LotR - The Fellowship: Looking for spell ideas!

[Waldbaer]

Hello,
well, I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this since I don't post a map or introduce my project to you here. Some of you may already know that I'm developing a Lord Of The Rings - The Fellowship Of The Ring campaign. At the moment I'm creating the spells for it, but my main problem is that I'm running out of ideas for interesting custom spells for the characters.

This is the point where I count on you!

You can read what is planned at the moment here at my site (I could post this here, too, but it will be updated from time to time and I don't want to update it at x different locations). This list is to prevent that you post exactly the same as it is already implemented, but if your idea is different in any way and you think it's better, post your change suggestions either here or directly in the according forum topic again on dragonblood-creations.com.
Don't think about how to achieve this by scripting, let this be our/my problem, I just want your ideas at the moment!

If your idea is being used for a spell in the final version, you will be mentioned as "Special Thanks" in the credits!
I nearly don't know the spells section at all but I know that there are some specialists about that here, too, so if you know a custom spell posted anywhere that may fit or at least be a base for editing, don't hesitate to post a link.

Well, I'm waiting for you to help to make this campaign interesting and original.

 

[ragingspeedhorn]

Wrong forum, moved to idea factory.

 

[Mor)L(unE]

For frodo it should be able to use the ring to be invisible, then only nazgul can find him

 

[Lord_of_sausage]

Gandalf:
Magic Baricade (how is it spelled?)
Cojures a magic baricade at the target point, making all enemy units unable to enter it and damage unit inside.
Bigger and longer each level.

Aragon (omg i cant spell - and im not LoTR fan xD)
Sword Crush
Swings Aragons sword in the target direction, dealing high damage.
-Just a low ranged Shockwave whit high terrain deformation and no missile.

Legolas:

Multi Shot
Fires arrows at all nearby targets, dealing damage. Each target can be hit by an arrow 2 times.

Should Golem have a abillity too? anyways here it comes:
Golem:
Insanity
Increases golems attackspeed by X% when used.

Hope you could use them

 

[Waldbaer]

Hey, there is finally somebody who answers to this post, fine!
Some comments:

Frodo - Ring
The problem of the ring is, that following the story, firstly Frodo does not use the ring, but secondly and more important: The ring is evil and using it should be dangerous. The problem with the Naz'gul is that they are not available on all maps, and if they are, they are invincible and deadly (the quest is not to get discovered by them at all, so if they succeed in discovering you anyways, they'll kill you very fast if you are not cheating). So if they would be called by the spell, you would not have any chance anymore. Thirdly, this is not really a spell by Frodo. He puts it on his finger and that's all, the effect won't change.
Maybe I'll add an ability to the ring, but what you described does not really fit on Frodo.

Gandalf - Magic Baricade
Sounds interesting, but I'm afraid that this could be too powerful very easily, so I have to be careful with that... I'll see what I can do.

Aragorn - Sword Crush
As an ability you have to target manually, a low ranged Shockwave won't be very useful, I think. But it will be, if it is auto-casted. I'll try to get something out of this.

Legolas - Multi Shot
Old idea, but interesting nevertheless. Maybe I'll implement it, but not sure at the moment.

Golem...erm, do you think of Gollum?
Well he does not play a big role in the Fellowship, so we don't think about him at the moment concerning the abilities.

Some nice ideas, Lord_of_sausage, thanks!

 

[demonsofdante]

The LOTR Two towers game for Gameboy Advance had a lot of spells for different characters and it was set up similar to D2, heres an example of them.

Aragorn:
Herbal Remedy - Healths 25 hit points +5 per level. Herbs are more effective.
Commanding Presence - Stuns foes around Aragorn. Stun increases per level.
Rage of the North - Rage increases damage +2 per level while in effect.
Call Legolas - Legolas appears to fight the enemy with his bow.
Sword Throw - Aragorn throws his sword at foes
Sweep - Spin attack affects all foes around aragorn.
Passive Skills:
Numenorean Blood - Lessens corruption by 5%/level and +2 dmg to ring wraiths.
Ferocity - Slain enemies give hit points to Aragorn.
Shield offense - Increases shield block by 1%/level. +1 dmg + chance of knockback per level.


