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Heroes Community > Heroes 7+ Altar of Wishes > Thread: Faction Recreation Contest #4: Rampart/Sylvan
Thread: Faction Recreation Contest #4: Rampart/Sylvan This thread is 3 pages long: 1 2 3 · NEXT»
Rimgrabber
Rimgrabber


Promising
Famous Hero
Voice in Gelu's Head
posted September 23, 2020 06:51 PM
Edited by Rimgrabber at 05:33, 24 Sep 2020.

Faction Recreation Contest #4: Rampart/Sylvan

1 more day left to vote on the Inferno submissions, but I just wanted to post this thread first so I can give the updated order for the factions and my reasoning behind it:

1. Necropolis **
2. Castle/Haven *
3. Inferno *
4. Rampart/Sylvan
5. Dungeon
6. Stronghold
7. Tower/Academy
8. Sanctuary
9. Dwarf Fortress
10. Conflux
11. Swamp Fortress
12. Forge
13. Cove
14. Create-Your-Own (Good)
15. Create-Your-Own (Neutral)
16. Create-Your-Own (Evil)

The original order that I had was purely randomized, but the order that came out felt quite awkward with the create-your-owns in the middle, Forge being #5, etc, so I took the random order and reorganized it to make it feel a little more natural:

1-7 are the "core" factions that have appeared in most or every installment of the series, 8-12 have appeared at least once but aren't stables, 12-13 haven't appeared in any installment but are widely accepted by the community, and 14-16 are the create from scratch rounds.

As a reminder, the requirements for a submission are:


- At least 2 hero classes(but can be more) and a short description of each. This can include their special skills if they have any, their role in society, and just general lore about them. If you want you can draft up a few individual heroes with their bios and specializations, but this is by no means required

- At least 7 units, but can be more if you want to use a different tier system than the standard one. A description of their role in battle and any notable abilities should be included, but you don't have to be too specific if you don't want.

- A grail structure, its effects, and 1-3 other unique buildings and their effects.

You have 2 weeks from when the first submission is made, after which there will be a 4 day voting period. Anyone can vote, but you have to give ALL the submissions a rating out of 10 (except your own submission if you made one.)

Good luck everyone and have fun!

*Finished
**We did Necropolis in the Coliseum where very few people saw it or participated and we didn't even score it, so if you guys want we can do it again and those of us that submitted a proposal can just copy-paste it here.

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PandaTar
PandaTar


Responsible
Legendary Hero
Celestial Heavens Mascot
posted September 23, 2020 06:56 PM
Edited by PandaTar at 16:26, 24 Sep 2020.

Sounds good! (Rampart! YAAAY!)

Rimgrabber said:

**We did Necropolis in the Coliseum where very few people saw it or participated and we didn't even score it, so if you guys want we can do it again and those of us that submitted a proposal can just copy-paste it here.


For me, it would be nice, but I think that it was only me missing who didn't participate in comparison with the other threads, so I am not sure it would pay the trouble in the end. Unless people want to redo or fix some stuff in their own Necropolis proposals, trime the fat. That said, Necropolis could be left as the last one.


NOTES ON MECHANICS TO HELP UNDERSTAND ABILITIES AND PERKS
-     Wildlife can attack lone heroes and support units which can wander the Adventure Map. They are classified in threatening levels, each of these levels having a different chance to take the hero down. Cartographers help identifying dangerous areas.
-     On the adventure map, each turn is a cycle of day and night. They differ on effects upon units, giving advantages or penalties, affecting weather as well.
-     Some unit stats:
HP and SP: Both HP and SP recover slowly each round. If a battle starts to drag on, Fatigue sets in on living targets, and they will lose HP and SP recovery rate. On the adventure map, campaigning without resting also stalls natural recovery.
Attack and Defense: affect each other to determine the amount of Damage inflicted/resisted by regular attacks. Outnumbered units have Attack or Defense scaled down.
Speed: determines the order of action during that turn. It also affects Accuracy, Evasion and Reaction timing values. Troops with same speed from different sides have the favor towards the engaging army. Among allied troops, any can be chosen to act first. Speed of living units is affected by Fatigue.
Accuracy and Evasion: damage is determined by the number of attacks which will hit their mark. Units with higher speed tend to have better Accuracy and Evasion when facing slower units. Both outnumbered and surplus-numbered troops have Accuracy improved and Evasion decreased. Evasion also works on some single-target-projectile spells.
Reaction: the most common one is the Retaliation perk. But some units may react differently. Timing of reaction is mainly affected by Speed and Evasion values.
Movement Points: the distance one can move on the battlefield, and the penalties on hero’s movement on the map. Faster units tend to have higher values of movement points.
Magic Resistance and Magic Power: determine the amount of effectiveness of a spell.  Spell casters have Magic Power. It determines the amount of magic resistance it’ll pierce upon affecting a target with a spell, also the amount of effectiveness of that spell, damage, number of turns, casting time and area of effect. Magic Resistance does not block buffs.
Spell Casting Time: weaker spells are quicker for charging and casting. Single-targeted spells will follow the target even if it moves. Area-targeted spells can either be set on an area, or centered on a unit to follow it. Charging time can last more than a round. Units that are charging a spell won’t react or evade attacks, and will take more damage.
Sizes: series of perks of interaction with units, terrain, spells, etc. There are three sizes: small, medium and giant.

FEYWOODS TOWN




Feywoods is a defensive and flexible faction with lots of influence on adventure map, high magical capabilities and support in battle, very connected with hindering enemies advances, because that's the priority of their theme: keep the balance with the outside world, vivifying what's dead; but it's not an expansive realm. That reflects on the Campaign, which consists a lot of protection of the borders, while learning what's happening outside. On the functional capacity, it’s the faction with the greatest number of small units from different tiers. Their numbers are shared between what's provided by nature, creatures and magic alike, because Feywoods ranks are branched in two categories: the nature-bound and the magic-bound (defensive and offensive). It has great affinity with Haven Citadel and Sanctuary, and some manner of friendly neutrality with Summit and Atlantis. It is completely opposite to Necropolis, Gates and Miasma Jungle, conflicting with Clans, and a hostile neutrality with Oasis. Dungeon Maze and Clockwork Library are not known directly.

Since immemorable times, Ithalion was the lair of the elves. However, the path they chose to take was not abided by all of them. Some individuals left their home to follow their beliefs and their heart. As they emigrated, a few left that group to follow different paths, but the majority of them stood together and travelled as far away as possible from the rest of their kin. It was when they reached the southern woodlands, which teemed with magic and secrets they barely knew. Jenova felt a strange power calling for her, so she entered the forest alone and met the strangest of beings she ever saw: a dendroid. The elves followed in suit and learned that the dendroid was named Gaia, who just gazed at them, appraisingly, whilst the elves were unsure of what to do, when it spoke directly in their minds: “Elves from the north, beyond the untouchable lands, you seek refuge, and one you may have found. Protect these lands with your own life and it will protect you. Offend it, and doomed you’ll be. What’s your decision?”. The answer was clear. The elves later learned that the dendroid species was even older than theirs, apparently matching even the anzu, and it was one of the guardians of other younger fae species who dwelled in the many forests of Llapiculae. Fourteen elves entered the woodlands: Aeris, Ceres, Elleshar, Endrael, Gelu, Gem, Haleth, Jenova, Kwen, Melodia, Mephala, Mullich, Nariel, Sithen and Vinrael. They were not the only outsiders to take refugee there though. Gaia never mentioned conflicts, but it was clear, by the incredible alertness and skills of the locals, that struggles and wars were part of their history. At first, the fae folk was reluctant at trusting the elves. However, after few centuries, they became part of Llapiculae and the main protectors of its secrets. But ominous changes started to brew, and the youngest of them, the fair Haleth, was killed at the western borders. The incident reminded them that dangers were ever present. “Protect ours, and they protect you”, Gaia intoned for ages, and Haleth was seldom around Llapiculae lately, for which the reason became quite clear when they found her and a scared little elf-human boy by her side.

THEME SONGS
Townscreen
Terrain
Battle




FEATURED BUILDINGS




Rainbow Falls (Tier 4 Dwelling) – Pegasus unit can be hired there. Decrease effectiveness of all fire-based abilities nearby town and sieging. Empower effectiveness of water-based abilities, though. Affect friends and foes alike. Provide Soaked buff upon allies (underwater units are not penalized for fighting on land).
Tharidor’s Pavillion – council decides which fae species will be most available for recruiting: increases some units’ weekly growth while decreasing another, maintaining balance and dwelling housing limitations, with a minimum cap of 50% weekly growth. After a whole week (14 turns), numbers are normalized for another 14 days (28 turns). Affects: Adlet, Gnome, Dryad, Faun, Rafflesia, Druid, Nefertem and Dendroid. Adlet, Gnome, Dryad, Faun, Dendroid, Elf and Rakshasa heroes can be hired there.
Guild of Nature – Guild of Nature Magic is activated there. Unlocks Library and Secondary Guilds buildings. Unlocks Faun Paragon, Druid, Cerastes and Alvadrak related technologies and buildings.
Fae Gardens (Tier 1 Dwelling | Tier 2 Dwellings | Tier 4 Dwelling | Tier 5 Dwelling | Tier 7 Dwelling) – Sprite unit can be hired there. Unlocks Gnome, Martlet, Kumiho, Pegasus, Basilisk, Nefertem, Cerastes and Alvadrak related technologies and buildings. Building annexes allows hiring Gnomes, Martlets, Kumihos, Nefertems and Alvadraks. Allows manufacture of magical equipment for Fey Woods units. Provides visiting heroes 20% spell points surplus. That surplus start to diminish after leaving town in a course of 6 turns. Cerastes and Alvadrak heroes can be hired there.
Brambles – defensive structures spread around in a siege. Medium-sized enemy units get slowed, have their movement crippled, constantly damaged and affected by Weakness debuff. Small units get rooted in addition to those effects. Giant units are not slowed and lose less movement points, but might trigger more than one bramble in a go. Affects ground and floating units. Do not affect flying units, unless crippled. These structures can be destroyed, but regrow after two rounds. The more allied dryads, dendroids, druids, rafflesias and adlets in battle, the stronger are the effects of brambles.
Elusive Canopies (Tier Ultimate Dwelling) – Agemo ultimate unit can be hired there. Allows manufacturing stealth equipment for Fey Woods units. Unlocks Dendroid Kruna technologies and buildings. Canopies are interactive elements for agemos in sieges.
Yggdrasil Dolmen (Grail) – it pumps constant life energy and magic on a large area around itself and on a small are around allied Feywoods towns. Transforms the affected area in permanent native terrain teeming with friendly wildlife. Adlets, Dryads, Druids, Kumihos, Rafflesias, Nefertem, Dendroids and Agemos have a boost on their HP, Attack, Defense, Speed and Morale values. Sprites, Gnomes, Martlets, Fauns, Pegasus, Basilisks, Cerastes and Alvadraks have their Speed, Magic Resistance, Magic Power and Spell Points values improved. Battles within affected areas halve spell points cost of allied heroes and units spells, minimum of 1. All Feywoods units get a permanent tagging improvement on Magic Resistance current values (it does not guarantee magic immunity).



FEATURED SKILLS
Native Strengths and Weaknesses – Feywoods units are vulnerable to Fire, Spirit and Body-based abilities. Resistant to Water, Earth and Mind and most of natural weather effects. They take less damage from drowning (fighting on shallow water or deep sea terrain).
Faction Skill Tree – Land Ties: develops connections between Feywoods towns and areas around it, channeling energy, magic, resources, transformation, vivifying and nourishing. These ties make events which happens in town affect the outside and vice-versa, strengthening advantages and neutralizing disadvantages. Some Keyskills: Beastmastery, Aether Flow, Nature Concord.
Other common Fey Woods heroes’ skills
Vivify – secondary skill that allows a hero to set areas for irrigation to grow things on them. It can affect population of the region, town, terrain and weather.
Beastmastery – keyskill that allows a hero to enact orders to friendly wildlife to protect nearby areas in addition to their own habitat. Allows taming neutral wildlife into friendly stance. Units classified as beasts have greater chance to join ranks.
Scouting – secondary skill that improves perks regarding exploration. Increases hero’s line of sight, accuracy at identifying enemies from afar, identifies traps, natural hazards, hidden objects, treasures, dungeon entrances, detects ambushes, enemy spies and scouts. It has a close relation to the Perception skill. In battle, improves all allied ranged units’ accuracy from higher ground.
Nature Magic – through the Guild of Nature, provides access to learn and teach Nature Magic Spells and Techniques, which invoke powers over the nature and strong combinations of elements. Examples: Avalanche, Hail, Visions.



