i always wonder about people who post stuff like lets not talk expansion when the game is not out yet. if you don't wanna talk expansion, why are you in this post?
ooh, i see a heretic fan. i think a heretic type class is very possible because it covers both the look and feel of a paladin with the skills (kinda) of the necromancer and some shapeshifting of the druid.
i had this idea for a "druid" character called the warden, who is basically a ranged spear/axe thrower that also uses nature magic like summoning animal spirits to imbue his weapons. like infusing the spirit of the bull into the spear to make it stun enemies who get hit, or spirit of the porcupine to make the spear split into five pieces as it is thrown. also it summons animal totems like the hawk to increase damage, crit chance and speed of the weapons used, a stampede of bulls to rush an enemy, jaguars to slash enemies in an area, stuff like that. also the constriction and snake strike ideas i suggested for the necro come from here. the warden uses "chi" as its resource which is split into yin and yang. as yin is used up, yang gets filled. some abilities are powered by yin and the other yang. so its a juggling of both resources to utilized this character best.
@NecromancerKazuya
ah i see now, i get your point with the auras. well, if you don't need that type of pet, you could turn the aura off and increase your total available "soul". i don't know, the mechanics around it might seem a little complex now that i think about it.
oh go ahead and scavenge whatever you need from the heretic. i have no problems with that (better the ideas get used and if blizzard sees it, woo hoo!, than to be tossed away at the wayside). i think the curses would work well and the wailing banshee idea i suggested is basically a copy of the cackling effigy. i think we should stick to your soul idea for the resource cuz my pain idea is only usable if the character is somewhat evil, and the necro at his core is a good character.
on another note, i noticed that witch doctors can use bows. maybe they should have been given throwing spears. the lack of throwing weapons in the game leads me to believe that i think there's a possibility of a throwing weapon class in the expansion.
@Airnesto: Not too shabby. Probably would call it a Sentinel class. I'm actually working on a drawing for my class too.
@nineteen
Again a large army will not work, for server reasons. If we due have a mass summon it will probably function like the fetish army, tempoarary and a on shot. Life Tap I like and can be thrown into Death Magic. Still not feeling the constrictor skill though I think it is border line redundant really.
Now see there's the problem with the aura mechanic. I don't think the player would appreciate a lack of control of what is summoned and the expenditure of a a soul point. I mean I'd rather control directly what I summon. It's still a cool idea but I don't think it could function properly. Maybe ONE ability can make use of this but not a whole system dedicated to it.
Tell you what I'm going to look at the current talent trees via Skill calculators and then shoot you a number that coincides with yours in mind. Don't forget we haven't even considered passives yet.
wait a minute...
are you telling me that the witch doctor pets are controllable? if you are... SWEET!!!!!!
let me know what skills you have in mind (as detailed as possible) and i will help you out with them.
Life Tap - At level 10 or something, the necromancer can gain this ability to basically sacrifice life for resource. this is because the way the necro's soul resource works depends on the amount of creatures killed, sometimes a necro might find itself without any resource and stuck in a bad predicament. instead of punishing the player for his/her mistake, the necro can use this ability to gain resource and get out of the situation. of course, it'll have a long cooldown so the player won't heavily rely on it and make things too easy.
For now I think we'll leave Death Magic as a placeholder til one of us or someone else comes up with a better name.
With regards to serpent strike being similar to snake to the face... Snake to face basically launches a tiny snake that latches on to an enemy face. Snake strike creates a large spectral force (not a physical one) that resembles a snake but shoots out in a line (the same size of the wizard's disintegration beam) and poisons all enemies it hits. it does not deal an initial large damage to creatures in its path. another way to make this different is to add seeking properties to it. so the snake actually homes in one enemies and seeks out new foes after its done poisoning old ones.