Legolas:
Overdraw: Charge an attack for massive damage.
White knives: Slash enemies with elven knives.
Forest Friend - Call hawks to distract and injure foes.
Summon Gimli - Summon a friend to fight beside you.
Suppress - Magical attack that has a 25% chance of knocking foes backward.
Spread fire - (Multishot)
Passive Skills:
Meditation - Legolas gains health by being motionless.
Fleet of foot - Increases foot speed by 5%.
Orc slayer - +2 dmg to orcs
Hawk eye - Increases bow dmg by 1
Critical Shot - (Its obvious what this one is)


Gandalf:
Magical Healing - Heal self.
Shield - Absorbs 50 pts of dmg.
Zap - Basic lightning bolt.
Sunburst - Stuns opponents and damages trolls.
Fireworks - Small AoE dmg
Thunderstrike - Massive AoE lightning
Summon Eagle - Summons a great eagle to attack foes.
Passive Skills:
Inspire - Mana recharges 25% faster.
Wisdom - All spells do +1 dmg per level.
Flame of Anor - 20% Chance of ressurection.


Frodo:
The One Ring - Frodo becomes invisible for XX seconds. Increases corruption.
Escape - Frodo rolls away from enemies
Charge - A running attack that does +2 dmg per level
Hobbit Appetite - Heal self. Food heals more.
Knife throw - Throws knife
Snare - Traps enemies and damages them.
Passive Skills:
Resist One ring - Lessens corruption
Strenght of the Shire - Frodo regens hitpoints and mana.
Rummage - Each level makes it more likely frodo will find better items.
Sneak attack - Attackign enemies from behind deals more damage.
Duck - Frodo takes less damage from enemies.


Eowyn:
Herbal Remedy - Healths 25 hit points +5 per level. Herbs are more effective.
Defending Fury - Increases defense by 10. Lasts xx seconds.
Princess of Rohan - Stuns foes around Eowyn.
Call Eomer - Summons Eomers Rohan soldiers.
Shield Bash - Bash enemies with shield.
Double Strike - Fast attack deals +x dmg.
Passive Skills:
Strength of the Heart - Lessens corruption.
Iron WIll - Regen health.
Stand fast - XX% chance to parry
Eyes of Rohan - Each level increases chance to find better items
Ferocity - Slain enemies resport mana.



These are very basic skills to make but i figure theyd be a nice starting point when it came to ideas and what you could use.

BTW: Corruption is the chance Naz'gul finds you. If you let it get too high they come right to you and attack you until the corruption goes away.

 

[AmadiTheGreat]

Frodo's ring should drain mana and health over time, this way frodo wouldn't be able to keep invisible forever. Just give ringwraiths truesight.

 

[Lord_of_sausage]

umm well heres some more: Gimli (ya! Gimli - hes nice xD)
Crushing Blow:
Slam the target ground, dealing damage to all nearby units while knocking them away, if the knocked units hit another unit, the hitted unit will be affected too and loose damage.

Legolas:
Volley:
Fires lots of arrows in the air and make them rain down on all foes at the target point, dealing damage and has a small chance to deal 10x more damage
on each unit (it should look like Blizzard)

Gandalf:
(used this spell in one of my own maps ^^ but i hope you would like it too)
Physic Blast:
Blast all nearby units, stuns them for 1 second. Dealing low damage but gets bonus damage for each unit that gets hitted.
Dont really know which kind of "spells" Gandalf use, could u say? would make it alot easyer to get Spellideas ^^

Aragon: Finish:
High damage dealing attack that stuns.

