Concept Class: Feral

actionjack: Love the ideas, but I think I'm just going to 'stay off the grass' when it comes to adrenal skills. Bites are a great idea, especially love the "Rabies Bite", freakin cool, I'll think about adding that in.

Ken Dei: Excellent suggestions. In fact, I'm throwing most of that in, and making some major revisions in light of what you posted. I found myself nodding and agreeing with every line of your post, in fact.

As far as the Survival skills being overpowered, they are, kinda. I've made some revisions, and some limitations to make it more refined, but it is kinda designed to be self-sufficient, in a way. Granted, I don't want this to be able to solo anything without skill, but the Feral is a natural born survivalist. If I can better balance it with some more changes, I'll be more happy. I don't want this any better than any other class, just specialised, like every other class

I hope I took care of most of the problems with Call of the Wild. It was far too powerful, especially those skills, and it should be much more reasonable.

I did add a new mechanic (besides the Forms), called Immobilize. Not the skill, I removed it. Read it and let me know if it's dumb/overpowered/pointless. It's new, I know that much, lol.

Modifications:
*Better explanation of Forms.
*Added a new Mechanic - Immobilize (no longer a skill name)
*Changes to Hardened Skin, Elemental Resistance, and Bones of steel to be Stances, to avoid stacking effects.
*Changed Lick Wounds to be used in Wolf Form strictly.
*Moved Hibernation to Survival Att.
*Removed Dolyak's Milk (overkill)
*Added New Survival skill: Serpent's Regeneration {E}
*Changed Gut Opener - Lowered the condition effects to: Bleeding for 4...10 seconds and Deep Wound for 5...15 seconds
*Removed Immobilize and made it a game mechanic instead
*Changed Impale to use the new mechanic "Immobilize"
*Changed Disarming Slash so that it makes target foe unable to attack for 1...3 seconds instead of causing Weakness for a longer period, and upped the Energy cost.
*Changed Deflect to add a downside: Deflect ends if you attack.
*Removed Blinding Blades - too much like a Throw Dirt variant, redundant skill and made little sense.
*Changed Bearhug to use the new mechanic "Immobilize"
*Added new Claw Mastery skill: Scissors {E}
*Changed Wolf's Howl completely - moved the bleeding effect to the new Elite: "For the Pack!"
*Changed Signet of Culling to target foe instead of 'nearby foe', and the time limit to 10...24 seconds instead of 30...60 seconds
*Completely changed "No Mercy!"... basically an entirely different skill
*Changed Primal Scream to adjacent foes instead of foes in the area, and lowered the condition times for Weakness and Dazed - also added Must be in a Form.
*Added New Call of the Wild skill: "For the Pack!" {E}
*Removed Incoming Threat - Just seemed like a "oh, it needs another interrupt"-skill, pointless and it deterred from the rest of it
*Changed Lay Low to a Stance to avoid over-abuse
*Changed Natural Defenses to lose 5 Energy each time, instead of 5...1 Energy - hopefully a little less overpowered
*Added New No-Attribute Skill - Pushover {E}

This is definetly a interesting Idea. It is a popular character, and many people would enjoy it.

I like the multiple animal forms, I'm a bit vauge as to whether you intend for them to be transformations or simply attack alterations, but it is unique.

I think the biggest concern with this concept is that it is too heavily simular to Warrior and Assassin. It is a great idea to make another job who uses adrenaline skills, and it would most likely need to be melee with adrenaline attacks, but, that makes it simular to warrior, then you add on the fact that it uses shouts and your making it even more simular to warrior. Then you have the claws/katars, which are the exact same thing as Assassin daggers, with different skins. Claw weapons could only be different in damage/attack speed ratio from daggers, and most likly share slashing damage. Daggers are actually amazingly weak, against like foes with armor the normal attacks hit for something like 4-8 damage, Assassin relies on Chain Skills and Critical to modify the damage to useful amounts. With this Feral it would likely need to have damage bonuses on each form, with damage increasing based on an attribute, that way it can be added along with the weapons attribute for significant attack damage.

It is a great starting concept, but it needs to be refined into a more unique class. Finding a different weapon type might be hard, but at the very least, if he is going to use claws, and use beast forms, a beast should have weapons which attach over his natural weapons, real claws, so a claw weapon that fits over the hand would be more effective.