*i have another idea below that might incorporate this spell. if you prefer that one, disregard this one.
to me constriction is more about the visual that the mechanics. any spell can cause DOTs plus immobilization. the reason i'm choosing snakes is cause in a way snakes are related to dragons like Trag'Oul. So i kinda figured... maybe there's a connection between the two.
i think vengeful apparition could be a fear spell to chase enemies away while wail of the banshee attracts enemies in for "harvesting" purposes.
all witch doctor spells don't require corpses and are permanent til killed i think. fetish army is on a timer. so is charger. but dogs, spiders and gargantuans are not. i'm for the aura and corpses, not only to make the necro different but to free the necro from constantly summoning pets. making it kinda autocast will definitely show how terrifying the necro is in combat and a master of reanimation.
ok now for the mobile exploding zombie. here's where the * i put in earlier comes in.
lets say you want this mobile exploding creature. here's my idea. a bone spirit is summoned. a bone spirit looks like the skeletal remains of a snake and it hovers in the air when no enemies are present. when enemies come close, the spirit flies straight at them and smashes into them. this results in grievous damage to the target and the impact of the spirit sends shards of bones flying all over the place, damaging surrounding enemies. this way you get to merge the exploding mobile corpse idea with the snake idea and making it different from zombie charger and snake to the face. what say you?
i would go for large army of the pets. but if you use the aura mechanics, then you're sacrificing your total pool of souls to summon more powerful pets. so if you turn on the bone skeleton aura, your total pool is only 90% full, a bone golem would be 70% full and both together 60% full. this will make you wanna choose, ok do i want to sacrifice how much soul i can use to have a large pet army or do i want some pets and a larger pool to use my other skills.
i think we should aim for 22-24 active skills (we can do the passives later).
here's the breakdown of what we should aim for:
7-9 damage dealing spells (nuke, surrounds, AOE, etc)
about 6 summoning spells (bone guard, bone golem, bone mage, dunno if you wanna include bone spirit here)
about 2-4 crowd control spells that deal no or minimal damage but attracts, stuns, slows, disorients, fears and those kinda effects.
5-6 curses. maybe some will get incorporated into the crowd control and others into the direct damage dealing spells.
1-2 escape spells.
2-3 support spells, or misc spells.
in any case i think maybe we should aim for 23 active skills using the combination above.
it is fun to do, and who knows? maybe blizzard might take a look. looking forward to seeing your ideas tmrw.
I think its safe to say that this is my fav fan class that i've seen so far. I love this Necromancer idea. I have a few idea to help you out. So in creating the necromancer, i think the first thing is to distance it from the witch doctor as far as possible. This is so that the necro will feel unique and to avoid overlaps.
Fighting Style
Is the necro a ranged fighter or a melee fighter when not using its spells? Or does it operate more like the wizard and witch doctor and relies heavily on its spells?
Resource
I think this system is excellent. No real qualms about it.
Torments
I think this is a beautiful name for the type of spells it casts. Curses are the bread and butter of any necro and this one is no different. My only suggestion is to remove confusion. Let that be in the realm of the witch doctor. Let the necro concentrate on weakening its opponents rather than turning them against each other.
Death Magic.
We need a name change.
I have a few suggestions for abilities.
Serpent Strike: Launches an snake-like apparition with fangs bared that shoots out in a straight line. All creatures it passes are diseased (damage over time) and/or slowed. (replaces bone spear)
Constriction: A serpent-like apparition appears and wraps itself around an enemy, strangling the life out of it. Mechanics wise, this would act like the Keeper of The Grove's entangling roots, damaging and immobilizing an enemy. Except you'll have this ghostly anaconda doing the constriction instead. (replaces bone spirit)
Vengeful apparition: Instead of stun, how about fear?
You're missing the classic corpse explosion!!!
Reanimation
Feel free to use my suggestion for reanimating aura mechanics. I think its quite original and make the necro stand out from the witch doctor. Plus, with these auras active, the summons will emerge automatically, allowing the necro to focus on fighting instead of animating. like autocast almost.
Kamikaze skeleton is too much like zombie charge for the witch doctor.
