Having finished the creation of the Beam Turtles, I move to the next ones: the monsters I’ll create using the earth elementals.
“Before I create them, I must decide what exactly I want to do with them… Random places, or fixed spawning? This is hard to decide…”
I want them to be special monsters that will stay hidden instead of actively defending the dungeon.
They’re a reward for curious players. They’re for players who want a harder challenge or those who poke every nook and cranny searching for easter eggs.
So I have two options here: to put them in a fixed place but hide them very well, or to camouflage them in a random spot.
Both have their own advantages and disadvantages, but I think I’ll go with the first one for a very simple reason: there’s too much randomness in my dungeon already, and Marta told me to reduce it as much as possible.
Also… who doesn’t like the idea of a secret area filled with monsters?
“Having this settled, I have to think where to put them and how to hide them.” I open a top-down view of the big cavern area and start looking for a good place. “Here would be good… this place is okay too… not this one, but this other one, with some changes, would be amazing…”
In total, I select four suitable places.
The first is the island between the two halves. It is isolated, and players don’t need to go there to clear the dungeon. But it’s too evident. It screams ‘Hey, players! The secret area is here!’, and I don’t want that.
Though… this is a perfect place to place some decoys for the exact same reasons.
Yes, I’m going to put decoys. If I only create the monsters, their weird shapes will clearly attract attention; but if there are several more rocks that look the same, players won’t identify them as monsters immediately.
To hide a tree in the forest, they say.
The second place is close to the entrance. This is good for another decoy, as it’ll make the players used to the weird rock shapes without revealing the monsters, in case they decide to inspect and analyze them.
Then, on the left side, there’s this elevated platform that’s hard to reach but easy to see from the surrounding area. Another perfect place for a decoy and to make the players used to seeing the weird rock shapes.
So, where am I going to put the real ones, if I’m putting decoys everywhere, you ask?
The real ones will be on a cliffside, on an elevated rocky platform hanging over the right side of the underground lake.
Similar to the others, they’ll be visible from a certain distance. But this time, there’s no reason for the players to go near this place because all the entrances to the Tunnels are far away.
Who would want to inspect some rocks that look similar to those you’ve already found three times?
And then, thanks to my plan, they’ll miss the secret monsters! They’ll miss the monster who left the claw marks all over the entrance! Hahaha!
“Now that I’ve finished deciding where they’ll go, it’s time to create them! Let’s start with the adds.”
I open the Templates menu and select the Monstrous Hybrid.
It’s a shame I made that mistake because I wanted to give them the Eternal Pain skill all Chimeras get… and what’s worse, they’ll cost an extra 50 cp. Of course, I could go and capture a few non-humanoid earth elementals, but no thanks. I don’t want to spend even more time with this.
I put the Geodis as the humanoid unit, and select a new and fascinating monster – new for me, not new to the game – called Splitting Slime.
There’s a simple reason why the second unit had to be a slime, and it’s because I want them to look like rocks when still. The slime’s amorphous nature makes this very easy to do.
I could have used a Mimic instead, but then they would look exactly like a rock, and I don’t want that.
Also, Mimics, outside of their niche, are weak and useless.
The Splitting Slime, as I’ve said, is a fascinating and unique monster. As far as I know, it’s the only monster that can create copies of itself thanks to the Split innate skill.
Well, the higher versions of this slime, like the Swarm Slime do so too, but they’re the same family so it doesn’t count.
Split (Innate triggered skill) When you take more than 10% of the maximum HP as damage from a single source and don’t die, you split into two identical, smaller units with 50% of your base stats. SPD, INT, and COM don’t get affected.
Yep, Split. Split as in dividing into two units half your original size.
It’s a unique design that forces the enemies to choose wisely how they want to approach the fight, because fighting against multiple weaker copies of the same enemy can be an advantage or a huge drawback.
Players usually give them skills that take advantage of the increased numbers, so killing them with repeated and weak attacks is the general consensus.
Of course, for a build like mine is the opposite: the best is to make them pop as soon as possible and take advantage of the increased numbers.
Oh, just so it’s clear and you don’t misunderstand later when it says ‘base stats’, it doesn’t include those stats given through skills. So skills like Strong or Spiritual, which increase the stats by a flat amount before the level bonus is applied, still add the same stats to every slime.