FEATURED HEROES



The heroes of Feywoods are classified into the following species:
- Adlet (dog/wolf semi or non-humanoid): 2
- Alvadrak (a.k.a. fairy dragon): 3
- Cerastes (wyrm body, owl head): 1
- Dendroid (treeants, ents): 3
- Dryad (plant-looking humanoid): 1
- Elf (1 of which is half-elf): 13
- Faun (centaur counterparts): 2
- Gnome (small bulky things): 3
- Rakshasa (feline-like semi-humanoid): 2


Although nothing was officially stated, Jenova was always considered one of the leaders of the elves even before their arrival in the woodlands. The silver-haired elf is a very accomplished magician, for which her parting from Ithilion struck their former leader, Ellsen Liandor, so hard. He expected her to be at his side for when they mastered Necromancy to its fullest and then to walk their path for ‘salvation’ of the lesser species. After her arrival at Llapiculae, she taught many things she knew about the magic of the elves to the fae folk, and in turn, she learned theirs. And for a long time, she did overcome her sense of loss towards Ithilion of yore. Then, harsh reality came with the death of her niece Haleth, daughter of her brother Asrael, Vinrael’s twin. Asrael sacrificed his life – and soul – to allow Jenova and the rest of their kin to flee from Ellsen’s grasp, and now she failed to protect his daughter. Filled with grief, she now tries to redeem herself by protecting Gelu with her life, always with Endrael by her side. They care for Gelu whenever possible, but she is also concerned with Vinrael. Her brother never seemed to really put Ithilion behind, which could lead him to his doom.
Race: Elf
Role: Ruler
Class: The Silver Enchantress – boosts all diurnal allied troops offensive stats vs nocturnal enemies, even during the night. At town, improves results of researching technologies and abilities which affect spell casters, but she needs to stay at town during the research, or it’ll have start over, if she leaves town before completion. Some unique technologies may be unlocked by her presence also.
Specialty: Mazes of Arllur – appear when enemies enter the influence area of the nearest town. They make enemy heroes not to able to see anything, but the way they came and many paths forward; one is correct. The mazes delay enemy arrival for four cycles (2 days and 2 nights). If they get the wrong path, it’ll take them longer, up to eight cycles to exit the maze. When enemies exit the maze, they appear on a random position one turn away from the town. The illusion triggers again, if enemy leaves the area and returns. Only one maze can be active at time.
Perks
On foot, Rider, Ranged, Awareness
Diurnal
– this hero has optimized stats during daylight. At night, there are penalties over some stats, vision and efficiency of skills.
Elven-Blood – immunity to harmful body and mind effects. Increased efficiency and doubled proficiency count related to Archery, Dagger, Scouting and Stealth skills. Increased efficiency of Summoning, Earth, Water and Nature Magic skills. Vision is the same during day and night and doesn’t have vision penalty vs small enemy heroes. Vulnerability to harmful fire, lightning and spirit effects.
Mana Vortex – while tagged, increases spell points used when enemies cast spells on nearby allied troops. The surplus spell points spent are redistributed to allied troops with the lowest remaining spell points.
Luminaire – Added Sideline Action. Summons forth a small sun onto the battlefield or on the adventure map. On the battlefield, nullifies night effects upon all targets, if the battle is in the night cycle. During the day, casts a light that constantly affects enemies’ accuracy and evasion and has a chance to blind them. On the adventure map, simulates daylight on the area.
Granted Hope – increases spell point regeneration of all nearby allied heroes, even when engaged in battle, around a Feywoods town she is garrisoned in.

Adlets are shapeshifting wolf-folk found in many parts of the world. Alkin is the oldest one in Llapiculae. Like most adlets, he hibernates for decades, and the last time he came out of slumber, he found a young man staring at him. He had a strange painting on his face and a profound sadness hidden in his eyes. The youth was Gelu. He immediately took a liking for him and became his tutor, teaching how to scout the borders and be invisible when adventuring in the woods alone. Adlets dream and reach their kin in other parts of the world when they hibernate. Wargs in the cold, lycanthropes in quagmires, smaller hounds of a new folk he didn’t know and kitsunes in the neighboring lands. However, he had some glimpses of an uncontrollable rage, suffering, hunger … ever present, ever consuming and ever burning: a three-headed, hellish adlet. He remembered a tale the dendroid Morger had told him, about a strange plane from where horrors spawned. Those dreams, for Alkin, seemed to be omens alerting that such things could befall their kingdom. So he never rests, scouting to and fro, with Gelu’s aid, attentive and ready to protect his home, if the worst comes to happen.
Race: Adlet (adlets under command have greater speed, accuracy and evasion values)
Role: Explorer
Class: Strider – on the adventure map, he can mimic other ground heroes or units’ movement perks, so he is not affected by any terrain penalty (except lava, volcanic, deep sea) and will gain terrain advantages instead. Cannot replicate the perks: flyer, floater, small, giant. On the battlefield, transfers his mimicking to a tagged troop. Knowledge of the land allows him to have aerial vision on forests.
Specialty: Howl of Battle – Added Adventure Map Command. Alerts allies and native wildlife of nearby enemy presence. Wildlife becomes aggressive against invaders, with higher chances to kill lone heroes. Allied armies in range gets increased effects on Tactics skills. This command cannot be used if there are no enemy heroes around. Automatically howls whenever he tags a melee unit, which gives them instant turn. The effect can trigger again if Alkin tags back and forth.
Perks
On foot, No Mount, Melee, Diurnal and Nocturnal
Adaptation
– tagged troops have higher defense and higher evasion when they are targeted a second time (and so forth) by the same enemy, adapting to their combat style. Same for when attacking, rising attack and accuracy of tagged troops, if they target the same enemy twice (or more times). Adaptation effect lasts until the end of the battle doesn’t stack.
Alpha – adlet-related units under his command have stats values improved. If there are only those units in his army, when a tagged one attacks a foe, all the others will copy the action against their nearest enemy in range.
Scent – improves effectiveness of Perception and Senses skills.

Gaia seems to be as old as the world. Her grasp of things and how they work is unimaginable by younger species, even the elves. She had seen and witnessed the passing of ages, lands reshaping themselves, accommodating new races, animals and plants; the many names the peoples around the world gave to each other, to the same animals, to the same rivers and mountains and landscapes. She also lost many comrades and guardians along her long years, and one battle in special is ever in her mind. It was when fiends seemed to appear out of nowhere in the west and rushed into fair lands that bordered her former home: fiends of fire and metal, which burned and withered everything in their way. Not long after that, she was called by the anzu to help purging that canker from their lands. With the help of the other fae folk, she led dendroids, dryads, adlets and alvadraks to battle. It was a difficult feat, because the dry deadlands sapped them of their powers, but still, they managed to fend off those fiends, destroying the majority of them, whilst the rest retreated to wherever place they came from, as sudden as when they invaded. She is aware it might happen again, but when the time comes, she’ll be prepared with the full force of the fae folk.
Race: Dendroid (dendroids under command have greater defense and HP values)
Role: Ruler
Class: Fey Ancient – unblocked movement through any kind of forest, as long as the last movement point ends in a clearing. Her presence on an area boosts the effects of Vivify skills and soothes wildlife, which won’t attack nearby allied heroes. Her presence at town increases fae folk’s weekly growth and boosts defensive siege units’ abilities.
Specialty: Telepathy – allows communication with any other creature, except undead, animated, qliphoths, corrupt and automatons. On the battlefield, Adds Sideline Command. Enemy affected by telepathy can be affected by these debuffs: Confusion, Forgetfullness and Daze. The debuffs remain as long as she is linked telepathically with the target. It also cancels the effects of Preemptive and Strategy skills from enemy heroes. On the adventure map, she can learn which items are being sold in black markets and has increased effects on Diplomacy skills.
Perks
No mount, Giant, Melee, Diurnal
Nature Bound
– when tagged, grants resistance to Water, Earth, Nature, Body and Mind. But also vulnerability to Fire, Air, Lightning, Spirit, Animating. Immunity to Necromancy.
Resplendent Canopy – tagged troops gain Nourishment buff. It also procs preemptive recovery upon damage taken which has a chance to save troops from casualties. Troops are also immunized against Poison.
Silent Magic – immunity to Silence and enemy cannot identify when this hero is charging a spell.
Sprouts and Sapplings – tagged troops gain the Greater Rooting ability. Greater Rooting does not release targets when changing targets. They can root all adjacent enemies, as long as they don’t move.

Gelu is the offspring of a man and Haleth. Haleth’s long absences from Llapiculae were never accounted for, because she always sent her martlet Riviera bearing news on her whereabouts. When rumors of an attack at the western borders reached her kin and her martlet didn’t brought any news, Endrael and Jenova went to investigate and found a fatally wounded Haleth carrying a little boy, as they tried to cross the Great River Emiola. Gelu was eight by then, covered in blood and in shock. It seemed to have blocked Gelu’s memories of the event, but strangely enough, he had clear memories of his father, apparently a fair-looking knight with clear hazel eyes, like his own. Few decades later, when he reached the age of fourty, her mother’s martlet reappeared and flew directly at him. It bore a magical message: “Seek Judan”; and immediately set off. Not even knowing what that meant, his only clue was to return to the lands where they came from. But now, with the intense training among the fae folk and the other elves, he is more than capable to defend himself. Nourished by his anger for his mother’s killders, he is likely to be on his way into his past at any moment and won’t hesitate to kill anything that threatens his home.
Race: Human-Elf (base morale for mixed troops of humans and feywoods is positive)
Role: Commander and Explorer
Class: Moonshade – Gelu has increased movement on the adventure map at night and can become undetectable when standing next to native forests, even blocking weak detection spell casting. Spots immediately any spy or scout in sight and disposes of them. Disables penalties on vision upon tagged troops and makes them able to perform critical strikes with doubled effects and proc odds. Evades wildlife. Detects hidden NPCs when next to them. Detects nearby physical traps. Increases effects of Pathfinding and Stealth skills.
Specialty: Deadly Avant – when tagged to the most advanced or surrounded troop, they get thrice the odds of critical strikes, their attacks never miss and their evasion is increased. If his troops are the first to act in the round, critical strike is granted. He can also spot immediately where the enemy hero is tagged.
Perks
Rider, Melee, On foot, Elven Blood, Awareness, Diurnal and Nocturnal
Humane Heritage
– can lead human troops without any penalty. Increased effects of Diplomacy skills. Can equip artifacts and relics exclusive to humans. Can travel with human caravans. Can use human-made and Haven Citadel’s Support, War Machine and Siege units. Ruling over Haven Citadel towns has no penalties. Can be resurrected by Valkyries.
Scouting Martlet – Added Adventure Map Command. Sends one martlet ahead to scout an area. The martlet goes as far as one day ahead (2 turns). If there are enemies, traps, bad weather or wildlife in the way, the martlet gets killed: considered a scouting unit. Does not crosses high obstacles or extreme weather. Cleans shrouded area upon returning with flying vision.
Crescent Dash – when moving from tagged unit to another, he will dash on the battlefield. Any enemy troop that’s in the way will be hit by his dash, having speed and movement values reduced for the next round, with a chance to inflict Confusion. Does not affect giant or flying units. Cannot dash through obstacles.
Target Achilles – tagged troops inflict increased damage vs giant units when flanking, crippling their speed and movement and their Reaction is disabled. It lasts three rounds.