Please don't add any golem spells. You could add bone fiend which is a giant creature made from the corpses of multiple creatures. So this creature would be as strong as 2-5 corpses. If 3 corpses is a available, it'll have 3x HP, damage. 4 corpses 4x HP, damage blah blah. bone fiend or bone golem. lets keep the necro summons' bony and the witch doctor's fleshy.
Some other spell ideas:
1. Possession - Sends a spirit and takes control of a single creature. Has a big cooldown and doesn't work on bosses, unique creatures...
2. Wail of the Banshee - summons a banshee which starts singing a dirge. The dirge is so terrible, that monsters immediately start attacking the banshee to try and shut her up. But hitting her will only result in taking damage instead. i don't know if you want to make her temporary but invulnerable or give her x amount of HP. oh and she doesn't move from the spot she's summoned.
3. Death Totem - Any creature that dies around the totem will explode and damage nearby creatures. only downside is it creates no corpses.
4. We need 2 escape spells. Like barbarian has sprint and leaping attack, demon hunter has vault and smoke bomb, monk has inner sanctuary and serenity, wizard has teleport, witch doctor has spirit walk. the necro needs a way to get out of trouble.
That's all for now. If i think of anything else i will let you know.
so lets say in 28 seconds, you could have a total of 7 skeleton warriors and 4 skeleton mages around you.
Now imagine 4 necromancers with 11 minions each. Yeah that would be a mess.
I actually thought about that. Either have the summons have a lifespan or limit the number of summoned creatures on the battlefield. Or lengthen the cooldown between summoning. There are many ways to circumvent that problem.
Oh, and you need corpses to summon creatures. Surely there aren't 44 corpses lying around in a single area...
I'm not a necromancer fan nor or am i for or against its return but i have an idea of how it may work and be different from the witch doctor.
the necromancer gains its resource points from killing. any creature that dies will give the necro a high value of its resource. what i mean is the necro gains resource in large clumps than say the barbarian or monk would.
the necro's summoning skills can work like auras. say you activate summon skeleton warrior aura. any creature that dies within range of the aura will be resurrected as a skeleton warrior. keeping the aura active will lower the total resource by lets say 10%. And the aura also has a cool down so like a skeleton warrior can be raised every 4 seconds. higher level skills, let say, summon skeleton mage. this aura lowers the resource by 20% and summons skeleton mages from dead monsters in range. and it has a cooldown of 7 seconds. a necromancer can have both auras active at the same time but this would lower its total resource to 70% for casting other spells. plus a skeleton warrior will be activated every 4 seconds, a mage every 7 seconds. if both spells are available the higher level one activates first.
so lets say in 28 seconds, you could have a total of 7 skeleton warriors and 4 skeleton mages around you. the timing is all changeable, i'm just giving an example to clarify my point. i really think this necromancer could work and be different enough from the witch doctor to make it into the expansion.
Rakshasas from the Hindu mythology are shapeless demons that come out at night and feed on the dead. That's more of what I was going for rather than the tiger rakshasa i've seen on google images.
My idea for the Heretic is that s/he's a melee fighter, wielding twin bladed weapons and relying on curses, effigies and demonic manifestations to support him/her in combat. If anything, they'd resemble death knights more than anything else.
That would would be really cool. I like that :D.
Thanks. The full description is the in the previous page. If you have any ideas for skills please let me know.
Rakshasas from the Hindu mythology are shapeless demons that come out at night and feed on the dead. That's more of what I was going for rather than the tiger rakshasa i've seen on google images.
My idea for the Heretic is that s/he's a melee fighter, wielding twin bladed weapons and relying on curses, effigies and demonic manifestations to support him/her in combat. If anything, they'd resemble death knights more than anything else.
the only thing that sucks about DIII is you can't assign attribute points manually. Then again, auto distribution will ensure that no wrong choice will be made cause the whole concept of choice has been taken away. Other than that the game looks pretty solid. It does have the best line-up of classes ever. I'm happy that for once there's a game out there with no warrior, mage, rogue, priest or paladin class. Instead, they went with unique classes like demon hunter, witch doctor and a kung-fu monk. that is original.
