Ok, I've decided I'd throw these up here because there doesn't appear to be any call for new envoy reports/changes. And because I think its better to work collaboratively and openly with others who probably know more than I do.

So, feel free to offer suggestions or utter rejection.

Stagchant

Syntax: STAGCHANT ME/(target)
By using the chant of White Hart you will inspire courage and perserverance, so that the faithful will be able to ignore their cuts and bruises for a time.

This would add a defence to either the caster or the subject 'The chant of White Hart inspires you.' for a short time, maybe around 4 or 5 minutes. While it is active, bleeding will still occur but it won't drain health at all. (Maybe it could even be converted to mana?) It may also boost WOUNDS status up by 10% on four random body parts, even past 100%, but these would then fall to 100% when the chant wears off. Cost - 200 mana or 200 ego, 20 willpower.

Example:

> STAGCHANT ELRYN
You chant a low and stirring hymn that praises the chosen of the Hart. As you finish you see Elryn's eyes glint with emotion, and his stance becomes resolute.

Elryn might be fighting and see:

2178h, 3366m, 3762e, 0p, 8800en, 14194w ex-
You bleed 45 health. You take no notice of the wound.
2178h, 3366m, 3762e, 0p, 8800en, 14149w ex-


Regality

Syntax: STAGCALL REGALITY
Power: 5 (Moonhart Mother Tree)
0 (if in Stagform)
You may summon the noble and kingly demeanor of the Hart to give your enemies pause in their hateful attacks.

This would add a defence to the caster 'The mantle of the Stag infuses you with nobility.' which would last until death or logout. All damage attacks against the caster would have a small chance of being negated, whether from mobiles or players. It would not affect afflictions/special abilities. I think the chance should be about one attack every ten to fifteen, and it won't stop the attack, merely one of the hits. Cost: 400 Mana, 5/0 power, 50 willpower.

Example:

> STAGCALL REGALITY
You bow your head and summon the kingly demeanor of the Stag. A deep calm descends upon you as His presence brushes your mind.

Elryn might be fighting and see:

2178h, 3366m, 3762e, 0p, 8800en, 14194w ex-
A mound of gibbering eyeballs moves menacingly in your direction, but wilts under the power of your imperious glare.
2178h, 3366m, 3762e, 0p, 8800en, 14194w ex-


Channel

Syntax: TOTEM CHANNEL (target)
Power: 1.
If you are bonded to one of the sacred trees of your commune, you will be able to channel the power of the spirits into your enemies. The effect of a random rune will be visited upon your victim.

This would be a very basic ability that gives the target an affliction at random from the caster's bonded totem.


Surestrike

Syntax: STAGCALL SURESTRIKE (target)
Power: 3 (Moonhart Mother Tree)
Damage Type: 100% Cutting/Blunt
Damage Source: Brute Physical
Even in heated battle it is possible to still your thoughts and calm the mind. White Hart will reveal how to concentrate and focus, preparing yourself to strike at your opponent with deadly surety.

This would take about 5 seconds in which the person concentrates, and which they cannot do anything. When it has finished, they will attack their target physically with whatever is wielded in their hands, doing large amounts of damage solely to the chest area. There is no chance of missing. It breaks through an aura of rebounding and shield, but not prismatic barrier. This is NOT an insta-kill, but it will deal a heck of damage from a warrior. Cost: 500 mana, 3 power, 100 willpower.

Example:

> STAGCALL SURESTRIKE ELRYN
You turn to face Elryn and he gives a gasp of surprise as you lower your weapons and close your eyes. A vision of White Hart appears before you, and you focus your mind upon the moment to come.

> DRINK HEALTH
Your concentration is upset and you lose your train of thought.
You take a drink from a gaudy purple vial.

> STAGCALL SURESTRIKE ELRYN
You turn to face Elryn and he gives a gasp of surprise as you lower your weapons and close your eyes. A vision of White Hart appears before you, and you focus your mind upon the moment to come.

...