The gnome Taki is a very unusual one. Differently from his kin, he directed his learnings to physical battle. His demeanor was ever of a sharp personality, because he believed every fae race should stand on their own, and accordingly to the Wood Words, dangers were nigh. Gaia helped him to learn about all fae folk, their strengths, their weaknesses, because he had no way to properly communicate with them, not able to utter words. So he cast incantations on Wood Words, if they are unable to speak their own language. Wood Words cannot be silenced and outsiders cannot hear it. Taki also mastered his profound connection with nature, using his own body as catalyst to connect both words and provide him with surmounting strength for such a small creature. His dedication to protect their homeland and its folk is unquestionable, enough to have others following in his wake.
Race: Gnome (gnomes under command have greater magic resistance and defense values)
Role: Commander
Class: Gnome Monolith – increases effects of Summoning skills, both his and allied units. Starts with Earth and Water summon spells. His summoned subjects use his own body as catalyst, so they can be summoned regardless of weather or terrain. Consumes half the spell points to cast on native terrain. Doubled spell points cost on molten, volcanic, wasteland and desertic terrains. Summoner troops can link their summoned units to him as well, with shared spell points cost.
Specialty: Giant Strength – tagged troops of small size have no penalties against giant troops and inflict bonus damage on small and medium-sized units. Summoned earth and water elementals linked to him have increased attack, HP and defense values.
Perks
On foot, Melee, Rider, Nature Body, Diurnal
Nature Bound
– when tagged, grants resistance to Water, Earth, Nature, Body and Mind. But also vulnerability to Fire, Air, Lightning, Spirit, Animating. Immunity to Necromancy.
Small – cannot tag giant units. Cannot ride giant or medium-sized mounts. Ability to move through some terrains and obstacles with small passages, such as native forests, brambles, etc. without penalties. Enemy heroes have penalties to spot a small hero from afar. At night, penalty is greater. Giant enemy units’ attacks can force retreating from tagged troops to sidelines.
Wood Wording – Cannot learn Communication skills. Increases effectiveness of Land Ties skills. Tagged casters are immune to Silence.
Chakra to Ki – on native terrains, tagged troops get immunity to harmful spirit and body effects. Increased effectiveness of Water, Earth and Nature Magic skills.
Clay – when any troop on the battlefield uses the command Defend, a shield of clay will rise around them. Shield has its own HP. Mitigates both melee and ranged attacks. Does not block attacks from flying units, area attacks or targeted spell casting. When tagging a melee troop, has a chance to inflict stun, push back or break enemy’s shielding equipment. When tagging a ranged troop, the projectile will form clay on the ground and glue the target on place, decreasing greatly its movement and speed.

An alvadrak seems quite harmless and beautiful, a small faerie-looking dragonling. Yollab is probably the most powerful of the alvadrak and the only one who knows the common tongue. That skill helped it to understand other people and races on the neighboring lands, sensing their magic as it went. It was the first fae creature to have witnessed the appearance of a gate, and to understand the dangers that it imposed. But nothing came out of that gate. Yollab only spotted a flying figure retreating through it seconds before it closed again. Sensing the magic spread by the intruder, Yollab understood. The magic came from the desert djinns, beings with great magical prowess the alvadraks waged war in the ages before migrating to Llapiculae. Their rivalry was timeless, though, because their magical powers were linked. Both strengthen the other, and weaken the other. The explanation for this lashed existence is still unknown to Yollab, but noticing its powers increasing day by day, he concluded his rivals were also gaining power. Still, this alvadrak will use that as an advantage and protect the woodlands from the immediate threat felt by many of the fae folk. And maybe someday, alvadraks might settle an end to their story with the djinns.
Race: Alvadrak (alvadraks under command have greater spell points and spell power values)
Role: Commander
Class: Spelltrapper – Adds Sideline Command. Sets a taboo on the battlefield forbidding the use of selected spells by all casters. Yollab must know the spell to be tabooed. Tabooed spells don’t work. Enemy can try casting them, but they can fail and still spend spell points. If it fails, spellcaster is Silenced for the next round. Enemy heroes don’t know the detail of a taboo.
Specialty: Magical Sensitiveness – identifies the spell the enemy hero is charging and has a chance to identify the targeted troop or area. On the adventure map, collects mana suspended in the air to restore his spell points. Also identifies active spells on nearby areas of the map.
Perks
Small, Flyer, No Mount, Diurnal
Magic Scales
– powerful magic is embedded in its skin. When tagging troops, makes weaker enemy spells bounce away. But if they are friendly spells, they’ll imbue the effect for the duration of the battle upon the hero, which will grant the same benefit to any tagged unit henceforth. Effects don’t stack, but the stronger instance overrides all others.
Multicast –spell can proc multiple times on the battlefield, up to 4 times. Second time has a 33% proc chance. Third, 22%. Fourth, 11%. Multicasting doesn’t spend additional spell points. It procs either on enemies or allies. Buffs and Debuffs target random targets who are not yet under those effects. Grants innate spell: Echoes.
Counter Spell – Adds Sideline Command. If learned, he will cast a counter spell against an identified spell cast by enemy units. He will be idle, waiting to counter, until the last enemy unit acts. If no spells are cast by the enemy, he’ll be able to take any other action before the round ends.
Binding Rivalry – when facing an enemy djinn hero, spell power of both heroes level out (the sum of both heroes is divided evenly). Tagged troops inflict and take greater damage vs djinn enemies.



UNITS





Tier 1 Spritethese small colorful beetles are often referred as Sprites. Just like many small creatures of the woodlands, they’re dangerous in great numbers.
Perks
Living, Flyer, Small, Diurnal and Nocturnal
Insectoid
– immunity to mind-affecting abilities and Communication skills. Heroes don’t tag along insectoid troops.
Special
Cloud Formation – increases evasion values against single targeting abilities. Takes bonus damage from area abilities. It’s nullified if enemy troop outnumbers greatly sprites. If this unit has similar or outnumbers enemy, it overlays the target, merging their troops. Reaction against the sprites loses 2/3 of its power. Other enemy troops can attack sprites while clouding their allies, but their damage is also reduced. Spells, friendly or not, affect both merged troops. High vulnerability to Fire, Air, Water Spells and Weather Effects.
Larva Sting – while clouding an enemy target, its attack has a chance to place larvae upon them, one larva per enemy unit. A larva hatches after three rounds and adds to the number of sprites in the cloud, then another group of larvae can be hatched again. They are instantly destroyed if affected by Fire before hatching. Does not affect ethereal, summoned, automaton, fire-made or mechanical units.

Tier 2 Adletthe adlets of woodlands grow similar to other fae species, such as the dendroids. They’re extremely offensive and fast units.
Perks
Living, Melee, Mount For Small, Diurnal and Nocturnal
Nature Bound
– resistance to Water, Earth, Nature, Body and Mind. But also vulnerability to Fire, Air, Spirit, Animating. Immunity to Necromancy. Share some perks among other Nature-Bound units, like healing, damage, etc.
Special
Lunge – after attacking a foe, it jumps to an adjacent hex around the target, then it triggers reaction.
Preservation – immunity to any sort of multiple-hit attack.
Phantom Image – only when under Nourishment buff, after attacking a foe, it generates a phantom image on any available hex around the target. As long as there is room, attacks will generate phantoms. They’ll attack whenever the original attacks, but only the latter gets retaliated. Phantom inflicts 10% of the damage of the original, does not proc critical, inflicts energy-based damage and vanishes if damaged, dispelled, if target moves away or any other unit moves through it.

Tier 2 Gnomethe gnome fae folk lives underground, between roots and guards forests at night. They familiarity with the element of earth makes them sturdy fighters, as they also throw heavy boulders on their foes.
Perks
Living, Small, Ranged, Nature Bound, Nocturnal
Rider
– this unit can ride mounts.
Special
Unlimited Ammo
Stoneskin
– improves defense against physical attacks. Immunity to Earth and Lightning-based abilities.
Boulder at Reach – gnome will grab boulders with perks of the terrain it is standing on, slightly changing the effectiveness of its attacks.
OBS.: hiring this unit disables Martlet, Faun (and heroes), Kumiho, Druid and Cerastes (and Hero). Also disables sobre buildings and technologies related to Fae Gardens and Guild of Nature.

Tier 2 Martletlittle magical birds often used as messengers between pockets of forests all over the world. It’s a symbol of good omen.
Perks
Living, Flyer, Small, Diurnal
Special
Messenger – on the adventure map, it can be sent away from town to find other forests, areas with native terrain, dwellings or creatures. It is considered a scouting unit when doing that. When sent in groups, increases chances of success. Whatever this unit scouts will only be visible upon its return.
Magic Sprinkle – Added Command, flutter its wings toward an adjacent ally to increase magical capacities, increasing both magic resistance and magic power.
OBS.: hiring this unit disables Gnome (and heroes), Dryad (and hero), Rafflesia and Nefertem. Also disables evolving some of the technologies of the nature-bound creatures.

Tier 3 Faunalso called satyrs, they are versatile fighters, very skilled with spears and lances. Some choose the path of magic and can be upgraded to Tier 3 Faun Paragon, growing more supportive still.
Perks
Living, Melee, Diurnal, Equip (light, medium and plate armor, horseshoes, lances, spears, halberds, naginatas; Paragon: masks, staves and battle-canes)
Long-range Weapon
– performs hand-to-hand attacks one-hex distant.
Special
Preemptive Strike – reaction triggered by any enemy that gets into its weapon’s range and immediately performs an attack, spending retaliation. It will trigger even if the enemy is just moving to target another troop, in which case, it has a chance to stop enemies on their tracks. This ability does not trigger if enemies are already within range.
Windmill – reaction triggered when attacked by projectiles, decreasing ranged effectiveness from 20 to 50%, regardless enemy’s accuracy. It does not trigger vs incoming projectiles coming from behind.
Special Faun Paragon
Feedback – chance to recover part of spells points spent after casting.
Spells
Quicksand – creates a quicksand on a selected area that can slow down, trap or kill enemies who crosses it. Effect stacks the longer a unit remains within quicksand area. This spell drains mana to remain active.
Faerie Escort – summons a group of faeries which follows an ally around, casting small protective spells lasting the next turn. They cast these spells rather randomly (8 different buffs). When the allied troop is attacked, there’s a chance the escorts will be killed instead (soaks one damage instance completely). Escorts consumes Paragon’s mana to cast spells.

Tier 3 Dryadnature spirits bound to plants and trees, with similarities with the elves. Older dryads can grow even more and be upgraded to Tier 4 Dryad Ivy, which attacks enemies through underground surprising moves.
Perks
Living, Ranged, Nature Bound, Rider, Equip (light armor, bows, long-bows, arrows; Ivy: does not use bows or long-bows)
Special
Awareness
Step Aside
– if there’s an enemy behind her back, any incoming ranged attack has a chance to be evaded and pass through, hitting that enemy instead. It can be total or partial evasion. For partial evasion, part of the damage is still inflicted upon Dryads.
Garland Arrow – attacks wreath target in a lasso, restricting speed, movement and damage. When under Nourishment buff, the lasso will bound another adjacent unit together with the main target. Both units cannot move away from each other until the lasso breaks.
Special Dryad Ivy
No Melee Penalty, loses Rider Perk
Subterranean Attack
– surprising attack that cannot be evaded and reaches anywhere on the battlefield. Inflicts decreased damage on flying units. When under Nourishment buff, it inflicts normal damage vs flyers and slows down others.

Tier 4 Kumihoresilient beings, etched from stone, when dendroids were shaping the woodlands. An intense magic core magnetizes its body pulling whatever it wants to pull next to it.
Perks
Living, Melee, Small, Nature Bound, Diurnal and Nocturnal
Special
Magnetism – draws in enemy units to its position, penalizing their speed and movement. Effects increase the closer the enemy is. Multiple enemies divide the magnetic effect between themselves. Greater effects on small and/or outnumbered units. When magnetism overcomes a unit, it’ll push them closer. If hit by lightning abilities, doubles effectiveness of Magnetism in the next round. It does not stack instances of lightning
Rocky – immune to earth and body abilities. Resistant to fire, air, lightning, water and to physical attacks. Chance to break attacker’s melee equipment.
Burrow – burrows itself in native terrain and disjoints any ability marked on it. It can resurface anywhere within a 2-hex radius.

