The Banshee

[Livin]

I've been thinking about the other undead classes that we haven't heard too much about and started looking at the banshee, which many are looking at to be the stealthy assassin class. I am of a similar preference and, with the understanding that they will feed on their victim's fear, there are some things I'd like to suggest.

 

We model their combat style off of Freddy Krueger's!

 

Their powers could center around illusions and debuffs, weakening their opponents from the shadows without them realizing they are there while building fear in them. The more afraid their target gets the easier they are to kill by others, with the banshee able to insta-kill after a certain threshold has been reached; and the more fear the victim has upon their death the more the Banshee gets in terms of health, mana, and/or experience from feeding on them. As they level up their illusions become grander, able to change a victims entire surroundings and even grant the illusions the power to inflict damage on their own.

 

What would you like to see for the Banshee?

 

Edit

Thought of a nice slogan, "Beware what you see, when facing the Banshee."

[Sailor Midgard]

Since we know that multiple build styles of most classes will most likely be a thing then I think a path that is the opposite would be fun. Something like a AOE de buff class , where the fear builds slower but over more enemies. A banshees who wants people to look at them, very out there kind of build. This build could have an aura of fear and a slowing AOE that makes the enemies have to be near them for longer. The ultimate for this line being the scream that kills any enemies with X or more fear within the area. They could sneak into enemy camps or groups causing the fear to build as long as they remain unseen how ever the more afraid the enemy gets the more likely they are to notice anyone stealthed nearby.

For the single target build you could have a skill that allows you to torment one enemy character, such as a leader or morale providing unit. Similar to if you sent that character a letter informing them that you are coming for them, then killing only the enemies near them but not that one specifically. This could be used to make the leader fights easier later as they have become panicked and fatigued.

This could be used against the entire enemy force as well. After a while the targeted character could begin to cause fear to spread to all their units slowly spreading through the entire force making it harder for them to get over fear or cause more loss of general morale that kind of thing.

[CyanStargazer]

My first thought to single target is driving an enemy insane so that they attack their own allies. That would be a cool ability.

[Livin]

@Sailor Midgard I like that, having a stand & deliver variation to the hide & strike of stealth. I would consider a penalty though in combat to keep from potentially being op, like taking damage as you fight reduces the fear as the enemy witnesses that you can be hurt. Perhaps the fighting style ought to be based around dodges & counters?

 

Using the screech as the ultimate feels right, breaking your silence to deliver to death wail upon them all.

 

@CyanStargazer That would be awesome. Perhaps it could function as a reward after fulfilling certain conditions, like killing x% of the enemy in a given area without being seen and along with the aura of fear you create it results in paranoia among the rest of them as each comes to believe that their comrades are the ones doing it.

[Golden Xan]

There is much that we still don't know about the characters, the action, the fighting... but if the Banshee does turn out to be a rogue-like character with magickal abilities based on fear, I'd like to see a few things.

 

First, a simulated emotional state for the enemies that you can take benefit from. As humans watch their friends be killed, you and your allies' manifestations of power and other events, they become more and more desperate. This emotional state might be represented by differentiated animations, sounds and actions, such as fleeing. The Banshee might have a special way of visualizing that fear, such as through auras, glows, or any other reasonable indicator. As their desperation increase, so does your potential, such as having an increased effective reach, damage or speed when there is a "bubble" of concentrated emotion in an area.

 

While this could be intimately tied to the gameplay of the Banshee, it would also serve greatly for immersion, the sense of monstrosity that we might get when fighting the humans, and even influence other classes' abilities.

 

Second, the Banshee would need some way to move around either too fast or without being seen to strike from behind, and this could be connected to the process of increasing the fear the humans have.

 

Third, a combat that is either based on letal methodical strikes in specific orders (that you make yourself), or frantic strikes shared across many different enemies as you teleport on the battlefield.

 

But all this I say is too broad because we don't yet know what the action will be like. From the looks of the voting we had and the classes already chosen to be present in the first Ages, I'm guessing the Banshee is not the next on the list, so it might be a while until we see any of that. In any case, these are my two cents.

[Livin]

@Golden Xan From what I remember there was concept art for the Banshee already that got shown off on discord, though for the life of me I can't seem to pull it up anywhere (so if someone does have it could you post it here becauase that would be awesome); but I remember she was levitating off the ground, making her appear to be fast and possibly hovering over the enemy.

[Golden Xan]

I had "extracted it" from the July 2019 Development Update. It was a screenshot from their video.