With a flash of insight you become certain of your opportunity. In one fluid motion you surge forward and channel all your being into a deadly strike precisely aimed at Elryn's heart.
You drive an elegant sacramental shortsword deep into his body, releasing a torrent of blood and gore.
You slam a mystic cudgel powerfully against his body, releasing a torrent of blood and gore.


Fleetfoot

Syntax: IMPRINT HERE
STAGCALL FLEETFOOT
Like the great stags of the forest, you will be blessed with the ability to move swiftly and nimbly through the wilderness. By imprinting a natural location in your memory, you may swiftly return at any time.

Yes, I want this skill. If I can't have it in riding, here will do. This would remember a single room of environment forest, mountain, grassland, valley, etc, and then calling the ability will allow you to travel back there later from any other natural environment. It wouldn't be instant, it would be very similar to the wolf ability in Imperian. Any entanglements/broken limbs/mental confusion would prevent the ability, as well as greater pentagram at origin or destination, or walls blocking all exits of the origin. On being called, the ability would mean the person and their entourage enter a special room, 'Bounding through the wilderness' or something similar, then a few seconds later arriving at their destination. Cost: 500 Mana, 100 willpower.



Now, I'm not so sure about these ones...

Magnificence

Syntax: STAGCALL MAGNIFICENCE (target)
Power: 3 (Moonhart Mother Tree) / 0 if in Stagform
Reveal a glimpse of the true Spirit of the Seren to your enemies, forcing them to kneel against their will.

This would make someone prone by kneeling. I'm not sure if kneeling is counted as prone, but I think it would be nice to have a way to achieve it directly. The equilibrium recovery would have to be very small. Cost: 100 Mana, 3/0 power, 25 willpower.


Gaze

Syntax: STAGCALL GAZE (target)
Stare with the entrancing gaze of the Hart, so that your enemies must concentrate to break away.

Again, very simple, just transfixes the target, they can't move until they writhe off. Cost: 150 mana, 20 willpower.

Example:

> STAGCALL GAZE ELRYN
Your movements still and you stare hypnotically at Elryn, transfixing him with your gaze.



Ok, before they I am completely ripped apart... I'm just trying!

The Fleetfoot ability would more accurately be compared to mark return that Wardens in Imperian get in the skill of warding. Heirlooms (The Idrasi wolf skill in particular) is a bit different.

Meh, I just remember bugging anyone with a wolf to take me anywhere. It was so much fun!

Anyway, feel free to add your own suggestions. I've heard so many complaints about stag, both from in game and on these forums that maybe we need to start thinking of how to fix it.

I tried to make sure that the abilities I'm suggesting are as useful, if not moreso, to Serenguard than Druids.

With Elryn's permission I propose this hijack for druidry.


FOREST DISGUISE
Power 1 (moonheart mother tree)
Syntax: FOREST DISGUISE
Using your advanced skills in druidry, when you are in the forest you can now appear as any animal that walks the forest.

This skill I think would work a lot like the masks to in Imperian. It would change your description totally to look like the animal of choice, and your appearance when you walked into a room. One would see the exact same room entry appearance as the creature that you chose.

1. The animal would actually have to be an existing animal in the forest and you have to be in the same room with this animal when you do it.
2. It does not work outside the forest. If you exit the forest in this disguise you will automatically look normal again.
3.You gain no attributes of the animal. This is more like an advanced form of camouflage.

the one ialie posted sounds funky

Heh...let me analyse:

First you want a skill that for 0 power and 200 ego, stops all bleeding and heals 40 wound points.

Then you want a skill that's an equivalent to a 600 credit artifact, costing 0 power and 400 mana.

Then you want one doing massive damage through shield and rebounding, that never misses.

You want another hermit-like skill, next to totemreturn, spores, burrow, leap, flow and demesne centre, cause you like escaping.

Magnificience isn't too bad, would be useful for stagstomp, though it needs normal equilibrium recovery, not a very short one.

Gaze of course is retardedly overpowered, why on earth would a druid get to be able to transfix, it being the most powerful entangling ability, for just 150 mana? Maybe have it cost 6 power and 1000 mana, half of that when it fails on blindness, stripping it.

Nice try, but the only viable idea is magnificience, to create a setup for stagstomp.