Probably the best way you could improve the idea though, is to change or add a new way for the Feral to use adrenaline. For example, Forms could have added improvements in attack or defense as they build adrenaline, Wolf form attacks faster with more adrenaline, Cat form increases movement speed with adrenaline, Bear form gains attack damage with more adrenaline..... and something better then a TMNT has better defense with increased adrenaline.

The other thing that stands out when making a class that changes forms, is the use of these forms by demihumans, which is senseless. Why would a Tengu need to be fierce like the Tengu? In actuallity he doesn't have any special advatanges from being a demihuman, but logically, he would already be more powerful, being a Feral wouldn't realy help his abilities. That dilema stands with every demihuman, it would be a class which mimics the kind of animal like strength demihumans already have. In a way, it might be better if such a class was calling on power that didn't revolve physical beast strength. In the game, these beasts are pretty weak, I haven't had a fight with a bear since Pre-Searing. Perhaps if he was summoning the spirit of the Beast, like a shaman, and then used the behavior and spiritual power of that animal form in his movements and attacks, it would make more sense. The Feral wouldn't have to transform, but he would basicly be empowered Spiritually, and then he could run on all 4, move in different ways for each beast, and swing and bash differently. This works hand in hand with using Clawed hand covers rather then claws and katars attached to the outside of the hand as well, for running on all 4.

Anyways, it is a pretty good idea, it would have been better if you didn't make a skill list, because that just opens up more flaws, and limits the developers opportunity to make it their own, although they can take the concept and come up with unique ideas and balance it if they like it, either way, skill lists are naturally determental. The theme is very good though, a native american/Rain forest type background is a new culture to add to the game, and the idea carries with most.

I think the most unique thing you could do with this class is make it a solo/survival, non-supportive type class. Warrior has strong attacks, but also has many party buffing shouts, many other classes do as well. Assassin has mostly attack stacking with some hexing, good evasive power but can be chopped down if focused on, and almost no party support. With your Feral, you can make him very weak in the team support department, and best in self preservation department, his uniqueness revolves around survival. Limit all shout type buffs to only work on other teammates in the same form, Animal Cries instead of Shouts, more effective then shouts, but only working on other Form users. And give the animal forms and personal healing/defensive skills significant advantage. This allows the Feral to focus on continous assault with a low drain on team healing upkeep, Essentially making it more survivable then warrior, with a focus on continous attack rather then repeatative (Warrior) skill use, or chaining (Assassin) skill use.

Oh, and one more thing, Wile another class with adrenaline skills is much needed, with the now 7 to 1 ratio of energy classes compared to adrenaline classes (which is just Warrior), there is a price to pay for being an adrenaline based job. Just like Warrior, they should not get any kind of energy improvement from armor, not added energy nor regeneration, adrenaline allows them to build up skills without the used or maintenance of energy. But on the flip side they should have good defense. Compared to Warrior who typically has 80 AL with +20 Physical AL, or 90 AL, a Feral could manage to have something like 80 AL, and since it deserves something extra, but shouldn't mimic Warriors added armor, nor Assassins conditional armor and condition supression, and because Feral is lacking in damage modifying attributes, they could add plus damage to each piece of armor. How much attributes and armors +damage should be is a trial issue, Developers would have to solve that, but having 80 armor with + attack damage would be a unique armor type for Feral, wile there is room for other types as well. Another good armor mod would be health regen, either by armor, or class specific rune, allowing for 1 or 2 bips of health regen on certain pieces of armor rather than energy regen like casters.

too bad they are druid skills from diablo 2 :\ you just reworded the name

Well.. consider I never play D2... (WoW inspired me more)
but doing some reseach, I am guessing you are refering to Druid's skill of Rabies and Hunger?

In all case, so what? A line of adrlin base melee attack skills that all class can use (since it irregard what weapon you equip) I think would still be good and useful. Making Feral class more attractive and verstile in a prof combo.

Very nice. Well developed, unlike many concept classes (Mine included), well thought out, and doesn't overlap too much with existing classes. Also, it can easily be made to fit perfectly into chpt 3.

However, I do sense some potential for abuse. First of all, I'd suggest that any skill which specifically breaks stances breaks forms as well. Second, I'd suggest that Knockdown has a 50-20% chance (based on the form's reliant attribute) to break a Form, otherwise you might run into a Fe/Wa or Fe/Ra stance-abuse issue.

Also, the armor. Not including shields, mods, foci, stances, skills, etc, 75 is the max for rangers/assassins, and 100 is the max for warriors. I'd suggest a slight bump, up to 80 for the feral, to make it more of an even-ground between the two.

For weapons, there are several options. I like the claws/blades/katar idea. There are others, though. Here are a few:
Celt. A prototype of the battle axe, a Celt resembles an axe head, roughly oval in shape, less than a foot long and a few inches wide.Celts are made of flint, quartz, granite, or obsidian. If a suitably sized stone or mineral fits comfortably in the hand, no modifications are necessary. Otherwise, the edges is chipped to make it easier to hold. Holes may be bored into flat Celts; the user inserts his thumb and fingers into the holes, then grips the Celt in his fist. A Celt may be polished by grinding the surfaces in water and sand. When not wielded as a bludgeoning weapon, a Celt serves as a chisel or woodsplitter. {Please note: That was cribbed from the old 2e Advanced Dungeons and Dragons source book "The Complete Barbarian's Handbook. All credit goes to TSR and their writing/research staff, not me.}

Other than the armor, and the balance issue with existing warrior/ranger stances/skills, this looks to be an incredible idea, and I'd be more than happy to see a slightly revised version of it show up in a future chapter of GW. Keep up the good work. I'm truly impressed.

I like but it reminds me of the one dude from Warcraft 3 the frozen throne.. but it sounds interesting.

Pretty cool class enjoyed reading it

i would love to play this archetype.
i think that the Feral is more along the lines of what i was thinking about as opposed to like a zulu-warrior-class..

/sign

Thanks for the support, everyone! I still would love to play this class, or something like it. I guess time will tell if they ever implement something like it into GW. Heck, maybe Nightfall will have a class like this. A true tank, now that the warrior is classified as a purely physical tank.

Feral Rune of Superior Elemental Absorbtion

So, has anyone come back finally gone "Oh! This is really a paragon/dervish blend!" OP: hope you patted yrself on the back for this pre-emptive concept!

Even though this is pretty old it looks REALLY cool. I could see myself playing it.

Thanks guys. I loved the fact that they did incorporate Forms into the game. Also, with the Paragon, it's pretty much official that the Warrior is not the only one that uses Adrenaline. So I think a class like this could fare well using Adrenaline.

I still hope to see something like this in Chapter 4 or later. I've posted up a couple of other character classes (an Alchemist and Chaos Mage class), but this one is by far my favorite. I think it could use some refinement to distance it from the Dervish/Paragon, now. I might work on that - been feeling them creative juices flowing, again.

Thread necromancey is a bad thing, welcome to the other side

Other than that it is nice, especialy seen its been first posted before NF came out, by now the role of a suport class that uses shout has been kind of taken, I have a sugestion to that furrther down, but first something about the weapon.

Arm blades are called talons.
Tallons, for me are the coolest melee weapon, have been sent into forgottenness by people using them in fantasy games and not knowing the slightest bit about them.

A claw is any blade in the extention of the lower arm that moves along with the wrist.
They exist in several sizes, the shorter they are the less damage they deal but the tougher they are.
Claws are relatively easely to conseal and are used to cheap shot(hit unarmored places), as using them against metal armor would likely break them.
Using them to parry might likely break them too, however the shorter ones are able to to some extent, the Ninja climbing claws where known to be used to parry for example, and they are so short that they do not even extend beond the knucles.

Tallons are any blade in extention of the lower arm that extends the buckles beond the wrist(there by limiting the movement of the wrist)
Tallons also come in several shapes as well as sizes, depending on where the sharp part of the blade(s) starts.
The talon's blade(s) are mounted through the grip, providing for both strong blades as well as strong metal parts through the grip soo the entire lower arm can be used to parry.
The stronger blades can also be used to pierce metal armour, and because tallons are in line with the shoulder it is easyer to throw your weight into a jab, a strong set of talons is more likely to get through the armor than a blade of the same streght is.
(of cource a big *ss claymore is still the least likely to shatter when you try to run someone through, they can never be as fast, light or agile as tallons)

Claws are used similar to daggers while talons match rapiers, this also puts their user groups to rogues for claws and duelists for talons.
If you where to use them, pick one; they are so diferent you would need diferent weapons kills for each one.

Aside from that, blades in the extention of the arm are better because they allow fro multiple blades in the same direction, this increases the chance of hitting a major artelry or vital organ( in other words 2 blades = *2 crit chance 3 blades = *3 crit chance)

Exept that the recharge times and energy costs are higher this is a lot like a paragon. I have a sugestion I ripped of off Anarchy Online's Adventurer class.

