LordArchaon
Explorer
It's official: the Wildhaunt will soon turn to be my first (and maybe THE first?) 4e custom class.
Take a look at it, the class is practically complete and polished even if not usable due to not yet developed spells. Actually not spells but Shadow Magic (from Tome of Magic) mysteries.
The class was basically going to be a "shadow magic druid" or "druid of the night": a druid who draws power from the twisted reflection of nature in the shadow plane.
Designing 4e powers for it will be incredibly simpler from what I've seen and I already have everything in mind (and on paper).
So I won't design the planned 3.5 Shadow Magic mysteries for it anytime soon, because of the change... not to mention because of my lack of time.
Here is a big preview of ideas, given by images, as I like to do!
A Wildhaunt draws energy from both the dark Shadowfell and the eldritch Feywild planes, obtaining powers which seem to possess the essence of the most primal nightmares...
... In a "wildhaunted" forest, fairy lights mislead the eyes while deep darkness creeps out from anywhere...
... Eladrins are said to have been the first Wildhaunts: when they mastered the powers of shadows and illusion in the Feywild, they unsuspectingly created a link between the Shadowfell and the Feywild energies...
... A Wildhaunt starts a ritual aided by his nightlings, summoning a natural spirit from the dead to retrieve mysterious secrets of the wild...
... Mirage-creatures conjured by Wildhaunts can dangerously captivate one's attention or bring into existence freezing eldritch ice from thin air...
... From cocoons made of pure shadow, Wildhaunts can slowly give birth to fairy but darkly-warped creatures, characterized by unpredictable behavior...
So the Wildhaunt is going to have two power sources: shadow and primal and its role is going to be that of a controller.
Its powers will concentrate on many enemies at once, mainly distracting, attracting, weakening or entangling them, but sometimes also dealing necrotic, acid, cold or physical damage.
At-will powers: Powers like animal instigation, fear, light/dark controlling, unsettling auras, distracting illusions, and plant-controlling are going to be the at-will powers, obviously at different levels depending on their power. At-will damage dealing abilities will be very limited, high-level or totally absent, given that at night, during Nocturnal Trance, the Wildhaunt can rely on his "Feral Form" to deal damage.
Encounter powers: These will be the main powers, including battlefield warping, baleful phasings, dangerous summonings of barriers and battlefield-controlling creatures, and few direct-damage powers which will be blasts and spreads of narcotic gases, venoms, acid-pit traps, or gusts of icy wind that will make terrain slippery. The focus will be on controlling. During Nocturnal Trance, random powers may recharge during an encounter.
Daily powers: These are actually "Nightly Powers" and include the most fearsome ones, like creature-morphing, direct domination by the means of shadowy parasites, paralysis and cold-damaging icy prisons, swift and strong weather changing, Geyser-sprouts of necrotic energy and darkness, Semi-permanent curses and stressful effects and so on. The focus here is on blasts, mass-controlling and self-saving powers much like dimension doors. Only usable at night.
[You can find the original spells (mysteries) for it (from level 0 to 6) in the second post of the Wildhaunt thread, some of them will be made directly into powers, some of them will be changed, others will be replaced...]
So the fixed class features will only be the signature Nocturnal Trance and "Feral Form", both of which will be customizable by the means of feats.
Some of the powers will actually change during Nocturnal Trance to transform into real combat maneuvers performable by the Wildhaunt while in "Feral Form". In those moments the Wildhaunt could totally change role in the party, briefly becoming a Striker or Defender, but mostly they will still be focused on controlling.
This aspect may constitute a build-option (something that probably all 4e classes will have), allowing players to choose between a more controlling and reliable Wildhaunt with little use of its "Feral Form", or one that may become a secondary Fighter or Rogue on occasion, focusing on its "Feral Form".
Alternatively, the option will just change the way the powers are delivered, if more on short range (Feral Form) or mid-long range (channeling powers through animals and plants).
Last but not least, the Wildhaunt will focus more than every other class on rituals, being aided by Nightlings in tasks like small-scale party healing by the means of conjured extraplanar mushrooms and berries, tracking, "Wild Scrying", "Commune with Dead Nature", "Creature Creation", "Nightmare Control", or directly planeshifting to Shadowfell or Feywild for fast travel and such.
