Immortal Knight

[Twan]

Edit : added the file

What do you think of a pretender like this ?...

There were no knights as pretenders, and "pure warrior" pretenders are very rare, so I've imagined that : a free immortal knight but having big difficulties to learn magic.

#name "Immortal Knight"
#description "Former general in the armies of the Pantokrator, this knight recieved immortality as a reward for his services. But fearing to see his follower use his new power against him, his master added to the immortality ritual some secret words of curse, making the knight unable to learn any kind of magic. Now that the Pantokrator has gone, the Immortal Knight has retrieved some capacity to learn magic, but is still extremely weak in this area."
#gcost 0 (perhaps I should make him cheap but not free)
#immortal
#pathcost 100 (edit : I've first given him a pathcost of 150 but it's too much, making him more expensive with only one path than all gods except the VQ, 80 or 100 is better even if less thematic)
#ap 22
#mapmove 3
#superiorleader
#prot 0
#hp 25 (my first idea was to give him 12 or 13 hp, but nobody would take a pure warrior with so few, even immortal)
#str 17 (I think a good number for an exceptionnal but non giant-sized warrior, perhaps I should give him more or less)
#enc 3
#att 18
#def 16
#prec 8
#mr 18
#mor 30
#weapon "Lance"
#weapon "Hoof"
#weapon "Enchanted Sword"
#armor "Black Steel Full Plate"
#armor "Black Steel Kite Shield"
#armor "Black Steel Helmet"
#startdom 1

Useless ? Too powerful for some strats (awaken, dominion 10, no magic) ? I don't know...

PS : I've still to make the sprites. I'll post him once it's done.

[paradoxharbinger]

immortality is a very powerful ability coupled with great battle prowess, so a free immortal knight is probably too powerful, i would probably charge atleast 100 for him.

but in general i like the idea. would probably be a great god to use with man or ulm.

[Nerfix]

You should look at Risen Oracle or a Lich running around in Black Steel full plate wearing a SoS and a Fire Pearl...

[Twan]

Hum yes, I've made him free as a phoenix has a gcost of 50 and start with 2 magic paths, 1 more dominion and pathcost 60, but in fact the knight is a far better SC (especially if he takes dominion 10 for awe 2). But 100 + his pathcost would make him more expensive than a VQ if he takes just 1 magic path, and he's far to be as useful... something in the 50-80 range may be better.

[Nerfix]

Knighty is still vulnerable to a lot of spells affecting the living and he has encumberance. Even if he is a good fighter he has human-oid weaknesses.

[paradoxharbinger]

i think those weaknesses could easily be offset by a few magic items, and IIRC, there is a spell that can be used to transform the living into undead.

[FrankTrollman]

The starting cost of a pretender is virtually meaningless and highly deceptive. Assuming that you want a Dominion of 7 (which seems pretty standard for a starting faction), the difference between starting with a Dominion of 1 and a Dominion of 2 is 42 points. If you intend to purchase a magic path to 4, starting with a 1 in that path saves you 24 points plus your starting pathcost.

So to put that in perspective: a Cyclops costs 125 points and starts with Earth 3. A Lord of War costs only 50 points and starts with Earth 1. If you intend to have Earth magic of 5 or more, the Cyclops is cheaper than the Lord of War.

Starting Dominion, Starting Paths, and Pathcost are so much more important in determining how expensive it is to field a god than its actual cost that I seriously don't know why gods have a base cost at all.

---

Speaking of the Lord of War, he is cnceptually the closest to what you want out of a knightly pretender (what with him being a knight who is a pretender). Unfortunately, as just discussed, the Lord of War is completely useless. He's right next to the Cyclops and the Cyclops is better than he is in every meaningful way.

Still, if you made a pretender that was any good at all, you could steal his sprite. It's unit number 1340 and is a pretender for Enigma of Steel Ulm.

-Frank

[Tortanick]

I like the idea but the description sucks ;p it also dosn't fit in with the backstory, the Pratenkrator had two generals both of witch are pretenders: Lord of War & Celestral General.

As an alternative backstory may I offer the possiblity that he was once a grail knight (Knight of the Chalice in Dom3) who in ages past gained imortality when he found and drunk from the Chalice.

[Nerfix]

For the record, I was thinking of Immortal Emperor (armed with a crossbow which he used to slay giant fishes after he received a Gift from Heaven which told he will find the Elixir of Immortality...) and Immortal Khan for Tien Chi.

[Twan]

The mod is attached to the first message.

I'm not very good at making sprites, so I've used a very nice knight from the Black Moon Armies mod, with some color changes.

Thanks to Sube for his amazing sprites.

Changes :
* cost 50 / pathcost 100
* a little less hp, strength and attack
* a little more ap
* new description, which sucks also but include some allusions to the Sacred Graal (...MP version )