That is team shape changing, asside form having several from skills that affect yourself, you could have a few team shapechanges(that do not affect dervishes in forms because their forms recharge to slow to have them raplaced by a shorter duration form, I'd say they do not affect anyone who is in a elite form that way you could make some elite selfonly forms too)

Now the forms change you into a magical version of a wolf bear or whatever you change into, these magical forms allow the party memebers to stay exactly the same and gain only a change in appearance and the bonuses of the creature. Liek there are spiders that can cast firebal and metor and shoot fire wand/staff attack from their mouth the forms would have no negative effects on your team members or yourself, a boost in speed armor damage or crit chance for a duration not too long, 30 seconds or less and the recharge longer than their duration for the team forms(perhaps less for self froms), they overwite each other so you'd have to chose which one to use when.

To suport those forms you would have long duration buffs, longer than the forms.
for example
Could be replaced by

Pack Hunter Skill energy 15 activation 1 recharge 60
For 60 seconds, each party member in the form of a wolf has 5...20...5% additonal armor penetration against foes suffering from a condition.
(The suffering from a condition effect is there to try and get the party members to hunt the same foe together)

The team form of wolf would end before this buff ends you would need to use self-form wolf to make sure you stay affected, or you would need a second feral on the team to activate his team form when yours ends.
That way the effects could never be maintained endlessly for the sake of blance, and 2 ferals could not stack 2 diferent team forms.
The while in form buffs maybe should not be stackable or may just require you to be in the correct form before you can activate them, also for balance reasons.
Also all team forms might be made elite for balance too.

Also

Lick Wounds Skill energy 5 activation 2 recharge 12
Heal target ally for 40...80..95 health and cure that ally of bleeding. If either you or target ally are not in a form this skill does nothing.
(Its also a skill in AO I just like it better this way)

I like. I honestly want you to send this idea to A-net so I can play it. It is just awesome and it fits into the game imo.

So, I decided to kinda re-write this due to the release of Nightfall and the Dervish and Paragon classes adding new things to the table. I kept everything as it was in the OP, for some nostalgic purposes (it was back in April, after all). So here is my new (and hopefully improved) Feral

Concept Class: Feral

Masters of survival, the Feral use nature and it's beasts as inspiration for their techniques in battle. They rely on a balance of cunning, instinct, and brute force to take down their enemies. The overall feel for the class is somewhere between Native American warriors, and barbaric tribes of early Europe.

The real inspiration behind this class is a Werewolf. A lot of players have expressed their wants for a shapechanging class, and a few have mentioned a hand-to-hand and grappling class, this is meant as a combination of the two. It utilizes the new mechanic that was introduced with the Dervish, Forms, for the transformations, and a new mechanic that can have a huge impact on battles, Grappling.

Appearance:

The males would be real rugged looking, pretty hairy (noticeable more when –naked-), fairly muscular (body of a hard worker rather than body-builder), and faces mostly scowling or just simply emotionless, most with beards/facial hair. The females would be mostly the same ruggedness, but of course without the body hair, built physique but not entirely chiseled tone, and faces that have a fierce, Amazoness feel.

Typical armor is animal hides and bones in the shape of an actual animal, though sometimes adorned with trinkets taken from kills. Their headpiece is an animal head of some kind. The entire outfit would make the Feral appear to be some kind of half-man/half-animal.

AL = 70 with +1 Energy Regen (for a total of +3; just like a Ranger), and +25 Health (like a Dervish)
Weapon of choice - Claws or Arm-blades (or "Talons" as System Crush points out). The claws are essentially katar-like hand daggers that, when held, give the appearence that they protrude from your knuckles (ala Wolverine). Arm-blades have similar function, but are strapped on the arms, and consist of only one blade on each arm (think Bloodrayne or Baraka from Mortal Kombat). Of course, this also means they are two-handed and you get no benefit from shields or off-hand items.

Weapon Stats: Speed - 1.33; Max Damage - 10-25; Type - Slashing

New Mechanic: Grapple (Formerly "Immobilize")
Grappling is essentially like a Knockdown, in that it can interrupt the target at the instant of the Grapple, disallow the target from moving, using any skills (except instant cast like stances) or attacking while in a Grapple, and it has a maximum amount of time someone can be in the Grapple (like a Knockdown is up to 3 seconds). The major difference is that the person causing the Grapple is also unable to move, attack or use skills.

