The Four Elementals

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The Four Elementals

by The Kingmaker » Wed May 17, 2017 9:28 pm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gs069dndIYk

A long while ago, I set out to produce a versatile alteration of Arivan and ended up with far too many ideas to do justice to in a single hero - the idea for Four Elementalists, sorcerers displaying true mastery over their chosen Elements and showcasing all of its facets, bloomed in my mind. A year, one broken computer and a frustrated Kingmaker later, these ideas take shape, with my aim being to produce four concepts sharpened to an infinitesimal point, just as these characters have honed their abilities to such an edge; to have fun and bringing images to life with extended descriptions and attack animations and also see how much can be developed from simple and seemingly stifling concepts by thinking outside the box. There is also a larger focus on player interactivity that is normal, generally caused or amplified by the Hero Spell of each Elemental.
I appreciate all and any feedback to how I have executed these goals, the heroes as a group or individually, as well as anything else. Apart from the song. That's staying.
Without further ado:

Elora, the Cryomancer:
Standing less confidently and a shade shorter than in the Original Kingdom Rush, Elora is not wearing the blue circlet upon her forehead, but instead her icy blue hair is tied back into a ponytail, with a similar blue circlet holding it back and thin bangs either side. She is wearing an elegant, almost translucent chest piece, comprised of many layers of ice so thin they are transparent individually, darkening as the layers build up to flow from her spike-plated shoulders to just above her navel, sweeping folds of similar design continuing from above her hips to form an elegant skirt that continues to the floor and sublimes into the air around it, creating wispy smoke as if she was made of dry ice. She carries a staff made of a single dark blue, javelin-like icicle, with a rough sphere of a lighter blue ice at the top, radiating cryogenic magic.

Stats:
Health: 320 440 20
Armour: 20% 50% 5%
Damage: Fires an icy blue bolt of glacial magic from the top of her icicle staff, dealing 18-54 30-90 2-6 magic damage every 2 seconds from long range, stabbing with the sharp base of her staff every 1.5 seconds to deal 6-8 12-20 1-2 physical damage when in melee.
Speed: Fast, forms an ice sheet under her feet which she rides to the target location, leaving an icy trail that exhumes smoke before dissipating after a few seconds.
Innates:
Freeze: Elora's ranged attacks have a 25% chance of Freezing the target for 2 seconds. If they Freeze an enemy, it is afflicted with Frost for four seconds after thawing.
Frost: Identified by the shadow of an enemy turning bright blue, with small blue particles rising into the air from the shadow, and the enemy themselves turning a cyan hue, Frost increases the chance of being Frozen by basic attacks to 50% and the Freeze time to 4 seconds, lasting for 4 seconds itself.

Powers:
Permafrost (8 seconds): Her staff glowing a wicked blue, Elora slams its top into the ground, covering a short/medium/long area of the path with an Ice Sheet for 3 seconds, applying Frost to all enemies on the path while slowing them by 40%, 80% to already Frosted enemies. Enemies Frozen while on the path are Frozen for twice as long and permanently slowed by 20%.
Icicle Crash (12 seconds): Elora grasps her staff in both hands above her head and stabs it into the path, calling down 3/5/8 giant ice spikes, dealing 30 area magic damage in a small area around each splinter and applying Frost to enemies they hit. The Icicles instead deal True Damage to already Frosted enemies, dealing double True damage to Frozen enemies.
Cold-Hearted (14/12/10 seconds): Pulling out a diminutive pure-black stone hammer from behind her, somewhere in the folds of her dress, Elora brings it to rest over her head for a second, glinting a little, before striking, instantly killing a Frozen enemy every 14/12/10 seconds. Additionally, Elora’s basic attacks now passively deal 10/20/30% more damage to enemies afflicted with Frost, 20/40/60% more to Frozen enemies.
Absolute Chill (24 seconds): A globe of deepest blue ice forms in Elora’s free hand over a second or so, before being fired at a single enemy; giving off icy smoke as it flies, encapsulated in snow and biting winds to Freeze the enemy solid for 3/6/9 seconds and deal 40/80/120 magic damage in a medium radius around to the targeted enemy, dealing True Damage to Frosted enemies and double True Damage to Frozen enemies. The globe slows enemies it flies past by the same amount as Permafrost and Freezes enemies already afflicted with Frost for 1/2/3 seconds, both within the same medium radius.
Hero Spell: Winter’s Wrath (90/80/70/60 seconds): Cryogenic magic surrounds and binds the area tapped or dragged by the player (with a maximum length roughly 1.5x Permafrost’s Max), leaving it covered in sheet ice, with wisps of blue energy remaining and dancing for a while. Enemies upon this area of the path are Frozen solid in a mass of jagged ice crystals proportional to their size, and Frost is applied to any enemies that subsequently walk across the frozen area. The duration of the Freeze for both the area and the enemies within it is (18 – 2N) seconds, where N is the number of enemies on the path when it is frozen, meaning it can freeze 1 enemy for 16 seconds, or 6 for 6, defaulting to 2 seconds for any number of enemies equal to or above 9. Enemies deep-Frozen in the area can be tapped by the player, dealing 1/2/3/5% of their total health per taps, with minimum intervals of 0.66 seconds between each tap.

