#Venomancer | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

flusterfluffwrites · 2 months ago

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Five years ago, I promised a story about a "SIT THE FUCK DOWN" button, and a post that I referenced in that one is long-lost to time now, so I might as well explain how Pelnar worked, mechanically, while I'm still feeling nostalgic.

For those who have joined us in the past five years, first, hi! I need to do this more often! Secondly, what I'll be going over today is how my unique* personal class* functioned in an old, now probably defunct PvP-focused private-server of an MMO that I used to play with ~7k-10k peak players. "Personal class" here meaning that I was kind of the person to pioneer the build I used and often considered the godmother of the archetype, and "Unique" meaning that I had, as of the time I left, three understudies who attempted it with varying degrees of seriousness. None really stuck with it, but one kept it in his back pocket for emergencies. I was the only player of note that did this, and I did, in fact, make waves.

To set the stage, I have to first explain the combat system, and what made it one of the more unique experiences that I've had in gaming. This was a private server of Perfect World International (PWI) that extended the level cap from I think 100 in the base game? To 150. It also allowed you to instantly HIT that cap, and most of the progression was focused on gearing, which was done through in-game events and "territory wars", which determined which factions held certain zones of the map. These territory wars (TW) consisted of weekly or so fights in dedicated instances for 'up to' 60v60 (the biggest I was in was 38v56) PvP combat in an attempt to push into another team's base with catapults, past towers, to destroy their crystals. Think like a scaled-up MOBA and you wouldn't be far off. Squads were up to ten people each, and organized by the leaders of each side's respective faction. This is where I thrived.

To emerge victorious in combat, at its basic level, one had to naturally reduce their opponent's HP to zero. In order to do so, you would have to 'beat out' a mechanic that was reserved for paying players in the base game that allowed an equippable "charm" that automatically restores their HP to full once it drops below half once every ten seconds. That is to say, to reduce their HP to zero, you had two options. One, deal 1.5x their maximum HP in the span of ten seconds OR get them to 51% of their HP and then deliver a single hit that deals over that amount of damage. Hit quick. Hit hard. If you don't win in a dominating burst, you don't win at all. So, long story short, I didn't.

The class that I played, a Venomancer, was a focused magic-support class that wasn't all that popular because it didn't have very good time to kill (TTK) and only really focused on building resource to unleash a large Parasitic Nova that increased damage taken by everyone inside of it by like 20% while inflicting a paralyze that made it hard for them to function. It was bad at killing, and was mostly just a squishy long-range support that people would, crucially, target and focus down the moment they saw it because it was ANNOYING to play against!

This was a game with more build freedom and diversity, so I was able to equip heavy armor, albeit at a slightly lower tier, that instead turned me from a squishy support with middling damage into a physical WALL that resisted most non-magical hits. Standard Venomancer had fairly high magic defense so most people didn't try to hit me with magic skills, just ASSUMING that it would be futile. But, it was a weakness that I had to compensate for, as I effectively flipped my defenses and multiplied my physical resistance to the point of an actual tank. Granted I was a -bit- squishier than your average Blademaster, and had lower damage by far, but that was made up for by my skill set.

I'm not going to get into it because the actual combination was so complicated that I don't remember how to do it now twelve years out from the events of our story, but it was possible for me to inflict what was colloquially known as a "metric shitfuckton" of damage, if you'll pardon my language. This was on a long cooldown, came at great resource cost, used two different kinds of consumable items and three different expendable resources, (mana, chi, and fairy gauge), but it resulted in enough damage to reliably half-shot and either charm-tick or kill from half anyone in the game not playing explicitly Standard Venomancer or Mystic. Or if Assassin got the dodge, it got the dodge but that was a pretty low chance. Regardless. Keep in mind that this build did have a kill button! It was just slow, plodding, and took about six minutes to come off of cooldown for a melee-range single-target nuke.

