This is my first idea for a DG so try to be kind
Before I get to the demigod its self I think it important to recognize and talk about where the idea came from, so we're all on the same page. the basic idea was to fill in the Demigod classes that were missing. we already have tanks (rook), Palis (sedna), DPS (UB) and mage-type (TB) so what was missing? in my opinion is was the Witchdoctor class.
What is a witch doctor class you ask? basically it includes any intelligent based class that uses natural power through mana manipulation, rather than raw elemental power like a mage. basically a warlock or reaper that might use animals/dead/mixed elements/etc. with the witchdoctor in mind I set out to find some ideas for a character and this is what I found:
Influences
I wanted to specialize something that worked on corpse and voodoo based magic since this is usually a very untapped skill build. being a veteran DotA player I obviously looked at characters like Pudge the Butcher and Tormented Soul for ideas. to top that off I also saw a very interesting idea for a voodoo shield from an anime recently. eventually I'd build a fairly solid idea from the following sources:
Grave Robber:
more for the appearance of the DG, I wanted a very skinny, lone limbed character holding a shovel or scythe.
Basil Hawkins:
this is the Voodoo shield idea I was talking about. basically in the anime he can transfer attacks to dolls that represent random people in the area.... basically transferring the attack to them.
Dolls:
I really wanted to have an ability that used dolls to transfer damage/heals and buffs to characters.
Voodoo Dolls:
more for offensive abilities than defense. basically have an ability that used voodoo magic to inflict damage on enemies.
Pudge the Butcher:
where the idea for holding Souls came from to help buff the DG.
now with my influences out the way it one to the DG itself.
New Demigod Idea: Nolio
What's in a Name?
Nolio means Doll in Welsh which is meant to portray the DG's ability to manipulate voodoo magic through dolls and puppeteer'ing souls.
Is He a General/Assassins?
Official he would be an Assassin since he has no real controllable unites, however his Voodoo shield could be interpreted as minions (IMO the general/assassin thing is really stupid... and DG should all be their own class).
Backstory (Short Version)
(I don't really like making huge complex back stories so here is the gist's)
Nolio is one of the first witchdoctor / medicine men of humans. He embraced nature and the earth rather than metal and fire; as a result he was shunned by humans and forced to live with nature. It was here he met the Progenitor who granted him immortality in exchange for his humanity. Without his humanity Nolio could never live with humans and was forced to persecution throughout the ages. Later in human history Nolio discovered forms of manipulation through the use of dolls and deaths (voodooism).
When humans turned their backs on nature and paganism Nolio felt the wrath of the church and was hunted for his use of "witchcraft". one more than one occasion Nolio was even caught and burned at the steak for heresy, but with an immortal body Nolio simply shrugged it off and played dead for a few days before escaping back to nature. in recent centuries Nolio has began to become bitter about humans and their humanity dealing deeper into voodooism, nature, and even necromancy. last time humans saw Nolio was in London during the 1800's where he was mistaken for a grave robber, beaten up and chucked in the Thames with a pair of cement boots.
Nolio has now returned, but not to face humans. This time it's to face his immortal side... his god side. Facing his kin in mortal combat for full god status.
Appearance?
Since there was a bit of negativity towards my last picture (which wasn't what it looked like anyway) i've re done this section for you convieniance... again.
As you can see he's basicly a very tall, distorted man (think Jack Skellinton from Nightmare Before Christmas). In game height would be around as tall as a Giant, so larger than Reglus, maybe as tall as QoP when open. He wears a long suit (1800's Englang style... like Sherlock Holmes) with a large voodoo mask with a skull image on it with glowing red eyes. His hands are gloved with bones painted on the top (not he palm). There is alsol bone and feather decals to make him seem more tribal
His weapon is a shovel which is used for melee attacks. the lantern at his side draws in souls and glows blue which gets brighter with more souls.
His movement and attakcs are very essentric and animated, sort of like that of a curcis preformer with lots of long swings and jumps. For some sort of spell animation or maybe even for resting, i thought it would be cool to have Nolio ballance on top of his weapon in a crossed leg position.
also for his Glowing Blade ability his shovel would turn into a scythe and slice through enemies dealing tons of damage. basicly the shovel glows with souls with make up a beam of light, resembeling a scythe and then slash. here is a gif of it.
Base Stats?
Health:
Base - 1050 (+105 /Lvl) (Lower)
Regen - 3.2 (+0.2 /Lvl) (Normal)
Armor - 220 (+30 /Lvl) (Lower)
Mana:
Base - 1100 (+130 /Lvl) (Higher)
Regen - 3.5 (+0.30 /Lvl) (Normal)
Attack:
Base - 165 (+10 /Lvl) (Higher)
Rate - 0.60 (0.021 /Lvl) (Lower)
Range - Melee
Speed
Base - 6.8 (Higher)
the idea is that he is basically a skinny skeleton with a robe on... so not much health or armor; however he's quite fast and does a fair amount of damage even if his attack is slow.
