Now this may be difficult or impossible. However given the presence of the mule, I wonder.
My train of thought began by wondering if the mule, given its fighting ability, could be modded to cast spells. (If high-level mules can do this in the retail game, I apologise for not knowing but I won't play the game till Friday - UK release.)
I then wondered if either the mule could be re-skinned or non-human creatures added to the party to provide for familiars.
Then I thought: well, why not make it a projected feature of the Circus Magic siegelet.
No ideas beyond the basic concept as yet. I think, if it is feasible, miniature clowns, circus dogs (complete with ruff) and the like will feature as possible familiars for Circus Mages...
Any thoughts on this subject would be appreciated.
Jasp
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No need to restrict yourself to reskinning a mule. Simply having summoned creatures that have no expiration date would work. You can already summon "familiars" of all types in the game. So if they never went away, they would be your familiar until they were dead!
They ride on elevators with you and everything. You can't heal them, though, so that needs work, a little skritting.
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On healing, you could take the approach of making them healable by you, or give them healing spell abilities (tho' I don't know the latter requires the former, if you see what I mean).
The interesting thing would be to see if you could place limits on the 'castability' of any 'Summon Circus Familiar' spell. That is, you can't cast it if you already have a familiar (tho' I would be tempted to allow Circus Mages up to two familiars, myself, for variety - actually, maybe just one for lower level mages and a second unlocked at higher levels...)
Jasp
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A really annoying but understandable limit in the DS game already is that you can't have but one summoned creature at a time. So it could be done without any change.
If you want one familiar, and more summoned creatures, I would expect that limit can easily be tweaked.
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This is a limit created for game balance, however, it is adjustable in a mod. (I already asked about this in one of the group chats.:)
Imagine how outbalanced a mage would be, if they could summon 5 awesome monsters to fight for them. I think GPG just couldnt justify that kind of power. So, I'm sure a familiar would be fine, and other summoned creatures too. I was really looking forward to multiple summoneds as well, so I asked.
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I too asked (Thinker on PDS indicated it's changeable).
After playing DS for 2 days off and on (I think I'm one of the few people in the world that takes breaks... j/k) I am feeling the balance a little and start to see the point of the limit. I feel one is restrictive in the extreme, however and probably over-the-top. I think 3 might be a happy medium depending on how the mod is balanced.
It may also be possible to limit the summoning of powerful creatures to one-at-a-time while allowing multiple summonings of lesser beasts. The, I think, would have been a better approach for GPG to take.
I'm still astounded by the game though. I've never played anything like it.
Jasp
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Just got a little mod of PDS last night. Then I was able to summon as many stone gargoyles as I wanted. It's pretty funny looking with all those guys flying around.
(Note to lowpolyweapon types. The increase in creatures on the screen did not noticably affect the framerate. Maybe in the giant battles it would, but I kinda like the matrix effect anyway.)
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I've had a new idea: familiars.
Now this may be difficult or impossible. However given the presence of the mule, I wonder.
My train of thought began by wondering if the mule, given its fighting ability, could be modded to cast spells. (If high-level mules can do this in the retail game, I apologise for not knowing but I won't play the game till Friday - UK release.)
I then wondered if either the mule could be re-skinned or non-human creatures added to the party to provide for familiars.
Then I thought: well, why not make it a projected feature of the Circus Magic siegelet.
No ideas beyond the basic concept as yet. I think, if it is feasible, miniature clowns, circus dogs (complete with ruff) and the like will feature as possible familiars for Circus Mages...
Any thoughts on this subject would be appreciated.
Jasp
No need to restrict yourself to reskinning a mule. Simply having summoned creatures that have no expiration date would work. You can already summon "familiars" of all types in the game. So if they never went away, they would be your familiar until they were dead!
They ride on elevators with you and everything. You can't heal them, though, so that needs work, a little skritting.
Yeah, good point that.
On healing, you could take the approach of making them healable by you, or give them healing spell abilities (tho' I don't know the latter requires the former, if you see what I mean).
The interesting thing would be to see if you could place limits on the 'castability' of any 'Summon Circus Familiar' spell. That is, you can't cast it if you already have a familiar (tho' I would be tempted to allow Circus Mages up to two familiars, myself, for variety - actually, maybe just one for lower level mages and a second unlocked at higher levels...)
Jasp
A really annoying but understandable limit in the DS game already is that you can't have but one summoned creature at a time. So it could be done without any change.
If you want one familiar, and more summoned creatures, I would expect that limit can easily be tweaked.
Are you sure about the one summoned creature or is it just limited by levels?
I don't regard that limit as understandable at all.
Limits, I understand.
A limit of one is just too restrictive.
A limit of 5-6, I could live with.
The problem I have with this is that it blows several planned Circus Magic spells clean out of the water. I hope it ain't so.
Jasp
Re this limit business - from a trawl of PDS, I'm getting the nasty sensation that this might, /might/, be a hard limit...
If it isn't - where is it in the files? That's the question.
Jasp
This is a limit created for game balance, however, it is adjustable in a mod. (I already asked about this in one of the group chats.:)
Imagine how outbalanced a mage would be, if they could summon 5 awesome monsters to fight for them. I think GPG just couldnt justify that kind of power. So, I'm sure a familiar would be fine, and other summoned creatures too. I was really looking forward to multiple summoneds as well, so I asked.
I too asked (Thinker on PDS indicated it's changeable).
After playing DS for 2 days off and on (I think I'm one of the few people in the world that takes breaks... j/k) I am feeling the balance a little and start to see the point of the limit. I feel one is restrictive in the extreme, however and probably over-the-top. I think 3 might be a happy medium depending on how the mod is balanced.
It may also be possible to limit the summoning of powerful creatures to one-at-a-time while allowing multiple summonings of lesser beasts. The, I think, would have been a better approach for GPG to take.
I'm still astounded by the game though. I've never played anything like it.
Jasp
Just got a little mod of PDS last night. Then I was able to summon as many stone gargoyles as I wanted. It's pretty funny looking with all those guys flying around.
(Note to lowpolyweapon types. The increase in creatures on the screen did not noticably affect the framerate. Maybe in the giant battles it would, but I kinda like the matrix effect anyway.)