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[Altered Melee] Draktars custom nerubian race (WIP)

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In this thread we're planning on outlining nerubian culture, it's possible manifestations in game and with time create a playable demo. This work will be part of a bachelor thesis striving to do just that and more... Lets begin!


Nerubians are descendants of aqir, creatures shaped from silithid by the Old Gods. They have inherited their highly xenophobic nature, being just slightly more "peaceful".
-possible "racial ability": nerubians can't interact with any kind of shops, mercenary camps or taverns.

The only thing capable of suppressing their xenophobic nature is their deep hate for the undead. The (former) Lich King Ner'Zhul fought them in the war dabbed "The war of the spider", which the nerubians lost and most of them got annihilated and raised as undead. They were to Ner'Zhuls surprise immune to the undead plague and even his psychic domination, which made them formidable foes. Digging too deep, they disturbed old god tendril, which in turn cost them the war. In the end, they lost due to fighting two fronts at the same time.
-possible "racial ability": cc and plague like effects immunity, only for nerubian heroes(?) and units (excluding arachnatids, tolvir, etc.)

Possessing huge libraries (mainly literature, philosophy and arcane lore), nerubians developed philosophy deeming worship foolish and over time it became totally alien to them.
-no old god alignment, unlike aqir, qijari and mantid

Great architects, tunnelers and trappers.
-many choices in buildings and upgrades? human like building? something entirely new?

Nerubians feel lost without their leader(s)
-possibly locked abilities, buffs and debuffs without "leader" present



-nerubian king (only one, reigns over the capital city / whole empire)
-nerubian queens (other cities have one as their leader)
-spider lords = rulers, "aristocracy", law keepers (council of them can act as a leader instead of a queen, not common)
-viziers = priests, counselors, mages, venomancers

-workers = food/ supplying, weaponsmithing, mining, building
  • especially strong become warriors
  • with mental talents become seers = counselors, mages, architecture, accounting, law
  • ones with exceptional weaving skills become webspinners

=other "forms" of nerubians (aren't specified in the caste system):
  • nerubian lords = weaker campaign spellcaster unit similar to queen
  • nerubian spiders = weaker campaign spiderlord like unit, spawns ranged spiderlings after death
  • flyers = nerubians with membranes between their eight legs
  • spiderlings = there are two variants, an inconsistency created by Blizzard (I'll be using six legged spider like one to add variation)
  • other egg laying females = we know little about them
  • nerubian beast (file name) = a wotlk model, undead variant with 5 reskins, never animated nor used in-game



-Jormungars = creatures of labor used for carving massive tunnels

-Arachnathids = scorpion like beasts used as guarding dogs

-Obsidian Destroyers = enslaved tol'vir turned into obsidian statues

-Bone Spiders = spiders that look like are made of bones like Hadronox (though his "Spawn of Maexxna" tittle complicates things a little, since she's classified as a giant spider)

-Bane Spiders = predecessors of bone spiders, later retconned into them in wow, commonly used as seer familiars, look wise reminds one of tarantula

-Credible Witnesses = basic spiders, minions of Mr. Sunflower

-Glow Worms (file name) = too little lore... they look like embryos of nerubians encased in long ass droplets hanging from the ceiling



Azjol'Nerub is the name of their capital city and former empire / city state itself.
-in-game entrances are located in the Pit of Narjun (other known ones are Naz'anak: The forgotten Depths and The Icy Depths)
-leader: Seer Ixit (formerly King Anub'arak)

-if used as the main building, we could split it up along the lines of:
-Gates of Azjol-Nerub
-Upper kingdom
-Ahn'kahet: The old kingdom


Sundered Monolith (epicenter for nerubian survivors)
-consist of 6 levels
-topmost lvl: soldiers
-other 3 lvls: workers + food
-5th lvl: seers and spiderlords
-6th lvl: queen and other egg-laying females

-leader: Queen Azhuul'Mehab
-another great candidate for main building or other structure

Azj-Kahet
-capital city: City of Threads
-leader: Queen Ansurek
-independent empire from Azjol-Nerub, not much is known so far

Skittering Hollow (island faction of nerubian survivors, Voru'kar)
-leader: Vorus'arak, great digger, a "Swarm Lord"
-its denizens use mainly shadow magic
-thanks to their leader digging under the sea they fled Lich kings grasp, escaping here

Nerubian ziggurat
-barracks or tower capable of freezing enemies
-I'd like to add more possible upgrades, like "venom ziggurat", "arcane ziggurat" and maybe "web ziggurat"?

Former nerubian cities, buildings and structures:

Temple city of En'kilah

-the only known nerubian city / settlement built above the ground, now infested with scourge
-> initially known as Riplash ruins in RPGs which were later retconned as a highborn ruins infested with naga

Naxxramas
-
ancient nerubian ziggurat
-torn out by dark magic from its subterranean home and lifted into the sky

-other former nerubian ziggurats:
Acherus
Kolramas
Naxxanar
Talramas
Voltarus
Zeramas

Nerubian sacrificial pit / pit of fiends

-formerly a nerubian building (later used by the Lich King) used for sacrificing enemies for luck in battle
-could be used for the place where the tol'vir are transformed into obsidian destroyers (possibly even create new "obsidian versions" of some nerubian units)

Tomb of relics
-formerly a nerubian building, "shop"
-just needs a little work and it'll look like it had looked like in its glory days! (total overhaul)



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After listing down almost all possible inspiration, lets lay down the groundwork for this race.

