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Heroes Community > Heroes 7+ Altar of Wishes > Thread: Shooshima's contest - Cavern faction entry by Minnakht
Thread: Shooshima's contest - Cavern faction entry by Minnakht This thread is 2 pages long: 1 2 · NEXT»
Minnakht
Minnakht


Known Hero
Green eyed monster
posted May 11, 2011 04:13 PM
Edited by Minnakht at 18:29, 13 May 2011.

Shooshima's contest - Cavern faction entry by Minnakht

CAVERN


“In the depths, there was peace. Soon, peace will be everywhere.”
The stonefolk has lived in the underground caverns of Ashan for thousands of years. Down there, in the nearly lightless environment, few creatures managed to live at all, most of them not truly living instead. Being an actually sentient race, even if primitive, they quickly managed to establish absolute dominion down there, absorbing the other sentient races into their society and domesticating or holding off everything else, keeping armies to fight amongst clans and against eldritch horrors that happen from time to time.
Eventually, a group of dwarves (or dark elves, history isn’t sure) has managed to dig deep enough to breach into the caverns, and the stonefolk were faced with news on the whole surface world. It was the time when demons were out of Sheogh and wreaking havoc on the surface. The stonefolk, used to being the superior race that has conquered the world as they knew it, jumped to conclusions... and decided to combat the demons while intimidating all the other surface-dwellers into submitting to them or at least establishing favourable diplomatic situations. In a show of power and inexplicable magic, some of the Cavern cities even appeared on the surface.


In a nutshell: Large humanoids made of stone, living undisturbed underground for ages, suddenly exposed to the surface. And other races living down there that were tamed.
Inspiration: The environment was inspired (if not outright copied) from another game, along with two or three of the creatures. The stonefolk race comes from yet another game.
Associated colours: Brown and shades of grey.
Symbols: A semi-random, lumpy, filled shape. In other words, a stylized rock or stone block.
Worship: One thing the stonefolk and the surface races have in common are the deities. The stonefolk worship Sylanna, although a more truly earthy aspect of her rather than the plant-and-animal-life aspect elves worship. Malassa also has a large following in the Caverns – light is a rare commodity underground, where sun does not reach. The worshipped aspect of Malassa is once again just true darkness, without any evil subtext. Most of the time, at least.
Core Philosophy: "Stability". The stonefolk is used to its dominance underground, living in everlasting peace as all disputes have settled long ago. Being made of rock, they retain their tendencies to be as easygoing and settled as rock.
Country / Kingdom: The Caverns stretch far and wide in a lot of passages practically under the whole world. The stonefolk don’t have a name for their country aside from “Caverns” – up to that point, they were convinced it was all of Ashan.
Capital City: The surface area of the Caverns is so high, it’s hard to have a centralized government. Each city has its own council of leaders. Occasionally, they send representatives to one city known as Usanim, located roughly in the Caverns’ centre. The easy magma access there and magnificent obsidian walls make it a grand place for the grand council governing over all of stonefolk.

Recent Events
A stable and diplomatic link to the Caverns was first established by a dwarven city in their constant pursuit of wealth by mining. One of the shafts broke into the deeper underground, populated by beings formerly unknown... amongst them, the stonefolk.
Soon enough, some treaties were signed... as much as the stonefolk were arrogant towards the dwarves, noting their short stature, they didn’t want to declare war on a completely alien race right off the bat. For now, they’re seeking to research the surface world, but agreed to fight against the demons, and... Sometimes, skirmishes happen. Using powerful magic, a few of the cities were relocated to the surface, where they thrive due to how there is stone there as well – such novelty kinds of it, in fact, as limestone and sandstone, formerly rare or unknown.

Social Organization: Again, each city has its own council, formed mostly of Patriarchs, which are the highest caste. All other stonefolk belong to the other caste, with hunters, growers, artists, artisans and soldiers all being viable and honoured professions, none worse than another.

Architecture: The cities are mostly hewn out of natural rock, with large rooms being mined out to hold families. Masonry is used rarely and just to correct mistakes of the miners by replacing walls where they accidentally collapsed. Stone walls are then covered with engraved images as further decoration. Other materials, like wood, metal or glass are not used in architecture often.

Magic: The only stonefolk permitted to use magic are the Patriarchs and the heroes. In case of the Patriarchs, they are born larger and with a natural affinity for magic, being a caste of supermen amongst their folk. Heroes have to study magic under their guidance to be able to perform it, acting like mages of other races in that regard. Purely elemental aspects of Earth and Darkness are the spheres worshipped by the stonefolk, and their magic specializes in those spheres as well.


Cavern Strategy: "Been there since forever, will stay forever"

Creatures of the Caverns are of the slow-moving type, normally preserving the rare slivers of energy that can be found deep underground and rather cautious of everything due to the darkness of their habitat. Many of them have foregone the need of sustenance, with it being so hard to attain, and turned to magical sources of energy, still needing to stay in good combat ability to protect themselves from various forgotten beasts of the depths or the occasional breaches from the other hell.
* Strengths: Many ways to deal damage from afar, great defensive focus
* Weaknesses: No fast creatures whatsoever, not much in terms of magic
* Racial ability: Down to Earth – Whenever creatures of most types fall in battle, allied units gain a really marginal amount of healing. This ability does not work at sea, and works better underground.

The military of the Caverns was kept mostly for entertainment, settling disputes, and fending off creatures too dangerous or large to tame. Their tactics are not well defined, but generally based on forming a solid defence with some of the units and pelting them with powerful strikes from behind with the rest.