[Lore]

Playstyle Overview:
Elora retains her style from the original game with high individual magic damage and powerful area powers, but can now achieve far more thanks to her innates and powers complimenting each other for a ‘snowballing’ effect, rewarding canning micromanagement. She also now has the infinitely badass (visually and practically) capability to shatter and insta-kill frozen enemies– with one ability doing the former, and another allow her to do the latter, but only in melee, making a watchful eye and quick fingers very useful in maximising her effectiveness.

Zephyrine, the Aeromancer
Zephyrine is an energetic and sprightly Elven girl, the youngest of the Four Elementals, being only a few years into her adolescence – small in stature, slender and sylphlike, she stands noticeably shorter than most other elves, with soft blue hair and a more yellow skin tone, all due to her shared blood with the Wild Magi. She is barefoot and wears a simple light blue tunic that ends just above her knees, adorned with eclectic ribbons, mainly in bright blues, white/silver and cyan, that ripple behind her as she flies, while an ornate copper torc sits around her neck, matching the bronzed bracers and greaves that cover her otherwise-exposed forearms and legs. She flaps her arms as if they were wings once when spawning to get her into the air, from where she hovers for the rest of the battle, keeping both palms open, apart, and bristling with electric energy.

Stats:
Health: 240 360 20
Armour: None
Damage: Fires a bolt of lightning from one palm, dealing 20-40 50-70 5-5 True Damage every 2.5 seconds, alternating hands from which she fires. If Maelstrom and Capacitive Conduit are not active, she may do loops, spins or theatrical tricks as part of extended attack animations.
Speed: Very fast, holding her arms aloft and zipping at high speeds with her ribbons rippling behind her, doing a loop and coming to a rest over the target location.
Innates:
Flying: Zephyrine zips around above the path, and thus can only be targeted by ranged enemies.
Chain: Bursting with excess energy, Zephyrine’s attacks have a 20% chance of jumping to a nearby enemy, and deal half the damage the previous attack did to it. Chained attacks cannot chain themselves.
Disintegrate: Overkill attacks that deal the fatal blow to an enemy have a 10% chance of disintegrating the enemy, a cyan flash reducing its body to a pile of black dust and creating a Static Bolt that deals Zephyrine’s current damage, coming down a second later close to where the enemy was disintegrated.

