Class Idea: Contraptionist

i love the idea and build, but i think it breaks away from the fantasy mold of the game a little bit. introducing crazy contraptions into a game of swords and magic would be a little out of place

Itd be pretty cool if he could make minions of some sort, like robotic things or whatever. They would probably take like 15 seocnds to cast or coutn as an enchantment while it was alive something like that. That would be pretty interesting with Flame's enchantment idea. you could have like 3 robotic minions or however many and just drop one if u want another enchantment.

Well, from hsi description, he had a technological shell ( such as an holllowed out eerrrrr ball for simplicities sake) that is infused with magic and then sent to the person needing the enchantment. The energy isnt anything high-tech, just good ol' fashioned magic.

I think Robotic minions is a bit too much tech...(maybe if they were Golems... but its getting more into Necro/Ranger territory, in any event.)

I've thought a bit about Energy Filter, and there's no way on earth it could be balanced giving out two energy. (Imagine the madness of having two (or more!) of these guys all maintaining Energy Filter on each other.) But giving a 1:1 transfer would be good enough for the situation it's designed for (i.e. you have a monk or other party member who's an energy hog.)

It could be possible to have Energize (the give energy skill) have a net gain in energy (as it's written up, the best one can do is 1:1, unless they have a 13+ stat), without being totally abusable, since you'd have to actually sit there and cast it. Looks like I got the balance on those two skills wrong with the first writeup.

I don't see any reason why this class would have to be Dwarf-only (but it wouldn't be too far if it was.) For those naysayers who think this is too high tech, I'm trying to stay close to what's already in the game (you'll notice I didn't add "Gunnery" or anything like that)- as the dwarves already have alot of pretty cool machines, and explosive powder. I don't think it's too far of a step to assume that there could be mages that have spells that influence simple technology.

Minions is just a term I chose to mean like something that does your bidding, golem type machine is what I had in mind.

This is exactly what I was saying, theres no way a 1:2 would be fair but a 1e arrow would be fair and a good spell especially if you didnt get a drain but could only hold a certain ammount of enchantments.

I like the idea, and perhaps their Facewear could consist of different types of Goggles/Glasses. :P

Also, perhaps some of the balancing could be found in requiring a "Tinker" to use up inventory items/craft items. If you require say, 1 iron ingot each time they cast a certain spell, etc., it would allow for a bit more from the spell, at a bit more from the player. I think it'd be really neat to utilize the inventory more.

While components seem like a cool idea (and they could be)- I don't think it would translate well to PvP. Which is a shame, since it might be fun to have an uberpowerful elite that needs Ectoplasm to power it.

Wheras I think that introducing an entirely new class might wreak havoc on game balance in many, many ways, this is a really fun suggestion.

Let me throw something else in here - Traditional spell components as such are unworkable due to use in PvP, but how about reusable components? I imagine they would work much as weapons do for physical damage dealers, but you have at max one of every sort equipped in your "utility belt", and they are all temporarily used in your creations.

This means that a basic spell might only use up the "prismatic energy converter", but a powerful spell might use up the "prismatic energy converter", the "lengthwise preconfibulator" and the "rotational phlogiston injector". While maintaining the more powerful spell, you would thus be unable to cast any other spell using those three components. This would provide an excellent way to limit spell use, and allow the Contraptionist to have low mana and low mana cost for realtively powerful spells.

How about a total of, say, seven different components, and each spell uses at least one of them. I see drops of componets with different effects on the spells cast with them...Oh, joy!

Also, this would explain all the "Enchanted Swords" and stuff like that ambulating around the countryside...

(This is not a well thought out suggestion, just some wild ideas thrown out drive-by-style )

I love this idea and hope GW makes this class cuz i think it would be funny to play with

Like the class. I think playing this class with an Elemtal would also be quite fun. Or mabey a mesmer. With the durability thing on hexes... Imagine the fun.

I think that a skill (maybe elite) thst increases the length that the next spell lasts by X% (like the durability thing except for spells) would be nice though. Just add a really long cooldown time. NO double length spellbreakers allowed repeatedly.