Cavern Units

CORE


Slimeroach

Those giant, pungent insects are one of the few species that truly thrive in the Caverns. After realizing it's impossible to drive them out, the stonefolk decided to live with them. Surprisingly, they could be trained to be war beasts. In combat, they are truly a menace, partly due to their overwhelming numbers and partly due to their ability to spit vile, viscous, adhesive and slightly corrosive fluid.


The Vomit Spawn is the upgraded Slimeroach.

Spit (Basic & Upgrade): Slimeroaches take their name from their most notable ability. Their spittle is a horrible slime, having the qualities of both acid and glue. They can launch it over vast distances with surprisingly good accuracy, and when it hits, affected units tend to move sluggishly and scream much less sluggishly as the slime hampers their movement while eating through muscles down to the very bones underneath.
Absurd Vitality (Basic & Upgrade): That was the sole reason why those pests didn't go extinct. Slimeroaches take a long time to die - even punctured through vital organs or dismembered and low on blood, they keep being operational and take a good while to realize they should be dead. It is possible to kill them off, but it takes truly a titanic effort.
Fungal Infection (Upgrade): Vomit Spawns take their name from some fungus found deep underground. It is widely known amongst the stonefolk, as any organic creature that ingested it featured horrible nausea, then proceeded to die partly of dehydration and partly of the fungus overgrowing their insides. However, Slimeroaches are one exception - they too learned to avoid the fungus, but when forced to consume it, they amazingly survived, and their spittle attained the disease-causing properties of the fungus. Now a potent bioweapon and appearing moldy, Vomit Spawns spread the infection by bite and spit.
Flying (Upgrade): Slimeroaches have wings, but are too heavy to use them. The infection, however, eats through its body and replaces the heavy tissue with a much lighter, porous one, and they don't even die - another testament to their unsurpassed vitality. The reduction of mass allows Vomit Spawns to fly.

Actual ability effects:
Spit: Performs a ranged attack that has the usual rules of a ranged attack (distance and obstacle penalties). The enemy stack hit also loses some movement and initiative. Instead of an ammo limit, Spit has a cooldown - it can't be used two turns in a row.
Absurd Vitality: 70% of damage that would be dealt to the Slimeroaches is dealt to them instead as they finish their next turn instead of when they're attacked.
Fungal Infection: Enemies hit by Vomit Spawns whether in melee or by Spit take damage over time and lose morale. Affects organic enemies only. Curable by medics and some spells.
Flying: Can bypass obstacles and such.

Jet Mole

Every sentient being enjoys a good pet – stonefolk are no exception. Their pets of choice are children of small animals, but then the idea of what is small differs a bit for such large beings. The most popular pets by far are pups of giant moles – adorable, pink and squirming. When they grow up, they become beasts covered in jet-black fur, with long claws used to rend earth, equalling the largest of humans in body mass. Those are then trained for military use.

The Carbon Mole is the Jet Mole upgrade.

Burrowing (Basic & Upgrade): Jet Moles, like all moles, have an affinity to spend time underground. In a short time, they can burrow down, hiding from sight, and they tunnel as fast as they walk or rather crawl. The holes they leave are a pain to walk over, and soil riddled with a lot of tunnels is prone to collapsing down under feet of whatever is heavy enough. There is no stone tough enough for the Jet Moles to not be tunnelable through – well, perhaps in hell itself there is.
Orovorous (Upgrade): The name “Carbon Mole” isn’t just for show of its coal-like fur – Carbon Moles are actually made of jet inside, coal outside, and their teeth and claws are diamonds, as the magic users of the Caverns made them that way. Due to that, their diets changed, and Carbon Moles are happy to ravage their way through anything, often turning the former obstacle into a pile of rubble. With most of their bodies made of carbon and their non-organic nature, they can even recover by eating either minerals or anything else that has carbon – and organic bodies have it. No poison can affect them, and they have no blood to lose. Their minds, however, remain unchanged and vulnerable.
!!Fun!! (Upgrade): Being made of coal comes at a heavy risk, though. Any kind of fire can ignite the Carbon Moles, and the fire will consume them down to their jet innards if it happens. Of course, this doesn’t detract from their combat potential much – agitated by the heat, lighter from having their coal fur removed, and on fire, Carbon Moles hit harder and move faster and have another incendiary exponent in their damage – all at a cost of some vitality and defence their fur provided.

Actual ability effects:
Burrowing: Can spend one movement point to go underground or leave underground. Underground, moles are untargetable, take damage from Earthquake spells, and can move unhindered by obstacles, but cannot attack. Going underground does not use up a full turn - just one movement point.
Orovorous: Carbon moles can destroy obstacles and heal themselves slightly when doing so, moving over a dead stack, or attacking all non-elemental creatures or Earth elementals.
!!Fun!!: Moles deal extra fire damage and gain a bonus to movement and might power but lose some maximum HP and defence - all that when they're placed next to Magma Men or have a fire spell cast on them.

PROTECTOR

The stonefolk themselves also become soldiers, at least part of them, what is a standard for any other sentient race. Their large frames let them not use weapons at all, and their training also is quite rudimentary. In battles, Protectors, fittingly to their name, are armed only with large shields, which combined with their size form nigh-impenetrable walls, and use them to shield other units or squash enemies flat underneath.

The Stonewall is the upgraded Protector.