I would like to see a whip-wielding class. Like a Belmont killing vampires and zombies
And about the Heretic idea. I both like and dislike it. Causing pain is a cool thing in Diablo, but not about having demons traped inside your.
I know the prime evils needed soulstones, but if you gather x amount of demons they should get a bit stronger, no? And there is no more solstones to use.
If its more like an ancient pain-god that grants them the power, fine! Or other things that doesnt involve "having demons inside in your body/soul". Its a concept we already have.
All in all, love the idea! - Demonic forces is cool "outside".
Thanks for the feedback and comments. I think you're right. The whole soul stone thing made it apparent that maybe demons are not the best way to go. Maybe instead of having a "inner demon" they could have some other kind of malevolent, ancient evil creature trapped inside that grants them "demon-like" powers. I was thinking maybe Rakshasas and have the Heretic's ethnicity be a cross between Indian and Middle Eastern - rakshasas being demons from Hindu mythology. Also rakshasas are shape-shifters, hence giving the Heretics various different manifestations and also magic users, hence using the external "demonic" powers.
The whole concept of the Heretic is actually based on the idea I had for the Pain resource system. I think its different enough to actually work in Diablo 3 without really impairing gameplay or straying too far away from the norm.
btw, I would love to see like a beastmaster class or something using whips...
When you said Rakshasas and "Indian" I thought of "Djinns". A mystic power. And yeah, the Pain resource was an cool idea!
djinns are noble, aren't they? i know rakhsasas are always evil. I also read a post where someone named a similar type of character the Infernal. I think Infernal is way cooler than Heretic and I might just steal that name.
btw, any cool ideas for active skills for the Heretic?
I would like to see a whip-wielding class. Like a Belmont killing vampires and zombies
And about the Heretic idea. I both like and dislike it. Causing pain is a cool thing in Diablo, but not about having demons traped inside your.
I know the prime evils needed soulstones, but if you gather x amount of demons they should get a bit stronger, no? And there is no more solstones to use.
If its more like an ancient pain-god that grants them the power, fine! Or other things that doesnt involve "having demons inside in your body/soul". Its a concept we already have.
All in all, love the idea! - Demonic forces is cool "outside".
Thanks for the feedback and comments. I think you're right. The whole soul stone thing made it apparent that maybe demons are not the best way to go. Maybe instead of having a "inner demon" they could have some other kind of malevolent, ancient evil creature trapped inside that grants them "demon-like" powers. I was thinking maybe Rakshasas and have the Heretic's ethnicity be a cross between Indian and Middle Eastern - rakshasas being demons from Hindu mythology. Also rakshasas are shape-shifters, hence giving the Heretics various different manifestations and also magic users, hence using the external "demonic" powers.
The whole concept of the Heretic is actually based on the idea I had for the Pain resource system. I think its different enough to actually work in Diablo 3 without really impairing gameplay or straying too far away from the norm.
btw, I would love to see like a beastmaster class or something using whips...
I have an idea for a D3xp character. The name is a temporary placeholder as I couldn't come up with something more original that fits. So for now, I've simply named it the HERETIC.
Background
Heretics belong to an ancient order who were of the mindset that the only way to combat demons is to embrace the power they wield. So to this end they captured demons and trapped their essences within their own bodies. So basically they're carrying around these demons inside them and these demons have formed a sort of bond with the heretics. (This is basically the lore part for how their resource works... more on this below).
Heretics are basically anti-paladins/death knights thrown in with a little necromancer. They are melee fighters. They're unique weapons are a set of double bladed weapons. Like the demon hunter has a set of hand crossbows, their set weapons come in pairs as well. They could look like moonglaives, sun-moon swords, dual scimitars... basically anything bladed that comes in pairs.
I'll explain their resource before I proceed.