Because both you and your target are affected by the Grapple, you are both vulnerable. During the time of being Grappled, each attack dealt to either the Grappler or the Grappled has a +50% chance of being a critical. Also, during the time of Grappling, the Grappler is considered to be "activating a skill", and may be interrupted by Knockdown, or any normal interrupt, like Distracting Shot/Blow, etc.

The maximum amount of time a target can be in a Grapple is 5 seconds. 4 seconds is the max for any skill, but like the Stonefist Gauntlets, you can get an insignia to increase that time by 1 second. I could see some anti-Grapple skills, like stances or enchantments, possibly even skills to inflict damage and/or conditions to someone Grappling you. I could also see some other characters recieveing Grappling skills, like Assassins and Dervishes.

Attribute & Skills: (Energy or Adrenaline/Cast/Recharge)

[Primary] Survival - For each point in Survival, you gain +5 HP and a 3% reduction in duration from Poison, Disease, Bleeding, Cripple, Deep Wound, and Weakness. Skills in this line are primarily self heals/protection.

Example Skills:
(5e/1c/5r) Lick Wounds – Skill – Must be in "Fierce like the Wolf" Form. Heal yourself for 10…45 Health.
(15e/3c/60r) Hibernation - Skill - Must be in "Strong like the Bear" Form. You are knocked down for 5 seconds, but gain Health Regeneration of +3...9, Energy Regeneration of +1..3, and +10...50 Armor for 5 seconds.
(10e/--/30r) Hardened Skin – Stance – For 10 seconds, you gain +10…40 Armor vs. Physical.
(10e/--/30r) Weathered Skin – Stance – For 10 seconds, you gain +10…40 Armor vs. Elemental.
(10e/--/45r) Bones of Steel – Stance – For 18…36 seconds, you cannot be Crippled or inflicted with a Deep Wound, and have +10 Armor vs. Piercing Attacks.
(5e/3c/10r) Prepared Meal – Skill – Exploit touched corpse to create a “Prepared Meal” at it’s location. When “Prepared Meal” is picked up by an ally, that ally gains 35…105 Health.
(10e/--/30r) Rested Stance – Stance – You gain +3…9 Health Regeneration for 10 seconds. Rested Stance ends if you attack or use a skill.
(10e/1c/15r) On the Move – Skill – For 5…60 seconds, you can activate any non-spell skill while moving. Any skills activated this way are easily interrupted.
(5e/3c/45r) Totem's Blessing - Skill - For 4...12 seconds, you gain +1 Energy Regeneration for each Spirit in the area.
(--/2c/60r) Signet of Evolution – Signet – Remove one Hex from yourself. For 10…60 seconds, you cannot be the target of the Hex that was removed.
(10e/.5c/45r) {E} Final Infusion – Skill – Lose the rest of your Energy. Heal yourself for 3…13 Health for each point of Energy lost this way.
(10e/2c/45r) {E} Serpent's Regeneration - Skill - Must be in "Deadly like the Serpent" Form. For 8...18 seconds, you gain +1...5 Health Regeneration. All physical damage is reduced by 50%, and each time you are hit with physical damage, you lose 5 Energy or Serpent's Regeneration ends.

Claw/Arm-blade Mastery - Each point in this Attribute increases your damage, and critical hits when using a Claw or Arm-blade (Talon) weapon.