Crazy combo, don’t you think?
And yes, I’m going to give them such skills. In fact, I’ll give them the Generalist one for sure. Maybe some more too.
Generalist (Passive skill) Increase HP, EP, and MP by 10 and all the other stats except SPD, INT, and COM by 1.
The added stats from Generalist greatly surpass any other flat bonus from the other skills. But the usefulness is debatable… unless you’re like me and want to make them as versatile as possible.
Also, if you upgrade the skill, the combo is even greater. I’ll show you later.
A fun fact about the Splitting Slimes is that players can’t use them as Champions.
I know I’ve said before that the Amorphous players can use any unit as a Champion, but it wasn’t accurate. They can use any unit, as long as it’s compatible with the players, and a slime that splits and creates multiple copies clearly isn’t.
We don’t have multiple bodies, after all! We wouldn’t know how to control them!
The same applies to us, the Flesh Monstrosities. I couldn’t use them to create a Champion even if I wanted to. But it isn’t a problem here, so who cares? I sure don’t.
The units are selected and I can now move to the skills.
“Hmm… if I want to upgrade their skills, I must give them at least one of each. I already have the passive one, Generalist, so this leaves me with the active and triggered. For the active, it must be a melee one. And for the triggered, Death Burst, maybe? No, too cliché. I don’t want to abuse it. Then, some kind of retribution skill…?”
I search for skills that will work well with the Split skill, both before splitting and after, and find two I like.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
Indomitable Will (Triggered skill) When you are reduced to less than 10% HP, recover 20% of your maximum HP. You can’t be killed until this skill is triggered, if you would be killed, this skill is triggered instead. Can only be triggered once per Dungeon Invasion or Dungeon Battle.
If you have a good memory, you should remember this Indomitable Will. It was a skill I was considering picking for myself, to counteract the effects of Maniac.
With this skill, the smaller slimes will be harder to kill. They’ll survive one lethal attack, maybe splitting at the same time Indomitable Will triggers, further increasing their numbers. The ones that haven’t split yet will be a pain too, because 20% extra HP when you can’t use powerful attacks is a lot.
The way skills that trigger only one time can only trigger once, regardless of how many times the slimes split, so no infinite loops here, I checked it beforehand.
It’s a shame, but it’s fair.
The other skill increases the damage output instead of their survivability. It’s called Vengeance.
Vengeance (Triggered skill) Receive a buff that increases all damage you deal by 5% every time an enemy kills an allied unit within 5 meters. This skill can stack and the buff lasts until combat ends.
This is a nice, decent skill. A 5% increased damage that can stack is especially good on monsters that split and multiply by themselves. Buffs and debuffs are kept when splitting, so… I’m sure you know where I’m going.
Now comes the dilemma: offense or defense?
“Hmm… this is hard… On one hand, I want them to survive more time, but I also like the idea of them being dangerous. Wait! Can’t I solve this with an active skill? Something like… Draining Touch!?”
Fufufu! Hahaha! Draining Touch will solve all my problems!
If I give them Draining Touch, they’ll heal as they deal damage, increasing the time they stay alive as well as the chances to split!
The thing is Vengeance doesn’t work with it because Draining Touch doesn’t deal ‘damage’, it reduces the target’s HP directly. This leaves me with Indomitable Will only.
I imagine the scene of multiple rocky slime-like creatures endlessly healing and multiplying, creatures that can survive lethal damage once, instead splitting and healing back up…
I feel my lips going upwards as a grin appears on my face.
“It’s settled. Draining Touch and Indomitable Will it is. Oh, I’ll also give them Bash, because a melee attack with a chance to stun on so many monsters at the same time is going to be fun!”
As you can see, unlike usual, I’m not pulling my punches back with them.
They’re supposed to be extra, secret monsters. Monsters only those players who seek extra challenges should fight, so… I don’t need to care for their well-being. If they die, it’s their fault. They can’t complain the dungeon is ‘too difficult’, because there’s no need to fight them at all.
“You wanted a challenge? A challenge you shall have! Hahaha!” I chuckle while upgrading the template to level four and selecting the skills I mentioned. “Now for the skill upgrades. I need at least this one: Like A Rock.”