Color Map:

ColorMeaning
Honey orangeAbility
Blond yellowUltimate ability
Sea greenUpgrade
Sky blueItem
Light grayWIP

1694577581111.png
Player specific effect / game rule
-players playing as nerubians can't interact with ANY shops and mercenary camps other then their own.
1694576285738.png
Racial for all nerubians: "Frozen Mind"
-have immunity to any kind of mind control or plague like effects (excluding non-nerubian units)
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They'll be using hybrid building system. Building starts as orcs/wisps with an option to help like humans do. Same goes for gathering (basic orc/human like so far).
1694578101154.png
Reconstruction is a system using already built buildings to be rebuild into others.
-usable for almost all of them
-most will be divided into 3-4 groups based on the size of their foundation/pathing, allowing rebuilding into buildings in their group
-rebuilding ability in itself costs nothing, though once activated building starts to lose hp and needs to be constantly repaired = cost & risk
1694578710699.png
Training of units works trough egg sacks. Selecting units and training them normally results in spawning the egg sacks instead. They would in time morph into the desired units. This way the training can be negated by the enemy player once they take control of your base. If killed spawns a spiderling instead.
1694578913501.png
Magical conduit: allows buildings to be equipped with one item, gaining its effect (or similar effect)
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Chain of Command Aura: some abilities of units will be locked without heroes present. Units like Viziers and Spiderlords will be able to learn this ability later on.
1694580605898.png
Crack the Embers: One use ability, triggers healing salve item effect, gaining 5 armor for its duration. Isn't cancelled by damage.
=most nerubians have this ability, corresponding ones have its name included
(Worker, Architect, Webspinner, Warrior, Seer, Vizier, Death Speaker, Broodmother and Spiderlord, 9 out of 16 so far)

Main Building

Image

1st stage = Empires Gates
2nd stage = Upper Citadel
3rd stage = Old Palace
-each stage reflexes its depth and location visually

-trains:

Nerubian Worker

Abilities

Image


Wc3_frame_worker.png
240 HP
0.25 HP/sec.
8-9 normal attack
1 medium armor
Cost: 70
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1
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Hatch time: 15 sec.

Wc3_frame_worker.png
Worker
Mine.png

1695066569120.png

Wc3_frame_drop_cocoon.png
Gather: Mines gold from gold mines and harvests lumber from trees (orc/human). Can also pick up and drop cocoons.
Repair.png
Repair: Autocast/toggle, can repair buildings and mechanical units. Repairing costs Gold and Lumber. If you do not have enough Gold or Lumber you will not be able to repair.
wc3_frame_Build.png
Build: Brings up a list of the available buildings that you may choose to construct. Workers build from inside with option to speed build from outside (orc/wisp + peasant hybrid).
1695067403792.png
Last Stand: Take arms, gaining X attack and attack speed. Only usable under the effects of the Chain of Command aura. Tier 2?
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Evolve: Brings up a list of the available units that you may choose to evolve into (full cost). Worker is enveloped by a chrysalis like shell for X seconds while doings so.

Mine.png
Webspinner
Repair.png
Warrior
wc3_frame_Build.png
Seer
1694484479764.png
Architect
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Crack the Embers: Effect mentioned in the beginning of the race design
Nerubian.jpg

-4th Worker evolution:

Architect

Abilities

Image


1694484479764.png
X HP
X HP/sec.
X normal attack
X medium armor
Cost: X
1695132914628.png
2
1695132935397.png

Evolve time: X sec.

1694484479764.png
Architect
Repair.png
Repair: Autocast/toggle, can repair buildings and mechanical units. Repairing costs Gold and Lumber. If you do not have enough Gold or Lumber you will not be able to repair.
1694484479764.png
Corrupt: Channeling, take control of a mechanical unit, inflicting it with a corrupted debuff for X seconds. Unit will be returned once the debuff runs out. Dispellable.
wc3_frame_Build.png
Build Trap: Brings up a list of the available traps that you may choose to construct or place on a building as a buff. Traps are build like buildings, but take much less time. Architects build from outside (channeling).