Example Skills:
(4a/--/--) Devastating X – Claw Attack – Must be in a Form. You strike twice at target foe, but deal 25% less damage.
(10a/--/--) Gut Opener – Claw Attack – Must be in a Form. If this attack hits, target foe suffers from Bleeding for 4…10 seconds. If that foe already suffers from Bleeding, they become inflicted with Deep Wound for 5…15 seconds.
(15e/--/30r) Impale – Claw Attack – If this attack hits, you strike for +3…18 damage, and Grapple target foe for 3 seconds. If the Grapple is interrupted, both you and the target are knocked down.
(10e/--/15r) Disarming Slash – Claw Attack – If this attack hits, target foe’s action is interrupted and cannot attack for 1…3 seconds.
(5e/--/30r) Deflect – Skill – For 10 seconds, while you have Claws equipped, you have a 25%…75% chance to block incoming attacks. Deflect ends if you use an attack skill.
(10a/--/--) Bearhug – Melee Attack – Must be in “Strong like a Bear” Form. If this attack hits, you Grapple target foe for 3 seconds. When Bearhug ends, inflict 10...45 damage to target foe and they become Crippled for 3...9 seconds. (the second effect only happens if the Grapple is not interrupted at any time)
(6a/--/--) Mauling – Claw Attack – Must be in “Strong like a Bear” Form. If this attack hits, target foe’s action is interrupted and is struck for +1…16 damage.
(4a/--/--) Quick Swipe - Claw Attack - Must be in "Strong like a Bear" Form. This attack cannot be evaded.
(6a/--/--) Lunge – Claw Attack – Must be in “Fierce like a Wolf” Form. If this attack hits, you strike for +5...15 piercing damage and target foe suffers from Weakness for 3...13 seconds.
(8a/--/-) Rend Flesh – Claw Attack – Must be in “Fierce like a Wolf” Form. If this attack hits, steal 5…18 Health from target foe. If target foe is knocked down, you steal an additional 5...35 Health.
(8a/--/--) Jugular Strike - Claw Attack - Must be in "Fierce like a Wolf" Form. If this attack hits, you strike for +1...8 damage and cause Bleeding on target foe for 8...18 seconds.
(5e/2c/10r) Coil and Strike – Claw Attack – Must be in “Deadly like a Serpent” Form. If this attack hits, you deal +10...55 damage. If that foe is suffering from a condition, you gain 1...7 energy.
(6a/--/--) Venom Fang – Claw Attack – Must be in “Deadly like a Serpent” Form. If this attack hits, target foe becomes Poisoned for 4…12 seconds.
(10e/--/30r) Viper's Omen - Skill - Must be in "Deadly like a Serpent" Form. For 5...12 seconds, you have a 50% chance to evade attacks. Inflict 3...15 damage to each foe who fails to hit you in battle.
(10e/2c/30r) Grip of the Constrictor - Melee Attack - Must be in "Deadly like a Serpent" Form. If this attack hits, you Grapple target foe for 1...4 seconds. For each second Grappled, you inflict a cumulative 5 damage each second. (This means damage is dealt each second in the grapple, increasing each time. So - 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 damage with the +1 grapple insignia for a total of 75 damage)
(5e/--/10r) {E} Feral Flurry – Claw Attack – Must be in a Form. Strike at up to 2…5 adjacent foes for +4…12 damage. Each foe that was hit is interrupted.
(10a/--/--) {E} Scissors - Claw Attack - Lose all Adrenaline. If this attack hits, you Grapple target foe for 1...4 seconds and inflict 5...30 damage each second Grappled. When Scissors ends, target foe begins Bleeding for 6...24 seconds. (again, like Bearhug, if Scissors is interrupted before the full amount of time, the effect of Bleeding does not take place)

Call of the Wild - Skills in this line are shouts, AoE skills, and other skills.

Example Skills:
(6a/--/--) Wolf’s Howl – Shout – Must be in “Fierce like a Wolf” Form. For 3...9 seconds, all allies within earshot deal an additional +3...15 Piercing damage each time they hit foes suffering from a condition.
(6a/--/--) Lion’s Roar – Shout – All foes in earshot take 5…23 damage. Adjacent foes take an additional 5…23 damage.
(10e/--/30r) Hyena’s Cackle – Shout – All allies within earshot gain 1…5 hits of Adrenaline.
(6a/--/--) Bear’s Growl – Shout – Must be in “Strong like a Bear” Form. For 10 seconds, the next 1...3 attack skills you use that are blocked by a foe, that foe is knocked down.
(10e/--/45r) Serpent’s Hiss – Shout – Must be in “Deadly like a Serpent” Form. For 5…10 seconds, all foes within earshot attack 25% slower and move 25% faster.
(10e/--/45r) Debilitating Laughter – Shout – All foes within earshot suffer Weakness for 5...13 seconds.
(10e/--/10r) “Go Away!” – Shout – Inflict 5…18 damage to all adjacent foes for each Hex and condition you currently have.
(5e/--/20r) Break Free – Skill – For 1…3 seconds, you can go through creatures as if they weren’t there. When you travel through a foe, that foe is knocked down for 1 second and suffers 5…23 damage.
(10e/1c/30r) Falling Boulder – Skill – You jump and land on the ground, sending out a shockwave that causes 5…23 damage and Knockdown on all adjacent foes for 1…3 seconds.
(5e/--/30r) Dust Cloud – Skill – You become Knocked down for 3…1 seconds. You and all adjacent foes become Blinded for 3…7 seconds.
(--/2c/20r) Signet of Natural Selection – Signet – For 10…24 seconds, the next time target foe has less than 50% Health, that foe becomes Crippled, and you move 33% faster for 3…8 seconds.
(10a/--/--) {E} “No Mercy!” – Shout – Lose all Adrenaline. For 10 seconds, all allies within earshot gain 150...250% more adrenaline and 1 energy each time they hit foes with 50% or less health.
(10a/--/--) {E} Primal Scream – Shout – Must be in a Form. All foes within earshot suffer from Bleeding and Crippling for 3...10 seconds.
(10e/--/45r) {E} "For the Pack!" - Shout - Must be in "Fierce like the Wolf" Form. For 10 seconds, all allies within earshot have their physical damage become Piercing and cause bleeding for 5...18 seconds.

