[Exxy]

Disclaimer: The actual proposed changes are on Post Two of this Thread.

Why is this even needed?

Like I covered in a past thread that was ultimately shifted off to the great threadyard in the sky:

Lupines kind of got shafted in the grand scheme of things for Racials. They have the Kaelensia trope-classic Golden Eyes and a much worse version of the Felidae's Instinct without anything -unique- to them. I would like for some love to be given to one of the game's Races that I believe I'm fairly qualified to address considering it's the one I've had the most experience with. Lastly, I wanted to create a new thread to directly address my idea, a concern or two I have overall and to give new attention to the idea of a Racial Redux for Lupines.

An Example: Cats versus Dogs

Felidae

-Golden Eyes: SAN*5 resistance to Blind, Immunity at 20 SN. -Greater- than (x>20) SAN also gives a SAN-20 bonus to Hit.
-Instinct (Felidae): Threshold One (50% HP or less) gives a bonus to SKI, CEL, LUC and GUI of 1+(0.1*SAN). Threshold Two (25% HP or less) gives a bonus to SKI, CEL, LUC and GUI of 2(1+(0.1*SAN)).
-Fleetfoot: Felidae gain a Base +1 Move along with another +1 Move per 20 Scaled SAN.

Lupines

-Golden Eyes: SAN*5 resistance to Blind, Immunity at 20 SN. -Greater- than (x>20) SAN also gives a SAN-20 bonus to Hit.
-Instinct (Lupine): Threshold One (50% HP or less) gives a bonus to STR, WIL, DEF and RES of 1+(0.1*SAN). Threshold Two (25% HP or less) gives a bonus to STR, WIL, DEF and RES of 2(1+(0.1*SAN)).

Breakdown of Example

-As it stands, Golden Eyes is a boon. Although it gives no distinction between Lupines and all of the others with it in this Race Tree.

-The -current- Lupine brand of Instinct is good, don't get me wrong. But you can take away three facts from this:

1. You get DIminished Returns for the most important stats you typically are forced to hit soft caps in to begin with (Strength and Defence) as you build a character that fits the Trope Lupines are molded for.

2. A "bonus" to Willpower that is ultimately more of a cripple due to the fact it ups your FP -limit- (which is a nightmare when facing Greenscale users) and does -nothing- to alleviate the fact. The game currently stands with WIL only factoring to 10 FP per up along with 1 HP indirectly through Stat Allocation which makes this boost to WIL a complete hinderance.

3. Felidae get the best of both worlds in the facts: They have a third Racial Passive and they get a more fitting Stat Boost to their character Tropes (I.E. they get more Evade from Cel, Hit from Skill, Crit Chance from Luck, Crit Damage from Guile).


========================

What can we do to make this a fairer playing field?

I'm glad you asked, read below.

[Exxy]

The Current Racials

-Golden Eyes: SAN*5 resistance to Blind, Immunity at 20 SN. -Greater- than (x>20) SAN also gives a SAN-20 bonus to Hit.

-Instinct (Lupine): Threshold One (50% HP or less) gives a bonus to STR, WIL, DEF and RES of 1+(0.1*SAN). Threshold Two (25% HP or less) gives a bonus to STR, WIL, DEF and RES of 2(1+(0.1*SAN)).

Proposed Changes

-Golden Eyes: Stays the same.

-Instinct (Lupine): Thresholds stay the same, bonus of WIL changes to bonus of SKI or GUI (depending on preference, other non-WIL suggestions are welcome). Suggested to change RES to another since Lupines aren't meant to be apt to magic, I assume this goes for either casting it or withstanding exposure to it (although I am in favor of leaving their RES Instinct bonus alone).

The New Racial

Howl: "A warning call to all prey nearby that alerts them the true hunt has just began. . ."

-It would effect all nearby opponents in either a 2-square circle or directly in front of the Causer (see respective screenshots below for reference).

-It would have a chance to inflict either of the following, with both being possible to proc at the same time: Fear, Hunted (5+(Scaled SAN/10)). If used on a prey that cannot be feared, +5 is awarded to the Hunted affliction (does not stack).

-It would be proc'd via the same Status Afflication vs. Status Resistance as all others do.

-It would also proc one Sound Damage instance (either magical or physical - preferably magical to actually take SAN into effect).

-The Base FP cost would be 50 minus(-) Scaled SAN.

-The duration for both would be 3 turns.

-The move itself would either cost 3M or 4M to use (I'd prefer a 3M Conditional if anything but I'll leave it up for debate).

-The effects themselves would only be applicable to the user vs. afflicted target.

-This would be a Racial Skill that either costs 1 Skill Point Slot to equip (which is what I would prefer to see) or is a freebie.


Reference Photo (the black tile represents the position of the causer)

-The image on the left gives more of a AoE sense to it and would be more useful when enemies cluster around them in close-knit situations.

-The image on the right makes them have to choose on where to direct the howl and makes it much more situational on terms of optimal effect (the one I'd probably prefer if it's given a flat 3M to cast). The lack of AoE versatility is instead swapped for range, albeit slightly more.

[Egil]

+1

[Snake]

+1

[Lolzytripd]

I'd like to see a couple optional traits lupines could pick up.

Pack tactics
-a buff that scales on san, that gives the lupine a benefit for having allies within x range of them based on san

what the buff does, is whatever is fair and balanced

Lonewolf
-the opposite of pack tactics

[Neus]

1) Why not make the skill have a luck-based chance to inflict Hunted and Fear, with the base modifier going up based on your SAN instead? This way status-infliction and status-resist can actually play their intended part.
2) Why not make the skill deal some Sound damage based on your Sound ATK? More uses for that are always good.
3) Howl is a boring name.

[Exxy]

1) Why not make the skill have a luck-based chance to inflict Hunted and Fear, with the base modifier going up based on your SAN instead? This way status-infliction and status-resist can actually play their intended part.
2) Why not make the skill deal some Sound damage based on your Sound ATK? More uses for that are always good.
3) Howl is a boring name.

1) I'm open to this being the case instead, I suppose. Although the original idea was "the more wolfish you were, the likelier you were to succeed."
2) I'm not against it dealing Sound Damage too, originally it was just to find something that could be on-par with Felidae's insane Movement buff while being more controlled of a variable.
3) Q_Q . . . *goes back to the drawing board*

EDIT: I'll throw in some edits to the main subject. Although not changing the name until I can think of a better one.

I'd like to see a couple optional traits lupines could pick up.

Pack tactics
-a buff that scales on san, that gives the lupine a benefit for having allies within x range of them based on san

what the buff does, is whatever is fair and balanced

Lonewolf
-the opposite of pack tactics

As for this, I decided -not- to throw in all my past suggestions of a Racial to help further this one along because I believe it was the strongest idea at the time for giving them something of their own. Although I can throw in a small edit concerning these if wanted by enough people.

[Snake]

Hunting Howl

[Autumn]

Hunter's Bellow?

[Fern]

Hunting Howl sounds decent enough to me.

Maybe... War Cry.