Baconfry
Terrarian
Important: this is less of a suggestion for the game and more of an exercise in inventing special abilities/armor set bonuses. There are 21 in this single thread, all unique. The Zodiac Project may have a slim chance of making it as it stands, but if any one of these special effects I've invented makes it into the game, it will make my day. Now let's proceed.
I realize that this is going to be a tough sell. Thinking about how the twelve constellations in the zodiac might make their debut in Terraria, I dismissed it at first... but I figured, hey, why not give it a shot?
So first of all, a new mechanic will need to be added: months. These don't need to be named January or February or anything. These months will be defined by the constellation that occupies the sky. One month = five in-game days. Remember, this isn't planet Earth.
So every month features its own constellation. That's nice. But... but... so what? What's so great about each month? What special things happen?
Each month grants the a chance for its respective miniboss to spawn during each night. Each miniboss drops its respective Astrological Symbol, a special accessory. Realistically, some new Lunar crafting material will need to be combined with those symbols for balance and to avoid RNG syndrome (I need to justify a 100% drop rate).
Now I know that astrology is a bunch of baloney, but in a fantasy/scifi world like Terraria, we can make it work, right?
Aquarius
Basic AI used: Paladin. Launches a shower of water projectiles when the player is within line-of-sight. Gains a Water Shield when at 50% health, which has 5000 health of its own (but can be pierced).
Aquarius Symbol
Gives 10 defense, and +4 health per second.
During month of Aquarius:
Provides a visible Water Shield, which has a 50% chance to absorb and negate enemy projectiles.
Pisces
Basic AI used: Flocko.
Pisces Symbol
Gives +20% movement speed and a 20% chance to dodge attacks.
During month of Pisces:
Allows the player to perform a dash that grants invincibility frames.
Aries
Basic AI used: Wolf.
Aries Symbol
Gives +20% movement speed and +10% damage.
During month of Aries:
Damage and knockback increase by up to an additional 20% depending on the speed at which the player is currently moving.
Taurus
Basic AI used: Wolf.
Taurus Symbol
Gives +10% damage and +5% critical strike chance.
During month of Taurus:
Increases damage and critical strike chance by 20% against enemies that have damaged the player at least once in the last 10 seconds.
Gemini
Basic AI used: Wraith. Obviously there are two of them.
Gemini Symbol
Gives +10% critical strike chance and a 20% chance to dodge attacks.
During month of Gemini:
Being hit creates a stationary projection of yourself (as long as a projection does not already exist). The projection has health equivalent to four times the damage the player took when the projection was made. After 2 seconds, the projection loses invincibility and starts losing 10 health per second. Enemies will ignore the player and target the projection.
Cancer
Basic AI used: Same as the Giant Enemy Crab in one of my other threads.
Cancer Symbol
Gives +10% damage and 10 defense.
During month of Cancer:
Increases damage by 15% against enemies at half health or below. Damage done to the player is capped at 60.
Leo
Basic AI used: Wolf.
Leo Symbol
Gives +10% damage and ignores 10 enemy defense.
During month of Leo:
Raises damage in proportion to the number of enemies on the screen (capped at 30%).
Virgo
Basic AI used: Wraith.
Virgo Symbol
Gives a 20% chance to dodge attacks and +4 health per second.
During month of Virgo:
Time spent not dealing damage gradually increases damage and critical strike chance by up to 20% (takes 10 seconds to reach maximum). Upon striking an enemy, the buff disappears in 10 seconds.
Libra
Basic AI used: Enchanted Sword.
Libra Symbol
Gives +10 defense and ignores 10 enemy defense.
During month of Libra:
Increases damage by 15% against enemies with a larger percentage of health remaining than the player.
Scorpio
Basic AI used: Mourning Wood. Shoots Venom-inflicting stingers.
Scorpio Symbol
Gives +10% critical strike chance and ignores 10 enemy defense.
During month of Scorpio:
All attacks have a 10% chance of reducing an enemy's defense to zero for 5 seconds. Inflicts Venom on enemies that make contact.
Sagittarius
Basic AI used: Mourning Wood.