Rock (Basic & Upgrade): The stonefolk are not creatures of flesh, and their minds are different from those of fleshy races as well, as the stonefolk lack brains or other organs. This gives them a wide range of immunities – poisons or pain don’t affect them, mind spells don’t affect them, they even have a slight resistance to magic, not as much as the true Earth Elementals though.
Large Creature (Basic & Upgrade): It is a dubious honour, but yes – stonefolk are one of the few sentient races that are so big and bulky.
Bash (Basic & Upgrade): The signature weapon of a Protector is large and blunt. Coupled with their immense strength, a single shield strike packs enough concussion to knock the wind out of pretty much any enemy, if not to knock them out completely whatsoever.
Obstacle (Basic & Upgrade): The shields are also put to a more expected use. Protectors are well-versed in the art of intercepting projectiles – the zone in which their ability is viable stretches far to their sides, as far as their arms go, and it’s nearly impossible to hit a target that’s behind them. Sadly, flying units can circumvent all that.
Cemented Down (Upgrade): A Stonewall is not possible to move, unless he himself wants to do so. Otherwise, those units hold their position no matter what would be unleashed upon them to make them change it.
Prepared (Upgrade): If a Stonewall is told to explicitly defend a position, he will execute the order with great joy and become a living hell. He will retaliate to any attack he can, focus on defending himself even better than one would think it is possible, and sometimes will even attack nearby enemies to deny them passage or pre-emptively before they attack.

Actual ability effects:

Rock: Immune to mind spells, poison, bleeding, some other spells that only affect living creatures, 20% magic immunity otherwise
Large creature: Takes up a 2x2 spot
Bash: 30%+5%*luck chance to have an effect. Effect is either a delayed turn or a missed turn for the affected, both have 50% chance against small creatures, or 80% chance of former and 20% chance of latter against large creatures.
Obstacle: Allied creatures behind Protectors are untargetable, allied creatures next to Protectors but targetable take 50% damage from ranged attacks
Cemented Down: Enemy cannot displace Stonewalls by any means
Prepared: When defending, +60% defence instead of the usual +30%, unlimited retaliation, 25% chance to attack creatures moving past Stonewalls, 25% chance to pre-emptively attack creatures trying to attack Stonewalls

ELITE


SQUID MAN

Squid Men are another of the peculiar civilizations of the Caverns. As their name suggests, they are humanoids sporting certain cephalopod features, like a set of tentacles encircling the mouth or having really large, boneless heads. Their abilities let them dominate the other cavern beings, except for the stonefolk, which, impressed by their power, recognized them as a race and signed a peace and merger treaty with them.

The Ulith Squidman is an upgraded Squid Man.

Brainwave (Basic & Upgrade): Squid Men possess a peculiar ability of producing radiation from their nervous tissue, which is abundant in their bodies. Those waves are emitted by all living beings, but those of Squid Men are much more powerful and magic-like in results. Squid Men can fix their ability on one target to constantly radiate in its direction, and can send short bursts at another target simultaneously. Their radiation is strong enough to cause harm in the affected, tearing apart the targets’ nervous tissue and leading to a swift death.
Flying (Basic & Upgrade): The mechanics of the ability aren’t known, but are possibly related to other abilities of Squid Men. Either way, they can raise themselves into the air for movement purposes, an ability normally not used often, but immensely helpful for the military.
Empowered Waves(Upgrade): A ritual applied to a Squid Man, involving giving him power of others of his kind, turns him into one of the ‘ulith’ of Squid Men. With increased power come new abilities – Ulith Squidmen can radiate huge bursts that go in all directions, harming all affectable, and their ability to move their own bodies extends to moving bodies of others as well. They can also keep irradiating a large area of the battlefield.

Actual ability effects:
Brainwave: Gives 2 activated skills
*Cephalopathic Bolt: Deals damage to a non-mindspell-immune target
*Cephalopathic Lock: Targets one enemy, deals damage as above to it every turn
Flying: Can move over obstacles
Empowered Waves: Gives 3 more activated skills
*Cephalopathic Blast: Deals damage to all non-mind-immune units
*Cephalopathic Zone: Targets a 4x4 zone, all non-mind-immune units entering it take damage and keep taking damage if they stay in it
*Telekinetic Strike: Deals damage and pushes a target back - works on all creatures


STRIKER


Using missile weapons is an art, one often used in armies to great effect. The elite of stonefolk trains itself in using the most readily available of missiles – known as ‘anything on hand’. With them using both their eyesight and hearing for targeting, their accuracy is hard to match, while their bodies allow them to pack insane amounts of energy into each throw.

The Deadeye Silencer is the upgraded Striker.