Resource: Pain
See, in order for the demon to grant them power to fuel their spells and what not, the demon must taste pain. Now simply attacking or hurting an enemy does not suffice. Sadism must be involved. To this end, Heretics have several pain generating abilities. A Heretic can embue his weapon to cost damage over time, cast curses on enemies to slow them and what not and these "curses" basically cause the enemies to "hurt". When an enemy is "hurt" or is "in pain", attacking them will generate pain, as the inner demon delights in this. A kind of kick him when he's down to delight me kinda thing.
Once the pain gauge is filled, the heretic can use it to cast spells and what not.
Skills
Here's a list of some of the skills the Heretic has at his disposals by groups:
1. Curses
Heretics can Enfeeble their enemies, causing them to deal reduced damage and have a higher chance to miss.
Weakness causes surrounding enemies to suffer a curse that if hit, they are knocked back and generally move slower.
Life Tap is a curse that is cast over a target and if the target is hit, a percentage of the damage done heals the heretic.
Necrosis causes an enemy to take damage over time.
Agonizing Bond causes the target to suffer 50% of the damage done to the Heretic.
*all curses generate pain.
2. Effigies, Totems and Idols
Heretics can summon various idols and totems that do different things.
The Cackling Effigy summons a pole that has a bound demon on it much like how a you'd imagine a witch tied to a stake. This creature is screaming in pain and attracts enemies to attack it as the screams sound like taunts. This effigy if struck generates pain.
The Idol of Malaise basically causes enemies around it to move slower and attack slower. It uses up pain.
The Death Totem causes any enemy who dies in the surrounding vicinity to explode and damage its neighbors. Consumes pain.
3. Demonic Gifts
Spending pain allows the inner demon to manifest certain powers onto the heretic.
Demonic Strength basically unleashes an explosion every time the Heretic attacks an enemy, dealing damage to nearby enemies as well for a short duration.
Petrifying Gaze turns an enemy into stone temporarily.
Life Drain does just that. It continously drains life to heal the heretic.
Tendrils sprouts hideous appendages that will attack nearby enemies and also block certain attacks.
Spines cause spines to erupt from the body dealing damage to those who hit the Heretic.
Unleash the Demon turns the Heretic into a demon for a short time with increased attributes.
Fel Wings sprouts wings for 3 seconds allowing the heretic to escape or reach an area while flying over enemy hordes.
4. Demonic Powers
Pain spending skills that are outwardly demonic spells.
Possession basically turns an enemy into an ally.
Doom causes damage over time and when killed, an asura demon rips out from the dead corpse to join the Heretic.
Infernal Fist causes a large fist to erupt from the ground damaging all enemies in the area and knocking them back.
Impale sends a row of spines that damage and stun enemies in a row.
Thats basically my idea. Any suggestions for improvments would be greatly appreciated.
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ooh, i see a heretic fan. i think a heretic type class is very possible because it covers both the look and feel of a paladin with the skills (kinda) of the necromancer and some shapeshifting of the druid.
thanks!
i had this idea for a "druid" character called the warden, who is basically a ranged spear/axe thrower that also uses nature magic like summoning animal spirits to imbue his weapons. like infusing the spirit of the bull into the spear to make it stun enemies who get hit, or spirit of the porcupine to make the spear split into five pieces as it is thrown. also it summons animal totems like the hawk to increase damage, crit chance and speed of the weapons used, a stampede of bulls to rush an enemy, jaguars to slash enemies in an area, stuff like that. also the constriction and snake strike ideas i suggested for the necro come from here. the warden uses "chi" as its resource which is split into yin and yang. as yin is used up, yang gets filled. some abilities are powered by yin and the other yang. so its a juggling of both resources to utilized this character best.