Powers
Capacitive Conduit (Passive): Adept at containing and manipulating electrical magic, Zephyrine can amplify her power by absorbing lightning from Static Bolts, Dazzling Fury and the Thunderbolt Spell. Being struck causes her next attack to additively increase by 0.15/0.3/0.5 and reduces the largest outstanding ability cool-down by 0.5/1/1.5 second(s). Additionally, each bolt absorbed increases Disintegrate chance by 2.5% and Chain chance by 5%, and causes attacks that chains to jump to an additional enemy at the point of impact. When charged, Zephyrine hovers in one place, no longer doing tricks, and radiates bright blue energy, with fierce gusts rippling her hair, gown and ribbons. This effect increases with each bolt absorbed up to the tenth, at which point the glow and wind speed are at their maximum, but the effects of the power can still increase.
N.B: She always draws at least one of the Furious Tempest bolts from Thunderbolt, regardless of targeted location, however if targeted directly onto her, most of the 8 main bolts will hit her, plus any of the random strikes. When absorbed to charge Zeph, Static Bolts are redirected entirely, with no additional effect, Dazzling Fury still causes its stun, but no damage, and Thunderbolts deal half their normal damage, striking at her shadow if absorbed.
Aeroblast (10 seconds): Bringing both her hands together and slowly widening them, an oval of dense, cycling winds form between Zephyrine’s palms and expands, pushing it forwards with one hand to collide with the path, dealing 50/100/150 physical area damage (True damage if charged) within the same radius as a Burst Arrow. The static built up inside the oval radiates outwards, with the same chance to create chains as Zeph’s basic attacks, this chance applied to each individual enemy the Aeroblast hits.
Hypercharge (17.5 seconds): Clapping her hands together in a shower of sparks, Zephyrine guides a lightning bolt to strike a tower close to her, leaving it surrounded in bristling electric-blue sparks and causing it to deal 1.15/1.3/1.5x damage and fire 1.5/2/2.5x faster for 5 seconds. If the tower kills 10 enemies during this time, it creates a Static Bolt, targeted to the location of the 10th.
Maelstrom (25 seconds): Falling to a low height and then rising while spinning rapidly, Zephyrine forges biting winds and bristling static into a thundering tornado for 3/6/9 seconds. This Tempest follows Zeph, as it is rooted at her shadow, and deflects 80% of all physical projectiles and 40% of magical ones, with lightning bolts being created inside the Maelstrom every 1.5 seconds, dealing Zeph’s current damage, with double her current Disintegration chance.
Hero Spell: Dazzling Fury (15 seconds): A single bolt of pure white lightning, roughly thrice as thick as bolts from Thunderbolt, strikes the targeted area, dealing 0.5/1/1.5/2x Zephyrine’s current damage in a medium area (Weirdwood projectile) and stunning for 1/2/3/4 seconds in a larger radius (Wide enough to reach the edges of the path from the centre)

[Lore]

Playstyle Overview:
Zephyrine is unique in that she creates an interesting and risky decision for the player – placing her in the middle of a group and using Thunderbolt can allow for hyper-charged reigns of terror that sustain themselves, but forces use of the most powerful aspect spell at the player’s disposal. Regardless of Thunderbolt, Zephyrine is highly versatile when facing both groups and single targets, although her low health can cut short her efforts whether charged or not.

Cyndar, the Pyromancer:
Wearing a short sleeved orange tunic and open-toed sandals, Cyndar is a tall and gangly quarter-elf with the faintest point in his ears, midnight-black locks that emphasises his dark tan skin tone and kindness in his deep amber eyes. Over the tunic he wears enchanted leather straps around his elbows, wrists, knees and ankles, with several wrapped around his waist forming a belt/skirt and one around his forehead, holding back his wild hair. A chest-plate covers most of his torso, gleaming silver, with similar metals guards on his forearms and calves, mounted upon the leather straps.

Stats:
Health: 300 480 30
Armour: 10% 40% 5%
Damage: An orange magic-circle orbiting his wrist, Cyndar pushes his splayed fingers towards the target enemy, causing an intense orange flame with a crimson centre to engulf them, dealing 3-13 15-25 2-2 True fire damage every second. If Cyndar re-targets while the enemy is still alive, they are left with Embers.
Speed: Medium, runs a little over-exuberantly to the target area, taking a couple of seconds to catch his breath before engaging enemies again.
Innates:
Embers: A tiny, almost insignificant fire effect dealing 5 fire damage over 5 seconds, stacks with itself. (Deals 50 damage over 5 seconds)
Smother: To stoke his internal fire, Cyndar can stifle the Embers afflicting a single enemy, absorbing them in an orange bolt once every 10 seconds, restoring 30 health and lowering the cooldown of his hero spell by 3 seconds for each Ember burning them. (Occurs every 5 seconds)
White Hot: Cyndar’s hottest attacks have such vigour that they weaken weapons both magic and metal alike, decreasing the damage of enemies they scorch by 2.5% when indicated as such. (Decrease physical and magical armour by 2.5)