Long Range Shooter (Basic & Upgrade): Strikers follow a simple method of combat – they take a rock, usually larger than a man’s head and nearly as large as their own, then go ahead and chuck it at a target, where it arrives with great velocity and impacts with immense force. Typically, man-sized targets are knocked over with many broken bones, with a hit to the upper torso even warranting a hilarious backflip of the target. The velocity is high enough to carry the missiles across vast distances – no battlefield is too large for a stone thrown by a Striker to cross.
Rock (Basic & Upgrade): The stonefolk are not creatures of flesh, and their minds are different from those of fleshy races as well, as the stonefolk lack brains or other organs. This gives them a wide range of immunities – poisons or pain don’t affect them, mind spells don’t affect them, they even have a slight resistance to magic, not as much as the true Earth Elementals though.
Large Creature (Basic & Upgrade): It is a dubious honour, but yes – stonefolk are one of the few sentient races that are so big and bulky.
Truer Seeing (Upgrade): Normally, the sense of sight of a stonefolk is atrophied and rarely used due to the lack of light in the Caverns. A typical stonefolk thus uses mostly his hearing for navigation, communication and targeting, acting much like a bat. However, Deadeyes, as their name suggests, are different – their eyes are magically reanimated from their death by atrophy, and enhanced to the point of seeing in nearly lightless environments as if they were bright, but suffering no consequences of such sensitiveness in actually bright places. Using both their eyes and hearing for targeting, they achieve unmatched accuracy, ignoring fog and similar concealment with their echolocation, and their magical eyes let them hit even ghosts and other warping creatures, like they could see into the Spirit Plane itself at times. They do not miss by mistake.
No Melee Penalty (Upgrade): Finished with their intense studies of throwing rocks hard, Deadeye Silencers undergo extra training of throwing punches hard as well. Because of this, they are in no way helpless up close – point-blank shots are not unknown or difficult for them.

Actual ability effects:
Rock&Large creature: You know by now
Long range shooter: Can attack at distance, damage unaffected by distance
Truer seeing: Ignores miss chances due to ghost/illusion, ignores spell effects like Blur, ignores concealment and obstacles. Does not ignore actual defence increases of the enemy or the "shield other" class of abilities.
No melee penalty: Usually shooters deal 50% damage in melee, not the case here


MUD MAN

Mud Men are unknown beings found in water pools of deep cavern levels. Their composition is quite similar to that of stonefolk, but ground to dust and held together with water laced with some eldritch forces. Mud Men are thus considered undead of their kind – animated remains of the fallen. The reason of their existence is a mystery. Yet, they manage to fit in within the Caverns’ society, being capable of communication – especially since the stonefolk have two languages, one of which is a code of strikes usually performed with fists, not unlike the Morse code. Most often, they’re soldiers, using their unique talents, and their relative rarity is the only thing keeping them from being overwhelming. In combat, they, amazingly enough, use weapons – usually swords forged from iron mixed with various metals found deep underground, forming alloys much tougher than known to humans.
The Magma Man is the upgraded Mud Man.

Fire Resistance (Basic): Unlike stonefolk, Mud Men consist of loads of water and soft soil. While heat causes stones to crack, Mud Men aren’t affected by it much. They are completely incapable of being ignited and have a high heat capacity, so attacking them with fire is not very effective – they can dry up and crumble, but it takes a lot of energy of the enemy magician or breather.
Free Flow (Basic & Upgrade): The unsolid composition of a Mud Man lets him avoid confrontation. They can temporarily collapse into puddles and slither through the enemy ranks. Sadly, that ability doesn’t extend to circumventing obstacles.
Semi-rock (Basic & Upgrade): The part of a Mud Man that is not made of water is made of the same materials as the stonefolk. Thus, they receive the same immunities aside from the magic immunity, which is lesser.
Mending (Basic & Upgrade): Due to being built of flowing materials, Mud Men can just flow their mass into place, closing wounds. They constantly consume soil and moisture with their feet to recover, too.
Melting Heat (Upgrade): The body of a Magma Man is composed of stone so hot it’s molten – its temperature is over 1100 or 2000 degrees, depending on the scale used. They still use their swords, made of an alloy which doesn’t turn brittle at the temperature. Those go through enemies and armour like a hot knife goes through butter – and seeing how organic butter is, the analogy is fittingly close most of the time. Additionally, metal armour of enemies tends to heat up from just the proximity, cooking canned enemies alive in agonizing discomfort.
Fire Absorption (Upgrade): Giving extra heat to a Magma Man is only aiding him. The energy is quickly rerouted to the soil or stone underneath, melting it, and the newly created pool of lava is used to mend wounds of the unit or even revive the dead obsidian husks of the fallen ones.  
Magma Shield (Upgrade): Having contact with an object hot enough to glow red or even yellow is not good for health. Magma Men are members of the group capable of inflicting such injuries. When about to die, they’ll even hurl themselves towards the enemy, which buried under molten rock tends to suffer heavy injuries as well.

Actual ability effects:
Fire resistance: Takes 50% fire damage, fire-related effects have less impact as well
Free Flow: Can move through enemy units but not obstacles
Mending: Regeneration
Semi-rock: Immune to mind spells, poison, bleeding, 10% magic immunity
Melting Heat: Ignores 50% of enemy defence, enemies starting turn close take fire damage, lights friendly Carbon Moles on fire
Fire absorption: Fire damage is turned to healing with resurrection
Magma shield: Reflects 40% melee damage, as in H5

CHAMPION

PATRIARCH
The superman caste of stonefolk, Patriarchs fulfil all of the mystical roles of their society. Rarely, they can be recruited to fight in the army. There, they use masterwork weapons and armour, made by the finest stonefolk smiths, and their own expertise of magic, unheard of anywhere else in the Caverns. They are also much larger than the already large stonefolk, and their size makes them great and durable melee fighters as well.

The Pillar of Society is the upgraded Patriarch.