@NecromancerKazuya
ah i see now, i get your point with the auras. well, if you don't need that type of pet, you could turn the aura off and increase your total available "soul". i don't know, the mechanics around it might seem a little complex now that i think about it.
oh go ahead and scavenge whatever you need from the heretic. i have no problems with that (better the ideas get used and if blizzard sees it, woo hoo!, than to be tossed away at the wayside). i think the curses would work well and the wailing banshee idea i suggested is basically a copy of the cackling effigy. i think we should stick to your soul idea for the resource cuz my pain idea is only usable if the character is somewhat evil, and the necro at his core is a good character.
on another note, i noticed that witch doctors can use bows. maybe they should have been given throwing spears. the lack of throwing weapons in the game leads me to believe that i think there's a possibility of a throwing weapon class in the expansion.
wait a minute...
are you telling me that the witch doctor pets are controllable? if you are... SWEET!!!!!!
let me know what skills you have in mind (as detailed as possible) and i will help you out with them.
Life Tap - At level 10 or something, the necromancer can gain this ability to basically sacrifice life for resource. this is because the way the necro's soul resource works depends on the amount of creatures killed, sometimes a necro might find itself without any resource and stuck in a bad predicament. instead of punishing the player for his/her mistake, the necro can use this ability to gain resource and get out of the situation. of course, it'll have a long cooldown so the player won't heavily rely on it and make things too easy.
Count me on board to create the necromancer!
For now I think we'll leave Death Magic as a placeholder til one of us or someone else comes up with a better name.
With regards to serpent strike being similar to snake to the face... Snake to face basically launches a tiny snake that latches on to an enemy face. Snake strike creates a large spectral force (not a physical one) that resembles a snake but shoots out in a line (the same size of the wizard's disintegration beam) and poisons all enemies it hits. it does not deal an initial large damage to creatures in its path. another way to make this different is to add seeking properties to it. so the snake actually homes in one enemies and seeks out new foes after its done poisoning old ones.
*i have another idea below that might incorporate this spell. if you prefer that one, disregard this one.
to me constriction is more about the visual that the mechanics. any spell can cause DOTs plus immobilization. the reason i'm choosing snakes is cause in a way snakes are related to dragons like Trag'Oul. So i kinda figured... maybe there's a connection between the two.
i think vengeful apparition could be a fear spell to chase enemies away while wail of the banshee attracts enemies in for "harvesting" purposes.
all witch doctor spells don't require corpses and are permanent til killed i think. fetish army is on a timer. so is charger. but dogs, spiders and gargantuans are not. i'm for the aura and corpses, not only to make the necro different but to free the necro from constantly summoning pets. making it kinda autocast will definitely show how terrifying the necro is in combat and a master of reanimation.
ok now for the mobile exploding zombie. here's where the * i put in earlier comes in.
lets say you want this mobile exploding creature. here's my idea. a bone spirit is summoned. a bone spirit looks like the skeletal remains of a snake and it hovers in the air when no enemies are present. when enemies come close, the spirit flies straight at them and smashes into them. this results in grievous damage to the target and the impact of the spirit sends shards of bones flying all over the place, damaging surrounding enemies. this way you get to merge the exploding mobile corpse idea with the snake idea and making it different from zombie charger and snake to the face. what say you?
i would go for large army of the pets. but if you use the aura mechanics, then you're sacrificing your total pool of souls to summon more powerful pets. so if you turn on the bone skeleton aura, your total pool is only 90% full, a bone golem would be 70% full and both together 60% full. this will make you wanna choose, ok do i want to sacrifice how much soul i can use to have a large pet army or do i want some pets and a larger pool to use my other skills.
i think we should aim for 22-24 active skills (we can do the passives later).
here's the breakdown of what we should aim for:
7-9 damage dealing spells (nuke, surrounds, AOE, etc)
about 6 summoning spells (bone guard, bone golem, bone mage, dunno if you wanna include bone spirit here)
about 2-4 crowd control spells that deal no or minimal damage but attracts, stuns, slows, disorients, fears and those kinda effects.
5-6 curses. maybe some will get incorporated into the crowd control and others into the direct damage dealing spells.
1-2 escape spells.
2-3 support spells, or misc spells.
in any case i think maybe we should aim for 23 active skills using the combination above.
it is fun to do, and who knows? maybe blizzard might take a look. looking forward to seeing your ideas tmrw.