Animal Instincts - Skills in this line are Forms, Grapples, and Stances, along with some Adrenaline-management and interrupts.

Example Skills:
(10e/2c/10r) Strong like the Bear – Form – For 15...63 seconds, you attack 33% slower, but deal +10…30 damage in melee, and gain 5...50% more adrenaline. This skill is disabled for 120 seconds.
(5e/2c/10r) Fierce like the Wolf – Form – For 15...63 seconds, you inflict +5…15 damage to all foes that are suffering from Bleeding, and steal 5...15 health from foes suffering from Deep Wound, but Disease and Poison last 33% longer on you. This skill is disabled for 120 seconds.
(10e/2c/10r) Sturdy like the Yak – Form – For 15...63 seconds, you move and attack 10% slower, but gain +60…150 maximum Health, and +1...3 health regeneration. This skill is disabled for 120 seconds.
(15e/2c/10r) Deadly like the Serpent – Form – For 15...63 seconds, you attack 20% faster, and gain +1...3 energy regeneration, but have 15% less maximum Health. This skill is disabled for 120 seconds.
(5e/2c/10r) {E} Solid like the Tortoise – Form – For 15...63 seconds, you move and attack 50% slower, but you gain +50 Armor vs. Physical and Elemental, and 2...12 points of damage absorbtion. This skill is disabled for 120 seconds.
(5e/.5c/10r) Shedding of the Skin - Stance - Must be in "Deadly like the Serpent" Form. For the next 10 seconds, you automatically evade the next attack skill used against you. You gain +10...55 Health when this happens.
(15e/2c/60r) Heightened Senses - Stance - Must be in "Fierce like the Wolf" Form. For 6...24 seconds, you cannot be Blinded and your attacks cannot be Evaded.
(10e/.5c/25r) Anticipation – Skill – Interrupt target foe’s action. If the action was an attack, inflict 8…35 damage. If the action was a skill, target foe becomes Dazed for 3…8 seconds.
(10e/1c/60r) Lay Low – Stance – For 8…18 seconds, you move and attack 33% slower, but have a 75% chance to dodge ranged attacks, and 50% chance to block in melee.
(10e/2c/30r) Air of Hostility – Skill – For 10…23 seconds, all creatures in the area where you activate this skill deal +3…16 damage each time they hit, but take twice as long to cast spells. (creatures meaning all characters, in the same sense Heal Party heals all ‘creatures’)
(5e/.5c/60r) Scent of Fear – Skill – For 8…18 seconds, you deal +10…35 damage per hit against moving foes that have 50% or less health.
(--/.5c/30r) Suplex Signet - Signet - Grapple target foe for 1...4 seconds. When Suplex Signet ends, and if that foe is suffering from Weakness, they take 15...50 damage.
(15e/--/45r) {E} Pile Driver - Melee Attack - Grapple target foe for 2 seconds. When Reckless Throw ends, that foe takes 15...45 damage and is knocked down for 3 seconds.
(10e/--/30r) {E} Blind Rage – Stance – For 10 seconds, you attack 33% faster and gain 100%...300% more adrenaline per hit. When Blind Rage ends, you are blinded for 10 seconds.
(15e/2c/60r) {E} Natural Defenses – Stance – Must be in a Form. For 8…18 seconds, each time a foe attempts to use an attack skill against you, that skill is interrupted, that foe takes 5 damage, and you lose 1 energy or Natural Defenses ends.

