[Shelved][✓] [Lore] Spriggans - Druidic Familiars

[GDPR 014 23]

I like this. Atronachs are better though:D

[Promotey 7]

This is such a good lore +1 ;)

[manicfairy 178]

I love this +1

[WuHanXianShi14 0]

2 hours ago, Jaeden said:

- As Jolly said, we have ents. Why not try and expand upon that lore to make it more interesting for players?

Ents are completely different, they are sentient creatures whereas Spriggans are atronachs/constructs. Ents dont share any of the same abilities Spriggans do. Ents are large, hulking trees, while Spriggans are around 7ft at most, not much bigger than the average person. Ents have free will. Spriggans do not.

 

It's actually a very, very shallow comparison, since literally the only thing the two have in common is they're made of magic tree stuff. Besides, just because something resembles another thing doesn't mean it shouldn't be allowed to exist. It's stupid to expect every piece of lore to be 100% original, unique and has NOTHING to do with ANYTHING else EVER.

 

2 hours ago, Jaeden said:

- Secondly, the thing feels way too combat orientated.

That's the whole point of it as a creature...
 

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With its abilities, I wouldn't even trust some of the veteran roleplayers on here to be able to do it effectively; myself included. While the limb-extension makes sense due to a Druid's control subtype, I don't think it's suited on a creature like this. That sort of ability could easily wipe out a whole battalion of cavalry if used correctly.

 

No, it cant, it can only extend out three blocks (which I specified in the post) and ultimately has the same effect as a guy with a long spear.

 

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Then, onto the pollen / spore expulsion. Perhaps keeping the paralysis one. Though the remainder just seem unneeded.

You give no reason for this.

 

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Lore-wise, I don't think the Aspects would attempt to make brutal killing machines that obey the commands of their servants.

Under what citation? The Aspects dont live under a rock. They know there is plenty of un-natural **** ******* up the world. Tell me why they wouldn't take direct action in creating something to protect their realm, and entrust druids (their divine, sacred, chosen servants) to utilize it for them?

 

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So perhaps just downgrading some of the abilities

In all honestly, I basically feel you didn't really read the lore all that properly, because the only ability you expressed concern about in detail was the limb extension, which the post itself says isn't as powerful as you think it is. Everything else you just said 'is unneeded' without giving any reason why, which is why this isnt a very valid request.
 

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Not everyone enjoys playing mute characters; especially in this case, a robotic-acting mute character.

 

No, obviously not. But not every creature is designed to appeal to everyone. If they dont want to play this sort of character they dont have to, and if they want to, then they can.

 

 

[SaviourMeme 691]

I approve

 

[BonesOfTheEarth 1564]

Druids are already OP.. Cant count how many have claimed to be able to bury a city with roots if they wanted to.

[WuHanXianShi14 0]

2 minutes ago, Fury_Fire said:

Druids are already OP.. Cant count how many have claimed to be able to bury a city with roots if they wanted to.

Druids cant actually do that. Every magic group is always smugly going "AHURHURHUR IN THEORY, MY MAGIC CAN DO THIS, THAT AND THIS AND GIVEN THE RIGHT CIRCUMSTANCES IM BASICALLY GREATER THAN GOD". I experienced it as a void mage, I experienced it as a druid. No prejudice here. We're all equally pretentious.

[Aesopian 1122]

These creatures should be a subtype of ent.

[BonesOfTheEarth 1564]

Just now, 吳憾戰士14 said:

Druids cant actually do that. Every magic group is always smugly going "AHURHURHUR IN THEORY, MY MAGIC CAN DO THIS, THAT AND THIS AND GIVEN THE RIGHT CIRCUMSTANCES IM BASICALLY GREATER THAN GOD". I experienced it as a void mage, I experienced it as a druid. No prejudice here. We're all equally pretentious.

In theory I could cover myself in volatile enchantments and walk into the wood elven city

 

I guess you have a point.