Mine.png
Frost trap: Casts frost nova on the triggering unit.
Repair.png
Fire trap: Damages targets in a medium area leaving behind scorched ground.
wc3_frame_Build.png
Pit trap: Enemy unit falls down (is swallowed by) the pit, taking X damage and setting its field of vision to 0.
Pit does not damage the target over time, just once upon triggering. Unit/Hero is stunned for X sec. once the pit is destroyed.
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Crack the Embers: Effect mentioned in the beginning of the race design
WIP

WIP


Altar of the Spider

Image

-trains:

Underking / Swarm Lord

Abilities

Image


1694484594706.png
Names: Anub'arak, Vorus'arak, Talanox, Anub'et'kan, Kryxix, Ixit
-STR hero

-possible abilities:
-wc3 crypt lord abilities: Impale, Spiked Carapace, Carrion Beetles and Locust Swarm
-hots Anub'arak abilities: Scarab Host, Impale, Harden Carapace, Burrow Charge, Locust Swarm and Cocoon
-wow Anub'arak(2) abilities: Carrion Beetles, Impale, Leeching Swarm, Pound / Freezing Slash, Leeching Swarm, Penetrating Cold
-wow Vorus'arak abilities: Leeching swarm, Rending swipe,
Slam
-wow Underking Talanox: Blinding Swarm, Mandible Crush
-wow Under-King Anub'et'kan:

1694484594706.png
Names: Anub'arak, Vorus'arak, Talanox, Anub'et'kan, Kryxix, Ixit
-STR hero
1694484627512.png
Burrow Charge: Burrows charging to the target location, dealing X damage and briefly stunning enemies in a small area upon surfacing, slowing them by 25% for 2.5 seconds.
Wc3_autocast_custom_Swipe.png
Rending Swipe: Autocast/toggle, attacks cleave in exchange for X mana.
1694665333505.png
Shed Carapace: Active, heals X% of hero's health and gain + X speed and lose all armor for 10 seconds.
1694485096650.png
Hearth of the Swarm: Locust stampede + spawning permanent scarabs one every X seconds, channeling lasts X seconds.

Nerubian_Spiderlord.png

Anub'arak_HotS.jpg

Nerubian Queen

Abilities

Image


1694484340164.png
Names: Nezar'Azret, Azhuul'Mehab, Moaj'arak, Ansurek, Zarzhet, Neferess, Anok'suten
-INT hero

1694484340164.png
Names: Nezar'Azret, Azhuul'Mehab, Moaj'arak, Ansurek, Zarzhet, Neferess, Anok'suten
-INT hero
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Blinding Swarm: Line damage spell dealing x damage, makes affected units/heroes blind, changing their field of vision to 0 for X seconds and adds X% chance to miss their target.
1694484479764.png
Ancestral Memory: Passive, gains X in every stat + increases mana regen by X.
1694484482301.png
Royal Aura: Boosts the movement and hatching speed by X%, mana based abilities have shorter cooldowns by X%
1694484475212.png
Call of the Queen: The Queen lets loose a mighty screech that stuns nearby enemies for 5 seconds and summons 2 Royal Guards. The Royal Guards have X hitpoints and deal X Normal damage. They also have Spell Immunity and Spiked Carapace.

base.jpg

-will use the more nerubian-like look on the left
Zagara_HotS_Crypt_Queen_concept_art.jpg

-summons?
Zagara_HotS_Crypt_Queen_concept_art_minions.jpg

Herald of Vengeance / Goliath Spider

Abilities

Image


wc3_frame_hadronox.png
Names: Hadronox, Maexxna, Avanoxx, Al'haggro, Xishirra, Xishorr, Gahn'dante, Aarux, Likk, Venomfang
-AGI hero

wc3_frame_hadronox.png
Names: Hadronox, Maexxna, Avanoxx, Al'haggro, Xishirra, Xishorr, Gahn'dante, Aarux, Likk, Venomfang
-AGI hero
1694482624405.png
Leech Poison: Channeling, drains X life from an enemy target in a melee range, poisoning it in the process dealing X damage over X seconds.
1694570638672.png
Acid Cloud: Sprays acid on the ground dealing X damage, leaves behind a cloud of acid dealing X damage over X seconds.
1694570532099.png
Feeding Time: Passive, gains X HP for every hero level (visually bigger). Attacks also reduce target's armor by X (orb of corruption).
1694482663871.png
Spider Lair: Webs all enemy units and heroes in a large area around the hero to the ground. Allows walking across all units (wind walk)

800px-Hardronox_HS.jpg

WIP

WIP

altar_1.3.png



Nerubian Ziggurat

Image

-provides food
-upgradable
-towers automatically attack allied players if not in possession of spidersil scroll of passage

Frost Ziggurat

Image

Attacks slow down enemies
WIP

Venom Ziggurat

Image

-inspired by nerubian venomancers, inflicts poison
Screenshot_2867.png

Arcane Ziggurat (WIP)

Image

-equivalent to human arcane tower
WIP

Hatchery

Image

Any barracks can link to any hatchery to train the units there
-can train more at a time
-allows redirecting the eggs to other places
Ziggurat_upgrade_Pylon_Tower_showcase_3.png

Lens / Light Weaver

Image

-gathers mana during the day
-can link to other lenses, revealing the space in-between = consuming mana slowly
-can rapidly use up the mana to deal a big burst of damage (slow rotation) from the top lens
Ziggurat_lens_showcase_2.png


Little_update_Nerubian_ziggurat(WIP).png



Crawling fort

Image

-trains:

Nerubian Webspinner

Image

Burrow: burrows underground, fastening regeneration + upgrade to allow slow movement while burrowed
Web: either auto-castable web able to target both ground and air or auto-castable attack modifier that webs the target with a similar cooldown cost
Cocoon: usable only on the ground units, once the enemy unit is "digested" it can be exploded by the player for a splash heal = cocoons can be stored and carried by workers for a later use)
Crack the Embers: effect mentioned in the beginning of the race design

webspinner.png

Nerubian Warrior

Empire Guard

Image

Burrow: burrows underground, fastening regeneration + upgrade to allow slow movement while burrowed
Infected Bite: passive skill with chance to inflict poison debuff upon the enemy
Armor up: changes Nerubian Warrior into Empire Guard, increasing their hitpoints by X and armor by X
-spawns 2 spiderlings after death
Crack the Embers: effect mentioned in the beginning of the race design
WIP
Screenshot_2713.png
armored.png
Kilix_TCG.jpg

Nerubian Flyer

Image

-flying unit only capable of attacking air
Leeching Bite: lifesteal (passive)
Poisoned Fangs: The caster's fangs drip with poison, causing melee attacks to have a chance to inflict additional damage (passive)
Swoop: Swoops down on the enemy, dealing damage to a ground unit
flyer.png


NerubianStructure1.jpg



Empire library

Image

-building for upgrades
WIP


Throne of Aristocracy

Image

-trains upper class of nerubian society

Nerubian Seer (WIP)

Image

Insight: Gives True Sight to a friendly unit for X seconds
Spider familiar: summons a spider familiar that follows you around, it's none-targetable and attacks near by enemies, lasts X seconds
Crack the Embers: effect mentioned in the beginning of the race design
WIP

Nerubian Vizier (WIP)

Image

Shadow Bolt: basic attacks do more damage in exchange for mana
venom based ability(WIP)
Chain of Command: unlocks abilities to units affected by this aura, adds Leader Presence buff
Crack the Embers: effect mentioned in the beginning of the race design
Screenshot_2729.png
Elder Nadox.jpg

Death Speaker (WIP)

Image

"Nerubians practice mummification. By whom one might ask, I have no idea. " - and the basic idea of a unit was born
-he would use bandages as a weapon in attack animation (they levitate)
-core ability: entomb corpse (visually, sarcophagus would eat the corpse and drag it under the ground), destroys the corpse and adds mana to the caster
-other two are more basic, bandages that heal / damage targets (both destroy beneficial and bad effects on the target before being applied)
-Reborn a unit: if a unit with this buff dies, they resurrect with 20% of their health (and a debuff slowly killing them, dispellable)
Crack the Embers: effect mentioned in the beginning of the race design
WIP


NerubianStructure2.jpg

Screenshot_740.png



Skittering Hollow

Image

-trains

Arachnathids (WIP)

Image

classic arachnathid earth-borer for time being, burrow
Aracnathid.jpg

Bone Spider (WIP)

Image

Glutinous Poison: Active, poisons the enemy, making any attack against it steal mana.
-auto-attacks reduce armor by 2
bonespider_grey.jpg

Tol'vir slave

Image

quick unit, can be used for scouting or rituals as sacrifice
-can help with building like humans do while being under the Leader Presence aura
-can
harvest resources, gold & lumber while being under the Leader Presence aura
Tol'vir_brothers.jpg


WIP


Jormungar Spawnmother

Image

-can attack
-can transfer units across the map (one at a time), needs at least 2 to work
-can "uproot" as ancients, burrowing the building under the ground and allowing it to slowly move = defenseless while doing so
-unlocks venom ziggurat
-trains

Jormungars (WIP)

Image

-can learn burrow
-can move while burrowed (invisible, slower, can't attack)
-attacks inflict poison
-can harvest larger quantities of gold
jormungar.png


WIP


Sundered Monolith

Image

-a late game building like chimera roots, boneyard or tauren totem
-trains

Broodmother (WIP)

Image

-walking barracks, slow movement
Crack the Embers: effect mentioned in the beginning of the race design
WIP

Nerubian Spider Lord (WIP)

Image

-will use old Blizzard concept art
-has an upgrade to become a literal tank with shield ability similar to footmen with reduction in all of the damage taken (and speed)
Burrow: digs under the ground, increasing your health and mana regeneration
Dig out: creates a sinkhole invisible to enemy players, units can hop in to heal up to 4 units at a time
Commanding Aura: unlocks abilities to units affected by this aura, adds Leader Presence buff
Crack the Embers: effect mentioned in the beginning of the race design
scarablike.png

WIP


Nerubian sacrificial pit

Image

-building using tol'vir slaves as resource (for heals, etc.)
-trains

Obsidian Destroyer

Image

Reworked ground version of the classic obsidian destroyer

Screenshot_767.png

WIP

Image

Possible obsidian variations of other units (WIP)
WIP
WIP


Royal Treasury

Image

-shop, tomb of relics overhaul
-sells:
Spidersil scroll of passage: allows allies to approach nerubian towers
Fiery gemstone: has an ability like healing salve, user gains 5 armor for its duration
TC_2.png


Summoned non-trainable units

-summons

Spiderling

Image

-fast movement speed
NerubianSpiderlingBlue_2.png



Aug 24th, 2021
-spiderlord was moved to sundered monolith
-nerubian queen unit was renamed to broodmother and her role was changed to mobile barracks of sorts
-added two new units: death speaker and architect + their abilities
-new building: jormungar spawnmother (nydus canal of sorts), jormungars are trained here now
-changed abilities of multiple units
-changed formatting and added more pictures
-training of the units was changed to sgwinter egg sack style without 2 sack limit
and I'm currently experimenting with building bases like "Hole" or "Foundations" to enable more buildings as a whole
+ reconstructing of building to others

