTW, it can just as easily be killed by the next one, which means this would be a hard ability to abuse, but in training parties, it would be far more useful.

Personally, I think it's about time Fighters got a new ability, but I've always supported them being able to damage only with normal attacks. With this ability, they will be able to defend at the cost of thier life, so it's win win to both sides, you keep your cleric or mage (for another round or so) and they kill your fighter.

So... any comments or suggestions on this? Feel free to kick my idea around, but I'd prefer it to stay as a defense, with no parries, counter-attacks, or reflections... for now. Thanks

edit: Changed Title

Edited by Elrik, 10 August 2006 - 05:16 AM.

[Lappa]

i support anything for fighters

[Isolated]

needed

[joanna]

supported

What would happen if 2 fighters were protecting the same crit though?

[Kakarott]

i think this ability would take MP unless its like rage...

supported

What would happen if 2 fighters were protecting the same crit though?

It wouldnt happen cuz of some kind of a block like say one Fighter (eg) You cast Protect on Unleashed protecting him from full damage to half damage..

fighter2: You cannot cast protect on this Character while another character has already cast it.

its not the best descript but you see where im coming from...

Otherwise Supported

Edited by Kakarott, 14 August 2006 - 02:10 PM.

[alone]

You're not casting anything, that'd imply the fighter was creating a magical shield. Whereas you're literally just standing in the way of someones sword...

However, I think something like Stances would make for a better Fighter Improvement, than this.

[Julius]

Give Fighters a Taunt ability, draw attacks from an enemy for 3 seconds, takes 2 stamina.

[Raikou]

fighter fighter mage mage. Lethal plz

[joanna]

Stances would only work in games where you have some control over who the monster hits. Whats the point of beefing up the defensive ability of a fighter if the offending snake has as much chance of hitting the stonewalling fighter as it has of hitting the paper cleric/mage he is trying to 'protect'?

[Raikou]

the protect ability was ment as a

"A small snake trys to attack the cleric, but fighterboy jumps in the way like a lunatic and deflects the blow"

Or " A small snake trys to attack the cleric, but fighterboy jumps in the way, taking x damage."

it means NOONE can attack the cleric, aslong as the fighter is alive.

[Scow2]

Should read more like:
Small snake attempts to attac RandomCleric with its sharp fangs, but RandomFighter blocks the attack
Small snake poisons Random Fighter
Small snake attacks RandomFighter with its sharp fangs, dealing 13 points of damage.

on a success, or a:

Small snake attacks RandomCleric with its Sharp Fangs, but RandomFighter partially blocks the attack
Small snake attacks RandomCleric with its sharp Fangs for 7 pts of damage.
Small snake attacks RandomFighter with its Sharp Fangs for 6 points of damage.

on a partial success, and on a failure:

Random Fighter fails to protect Random Cleric from Small Snake's attack.
Small Snake poisons RandomCleric
Small Snake attacks Random cleric with its Sharp fangs for 13 points of damage.

This way, by redirecting the attack to the fighter, the attack is still subject to defensive modifiers such as armor or dodge from either party.
As a migitating factor, a protecting fighter has personal dodge chance reduced significantly, and cannot dodge a blow directed at the protected character.

On the partial block, damage dealt is counted as two seperate attacks, damage calculated normally, and the result halved, or counted as one attack and damage calculated fully and distributed between them equally, then modified in the case of a dodge or armor protect.

Now for additional ideas to enhance this, to be given fair consideration, but not detract from the applicability of the original idea.

The fighter can protect multiple characters, but at a reduced chance of blocking the attacks, with an entropic loss, (IE, a fighter that has a base 50% chance of defending one character would have a 20-23% chance of protecting two characters, or something along those lines)

The fighter can optionally block a single opponent, with a much greater chance of blocking individual blows, but at the expense of allowing any additional monsters to attack party members unhindered. Variant: Prevent blocked creature from attacking anything other than the fighter, but the fighter cannot attack anything but the blocked creature, using the mechanic similar to the You-Shall-Not-Pass mechanic preventing movement on the 1-alt server.

[joanna]

congrats on the bumping of several 1+ year old topics in fighters

As for the idea itself, if there is any chance of it making an update, it will need to be very simple, such as a straight L+50% chance to redirect any attacks on the 1 protected crit to the fighter, compensated by a 1 stam regen per round reduction to the fighter.

[Crane]

Personally, I feel this skill would go better with Paladins rather than Fighters, partly because it bolsters their reputation as Holy Crusaders defending the faith and protecting the weak. Not to mention that it would give Paladins that long-awaited upgrade and give the class a very useful and unique ability that suits their profession. Coupled with the Paladins' ability to heal, this would help protect weaker or vital members of a party (e.g. Clerics) and take some strain away from the heavy healers.

ADDENDUM: The name "Protect" cannot be used because this is a Mage spell. How about "Intervention" or "Protégé"?

Edited by Crane, 14 November 2007 - 03:11 AM.