Druids of the Donut

Only validated game players have access in this forum. Use this forum to discuss guilds. Note that as a general rule, guild abilities should not be revealed.
Forum rules
- Use common sense and be respectful towards each other at all times, even when disagreeing.
- Do not reveal sensitive game information. Guild secrets, player seconds are examples of things not allowed.
sylphan
Veteran
Posts: 234
Joined: 12 Nov 2017 19:56

Druids of the Donut

Post by sylphan » 12 Jan 2021 20:32

Following Cherek's invitation to brainstorm layman, racial, and craft guilds, here's an idea for a new layman option: the Druids of the Donut (joking with the title, obviously). I know this idea has been floated before, but I really think the game could use a more purely druidic option than the EW, if for no other reason than that, with their ties to EC and Callians, EW is political. Druids should be apolitical. I think it would work well as a walk-up-and-join guild, with no rule against killing other druids, etc.

It could have some Beastmaster-ish elements, if that guild is really never going to be finished and activated (sob). If it is, we would have to be careful not to overlap there with the animal stuff.

I haven't thought much about power / balance, but here are some general ideas for specials that might be fun:

Defensive: tangle (vines and branches in the area reach out and grab at your enemy, slowing them down); obscuring fog (dodge); thunderclap (stun -- by the way, is a stun actually defensive?)
Offensive: summon wild (calls an animal of different types depending on the terrain -- bear, snake, lion, swarm of insects, etc.)
Utility: garden (growing various crops that give buffs: str, con, mana, stamina); quench (gather water from the air / condensation on leaves, etc.); would need more in this category, obviously.

Emotes could be really fun, too. Like maybe a druid can tell people's fortunes, by reading the stars, or migratory patterns of birds or insects or something, and there is a big bank of interesting fortunes that get randomly selected. Maybe you could even tell someone's fortune with an adverb, to select among positive, negative, or neutral readings.

It would be neat if they had components other than herbs, gems, and leftovers. What about other kinds of natural items -- leaves, twigs, acorns and other seeds, pinches of soil, etc.? Druids could gather them in outdoor locations, sort of like herbing but for guild-specific items.

This kind of guild would pair nicely with rangers, monks, casters, archers, mercs ... What do you think?

Drazson
Titan
Posts: 499
Joined: 24 Jan 2016 21:27

Re: Druids of the Donut

Post by Drazson » 12 Jan 2021 21:41

Sounds quite neat actually! Would choose it over my other layman options immediately. :)

User avatar
Redblade
Adept
Posts: 112
Joined: 10 Aug 2020 18:51

Re: Druids of the Donut

Post by Redblade » 13 Jan 2021 00:26

sylphan wrote:
12 Jan 2021 20:32
I know this idea has been floated before, but I really think the game could use a more purely druidic option than the EW, if for no other reason than that, with their ties to EC and Callians, EW is political.
This argument gets thrown a lot. Really folks... EW are neutral, non-political guild. The only tie with EC is that you cannot attack them and you share the same guildhall. Yes, you share a council, but the tie is much weaker than e.g. AA branches or Monk branches have on the Council topic.

Other than that, I do love the guild idea, sounds interesting! Some balancing glance would likely need to be casted though, the suggestion as it is appears pretty strong to me. Stun, slow foe, boosting utility and a damage special is a lot of good stuff, in my humble opinion. Most fighter laymans pale in comparision with that. But that's likely a general thing? Not sure there.

Broadening a different view: Perhaps the Druids could be masters of Alchemy? Get some skill with staves and good herbalism, but less magic and much more focused on potions? And I don't mean the type you use to cast spells, but the type that actually has effects. Minor healing/mana brew, perhaps some kind of over-time stamina regen thing? This view is less entangled with the nature though, which I think is a shame :/
Auta i lómë, Aurë entuluva!
The Night is passing, Day shall come again!