Fair enough. Maybe this was too powerful, but I really would like Druids and Serenguard to be of use to their allies. As far as I can tell, they are the only classes that have absolutely no skill that is beneficial to another. How about just the wound bit, or just the bleeding?

What artifact?

That Druids would have no use for, but Serenguard might. Tell me, does chasm go through shield and rebounding? Does it miss?

Well, it seems stag is built around fleeing and defence.

Edit: I agree we are good at escape, just as many city-based skills are centred on summoning people and keeping them there, but I just realized you are exaggerating slightly.

Spores (although technically available to everyone) is not a Druid/Serenguard skill.
Flow and Demesne centre are only available to Druids, not Serenguard.
Leap is available to everyone via riding, and I thought burrow was obtained by a few other classes as well.
Totemreturn is nothing more than a guaranteed teleport target.
You also forgot fly and tumble, and sprint.

Yes, we are good at escaping, but aside from flow and spores it isn't quite as much as some might think. Contrast to hermit/catacombs/ghost and we are much better, but not insanely unbalanced.

Druids already can transfix everyone in the room for little, if any, mana. Its called a perfect gem. This is a lesser ability.

I like many of these abilities. I'm impressed with your attention to detail, Elryn. Of course, there would probably have to be a little tweak here and there to ensure that it'll be balanced and not "too good" with any existing Serenguard or Hartstone abilities.

He was referring to the shield of the protector artifact that exists in Imperian. For 600 credits you gained a tower shield, that had a 15% chance of negating any physical attack entirely.

They should have those over here.

Ah, heh, they would be nifty. But nymph, for 1 power, is 1000x better.

Ummm... no.. your crazy. A nymph doesn't do anything to a Warrior striking you, or any powerful denizen.

Oh, that's right... they don't work on aggressive things do they? Hmm. Still, they do allow you to bash all moderate things in complete safety.

Maybe Regality would only work on denizens then. Or only on players.

A shield of the protector applies to anything! That's why it was so good, a Cleric could smite you, or a Knight dsl you, or a Wardancer suicidedrop on you, and there's always a 15% chance the attack will do no damage. It was also useful for bashing as well. It is in no way, shape, or form anything like a Nymph, and the two cannot be compared because they serve two entirely different functions, and do two entirely different things.

All the suggestions are nice, probably too nice, for Hartstone. The problem with Stag, or Moon, is that they are fine with Hartstones and Moondancers but extremely lacking for Serenguards. For example, the existing Ancestralcurse is totally worthless for a warrior, but combined with passive demesne effects, it suddenly becomes much harder to cure.

The same goes with Moon too. Waning sucks for a warrior but immensely useful for a Moondancer.

I like Ialie's idea though.

Heh warriors already miss half the time with venoms and have to deal with parry, stance and rebound. Would a shield that has a 15% chance of negating a physical attack be too much?

Given that it is an artifact, I guess it's fine as long as I can shieldsmash it in two hits and you dont get it back until the next day.

No, Stag is not just fine for Hartstone. Stag is just as worthless, we just have Druidry and Runes/Dreamweaving to make up for it.

Magnificence would be useful, I like the idea for making any totem ability besides bonding actually useful, and Fleetfoot would be awesome.

Oh, and about the argument that we have plenty of ways to escape: Just give it the same delay as teleport. Having 10 escaping abilities doesn't really help all that much if a lot of them overlap in requirements or effect.

I'd rather that TotemReturn had no delay and was limited to only working when you're not standing on a monolith or in a certain type of terrain. It shouldn't even matter if there's a monolith on the totem. If it's limited with a delay or by too many other restrictions, why would I not simply use Teleport Nexus?

Well, totem return is much faster than teleport nexus, its about equivalent to teleporting to a person. I'm sure theres a reason to use it, we just haven't found it yet.

I love love love these ideas. Elryn, you're a genius.

Insert generic gushing praise here.

I'm not sure how necessary 3 power to prone someone is when they can instantly stand up there, assuming they're on balance. If we're talking about stagstomp, it's still not that good.

EDIT: 0 while in Stagform. Remind me to read these things better next time.