I think its safe to say that this is my fav fan class that i've seen so far. I love this Necromancer idea. I have a few idea to help you out. So in creating the necromancer, i think the first thing is to distance it from the witch doctor as far as possible. This is so that the necro will feel unique and to avoid overlaps.
Fighting Style
Is the necro a ranged fighter or a melee fighter when not using its spells? Or does it operate more like the wizard and witch doctor and relies heavily on its spells?
Resource
I think this system is excellent. No real qualms about it.
Torments
I think this is a beautiful name for the type of spells it casts. Curses are the bread and butter of any necro and this one is no different. My only suggestion is to remove confusion. Let that be in the realm of the witch doctor. Let the necro concentrate on weakening its opponents rather than turning them against each other.
Death Magic.
We need a name change.
I have a few suggestions for abilities.
Serpent Strike: Launches an snake-like apparition with fangs bared that shoots out in a straight line. All creatures it passes are diseased (damage over time) and/or slowed. (replaces bone spear)
Constriction: A serpent-like apparition appears and wraps itself around an enemy, strangling the life out of it. Mechanics wise, this would act like the Keeper of The Grove's entangling roots, damaging and immobilizing an enemy. Except you'll have this ghostly anaconda doing the constriction instead. (replaces bone spirit)
Vengeful apparition: Instead of stun, how about fear?
You're missing the classic corpse explosion!!!
Reanimation
Feel free to use my suggestion for reanimating aura mechanics. I think its quite original and make the necro stand out from the witch doctor. Plus, with these auras active, the summons will emerge automatically, allowing the necro to focus on fighting instead of animating. like autocast almost.
Kamikaze skeleton is too much like zombie charge for the witch doctor.
Please don't add any golem spells. You could add bone fiend which is a giant creature made from the corpses of multiple creatures. So this creature would be as strong as 2-5 corpses. If 3 corpses is a available, it'll have 3x HP, damage. 4 corpses 4x HP, damage blah blah. bone fiend or bone golem. lets keep the necro summons' bony and the witch doctor's fleshy.
Some other spell ideas:
1. Possession - Sends a spirit and takes control of a single creature. Has a big cooldown and doesn't work on bosses, unique creatures...
2. Wail of the Banshee - summons a banshee which starts singing a dirge. The dirge is so terrible, that monsters immediately start attacking the banshee to try and shut her up. But hitting her will only result in taking damage instead. i don't know if you want to make her temporary but invulnerable or give her x amount of HP. oh and she doesn't move from the spot she's summoned.
3. Death Totem - Any creature that dies around the totem will explode and damage nearby creatures. only downside is it creates no corpses.
4. We need 2 escape spells. Like barbarian has sprint and leaping attack, demon hunter has vault and smoke bomb, monk has inner sanctuary and serenity, wizard has teleport, witch doctor has spirit walk. the necro needs a way to get out of trouble.
That's all for now. If i think of anything else i will let you know.
Oh, and you need corpses to summon creatures. Surely there aren't 44 corpses lying around in a single area...
the necromancer gains its resource points from killing. any creature that dies will give the necro a high value of its resource. what i mean is the necro gains resource in large clumps than say the barbarian or monk would.
the necro's summoning skills can work like auras. say you activate summon skeleton warrior aura. any creature that dies within range of the aura will be resurrected as a skeleton warrior. keeping the aura active will lower the total resource by lets say 10%. And the aura also has a cool down so like a skeleton warrior can be raised every 4 seconds. higher level skills, let say, summon skeleton mage. this aura lowers the resource by 20% and summons skeleton mages from dead monsters in range. and it has a cooldown of 7 seconds. a necromancer can have both auras active at the same time but this would lower its total resource to 70% for casting other spells. plus a skeleton warrior will be activated every 4 seconds, a mage every 7 seconds. if both spells are available the higher level one activates first.
so lets say in 28 seconds, you could have a total of 7 skeleton warriors and 4 skeleton mages around you. the timing is all changeable, i'm just giving an example to clarify my point. i really think this necromancer could work and be different enough from the witch doctor to make it into the expansion.