Sep 10th, 2021
-added ability to nerubian spider lords "Dig out": creating a sinkhole where nerubians can hide
-jormungars can move while burrowed now
-death speakers can now gain ability to "Reborn" a unit: if a unit with this buff dies, they resurrect with 20% of their health (and a debuff slowly killing them, dispellable)
-added a bit about the island nerubian faction: Voru'kar

Oct 18th, 2021
-abilities will be painted in orange color now for better clarity (excluding placeholders)
-added tab for non-trainable summoned units
-added spiderling to summons tab + image

Nov 8th, 2021
-added Pit trap, Frost trap, Fire trap, Build doors and Magical conduit to the Architect's Build trap icon
-added Blinding Swarm, Life from within, Royal Aura and Younglings abilities to the nerubian queen hero
-added Insight and Familiar abilities to the seer
-added Burrow to the nerubian warrior and spiderlord
-added one use ability of Crack the embers to almost all of nerubians
-items will be painted in blue color from now on (excluding placeholders)
-towers now automatically attack allied players if not in possession of spidersil scroll of passage item

Nov 22nd, 2022
-rewritten introduction
-rewritten parts of the "characteristics"
-added more lore to the buildings tab in the introduction

March 14th, 2023
-WIPs will be highlighted in gray as of now
-specified the Building style
-reworked Foundations system
-added Reconstruction system
-specified resource gathering system
-specified Leader Presence aura ability
-specified Crack the Embers ability
-added Last Stance ability to workers
-specified Warrior Armor upgrade ability

-Jormungars are now slowed when moving while burrowed
-Jormungars inflict
poison while attacking
-Jormungars can harvest larger quantities of gold as of now
-Tol'vir slaves can now help with building like humans do while being under the Leader Presence aura
-Tol'vir slaves can now
harvest resources while being under the Leader Presence aura
-proofreading & rewriting

March 20th, 2023
-added color map to the race design section
-upgrades will be highlighted in green as of now
-"players can't interact with ANY shops other then their own" was separated from the Frozen Mind ability into player specific effect/game rule due to inconsistencies and streamlining as a whole
-Merged Building style (orc + human) is no longer WIP
-changed the names for the main building according to suggestions

September 12th, 2023
-added a thread banner
-added icons to heroes and their ability sets will be now shown in tables
-added Infected Bite ability to Nerubian Warrior
-added tab for Empire's Guard (Nerubian Warrior Armor up upgrade)
-added image to Nerubian Warrior and Empire's Guard
-cleaned lots of text

September 19th, 2023
-added table for the prevailing abilities at the start
-added icons to Worker and Architect
-abilities will be in separated tabs now
-added new tabs to Worker and Architect
-cleaned lots of text



Album of WIPs currently being developed: https://www.hiveworkshop.com/media/albums/custom-nerubian-race.9999/

Please share your opinions and ideas in the comment section bellow!
 
Last edited:
Level 17
Joined
Nov 12, 2016
Messages
780
I had a read through this, gotta say i learned quite a bit from your knowledge of Nerubians. i was also shocked that the Obsedian statues were of Nerubian origin.

I'm remaking 4 of the original war3 races with almost completely overhauled core gameplay, and this time around i'm tossing out all the side races from the main races, so the Undead will have their Nerubian units and links cut out. (same with the rest of the 3)

Furthermore, i have to warn you about something, you do seem to have some solid initial ideas. so sharing any new ideas can be difficult for people, just telling you so you won't end up like me wondering why people don't respond without realizing i actually left no room to comment xD

In any case, i have an idea for your Tomb of Relics:

- Make it so its not a shop, since you already mention that part. but a place that grants heros instant buffs that either have a specific effect that expires after its triggered, or a buff that lasts for a duration, preferably longer then regular items since they can't carry them.
 
Level 11
Joined
Mar 10, 2013
Messages
100
I had a read through this, gotta say i learned quite a bit from your knowledge of Nerubians. i was also shocked that the Obsedian statues were of Nerubian origin.

I'm remaking 4 of the original war3 races with almost completely overhauled core gameplay, and this time around i'm tossing out all the side races from the main races, so the Undead will have their Nerubian units and links cut out. (same with the rest of the 3)

Furthermore, i have to warn you about something, you do seem to have some solid initial ideas. so sharing any new ideas can be difficult for people, just telling you so you won't end up like me wondering why people don't respond without realizing i actually left no room to comment xD

In any case, i have an idea for your Tomb of Relics:

- Make it so its not a shop, since you already mention that part. but a place that grants heros instant buffs that either have a specific effect that expires after its triggered, or a buff that lasts for a duration, preferably longer then regular items since they can't carry them.

Thank you for finding your time and reading the whole thing. Regarding "the tossing out of the other races from the main ones", undead become an enigma really fast. Every one of them was different race once alive, so...
Anyway, lets continue.