Sagittarius Symbol
Gives +10% critical strike chance and +20% movement speed.
During month of Sagittarius:
Doubles damage against enemies that are at full health.
Capricorn
Basic AI used: Wraith. (Moves freely in water, though.) Inflicts Slow.
Capricorn Symbol
Gives +20% movement speed and +4 health per second.
During month of Capricorn:
Enemies close to the player have a chance to be completely immobilized for 3 seconds.
Now the problem is that making bosses isn't really my strength. (Some people don't let that stop them, sadly.) I wanted to focus on the equipment, and the stats on the bosses... I don't really care too much. They're meant to be a fun challenge, worthy of guarding the powerful equipment they possess. I'm sure the developers are capable of providing the numbers.
But I will say this: all the bosses will share knockback resistance and the ability to teleport to a location near the player.
So I'll just provide a sketch or two and leave the rest to your imagination.
Now, there are two directions that I can take this suggestion in, and I'd like to know which one you guys would all prefer.
One option: To flesh out the twelve original constellations to their fullest. The order will be set the way they are on planet Earth. In addition, every character, when created, is assigned a random astrological sign, and they can use that sign's special effect regardless of month.
Second option: To add nine more constellations to fully use all 21 combinations of damage/critical strike chance/dodge/movement/defense/regeneration/ignoring defense.
Aquila: dodge/ignore defense.
Hydra: damage/regeneration.
Pegasus: defense/movement.
Orion: damage/crit.
Andromeda: regeneration/crit.
Lyra: defense/crit.
Cygnus: defense/dodge.
Lupus: damage/dodge.
Phoenix: regeneration/ignore defense.
Changes to the original twelve:
Aries: movement/ignore defense.
Taurus: damage/movement.
Every world will be randomly assigned twelve of the 21 possible constellations for its own local Zodiac.
However, if this is done, we must be aware that only the original twelve have astrological signs. Therefore, we must "invent" astrological signs for the nine new constellations.
I've done a little brainstorming on what that would look like, and this is what I came up with:
Please leave feedback. I know it's not exactly finished, but I think it's enough to work with, and I already spent more than four times as much time on it as I typically spend on suggestions...
I realize that this is going to be a tough sell. Thinking about how the twelve constellations in the zodiac might make their debut in Terraria, I dismissed it at first... but I figured, hey, why not give it a shot?
So first of all, a new mechanic will need to be added: months. These don't need to be named January or February or anything. These months will be defined by the constellation that occupies the sky. One month = five in-game days. Remember, this isn't planet Earth.
So every month features its own constellation. That's nice. But... but... so what? What's so great about each month? What special things happen?
Each month grants the a chance for its respective miniboss to spawn during each night. Each miniboss drops its respective Astrological Symbol, a special accessory. Realistically, some new Lunar crafting material will need to be combined with those symbols for balance and to avoid RNG syndrome (I need to justify a 100% drop rate).
Now I know that astrology is a bunch of baloney, but in a fantasy/scifi world like Terraria, we can make it work, right?
Aquarius
Basic AI used: Paladin. Launches a shower of water projectiles when the player is within line-of-sight. Gains a Water Shield when at 50% health, which has 5000 health of its own (but can be pierced).
Aquarius Symbol
Gives 10 defense, and +4 health per second.
During month of Aquarius:
Provides a visible Water Shield, which has a 50% chance to absorb and negate enemy projectiles.
Pisces
Basic AI used: Flocko.
Pisces Symbol
Gives +20% movement speed and a 20% chance to dodge attacks.
During month of Pisces:
Allows the player to perform a dash that grants invincibility frames.
Aries
Basic AI used: Wolf.
Aries Symbol
Gives +20% movement speed and +10% damage.
During month of Aries:
Damage and knockback increase by up to an additional 20% depending on the speed at which the player is currently moving.
Taurus
Basic AI used: Wolf.
Taurus Symbol
Gives +10% damage and +5% critical strike chance.
During month of Taurus:
Increases damage and critical strike chance by 20% against enemies that have damaged the player at least once in the last 10 seconds.