The main bulk of this class, those six minutes between cooldowns and while looking for an opening to press delete mainly consisted of abusing the hell out of my charm, surviving exactly ten seconds to refill my HP and then continuing to harass the enemy front line. My bread-and-butter filler attack was an incredibly low-damage conal AoE that inflicted an accuracy penalty on anyone hit, a casting speed slow, and a physical auto-attack slow, effectively miring them in the dirt and dropping their damage significantly just for being around me.

My job in mass-fights was to spam this and apply it to everyone I could to keep my party alive! Easy enough, right? I contribute by being present and pressing the funny slow button. But that wasn't enough. When not casting that, or when I successfully gained the ire and wrath of those trying to do away with my team, I turned from a tricksy fox, beguiling their senses and slowing their assault to a metaphorical turtle, unable to die by cycling through a few notable skills.

The first of these skills was simple. Everyone has access to a heavy-cost "spark" move that freezes you in place for a short time and then ends by giving you a massive buff, increasing damage and such, but that wasn't important. In a pinch, burning this to survive another three or so seconds often was enough to buy me another ten and get a charm tick! Beyond this, another skill, Feral Concentration, did much the same but without other buffs for a lower cost but on a three minute cooldown. Invulnerability, but at the cost of taking two marked debuffs. One immobilizing you with an "immobilize" effect and one stopping your attacks as a separate "paralyze" effect. This will be important later! There was also a consumable item that had the exact same text as it but functioning for six seconds instead of ten, but either is enough to get another refresh on that ten second healing effect.

If you're following so far, to kill this character, you had to reduce them to 50% HP, then you have ten seconds to do it again. This triggers a ten second immunity, then you have to deal 50% of their HP again. This refreshes them to full, then you have another 10 seconds to do it again to get a shot at killing them. After you've burned that 50%, they're back at full and you have four seconds to kill them or else the consumable item gets used and they're back at max HP again. Four seconds that can, in an emergency, be filled by burning all of their chi and Sparking. All of this through an effective 70-90% damage reduction spammed at you through the base skill of Grudge Strike. Okay, surely now you can kill them, right?

Stunning Blow stops you from moving for eight seconds. It doesn't stop you from casting, just from moving. If you're a caster or a ranged DPS, that's fine (for now) but if you're melee, that's another eight seconds of not being able to touch this fox while also taking 20% more damage. Bewitch turns you into a squirrel for six seconds, making you able to move but not able to attack. That's another refresh on a sixty second cooldown. Blessed Physique is just a 50% heal on a five minute cooldown in case they get low, so effectively an at-will charm activation. Arcane Antinomy stacks with Grudge Strike to be a two-minute cooldown "reduce target's damage to zero". Lucky Scarab was a 12 second cooldown skill with a chance at a 2 second stun that I never had much luck with, but it was an option.

But none of this beats the Crown Gem. None of this is the "Sit the FUCK down" button. Malefic Crush, my darling, my beloved, functioned a bit differently in this server than in the vanilla game because it was seen as "bad" skill for PvP. With an incredibly short range of only five meters, it had a wind-up of 0.2 seconds, a mere game tick, before it started casting. During the whole 1.8 second cast bar, you are immune to all damage and status effects. That alone might be enough for a refresh. But this three minute cooldown skill, I believe was reduced to two minutes, and because it required Venomancer, a fairly squishy class, to get in close, had its effect moved from a three second paralysis to I believe a five second animation-lock that forced everyone in a ten-meter range into the /sit emote and stopped them from acting.

They cannot move. They cannot cast. They cannot attack. Sit. The fuck. Down. Stop your cast, that's a second gained from that. Start a new one, that's a second gained from that. And between 1.8 seconds of immunity and five seconds of raw SIT, you bet your sweet bippy that's another charm refresh. Oh hey look, it has been twelve seconds. Lucky Scarab. Stunning blow. Stop hitting me. Stop hitting me. Sit still. Shut your mouth. Stop casting. Get interrupted. Sit. Stay. Sit. Silence. Stun. HEY, SIT. My cooldowns are up again, you can't touch me. Get stunned. Get slowed. Sit. Eat a rock. Chase me off into the sunrise. Stand still, rooted in place. I'm over here now. Sit. Down.

