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 Monk & Arch Monk 
zarrotsu
Corporal
Corporal

Joined: 24 Nov 2019
Posts: 27
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Here is my class suggestion in detail for two new potential classes, the Monk and Arch Monk.

First, Monk.



Monk would ideally be available some time early in the game, early enough that it doesn't infringe on Labyrinth exp too much. Feasibly you could become a monk shortly after reaching Prospect Peak, or through some other method that is either accomplishable before Major, or available even earlier.

Monk's intent is to be a melee oriented beginner class using Hand to Hand as its primary skill. Its attack skills are slightly better than average, its spell skills are slightly worse than average, its spell mod is the same as the Templar and you do not implicitly have Meditate. Monk also offers two new skills: Pressure, and Chakra.

Pressure

"Attack your enemy's pressure points, dealing extra damage based off your Weapon Value."

Pressure would function identically to Blast, however it would cost Endurance instead of Mana and utilize your Weapon Value for damage using the following formula:

Code:

power = ch[cn].skill[SK_PRESSURE][5];

// Half your weapon value, plus 1.5x skill power
dam = ch[cn].weapon[1]/2 + power * 3/2;

// Instead of Immunity, it is reduced in the same way by target armor value
// This is done using the damage result instead of base power, since WV is inclusive here
dam = spell_immunity(dam,ch[co].armor[1]);

// Cost would be taken from Endurance instead of Mana
cost = dam/10+10;

// If you aren't unarmed, reduce the damage we can do by a lot.
// This is to encourage being unarmed instead of just using Staff.
// This goes after the cost formula so the cost is still the same as normal.
// I assume being unarmed is equal to zero, so anything greater than zero will proc this.
if (ch[cn].worn[WN_RHAND])
    dam /= 3;

{{ target damage messages go here }}

// Exhaust is only 4.5 seconds instead of blast's 6.
add_exhaust(cn,TICKS*4+TICKS/2);


This allows the damage to be scaled from both the skill mod and your weapon value simultaneously. Both early on and late game, Pressure has the potential to be stronger than Blast and is implicitly slightly faster than it, however unlike Blast it will only function within touch radius, using the enemy you are fighting as the primary target and hitting enemies around you for 3/4 damage (the same way Blast would while un-targeted).

This larger damage output has to do with Monk's lack of Surround Hit -- both early and late game you will have to rely on Pressure to actively deal with your foes.


Chakra

"Spell: Improve your Weapon Value."

Chakra would effectively be a second layer of Enhance Weapon with a few tweaks to make it potent enough to keep up with other classes. It is self-cast only, similar to Magic Shield, however it otherwise would function identically to Enhance Weapon itself with the same timer, cost, and duration.

Chakra uses a slightly different formula to assure it is useful at all times:

Code:

it[in].weapon[1]=power/3+9;


I recognize it is possible for players to reach prospect peak, learn Staff or Wand, and use one of these weapons instead. Doing so would offer very high early weapon value, however to discourage this Monk's staff and wand bases are low and difficult to raise. It is also feasible that a Monk uses a shield in their offhand, however I'm not certain of the logistics of this and how it affects balance?


Next, Arch Monk (for lack of a better name)



Arch Monk is a direct upgrade to Monk available on Lab 13 by donating a Potion of Life to the Arch Shrine when their Willpower and Strength are maxed out. They improve both in physical combat as well as with all their spells and learn Meditate to alleviate their mana issues when it comes to spelling themselves or trying to utilize Stun and Heal.

While their Chakra skill has only slightly improved, their ability to finally equip FoH can easily bolster their weapon value to heights rivaling the Seyan'du, though they must still rely on Pressure to deal most of their damage. With all the pieces in place though, Pressure can deal heavy amounts of damage to immediate targets, letting the Monk compete with other classes in spite of their lack of area of effect.

You may notice their spell mod is identical to Monks, but they now have access to a third unique ability called Focus.


Focus

"Stops from losing focus when casting friendly spells and improves the power of any spell you cast."

Focus brings something new and potentially powerful to the table, and the previous statement about competitive damage takes it fully into account.

