Perhaps not necessary but for the hopes of inspiration and brainstorming:

The ability to conjure minor denizens for the purpose of distraction etc. I know conjurers have things such as warp dimension and their own personal familiar, but perhaps this could be an added line of training like invoker spells or assassin kicks.

Example with generic names:

at level 1 you get your first conjure quasi spell. (ie: Conjure Quasi-Denizen I) Once that is at 91% or even perfected, you achieve insight into your next spell which would be level 6, (ie: Conjure Quasi-Denizen II). Rince and repeat...

The purpose would be that you have to be in combat, so you can't necessarily open with it (perhaps your adrenaline or given threat requires the denizen to answer your call... who knows). Upon summoning it distracts who you are fighting, attracting all blows. Basically though, the first denizen summoning would only have 25 hp or something... we're saying it could only take a few blows but at level 1 that wouldn't be half bad for utility against some creatures.

This spell would have a built in recast timer that would affect all denizen summonings in this line of spells of 1 or 2 hours. So you couldn't just spam the spell during combat, but for drawn out long fights you might get two uses in.

The other addition to flavor is perhaps before you can cast your first denizen you pick the specific quasi-elemental plane to which you call out to. Unless I'm wrong, the planes are ash and vacuum, etc.

In closing, perhaps this is far from needed, but I thought it could be fun. Perhaps an additional balancing could be that if you have a devil or archon conjured you are too focused to call out to the quasi planes... this way the spell would be more reserved for demon/angel users or if you are inbetween summonings.

Thoughts? Hates?

EXB

Simply have the denizen buff up as you level up to some extent if you want that kind of thing. I don't know whether this kind of thing fits the theme of the conjurer class at very low levels.

The denizen would buff up for each one you unlock... having more hp so eventually it could absorb a round or two at most of damage. Perhaps even top denizen spell could have any number of added perks associated with their plane of origin.

You're right as far as low levels, it may come across as too powerful to reach out that far into a quasi plane however.

The rinse in repeat is no different in aspect to an assassin practicing kicks... that is what my reference was pertaining to.

The kicks don't mostly do the same thing (with few exeptions) and you have at least three to five still useful kicks at hero. You can use them to lag, maledict, disarm and deal damage.

Or is your idea that the spell needs to be at certain skill % for the next one to unlock? That would be a bitch to rank and would only cause needless spamming. I mean, archon doesn't need certain skill % at angel either. Therefore, I think that one denizen spell and it developing with the conjurer level would be more fun than a spell that you need to spam to get a buffer one that makes it completely obsolete. Also, you could have the skill % in denizen spell affect what kind of a denizen you can get if you want.

Familiars get more balanced out. We have some that can open doors, hide, see invis, see hidden, etc. SOme that aid your mana pool and conjuration. Some that wake you when slept, and fight well. Some that fly, and see hidden. And others that kinda suck.

More utility or benefit to the conjurer while at his side would be good.

Your idea has merit though, a few new paths would spice things up. Something unique for neutral conjurers too. Maybe a Djinn or something instead of archon/devil

I'm going to try an outline the familiar's and their perks just to see which may be lacking. I am going to avoid listing detect invis because each familiar gets that (it's a given).

Owl
Detect Hidden
Fly
Get (Cannot get items from containers)

Coyote
Acute Vision
Camouflage

Faerie Dragon
Faerie Fire
Faerie Fog
Sleep Immunity
Magic Noun for damage
Natural DR on the familiar

Monkey
Detect Hidden(?)
Peek
Steal
Open/Get (items from containers too)
Carries 5 items instead of 1
I cannot recall if it can hide or sneak

Homonculous
At Hero - adds 200 mana roughly when in room with Conjurer
Has the ability to eat items
Open/Get (items out of containers too)

Shadowcat
Detect Hidden
Pass Door
Sneak
Hide

Quasit
Detect Hidden
Sneak
Hide
Invis
Mana Regen
Open/Get (items out of containers too)

Imp
Flight
Curse
Imp poison
Ability to speak
Open/Get (Items out of containers too)
Good fighter
Natural DR on familiar

Raven
Detect Hidden
Fly
Get (can't get items out of containers)


Please post with any additional clarifications or corrections and I'll update this post.

Right off, Coyote and Shadowcat seem to be the most dreaded to get, although the coyote does enable the conjurer to be alert to outlanders which is a prime enemy. That alone is still a very nice boon. I can't help feel like the creators had a hay-day with evil familiars though.... If anything, I feel like neutrals could use the boons to familiar more than either good or evil simply because they already have to deal with lackluster demons/angels devils/archons.

Provided some duergar or hiding class doesn't walk by and notice it, it's the absolute best familiar aside from flying ones and before clairvoyance/audience to sneak up on people when they are the most hurt.

In fact it's better than flyto because you can look directly at their tank and figure out when you can two-round him. I did this to a lowbie warrior in Akan with my conjie.

The only problem I have with shadowcat is it's neutral. I wish it was evil.

In any case if you use the shadowcat offensively and don't whore it in the room with you constantly, it's one of the more useful offensive familiars.

Why would you wish it over a form like quasit when quasit has the stealth and more? I get that shadowcat has pass door, but hell... I think quasit can still unlock a door provided its got the key. Or even the homonculous for its ability to heal?

Dont't get me wrong... I think its a useful scout but that is all. Most familiars seem to fill two uses though. Now if shadowcat had it's own built in displacement that would be neat and maybe if the coyote had it's own sort of cripple ambush...

As it is now, the DR on faerie dragons and imps make them the superier offensive familiars.

EXB

It should only serve a purpose of either helping me conjure, helping me find my enemies, or helping me cast spells on my enemies. Never should it be tanking or doing damage.

Shadowcat is superior to quasit because it never has to step out, ever. The things you described are just openings to discover it.

Going to test out some more of them before passing judgement. SOme definately are better though from what I have done so far.

How often does a familiar really have to open a door? When I had a quasit maybe 3-5% of the time... I really have a difficult time classifying pass door as that much of a perk.

Now throw in quasit's mana regen and you're gonna tell me you'd rather have a shadowcat?

I'm calling B.S. on this one.

EXB

ps. This isn't even touching the subject of a quasit being able to grab that wand out of a container or picking up that shield it walked by.

Unless you're sending it to get limited sources I seriously doubt picking up items is that big of a deal. I'd rather have the pass door, especially since if I have shadowcat I'm probably neutral, thus my servitors probably blow, thus I need to never attack my opponents when they are full health. this is harder to determine with airforms, and slightly harder to determine with the quasit.

The shadowcat has mana regen benefits too FYI.

Correct. Sleeks do not pop for familiars, but there are many many other limited wand sources that a familiar can acquire for a conjurer. I am also 95-99% sure there is no mana regen from the shadowcat being present (99.9% sure that if there is, it is nowhere near as good as the quasits bonus to regen)

Honestly, you act as if familiar's are easy to spot in the first place... it's not as if they show up on where and especially if they are the monkey, quasit or shadowcat.

To recap on getting objects out of containers, let alone off the ground is a wonderful utility for conjurers. To play a conjurer with that familiar perk and then to play another conjurer with a familiar lacking that perk, you would hope for another perk to make up the difference.

Shameless bump

Do conjurers really need more defensive stuff? Perhaps the evil ones do, but goodies sure don't. ;) (thinkin of archons here. heh)

nt