Take a look at it, the class is practically complete and polished even if not usable due to not yet developed spells. Actually not spells but Shadow Magic (from Tome of Magic) mysteries.
The class was basically going to be a "shadow magic druid" or "druid of the night": a druid who draws power from the twisted reflection of nature in the shadow plane.
Designing 4e powers for it will be incredibly simpler from what I've seen and I already have everything in mind (and on paper).
So I won't design the planned 3.5 Shadow Magic mysteries for it anytime soon, because of the change... not to mention because of my lack of time.
Here is a big preview of ideas, given by images, as I like to do!
A Wildhaunt draws energy from both the dark Shadowfell and the eldritch Feywild planes, obtaining powers which seem to possess the essence of the most primal nightmares...
... In a "wildhaunted" forest, fairy lights mislead the eyes while deep darkness creeps out from anywhere...
... Eladrins are said to have been the first Wildhaunts: when they mastered the powers of shadows and illusion in the Feywild, they unsuspectingly created a link between the Shadowfell and the Feywild energies...
... A Wildhaunt starts a ritual aided by his nightlings, summoning a natural spirit from the dead to retrieve mysterious secrets of the wild...
... Mirage-creatures conjured by Wildhaunts can dangerously captivate one's attention or bring into existence freezing eldritch ice from thin air...
... From cocoons made of pure shadow, Wildhaunts can slowly give birth to fairy but darkly-warped creatures, characterized by unpredictable behavior...
So the Wildhaunt is going to have two power sources: shadow and primal and its role is going to be that of a controller.
Its powers will concentrate on many enemies at once, mainly distracting, attracting, weakening or entangling them, but sometimes also dealing necrotic, acid, cold or physical damage.
At-will powers: Powers like animal instigation, fear, light/dark controlling, unsettling auras, distracting illusions, and plant-controlling are going to be the at-will powers, obviously at different levels depending on their power. At-will damage dealing abilities will be very limited, high-level or totally absent, given that at night, during Nocturnal Trance, the Wildhaunt can rely on his "Feral Form" to deal damage.
Encounter powers: These will be the main powers, including battlefield warping, baleful phasings, dangerous summonings of barriers and battlefield-controlling creatures, and few direct-damage powers which will be blasts and spreads of narcotic gases, venoms, acid-pit traps, or gusts of icy wind that will make terrain slippery. The focus will be on controlling. During Nocturnal Trance, random powers may recharge during an encounter.
Daily powers: These are actually "Nightly Powers" and include the most fearsome ones, like creature-morphing, direct domination by the means of shadowy parasites, paralysis and cold-damaging icy prisons, swift and strong weather changing, Geyser-sprouts of necrotic energy and darkness, Semi-permanent curses and stressful effects and so on. The focus here is on blasts, mass-controlling and self-saving powers much like dimension doors. Only usable at night.
[You can find the original spells (mysteries) for it (from level 0 to 6) in the second post of the Wildhaunt thread, some of them will be made directly into powers, some of them will be changed, others will be replaced...]
So the fixed class features will only be the signature Nocturnal Trance and "Feral Form", both of which will be customizable by the means of feats.
Some of the powers will actually change during Nocturnal Trance to transform into real combat maneuvers performable by the Wildhaunt while in "Feral Form". In those moments the Wildhaunt could totally change role in the party, briefly becoming a Striker or Defender, but mostly they will still be focused on controlling.
This aspect may constitute a build-option (something that probably all 4e classes will have), allowing players to choose between a more controlling and reliable Wildhaunt with little use of its "Feral Form", or one that may become a secondary Fighter or Rogue on occasion, focusing on its "Feral Form".
Alternatively, the option will just change the way the powers are delivered, if more on short range (Feral Form) or mid-long range (channeling powers through animals and plants).
Last but not least, the Wildhaunt will focus more than every other class on rituals, being aided by Nightlings in tasks like small-scale party healing by the means of conjured extraplanar mushrooms and berries, tracking, "Wild Scrying", "Commune with Dead Nature", "Creature Creation", "Nightmare Control", or directly planeshifting to Shadowfell or Feywild for fast travel and such.
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