Tier 4 Rafflesia living in shallow waters of lakes and rivers, or even seas, it’s often migrating back and forth, carrying the magic of the woodlands to the courses of rivers and lake berths. It entangles invaders, sap their magic, and force them to retreat.
Perks
Living, Melee, Nature Bound, Diurnal and Nocturnal
Over and Under
– fights normally both on firm ground and underwater.
Special
Entangling Vines – entangles itself to a target after attack, forcing the entangled unit to only be able to attack it, and cannot move past rafflesia, only retreat to the sides or backwards away from the vines. If an enemy hero is tagging an entangled unit, there’s a chance for that hero not to be able to retreat back to the sidelines.
Mana Absorption – entangled units with Spell Power or being tagged by a hero, will have their magic slowly dampened. After release, effect lingers for 2 turns.

Tier 4 Pegasusthese exuberant equines can be abroad many lands, but they gather more around magical places, especially forests. Their wings allow them to maneuver very fast, but they can also use them as weapons when trained to Tier 5 Pegasus Egi, much stronger and able to fight as a war mount.
Perks
Living, Flyer, Equip (Pegasus: horseshoes; Pegasus Egi: battle saddling sets)
Special
Fast Wings – proc a reaction to evade incoming attacks by flying backwards to an available adjacent position. Does not proc on back attacks: works similarly to Evasion. ***Obs.: this ability is deactivated when Pegasus Egi is equipped with battle sets.***
Horse Kicks – attacks with a double strike, with the first dealing larger damage than the second. If the first strike procs a critical, the second stuns the target.
Pegasus Egi Special
Mount
Sickle Wings
– after kicking a target, it’ll twist on the spot, damaging all surrounding enemy forces as well with a weaker damage instance, but won’t trigger reactions. ***Obs.: this ability is activated when Pegasus Egi is equipped with battle sets.***
Battle Mount – if it’s being used as a mount, it’ll also react upon being attacked, in addition to the rider’s reaction. If attacked from behind, it’ll perform Horse Kicks against the attacker before the rider’s reaction. From any other side, and if the rider has no reaction, it’ll perform Sickle Wings (if activated) or Horse Kicks.

Tier 5 Nefertemthese large creatures are extremely effective to control hosts of invaders, for its pollen permeates the air with many magical properties.
Perks
Living, Melee, Nature Bound, Diurnal
Special
Ether Pollen – whenever an enemy moves around adjacent positions or attacks it, reacts by releasing pollen on a large area around it. It remains active for five rounds and can be strengthened by further activations. Causes many debuffs on enemies each round: Confusion, Blindness, Forgetfulness, Silence, Poison, Diseases, Weakness, Hallucination, Mana Burn, Scatter. Max cap is 50% chance to cause any combination of those debuffs. When under Nourishment buff, area of effect is larger. It does not trigger if this unit moves in range of enemy units. Improves hero’s Vivify skill effects.
Parasitic Spores – upon attacking, it releases spores that will cause damage over time. After three rounds, spores become small vines that’ll latch upon any foe who stands on them. Three vines on the same position roots a target for one turn. Vines can only be destroyed by fire and linger for ten rounds. On the adventure map, once per turn, this unit releases spores on a large area and they’ll linger in the air for another two turns. Enemy armies passing through it get slowed.

Tier 5 Cerastesnocturnal creatures looking as if the starry landscape came alive. Highly magical beings, which can easily carry incantations on their body, spreading around in its wake.
Perks
Living, Floater, Nocturnal
Special
Nimbleness – unimpeded passage through any troop, friends or foes alike, only blocked by units with Nimbleness.
Magic Mitigation – working with either benign or malign effects, magical effects over-time cast on this unit are carried over to other units in its wake. Effectiveness of spells remain the same, but their duration depends on number of affected units. Dispels all harmful effects cast on them upon mitigation. It does not mitigate magic when it does not cross paths with other units. Mitigates degrading effects upon enemies, and beneficial effects on friendlies.
Align Element – when affected by an elemental spell, imbues power to its nature, granting unique attack and immunity to harmful abilities from that element. Fire: 100% accurate attack. Earth: defense-ignoring attack. Air: pushing attack. Water: non-reaction attack. Lightning: first strike. Effect dissipates after three rounds.

Tier 5 Druidenigmatic beings with a hazy origin, said to be lost human souls who embraced magic of the woodlands, becoming one with it.
Perks
Living, Ranged, Nature Bound, Equip (bracers, circlets, pendants), Nocturnal
Special
Emerald Prism – offensive single-target spells can be targeted on druids by allies. Absorbed spells are redirected to all directions, affecting any enemy in range. Effects are a third of the normal.
Emerald Pylon – enemy spells cast on adjacent positions are redirected to the druid, which will decreased its effects. It may fail against high level spells and doesn’t work on area spells. When it fails, the Druid will suffer the full effect of that spell. When under Nourishment buff, it will completely null effects.
Spells
Diadora – steals buffs from an enemy and transfers to an adjacent ally. Transfers debuffs from ally to an adjacent foe.
Summon Lotus – summons a Midnight Lotus on the battlefield.

Tier 6 Basiliskone of the most dangerous creatures inhabiting the woodlands. Tales speak of derailed magic, failure to nurture, resulting in some strange, deadly powers. Facing a basilisk is a very bad decision.
Perks
Living, Melee, Mount, Nocturnal
Swimming
– allows moving over shallow water and deep-sea terrains without drowning, but cannot take any other action besides moving. If mounted by a rider, the latter can perform actions and reactions.
Special
Discharging Scales – inflicts Lightning-based damage conducted by wet terrain connecting targets, divided among them. Rainy weather (and variants) makes this ability affect a radius around the basilisk. If hit by natural lightning, a strong discharge will affect all foes within range, with a chance to cause Daze. It also discharges when attacked by melee foes. Provides immunity to harmful Lightning-based abilities.
Foul Bite – inflicts the debuff Pain after three turns from the first bite. Pained enemies cannot execute their actions properly, effectiveness from 70% to 90%, with random chances to fail. Effects remain for two turns for a single bite. Multiple bites only refresh duration. Does not affect non-living units.
Glare Blast – causes energy-based damage with a chance to inflict Paralysis and/or Confusion. When attacked, reacts by facing the attacker and sending that blast. During the night, area is improved to all foes in sight in a conic shape. Enemies behind other units or obstacles are not affected. Blast weakens with distance.

Tier 6 Dendroidthe main guardians of the woodlands, very old beings, rooted to life and balance, extremely perilous to enemies. With enough magic, it can be upgraded to Tier 8 Dendroid Kruna, that works as magical catalyst to nourish allies.
Perks
Living, Melee, Giant, Nature Bound
Special
Greater Root
Forest Guardian
– Added Battle Command. Enter a defensive stance facing a fixed direction. Next turn, hedges start to grow from both flanking sides, one hex per round, up to four hedges on each side. Hedges are considered medium-sized obstacles by enemies (affect abilities based on ‘on-sight’). Enemies are damaged, slowed and poisoned upon crossing hedges, with a chance of being rooted. Blocks enemies with tagged hero. Allies have no penalties, and are bestowed with Poison Strike upon their next attack.
Special Dendroid Kruna
Nourish – Added Battle and Town Command. On battlefield, it’ll take a Defense action and activate Nourishment buff on all applicable allied troops, losing reaction to enemies. One dendroid can support nourishment for 50 small or 25 medium or 1 giant-sized unit. Weakest units are favored, if there are no enough dendroids. In town, they can be ascended to a special altar where they nourish surrounding lands. Radius increases every 15 units, cap of 120 units per Feywoods town. Battles which take place on nourished lands provide allied troops with the buff.

Tier 7 Alvadrakthese dragonlings are extremely doted on magical arts. They were born from the first magical manifestations sparked by the dendroid attendance, but an unknown factor makes them share a strange bond with the djinns.
Perks
Living, Flyer, Small, Diurnal, Equip (charms)
Special
Wood Words
Magic Mirror
– chance to bounce enemy single-targeted spells back to the caster, with added effectiveness based on its spell power. If it’s a hero’s spell, it’ll reflect on the closest enemy troop. If it’s an area spell, it will not reflect it, only bounce away from itself, nullifying any effect.
Fast Words – this unit charges spells thrice faster than normal.
Memory of Magic – learns additional set of spells from guilds.
Starting Spells
Blades – earth-based spell that summons giant blades of rock and metal which rain down upon foes in an area. Blades can destroy targets’ equipment and also cripple targets’ movement for five turns.
Prime Purge – metaspell that nullifies any ailment on a single allied troop.
Bolt of Entropy – creates a concentrated energy orb on the battlefield (must be in line of sight) that strikes the closest target (friend or foe alike) with a powerful lightning bolt, whenever any target acts within a large radius. It triggers simultaneously with the action and considers Moving and Attacking as two actions. Direct contact with the orb causes another instance of lightning on each turn and has a chance to Daze. Only one Bolt can be active per caster. It drains mana each round to keep itself active.
Downpour – weather spell that causes heavy rain on the battlefield. It cripples most of flyers’ movement and speed, increases damage from Lightning-based abilities and their likeliness for chaining around. If overlong, it causes Flood and change the terrain to Shallow Waters. If cast on volcanic or lava terrain, it casts Steam Haze on the area, and provides rough terrain. It inflicts the buff Soak on all units.

Tier Ultimate Agemothese fierce camouflaging beasts can rain down terror upon those who dare invade their space, taking their prey by surprise.
Perks
Living, Melee, Diurnal and Nocturnal
Climber
– unit can move directly from highest to lowest ground and vice-versa. Can climb over small and medium obstacles.
Special
Swiftness – gets no movement points penalty for moving uphill. Bonus movement when moving downhill. Simultaneous reaction and Immunity to Slow.
Camouflage – Added Battlefield Action. Wait till the end of the round and camouflage itself, becoming entirely invisible. Only area attacks and spells affect it. Invisibility is broken if they are damaged or when they attack. Heroes that have invisibility-related abilities remain invisible when carrying only agemos in the army on the adventure map.
Vanish – when attacked, retaliates, camouflages and moves to a random adjacent position.
Climb and Skim – climbs on high obstacles, siege canopies or an allied Dendroid Kruna (each one supports 3 agemos), and skim from there to attack a foe in range. Skims over small and medium obstacles or ground units and inflicts greater damage the farer the target. Deactivated by certain weather effects.



FEATURED SUPPORT, WAR MACHINE AND SIEGE UNITS



Hive Pheromancerdryads which can foster clouds of wasps and unleash them upon invading forces. They can virtually sprout anyplace where terrain is favorable, and up to five of them can exist at the same time on the battlefield.
Perks
Living, Stationary, Nature Bound, Siege Unit
Special
Regrow – if this unit is killed, it’ll return on any vacant position on the battlefield in a random turn in the next round.
Commands
Release Cloud – magical wasps are released around the pheromancer and they attack the nearest enemy target. They damage over time and distract targets. Effects of different wasp clouds stack.

Lyresupport unit which produces soothing songs on the battlefield. Only one lyre can exist on the battlefield.
Perks
Living, Mobile, Support Unit
Commands
Song of Nature – soothes any extreme weather effect on the surroundings.
Song of Peace – units in range affected by this song cannot perform aggressive actions.

Midnight Lotusa large magical lotus that blooms only at night, providing beneficial magic support to allies and forces enemies to inertia. Up to three lotuses can be blooming on the battlefield at the same time.
Perks
Living, Nature Bound, Stationary, War Machine Unit
Special
Mana Bloom – provides increased spell point recovery and magic resistance to nearby allies. Inflicts the debuff Sleep on nearby enemies.

Elven Bolt ThrowerElves never forgot how to forge their war weapons, and so they remade the bolt thrower, a fast-shooting machine that lay waste of foes.
Perks
Mechanical, Stationary, War Machine Unit, No Range Penalty
Stack
– this unit stacks up to 20.
Volley – shoots multiple bolts with chance to inflict powerful critical hits, and can cripple flyers. Bolts can be imbued with spells or potions.