Strengths
Fast with high damage
Abilities for both support and offense
Weakness
Low health and armor (very quishy)
very ability dependent
Abilities
General Abilities:
Soul Collector - Nolios lantern has the ability to absorb the souls of grunts and Demigods that die on the battle field around him (Friend or Foe). Nolio can contain up to 15 grunts and 1 Demigod soul at the start. souls can only be captured if they die within 15 yards of Nolio. When Nolio dies 50% the souls are released leaving him with half when he respawns. In a perfect world it would be nice to be able to see how many souls you have, maybe as a buff just left of the portal; one for grunts and one for DG's. (like so)
:
Active:
(A) Humming Blade
(2 sec CT) (10 sec CD)- Nolio focuses his captured souls into his blade cutting all enemies down in an arc in front of him. Damge is reduced by 5% for every enemy within 3 yard of nolio's front 180 degree arc. For every soul contained Humming blade does 25/20/25/35 damage per grunt soul and 75/100/150/250 damage per Demigod soul. Humming blade costs 600 mana and 25% of the grunt souls contained by Nolio (Demigod souls are not effected)
Humming Blade V - adds a 1 sec stun to the attack
(B )Voodoo Doll
(5 sec Channel) (30 sec CD)(only one Doll at a time) - Nolio works his magic into creating an exact doll replica of the Demigod (range 20 yards). this doll is linked to the demigod and any damage/healing/buffs will affect the Doll and Demigod. when activated Nolio will channel the spell for up to 5 sec; in this time a doll is created next to Nolio with up to 1000/1500/2000/3000 HP (200/300/400/600 HP for every sec channeled) if Nolio breaks the channel or the Demigod moves further than 30 yard away from the doll then the doll is left with however much health is was build with. Voodoo doll costs 800 Mana to casts as well as one Demigod Soul. (for more details on Voodoo Doll check out the Voodoo Doll section bellow)
Voodoo Doll IV - when the doll is destroyed Nolio gains 800 HP and Mana
(F)Voodoo Rage
(turn ON/OFF ) - When activated Nolio enters a trans of Voodoo magic. His attack damage increases by 25/32/40 as well as his attack speed by 15/20/30% as well as receives 5/8/12% life steal. Along with Voodoo rage Nolio will subconsciously activate Voodoo Shield meaning any attack from an enemy that does over 500 damage will be redirected towards a random grunt or DG within a 30 yard radius dealing 50% of the damage to the grunt/DG and none on Nolio, costing him 200 mana. Voodoo rage costs 500 mana to activate and 20 mana/sec to sustain.
Voodoo Rage III - redirected attacks only costs 100 mana
(C) Soul Link
(1 sec CT) (8 sec CD)- Links Nolios soul to another Demigod (Friend or Foe or even a Doll) all damage/heals received by the DG or Nolio is split 50-50 between the two. Lasts 5/8/12 secs, costs 600 mana
Soul Link III - Buffs also transfer across link
Passive:
(D) Soul Harvest
Increase the total grunt number of souls that Nolio can contain to 30/45/50/60. Increases the total number of Demigod souls contained by 2/3/4/6
(E) Medicine Man
with every grunt soul Nolio contains he gains 0.4/0.5 Mana and HP regen. also increases the effectiveness of healing spell and items by 115/120/125/133%.
(H) Chilled Blade
for every soul collected by Nolio normal attacks increase by 2/3 for grunts souls and 30/40 for demigods. also attacks slow enemies by 10/15% for secs.
(G) Grave Lantern
Nolio's lantern overflows with the voodoo power increasing the range of soul capturing to 25 yards. also every time a soul is captured Nolio gains 20 Mana / grunt and 200 Mana / Demigod.
What is the Voodoo Doll?
as mentioned before Nolio has an ability that allows him to create Voodoo dolls. these dolls can be created from friend or foe Demigods and act as a shortcut to the Demigods soul (voodoo dolls can even be created of Nolio). once created the doll be of neutral status on the floor where Nolio created it, and will not be attacked by grunts or towers. it can be attacked/healed by either side and can even be targeted by buffs like bramble shield or heals.
the limit to the Doll is simple. depending on the channel length the doll with have up to a maximum Health. this health cannot be healed to the doll, instead all heals will go directly to the Demigod while the doll takes 50% of the heal in damage. direct damage on the other hand will go 100% to the doll and 75/80/85/95% to the demigod (depending on lvl). meaning if the doll is hit with 3000 damage then the Demigod will receive 2850 of that. once the doll is broken, or the demigod dies then the doll will die and disappear until another is made.
on top of all this remember that any heal of damage taken by the demigod is also transferred to the doll. so any deals damage the doll by 50% of the heal, and damage does 133/125/118/105% damage to the doll.
another feature of the doll is that it is only effective within 50 yards of the Demigod. this way doll that are created by the crystal do not buff Demigods on the other side of the map. this also means that if an enemy is feeling the pain of the doll, all he needs to do is get out of range and damage it by healing at the crystal.
Possible Builds:
Reaper Nolio - Humming Blade, Chilling Blade, Soul Havest (DPS / Chaser)
Dr Nolio - Voodoo Rage, Soul Link, Medicine Man, Soul Harvest (Support)
Nolio ^2 (Nolio Squared) - Voodoo Doll, Soul link, Soul Harvest, Medicine Man, Grave Lantern (Harassment / Support)
Anger Management - Voodoo Rage, Soul Harvest, Medicine man, Grave Lantern, stats (Tank /Dps)
Conclusion
So that's it for my idea. I would love to hear some queations, suggestions or critisism on this, always looking for ways to improve and such. however if you do have criticism make sure its constructive... not: "you suck" but more like : "you suck because (enter reason)"
thank you for your time and hope to hear everyone's "IMO"
EDIT:
June 01, 2009 Edited Backstory and Apeaance. Added new pictures an description as well as more options and references.
June 04, 2009 Included changes and balances form responces. hanges abilities and appearance.
(Edited text in red)