My idea for the Heretic is that s/he's a melee fighter, wielding twin bladed weapons and relying on curses, effigies and demonic manifestations to support him/her in combat. If anything, they'd resemble death knights more than anything else.
btw, any cool ideas for active skills for the Heretic?
The whole concept of the Heretic is actually based on the idea I had for the Pain resource system. I think its different enough to actually work in Diablo 3 without really impairing gameplay or straying too far away from the norm.
btw, I would love to see like a beastmaster class or something using whips...
Background
Heretics belong to an ancient order who were of the mindset that the only way to combat demons is to embrace the power they wield. So to this end they captured demons and trapped their essences within their own bodies. So basically they're carrying around these demons inside them and these demons have formed a sort of bond with the heretics. (This is basically the lore part for how their resource works... more on this below).
Heretics are basically anti-paladins/death knights thrown in with a little necromancer. They are melee fighters. They're unique weapons are a set of double bladed weapons. Like the demon hunter has a set of hand crossbows, their set weapons come in pairs as well. They could look like moonglaives, sun-moon swords, dual scimitars... basically anything bladed that comes in pairs.
I'll explain their resource before I proceed.
Resource: Pain
See, in order for the demon to grant them power to fuel their spells and what not, the demon must taste pain. Now simply attacking or hurting an enemy does not suffice. Sadism must be involved. To this end, Heretics have several pain generating abilities. A Heretic can embue his weapon to cost damage over time, cast curses on enemies to slow them and what not and these "curses" basically cause the enemies to "hurt". When an enemy is "hurt" or is "in pain", attacking them will generate pain, as the inner demon delights in this. A kind of kick him when he's down to delight me kinda thing.
Once the pain gauge is filled, the heretic can use it to cast spells and what not.
Skills
Here's a list of some of the skills the Heretic has at his disposals by groups:
1. Curses
Heretics can Enfeeble their enemies, causing them to deal reduced damage and have a higher chance to miss.
Weakness causes surrounding enemies to suffer a curse that if hit, they are knocked back and generally move slower.
Life Tap is a curse that is cast over a target and if the target is hit, a percentage of the damage done heals the heretic.
Necrosis causes an enemy to take damage over time.
Agonizing Bond causes the target to suffer 50% of the damage done to the Heretic.
*all curses generate pain.
2. Effigies, Totems and Idols
Heretics can summon various idols and totems that do different things.
The Cackling Effigy summons a pole that has a bound demon on it much like how a you'd imagine a witch tied to a stake. This creature is screaming in pain and attracts enemies to attack it as the screams sound like taunts. This effigy if struck generates pain.
The Idol of Malaise basically causes enemies around it to move slower and attack slower. It uses up pain.
The Death Totem causes any enemy who dies in the surrounding vicinity to explode and damage its neighbors. Consumes pain.
3. Demonic Gifts
Spending pain allows the inner demon to manifest certain powers onto the heretic.
Demonic Strength basically unleashes an explosion every time the Heretic attacks an enemy, dealing damage to nearby enemies as well for a short duration.
Petrifying Gaze turns an enemy into stone temporarily.
Life Drain does just that. It continously drains life to heal the heretic.
Tendrils sprouts hideous appendages that will attack nearby enemies and also block certain attacks.
Spines cause spines to erupt from the body dealing damage to those who hit the Heretic.
Unleash the Demon turns the Heretic into a demon for a short time with increased attributes.
Fel Wings sprouts wings for 3 seconds allowing the heretic to escape or reach an area while flying over enemy hordes.
4. Demonic Powers
Pain spending skills that are outwardly demonic spells.
Possession basically turns an enemy into an ally.
Doom causes damage over time and when killed, an asura demon rips out from the dead corpse to join the Heretic.
Infernal Fist causes a large fist to erupt from the ground damaging all enemies in the area and knocking them back.
Impale sends a row of spines that damage and stun enemies in a row.
Thats basically my idea. Any suggestions for improvments would be greatly appreciated.