Foremost, Focus implicitly removes that pesky chance to lose focus when spelling yourself or your allies. This does *not* affect offensive spells such as Stun or Identify however, so those can still lose focus if your enemy's resistance is too high.

Secondly, Focus improves your implicit Spell Mod value using the following formula:

Code:

{base spell_mod} (in this case 0.9) + (ch[cn].skill[SK_FOCUS][5]/300)*0.2;


This means that the Arch Monk, if they somehow reach 300 focus skill, will suddenly have a spell mod of [1.10]. Further, a rebirthed Arch Monk has the potential to reach a spell mod of [1.106], giving them the highest potential spell mod in the game.

This, I feel, would bring something new to the table to play around with and allow the Monk and Arch Monk to offer some unique benefits where other existing classes do not.

========

For reference below, I will list a few examples of the Monk's possible damage output at certain stages of power throughout the game. I apologize if it's hard to read, it's currently 1am and I am a tad sleep deprived.

Hidden: 



Full MAX comparison (roughly):




If anything needs tweaking please let me know, however I'm moderately sure that everything checks out on paper. Note that it is of course possible to push things further than the 'maximum stats' I have listed if you hypothetically use skua (or even just ishtar) scrolls, or get spelled up by an arch harakim on steroids; of course the same could be said of Seyan'du as well so I'm not certain which way that balance needs to tilt without hands-on testing.
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zarrotsu
Corporal
Corporal

Joined: 24 Nov 2019
Posts: 27
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Early morning addendum:

1) Arch Monk's base agility can (should) be lowered to 75; I had given them 90 agility simply so they could equip FoH. If FoH's required agility is also lowered to 75, Arch Monk would (and possibly should) be limited to only Crystal Armour.


2) I hadn't mentioned but I'm not certain which arch skills to give them exactly or what might fit the bill, so I put down Poison and Harden. Poison gives them additional mileage with their mana pool and is a simple cast-and-go, while Harden gives them access to extra defenses. Harden would also be more "ideal" if their armor were limited to only crystal. They can be given additional arch skills or different ones entirely where appropriate


3) I'm not certain if Pressure is too weak or just right in its listed form; the calculation for damage can be tweaked in different ways until that sweetspot is met. If it's too weak, the weapon value can be applied at full power instead of half, or skill power can be at 2x instead of 1.5x, or both. However I wanted to avoid stupid high engame numbers and instead let them use it more often than Harakim might be able to use Blast, to give it higher on-paper DPS and less waiting for exhaustion to run out.


4) The calculation for Pressure should also allow the use of FoH without losing damage, I'm just not sure what FoH's item number is.
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Mayhem
Sergeant Major
Sergeant Major

Joined: 27 Aug 2016
Posts: 71
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I like this!
The time you put into this is impressive to say the least!
Ill try to give some feedback/suggestions!

Being able to make a monk around major sounds abit too soon to me. If i read your post/calculations correctly.. a maxed arched monk would be slightly stronger then a maxed seyan. And if that is the case.. i would suggest being around brig/magen before being able to make a monk. And instead of donating a potion... have people do a quest (like ninja and necro)

The idea of giving them harden and crystal armor sounds good. 105 base harden for arch monk seems abit too high tho.
Poison might be abit to overpowered in combination with monks high spellpower. And alot of classes already have poison (either the skill or the proc from DW)

I have a suggestion for an monk skill: Corrode

Corrode is already in the game (RD2) and its a stacking debuff. Every stack it reduces target AV by 2 if i remember correctly.
You might need to change/tweak the spell abit. It would req the use of endurance or mana to cast. Let the modified Corrode skill decide the % of AV taken off your target and have the same spell exhaustion as assasinate has atm.. so you wont be able to spam it.
Non arch it will just hit the one your attacking... and when you arch it can hit all 4 around you? Or non arch all 4 and arch surround corrode (like sh2.. Altho it would be pretty similar to warcry then)

Also i once had a suggestion to make a surround crit. surround crit idea topic
Maybe as a monk you would get a proc with h2h weapons that would crit all 4 around you? (like a roundhouse kick!! Very Happy) and then when arched make it a like the sh2 proc... power to be determined.. the more it hits the less damage it does? else it would be too powerfull i think.


Greetings!
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