Powers: [Binary Optimisation]
Conflagration Inflation (Passive): Growing more intense the longer it burns, Cyndar’s basic flame gets hotter and larger every 4 seconds up to 1/2/3 times, with its centre expanding to become the full flame and a new colour taking its place in the centre – first it becomes fully crimson with a violet centre, then a bright violet blaze with a cyan core, and finally becoming a fully-fledged inferno burning White Hot with only wisps of cyan and pure white visible, the rest comprised of thermal radiation. Basic (orange) damage is increased to 25-35, increasing to 35-45 when crimson, then 60-70 when violet, and finally dealing 80-100 damage every second when white, also triggering the White Hot effect every 8 seconds of white flame. Fire intensity is not retained between enemies but deteriorates by one level every second of idleness. [Occurs twice as fast, intensifying every 2 seconds and triggering White Hot every 4 seconds at maximum]
Fission Emission (6 seconds): Cyndar fires a White Hot orb of bubbling, unstable Solar energy from his free palm, striking a single enemy and dealing 20/40/60 True damage, with any excess damage on a killing-blow passing to another enemy. [Raw energy is stabilised to become Fusion Constitutions, White Hotcondensed beams (top) of light that deal 40/80/160 True damage and have their excess dealt as area damage, which is now also White Hot]
Flames of Renewal (24 seconds): Casting his arms wide, an imposingly-sized Phoenix-shaped burst of flame emerges from within Cyndar, flapping its wings as it flies to strike the path and deal a total of 80/160/240 fire damage to the enemies it hits and leaving them burning with Embers. Additionally, Cyndar moulds the restorative energy of the Phoenix into burning-orange Rebirth Wings for 12 seconds, healing Cyndar and troops in a medium area around him by 20 health every second and restoring Cyndar to 10% health if he is dealt a killing blow, dissipating prematurely as a result. [Deals double damage and Rebirth Wings are retained until the end of Binary/their duration or until they absorb a killing blow, in which case they restore Cyndar to 50% health]
Blinding Flash (30 seconds): Closing his eyes, bending down and slamming both hands against the path, Cyndar photo-kinetically produces multiple pillars of white light at obtuse and random angles in a single flash, stunning enemies in a wide radius for 1/2/3 seconds while burning them with Embers and leaving sparkling crackles of light in this wide area for 10 seconds, lowering enemy accuracy within the area by 20/40/60%. [Lasts for 15 seconds, initial blast is White Hot within its area and all enemies within radius during duration are burned byEmbers]
Hero Spell: Binary Sunset (90 seconds): A pair of mini-stars spin opposite each other, falling from the sky onto their barycentre, Cyndar, who absorbs them both, tapping into a source of Universal power to become Binary, greatly increasing all his capabilities for 5/10/20/30 seconds. As Binary he gains the improvements in brackets to all his innates and abilities while also floating slightly above the path, teleporting in a flash of flames when moved and retaining Conflagration intensity until the end of Binary, or his flames intensify further. Cyndar becomes Binary regardless of where on the map the power is activated, and if Cyndar is dead the stars will instead deal 50/100/150/200 True area damage in an orange flash.
The Binary Stars are any of Cyndar’s fire colours and are not always equal sizes, being absorbed in the centre of Cyndar’s back and the small of his chest, rushing orange flames expanding over his body and covering him, burning away his hair, eyebrows and all his clothes besides the metal plates and enchanted leather. The metal glows white, with a writhing Phoenix emblazoned upon the chest-plate in moving flame, while the leather belt-skirt, headband and straps become blackened and dark, his dark hair replaced with tumultuous, restless flames. The rest of his body resembles a solar surface, confined between leather bounds, and turning the colour of his current flame.

