Mothkin are a species focused around a unique spellcasting gimmick that differs from those already present in the game. They have a chance to cast an inscribed spell without consuming MP whenever they attack or manually cast a spell. This chance rises experience level and decreases with the level of the spell being cast and its failure chance. Spells can be cast this way even when under the effects of silence and never miscast. This chance is only checked once per action.
In crawl, hybrid casters are not favored because of their poor action economy. You can only take one action each turn, so builds that have one very good way of killing things function better than builds that divert their attention between magic and melee. Why bother casting fireballs if you can already swing an axe well and doing so would make you weaker? This species is intended to offer a new way of building characters by letting you do both simultaneously.
They have a unique second trait that supports the automatic use of spells in melee by making them immune to damage from their own spells.
The price they pay for this power is reduced mp capacity and manual casting speed. This hampers their ability to rely on manual spellcasts and forces them to make use of their unique spellcasting gimmick if they wish to cast a lot of spells.
They have mostly-balanced aptitudes and stats to support a hybrid playstyle. They have poor aptitudes with stealth and shields. Their positive evocations aptitude encourages the use of orbs over shields in the off-hand. Having previously undergone metamorphosis, they are good shapeshifters.
This species is now available for playtesting as an experimental on CDI. To play, register and log in at https://crawl.dcss.io/ and click Mothkin under Experimentals. You can also play on console via SSH on port 22 with user crawl and using the CAO key. The RC file used is that of your trunk RC, so use the trunk edit rc link to change your settings. All games played on the experimental wonāt be scored on either CAO or Sequell.
I think it could be cool to have a moth or butterfly type character that starts out as a caterpillar with high strength and at a certain point turns into a moth or butterfly and becomes hybrid. Maybe theres like one or two levels where your a cocoon and have rly low aptitudes and rly high armor lol.
Yes and, you could make the larva form unambigiously bad, so that they player has to stash some easy floors/enemies and amas consumables to get through it.
details that might help to make that work:
really high (~+5) xp aptitude (as a cocoon)
high invocations aptitude (as a cocoon)
double potion effects (as a cocoon)
cocoon canāt use equipment
low transmutations aptitude, otherwise you ājustā turn into form all game to bypass the whole mechanic
I just started a game with Mothkin from the expermental branch. I like the mutations & aptitudes.
I went with Conjurer, and I do say that the spell trigger chance felt very low. Based on the mutations I was expecting spells to trigger the inscribed spell maybe 30% of the time, but it felt like it hardly ever happened. I used a sling for a while, and that too didnāt seem to trigger the magic dart at all.
Iāve only played a tiny bit, but this seems stupidly powerful. Conjurors can get a decent chance to cast fulminant prism on attack fairly early, and are safe from friendly fire from the prisms. As soon as you get decent hybrid skills online, you do simply ridiculous damage without really suffering significant downsides. Other than balance, it also steps on Revenantās toes a little since they both aim for the same niche, just from different directions.
Instead of a proc chance on melee or cast, Iād rework the species to give free action casts with restrictions. That way you donāt get to just straight up ignore all the standard restrictions of magic and targeting choices still matter. My idea for this would be:
-Mothkin cast spells instantly.
-Mothkinās ārestā MP is 30% of maximum. It slowly regenerates when below and rapidly decreases when significantly above.
-Mothkin gain MP by attacking or when damaged in proportion to how much damage they deal/receive.
-Mothkin gain slight damage reduction when below 30% MP in proportion to how low their MP is, capping at -10% damage at 0 MP.
-Mothkin take increased damage at high MP, capping at +30% when at maximum.
-Mothkinās spells consume 25% of their total MP for increased power per MP consumed (no spamming, high MP is high risk/high reward).
-Mothkin have a chance to cast a mini-irradiate that consumes 20% of max MP when attacking at high MP. Power is based on MP consumed.
That gives a lot more levers to pull to find something that fits the fantasy, is unique and can be balanced. Writing it all out, though, makes it seem maybe more suitable for a god than a species.