To be more precise, it's all the lore there is to them (excluding the island sub-faction). Nerubians just enslaved/corrupted them, they are tol'vir in origin. Nerubians overthrew their population with titan facility in Northrend and consumed them along with their culture (that's why we have ziggurat shaped structures, base came from tol'vir). I studied hard, so I can capture the essence of this race with the right feel (too hard, I can't think of anything else).

Yeah, I wanted to lay solid groundwork, so it may seem a little packed, with no room to breathe. Still, most of the units are blank slates and even written ideas aren't written in stone. Rather, I think I'll scare them just by the sheer amount of text :,).

possible "racial ability": other than heroes and non-nerubian units, nerubians can't interact with any kind of shops, mercenary camps or taverns.
I think you misunderstood. Either way, it would be interesting if heroes weren't able to interact with even items. I thought about this restriction before... but came to decision not to. It would create many gameplay problems like need to destroy dropped items and balancing issue of geared and unequiped.

Your idea sounds interesting non-the-less. It could be like black market with random items (treasures) that are powerful items, but act like runes (one-use-items), used instantly after buying. Other than one hero ability and "bury" (which I need to add to most of the nerubians) there's no healing. So occasional healing artifact/ buff could help. :thumbs_up:

Or I could replace "the reliquary/treasury" with the building for upgrades, "empire library". This way, you could buy books with different effects (rune like) or even tomes. Would work like BM too.
 
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For a racial ability, I would just suggest Burrow as their main form of health regen. If this is a custom race meant to be played with the other 4 main races, then I recommend not using abilities used by other races such as Web, Carrion Swarm or Raise Dead without any changes. As you may notice, each race is unique and do not share abilities with other races. They also do not share units, so I highly recommend making up your own Obsidian Statue instead of just copying the Undead Scourge's techtree.

Webspinners could have a Web that deals damage over time or they could be able to attack air by throwing webs at their enemies, slowing the enemy over time with each attack up to the point that they are no longer able to move and are ensnared to the ground.

Flyers could have a bouncing attack similar to the Zerg Mutalisks in Starcraft, or the Night Elf Huntress. Or perhaps a life steal against enemy air units.

Seer ability ideas. I assume he's a spellcaster.
Insight - Gives True Sight and increases health regen of a target friendly unit.
Darkening Vision - Reduces sight range of enemy units in an area and causes them to miss.
Confusion - Causes enemy units to fight each other.
Cure - Dispels buffs from target, including Disease Cloud.
Weaken - Reduces the armor of enemy units in an area.

That's all I have for now. If you'd like, you can copy some ideas from my unfinished Nerubian tech tree. Just make sure to change a few things so the teachers don't know that you're copying from my homework, wink wink~
 

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Regarding "the tossing out of the other races from the main ones", undead become an enigma really fast. Every one of them was different race once alive, so...
Anyway, lets continue.

Very true, but i think i can manage to strike what i have in my mind. like, look at a unit like the Abomination or many of the skeletons in the undead ranks. they all obviously have a past that's connected a specific race. but inside the undead ranks they look like no specific race. because of the huge changes they go through that make them unrecognizable.

So when some can focus on a more zombie-eque part of the Undead to clearly show what each unit/creature belongs to, i'm more in favor of creating an Undead faction that is more raw mix of other creatures and different constructions of skeletal figures and such.

I also want to give them their own unique looks for their buildings, in the base version they are a bit too dependent on Nerubian Architecture.


To be more precise, it's all the lore there is to them (excluding the island sub-faction). Nerubians just enslaved/corrupted them, they are tol'vir in origin. Nerubians overthrew their population with titan facility in Northrend and consumed them along with their culture (that's why we have ziggurat shaped structures, base came from tol'vir). I studied hard, so I can capture the essence of this race with the right feel (too hard, I can't think of anything else).

Yeah, I wanted to lay solid groundwork, so it may seem a little packed, with no room to breathe. Still, most of the units are blank slates and even written ideas aren't written in stone. Rather, I think I'll scare them just by the sheer amount of text :,).

Your text size was actually quite reasonable in terms of size, its just that they were solid and filled in the right spots.
Also woah, even MOAR spicy lore about what and how they went about doing things.


I think you misunderstood. Either way, it would be interesting if heroes weren't able to interact with even items. I thought about this restriction before... but came to decision not to. It would create many gameplay problems like need to destroy dropped items and balancing issue of geared and unequiped.

Your idea sounds interesting non-the-less. It could be like black market with random items (treasures) that are powerful items, but act like runes (one-use-items), used instantly after buying. Other than one hero ability and "bury" (which I need to add to most of the nerubians) there's no healing. So occasional healing artifact/ buff could help. :thumbs_up:

Or I could replace "the reliquary/treasury" with the building for upgrades, "empire library". This way, you could buy books with different effects (rune like) or even tomes. Would work like BM too.

I was thinking of some of the people i watch in the heat of melee. like Wtii. i don't really think killing items is going to be an issue, really just a minor annoyance. but what you could do instead, is make it so workers can carry items, or hero's if you don't really want to go away too much from base melee. but they can't really interact (use) the items they carry. so they have to bring them back to the Tomb of Relics for some sort of converted reward.

Using the buffs granted by the Tomb of Relics can potentially use mana instead. the buffs they grant are very powerful but have long cooldown times between each use and require mana which means one can't just spam take all Buffs in one go. bringing back items and "Selling" them to the Tomb can either reset cooldowns or give mana to te Tomb, or both.
 
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For a racial ability, I would just suggest Burrow as their main form of health regen. If this is a custom race meant to be played with the other 4 main races, then I recommend not using abilities used by other races such as Web, Carrion Swarm or Raise Dead without any changes. As you may notice, each race is unique and do not share abilities with other races. They also do not share units, so I highly recommend making up your own Obsidian Statue instead of just copying the Undead Scourge's techtree.

Webspinners could have a Web that deals damage over time or they could be able to attack air by throwing webs at their enemies, slowing the enemy over time with each attack up to the point that they are no longer able to move and are ensnared to the ground.

Flyers could have a bouncing attack similar to the Zerg Mutalisks in Starcraft, or the Night Elf Huntress. Or perhaps a life steal against enemy air units.

Seer ability ideas. I assume he's a spellcaster.
Insight - Gives True Sight and increases health regen of a target friendly unit.
Darkening Vision - Reduces sight range of enemy units in an area and causes them to miss.
Confusion - Causes enemy units to fight each other.
Cure - Dispels buffs from target, including Disease Cloud.
Weaken - Reduces the armor of enemy units in an area.

That's all I have for now. If you'd like, you can copy some ideas from my unfinished Nerubian tech tree. Just make sure to change a few things so the teachers don't know that you're copying from my homework, wink wink~

Thanks for your time and interesting suggestions (played your tech tree for hours btw :wink:).

"Racial ability talk" = Burrow will be surely included in good chunk of nerubians and non-nerubian units (excluding nerubian flyers, seers?, viziers, queens, bone spiders, tol'vir slaves and obsidian destroyers). Nerubians are born with (mostly) predetermined roles. So magic casters solely created to lead, conjure spells and fight would't be able to dig like workers or spider lords. Hence I excluded them, meaning burrow doesn't qualify (entirely) as a racial ability.
What I wanted was a passive that could be added to every (nerubian) unit. My idea was to capture their xenophobic nature gameplay vise by limiting their choices reflecting their actual choices during the war of the spider (highly proud and xenophobic nerubians would never request help from other races, hence they lost). Its name could be something like "Spider in Body and Soul", making them unable to use shops, taverns or mercenary camps + making them immune to mind control and disease like abilities (still a WIP, most likely will exclude heroes)

Lore wise "web" is mostly nerubian ability and even in warcraft 3 most of the nerubians use it. I know I'll be scolded a lot for doing so, but still (I'll try to modify the look of the ability to have a white web, so it's not entirely same + your suggestion of web attacks sounds interesting). "Carrion Beetle" has it's alternatives (definitely be changing that), but "Locust Swarm" is an iconic ability for spider lords and crypt lords alike (this one will take time). Don't worry about "Raise Dead", for unlike the nerubian creeps nerubians do not use necromancy (there's only one exception in RPGs).

"Obsidian Statue": OS will resemble its counterpart just a little bit. They'll be created by sacrificing "tol'vir slaves" (like shades with acolytes) and unit itself will be ground unit. Abilities are WIPs, probably want to rework og OSs abilities or create similar ones (same mana/ buff stealing stuff, just different execution).

"Flyers" having life steal against flying units sounds about right (and unique in classic melee). I'll add it to the list, just not sure of how to make it work in the game.

-Seer ability ideas:
"insight" = Love this ability! Just the fantasy around it is briliant! Instantly became one of my FAVs while playing your map (100% will add it)
I'll definitely consider others based on the whole techtree.

My feedback:
Your "egg" system works similarly like my queen/ broodmother system. Really love the way how you train them (it's just pain in the ass when training mass workers, mostly in regards to them being used in the process of building itself, why?), thinking hard about using similar same training system.
Impaler is little fun idea, just add at least a little bit of attack to that poor thing (changing model to centipede like nerubian with a horn would do the trick too, sadly there's none)
There's so much i could write about, this will be it for now (I'll write the full list later, when I have time).

Thanks again ;)
 
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Facehuggers: Targets an enemy unit with the Web debuff at melee range, giving them the non-dispellable Broodlings buff which increases movement and attack speed. After the buff has been active for X seconds, the unit explodes, spawning a permanent Nerubian warrior (Nerubian flyer if the target was an air unit) from the corpse.

Someone here seems to like Alien! :goblin_yeah:

One of the obsidian alternatives (idk, obsidian infector?) could use that ability (or something similar).
 
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That, and since it was seen happening in the Undead expansion with riflemen, it might as as well be an actual ability rather than a one-time event.

Queen could have an ability that spawns egg sacs, where the eggs spawn Nerubians if left to hatch by themselves (and killing/hatching them prematurely produces a unit with low health and debuffs).
 