Maybe add in a failure chance depending on your rank in an attribute to make the class more balanced. Like at 12 in a attribute all linked skills have an 80% sucess rate and at 16 it would be 100% (5% increase per point added starting at 20% with 0 points in the attribute). Make there be a punishment for faliure though. Like lose X amount of health based on faliure chance. (As for why to add the faliure chance maybe you got faulty equipment and it blows up in your face)

Here's a few more quick skills:

Clockwork Defense Legion (Power)
Enchantment Gimzo. You have a 75% chance to block incoming attacks. (Duration based on skill.) If you suffer a critical hit, Clockwork Defense Legion Ends.
Coneceptually, a bunch of little clockwork flying bugs fly out and swarm around the caster, protecting him. Remember that you can use this on your allies with Transference!

Overclock (Energy)
Stance. You move 25% faster and attack 33% faster. (Duration based on skill.) When Overclock ends, you suffer from Burning.
Cheap skill, low cast time and recharge, but a bit of a cost at the end! Note that it's a stance, not a gizmo, so it can't be Transfered

Kinetic Onslaught (Elite) (Energy)
A more powerful attack spell. The kind of thing elementalists might equip if it weren't elite.


If other people have their own ideas for skills, feel free to go ahead and give them a writeup!

Spare Parts (Utility)
Spell: One of your enchantments gizmos ends prematurely. One of your gizmo skills is recharged for an ammount equal to the remaining duration on that enchantment (up to a max determined by Skill)

You know, if this class were to be implemented (and I am reading things right) then any spells that deal with enchantments would either destroy this class (desecrate enchantments) or make it really good (ether renewal).

The durability thing stops massive enchant ripping. As for really good this is supposed to be the true support class. You can never solo it but it can make an 8 person group that is built right and with complamentry skills 2-3 times as effective (This would be very rare though, I mean look at how many people don't know what calling targets is).

O I came up with a skill to stop some of the enchantment stripping problems.

Happyness (needs a better name)

Any enchantment that is stripped from the target of this skill is applied to the stripper with the remaining duration and all effects reversed.

Cost: 15 energy
Cast Time: 3 Seconds
Recharge: 30-45 seconds
Duration: Starts at 10 seconds +2 seconds per point in the linked attribute and 45 seconds with 16 in that attribute.

Example of effect: Player A has Proctective (Spelling?) Spirit on him. Player B casts Happyness on Player A. Player C casts strip enchantments (or the like) on player A. Protective spirit had 25 seconds left so for the next 25 seconds Player C takes a minimum of 10% of their health in damage for each attack. (To balance it maybe make it only be 10% extra damage)

Another example: Player A has Armor of Mist on them. Player B casts Happyness on Player A. Player C casts strip enchantments (or the like) on Player A. Player C is now slowed by 33% and takes -X armor (depends on caster level for armor of mist).

This skill might have to be elite to balance it but I think it has some very good uses. No stripping enchants and buffs indiscrimanetly any more.

Ikinsey was irritating me with his nit-picking on the daedalus boots thing, but then he mentioned minions and now I like him again. Constructs, yay! Make it so that casting the spell consumes a salvageable item on the ground instead of a corpse, and you get some sort of little metal or wood or stone or whatever (based on what item would have been salvaged, obviously not much steel in a longbow) magically animated construct to follow you around. I'd play it.

By the way, this class feels a lot like an Artificer from the Eberron D&D setting. By far my favorite class from the only pre-built setting that I really enjoy playing.

You're right- as intended, the Stability primary attribute is supposed to let the Contraptionist withstand enchantment removal. And there's the intentional combo potential with pro-enchantment skills from other classes.

with the +1 energy enchant thing, make it cost -1 energy to maintain, that way if a whole bunch of contraptionsits cast it on each other they would still end up with only +4 regen.

/bumped because its a good idea that got lost in a flury of bad ideas.

Hey, Ultimate, I had to revive this thread really quik so that you could see this great class idea