[Gladuos 857]

 

EDIT: Sorry for the wall of text. |:^]

 

I'll start this off with saying very nice job on the lore, Leo. It looks very sparkly and it was enjoyable to read. I would very much like for this to become a thing, as I can see it adding a good deal of positive things to druidic roleplay. Before I support this, however, I'd like to list off various questions and suggestions I have for the lore. They are as follows:

 

As for the issue of wondering whether these detract from ent RP or not, I would suggest saying that these are simply more common, controllable, smaller ents. I would say this because ents as they are seem mostly like ET-tools rather than actual things that make a difference daily on a druid's life or our roleplay experience.

 

I can tell that maybe some of the abilities might need weakened. I don't really know, how fast could the extended limbs move? If it's akin to what we see with Groot in that gif, it might need a little tweaking. The pollen/spores does not seem too overpowered IMO though, as it is described as taking a long time before taking full effect.

 

So basically in the creation of sleeping trees, it sounds like if you have 3-4 druids that 30% chance rate of converting a tree into a spriggan one would turn to 100%. Is this intentional?

 

Once summoned, how long do the spriggans persist for within the 300 block radius until having to maybe return to the tree? If it's indefinite, does this mean a druid could potentially summon a large mass of these creatures? (Assuming one finds enough players for each one?)

 

When a druid goes through the process of 'summoning' a spriggan, does that mean creating a new one? I can't imagine a player enjoying having to wait for a druid to go through a whole RP ritual every time they want to play each day.

 

I do like how this may result in druid groves actually being scary places when thinking of attacking, as I remember in Vailor the orcs would often pull off raids and simply smash through all of us squishy, non-armored, non-weaponed, roleplay-oriented druids. Having a large number of construct races wandering around could do well in maintaining defense in groves, mechanically and from an IC perspective, as was the intention. I like that.

 

Whenever you say these two separate things, it leaves me slightly confused:

12 hours ago, 吳憾戰士14 said:

Something which could be accomplished by a veteran pyromancer or anyone wielding equivalent power.

 

12 hours ago, 吳憾戰士14 said:

Fire from arcane pyromancers or Nephilim/Azdrazi will set alight a Spriggan with relative ease

Is it relatively easy to set them alight with magical flame, or is it something only a veteran fire evocationist could muster?

 

This doesn't make much sense to me. In a combat situation, 4-5 emotes equates to about 30-60 seconds, not 15 minutes. Unless of course you mean it can only be done outside of combat, where more time is implied with each emote.

12 hours ago, 吳憾戰士14 said:

The opponent needs to inhale the spore into his lungs before its effects take place, and it will take around 15 minutes or so (Or 4-5 emotes) for the opponent to fully fall asleep.

 

What is the core physically made of? Is it simply made from druidic energies? Can you give examples of how easy it would be to destroy an exposed spriggan core?

 

What is the limit in strength of a spriggan? Say, if a spriggan and golem sat down together and for some reason had an arm-wrestling match (maybe a golemancer and druid thought it would be funny), how would they fair against one another?

 

I understand that the spriggans have a certain radius around the sleeping tree before they are forcibly 'dissipated', but what does that mean? How do they 'dissipate'? Do they literally disappear, or does their wooden body become still and inactive, forcing their druidic energies, or pseudo-soul, back into the sleeping tree where it could be re-summoned?

 

I understand that the spriggan needs to be within a certain radius of the sleeping tree, but that localizes the options of RP for the person playing it. Maybe it could instead be something similar to atronachs, where they will have a reservoire of energy that slowly dwindles the longer they are away from the 'home base', and would need to eventually return or face 'death'. That sounds like it could give more options to RP for the players playing the spriggans so that they can exit the grove for short times instead of instantly 'dissipating' upon leaving. If a spriggan player's stuck in an empty grove, or the location of the sleeping tree becomes some what inactive, it may result in some bored players because they're unable to go out and find RP.