More spell ideas in time - got to eat now ^^

 

[Waldbaer]

Some nice ideas here, thanks!
I was very busy with work the last days, but the next days I hope I'll have time again to deal with the LotR spells. I'll think about your suggestions and update my table then:
Spells planned at the moment

This site was also linked in the first post, by the way. Currently, all ideas you submitted here are not yet included though. I'll post here again, if I thought about all your and other ideas and updated the table.

 

[Lord_of_sausage]

What ideas have you used yet?

 

[Waldbaer]

I updated the spells overview respecting the new spells:
Current state of planning for the fellowship's spells

The following Fellowship members got new spells:
-Sam
-Merry
-Legolas
-Gandalf
-Aragorn
The following spell descriptions were updated:
-Legolas - Far Sight (now Far View to make you pay attention to the difference)
-Legolas - Arrow Hail (turned into ultimate spell)
-Boromir - Horn of Gondor

I think the spell structure is much more original and therefore more interesting now, so thanks to all who helped with their ideas (you'll see, that some of the ones posted here are used now, too). If you have some more ideas, feel free to continue posting them here!

By the way: As long as the spells are not finished, we can't continue building the playable maps, and I'm alone at the moment, so I'll need some time. I'd be very grateful if there was somebody else helping me to actually make the spells. So if there is somebody interested here, just PM me!

 

[Blood Oath]

You should change gimli's spells since he's practically a mountain king apart from that looking very nice especially the terrain

 

[Waldbaer]

The problem is not to see what could be better, but (especially in case of the spells structure) how to do it better.
So if you have any ideas for Gimli (especially an interesting ultimate spell different from Avatar), I'll be lucky if you post it. As I said in the first post: If your idea(s) is/are used for the campaign, you'll get of course reputation here and you will be listed in the campaign's credits!

 

[AmadiTheGreat]

For gimli:
Leapbash - Gimli jumps to target nearby location, and while coming down slows and damages all enemies nearby.
Blood Oath - Whenever dealt damage, gimli goes deeper on rage against his enemies, increasing his damage and armor. (Passive)

 

[Waldbaer]

Hm, your leapbash is nearly exactly what I called Jump Strike until now (anyways, I like your name for it better, so I'll probably change it ).
Blood Oath seems an interesting idea to me... this could be an interesting replacement for the normal wc3-Bash. Anyways, I don't understand why this should increase armor, since rage will make him forget himself, won't it? And I think that increasing armor would make it too powerful, too. Or did you think about something else concerning this?

 

[Redeemer59]

For Legolas:

Far Shot (Name might be subject to change due to Far View)
Shoots an arrow at frightening speed, having double the range of Legolas' normal attacks. This arrow deals extra damage and goes through the intended target, hitting those behind him.

 

[Waldbaer]

Hm, this would be a variation of his current Assassin-Ability, right? Anyways, spontaneously, I'd say the Assassin-Ability as it is at the moment makes more sense, since a single arrow will never do damage to more than one target, will it?

Thanks for posting nevertheless! If you have further ideas, I look forward to them!

 

[demonsofdante]

Yeah Gimli definetly needs an overhaul so hes not just a remodeled MK.
A couple other spells to make him more like a tank/angry short dude:
For Moria!: Taunts all units around Gimli to attack him. During this duration, Gimli has a 150% damage return (Thorns Aura) to any who attack him.
~~This requires some strategy cause the thorns aura can deal damage to several enemies while they are attacking him. But if he gets surrounded because of this he could die.

And Blood Oath sounds tight, just maybe make it a timed buff. Like his attack increases by 10% for each attack he lands on an enemy. Lasts 20 seconds.


Also you should rename Gandalfs Blind or Rain of Fire to Flame of Anor, as it suits more with the LotR theme.


Also to make Legolas more interesting you could give his ranged attack a minimum range and give him the ability to swap out his bow for his knives so he can do hand to hand combat. He could then have abilities like:
Sever Tendon: Slows target enemy by 50%, allowing Legolas to get back in range of his bow.



Also for Sam's rope, wasnt it the Elves that gave it to him, not his grandpa?

