As much as I like how the Illuminati, who are masters of the flesh, are able to crush things to death with their bare(ly modified) hands, and how I can both bash and influence without draining my willpower, it really doesn't synergize well with the archetype.

1. Illuminated Dracnari lose 2 strength, dropping down to 12 Str which hurts their bashing damage.
2. Human evolution for Guardian gives you 16 Int but only 13 Str.
3. Pentangle cuts down equilibrum recovery time, while crush is on balance.

Either we alter all those above to make sense for the Illuminati, or we change crush.

Altering the above seems simple enough, but there are some problems too.
1. If we give Illuminated Dracnari a Str boost instead of a penalty, or even just removing the penalty, then which stat will drop to compensate? Judging by the racial revamp thread, not a very easy decision to make.
2. It'll be kind of odd to have an evolution path for a particular guild.
3. Unless Pentangle only affects bashing skills, Illuminati's other skills on equilibrum will be slowed.


Hence, I propose that crush be changed from a Brute damage source balance move, to a Magic damage source equilibrium move. At the same time, change its attack message to fit the new source and make it more interesting than just slugging jaws.

Option 1:
Keep the Illuminati 'symbol' attack as Crush, but instead of just physically pounding the foe, we get:
Attack message: You clench your fists and raise them to chest level. With a small jerk, your arms suddenly stretch to an impossible length and pound with fists the size of boulders. (Dhalsim-style!)
Death message: With a sickening snap, collapses under the barrage of fists.

Option 2:
Change the concept. Instead of giant hands, get spiked hands.
FLESHCALL HANDS SPIKES
FLESHFORM SPIKE
Attack message: You point your fingers at lazily. The flesh on your hands shift and ripple, before expelling a swarm of spikes and nails which tear bloody holes in .
Death message: A stray spike happens to finds its way through heart, ending his/her life.

Option 3:
Make it really creepy.
Attack message: You stretch out your hand and place it on . Your palm splits open to reveal a voracious maw lined with wicked incisors, chewing off chunks of flesh from .
Death message: As gasps his/her last, a black fleshy tongue slips out from the orifice on your hand, writhing about as though licking its non-existent lips.

I'm a Researcher and I like the sound of this idea.

I really like the idea of ordering our gauntlets to do stuff which makes sense for it take eq. Crush damage should take into consideration a person's int rather than just strength. I think that would be an easier and more viable solution rather than changing the dracnari guardian spec.

Also, those attack message rock!

There's a special report submitted on this already.

So? maybe they can incorporate some of this stuff, I really like that last one

Ooh, nifty, I made sure to check the reports to ensure that it wasn't already envoyed, but that's cool.

If we had that last one Illuminati would be scary as hell.

remember, art is an explosion

Art is a blast! You said it wrong!

And i'm glad that i wasn't the only one to think of Deidara

No. Blast is Elementalism. You guys are Cosmic. Don't mix them up.