 

Would spriggans be able to be communed with by druids or is one stuck with simply the creaking noises and Tiva language?

 

What do you think of the prospect of having this require an MA in order to effectively 'summon' and control a spriggan? It seems to be something that benefits a certain amount of power and responsibility that goes beyond simple control and communion. How do you expect someone that was simply given lessons on how to speak and ask things of Nature/plants/animals to do this all properly? Just as golemancy may seemingly only require runesmithing or alteration, it is still something of its own. Whether this requires an MA that takes up a slot, or not, I don't mind, just so long as we have a means to document and keep track of who can truthfully 'summon' these fairly.

 

I know these are meant to be the druidic equivalent of golems or atronachs, so I suggest you give extra options to expand on the possible RP available to spriggan players. What I mean by this is that as Jaeden said, mute robot-personality characters are rather bland to RP, and has often been a problem in the past for golems or atronachs. Golems got past this partially by offering the possibility of soulbounds maintaining some of their personality, or atronachs beginning to be able to expand on their knowledge and develop personalities. Essentially, I suggest you add something which can make it more interesting for a larger array of players.

 

I think that's pretty much all I have to contribute to all this. I wish you luck with whatever alterations you may consider for the lore, and I hope it actually does get passed, these sound really fun. c:

[Aesopian 1122]

Just now, Gladuos said:

 

EDIT: Sorry for the wall of text. |:^]

 

I'll start this off with saying very nice job on the lore, Leo. It looks very sparkly and it was enjoyable to read. I would very much like for this to become a thing, as I can see it adding a good deal of positive things to druidic roleplay. Before I support this, however, I'd like to list off various questions and suggestions I have for the lore. They are as follows:

 

As for the issue of wondering whether these detract from ent RP or not, I would suggest saying that these are simply more common, controllable, smaller ents. I would say this because ents as they are seem mostly like ET-tools rather than actual things that make a difference daily on a druid's life or our roleplay experience.

 

I can tell that maybe some of the abilities might need weakened. I don't really know, how fast could the extended limbs move? If it's akin to what we see with Groot in that gif, it might need a little tweaking. The pollen/spores does not seem too overpowered IMO though, as it is described as taking a long time before taking full effect.

 

So basically in the creation of sleeping trees, it sounds like if you have 3-4 druids that 30% chance rate of converting a tree into a spriggan one would turn to 100%. Is this intentional?

 

Once summoned, how long do the spriggans persist for within the 300 block radius until having to maybe return to the tree? If it's indefinite, does this mean a druid could potentially summon a large mass of these creatures? (Assuming one finds enough players for each one?)

 

When a druid goes through the process of 'summoning' a spriggan, does that mean creating a new one? I can't imagine a player enjoying having to wait for a druid to go through a whole RP ritual every time they want to play each day.

 

I do like how this may result in druid groves actually being scary places when thinking of attacking, as I remember in Vailor the orcs would often pull off raids and simply smash through all of us squishy, non-armored, non-weaponed, roleplay-oriented druids. Having a large number of construct races wandering around could do well in maintaining defense in groves, mechanically and from an IC perspective, as was the intention. I like that.

 

Whenever you say these two separate things, it leaves me slightly confused:

 

Is it relatively easy to set them alight with magical flame, or is it something only a veteran fire evocationist could muster?

 

This doesn't make much sense to me. In a combat situation, 4-5 emotes equates to about 30-60 seconds, not 15 minutes. Unless of course you mean it can only be done outside of combat, where more time is implied with each emote.

 

What is the core physically made of? Is it simply made from druidic energies? Can you give examples of how easy it would be to destroy an exposed spriggan core?

 

What is the limit in strength of a spriggan? Say, if a spriggan and golem sat down together and for some reason had an arm-wrestling match (maybe a golemancer and druid thought it would be funny), how would they fair against one another?