CAMPAIGN OVERVIEW
1. THE UNSEEN DAGGER – vs Necropolis (Jenova and Endrael): Jenova and Endrael must evade Ithalion’s powers and lead their group away from Ellsen’s grasp.
2. LLAPICULA – vs Neutral (Jenova and Gaia): Jenova enters the great forest facing many dangers attending the summons of a powerful unknown entity.
3. DEATH AT THE BORDERS – vs Clans (Jenova, Alkin, Endrael and Gaia): already settled in Llapiculae for centuries, the death of a friend unveils the approaching danger.
4. THE ELF-MAN – vs Fey Woods and Clans (Gelu and Alkin): decades later, the boy Gelu grew into an important asset and helps Alkin to investigate problems brewing deep in the forest. And then, he gets a surprising message from his late mother.
5. THE RED SKY – vs Clans, Dungeon Maze and Gates (All 6 featured heroes): beyond the plateaus of the Deadlands, the heroes anticipate a battle between three great forces.
6. DIFFICULT DECISIONS – vs Clans, Miasma Marshlands, Dungeon Maze and Oasis (All 6 featured heroes): all borders are under threat, and while fending enemies, two groups must head to opposite directions and take down enemy bases.
7. QUEST FOR JUDAN – vs Atlantis and Dungeon Maze, allied Haven Citadel (Gelu and Haven Citadel’s heroes Judan and Tyris): Gelu leaves Llapiculae in search of the man of her mother’s message, going through sea and caverns to reach the lands of men. He gets arrested by Tyris, who takes him to Judan.
8. DEFENDING THE WEST – vs Clans and Dungeon Maze (Gelu, Taki, Alkin, Judan and Tyris, and Clans’ hero Gelare): to aid home, Gelu returns from his quest bringing his new allies to help defending the western borders against scores of enemies, pouring everywhere.
9. DEFENDING THE EAST – vs Clans and Oasis (Gaia, Jenova and Yollab, and Clans’ hero Jabarkas): on the east, Gaia learns of an unexpected ally, the only known Einherjar Centaur. He asks for help, because he suspects his tribe is being controlled by some matter of occult magic from the deserts beyond.
10. UNPENDING MAGICAL DUNES – vs Oasis (Nezbain, Solee and Yollab): learning of the djinns taking hold of clans in the east, Yollab summons two of his kin and sets off to face their destiny against their rivals.
11. DEFENDING THE NORTH – vs Miasma Marshlands, Gates and Necropolis, allied Sanctuary (Gaia, Yollab, Alkin, and Sanctuary’s heroes Solmyr and Yume): their closest allies are under attack in the north by an overwhelming host, and they meet two powerful allies. Yollab joins the djinn Solmyr and the anzu Yume for a time of cooperation between their species.
12. THE FLOOD – vs Miasma Marshlands and Atlantis (Gelu, Jenova, Taki, Endrael, Nezbain, Solee and Judan): While the north is under attack, a strange force flows from the rivers and invade the woodlands, overcoming everything, and the fae folk struggles to fight back. Tyris leaves them to send help and to answer to a summons back with her people.
13. PURIFYING THE FLAMES – vs Atlantis and Gates, allied Sanctuary and Haven Citadel (Jenova, Endrael, Gelu, Alkin, Judan and two other Haven Citadel’s heroes Adelaide and Thomas): as help came, they fend off of Atlantis forces and identifies the source of corruption who led them there. The party heads to destroy the corrupt power affecting the seas nearby.
14. AT FIRE’S REACH – vs Gates and Necropolis (Gaia, Taki, Yollab, Solmyr and Yume): the party is unable to return south when they get involved in the clash of another wave of enemies, in an apparently different business, away from the quagmires. Alone, they must find their way out of that place, not looking back.
15. EOFOL – vs Dungeon, Summit and Fey Woods, allied Summit (All 6 featured heroes, and factionless hero Roland): leaving Endrael watching over their lands, the party crosses mazes of underground passages to reach the summit of frozen mountains, heading beyond frigid lands in search of the estrange land of the giants to understand Gaia’s ominous vision into Gelu’s mind.
BONUS: WORLDS COMING TOGETHER – vs Gates and Dungeon (Haleth and factionless hero Roland): player can play this quest if proper NPC is found in map 13. 'Tis a tale of how Gelu's parents met and how they were attacked. Reward: unlocks Roland's secret abilities on map 15.


Not unlike traditional, but with no elven troops – only heroes. Things to trim, polish, the usual.
*     Added some more observation to restrictions upon hiring Gnomes or Martlets – meaning that not all those units can be hired at the same time (nor their upgrades, for that matter); not to mention heroes of the suppressed species which become unavailable at town (they can still be found elsewhere) and some buildings/technologies.
*     Also, considering the nature of these units, a defensive branch and an offensive one, it's more likely that groups of units work better for exploration and offensive movement, whilst others to defend the base and scout borders, but as they come from grouped pools of population, numbers are rather limited.
*     Fixed some formatting in the proposal.
*     Added some Alon's-like explanation on the general vibe/strategy of the town.
*     Updated song themes (to Child of Light ost).
Anyway, hope you enjoy it! =D Now, moving to design Dungeon Maze.

____________
"Okay. Look. We both said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster."
GlaDOS – Portal 2

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Alon
Alon


Known Hero
posted September 24, 2020 05:06 AM
Edited by Alon at 12:16, 14 Oct 2020.

Preserve

There was a family of unicorns poached because their alicorns were said to cure disease. There are satyrs who bled to death after their hooves and horns were cut. There are elves permanently maimed by hunters cutting their ears. The primordial forest has shrunk into patches separated by long stretches of meadow and farmland, the dryads permanently killed. The only choice is to join forces, learn to trust one another, and fight.

The concept for the preserve is the wilderness as perceived in Western mythologies, with a focus on creatures that are viewed as peripheral or hard to tame but definitely not malevolent, for example the unicorn. Those creatures have had to band together with human expansion and encroachment on forests, like the deforestation of real-world Western and Northern Europe in the High Middle Ages.

Key attributes of the preserve include:

Small numbers: preserve armies consist of small numbers of high-quality units. This forces the mechanics to distinguish 20 weak units from 5 units with exactly 4 times the HP and damage, for example in spellcasting.

Force preservation: when you subsist off of gathering fruits in the forest, you absolutely cannot lose a few hundred fighters. Growth rates are low and you need to win every fight or disappear into the woods.

RPG tactics: the preserve and castle both rely heavily on combined arms, but the castle uses historical army combos whereas the preserve uses RPG combos akin to fighter-wizard-rogue-cleric.

Magic: caster units and heroes are essential; you cannot rely purely on might, and heroes have magic that is a lot more active and delicate than just casting buffs on might troops or healing units.

Micro, not macro: growth rates are so constrained that the main question isn't what army to build, it's how to use the army. The hard part is combining many different units' special abilities well.

Range: the preserve lineup have 4 ranged units, counting offensive casters, the highest in the game (the castle has 3, the academy 3, the inferno 0, the nercopolis 2, the dungeon 1, the stronghold 2, the swamp-fortress 3).

Heroes and skills

The hero and skill system for the preserve is slightly different from that of the other factions. This is for two reasons. First, the preserve relies so heavily on terrain that the most important skill, available as a choice to all heroes at start, is tactics. And second, the preserve is a multiracial army and the heroes come from many races too. There are unicorns, werecats, centaurs, dryads, satyrs, and elves. This can be purely aesthetic, but these heroes could also have bonuses for same-race units and for associated actions (ranged attack for elves, healing for unicorns, etc.).

The tactics skill

The combat map is procedurally generated with terrain that favors the hero with better tactics based on unit comps - for example, in cavalry vs. infantry matches, the infantry wants plenty of obstructions and the cavalry wants open terrain, and the degree of obstruction depends on the two sides' relative tactics skills. It also depends on the overland map tile - a farm tile will have a more open combat map than a hill tile. However, this skill is available to all heroes in all armies. It is not a factional special - preserve heroes can level if up but do not get it automatically.

Special skill: pathfinding

All preserve heroes have the ability to move through difficult terrain with reduced movement penalty. Forests that are impassable to other armies are the preserve's natural habitat, and preserve armies can also move through hills and swamps more easily than other armies can. This skill also affects the foraging radius, so the area control radius for income purposes expands in difficult terrain. Preserve armies with good pathfinding and tactics will smash opposing armies in difficult terrain easily - but then the highest-value resources, including the towns, are in open farmland...

Ranger

The preserve's might hero relies on keen senses to detect enemies and either force fights or disengage. In addition to the pathfinding skill, every ranger also has the scouting ability, which increases the overland sight radius and, in a game where the overland map has simultaneous turns, gain an advantage in either running away from a superior enemy army or chasing an inferior one.

Druid

The preserve's magic hero has an array of spells to cast, supporting the preserve's casters on the field as well as the direct fighters. Or, instead of the usual spells, the druid can use the impede/clear ability once per turn, which either creates a new obstruction on the field or eliminates one, such as a tree tile in th chokepoint.

Special buildings

Seed bank: a building used to, essentially, terraform the terrain, foresting farmland tiles or cutting down forest tiles into farmland, whichever is best for the preserve's economic and military needs.

Purifying pool: a field hospital, essentially. A preserve town equipped with a purifying pool heals units wounded but not killed in combat faster, and resists the disease effect of the necropolis's zombie and venom spawn better. The structure also gives bonuses to all allied heroes for healing spells such as the unicorn's, and bonuses from different towns stack.

Earthshaping: a magical field that can be used defensively when an enemy hero is besieging the town without attacking it. The field can create a temporary opening in the wall allowing the defending army to launch a surprise attack against the enemy army and retreat, the only time such an option is available to a faction other than the stronghold. Earthshaping also grants allied heroes a bonus when using spells to destroy walls in offensive sieges, and bonuses from different towns stack.

Units

Tier 1

Pixie: light flier, possibly debuffs the target and maybe with an upgrade has the strike-and-return ability of the H3 harpy.

Elven archer: the most powerful low-tier archer in the game, outranging even the castle's archer, but weak against armor and so fragile.

Satyr: frontal assault fighter with no movement penalty in rough terrain (these hooves can take a beating).

The main preserve hero should probably use all three tier-1 units. But for other uses, army comps should vary. The elf is a really powerful siege defense unit because of range and because at low tier none of the good siege units has heavy armor. Pixies are also good for a scouting hero.

Tier 2

Werecat: the trickster from the Puss in Boots story, or perhaps the Quest for Glory katta, or the D&D tabaxi. This unit is fast and sneaky and can climb cliffs and city walls and causes massive single-target damage, but is fragile.

Centaur: a fast-moving archer that can kite enemy melee units and has a powerful anti-armor melee attack too.

Dryad: caster unit with heavy AOE debuffs, impeding the movement of enemy units and making them easier to dispatch with minimal losses.

Good army comps depend on terrain more than anything. All preserve units are good in rough terrain - elf-centaur-dryad is ranged and so strong against enemies that are slowed down by terrain, and can still hold up in open terrain against unarmored units. Werecats' single-target damage makes them excellent giantslayers, and they are especially good in sieges as well, and werecat-satyr is a good combination of backstab and frontal assault. Pixies do okay in air superiority battles.

Tier 3

Weretree: an ent, or treant, or dendroid - slow, tanky, armored (thus, arrow-resistant), and vulnerable to fire. The weretree's attack is short-range AOE, with the ability to bash in fortifications much like the ents in LOTR; at melee range, the weretree also casts paralysis.

Unicorn: magical heavy cavalry, with a powerful melee attack as well as an assortment of spells and magical bonuses, including healing as a reaction to an enemy attack on an ally, conferring passive resistance to poison and magic on nearby allies, and telepathy aiding in detecting enemy morale and weaknesses.

Phoenix: a fast flying caster with a fire attack and a fire aura causing nearby enemy units to take damage. Instead of a physical attack, it can cast protection spells on allies.

Many comps are viable at this tier. The all-ranged combo of weretree-dryad-centaur-elf devastates slow units, weretree-werecat-satyr-elf-pixie is good in sieges, phoenixes beat the sort of heavy tier-2 fliers like griffins and gargoyles that vex ranged armies, unicorns prolong the life of fragile units, phoenix-unicorn-centaur-werecat-pixie is fast and with the right use of spells and unit specials does not die.