Lore:
Fire. One of the most destructive forces in the Universe, created directly or otherwise by releases of great energy, wiping away everything it touches. Yet it also cleanses, removing that which is already dead, or may as well be and allowing new life to arrive and change to occur - many trees will burn in a forest fire, yet an acorn may still sprout afterwards.
The Flames of Renewal, White Phoenix of Crowning, Rebirth Wings – all names for the same Force, a Universal source of regeneration energy formed from the last two stars in a dying Monoverse, emerging with newfound sentience into the infant Multiverse, flying from one Universe to another, breathing warmth and life into the indifferent, cold void. The Rebirth Phoenix may have been finite once, but that time passed long ago; now buoyed by the very life she creates and returning in times of strife and sacrifice as a giant Firebird to protect the life she had kindled, preparing Avatars to maintain it when she leaves, flying ever onwards - ferocious, untameable and utterly unpredictable.
Ironic then, that her newest Avatar is one of the kindest, most unselfish and nonviolent graduates in the history of the Lindron Academy, although as a mere Quarter-elf he must be all of those to avoid expulsion simply on the grounds of his blood – not that he could change, nor even knew his parents and their heritage. Neither the prejudice from tutors about his blood, or from fellow students about only being able to perform Pyromancy bothered him - Elemental magic suited him, its users welcomed him and he was damn good at it. Of course being a chosen Avatar of a Multiversal source of fire energy did help, although it had only arrived a year into his training, and he had already shattered Pyromantic records by then - the day of his Convergence, when his magical talents manifested, he had produced the hottest fire yet conjured by a mortal, but despite burning away a horde of Dark Men in league with Malicia and protecting the Academy he had been expelled by the very tutors he had saved. Consoled by his longest friend, and more recently his boyfriend, Praeno, they fled and were happy in insolation in a cottage on the verdant fields and blustery coasts that bordered the Tranquil Forest and the Crystal sea.
Then came more Dark Men in league with vengeful student rivals, binding them in arcane chains and preparing to move both to Duredhel and aid the Twilight War effort. Then came the White Phoenix, Crowning Cyndar her Avatar to act as her Herald and guardian, granting him the power of those first Binary Stars, allowing him to burn away the “fire-resistant” chains, their captors and save Praeno, both returning to their cottage. Then came Arivan.
The Mastermancer had an offer they could and did not refuse. They rode immediately to the Grey Ravens and into a secret room in the Harbourmaster’s office that was larger once they walked into it and there, before them, was Amarthael, the Storm Queen herself. The group had gathered already, a young Magi girl, a pale woman with hair of ice, an ancient old Elf wise beyond his already infinite years alongside many others – similar groups of trainees, Prince Silcalaril and the rest of the Royal Entourage, in hiding after the sack of Aredhel, the Queen’s three mismatched bodyguards, effervescent with Moonlight even during the day, and for a single night only Princess Alleria, giving a farewell to her mother, father and all three bodyguards, Knight, Ranger and Mage before being borne across the shimmering waters by her Gryphon. There Cyndar forged new friendships with his three companions, quested alongside Praeno and talked and trained directly with the other Elementals, his boyfriend and his Queen even as they moved from the Harbourmaster’s hut to other centres of Magical learning, kindling the Rebirth Wings and increasing the stamina of his Binary energies. Now, he and the other Elementals are ready, and all four have joined us at the front.


Playstyle Overview:
Cyndar is a versatile hero who can be incredibly powerful in the right hands- his set of powers provide constant, if sometimes situational, damage and reliable tankiness, while his basic attack continues through power activations, intensifying to become a truly remarkable source of damage. His Binary form is the same, incredibly powerful with the right use – whereas Thunderbolt acts a nuke, and indeed turns Zephyrine into onto, Binary acts like a remote smart-bomb. Pay careful attention to cool-downs and details and you will be greatly rewarded.
Last edited by The Kingmaker on Wed Aug 30, 2017 10:06 pm, edited 2 times in total.
"Aragorn: [Elvish] Sit down, Legolas."
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Re: The Four Elementals

by The Kingmaker » Mon Jun 26, 2017 9:15 pm

Cyndar the Pyromancer - Herald of the White Phoenix, wielder of the Secret Fire and Guardian of the Flames of Renewal - has joined the fight with his burning arsenal of Regenerative, Destructive and Universally Powerful Pyromantic magic - harnessing the power of a Binary star system.

Once again - any and all feedback is welcomed and I'd love to hear anything anyone has to say about these heroes. I'm very proud of them.
"Aragorn: [Elvish] Sit down, Legolas."
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My treasured creations:
The Oddities, The Four Elementals, Gathering Twilight
The Community Improves Heroes
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