 

I understand that the spriggans have a certain radius around the sleeping tree before they are forcibly 'dissipated', but what does that mean? How do they 'dissipate'? Do they literally disappear, or does their wooden body become still and inactive, forcing their druidic energies, or pseudo-soul, back into the sleeping tree where it could be re-summoned?

 

I understand that the spriggan needs to be within a certain radius of the sleeping tree, but that localizes the options of RP for the person playing it. Maybe it could instead be something similar to atronachs, where they will have a reservoire of energy that slowly dwindles the longer they are away from the 'home base', and would need to eventually return or face 'death'. That sounds like it could give more options to RP for the players playing the spriggans so that they can exit the grove for short times instead of instantly 'dissipating' upon leaving. If a spriggan player's stuck in an empty grove, or the location of the sleeping tree becomes some what inactive, it may result in some bored players because they're unable to go out and find RP.

 

Would spriggans be able to be communed with by druids or is one stuck with simply the creaking noises and Tiva language?

 

What do you think of the prospect of having this require an MA in order to effectively 'summon' and control a spriggan? It seems to be something that benefits a certain amount of power and responsibility that goes beyond simple control and communion. How do you expect someone that was simply given lessons on how to speak and ask things of Nature/plants/animals to do this all properly? Just as golemancy may seemingly only require runesmithing or alteration, it is still something of its own. Whether this requires an MA that takes up a slot, or not, I don't mind, just so long as we have a means to document and keep track of who can truthfully 'summon' these fairly.

 

I know these are meant to be the druidic equivalent of golems or atronachs, so I suggest you give extra options to expand on the possible RP available to spriggan players. What I mean by this is that as Jaeden said, mute robot-personality characters are rather bland to RP, and has often been a problem in the past for golems or atronachs. Golems got past this partially by offering the possibility of soulbounds maintaining some of their personality, or atronachs beginning to be able to expand on their knowledge and develop personalities. Essentially, I suggest you add something which can make it more interesting for a larger array of players.

 

I think that's pretty much all I have to contribute to all this. I wish you luck with whatever alterations you may consider for the lore, and I hope it actually does get passed, these sound really fun. c:

 

Its actually (0.70^4) or around a 24% chance of failure for four Druids in one day.

[Gladuos 857]

Just now, Aesopian said:

 

Its actually (0.70^4) or around a 24% chance of failure for four Druids in one day.

Heck, stop mathing me to death. I thought I was done with this when I graduated. :C

[WuHanXianShi14 0]

OH BOY WALL OF TEXT

 

Just now, Gladuos said:

I can tell that maybe some of the abilities might need weakened. I don't really know, how fast could the extended limbs move? If it's akin to what we see with Groot in that gif, it might need a little tweaking. The pollen/spores does not seem too overpowered IMO though, as it is described as taking a long time before taking full effect.

 

The limbs thing basically works like a harpoon gun which shoots out a maximum length of three blocks, if you have a shield or heavy plate armour you should be safe from it. It's not groot levels of powerful.

 

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So basically in the creation of sleeping trees, it sounds like if you have 3-4 druids that 30% chance rate of converting a tree into a spriggan one would turn to 100%. Is this intentional?

Well, sort of. Since there's no limit on how many times you can try, so if you're persistant enough then eventually you'll succeed in making a sleeping tree. Which is why there's a cap on how many there can be in the entire world, (10), so druids arent turning entire forests into spriggans.

 

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Once summoned, how long do the spriggans persist for within the 300 block radius until having to maybe return to the tree? If it's indefinite, does this mean a druid could potentially summon a large mass of these creatures? (Assuming one finds enough players for each one?)

It's basically indefinite. But, this is only so people who play spriggans can play them when they want to, not just when they're summoned.

 

However, say a spook wanders into the grove and the druids want to summon the spriggan. If the spriggan isnt ALREADY in the immediate area then they MUST do the summoning ritual (which exposes them and takes time). They cant just say 'oh RPly he was roaming about'. If you get attacked and your spriggan isn't being actively RPed, online, in that area, it needs summoning.