 

[Waldbaer]

Yeah Gimli definetly needs an overhaul so hes not just a remodeled MK.
A couple other spells to make him more like a tank/angry short dude:
For Moria!: Taunts all units around Gimli to attack him. During this duration, Gimli has a 150% damage return (Thorns Aura) to any who attack him.
~~This requires some strategy cause the thorns aura can deal damage to several enemies while they are attacking him. But if he gets surrounded because of this he could die.

This is quite a nice idea to make an ultimate spell out of it. Thanks!
And the risk of getting killed is not that high since he has still the leap bash ability which allows him to jump out of the most dangerous situations. The only problem is that Boromir has a taunt spell at the moment and this would be too near to this. So we need to find a new spell for Boromir!

And Blood Oath sounds tight, just maybe make it a timed buff. Like his attack increases by 10% for each attack he lands on an enemy. Lasts 20 seconds.

What do you mean by "tight" in this case? Anyways, I'll implement Blood Oath I think and the thing with the buff is a good idea; I only have still to think about Mana cost (or completely passive?) and the type of damage bonus (percentage or absolute).

Also you should rename Gandalfs Blind or Rain of Fire to Flame of Anor, as it suits more with the LotR theme.

Nice idea and simple to realize. I'll think about that. I'm not that happy with Rain of Fire at the moment anyways, so maybe I'll change that to something custom.

Your ideas for Legolas are nice, but putting so much effort into him would make him a central character in gameplay (he would be the only one able to change his weapon and spells!) and that's not his role. He is part of the fellowship, but in no way more worthy than the other members and even plays just a small role for the story.
To balance the thing a little better, I could theoretically add these features to the other members of the Fellowship, too, but that's firstly very much work and secondly it's already difficult to find 4 interesting spells for each character (as you see at this thread), so more spells won't make it easier. Finally it makes the gameplay too complicated, I think. You have to take care of up to 9 heroes at the same time now, each with his own abilities and role in combat, none of them being allowed to die. That's enough challenge, I think, every hero having 2 forms would not increase the players' fun.

Also for Sam's rope, wasnt it the Elves that gave it to him, not his grandpa?

You are right that the elves give a rope to him at Lothlorien, but the problem accepting this would be that he could not use the spell for nearly the whole Fellowship Of The Ring. So I decided to invent a magic rope that does the same job to be able to use it as spell.
If there are better ideas, I'm open to them.

I will update the spell descriptions on my site when I got the details of the new spells clear. Thanks for your participation until now, a great community here!
Hm, anybody ideas for a nice Boromir spell to replace Taunt?

 

[Little]

I've had quite a bit of experience creating new, custom abilities for heros and I'm glad to help, just ask if you need clarification on these, hope they work out.


Sam
(Ultimate Spell

Strength of the Gaffer
Cooldown - 60

Sam hides beneath his ethreal cloak, moving at 20% reduced speed, but invisibile to all units, when sam breaks this invisibility with an attack, he deals a massive amount of damage, letting loose a fearsome battle cry that makes all nearby enemy units run in fear, these frightened targets are especially weak to Sam's hunting blade, he deals double damage to all affected enemies.

Lvl 1 - 10 second hide, 300 [adjust] backstab, 300 AOE, lasts 8 seconds
Lvl 2 - 18 second hide, 450 [adjust] backstab, 450 AOE, lasts 10 seconds
Lvl 3 - 26 second hide, 600 [adjust] backstab, 600 AOE, lasts 12 seconds

Gimli
(Ultimate Spell)

Moradric Harbinger [Passive]
Cooldown - 150/120/90

When Gimli's health drops below 40%, his ancient bloodline surges forth, increasing his attack speed by a huge amount and offering him a cleaving attack, but takes 20% extra damage. When the effect fades from him, he lets loose a tremendous shout and smashed his hammer to the ground, dealing a percentage of damage he took during the time of Harbinger in a large area.

Lvl 1 - 40% IAS, 35% Cleave, 5 second duration.
Lvl 2 - 60% IAS, 60% Cleave, 10 second duration.
Lvl 3 - 80% IAS, 85% Cleave, 15 second duration.

