New Killer: The Entity's Architect
How cool would it be to have a Killer that can ACTIVELY manipulate the map, and/or features on the map?
I've only been playing a month but in my time, despite the enjoyment I've had playing different Killers, I've found they're all essentially the same as far as general gameplay strategies go, and the same applies to Survivor strategies defending against them as well - there's always chasing, always pallets, always dodging/zig-zagging, always slash once, twice for a down, carry to hook, etc... The stalking powers/mechanics of killers like Ghost Face and The Shape are interesting and sort of alter the typical "see survivor, chase survivor" gameplay, but don't go far enough.
I came up with some fairly in-depth ideas for a licensed Killer a while ago, The Angel (https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/208641/new-killer-the-angel-weeping-angel-from-dr-who), which I feel introduces some powers that takes a decent step towards really changing the gameplay dynamic and forcing Survivors to adopt new strategies, so for this one, I want to attempt to shake things up once again.
Behold...
The Entity's Architect! (or, just The Architect):
Background:
The Architect is a servant of the Entity, the mind responsible for designing the trials for Killers and Survivors to play in. However, the Entity has, over the years, developed an unquenchable thirst for blood that its army of Killers alone has not managed to provide in the existing trials. So, the time has now come for a Killer like no other, one with unmatched knowledge of the trials and the know-how for turning the tide against Survivors in ways they've never seen before...the right hand of The Entity itself, The Architect!
Appearance:
The Architect is just as gangly, intimidating and evil looking as he Entity itself. Obviously, we've not seen the Entity in its full form (if it even has one) but given the appearance of the pointed, thorny limbs which grow along the Hooks and block generators, The Architect is basically a mostly humanoid looking creature with colors and features based on the Entity. It should appear as a gangly husk surrounded by black smoke emanating from all around it.
Powers, Passive Abilities, and Perks:
The idea behind The Architect is that this is a Killer who designed the maps, and so their Power(s) (active and/or passive) should somehow revolve around the fact that they'd have intimate knowledge of the map's features (i.e. locations of hooks, chests, totems) and, in addition to this (to make things really interesting) have some abilities that allow for ACTIVE manipulation of some of those features, as well as others (hatch, generators, exit gates), possibly even the environment itself in some form. This will not be a highly offensive Killer, but more defensive, one that sets up the ultimate set of traps to snowball the game in their favor, and can be extremely effective the longer a game goes on, and truly becomes threatening in the end game.
Below will be some ideas for Powers, Passive Abilities and Perks (some or all of which may end up being better as something other than whatever I've labeled them as):
Passive Abilities:
- Visions of Death: The Architect can see the auras of all Hooks, Totems, Gate Switches and the Hatch on the map (in the same way Killers can see all Generators) for the entire trial duration, but, cannot see Generators.
- Backup Plan: For any and all Hex perks being utilized by The Architect, if it is cleansed, it will automatically transfer to a dull Totem, if any remain on the map.
- Deathly Durability: Upgraded Hooks take 50% longer for Survivor's to Sabotage and/or unhook other Survivors from.
Power:
The core power of The Architect will involve manipulation of the map and/or its features.
Will of the Architect: The Architect can manipulate a variety of features on the map by approaching them and using this ability.
- Hooks can individually be upgraded to begin with the Struggle Phase when a Survivor is hooked. Upgraded Hooks will have a different aura color to differentiate them. Upgrading Hooks takes 20 seconds.
- Totems can be sabotaged and made to look like they have an active hex perk on them. Sabotaged totems also have a different aura color. Cleansing attempts on these totems will notify The Architect. Sabotaging Totems takes 10 seconds.
- The Hatch itself can be sabotaged. When opened manually by a Survivor, or accessed by the Last Survivor, an arm of the Entity itself will spring forth, lashing the Survivor and injuring them. The Entity continues to guard the Hatch until it automatically closes or is manually closed. If already injured Survivors are hit by the Entity, they'll be placed into the Dying State and have 4 seconds to crawl away before being sacrificed right there on the ground. Once closed, the Entity vacates the Hatch and it is safe to re-open with another Key, or, The Architect may also choose to sabotage it again. Sabotaging the Hatch takes 25 seconds.