Final notes

If there are 10 units per faction and not 9 then the 10th unit is the pegasus. If there are 8, then the weretree should be merged into the dryad as one fighter-cum-caster.

(Likewise, at 10 units the castle gains a tier-1 swordsman whereas at 8 it loses the court wizard, which everyone complained about; at 10 units the inferno probably gains the cerberus, and at 8 it loses the slaver and splits its dismissal powers between the gog and geryon.)

The campaign should focus on a hero who lost family to poachers, like a unicorn or maybe a werecat, and then has to assemble a multiracial coalition to fight back in multiple directions, against the humans, the devil, the dragons, etc. If the main hero of the story is a unicorn then possibly the briefings should not use ordinary language - unicorns do not speak but rather emote telepathically, so the briefings should be flashbacks of images.

H3 lore has the three good-aligned towns in alliance, whereas this system is supposed to differentiate them more. All three rely on specialization, but the castle is more martial and straightforward, the preserve relies more on stealth and magic, and the academy has an army of disposable constructs and summons. Nor are they natural allies - the humans really are destroying the forest, the creatures of the forest really do reject human civilization, the academy really does reject the castle's values and vice versa.
____________

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Rimgrabber
Rimgrabber


Promising
Famous Hero
Voice in Gelu's Head
posted September 24, 2020 05:32 AM
Edited by Rimgrabber at 05:12, 14 Oct 2020.


Sylvan: (Chaotic) Good, Mixed

Lore: Keeping with the cosmic-horror theme that has unintentionally been the trend with my last 3 entries, I've decided to just roll with it.

There are countless stories of travelers young and old being lost in the depths of the forest and encountering fantastical creatures both good and evil. However, until this past century, most of these creatures were considered to be purely fictional. A hallucination from someone who had too much to drink, and embellished tall-tale invented by an overactive imagination. That was, until around 100 years ago when sightings of the first Sylvan cities were reported deep in the nearly impenetrable depths of the woods. Due to the difficulty of accessing these cities, communication with them is rare and their language has yet to be fully translated. A few individuals seem to believe that they are able to communicate with the denizens of these cities telepathically. According to them, Sylvan creatures are not of this world, and until recently have been unable to stay in our plane of existence for extended periods of time, which would explain the fleeting nature of their appearances throughout most of history. These entities seem to be relatively peaceful and mostly just curious about our world, but as they are unfamiliar with it, their thought processes and behaviors are in many ways beyond our comprehension and appear wildly unpredictable. This can make the Sylvans quite dangerous and any encounters with them should be met with extreme caution.

As previously mentioned, a line of communication has yet to be fully established with this faction, and so most of what we know is mired in speculation and perverted by our ignorant perspective.

Classes:

Ranger(Might)

What we call Rangers are the apparent leaders of Sylvan's military. They strike first and fast, often using a barrage of ranged attacks to wipe out the enemy before the battle really even starts.

Likely Skills: Offense, Luck, Logistics

Unlikely Skills: Destruction Magic, Occultism, Sorcery


Druid(Magic)

Druids seem to be the religious leaders of the Sylvan faction, although whether its a religion in the sense that we understand it has yet to be determined. They specialize in summoning a variety of creatures from what is presumed to be their homeworld, as well as more familiar extra-dimensional beings like elementals.

Likely Skills: Summoning Magic, Enlightenment, Luck

Unlikely Skills: War Machines, Offense, Tactics


Explorer(Mixed)

Explorers are, as one might assume, the Sylvan hero that most often comes into contact with the other races of the world. While their language is not understood, some level of communication has been achieved through moderate success in the development of an intermediary language. For the most part, these Sylvans seem to be friendly, outgoing, and curious about the world, if also a bit quick to be offended.

Likely Skills: Logistics, Leadership, War Machines

Unlikely Skills: Dark Magic, Defense, Occultism

Faction Skill: Symbiosis

Sylvan heroes grant a bonus to their troops depending on the type of terrain a battle is taking place on. For example, increased HP on grass or increased defense on sand.

Heroes:

Orrin(Ranger)


Orrin is the only known human to have fully integrated into Sylvan society. His talent in ranged combat and associated tactics are unmatched, and it is believed that his value as a commander is what drew the Sylvans' interest. He has not been cooperative in discussing the inner workings of Sylvan society with outsiders and says that we must earn their trust as he has.

Starting Skills: Offense, Tactics

Specialization: All ranged creatures have unlimited ammo, and receive +1 attack for every other level of the hero, starting at level 1.


Garland(Ranger)

Garland has only been encountered by the outside world a few times, and it is unknown what his true name is. Many have taken to calling him "Garland" because he seems to disappear into thin air, leaving behind a ring of flowers in the ground. Whenever he is seen, he is sure to be accompanied by stranged winged serpents.

Starting Skills: Offense, Luck

Specialization: Coatl, Quetzacoatl, and Rainbow Coatl in hero's army gain +1 attack and defense for every other level of the hero, starting at level 1. Additionally, the chance of their Magic Mirror effect triggering is doubled.


Tieru(Druid)


Tieru appears to be a leader of sorts to the Sylvan, although, like anything else, this may only be our distorted perception. He has demonstrated incredible skill in summoning magic, and its speculated that he may have been the one responsible for bringing the Sylvan to this world in the first place.

Starting Skills: Summoning Magic, Sorcery

Specialization: Tieru's summon elementals spell summons an additional elemental for every 3 levels of the hero. This bonus is doubled at level 20, and tripled if he makes it to level 40.


May(Druid)

May has not only been one of the most commonly sighted individuals of the Sylvan, she also seems to be the most compassionate. She tends to appear when people are injured alone in the forest, healing them. Those that see her report a feeling of peace and serenity, and if they encountered her while they were lost, they suddenly know how to return home.

Starting Skills: Light Magic, Enlightenment

Specialization: All Sylvan creatures in May's army restore 50 points of health at the start of their turn, sometimes resurrecting them.


Erin(Explorer)

A strange individual from a strange race, Erin's eccentrics have been known to unnerve even her own troops. Despite this, she can inspire loyalty in her kinsmen in a way that no other hero has yet been able to do.

Starting Skills: Logistics, Defense

Specialization: Centaurs receive +1 attack and defense for every other level of the hero starting at level 1, and gain a +1% bonus to initiative every level, starting at level 1.


Kyrre(Explorer)

Kyrre's love for adventure has led him to spend more time in foreign lands than any other Sylvan, exploring and mapping out everything he comes across.

Starting Skills: Logistics, Leadership

Specialization: Kyrre ignores 50% of the movement penalty on rough terrain. This stacks with the Pathfinding perk, eliminating the penalty entirely.


Troops:

1: Dryad (Hamadryad/Naiad)



Dryads are small, mischievous spirits affiliated with nature. They are a nuisance on the battlefield, as they can teleport behind enemy lines and attack multiple enemies at once. Hamadryads are affiliated with plants, and as such are immune to poison and earth damage. They form a symbiotic relationship with dendroids, and they will heal over time assuming dendroids are present. Naiads, being affiliated with lakes, ponds, and other freshwater bodies, are immune to water or ice damage. Their chilling attacks will temporarily slow down their target.

2: Centaur (Centaur Captain/Centaur Archer)



Wild and free, centaurs make up the calvary of the Sylvan army. Their skill with the spear is greater than that of most humans and ignores 15% of their target's defense. Centaur Captains increase the morale of adjacent allies, and their own morale is never negative. Centaur Archers exchange their spear for a bow, and they wield it with equal skill.

3: Scarab (Bomber Scarab/Rhino Scarab)



Resembling beetles the size of cattle, scarabs can be quite unnerving to encounter on the battlefield. While docile in nature, the Sylvans are able to tame them for war using poorly understood methods. They can shake off most attacks with ease, and their defense can never be lowered. Bomber scarabs are able to lay explosive eggs once per battle, which detonates when attacked, or on their own after 3 turns. This destroys surrounding obstacles and deals damage to nearby troops. Rhino Scarab's sheer brute force and determination prevent their speed from ever being lowered, and their massive rhino-like horn allows them to attack 2 tiles in front of them.

4: Dendroid (Spriggan/Ent)



Dendroids are spirits similar to dryads, although much larger and more plantlike. Their attack can tie down an enemy where they stand. Spriggans further develop this ability, causing them to continually leech life from their victims. Ents have unlimited retaliations.

5: Rakshasa (Moon Rakshasa/Sun Rakshasa)



Mysterious feline humanoids, rakshasa possess unrivaled stealth. In addition to their skill with a bow and arrow, they have the ability to turn invisible once per combat for 3 turns. Moon rakshasa always roll good luck hit when invisible, and they can return to invisibility if they don't attack or get damaged for 2 turns. Sun rakshasa forgo stealth altogether in favor of additional melee prowess, and the ability to increase their initiative for 2 turns.

6: Coatl (Quetzalcoatl/Rainbow Coatl)



Fantastically colored winged serpents, coatls are stunning to behold. Their colors are distracting enough that they ignore 50% of all ranged damage, and their natural affinity for the arcane gives them a permanent magic mirror effect. Quetzalcoatls increase enemy vulnerability to elemental spells, whereas rainbow coatls do the opposite, protecting their allies from magic.

7: Manticore (Scorpicore/Dracicore)



Beings of pure hatred such as the manticore seem out of place with the rest of Sylvan, and some speculate they are not native to the same plane of existence. Nevertheless, they are the most powerful creatures at the Sylvans' disposal. Their wicked barbed tail poisons its victim, lowering its max HP. Scorpicores' venom is even more dangerous, as it can potentially paralyze after enough time. Dracicore have a much more draconic appearance, which is terrifying enough to lower the morale of all enemy creatures present.

Unique Buildings:

Tree of Knowledge - A visiting hero can level up here once for a fee of 200 gold. This can be repeated at multiple towns, however, the price doubles with every tree visited by the same hero.

Collector's Guild - Artifacts can be donated here, and in exchange you will receive a new artifact of roughly equal power. This can only be done once per week.

Dimensional Rift - This massive rift in spacetime enables the Sylvan to harness the power of their homeworld. Increases income by 5000, troop growth by 50%, and gives defending heroes +5 to all stats. It also gives good luck roles 2 chances to trigger for all Sylvan heroes.

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Jiriki9
Jiriki9


Honorable
Undefeatable Hero
Altar Dweller
posted September 27, 2020 09:03 PM
Edited by Jiriki9 at 22:51, 09 Oct 2020.

So, on to Rampart.

General infos
-this proposal is meant to be in the same setting and game as the factions from the former rounds.
-the setting is an entirely new one, neither the "old" setting up to H4, nor Ashan.
-there are several gameplay aspects that I have decided for myself, but will not detail here, unless someone asks me to. After all, this is about the faction, not a game proposal. Examples are: Battlefields, Diverse Terrain Features (Forests, High Grass, Shallow Water, Small Ceiling in Underground, deep Sand, slippery Ice etc.), Weather, Ambushes, Advanced Diplomacy, Governors, Quests.
-both world and gameplay I'll develop during the rounds (Which is the reason why I won't give relations for the yet unknown new factions)
-I follow a classic, choiceless 7-tier lineup with alternate upgrades for the units
-there is a "Tech Tree" for every faction (saw the idea here and found it awesome so it's in my proposal)
-this, as my other proposals in the contest, draws inspiration from various other fictions. This is intentional and often meant to be a hommage, or a parody.


Preserve

Music
Battle Music: Heilung - Alfadhirhaiti
AM Music: Heilung ~ In Maidjan
Town Screen Music: Heilung ~ Traust

In a nutshell:
Preserve is the faction of nature, and features nature-loving humanoids, plant-based beings and beasts. It is rather defensive, and favors long-term and defensive plans and strategies, both in battle and out of it. It also tends to have few strong units rather than hordes of weak ones.
Strengths:
-hindering enemies
-hiding
-restistant to earth damage
Weaknesses:
-weak against fire and ice damage
-low growth


Big changes to older Rampart/Sylvan/Preserve:
Change to H3: gameplay focus on Guerilla, more diverse gameplay;
Change to H4: not so focused on beasts, but more plants.
Change to H5: Not Elves-only Sylvan, no Warhammer Style

Backstory:
The forests are older than any civilization. And some trees are, as well. In these mysterious places dwell strange beings. But above all, these beings value and worship life. And thus they are not ignorant to what happens in the world, always stirring, when something threatens so many lives that they cannot just stand by and watch.