No-Attribute Skills:
(5e/--/30r) Disarm – Skill – Target touched foe cannot attack for 5 seconds.
(--/--/15r) Beast Signet – Signet – Gain 2 Energy for each animal nearby.
(10e/--/30r) Natural Immunity – Skill – For 20 seconds, you cannot be Poisoned or Diseased.
(5e/--/10r) Berserk - Skill - Must be in a Form. Attack all adjacent foes. These attacks have a 50% chance to miss.
(5e/2c/15r) {E} All or Nothing – Melee Attack – Strike for +50 damage. This skill is easily interrupted. If interrupted, you gain +5 Energy.
(8a/--/--) {E} Bear Slam - Melee Attack - Must be in "Strong like the Bear" Form. If this attack hits, you strike for +30 damage and Grapple target foe for 1 second. When Bear Slam ends, both you and target foe are knocked down for 3 seconds.

So yeah, tell me what you guys think.

Okay not to be offending or anything.But please look at your script. It says "Master of cunning and beasts and nature..." Now let me think...Thats kind of a Ranger class is it not? You're basically hybriding a ranger and a warrior together...

Lets keep it original

At 16 Survival, wouldnt that be a 48% reduction of Poison, Disease, Bleeding, Cripple, Deep Wound & Weakness? Seems fairly overpowered to me, what about 1.5% reduction or knocking out some of those conditions so the class still has weaknesses. That would be 15% with 10 survival, or 24% at 16 survival, still significant.

These confuse me, as in one you say there is no animation for the Feral's forms, and yet in the other you attempt to claim this is the answer to the Shapeshifting class calls, which from looking at the skills, is not.

I would call it more of a D/A/R blend.

The fact is that any profession you can come up with is going to seem like a hybrid if you want to look at it like that.

Nothing is truly original anymore...do you think A-Net was original in creating Warrior, Monk, Ranger, Necro & Mesmer? No. In fact, every one of those is very heavily based on lore & classes from games of the same genre. New originality lies within these "hybrids" in taking the old and creating something new and fresh.

I very much like the Feral class, not as the claimed shapeshifter, and certainly not with the talon-like katars or unbalanced skill set. But its got alot of potential. I definately would not hate to see a polished version in-game in the future.

That does sound a lot better, actually. Thanks for the insight. 48% is a bit much, especially with a stacking 20% reduction rune and/or shield. Yeesh.


If I'm not mistaken (I read it over and over to make sure, but still not 100%), you're taking what I said in the OP, versus what I said in the updated post 2 posts away. I changed the idea of Forms because of how the Dervish ended up. Since they transform, then I suggest that's how the mechanic should work, and thus the Feral would transform. I guess. So yeah, this would be a shapechanger, but only to fit into how Forms already work in-game.


Yeah, I try not to respond to any comments crying "Hybrid!" for this very reason. The 6 core classes are pretty much the only real original ones because, well, they are the original ones. Every class that is released after would just be considered some kind of hybrid depending on how you look at it.

I admit the skills could definately be tweaked, but the idea of the skills is just to show my vision of how they would work, not necessarily that I want these skills in particular. Overpowered/Underpowered is not of any concern because that is the point of balancing and testing - to eliminate that.

Though I do have a question, what don't you like about the talons? Do you have a better idea for a type of weapon? Or perhaps no weapon? I honestly only said claws/talons because I wanted a form of unarmed combat that could still be, well, kinda armed. I think there is still a need for a weapon (something to collect, mod, etc.) for even an unarmed class. Maybe I'm just not being creative enough on that aspect. *shrug*

Ahh, I gotcha now. As one who was hoping for an all-out Shapeshifter profession someday its just a little dissapointing to try and pass this off as such, given that I dont consider the Dervish a Shapeshifter profession either.


For the Feral? no. the Katar's actually do seem to be a good fit. Definately you do need some type of weapon that is moddable and different skins to alter the feel of your character. I guess I was just never a Wolverine fan, more of a Mystique & Gambit fan myself.

Are you kidding me? Night crawler was and stil is the coolest one by far.

And as I won't object to ferlas using claws, as they fit them okey, but tallons belong in a dualist fencer class, wielding a rapier class weapon IMO doesn't fit them.

Oh, katar I remeber now, I should study some more eastern culture. They are a punch-blade right? They would make a good weapon for the feral too.

And as I still want to make a duelist type class that uses rapiers and or talons, I do not want to be charged with a double steal, as I once made a Feral CC class(which got ignored by everyone) after you had made your original Post.