- Gates can be upgraded. Survivors will face Difficult Skill Checks while powering the Gate. Progress also regresses at a rapid rate of 5% per second if a Survivor leaves it unfinished. Powering attempts will notify The Architect. This action takes 30 seconds.
Perks:
- Hex: Photo Finish: The Architect grows impatient with the rate of death in the Trial - force the Endgame Collapse timer to last only 75/60/45 seconds regardless of Survivors on Hooks or in Dying states.
- Heads Up: When a Survivor Sabotages a hook or saves a hooked Survivor, the Hook drops down onto them, inflicting the Deep Wound and Exposed status effects. If the Hook was an Upgraded Hook, the falling hook also injures the Survivor by a full health state. Hook regeneration takes 30 seconds like normal.
- Look Again: While in a chase, The Architect can see all nearby vault locations and pallets, and can call upon the Entity to block a position of their choosing for 4/6/8 seconds. This takes 1.5 seconds to activate with no movement speed slowdown, and has a 45 second cooldown.
Thoughts on balancing:
I tried my best to balance things but of course, it's difficult to know just how overpowered or underpowered some of these abilities might be in reality so, any powers, abilities or numbers I came up with, it's all purely conceptual and just a starting point to further fine-tune things and/or inspire new ideas and gameplay mechanics.
My primary thought-process for balancing the Power itself was that manipulating a given feature should take more or less time depending on the potential that manipulation has for causing injury, death, distraction to Survivors, and/or other benefits to The Architect.
So, for example, in the case of an Upgraded Hook, that's pretty significant to be able to hook someone and go straight to the Struggle Phase, right? I had to ask myself questions like, "How much time will this save The Architect when compared to any other Killer?" because normally, a Killer will have to chase, injure, chase again, down them, carry to hook, then if no one comes to save, a certain amount of time passes with that Survivor on the Hook, but if someone does save, then you have to chase again, down again, carry again, etc... So going straight to the Struggle Phase is a pretty big deal - how long should that upgrade take to complete?
I settled on 20 seconds because I figured that for The Architect to get the MOST benefit and save the MOST time, they'd have to chase, injure, chase, down, and carry to THAT hook, which they may not even be able to get to at that point, especially earlier in the game. The conditions have to be right for The Architect to realize the benefits of an Upgraded Hook early on. However, obviously, as the game goes on, The Architect may have upgraded many more Hooks, and suddenly you can have a snowballing return-on-investment occur once they start chasing and downing Survivors, but, by the time this is possible, the game should be nearing its end, so the pressure is really turned up on both sides at that point.
The timing I settled on for Hatch and Gates is also pretty long as they can provide a significant benefit, especially at endgame. Totem sabotage is fairly short as it merely notifies The Architect and wastes a small amount of time for the Survivor.
Conclusion:
So, in conclusion, I feel that The Architect, by way of its abilities, is truly a Killer that is different from any other. It's highly defensive, and Survivors may rarely (if ever) be chased by it during most of the game, as The Architect will be far too busy traversing the map and manipulating it to its advantage. However, if The Architect did their job right, the latter half and final moments of the game should be quite intense and stressful. The Architect is a late-game Killer more than anything else.
If there is one thing I feel is missing here, it's gen pressure. This Killer has a number of tools at their disposal but gen pressure isn't one of them. Is it needed? That kind of perk can just be obtained from the existing pool of perks but I feel like this Killer needs one more unique kind of perk or ability added to the list of things it can upgrade or sabotage in some way. One initial thought I had was the ability to physically re-locate generators, or even kick completed generators and force them to regress, but, that could be going too far hehe.
Would love to hear anyone's thoughts and feedback, thanks!