 

[demonsofdante]

By tight i mean its a good idea. However you will probably not want it to be passive. Because it can either stack way too much and break the balance of the game, or if it caps out it will become a very boring ability. Making it an activated skill would give more control and balance to it than having it be passive.

Well heres a couple more ideas for Flame of Anor (If it replaced Rain of Fire)
Flame of Anor: Conjures a series of flame pillars at Gandalf's location that gradually increase in size. (Each pillar/flamestrike waves gets bigger and bigger).
Flame of Anor: Each of the nearby members of the Fellowship are surrounded by fire, dealing periodic damage to nearby enemies and healing them over time. (Immolation + Rejuvination)
Flame of Anor (Autocast): Each of Gandalfs attack lights the unit on fire for a short duration. If the unit is struck by Gandalf's fire bolt while under the effect of this spell, it will explode and sear any surrounding enemies.
Flame of Anor: Gandalf imbues himself with the Flame of Anor, increasing his mana regeneration by 250% and reducing the mana cost of his fireball by 100%. (Not passive)



For Boromirs you should replace taunt with horn of gondor. and tone down its buffs. And Defender's Aura should also be replaced as its just Devotion Aura. Maybe replace it with some sort of offensive ability like:
Skull Crush: Boromir swings his shield, shattering the skulls of enemies in front of him, stunning them for XX seconds and dealing extensive damage.
His ultimate should be like Last stand or something of that nature as a tribute to him fighting like crazy for Frodo to get away in the Fellowship.

Last Stand: Boromir goes into a frenzy, increasing his damage and attack speed by XX%. If he should die while under the effects of Last Stand, he will be instantly revived.

 

[Little]

And here's another flame idea, just for fun.

Gandalf shoots forth an intensly concentrated beam of liquid fire at the target, engulfing it in flames that deal XX damage to the unit and XX damage in an area every second, the beam of fire also damages any unit that it comes in contact with for XX damage

(Channeling, So like, imagine Drain life, but with a red ray, trigger an add Immolation ability to the target and trigger a damage effect to any unit that touches the connecting beam)

 

[Blood Oath]

Heres some suggestions for Gandalf.

Arcane Disarment: Gandalf heats the weapons of the enemies surrounding him so severely that they drop their weapons and are lit aflame ( Stun for x seconds, fire damage for x seconds)

Searing Light: Gandalf shines so brightly with white light his enemies are lit on fire and are blinded causing them to miss their attacks ( Fire damage for x seconds and curse for x seconds)

Gimli (ultimate)

Oath of Vengence: Gimli burns with so much hatred of the orcs that destroyed moria that all attacks against orcs have a chance to do extra damage (X% chance to deliver a critical hit against orcs which does x times base damage)

 

[Waldbaer]

Some nice ideas, again. Too many to comment on each of them!
Anyways, I used some of them, more, less or even not edited at all.

I updated the overview: Current spell planning of the Fellowship

Slowly but surely, this spell preview gets quite original and nice. I'd never got it so far without your help!

Aragorn's crush at the moment is nearly the same as Boromir's skull crush. Maybe anybody here has ideas for another interesting spell for Aragorn or another hero to replace the last remaining small object-edits?

 

[Lord_of_sausage]

Aragon:
Deadly Blows:
Aragon swings his sword x times, dealing his damage *x
Each swing takes 0.20 seconds to do, while Aragon is swinging, he cant focus on anything else and the target is stunned
Single Target

hmm maybe another one, i come up whit more soon

 

[Little]

Legolas
Split-shaft arrows - [autocast] Legolas draws out a specially made arrow that splices into two when it hits a unit, hitting two units nearby for a percentage of the base damage.

Aragorn
Isldur's Rush - Aragorn smashes through a target enemy in a series of attacks that knock the enemy backwards, Aragorn follows, landing deadly blow after blow. Incincable while striking.