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This is still on my (long, long) list of Topics to Respond On, but... Just wanted to say I generally love the way you're taking the Nerubians. I'm a big believer in the Lore-based approach & you're really working hard at that, which I appreciate. : )

Oh! Big ol' Kyrbi came to pay me a visit! What a honor!
For real, thanks. I've been brainstorming for some time and came up with at least one new flavorful unit (and maybe redid most of the things ^^)

"Nerubians practice mummification. By whom one might ask, I have no idea. " - and the basic idea of a unit was born.
-he would use bandages as a weapon in attack animation (they levitate)
-core ability: entomb corpse (visually, sarcophagus would eat the corpse and drag it under the ground), destroys the corpse and adds mana to the caster
-other two are more basic, bandages that heal / damage targets (both destroy beneficial and bad effects on the target before being applied)

I'll update the page with all the ideas and models, so you'll have fun analyzing it ^^
 
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That's an idea: An ability based on Black Arrow or Entangle where the target is covered in webs and immobilized rather than damaged, and if they die under its influence they're transformed into a Nerubian unit that can't do anything except be eaten by fellow Nerubian units for health. Maybe some kind of storage system for such cocoons too so they can be used to quickly heal heroes.
 
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That's an idea: An ability based on Black Arrow or Entangle where the target is covered in webs and immobilized rather than damaged, and if they die under its influence they're transformed into a Nerubian unit that can't do anything except be eaten by fellow Nerubian units for health. Maybe some kind of storage system for such cocoons too so they can be used to quickly heal heroes.

I had similar idea for the cocoon. The caster would play animation similar to "Life Drain" (more of a web like texture, would slow the target) + it would spawn a cocoon unit at the target unit location that would automatically devour the target. Upon digesting the target, the cocoon would explode and heal near by friendly units or will have an options, an ability to explode whenever you like (with it being possibly a temporary unit and exploding every time before death if it did digest the target unit beforehand).

Man, what an idea!!! A cocoon bearer unit sounds really interesting, what an inspiration!

If not for a new unit, one of these (or all) could possibly take that role: nerubian webspinners, nerubian warriors, nerubian spiderlords?, jormunjars?, tol'vir slaves or obsidian destroyers (the custom ones)?
 
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UPDATE LOG:
-spiderlord was moved to sundered monolith
-nerubian queen unit was renamed to broodmother and her role was changed to mobile barracks of sorts
-added two new units: death speaker and architect + their abilities
-new building: jormungar spawnmother (nydus canal of sorts), jormungars are trained here now
-changed abilities of multiple units
-changed formatting and added more pictures
-training of the units was changed to sgwinter egg sack style without 2 sack limit
and I'm currently experimenting with building bases like "Hole" or "Foundations" to enable more buildings as a whole
+ reconstructing of building to others

=from now on you will be able to find the full list of this and future updates at the end of the thread
 
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I'm curious to see how this develops.

Nerubians definitely seem like a challenging faction to put together coherently, especially without it getting overly samey.

How has development gone for putting these ideas to the editor so far?
I'm mostly in modeling and designing phase with few in-game experiments. Once it is at least a bit playable I'll be posting a testing map for it ^^
 
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UPDATE LOG:
-added ability to nerubian spider lords "Dig out": creating a sinkhole where nerubians can hide
-jormungars can move while burrowed now
-death speakers can now gain ability to "Reborn" a unit: if a unit with this buff dies, they resurrect with 20% of their health (and a debuff slowly killing them, dispellable)
-added a bit about the island nerubian faction: Voru'kar
 
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UPDATE LOG:
-added Pit trap, Frost trap, Fire trap, Build doors and Magical conduit to the Architect's Build trap icon
-added Blinding Swarm, Life from within, Royal Aura and Younglings abilities to the nerubian queen hero
-added Insight and Familiar abilities to the seer
-added Burrow to the nerubian warrior and spiderlord
-added one use ability of Fiery magical gemstone to almost all of nerubians
-items will be painted in blue color from now on (excluding placeholders)
-towers now automatically attack allied players if not in possession of spidersil scroll of passage item
 
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¡Te deseo mucho éxito en este proyecto! Por las imágenes de los edificios y unidades agradezco mucho trabajo y amor por el proyecto y por supuesto es un excelente aporte a la comunidad! ¡un saludo!
 
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Always happy to help, I also have a couple more models that might interest you...
Nerub Worker and Nerubian Barracks
you can freely change them according to your needs
Might use your worker actually, lovely little guy...

Barracks on the other hand... already working on one, just not finished.
The funny thing is it's really similar to your 'cause it uses the same concept art as the base. Great work on yours! ^^

Really like your philosophy in what you use as the reference/base, quite similar to mine. Though as you might have noticed I have chosen a different color scheme and might later create a custom texture of my own
 
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Barracks on the other hand... already working on one, just not finished.
The funny thing is it's really similar to your 'cause it uses the same concept art as the base. Great work on yours! ^^

Really like your philosophy in what you use as the reference/base, quite similar to mine. Though as you might have noticed I have chosen a different color scheme and might later create a custom texture of my own
Just like you, I try to use concept art to create my models, and sometimes I use ideas that were presented in the beta version of Warcraft 3, although to my great regret there is very little concept art with a Nerubian theme.
 
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