Furthermore, due to my particular gearset, I was able to get a weapon with an off-meta skill that had a chance on being hit to purge all marked debuffs on me and "maximize my movement speed", which was effectively an Enhanced Sprint:tm: for ten seconds, making me immune to all further debuffs. The skill and item I mentioned earlier that rooted me in place and prevented me from casting? Purgable. Instead of being immobile and immune, this fox was at sprint speed cap and still damage and debuff immune for about twenty seconds of every two minutes.

The final skill I want to mention is just called Purge. The specilization I took turned it from a single target buff removal every thirtyish seconds to an AoE one that generated resource. Buff-stacking was meta defining, and I just got to say no to it. That is all.

Have a good day and SIT. THE FUCK. DOWN.

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marchwardenofmordor · 5 months ago

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Fucking hell i have so many ocs

BG3

Tam’lin Baenre (Drow)

Gloomstalker Ranger, arachnomancer druid, childhood sweetheart was pre-drider Kar’niss. Goth and sad. Was known as the ‘Ghost of Menzoberranzan’ - a ruthless szarkai assassin who went rogue and became ‘the nightwatchman’ folk hero of the surface. Going back through the underdark puts him back in ‘ghost’ mode and freaks out the party. A dear friend to Astarion, Shadowheart and Wyll.

Vesz (Bhaalspawn Drow)

Absolutely cursed fucker. Dumb af resist durge who has poor impulse control and cannot be predicted. Monk/Barbarian build, has a fleabag moment when he meets True Soul Nere. Always dirty. Loves Lolth. The party regularly has to sit him down to explain to him that his behaviours are trauma responses. “Hurt people hurt people, Vesz.” - “I got it the first time, you don’t have to say it twice, guys.”

Malhounnet Do’Urden (Drow)

Venomancer / Circle of Spores druid. Autistic transfem, her special interests are crystals and mushrooms. Idolises Drizzt to the point it’s a wee bit freudian. Horrific social skills and cannot persuade / deceit / intimidate to save her life. But she’s fucking smart af. Romancing Wyll.

Yazdaer Mizzrym (Drow)

Pharaun Mizzrym’s progeny. Went to Sorcere because his family wanted him to be a successful wizard. He went rogue (literally), and became a nightingale rogue. Worked briefly with the Zhentarim. Romancing Karlach.

Arawyn (Shadar Kai Elf)

Shadar-Kai, hexblade warlock in service to the Raven Queen. Got pushed through his own portal by a rival warlock and ended up trapped in Faerûn. Initial goal is to find his way home and wreak bloody revenge on his rival, but he grows too attached to the Sword Coast and its inhabitants. Romancing Shadowheart.

Oleandar (Bhaalspawn High Elf)

The most insidious and terrible embrace durge in fair elven form. Is big and buff bc bhaalspawn, but wears pale pink and has cutesy little braids in his hair. Acts trustworthy and craves the love, attention, affection and approval of others, and has an awful problem with wanting to be a saviour. Covers up his crimes and is exceptionally skilled with persuasion/deception. Bard / Wizard. Usually deals poison/acid/psychic damage, though dips into blood magic when feeling spicy. Romancing Gale.

Lavandor (Bhaalspawn Tiefling)

The sweetest sleepy tiefling. Circle of Stars Druid / Twilight Domain Cleric of Selûne. Excels at sweet lil spells like sleep, charm person, dancing lights, moonbeam, etc. Helps everyone as much as he can, is pretty much the camp therapist, and non-lethal is always toggled. Helps others sleep because he wants them to have the blissful rest that he cannot. Resist durge completely rejecting Bhaal. Romancing Astarion.

Angorn (Wood Elf)

Grumpy fucking wood elf. Twilight Court Warlock. Dunno an awful lot about him yet only that he’s fucking unhappy and annoyed with everybody. Probably gonna romance Halsin. Maybe.

Fenelzi’ir (Gith)

Githgagran (Underdark Gith), Paladin of Shar. Based on poison dart frog. Has a tarantula/frog relationship with the drow - Minthara loves this. Romancing Minthara.