Earth Elemental - Lv 2 (Innate passive skill) While not moving, reduce all damage dealt and received by 50%. Upgrades Like A Rock: Reduce all damage taken to 0% after not doing anything for at least 30 seconds. All other skills are disabled while this is active.
This is the skill I must give them if I want the players to mistake them for real rocks. Otherwise, they could be killed before combat starts.
“Oh, yes! They also need the Unidentifiable skill, I almost forgot!”
With this, they are now level six. I can level them up to level seven maximum.
The thing is, I want to upgrade the Generalist skill, so I upgrade them one last time and give them the upgrade.
Generalist - Lv 2 (Passive skill) Increase HP, EP, and MP by 10 and all the other stats except SPD, INT, and COM by 1. Upgrades Proficient: Triple this skill’s bonus stats.
With this upgrade, all the slimes, including those after the Split skill triggers, will have all their stats increased by 3 and their HP, EP, and MP increased by 30. It doesn’t seem like much, but it adds quickly.
“Let’s not forget the AI.”
The changes I want to make are simple but significant.
First of all, they’ll never start combat unless they receive the order to do so from the big, boss-like monster I’m going to create soon.
Then, during combat, they’ll swarm the closest enemy. If there are two or more enemies that are at a similar distance, they’ll choose the one with more slimes around.
Also, to prevent players from abusing their behavior, I make them avoid area-of-effect skills and enemies with aura skills. Basically, they’ll try to avoid all damage over time effects that aren’t targeted. I also give them a preference to target any enemy who uses healing skills.
You know what? It’s thanks to the Geodis that I could make all those AI changes.
Because they’re humanoids, they have an Intelligence of 5. The Splitting Slimes aren’t the smartest monsters, I couldn’t have done so many changes with only them… and it’s the same with non-humanoid earth elementals.
So, in the end, my epic failure turned into a boon!
Fufufu! Hahaha! Aren’t I amazing? I do things right even when I fail!
As for their looks, they’re humanoid earth elementals as the base. You know, made of rock and soil, 2,5 meters tall, wide torso, and heavy arms and legs.
But since I used a slime to create them, I can change their looks. They can also freely change shape, up to a certain point, and it’s precisely this feature I’m going to use.
When they stand still, they’ll ‘meld’ into a single volume, resembling a weird but believable cave element.
There won’t be any visible extremities. Just a tall, cylindrical, irregular boulder.
Of course, due to its shape and size, it’ll catch the invader’s attention. But this is why I’ll create the decoys, which will look exactly the same as them.
Then, when in combat, they’ll return to the earth elemental’s basic shape, but they’ll look as if they were ‘melting’. As if the stone was liquid instead of solid, dripping everywhere, ripples all over their surface.
In my opinion, they’re very good! Hahaha!
“The only remaining thing is the name. I kind of like Liquid Stone… It defines them pretty well, so let’s go with it.”
Liquid Stone (Lv 7) HP 672 (420) STA 48 (30) SOU 41 (26) EP 496 (310) MP 332 (270) STR 43 (27) CON 64 (40) AGI 24 (15) SPI 36 (23) WIL 33 (21) DEX 17 (11) SPD 4 INT 5 COM 1 Skills
Active: Bash, Draining Touch. Triggered: Indomitable Will. Passive: Generalist - Lv 2 (Proficient), Unidentifiable, Earth Elemental - Lv 2 (Like A Rock) (Innate), Split (Innate).
“A total of 350 cp to create them, plus 385 cp to level them up to level 7… Certainly not cheap, but they’re worth the cost!”
I have nine Geodis, and the same amount of Splitting Slimes, so of course I’m going to create nine Liquid Stones.
“Now, I can finally move to the new boss-like monster!”
[https://i.imgur.com/ZGSK4Pl.png]
“Consider adding secret rooms, monsters, and areas. They will not only increase the number of times players will dive into your dungeon, but also enhance their experience. In them, feel free to experiment. There’s no need to follow the rest of the tips because as long it’s clear it’s optional, players shouldn’t complain about them. But keep in mind they’re still a part of your dungeon, so don’t go too crazy.”
- Ninth point from ‘10 things to do to improve your dungeon’.