Well, I was bored and thinking (bad combo, I know) and I thought of two things:
1) Hey! All these demigods have a lot of active magic! What about a guy whose active abilities are just using passive strengths to massive effect?
2) Man oh man am I looking forward to Empire Total War (Yes, I'm cheating on demigod, I know, but I also know I'm going to get some beta action soon, so I need something to wait for).
This soon went into Hey! I remember something bloody awesome in Shogun Total War. The Sword Saint! (awesome name by the way). I got to thinking about what GPG said about actual mythology occasionally getting close to being right, so the next thing I knew I was imagining an eight limbed demigod with massive sword skills ready to cleave through the creeps. With six arms (and consequently swords), he could get a ton of fast but moderately weak attacks, so his actual DPS isn't very high, but because he has nearly no overkill, he can wade into a meelee and waste no effort, unlike the Rook, who'll probably waste a lot of damage overkilling creeps. He could also be relatively defenseless outside melee, but have good mobility/closing abilities and a passive defense in melee where he dodges most incoming attacks and uses his foes to keep clear of missile attacks, much like eldar harlequins from Warhammer 40k.
If you couldn't read this bout of 1:31 AM inspired insanity, don't worry, here's the important info:
Sword Saint (tentative name):
Characteristics:
-about minotaur height, but skinnier
-6 arms with swords for cuisinart fun
-Instead of overtly magical abilities, mostly agility based sword abilities stemming from a magical quickness. (see below)
-Very good at melee against masses of creeps, doesn't do so well against single strong foes and missile attacks that catch him outside of melee.
-Magical agility lets him dodge enough attacks in melee to make up for fragility.
-Succeeds by killing so many enemy creeps that the opposing demigod is swamped by the disparity in numbers, Fails by getting pinned in combat by heavy units that resist his low DPS easily.
Pros:
-Freakin' cuisinart for basic creeps. Goes through them like six swords through butter, avoiding overkill and giving him a high damage actually dealt per second.
-Amazing agility lets him dodge most attacks sent his way in melee, making up for his low health.
Cons:
-Relatively light attacks lack the DPS to hurt larger foes such as demigods.
-Can you dodge 50 arrows? no? then die! (low health and no melee agility bonus equals a dirt nap).
-Gets hit hard by magic, so he needs to keep his magical wards (items) current and get some support to shut casters down in bigger games or he's toast.
Abilities (just a sampling):
-Dervish of Doom. The sword saint uses his agility to spin from enemy to enemy and hit each with a devastatingly precise attack, doing strong damage over a large area. Main AoE effect for melee, helps cement his role as a creep killer.
-Bladestorm. He gathers all his strength into a flurry of precision attacks each meant to capitolize on the weaknesses created by the previous one. Launches six attacks against an enemy, each of which deals 1.125 (number is an example, not an actual figure) times as much damage as the previous one did as long as it's attacking the same target. A little bit of rear covering because it would be inappropriate for him to immediately get bogged down against the first tank he sees. Better make it the second one, and this gives him a prayer against tougher units (they're a weak counter to him, unlike missiles and magic).
-Preternatural Agility (passive ability) Gives him a large bonus to his defenses against melee attacks (and arrows, they keep hitting other guys, and magic, but to a much lesser extent) as long as he is in combat. Lets him be gratuitously fragile outside of combat.
-Burst of Speed. Gives him a window of time where he can move quickly, but has a longish recharge. (I'd rather he get this instead of the teleport ability I saw in a review). Use it to get him into combat fully intact or to retreat him at the last moment? Your call, but both can be wrong, and both can be right. Gotta give the veterans some way to stand out other than dodging other demigods, after all.
-Staggering Attacks. Like dervish of doom, only on a larger area, much less damage, and stuns enemies it hits. Which do you use? depends on whether killing some or stopping them all is more important.
-Unnamed Ultimate.(EDIT) The god parries all incoming attacks and ripostes, reflecting all incoming melee damage up to a certain threshold (maybe a logarithmic scale or something nolinear like that). Lets him dominate anything foolish enough to fight up close while he's parrying.
-Your ideas here
Item ideas:
-Magical wards (let you keep casters from toasting you too badly)
-Swords that give you better rate of attack so you can keep up to date in damage dealing.
-Your ideas here
And that's my idea. Good? Bad? Ugly (I mean, seriously! the dude has six arms after all!)?