 

And no, they cant summon a large mass of them. As I said, there can only be a max of ten in the whole world and I imagine there'll be no more than 2 or 3 of them per place. (Mother grove, Linandria, etc).

 

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When a druid goes through the process of 'summoning' a spriggan, does that mean creating a new one? I can't imagine a player enjoying having to wait for a druid to go through a whole RP ritual every time they want to play each day.

 

 No, it's always the same spriggan. It's just whenever it's not summoned, its 'sleeping', or dormant, inside its tree. However, spriggans are capable of awakening themselves to roam around their grove. This is just so spriggan players dont need to wait for a ritual summoning to RP their character.

 

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Is it relatively easy to set them alight with magical flame, or is it something only a veteran fire evocationist could muster?

Their weakness is voidal fire, so any T3 or above mage which hits home with a good fire blast will likely set it aflame.

 

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This doesn't make much sense to me. In a combat situation, 4-5 emotes equates to about 30-60 seconds, not 15 minutes. Unless of course you mean it can only be done outside of combat, where more time is implied with each emote.

Eh, the actual time doesn't matter. It was just a ballpark estimate. Time is measured in emote count anyways during RP fights, and the emote count is what matters.

 

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What is the core physically made of? Is it simply made from druidic energies? Can you give examples of how easy it would be to destroy an exposed spriggan core?

It's essentially made of druidic energies, and once disrupted by any serious force it will dissipate the spriggan. As you can see, one of the red lines is the core must always be accessible. So there are a few ways to get at it. You can try to shoot an arrow through the back of its chest, or use a magic with enough kinetic force to blast through the wooden protection. Or, just whack at its chest with a heavy weapon enough times to break the wood and expose the core. Etc.

 

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What is the limit in strength of a spriggan? Say, if a spriggan and golem sat down together and for some reason had an arm-wrestling match (maybe a golemancer and druid thought it would be funny), how would they fair against one another?

Golem would win hands down. Spriggans rely more on being magical creatures whereas golems are brute, raw strength. Spriggans are decently strong and likely their arm strength is a bit more than the average descendent. They dont hold up against golems or other such creatures though.
 

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I understand that the spriggans have a certain radius around the sleeping tree before they are forcibly 'dissipated', but what does that mean? How do they 'dissipate'? Do they literally disappear, or does their wooden body become still and inactive, forcing their druidic energies, or pseudo-soul, back into the sleeping tree where it could be re-summoned?

 

They basically dissolve and the wisps of druidic energies which give it life return to its mother tree, and the spriggan becomes dormant inside it, needing to be reawoken again.

 

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I understand that the spriggan needs to be within a certain radius of the sleeping tree, but that localizes the options of RP for the person playing it. Maybe it could instead be something similar to atronachs, where they will have a reservoire of energy that slowly dwindles the longer they are away from the 'home base', and would need to eventually return or face 'death'. That sounds like it could give more options to RP for the players playing the spriggans so that they can exit the grove for short times instead of instantly 'dissipating' upon leaving. If a spriggan player's stuck in an empty grove, or the location of the sleeping tree becomes some what inactive, it may result in some bored players because they're unable to go out and find RP.

Well, firstly, like with golems and atronachs, I assume that a spriggan wont be a players main character. Also, the places like the mother grove and linandria are pretty active. If no one is in a spriggan's area they can just pop onto another character until there are. They're more niche characters, not meant to be someone's main.

 

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Would spriggans be able to be communed with by druids or is one stuck with simply the creaking noises and Tiva language?

Druids can commune with them, yes. Although it would basically be the same as like, a golem talking to its impera and being given orders, just with druid communion.
 