Faction Relations
-Castle/Haven: Light and Life often share goals. But human and tree often are at conflict. Neutral.
-Conflux: The elemental forces are forces of balance. They want to preserve the structure of the world as it is. Though their goals are not exactly the same, the 2 factions often work together. Allied.
-Cove: THe forests and the pirates - simply have nothing to do with one another. Neutral
-Dungeon: The dungeons are too offensive, too destructive to be the Forests' friends. But there rarely is open war between the two factions, as they do not really hate each other. Truce
-Dwarf Fortress: The dwarves and the treefolk traditionally mistrust each other. Axe and Branch are not natural allies after all. Truce
-Forge/Factory: The Forge with their fires, their trechnology has no respect for nature or life. They must be stopped before they cannot be stopped anymoe! War
-Inferno: These are the sworn enemies of life who must be wiped off the world! War
-Necropolis: Life and death are a cycle that is necessary. It must not be disrupted! War
-Sanctuary: As the Preserve, the Sanctuary are protectors. Their methods are different and they are aloof, but they are respectable and honorable. Allied
-Stronghold: It might come to a surprise for some, but the Barbarians and the Forestfolk have no quarrel. Both respect the wildness of the other. Peace
-Swamp Fortress: Though some more "civilized" folk despise them, the Swampfolk is actually only following their nature. And like the Preserve, they are mainly protectors of their lands. The factions actually often help each other. Allied
-Tower/Academy: Too often, the meddling and curiosity of the Wizards have brought disaster over the world. We are not seeking to wipe them out, but we will neither tolerate them in our forest. War



Hero Classes

Druids:
Druids are the Wise Ones of the Forest. Spiritual Leaders, strong spellcasters and councellors, they are also seclusive and secretive. They tend to the Trees with spells and care, and to the beasts with heart and mind. In times of war, they defend their forests as good as they can.

Starts with 0 Attack, 0 Defense, 3 Spellpower, 3 Knowledge, as well as the tba Sub-Skill.

Chances for Skill choices at level up (all non-mentioned: about standard chance)
-High Chances for Earth Magic, Mysticism, Enlightenment and Stewarding
-Low Chances for Fire Magic, Siege Warfare, Offense and Fighting

Druids:
-Grubblywood (Female Podling)

Rangers:
Rangers protect the borders of the great forests, with bow and dagger and traps, and the help of their troops. Fighting most of their lives, they expect a fight anywhere and they have no patience for the finer nuances of ruling or diplomacy, and no time for long magical studies.

Starts with 3 Attack, 2 Defense, 1 Spellpower, 0 Knowledge, as well as the tba Sub-Skill.

Chances for Skill choices at level up (all non-mentioned: about standard chance)
-High Chances for Archery, Pathfinding, Scouting, Stealth
-Low Chances for Sorcery, Mysticism, Stewarding, Diplomacy

Rangers:
-Aragorg (Male Spiderling; Starts with Pathfinding; Specialty: Spider Traps - sets traps in Forest, Thick Forest and Magic Forest Terrains, which can immobilize enemy units for some turn. They work best on Flyers who enter the forest (f.e. for an attack))
-Gelu (Male Elf)
-Dirgah (Male Half-Giant; Starts with Fighting; Specialty: Beast Care - all beast and monster creatures under Dirgahs Lead gain a percentual bonus on their hitpoints)

Woodland Prince/ss:
Even amongst the Forestfolk, there are rulers and leaders. Often, these are incredibly old, and supposedly wise. Surprisingly often, they are also fierce and vengeful. Yet they are also true and loyal protectors oft Their realm and people.

Starts with 1 Attack, 2 Defense, 1 Spellpower, 2 Knowledge, as well as the Tree-Herder Sub-Skill.

Chances for Skill choices at level up (all non-mentioned: about standard chance)
-High Chances for Nobility, Diplomacy, Fortune and Defense
-Low Chances for Offense, Siege Warfare, Fire Magic, Sorcery

Woodland Princes/ses:
-Forgann (Male Dendroid)
-Ranon (Male Cernaur)


Faction Skill: Wandering Forests
Wherever Preserve heroes go, the Forest Follows them. Tree-People and Spirit Trees form a walking forest that offers Forest Terrain features in any battlefield. The skill gives Bushes/Wood/Forest/Thick Forest/Magic (on Basic/Advanced/Expert/Master/Legend Skill Level) Forest Terrain features to any battlefield the hero fights on. The hero Level determines how many tiles are covered in it. Magic Forest has a chance for enemy units to take damage or get lost in it.

Subskills
-Tree-Herder (On  the AM, the Hero creates passable Forrest Terrain on the spot where they end their turn, and on 1/2/3/5/7 (Basic/Advanced/Expert/Master/Legend) squares around it.)
-Call of the Wild (Once  per week/Twice per week/Once a day/Twice a day/each battle (On basic/Advanced/Expert/Master/Legend Skill Level), the hero can call one stack of wild beasts to battle. Which beasts may come depends on the Terrain.)
-Green Dream (The hero gets random visions now and then. The visions can either show a small part of the Adventure Map, or Information about a specific hero or Town without revealing their location.)
-Woodwalking [Tree-Herder] (Units under the heroes command can walk through any forest terrain feature without penalty.)


Units
Note: Might change Podling and Feyr Tier.


Tier 1: Feyr
Feyr are the lowliest of the Fairy folk. They are only half-intelligent and far more resembling animals than a sentient species. It is easy to get them into battle, though, mischievous as they are. What's harder is keeping them alive.

Strong Stats: Speed, Initiative, Attack, Resistance (Air -50%, Light&Dark -10%)
Weak Stats: Defense, Hitpoints, Weakness (Fire&Ice +50%)

Abilities:
-Flyer
-In the Thicket (This unit is hidden while in Undergrowth, Bushes, High Grass, Wood or Forest terrains. It suffers no movement penalty while moving through them.)
-Surprise Attack (When this unit attacks from hiding, enemy units cannot retaliate against the attack.)
-Tiny (This unit is really small, thus gaining a defense bonus against normal-sized and large units.)

Upgrades:
-Pixy (Pixys are Feyr of the air, swift and nasty.)
-Doxy (Doxys are a special kind of Feyr, whose bites are venemous.)


Tier 2: Podling
In holes in the ground live the podlings. These are not any holes, mind you, but Podling holes: Favoring to dig underneath and between the Giant Roots of the Oldtrees, they make their homes comfortable and nice, albeit quite...messy. Podlings are small and knobby and humanoid, but as long as they are known to the world, they thrive close to Plants. Podlings speak their own language. Although they are no true fighters, they gather to defend their forests, if they are called.

Strong Stats: Hitpoints, Initiative, Resistance (Earth&Lightning -50%)
Weak Stats: Defense, Damage, Weakness (Fire&Ice +50%, Water +25%)

Abilities:
-Hole-Dwellers (This unit can move through small holes and underneath low ceilings on battefields.)
-In the Thicket (This unit is hidden while in Undergrowth, Bushes, High Grass, Wood or Forest terrains. It suffers no movement penalty while moving through them.)
-Stubborn (This unit has a resistance against mind control effects)
-Tiny (This unit is really small, thus gaining a defense bonus against normal-sized and large units.)

Upgrades:
-Mudling (Podlings love dirt and hate water. No wonder some of them remain dirty so long that the dirt seems to be their skin. It is really hard to detect these mudlings, even when standing directly next to them. In battle, they can even use this to set traps, slowing down and damaging enemies. They also have better hitpoints and defense.)
-Rootling (Rootlings are older Podlings with keen minds and big hearts. Outside battles, they are often envoys and leaders of their people. They have better initiative and hitpoints. As tenders of plants, they can heal lant-based friendly units and give adjacent ones a little buff on max hitpoints.)


Tier 3: Cernaur
Similar to a centaur, this strange forestfolk has the upper body of a human, but the torso, legs and tail of a stag. The males have antlers on their heads and tend to grow thick beards. The Cernauri are seclusive, mysterious and suspective towards strangers. For those they know, though, they can be great friends. And rumours say they are also quite formidable lovers...

Strong Stats: Speed, Hitpoints
Weak Stats: Damage, Growth

Abilities:
-Forest Creature (This unit is hidden while in Wood or Forest terrains. It suffers no movement penalty while moving through them.)
-Strike and Return

Upgrades:
-Saggitarius (Cernauri are capable in throwing spears, especially so their hunters, the Sagittarii. They gain a ranged attack without melee penalty, and a shoot and retreat action. They have better attack and speed.)
-Cernaur Stargazer (The Cernauri are also a deep, mysterious folk. Their stargazers know a lot about the future. They can foresee upcoming "week of"s and are also capable of some special spellcastings. They have more hitpoints and less speed.)

Tier 4: Dryad
Mysterious Spirits of the Trees, Dryads dwell in them and protect them fiercely. But if you are not intent on harming them, they are friendly, even to strangers. VERY friendly, some insist. Quite some swore to never harm any tree again after meeting with a dryad. Others never return...

Strong Stats: Initiative, Mana
Weak Stats: Defense, Attack

Abilities:
-Forest Creature (This unit is hidden while in Wood or Forest terrains. It suffers no movement penalty while moving through them.)
-Spellcaster (Giant Growth (Makes target unit a large creature and doubles their hitpoints and physical damage, but halves their speed and defense), Natures Gift (Heals Living units), Slow, Thorn Wall (Summons a wall of thorns onto the battlefield), Wood Skin (Gives target unit a small extra max hitpoints))
-Tree Spirits (This unit regenerates Mana and hitpoints each turn while on Forest terrain or while adjacent to a Dendroid.)

Upgrades:
-Bowtruckle (Much more aggressive and physical than other Dryads, bowtruckles are formidable fighters. They have much better overall stats, but less mana. Their thorny fingers make bleeding wounds and they can even shoot their thorns off, hitting enemies within a small radius.)
-Orchidryad (Even those not living in the forest cannot deny the mysterious beauty of the Orchidryads. They have even better mana and a more hitpoints as well. Their spells include various debuffs, like Sleep, Poison, and Confuse. They are so beautiful that sentient beings will hesitate striking them in melee, having less attack while doing it and losing initiative afterwards.)

Tier 5: Woodwarden
Elves who are honour-bound to defend the forests, they are masters of Stealth, Bow and Sword.

Strong Stats: Attack, Damage
Weak Stats: Hitpoints, Defense, Weakness (Ice&Fire +25%)

Abilities:
-Eye in the Leaves (This unit can spot hidden enemies easier.)
-From the Shadows (This unit deals +50% damage when attacking out of hiding.)
-Hidden Guardians (This unit begins the battle hidden. When revealed, they can spend a turn to become hidden again.)

Upgrades:
-Forest Guard (THE archers of the world. Seriously. They're just the best. They can switch between shooting faster, or shooting ultra precisely, thus getting more critical hits. They also are hidden in Forest Terrain. They also have better damage and attack.)
-Treewalker (Lightfooted, fast Scouts and excellent Swordfighters. They can spot any hidden enemies, and also spot things on the AM. They also allow no retaliation, if they have not used their own since their last turn. They have more speed and initiative.)

Tier 6: Unicorn
Essentially white horses with a long horn, these beasts are also fabled and mystical. They are said to bring good luck and have strange magical properties. Strangely, they are said to embody innocence, while being fierce fighters with not much remorse in battle.

Strong Stats: Speed, Initiative, Resistance (Light -50%, Earth+Air -25%))
Weak Stats: Damage, Expensive, Low Growth (Dark +50%)

Abilities:
-Aura of Luck (Adjacent friendly units get a bonus on Luck.)
-Horn of Light (25% of this units damage is Light damage.)
-Innocence (Enemies harming this unit get a strong malus on Luck for the remaining battle.)