Comments
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I love the concept, but the hook and hatch mechanics are way too strong, and the rest is too weak. I would make it where your power is "redesign" which lets you move/change things in the map. You basically "throw" a dark energy ball that will affect things in different ways. Hitting a gen/window/pallet with the power makes it move to an alternate location. You can trap a closed hatch or exit switch and if they are opened within 30 seconds, they get moved elsewhere, you get a loud noise notification, and nearby windows and exit gates are blocked for survivors for a certain time period (this can only happen once). You can upgrade hooks to temporarily make them basement hooks for 30 seconds. Hitting a survivor randomizes their perks for 30 seconds. Something like that
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Hmm, I like where you went with some of that! Especially "Hitting a survivor randomizes their perks for 30 seconds" - that could be really interesting! I hadn't considered any ability that directly manipulates the Survivor's themselves so, that's an awesome route to contemplate! Also, as far as moving things on the map, I kind of chuckled at the thought of being in a chase with a Survivor, tossing a dark energy ball at an upcoming pallet and watching it go poof! in a cloud of black smoke, or doing it to a gen Survivors are actively working on - now you see it, now it's gone! Haha, nice!
Regarding your suggestions for Hooks and Hatches:
On upgrading Hooks to Basement Hooks, this is a good thought but I think 30 seconds is way too short to be worth it. The benefits of a Basement Hook are that it can't be Sabotaged, you can hook multiple people, and it persists even after a sacrifice, but, in my experience, most Survivors don't actively Sabotage anyway, and 30 seconds isn't nearly enough time to chase, down, and carry multiple Survivors unless they're all just swarming you by it. If we wanted to go the Basement Hook route, I think it'd need to last longer once upgraded (at least 60 seconds, unless it can be upgraded while carrying a Survivor, then I think 30 would be fine), persist as long as someone is hooked, and remain for 30 seconds after someone is unhooked or is sacrificed. That'd be reasonable I think.
Hatches... My main thoughts on this (and the Exit Gate upgrade as well) was to have a Killer that could counter Keys and also counter leaving gates at 99%.
The whole Hatch concept is kind of a gimmick in my opinion and I don't really see the purpose of it. I'm fine with giving the last Survivor a free escape, no prob, because 3/4 kills is a win for the Killer anyway as far as I'm concerned, but using Hatch in any case isn't really something to be proud of imo, and no one uses it just to escape in my experience. I've not had a single game where someone merely opened the Hatch and went in - they ALWAYS wait for me to show up first so they can teabag and taunt before making the jump, and if I don't show up, they vault and slam doors like crazy to alert/taunt me until I do, and then jump in.
So, I'd like a way to make Survivors think twice about their Hatch strategy, and so I came up with the Sabotage idea, which, personally, I don't see it as OP. It's the Hatch, a literal shortcut/free escape, it's not even a priority objective. If I took the Hatch idea and applied it to Generators, that'd be OP, but Hatch? I don't see it as an issue. As a compromise we could probably just make the Entity guard it for 30 seconds once opened (or lash out at someone, then vacate immediately) and nix the other elements I added, you know, start with some minimal effects and expand to more if it seems necessary.
I appreciate the feedback though. It's tough to know what will be OP or not powerful enough when just brainstorming like this hehe, especially given the number of perk combinations, balance is a tough job in this game.
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i love the idea in general. As regards to the power, I think instead of an orb you could do Freddy’s teleporting mechanic and have an arrow over highlighted objects. When holding the active abilty button for 2.5 seconds, the object (gen,pallet,window,chest) is blocked by the entity and consumed by it, reappearing somewhere else on the map. This ability will then recharge. As regards to the hatch, I think in the same mechanic you should be able to place a trap on it so when interacted with, it teleports somewhere else, robbing the survivor of the escape and you get the noise notification of where the survivor is, and the same with exit gates. However, to make this power more fair, you’d have to be within a certain radius, maybe 32m, so that you can’t just keep moving everything from half a map away.
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