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What do you think of the prospect of having this require an MA in order to effectively 'summon' and control a spriggan? It seems to be something that benefits a certain amount of power and responsibility that goes beyond simple control and communion. How do you expect someone that was simply given lessons on how to speak and ask things of Nature/plants/animals to do this all properly? Just as golemancy may seemingly only require runesmithing or alteration, it is still something of its own. Whether this requires an MA that takes up a slot, or not, I don't mind, just so long as we have a means to document and keep track of who can truthfully 'summon' these fairly.

 

Well, the only people who can summon spriggans are T4 druids and above, who at that point will be experienced, well documented by the MAT and generally trustworthy. So I don't think a seperate MA is needed. In any case, the limits and powers of a spriggan are outlined in detail, and there are red lines to follow. So any druid or spriggan who disobeys them will be punished.

 

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I know these are meant to be the druidic equivalent of golems or atronachs, so I suggest you give extra options to expand on the possible RP available to spriggan players. What I mean by this is that as Jaeden said, mute robot-personality characters are rather bland to RP, and has often been a problem in the past for golems or atronachs. Golems got past this partially by offering the possibility of soulbounds maintaining some of their personality, or atronachs beginning to be able to expand on their knowledge and develop personalities. Essentially, I suggest you add something which can make it more interesting for a larger array of players.

I'm open to any suggestions you have to improve their personalities. For now, some people have expressed interest in playing them as is, so there's obviously appeal in them to some people. That said, I'm at a bit of a creative block in terms of what other personality to give them, but if anyone wants to propose anything I'll listen eagerly.

[manicfairy 178]

14 minutes ago, 吳憾戰士14 said:

Well, the only people who can summon spriggans are T4 druids and above, who at that point will be experienced, well documented by the MAT and generally trustworthy. So I don't think a seperate MA is needed. In any case, the limits and powers of a spriggan are outlined in detail, and there are red lines to follow. So any druid or spriggan who disobeys them will be punished.

 

t4 druids in what magic, communion & control?

[Gladuos 857]

26 minutes ago, 吳憾戰士14 said:

Which is why there's a cap on how many there can be in the entire world, (10), so druids arent turning entire forests into spriggans.

26 minutes ago, 吳憾戰士14 said:

And no, they cant summon a large mass of them. As I said, there can only be a max of ten in the whole world and I imagine there'll be no more than 2 or 3 of them per place. (Mother grove, Linandria, etc).

Oh, does this mean there's only one spriggan per sleeping tree? I think after reading the lore I had misunderstood. I thought one was able to summon spriggans from a sleeping tree indefinitely, not that maybe there was only one per tree?

 

26 minutes ago, 吳憾戰士14 said:

They cant just say 'oh RPly he was roaming about'. If you get attacked and your spriggan isn't being actively RPed, online, in that area, it needs summoning.

26 minutes ago, 吳憾戰士14 said:

This is just so spriggan players dont need to wait for a ritual summoning to RP their character.

Okay, so based on this, 'summoning' is only a mechanic as to prevent the spriggans randomly going online when the sleeping tree/grove/whatever is under attack to help, but requires putting time and effort into bringing them forth? Next to that, does this mean that the druid the spriggan takes priority on is constantly changing depending on who decided to summon them this time around? I also thought that after summoning one, that spriggan specifically existed and would thus be commandable by a single druid pretty much forever? Basically that after 'creating one/summoning', it'd be stored in the tree and remember the druid that did so? Unless that is true? Heck.

 

26 minutes ago, 吳憾戰士14 said:

They basically dissolve and the wisps of druidic energies which give it life return to its mother tree, and the spriggan becomes dormant inside it, needing to be reawoken again.

So does this happen every time they die or just if they exit the border of their sleeping tree radius?

 

I might get back to you some time should I come up with an idea to expand on spriggan personality, but right now I don't really have anything. lmao Other than that, it might be good to just make them related to ents, as they seem very similar. A la: a tree-like humanoid designed to protect nature that was birthed from a magical tree blessed by the Aspects. But good luck again. Think I'll give my +1 now anyway.