Crosspost from TO: http://www.terrariaonline.com/threads/ghost-of-the-paladin-npc-town-defender.144337/
Let us go baaaack in time to May of 2014 . . . *ahem*
Mowing the lawn. Always a place for me to think. Here is what today's grassacre brought us.
The Ghost of the Paladin
You know the Paladin you fight in the Dungeon? Such a cool enemy, but it seems so out of place, surrounded by hordes of skeletons and ghosts. And a Paladin . . . aren't they supposed to be warriors for good? What happened here.
Well, the way I imagine it, yon Paladin went to the Dungeon to destroy the evil lurking there, and fell victim to it as well. Now his spirit, cursed to inhabit his now tainted armor, roams the Dungeon. But we can free him from that curse (the spirit anyway, the armor will roam the Dungeon forever)!
Acquisition:
He can be unlocked by obtaining a Paladin's Statue from the Dungeon (every Dungeon will spawn with 1), or also as a rare drop from the Paladin, and "using" 1 Ectoplasm on it. Doing so will summon him as an NPC. From here, he will need to move into a house like any other NPC.
Wiring the statue and activating it will let you teleport him to the statue, similar to the King and Queen Statues. From here, he will need to move into a house like any other NPC.
Purpose:
As an opponent of evil, the Paladin functions as a town defender. When no enemies are present, he merely wanders around like a normal NPC, but when enemies are in range, he moves like a Wraith/Reaper, floating through walls to attack the enemies that threaten the base. His concept as a "ghost" is to support this idea, since a standard NPC would suck pretty bad at defending a normal base, given their lack of ability to navigate between floors and walls. To keep things simple, he would probably attack like any other wall-hacking enemy, by contact damage, hurting and knocking back hostile mobs. Ideally, he would not take damage from such, so he would be functionally immortal (as the Iron Islanders say, what is dead may never die).
Alternatively, he could chuck hammers through walls, or a combination of the two. The exact method isn't as important as the necessity that he be able to attack enemies through and between floors and rooms; anything else and he could never reach the enemy in time to make a difference or save the NPCs.
Instead of taking damage from enemies, and to expand upon his defensive abilities, he would have an amplified "Paladin's Shield" effect, allowing him to absorb 50-75% of damage inflicted upon other NPCs even from a distance. So if Andrew the Guide gets hit for 60 damage, it would be reduced to say, 15, and the Paladin would take 45 instead. Like the Paladin enemy, he would be a bit of an HP sink, perhaps 1000 health (maybe more? its more about the concept than an exact number), and so would only "die" in the service of protecting others.
If he were to die like that, you could then spend an ectoplasm at a Paladin's Statue to revive him immediately. If not urgent, you could just let him move back in immediately.
Thoughts?
Let us go baaaack in time to May of 2014 . . . *ahem*
Mowing the lawn. Always a place for me to think. Here is what today's grassacre brought us.
The Ghost of the Paladin
You know the Paladin you fight in the Dungeon? Such a cool enemy, but it seems so out of place, surrounded by hordes of skeletons and ghosts. And a Paladin . . . aren't they supposed to be warriors for good? What happened here.
Well, the way I imagine it, yon Paladin went to the Dungeon to destroy the evil lurking there, and fell victim to it as well. Now his spirit, cursed to inhabit his now tainted armor, roams the Dungeon. But we can free him from that curse (the spirit anyway, the armor will roam the Dungeon forever)!
Acquisition:
He can be unlocked by obtaining a Paladin's Statue from the Dungeon (every Dungeon will spawn with 1), or also as a rare drop from the Paladin, and "using" 1 Ectoplasm on it. Doing so will summon him as an NPC. From here, he will need to move into a house like any other NPC.
Wiring the statue and activating it will let you teleport him to the statue, similar to the King and Queen Statues. From here, he will need to move into a house like any other NPC.
Purpose:
As an opponent of evil, the Paladin functions as a town defender. When no enemies are present, he merely wanders around like a normal NPC, but when enemies are in range, he moves like a Wraith/Reaper, floating through walls to attack the enemies that threaten the base. His concept as a "ghost" is to support this idea, since a standard NPC would suck pretty bad at defending a normal base, given their lack of ability to navigate between floors and walls. To keep things simple, he would probably attack like any other wall-hacking enemy, by contact damage, hurting and knocking back hostile mobs. Ideally, he would not take damage from such, so he would be functionally immortal (as the Iron Islanders say, what is dead may never die).
Alternatively, he could chuck hammers through walls, or a combination of the two. The exact method isn't as important as the necessity that he be able to attack enemies through and between floors and rooms; anything else and he could never reach the enemy in time to make a difference or save the NPCs.
Instead of taking damage from enemies, and to expand upon his defensive abilities, he would have an amplified "Paladin's Shield" effect, allowing him to absorb 50-75% of damage inflicted upon other NPCs even from a distance. So if Andrew the Guide gets hit for 60 damage, it would be reduced to say, 15, and the Paladin would take 45 instead. Like the Paladin enemy, he would be a bit of an HP sink, perhaps 1000 health (maybe more? its more about the concept than an exact number), and so would only "die" in the service of protecting others.
If he were to die like that, you could then spend an ectoplasm at a Paladin's Statue to revive him immediately. If not urgent, you could just let him move back in immediately.
Thoughts?
Last edited:
