Redcap

[MeinCookie]

This is a revamp of an earlier suggestion which has more merit now that replacement creatures are being grasped at Redcaps are the nastier and bloodthirstier (indeed downright psychotic) cousin of the goblin within folklore. This suggestion is, I should hope, very much altered in balance and positioning, to my original which i never really got around to refining.

The best image I could find.

The Redcap is an early-game/mid-game blitzer which relies on speed and gains small health and armour boosts from the deaths of surrounding enemies. Slightly mad, and certainly eccentric, Redcaps do not yield to reason and charge fearlessly into any fray without reservation or restraint. They are supremely quick and despite their relative frailty can deal a punch, hacking away with their twin short-handled axes in a mad frenzy.

On the flip-side they are physically weak creatures, carried into battle only by their overwhelming lust for blood. They have no sense of right and wrong, no conscience or moral compass - as such they are on occasion accompanied by sprees of petty theft, upsetting other creatures or causing fights - usually if they haven't seen battle for a long time. They may even steal from you, but this probably won't matter because for each creature they kill between paydays, they take 20% less gold.

Additionally, killing puts them in a state of 'Bliss' meaning they don't get angry or unhappy for a short while afterwards. They get on well with the undead, and have no whatsoever qualms being around them.

Health: Low

Attack: Medium-High

Armour: Low

Speed: Medium-High

Accuracy: High

Intelligence: Low/Moderate

Training Rate: Moderate

Training Cost: Above Average

Ease of Keeping: May upset others on occasion, but if they see enough combat can be very inexpensive and easy to please.

Recovery Rate: Medium

Creature Wage: Medium (The More Kills it Makes the Less it Takes)



Prospective Spells

Level 1 - Melee Attack

This is the standard close quarters melee attack.

Level 1 - Blood Healing (Passive)

This allows the Redcap to regain 5% of its total Health from kill nearby as well as temporarily buffing Attack Rate for about 3 seconds following and Speed for 10 seconds. The buffed Attack Rate and Speed don't stack, however.

Level 6 - Battle Frenzy (Passive)

This allows the Redcaps to regain another 5% of its total Health for every creature it personally kills.

History

Redcaps are among the most brutal, soulless and chaotic creatures to inhabit this underworld. It is quite frankly little wonder they work for you. These ghastly creatures are infamous for their horrifying tendency to stain their unkempt dread-locked hair red with the blood of their foes. They wear heavy armoured boots, which defy their furious swiftness, and a blood-splattered smock/tunic.

They are on whole solitary wandering creatures, congregating only to slaughter things and occasionally, if there is any time left over, procreate. As a result it is a inexplicable wonderment that they haven't killed themselves off already.

Images



The best image I could make. Also I forgot pointy ears, so add those in your head.

Old Redcap Suggestion

The Redcap is an eccentric, darker and, overall else, supremely blood-thirsty member of the the Goblin family. They very much lack the tell-tale cowardice of their lesser kin - and are never more at home than whilst on the battlefield.

The Redcaps gain health by killing and maiming their enemies. They also have a close affinity with the undead and feel very comfortable in their presence.

As units on the battlefield, Redcaps are supremely quick and very cunning.

Redcaps stain their dread-locked hair red with the blood of their enemies and carry tomahawks/short halberds.

The more creatures a Redcap kills the less gold it requires come payday.

Health: Low
Attack: Medium
Agility: Medium-High
Armour: Medium-Low
Speed: Medium/Medium-High (Speed Buffs Taken Into Account)
Accuracy: Very High
Intelligence: Moderate
Training Rate: Medium-Low
Recovery Rate: Medium (Also Recovers Health via Killing)
Creature Wage: Medium (The More Kills it Makes the Less it Takes)

Prospective Spells

Level 1 - Melee Attack
This is the standard close quarters melee attack.

Level 1 - Blood Healing (Passive)
This allows the Redcap to regain 25% of its total health from every kill it makes, it temporarily buffs attack rate and speed for a short amount of time following...

Level 3 - Carrion Attraction
This allows the Redcaps to teleport from one corpse or unconscious creature to a nearby one at random.

Level 8 - Blood Invulnerability (Passive)
This replaces the effects of Blood Healing and allows the Redcap to regain 50% of its total health from every kill it makes, it also temporarily buffs attack rate, speed and makes the creature invulnerable for a short amount of time following...

[Metal Gear Rex]

This guy needs to be toned down BIG TIME. He sounds more like he came from a Vampire than a Goblin. Trolls and Orcs have bigger relations.

Health: Low
Attack: Medium
Agility: Medium-High
Armour: Medium-Low
Speed: Medium/Medium-High
Accuracy: Very High

The stats... they don't seem too bad at first. It sounds like an upgrade of the Goblin, but when considering all the material below, I don't think these low stats matter. These things will be hard to kill, especially in large numbers.

Training Rate: Medium-High
Recovery Rate: Medium (Also Recovers Health via Killing)
Creature Wage: Medium (The More Kills it Makes the Less it Takes)

The Training Rate I could stand normally, but it is some of its later spells that bug me a lot. Also, I already didn't like the idea of it recovering health after killing or getting a lower payday. In my head the increased health and decreased wage were both low values, but it still doesn't sound like a good idea to me.