Skyrim

Severin Nervayne (Dunmer)

A kindly older mer with a rough past. Lost his wife to the Red Mountain eruption. Got roped into necromancy and tomb raiding. Later got into pit fighting to support and provide for his daughter. His ‘retirement’ is becoming a professor of the History of Necromancy at the College of Winterhold. Saves and Marries Ancano.

Caerwyn (Altmer)

Elenwen’s father. Nasty piece of work. Tywin Lannister’s got nothing on him. The thalmor aren’t doing shit so he decides to solve the problem himself, and enlists with the stormcloaks under the guise of a frail old man (never shows his ears), specifically to destroy Skyrim’s economy through the rebellion so that the Thalmor can invade with ease.

Dagduach (Breton)

Ondolemar’s pet. Witcher-build. Former forsworn, he was supposed to become a briarheart and was subjected to the Skyrim equivalent of the Trial of the Grasses and the other witcher trials before going awol. Works as a mercenary/monster hunter. Can’t read, write or speak properly, having spent the later half of his childhood and early adult life living with wolves in the wilds of the Reach.

Eddard Blagden (Nord)

Champion of Mephala, has a spider in his ear whispering to him. Grew up in a monastery in the Rift, but is left to fend for himself as a young boy after a pack of vampires slaughters the monks and his ‘brothers’ - who he eats out of desperation (Namira also gets her hands on him). Joins the dawnguard but falls out with Isran (thinks he’s spineless), so decides to DIY the downfall of Harkon via becoming a vampire and ripping apart the court from the inside. Falls in love with and marries Vingalmo, who is in on his plot.

Llevana Nervayne (Dunmer)

Severin’s dwemer-obsessed dungeon-crawling daughter. Great at enchantment. Her best friend is Enthir, and she drags him along on the regular, fighting crime, solving mysteries. Her dream is to build a dwemer pod-racer and go for a joyride in Blackreach. Just like her dad, she falls for an ex-thalmor: Taliesin. Their banter is top tier. Altmerfucking runs in the family, it seems.

Corryn (Falmer)

Technically an altmer, but the falmer blood is super strong in him. The nords have a fucking aneurysm because HE is my dragonborn. Seeing what has become of the Falmer deeply upsets him. He will NOT stand for Delphine’s shit and refuses to be talked down to by a Nord. Hates having to kill dragons - Delphine asking him to kill Partysnax is the last fucking straw. Loves riding dragons. In true me-fashion, he’s also in love with an altmer: Caryalind Thallery.

Silvandrel (Altmer)

Thalmor fist, planted in Solitude, trying to break free. Lured, seduced and betrayed by his own housecarl, who was secretly spying on him for Caerwyn, who has his nasty DILF fingers in Elisif the Fair’s pie. He kills her and runs off, refusing to be the Quasimodo to Caerwyn’s Frollo any longer. Teams up with Corryn, Caryalind, Taliesin, Llevana, Ancano and Severin. Makes friends with Nebarra. Gets in with the Dark Brotherhood, but after killing the emperor realises that Astrid and the dude who commissioned the DB were likely told to do so by Caerwyn. He kills Astrid in a blind rage, and runs away with Cicero.

Gwalchmai (Altmer)

A vampire, but not of Molag Bal’s bloodline; of Lamae Bal’s instead. Planning on making him a custom voiced follower. He’s an advisor to the court of the Jarl of Morthal, and frequently aids the steward and Falion. His presence in Morthal keeps Movarth Piquine and his lot from taking over, and Gwalchmai fiercely defends the people of Morthal, even though they give him shit for being an elf. Had a brief dalliance with Sybille Stentor. Idgrod the Younger fancies the pants off him (and even the Jarl is like “shes a viable match for you!”), but he’s like ‘no that’s fucking weird, I’ve been here since before you both were even thought of???’. His canon romance is with darling Lucian.

(I have a fuck tonne more Skyrim OCs, there’s a whole fucking DLC’s worth of lore and a whole war I’ve constructed in my head following the aftermath of the game)

The Silly Marilly

Our boy the Marchwarden!

Our boy the Bastard!

#my ocs

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