Spent too much time thinking about these, thought I'd jot it down somewhere.


RATLING (Early-game character class)

Deep in the sewers where Ratling Guards dwell, there currently exists a strange hidden room with a ladder that for some mysterious reason, pops you back up to Aranock with little fanfare. Instead of this ladder, a new NPC called the "Exiled Ratling" will dwell.

The Exiled Ratling is friendly and seems intelligent, yet mischievous. He is disheveled and wears a cloth chest piece and a steel dagger. He greets you with a toothy smile: "Hello <player>. Tse great rat exiled me for inviting monkeys like you into our swarm. Bring me the eye of a greenling prince, and I shall show you what I mean..."

Players who have already arched will be shooed away, and if killed the Exiled Ratling drops a mis-matched pair of count and duke eyes and a paltry 20 silver.

If you succeed in giving him a greenling prince eye, you will be reborn into the world as a fresh character: a Ratling.


Some rough untested stats: (Stat - MAX : Difficulty)
(For reference, Mercenary skills are difficulty of 5; Templar weapons are 3, Templar spells are 7)



OVERVIEW:

At base, Ratlings are kind of like a weird almost-templar. Their spells are slightly better, but they too lack Meditate and need to rely on their... paltry lack of weapon skills...? (more on that in a bit) As ratlings they do naturally have high perception and stealth, which might make them a tempting PvP class, but their only good weapon skill appears to be Hand to hand. Ideally they would be able to learn staff from the same NPC that teaches Templars Axe and Staff, via the Dwarven Mine.

So, it kind of sucks that Hand-to-hand doesn't have Weapon Value, doesn't it? Let's change that with...


FEROCITY
Ferocity would be a new skill that does a number of interesting things, modified by whether or not you're using a weapon, and whether or not you're using any armor.

While UNARMED, Ferocity would give you +1 WV per 3 points (rounded down). If you DO use a weapon, you will instead get 1/3 (rounded down) of that bonus, giving you some advantage to using early Daggers and Staffs, but ultimately being overtaken by strictly using Hand to Hand.

Additionally, while WEARING NO ARMOR, Ferocity would give you +1 AV per 4 points. This bonus would be reduced by 12% per equipped piece of armor, allowing you to use some special gear where applicable, but neutering the bonus if you try to gear up.


This would, overall, give an interesting take on a new class and let long-time dreamers be able to play as a smelly rat-boy. But, there would be more...

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GREENLING (Arch class via Ratling)

After clearing the Labyrinth and proving your superiority over the icky green things, you can offer a Greenling Eye Essence to the Lab13 alter after maxing your Willpower and Strength, to... become one. Maybe you can one day overthrow and rule a deeper kingdom?



OVERVIEW:

Greenlings are, of course, ratlings but better. Their spells are better, they now have access to meditate, their stun is better, they hit harder, they can see and stealth better. Their arch skills give them a variety of ways to build as well, letting you be tanky, hit further, poison enemies, or blind them.

Additionally, they would get access to another new skill immediately upon arching, Rend.


REND:

Rend would be functionally identical to 'Blast' with three caveats:

1) Damage is at least partly modified by your weapon value (and strength stat?).
2) It can only hit surrounding enemies (the four adjacent tiles), but cannot hit enemies at long distance.
3) Instead of using mana, Rend would cost Endurance.

Similar to blast it would deal more damage to the enemy you target with ALT (or just the one you're currently fighting) and less to the other surrounding targets. Using Endurance instead of Mana lets you multi-task, letting you root your foe to the ground with your mana pool and rend them down with your endurance pool. Gives something new and potentially powerful to play with.

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So there's some silly class ideas; I'm not sure if they're too strong or too weak, but I thought I'd throw something new on the table. Input and problem points are welcome.