It also means they become extremely cheap and very easy to keep. Construction of the dungeon is pretty expensive, but what also is expesnive is the actual time of war since you use a lot of resources to fight and you might need to spend more money to replace things you've lost. That's when Payday can be a burden, but if these things have decreased pay, then it really eliminates that problem entirely.

Level 1 - Blood Healing (Passive)
This allows the Redcap to regain 25% of its total health from every kill it makes, it temporarily buffs attack rate and speed for a short amount of time following...

25%? That is a lot, considering these guys have high Agility/Defense which would make them hard to hit. But also, a buff in Speed and and Attack Rate? That's pushing it.... a lot. They already have a high speed...

Level 3 - Carrion Attraction
This allows the Redcaps to teleport from one corpse or unconscious creature to a nearby one at random.

I don't get how these things teleport... they're related to the Goblin which aren't exactly magical creatures.

Level 8 - Blood Invulnerability (Passive)
This replaces the effects of Blood Healing and allows the Redcap to regain 50% of its total health from every kill it makes, it also temporarily buffs attack rate, speed and makes the creature invulnerable for a short amount of time following...

...50%? Are you sh*tting me? AND it becomes INVULNERABLE for a period of time combined with the previous buffs too, now THAT is cheap!

Level 10 - Undead Decoy
This summons a single skeleton warrior who draws all the attacks of the creature it was cast on to the point where they will disengage with whomever they were fighting and chase it until the skeleton is dead, they are slapped by their keeper or they themselves are dead. The skeleton occupies the creatures entire attention and other threats like attacking creatures and traps seem like trivial distractions.

It can summon a Skeleton... really? Not only that, AI Redcap is probably gonna use that on the one he's fighting, making him get an easier kill, and thus give him more health and invulnerability time with a boost of Attack Rate and Speed.

Overall
I honestly don't like this idea at all. He seems overpowered/broken cheap in some ways, especially at Level 10. They're easy to train too, and very cheap when you let them fight. The stats don't seem too bad at first, the look like a buffed up Goblin, but when considering all the other things they do... it does sound broken.

The concept itself sounds very unappealing to me. A relative of the Goblin Family and yet so distant. Not one of your better ideas if you ask me.

[MeinCookie]

They are a very much darker distant relative of the goblin family. Redcaps are nightmare creatures through and through - but they look like goblins and are referred to often as goblins.

Speed isn't really that unnaturally high, it was either medium or medium high - I haven't decided - and medium is "average" so to speak. Its abilities that increase speed are taken into account there. Its health is low - one of its distinguishing features is its high health regeneration which counters this and lets face it - if it can't make a kill it won't benefit, will it? That is more of a bonus when one achieves victory in a fight and moves onto a new combatant. They won't win against quite a few creatures and unlike goblins they are by no means early game - we have goblins for that.

I will admit that training time should perhaps be increased given that nature of late game abilities - should have though of that =/. Also, you say that goblins are not magical creatures which is completely true, but this doesn't have an abundance of spells when you consider that the passive abilities aren't really such - and I just through in the last one at level 10 as a filler til i could think of something more fitting. They aren't exactly warlocks or powerful magical beings by any stretch - and the undead connection does partially account for proficiency in spells.

This isn't done by any means - i just did some rough drafting in my head and slapped it down and I will be revising it.

[Metal Gear Rex]

They are a very much darker distant relative of the goblin family. Redcaps are nightmare creatures through and through - but they look like goblins and are referred to often as goblins.

I don't think it is a good idea to have so many creatures look alike. I think we have enough of that as it is. If they are so very distant from each other in terms of actual stats, then making them look the same just seems unoriginal to me.

Speed isn't really that unnaturally high, it was either medium or medium high - I haven't decided - and medium is "average" so to speak. Its abilities that increase speed are taken into account there. Its health is low - one of its distinguishing features is its high health regeneration which counters this and lets face it - if it can't make a kill it won't benefit, will it? That is more of a bonus when one achieves victory in a fight and moves onto a new combatant. They won't win against quite a few creatures and unlike goblins they are by no means early game - we have goblins for that.

The Health Gain... isn't so bad with such a low Health. At least 25% isn't. 50% kind of is. And the fact that it becomes invulnerable doesn't help. But you're saying that they won't kill very often? You seem very doubtful of that. That means these creatures are useless against most stronger enemies, and for them to join only mid-game pretty much means they're not going to be useful at all by the time they get here.

In other wrds, why should we bother with this creature?

I will admit that training time should perhaps be increased given that nature of late game abilities - should have though of that =/. Also, you say that goblins are not magical creatures which is completely true, but this doesn't have an abundance of spells when you consider that the passive abilities aren't really such - and I just through in the last one at level 10 as a filler til i could think of something more fitting. They aren't exactly warlocks or powerful magical beings by any stretch - and the undead connection does partially account for proficiency in spells.

Being able to summon another Creature really is quite magical, and this one doesn't seem magical at all. It is unfitting, and considering how it helps him score a kill and what a kill means to him, it furthers why I don't think giving it to him is a good idea.