Upgrades:
-Argent Unicorn (Argent, or Silver Unicorns are swift, mysterious and shimmery, rarely seen by outsiders. They have better speed and defense. They can hide in Forests and Woods and absorb negative magic, turning it into a buff of Defense.
-Aureal Unicorn (The tough aureal, or golden Unicorns, are proud, shining, surreal creatures. They have more hitpoints and attack. Their attack is blinding, more of their damage Light damage and they can also gain the effect of positive magic cast on a target near them.)

Tier 7: Dendroid
Essentially, Dendroids are giant walking trees. Beyond that, they of course are amongst the eldest sentient species on the whole world, having survived quite some others. They are always viewn as primitive though, with their neglect to build and their tendency towards a secluded, simple life. They are normally kind-hearted, but beware when their are roused!

Strong Stats: Hit-Points, Defense, Resistance (Earth+Air+Water -50%)
Weak Stats: Speed, Initiative, Weakness (Fire +100%, Ice +50%)

Abilities:
-Break Walls (This unit can let their roots and hands grow into a wall, dealing it damage over time. This leaves them pretty vulnerable to attacks, though.)
-Forest Creature (This unit is hidden while in Wood or Forest terrains. It suffers no movement penalty while moving through them.)
-Roots (When this unit does not move in their turn, it slightly roots into the ground, getting a bonus on defense and being immune to any effects that would move them.)
-Tree Temper (Depending on recent events on the AM, your dendroids are either calm or roused. Calm Dendroids have a resistance against mind-effects like mind control, fear, berserk, etc., but a further malus on initiative. Roused dendroids instead have a heavy bonus on attack, but the chance to ignore other effects for the opportunity to attack.

Upgrades:
-Ancient Dendroid (Millenia old, these beings are wise, and calm, and .....hesitant. But they are also true Protectors of their kind. They have even more hitpoints and defense, but the smallest initiative of any creature in the game. They can enter a protective stance, extending their branches around all adjacent tiles, protecting friendly units and taking damage for them. They also give a knowledge bonus to their hero.)
-Trentling ("Young" dendroids (below 2 centuries), the Trentlings are considered rash and "hot-headed" by their elders. They have better initiative and attack. They can use their arms for sweeping strikes, hitting 3 tiles in their front, similar to a cerberus. That attack takes more initiative, though, and has a chance for enemies to stumble.)

Special War Machine: Rooter
The Rooter is a spiritually transformed Bush, sending out its roots towards enemies. It can take the space of ballista or catapult, as you wish. Its ability takes time to prepare, while the roots spread. When they have reached a certain point of the battlefield, from then on they will attack the enemy there. When they reach enemy walls, they start damaging them - all at once. So they fit quite will into the long-time Preserve strategies.

Associated Units:
-Wolves (Wild Beasts, come in the colors Grey, White and Black, with slightly different stats; Offensive, with Pack abilities)
-Bear (Wild Beasts, strong and enduring)
-Tiger (Wild Beasts, fierce and good in hiding)
-Foxes (Small Beasts, fast, awesome in hiding and said to bring good luck)
-Moose (Plant-Eating, but fierce and enduring beasts)



Town:

Building Chart

Quote:

Legend:
Building A [Requirements] (Effect)
>Upgraded Building A
-> twice upgraded Building A
-Other Base Building needing Building A

General buildings are black
Magic buildings are blue
Dwelling are red
Special buildings are green

Buildings unique for Preserve(except dwellings) are bold


Village Hall (500 gold income)
>Town Hall (1000 gold income)
->City Hall (2000 gold income)
-->Capitol  (5000 gold income; unique per faction)
-->Province Hall (3000 gold income)

Fort (Makes the defenses stronger; allows Building dwellings)
>Citadel (Makes the defenses stronger; +25% Creature Growth)
->Castle (Makes the defenses stronger; +50% Creature Growth)

Marketplace (Allows trading resources for others. More marketplaces allow a better trade rate.)
>Ressource Silo (Gives 2 Wood per day)

Tavern (Can recruit heroes of level 1)
>Inn (Can recruit heroes of level 5)

Mage Guild Level 1
>Mage Guild Level 2
->Mage Guild Level 3
-->Mage Guild Level 4
--->Mage Guild Level 5


Woodsmith (Can build the Healing Tent.)
>Rootworks (Can build the Rooter)


Man in a Tree (A man grown into a tree. Increases your sight radius, but not radial around the town. Instead, it follows Forests that you can allready see into the unknown. Also, each hero can spend time here, and learn skills. There are 3 skills from the following list for choice: Enlightenment, Earth Magic, Mysticism, Pathfinding, Scouting, Lore, Stealth)

Branch Nests (Allows recruiting Feyrs.)

Root Village (Allows recruiting Podlings)
-Deep Burrows (Increases the Podling growth.)

Star Pond (Allows recruiting Cernauri)

Grove of Life (Allows recruiting Dryads)
-Arboretum (Reduces the recruitment costs for Dryads.)

Treetop Town(Allows recruiting Woodwardens)

Hidden Clearing (Allows recruiting Unicorns)

Heart of the Forest (Allows recruiting Dendroids)



Grail Building: World Tree - gives an income bonus based on how much of the map is covered in Trees. First time visiting heroes get +5 Knowledge. Allows to directly transfer population from and to this town with other Preserve towns.)


Defenses:
The Defense of Preserve is entirely different than those of other Towns. It has no Walls or moat at all, instead it is surrounded by Woods, which in the beginning offer little hiding and ranged protection for your troops. As the defense is upgraded, the forest becomes thicker, hindering enemy units, protecting and hiding yours more. There are also no towers, but instead, amidst the trees are hidden Treants, damaging enemy units when passing, and even having a chance to push them back or aside. Finally, the Forest will also be covered in Fog, not only offering more hiding and protection, but also enemy units have a chance to loose their way in it.


Tech Tree
Every faction has their own Tech Tree, offering benefits for all your heroes, armies, towns and AM-Structures.
The tech tree can be accessed on the Adventure map. Most Techs have requirements you must meet. If it is buildings, 1 town with them is enough.
Techs take time to research. The more towns you have, and the better built these towns are, the less time Techs take.

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Galaad
Galaad

Hero of Order
Li mort as morz, li vif as vis
posted September 27, 2020 10:08 PM
Edited by Galaad at 16:05, 11 Oct 2020.

PRESERVE

Town Alignment : Good

HERO CLASSES

Ranger, Might oriented.

Druid, Magic oriented.


GRAIL

Tree of Ygg

Grants +50% luck, morale and magic protection during a defensive siege.



LINEUP

Tier 1 Spirit Wolf/Mystic Wolf
Melee, fast unit
Upgrade teleports



Tier 2 Faun/Satyr
Melee, casts luck on random ally three times a battle
Upgrade casts luck on random ally every turn a battle



Tier 3 Fairy Archer/Fairy Sharpshooter
Ranged
Upgrade shoots twice


Tier 4
Melee, slow tank, entangles enemy on hit
Upgrade is a bit faster, and can shoot 5 times


Tier 5
Fast melee flyer, ignore obstacles
Upgrade hits twice


Tier 6
Fast melee, casts mass magic protection
Upgrade has aura of protection, all nearby units get magical protection


Tier 7 Forest God
Melee, fast, teleports
Upgrade revives on death at half HP

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FirePaladin
FirePaladin


Legendary Hero
DoR Modder
posted September 27, 2020 10:58 PM

I'll reserve this spot for when I finally (if) I find some time for the contest.
____________
"Goblins use pistols because a shotgun recoil would kick them off the ground flying."
The Reckoning.... it's drawing near....

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Alon
Alon


Known Hero
posted September 28, 2020 10:36 AM

Galaad said:



Ooh, I'm getting big Ori and the Blind Forest vibes.
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PandaTar
PandaTar


Responsible
Legendary Hero
Celestial Heavens Mascot
posted September 28, 2020 02:41 PM

I still have to achieve finishing that game without dying. I started playing a second run of Will of Wisps in hard to learn a bit more about the game to try its undying run and 100% also. It is a lot tougher than the first game.
____________
"Okay. Look. We both said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster."
GlaDOS – Portal 2

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Galaad
Galaad

Hero of Order
Li mort as morz, li vif as vis
posted September 28, 2020 11:09 PM

Hehe, no time to play it yet, but it's waiting for me.
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Alon
Alon


Known Hero
posted September 28, 2020 11:51 PM

If we're serious about a fanmade game rather than just playing Songs of Conquest when it comes out - and there's no reason not to be serious, even I could write a data structure for turn-based combat on a hex grid - then we should at some point discuss aesthetics and architecture and such. That's why I'm bringing up Ori, it's a really cool sylvan aesthetic and I also like that the forest feels more temperate than tropical.
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FirePaladin
FirePaladin


Legendary Hero
DoR Modder
posted September 29, 2020 12:25 AM

Fanstratics.
____________
"Goblins use pistols because a shotgun recoil would kick them off the ground flying."
The Reckoning.... it's drawing near....

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Galaad
Galaad

Hero of Order
Li mort as morz, li vif as vis
posted September 29, 2020 12:44 AM

Hear, hear! Anytime someone tells me 2d is "prehistoric" I just show them Ori. Also glad it was mentioned as influence for Fanstratics.
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PandaTar
PandaTar


Responsible
Legendary Hero
Celestial Heavens Mascot
posted September 29, 2020 02:10 AM

A Heroes game with Ori's 2D would be a blessing (and good mechanics also, of course hohohohoho). That's what makes me curious regarding Fanstratics (my fingers almost knot together trying to write that too fast).

Well, Child of Light's 2D is also quite beautiful.

And both games have a wonderful OST.

@Alon, the only really difficult part would people come into an understanding of which mechanics to add (and AI HOHOHO).
____________
"Okay. Look. We both said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster."
GlaDOS – Portal 2

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Alon
Alon


Known Hero
posted September 29, 2020 11:06 AM

Yeah, AI is the hard part, but if you plan the game around good 1v1 the hard part changes to integrating it with a net connection.
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FirePaladin
FirePaladin


Legendary Hero
DoR Modder
posted September 30, 2020 03:38 PM

How many days are left?
____________
"Goblins use pistols because a shotgun recoil would kick them off the ground flying."
The Reckoning.... it's drawing near....

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PandaTar
PandaTar


Responsible
Legendary Hero
Celestial Heavens Mascot
posted September 30, 2020 03:39 PM

Another week.
____________
"Okay. Look. We both said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster."
GlaDOS – Portal 2

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FirePaladin
FirePaladin


Legendary Hero
DoR Modder
posted October 06, 2020 12:19 PM
Edited by FirePaladin at 12:34, 06 Oct 2020.

I doubt I'll be able to make a post this time due to important irl stuff. Anyway, since Alon mentioned making a HoMM-like game, here is a 50% off Unity course for that (which I'm gonna buy too these days): https://www.udemy.com/course/turn-based-strategy-game-development/?couponCode=4F29277669C0DCEE5572

Edit: Not sure if I'd be able with a few days delay myself though, or even a week.
____________
"Goblins use pistols because a shotgun recoil would kick them off the ground flying."
The Reckoning.... it's drawing near....

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Galaad
Galaad

Hero of Order
Li mort as morz, li vif as vis
posted October 06, 2020 12:24 PM

Could we get some extra delay? I'm ultra busy irl too.
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PandaTar
PandaTar


Responsible
Legendary Hero
Celestial Heavens Mascot
posted October 06, 2020 03:51 PM
Edited by PandaTar at 16:51, 06 Oct 2020.

I don't mind delays. If it helps more people to participate, it would be better in my opinion.

FirePaladin said:
Unity Course

Hm, it is extremely cheap here. I was expecting something a bit expensive. Even the full price. How much does it cost for you? It shows here: 39, but 19 right now. In USAian dollars, it would be more or less 7 dollars full price.

A beginners discount.

Well, bought 10 courses. PUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOHOHOHOHOHO
____________
"Okay. Look. We both said a lot of things that you're going to regret. But I think we can put our differences behind us. For science. You monster."
GlaDOS – Portal 2

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