Rock (Basic & Upgrade): Yeah, yeah, you get it by now. Additionally, personal studies of magic of the Patriarchs let them improve upon their natural magic resistance, which as a result equals that of Earth Elementals.
Large Creature (Basic & Upgrade): Patriarchs tower even over Protectors and Strikers. Their general looks have been compared by the few humans who had the chance to actual towers, fit for having a shooter perched on top, down to the crenellated shoulders forming battlements on top of their immense postures.
Fatherly Presence (Basic & Upgrade): Patriarchs, as the name suggests, are considered fathers of stonefolk, and actually are their rulers, mages and priests. The proper title stonefolk use when referring to Patriarchs is “father” indeed. When those are on the battlefield, their stonefolk children fight with unsurpassed passion, not willing to fail in front of authorities.
Caster (Basic & Upgrade): Patriarchs and heroes are the only official users of actual magic in the Caverns. And it is utilized in combat, mostly as the ability to manipulate earth itself to smite enemies, or darkness to hamper them.
Last Standing (Upgrade): Bound by duty beyond belief or even sense and probability, Pillars of Society take their name from a known fact – as long as a pillar is supporting a ceiling, you just can’t push it to make it fall over. Like captains of a ship, Pillars of Society do not leave until they assure safety of their crew – or if there is no crew left. The last of Pillars will not even leave this mortal coil as long as there are other allied squads they have to protect.

Rock&Large creature: 50% magic immunity instead of 20%, otherwise the same as before
Fatherly Presence: Allied Cavern creatures always have at least +1 positive morale
Caster: When I learn what spells are there in H6 I will assign some
Last Standing: When you have X stacks on the battlefield, X-1 Pillars of Society will keep being alive no matter the amount of damage that would be dished out against them and other effects that would cause them to die.

HERO CLASSES

Survivor

On incredibly rare occasions, an inhabitant of the Caverns managed to somehow reach the surface or at least the upper levels of the caverns, possibly by rare natural passages between those. Sometimes, they returned, and gained some following when telling their tales of the other places. Some other inspired citizens might have followed their steps. They never were taken seriously, though, with most of the Patriarchs deciding the notion of such realms is simply improbable. Until now, when those who visited the surface started to be highly revered due to their experience and chosen to lead armies.

Type: Might
Reputation: Neutral
Neutral Ability: Inspirational Strike
The hero, when attacking an enemy unit, might cause an allied melee unit near the target to follow up with an attack of its own.

---

Experienced

Those of the Survivors who choose to not get into much trouble eventually become Experienced. Their reputation is at par with the one of Patriarchs, and they only keep increasing it by being genuinely caring and interested in their subordinates.

Type: Might
Reputation: Tears
Advanced Ability: Joining the Efforts
Hero enters the battle in a chosen spot of the battlefield, having an ability set similar to that of a Stonewall, an immense amount of hitpoints, and still rather meagre damage. He lasts on the battlefield just for one turn. If somehow depleted of hitpoints, the hero is knocked out and unable to act for one more turn, lying prone in the usual hero spot. But not dead!
Ultimate Ability: Authority Pressure  
Target friendly stack gets to act right as the ability is used, with the action having no impact whatsoever at the usual turn order, and takes much less damage until the end of its next move.

---

Brave

Some stonefolk, however, feel that the absolute dominion they have established beforehand was the right choice, and are all for conquering the now known world in the same way as the conquered the world they knew so far. Their rousing speeches are just as effective as the other, and their units share their lust for everything.

Type: Might
Reputation: Blood
Advanced Ability: Subdue
The hero performs an attack that stops the target stack of enemies for one turn, additionally lowering its damage slightly and morale considerably.
Ultimate Ability: Cave-in
The hero tears a huge block of stone from behind him and chucks it onto the target 2x2 area on the battlefield. A percentage of units underneath is just squashed flat with instant death, the rest takes some damage and is dislocated, and the stone block becomes a newly formed 2x2 obstacle that has some structural points or something.

------

Exile

The study of magic by non-Patriarch denizens of the Caverns is considered a crime – it might be due to their fear, envy, or some other reasons. Either way, they became Exiles – the name is for obvious reasons, really. The Exiles chose to explore other, higher places, inspired by the tales of the first Survivors – just like the newer generations of them, in fact. Their experience with magic helped them survive, their experience with the world allowed them to rise to power in the current times.

Type: Magic
Reputation: Neutral
Neutral Ability: Shield
An activated ability which gives all allied units a slight boost to magic resistance for several turns.

---

Hermit

Some Exiled ultimately decide to agree with their fate and decide not to interfere with the council’s judgement. They do, however, answer when asked for help, being loyal, obedient, and preaching their philosophy of inaction to everyone who wishes to hear them out.

Type: Magic
Reputation: Tears
Advanced Ability: Uncaring
Target friendly stack becomes impervious to negative morale effects until the end of combat and receives a sizable resistance to damage and hampering spells for a few turns.
Ultimate Ability: Instill Stillness  
All enemies start gradually losing movement, initiative and might power. The effect itself isn’t dispellable, but the results of it are. The effect is capped at halving the affected stats, and lasts for ten turns – its effects persist for twenty turns unless cured.

---

Avenger

Unfortunately, that means that the rest of the Exiled never gets over their banishment and forms a grudge. They can, however, be convinced by the council to turn their feelings towards the upper lands, the words of literally silver-tongued Patriarchs suggesting stories portraying overworld civilizations as the reason of the laws causing magic to be formerly forbidden. Their dark emotions are a great, if malicious, boon to their abilities.