Drazson
Titan
Posts: 499
Joined: 24 Jan 2016 21:27

Re: Druids of the Donut

Post by Drazson » 13 Jan 2021 00:50

Imho, balance considerations should go against warlocks and EW, so maybe your alchemy idea has to be added to make it a semi-viable, not replace the things Sylphan listed :P

sylphan
Veteran
Posts: 234
Joined: 12 Nov 2017 19:56

Re: Druids of the Donut

Post by sylphan » 13 Jan 2021 00:53

To clarify, I'm not suggesting a single layman guild like this should have all those specials. Like I said, I gave no thought to power/balance. I was just brainstorming.

Chanele
Champion
Posts: 566
Joined: 04 Mar 2010 12:39

Re: Druids of the Donut

Post by Chanele » 13 Jan 2021 12:12

As Arman said in another thread there is an ongoing project with some kind of beastmaster layman, might suit some of the ideas?

As for druids I would like to see a shapeshifter guild with different abilities in different forms. Conjuring totems, entangling vines, buffs, heal over time in "normal form", a travelling form do speed up travelling (no teleport!!!), and an animal of your choice with different attributes. A guild like this requires atleast occupational and maybe even all three spots to not ruin the concept with weird combinations.
Could bring some life into Khalakhor if aimed towards Celtic mythology and lycanthropy. New concept I guess.

User avatar
Zhar
Wizard
Posts: 1079
Joined: 17 Apr 2012 12:09

Re: Druids of the Donut

Post by Zhar » 13 Jan 2021 13:53

Chanele wrote:
13 Jan 2021 12:12
As Arman said in another thread there is an ongoing project with some kind of beastmaster layman, might suit some of the ideas?

As for druids I would like to see a shapeshifter guild with different abilities in different forms. Conjuring totems, entangling vines, buffs, heal over time in "normal form", a travelling form do speed up travelling (no teleport!!!), and an animal of your choice with different attributes. A guild like this requires atleast occupational and maybe even all three spots to not ruin the concept with weird combinations.
Could bring some life into Khalakhor if aimed towards Celtic mythology and lycanthropy. New concept I guess.
Actually, it was me mentioning beastmasters as just an idea, Arman pitched in that Carnak was working on something like that in the past but never really finished it. Werewolves were also one of my ideas (and other wizards have worked on similar things) but none of that has come to fruition just yet.

Just like my idea of introducing hunting as potential craft option but it turned out this would require A LOT of work to introduce properly and updating of large parts of the MUD to use some of the stuff introduced in newer mudlib versions. I've abandoned this idea for now as I simply do not have the time required to undertake such a daunting task.
Time is precious. Waste it wisely.

User avatar
Skythus
Adventurer
Posts: 91
Joined: 12 Oct 2019 21:59

Re: Druids of the Donut

Post by Skythus » 13 Jan 2021 18:47

Drazson wrote:
13 Jan 2021 00:50
Imho, balance considerations should go against warlocks and EW, so maybe your alchemy idea has to be added to make it a semi-viable, not replace the things Sylphan listed :P
I'm pretty sure Arman said he'd nerf locks/ew whenever an evil OOTS alternative came out. That might be in the forums somewhere.

User avatar
Skythus
Adventurer
Posts: 91
Joined: 12 Oct 2019 21:59

Re: Druids of the Donut

Post by Skythus » 13 Jan 2021 18:50

Redblade wrote:
13 Jan 2021 00:26
EW are neutral, non-political guild.
Which is why the apolitical neutral Warlocks were introduced, so evils could participate too.

User avatar
Zhar
Wizard
Posts: 1079
Joined: 17 Apr 2012 12:09

Re: Druids of the Donut

Post by Zhar » 14 Jan 2021 00:13

Redblade wrote:
13 Jan 2021 00:26
EW are neutral, non-political guild.
Yet they are controlled by an OCC guild that is good-only and has some political ties. Let's just say that applying to them as evil person is awkward at best.
Time is precious. Waste it wisely.

Post Reply
http://tworzymyatmosfere.pl/przescieradla-jedwabne-z-gumka/