Gemini
Basic AI used: Wraith. Obviously there are two of them.
Gemini Symbol
Gives +10% critical strike chance and a 20% chance to dodge attacks.
During month of Gemini:
Being hit creates a stationary projection of yourself (as long as a projection does not already exist). The projection has health equivalent to four times the damage the player took when the projection was made. After 2 seconds, the projection loses invincibility and starts losing 10 health per second. Enemies will ignore the player and target the projection.
Cancer
Basic AI used: Same as the Giant Enemy Crab in one of my other threads.
Cancer Symbol
Gives +10% damage and 10 defense.
During month of Cancer:
Increases damage by 15% against enemies at half health or below. Damage done to the player is capped at 60.
Leo
Basic AI used: Wolf.
Leo Symbol
Gives +10% damage and ignores 10 enemy defense.
During month of Leo:
Raises damage in proportion to the number of enemies on the screen (capped at 30%).
Virgo
Basic AI used: Wraith.
Virgo Symbol
Gives a 20% chance to dodge attacks and +4 health per second.
During month of Virgo:
Time spent not dealing damage gradually increases damage and critical strike chance by up to 20% (takes 10 seconds to reach maximum). Upon striking an enemy, the buff disappears in 10 seconds.
Libra
Basic AI used: Enchanted Sword.
Libra Symbol
Gives +10 defense and ignores 10 enemy defense.
During month of Libra:
Increases damage by 15% against enemies with a larger percentage of health remaining than the player.
Scorpio
Basic AI used: Mourning Wood. Shoots Venom-inflicting stingers.
Scorpio Symbol
Gives +10% critical strike chance and ignores 10 enemy defense.
During month of Scorpio:
All attacks have a 10% chance of reducing an enemy's defense to zero for 5 seconds. Inflicts Venom on enemies that make contact.
Sagittarius
Basic AI used: Mourning Wood.
Sagittarius Symbol
Gives +10% critical strike chance and +20% movement speed.
During month of Sagittarius:
Doubles damage against enemies that are at full health.
Capricorn
Basic AI used: Wraith. (Moves freely in water, though.) Inflicts Slow.
Capricorn Symbol
Gives +20% movement speed and +4 health per second.
During month of Capricorn:
Enemies close to the player have a chance to be completely immobilized for 3 seconds.
Now the problem is that making bosses isn't really my strength. (Some people don't let that stop them, sadly.) I wanted to focus on the equipment, and the stats on the bosses... I don't really care too much. They're meant to be a fun challenge, worthy of guarding the powerful equipment they possess. I'm sure the developers are capable of providing the numbers.
But I will say this: all the bosses will share knockback resistance and the ability to teleport to a location near the player.
So I'll just provide a sketch or two and leave the rest to your imagination.
Now, there are two directions that I can take this suggestion in, and I'd like to know which one you guys would all prefer.
One option: To flesh out the twelve original constellations to their fullest. The order will be set the way they are on planet Earth. In addition, every character, when created, is assigned a random astrological sign, and they can use that sign's special effect regardless of month.
Second option: To add nine more constellations to fully use all 21 combinations of damage/critical strike chance/dodge/movement/defense/regeneration/ignoring defense.
Aquila: dodge/ignore defense.
Hydra: damage/regeneration.
Pegasus: defense/movement.
Orion: damage/crit.
Andromeda: regeneration/crit.
Lyra: defense/crit.
Cygnus: defense/dodge.
Lupus: damage/dodge.
Phoenix: regeneration/ignore defense.
Changes to the original twelve:
Aries: movement/ignore defense.
Taurus: damage/movement.
Every world will be randomly assigned twelve of the 21 possible constellations for its own local Zodiac.
However, if this is done, we must be aware that only the original twelve have astrological signs. Therefore, we must "invent" astrological signs for the nine new constellations.
I've done a little brainstorming on what that would look like, and this is what I came up with:
Please leave feedback. I know it's not exactly finished, but I think it's enough to work with, and I already spent more than four times as much time on it as I typically spend on suggestions...