Type: Magic
Reputation: Blood
Advanced Ability: Abandoned Shroud
Target friendly unit becomes shrouded in darkness for two turns for all creatures and heroes, becoming completely untargetable, even by retaliation, unless a unit started its turn while being in range of two squares from the shrouded unit. It also can’t be the target of any hero abilities for three turns.
Ultimate Ability: Blinded by Darkness
When attacking, all non-Caverns units might hit targets adjacent to the intended target or miss completely, with the sum of all damage (both dealt to targets and wasted) being equal to the damage they would deal normally. This effect doesn’t last for long, luckily.

---

I made some figurines out of modelling clay. Those are meant to give you the general idea on the looks of the creatures. Due to shortages of clay, the stonefolk figurines aren't their actual looks - they should be bulkier and more rugged, rockier, but I don't have enough clay to make them so. Also, webcam quality - I'm sorry for that too.
Oh, and the cross-like stick on some photos is a measuring stick, denoting the height of the humanshape and the height of its arms

A human shape with hopefully right proportions, used to scale the measuring sheet
As above

Note: Bat men were scrapped and are no longer an unit because Heroes Community is anti-DC
Bat man
Bat man, T position
Bat man, T position on the measuring sheet

Jet Mole
As above
As above

Protector
Protector on the measuring sheet
Protector, T position, measuring sheet

Squid man
Squid man, measuring sheet
Squid man, T position, measuring sheet

Striker
Striker, measuring sheet
Striker, T position

Mud Man
Mud Man, measuring sheet
Mud Man, T position, measuring sheet

Striker and Mud Man side to side, the clay of them both and then some was used for the Patriarch

Patriarch
Patriarch, measuring sheet
Patriarch, T position, measuring sheet





Discuss! It'd also be nice if you went and had a look at the other factions of mine.
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Avirosb
Avirosb


Promising
Legendary Hero
No longer on vacation
posted May 12, 2011 01:42 AM
Edited by Avirosb at 01:57, 12 May 2011.

Really nice figurines
I would've been cool to have a faction made entirely out of clay
I like the descriptions, but the names of the creatures have room for improvement, IMO. If I may...

Bat Man ---> Ahool (cryptic; flying bat)
Actual Batman ---> Camazotz (mayan bat god of death)
(Alt. Camazotz -> Kongamato (cryptic))

Protector ---> Brickfist

Squid Man ---> Ulith
Ulith Squidman ---> Ulterior Ulith

Deadeye Silencer ---> Deadeye Striker

Survivor ---> Survivalist
Experienced ---> Strategist
Brave ---> Daredevil

Hermit ---> Anchorite
Avenger ---> Pariah (sounds good as it is though)

I also like that most of the faction entries in the challenge have been of subterranean nature.
Edit: The Patriarch reminds me of Hoborg

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Minnakht
Minnakht


Known Hero
Green eyed monster
posted May 12, 2011 04:28 AM

Quote:
Really nice figurines
I would've been cool to have a faction made entirely out of clay


I can't really see what's stopping you.

Quote:
I like the descriptions, but the names of the creatures have room for improvement, IMO. If I may...


Well, the only ones who could have named those creatures are the stonefolk themselves, those blockheads... they tend to be rather concise in their descriptions. Still, you may. Let's hear you out.

Quote:
Bat Man ---> Ahool (cryptic; flying bat)
Actual Batman ---> Camazotz (mayan bat god of death)
(Alt. Camazotz -> Kongamato (cryptic))


...but they're not alhoons/cama... cama... gosh, could you spell it, even? Either way, they're not that. Let's not overcomplicate it - they have simple, fitting names as they are. They're the goddamned Batman. Actual Batman. In a black, skintight suit. They're the comic relief unit, like goblins, but actually useful. They are vengeance. They are the night.

Quote:
Protector ---> Brickfist


Can't see the reason for this one either. The name Brickfist would suggest they are made of bricks and that they punch, and both are untrue. Besides, the names of the three stonefolk units I would rather keep as they are.

Quote:
Squid Man ---> Ulith
Ulith Squidman ---> Ulterior Ulith


Hey, not every Squid man is an Ulith... only the ulith elite of them (the words sound similar). Besides, yes, this is solely a wordplay, I'm not driving at anything. I don't want those guys to sue me, just like they'd sue anyone saying "beholder".

Quote:
Deadeye Silencer ---> Deadeye Striker


Sure, why not. The name Silencer comes from that they keep hurling rocks at a target until it stops making sounds - and they have a really acute sense of hearing to note when that happens. Still, that might be a bit obscure, it's the Deadeye part that counts. Their eyes are undead. If rocks can be undead.

Quote:
Survivor ---> Survivalist
Experienced ---> Strategist
Brave ---> Daredevil



Eh, they're no Survivalists... Just lucky ones, those who managed to find the surface via a stroke of luck, managed to find their way back by a stroke of luck, and managed to not get killed in the process by enough luck to give Luck a stroke.
Still, it sounds fairly fun, I might take it.
Strategist is a bit generic and not really fitting, I'm looking at more 'well-received avatar of community' than 'cold and planny guy sitting in the back'. Still, Daredevil... this one I like.

Quote:
Hermit ---> Anchorite


Hm. Sounds fitting. I like the word 'anchor', too.

Quote:
Avenger ---> Pariah (sounds good as it is though)


Yeah, well... pariah sounds more like a person too low in the society for the public to care, while the Avengers... they might be former criminals, but they're well-received by the public, and their semi-irrational hatred, rerouted to a productive aim, is their defining point. So, I'll keep the current one.

Consider the previous two implemented, though. I'm not editing the thread to change the names, because for now, I want people to see those as they are now - maybe later I shall.
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Avirosb
Avirosb


Promising
Legendary Hero
No longer on vacation
posted May 12, 2011 09:02 AM

Quote:
I can't really see what's stopping you.

A lack of experience in programming, claymation and art design, maybe. Other than that...

Quote:
goddamned Batman

Goddamned indeed. If you're gonna make them comic relief, at least go for the Adam West version. And 'Acutal Batman' makes it sound like all the other Batmen are fake.

Quote:
The name Brickfist would suggest they are made of bricks and that they punch, and both are untrue.

Not necessarily. I drew inspiration from thisAmerican idiom. Shock is a synonym of Quake. Quake is short for Earthquake, which would've fit these creatures nicely. But again this may be overcomplicating things. I'm just not a fan of keeping alive the H5 tradition of giving units too generic names that makes them harder to identify (Slayer, Warrior, etc).

Quote:
I don't want those guys to sue me, just like they'd sue anyone saying "beholder".

Here's an easy solution: a Fantasy name generator.
It should be fairly easy to find a couple of fitting names (I think consonant heavy names works best here). A quick search with Google will instantly tell you wether or not the name is already in use.

I don't mean to sound overly critical.
I just tend to get carried away.

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Minnakht
Minnakht


Known Hero
Green eyed monster
posted May 12, 2011 01:49 PM

Very well then, I'm in process of changing the names.

From now on, replace all instances of "squid man" or "squidman" with "Cephalopodraph". That also means Ulith Cephalopodraphs. That was made using the fantasy name generator as suggested.

"Bat man" is replaced with "Nightwing" and "Actual Batman" is replaced with "Deathwing".

Protectors, Jet Moles, Strikers, Mud Men and Patriarch remain unchanged.

"Deadeye Silencer" is replaced with just "Deadeye Striker" as suggested.

Quote:
A lack of experience in programming, claymation and art design, maybe. Other than that...



I don't have experience in any kind of art either. You're free to make clay models for creatures yourself, try it.

...how about you look at the creatures themselves, not just their names?
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Avirosb
Avirosb


Promising
Legendary Hero
No longer on vacation
posted May 12, 2011 02:05 PM
Edited by Avirosb at 14:08, 12 May 2011.

I'm sorry I wasn't able to express myself more clearly.
I said it would've been cool to see a clay faction, as in tha game: Might & Magic: Heroes VI.

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Minnakht
Minnakht


Known Hero
Green eyed monster
posted May 12, 2011 07:57 PM

Oh, you mean this. Well...

I'd say that Ooze faction proposal is pretty close itself. I like its premise myself, not so much the whole execution, but hey, that's just my opinion.


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julle
julle


Adventuring Hero
Simply FABULOUS!
posted May 13, 2011 04:23 PM

Racial: nice. could use more detailing.

Units:

Batman:




Jet mole:

?



AWESOME!


Protector:

wait 'til my Jötun comes by...

Mua ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!


Squid man:

seems allright. to little info, but i like them!


Striker:

stone throwing sronemen? one word:



Mudman:


see Striker.


Patriarch:

nice. love it, especially pillar ability



all in all: nice creatures. like the faction. 2 things:

1. No BATMAN! just... no.

2. i think the mudman should be elite. well, both make sense, but i would put the mudman there. and make him bigger

i like it. very funny and interesting faction. would love mine to fight it...

...on a boat

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Minnakht
Minnakht


Known Hero
Green eyed monster
posted May 13, 2011 05:01 PM

Quote:
Protector:

wait 'til my Jötun comes by...

Mua ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!


Stonewalls might be just the only thing that can actually stop him.

Quote:
1. No BATMAN! just... no.


Eh, fine. Seeing as you all hate them, they're getting swapped out for something else.
Quote:
2. i think the mudman should be elite. well, both make sense, but i would put the mudman there. and make him bigger


Mud Men ARE elite currently - they can flow through the ranks of other units, and when upgraded, they're MADE OF MAGMA and cause you !!Fun!!.
I'm not making them bigger - this faction already has three large creatures, no need for more. This also adds to their intimidation factor - they are just the size and the shape of a normal man, but are incredibly deadly and hard to kill while not having big bulky asses and actually being able to infiltrate themselves forward.

Quote:
i like it. very funny and interesting faction. would love mine to fight it...

...on a boat


Very well, go for a homefield advantage, you. Our rocks will blot out the sun, but not before our cephalopodraths blot out your minds.

---

Designing new core unit - please wait
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julle
julle


Adventuring Hero
Simply FABULOUS!
posted May 13, 2011 05:10 PM

Quote:
Quote:
Protector:

wait 'til my Jötun comes by...

Mua ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!


Stonewalls might be just the only thing that can actually stop him.


maybe the upgrades when they defend...

Quote:
Quote:
1. No BATMAN! just... no.


Eh, fine. Seeing as you all hate them, they're getting swapped out for something else.


nothing wrong with a bat/human hybrid, but batman?

Quote:
Quote:
2. i think the mudman should be elite. well, both make sense, but i would put the mudman there. and make him bigger


Mud Men ARE elite currently - they can flow through the ranks of other units, and when upgraded, they're MADE OF MAGMA and cause you !!Fun!!.
I'm not making them bigger - this faction already has three large creatures, no need for more. This also adds to their intimidation factor - they are just the size and the shape of a normal man, but are incredibly deadly and hard to kill while not having big bulky asses and actually being able to infiltrate themselves forward.


Meant champion ...

Quote:
Quote:
i like it. very funny and interesting faction. would love mine to fight it...

...on a boat


Very well, go for a homefield advantage, you. Our rocks will blot out the sun, but not before our cephalopodraths blot out your minds.


Oh please. i'd have home terrain anywhere... (yes, Ragnarök even works underground, appearantly snow underground. that'd be something)

Quote:
Designing new core unit - please wait

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Minnakht
Minnakht


Known Hero
Green eyed monster
posted May 13, 2011 06:27 PM
Edited by Minnakht at 18:28, 13 May 2011.

PATCH NOTES:

*Added actual ability effects
*Bat men replaced with cockroaches that don't have cocks in their names so you can't make cock jokes. They also spit acidic glue.


Quote:
maybe the upgrades when they defend...


Only the upgrades, but not only when defending - it's the Cemented Down ability that would let them, and it works all the time.

Quote:
nothing wrong with a bat/human hybrid, but batman?


...well, what else are they?
My inspiration for them

Still, scrapped now. Enjoy your spitting COCroaches.

Quote:
Meant champion ...


They're not that good, sorry. See Experiments of my other thread for human-sized champions. (link in signature) /shameless advertising

Quote:
Oh please. i'd have home terrain anywhere... (yes, Ragnarök even works underground, appearantly  snow underground. that'd be something)


Okay, okay. But you get additional bonuses at sea from your racial, while mine don't work.

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julle
julle


Adventuring Hero
Simply FABULOUS!
posted May 13, 2011 07:11 PM

anywhere works

love the roaches! nice idea!

and suddenly i fear the squidmen...

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Brukernavn
Brukernavn

Hero of Order
posted May 13, 2011 11:22 PM

Quote:
Eh, fine. Seeing as you all hate them, they're getting swapped out for something else.

*Dreaming of hearing this from Ubihole*

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Minnakht
Minnakht


Known Hero
Green eyed monster
posted May 13, 2011 11:42 PM

Because mine is just an unreleased product with little to no art in its concept phase and no game balance in mind. They have had their minds set for a long time and can't simply walk into Mordor change things at whim.

Still, you gonna comment on the rest or not?
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Warlord
Warlord


Famous Hero
Lord of Image Spam
posted May 13, 2011 11:52 PM

I like it! Refreshing from all those Dungeon proposals! Great job so far.
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Brukernavn
Brukernavn

Hero of Order
posted May 13, 2011 11:59 PM

My main comment was going to be about the creature names, but that it was mentioned by the others as well, and you said in one of your posts that you had changed them. Maybe you should change them in the master post as well so you don't have to get the same feedbacks all the time?

But a big kudos for the clay models!
I would have loved them in better quality though, guess you shot them with a cell phone camera or something?

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Minnakht
Minnakht


Known Hero
Green eyed monster
posted May 14, 2011 12:22 AM

Quote:
I like it! Refreshing from all those Dungeon proposals! Great job so far.


Don't you "so far" me, this is about as done as it gets. Everything's filled in, the only thing I can do now is change things if the public tells me something needs changes. So, go ahead and tell me.

Also, this isn't a Dungeon proposal, see. Dungeons and Fortresses are shallower. Severalteen meters below ground, with glowy crystals and the level being accessed by a set of stairs that an army can traverse in 100 movement points.

Caverns are much, much deeper than that. No hydras, no dragons. Just the few species that can thrive so deep.

Quote:
My main comment was going to be about the creature names, but that it was mentioned by the others as well, and you said in one of your posts that you had changed them. Maybe you should change them in the master post as well so you don't have to get the same feedbacks all the time?


That's more like it. Shall do it soon-ish, then.

Quote:
But a big kudos for the clay models!
I would have loved them in better quality though, guess you shot them with a cell phone camera or something?


A webcam, in 640x480 resolution. You're right, I could borrow my father's camera and get much better quality. Sadly, that'd mean I'd have to remake all those figurines, as due to clay shortages I had to destroy the old ones to make the new ones.
Eh, too late to do it. Maybe if I release another faction...

I've got two ideas so far. One of them is a Preserve remake faction of various beasts rejected by other factions, living in Irollan like elves, and the other one is an aerial faction, composed of creatures that lived in the sky and only came down to Ashan recently.

Tell me which one should I finish first.
You could also check out my other factions, I keep the link to them in my sig...
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Jiriki9
Jiriki9


Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Altar Dweller
posted May 14, 2011 11:28 AM

@Minnakht: I'm not sure wether it'S allready been answered and I haven't read it but high up in your post you say you got inspirations from "another game" and "yet another game"...which are these?
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Minnakht
Minnakht


Known Hero
Green eyed monster
posted May 14, 2011 11:56 AM

Oh, that's a good one.

The stonefolk, together with their looks and names, are ripped off directly from RuneScape.
The idea of underground caverns themselves, as well as bat men and mud men, are ripped off from Dwarf Fortress.

Squid men are totally not a ripoff from D&D, it's just that I wanted to make another animal man unit, DF-styled, and thought of cephalopods, so I decided to use them in the hybrid. Giving them mind powers just felt natural somehow.

Slimeroaches and jet moles are as original as giant versions of common animals go.

...anyway, I asked a question in my previous post, regarding my future plans... you could answer it for me.
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Jiriki9
Jiriki9


Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Altar Dweller
posted May 15, 2011 11:47 AM

hmmm difficult. Aerial sounds more creative...preserve may be more fitting into ashan...I'D like to see aerial more, though
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