Chapter Concept: Beings of the Deep Part 2

icemancat

Welcome to part 2 of my Chapter Concept: Beings of the Deep. If you haven't read Part 1 yet, click here: https://forum.deadbydaylight.com/en/discussion/269830/chapter-concept-beings-of-the-deep-part-1/p1?new=1

New Killer: The Devourer

Background:

Drifting through the cosmos is something The Devourer did for a living, searching for the next planet to be extinguished. Flying past asteroids and other debris could cause it to get bored every now and then, but whenever it did find that perfect planet, that is when The Devourer would be pleased.

It wouldn’t take long for The Devourer to make its move as all it had to do was to get to the deepest part of the planet. Some life was dumb and were just waiting their inevitable demise while others would begin to panic. For The Devourer, feeding on intelligent life was the most satisfying of all of its prey.

Once at the deepest part of the planet, its eradication began. Using its intense vigor and strength, The Devourer used its Aqua Void to flood out the planet, drowning any and all beings who may have lived on its surface. As the helpless beings gasped in despair, The Devourer’s delirium kicked in and it consumed as many living beings in the process of death as it could, providing The Devourer with an extreme sense of satisfaction and fulfilment. However, this would all come to an end as The Devourer would instigate something it never should have.

The opposing Ancient with its long, spider-like limbs was in the process of engulfing a world, a world where The Devourer wanted to consume. The confrontation between the two would end in a cosmic battle of fates as The Devourer began to attack this Ancient, beginning to flush out its inner fluids. The Ancient screeched as it began to impale The Devourer dozens of times, causing it to weaken. The Devourer attempted to unleash its Aqua Void once more, but couldn’t. As it continued to spend time with limbs stuck in it, it began to forget where it even was in the cosmos. The Devourer attempted to do something, but could not remember what it wanted to attempt. In one quick motion, the Ancient and The Devourer vanished in thin air, traveling to a different area of sorts.

Waking up to its senses, The Devourer’s wounds were healed, but it felt cold. A coldness colder than it felt while drifting through someplace. The Devourer looked at itself, noticing one thing: it felt smaller, smaller like the prey it feasted on. It looked up through the darkness to see a thing, a thing with limbs, like something it has seen before. The Devourer could not seem to get a hold of its past strength as it looked at this Entity. The Devourer submitted and accepted its new life, having no idea what it was like before.

Design:

(Pictured above is what I imagine The Devourer’s face would look like. Once again, I am no artist, so this is the best I’ve got. This is the image of the Devourer Mask from Payday 2).

Killer Rundown:

Base Stats

Movement Speed: 4.6 m/s

Height: Tall

Terror Radius: 32 m.

Power: Ingurgitate

“Its greed consumed its life. The Devourer now consumes not for itself, but for the new ruler of its existence.”

The Devourer’s powers grow the more it eats. Its Special Ability, Aqua Forge, can grow in power as the Devourer eats. 

4 Puddles generate in the level. Water Flies live in these Puddles and grow over time. 4 Flies live in each Puddle for a grand total of 16 at a time maximum. 

To eat a Water Fly, go to a Puddle and press the power button. Right click to eat a fly and press CTRL to select a fly. Left clicking backs out from the Puddle.

Eating Water Flies, Items, and Totems increases Charges for Aqua Forge.

The Devourer can also take a bite out of a downed Survivor, granting a considerable amount of Charges as well as removing a considerable amount of time from the Survivor’s Dying State Bleed Out bar. However, this makes The Devourer enter a Sugar Crash, making it unable to bite Survivors for a period of time. 

Special Ability: Aqua Forge

Aqua Forge has 5 tiers of power. When you gain enough charges from eating, Aqua Forge grows in power. Press the power button to use this Special Ability. 

Aqua Forge starts at Tier 1 (20 Charges). Tier 1 is a weak ranged attack that slightly pushes survivors and nothing more. Charge Cost: 1 Charge per second while firing Aqua Forge.

Tier 2: Aqua Forge turns into Aqua Plunge. The push effect gains a stronger push effect and is more difficult to be contested by Survivors. Charge Cost: 1 Charge per second while firing Aqua Plunge.

Tier 3: Aqua Plunge turns into Aqua Beam and fires a beam of water in a straight line, injuring survivors unfortunate enough to get hit. Aqua Plunge has a lengthy start up time and reduced turning while firing as well as The Devourer’s movement speed being reduced, but has a very impressive range and speed for which the initial beam comes out. Charge Cost: 1 Charge per second while firing Aqua Beam. 

Tier 4: Aqua Beam turns into Aqua Cyclone. The Cyclone turns the sky dark blue as if the players were on a water planet. The Cyclone travels through walls and any other objects, damaging Survivors rapidly if they cannot get out of the way. Aqua Cyclone also automatically destroys dropped Pallets and damages Generators. Once summoned, it travels in a straight line until colliding with the end wall of the map. Aqua Cyclone also pulls Survivors in if they are too close. The closer they are, the more difficult to escape. Charge Cost: 40 Charges.

Tier 5: Aqua Cyclone turns into Tidal Surge. Once at Tier 5, The Devourer can summon a tsunami-like phenomenon and after a brief activation time, cast it in a massive wide line, obliterating any Survivor who tries to stand in its way, instantly downing them. Tidal Surge travels in a straight line and ends when the majority of the Tidal Surge itself collides with the end of the map. The water from Tidal Surge collides against walls and objects, but can bounce off walls. Heavy amounts of water are left on the ground, making it difficult for Survivors to maneuver through. Water dissipates after a time. Charge Cost: 50 Charges.

Power Trivia:

• Water Flies have 5 Stages of growth. The higher the Stage, the more effective they are when eaten.
• Stage 1: 1 Charge Given
• Stage 2: 2 Charges Given
• Stage 3: 3 Charges Given
• Stage 4: 4 Charges Given
• Stage 5: 5 Charges Given
• At the start of the Trial, all 4 ponds start with 4 Stage 1 Water Flies.
• It takes 80 seconds for a Water Fly to grow into the next stage and 20 seconds for each eaten Water Fly to respawn.
• Items, regardless of rarity, grant 10 Charges when eaten.
• Any kind of Totem grants 15 Charges when eaten. If the Totem happens to be a Hex Totem, its effects are disabled, just as if a Survivor were to Cleanse it.
• Taking a bite out of a Survivor removes 20 seconds from the Survivor’s Dying State Bleed Out bar and causes The Devourer to enter a Sugar Crash for 60 seconds.
• Charges required to reach a specific tier are as follows:
• Tier 1 Aqua Forge: 20 or Less
• Tier 2 Aqua Plunge: Between 21 and 40 Charges
• Tier 3 Aqua Beam: Between 41 and 79 Charges
• Tier 4 Aqua Cyclone: Between 80 and 99 Charges
• Tier 5 Tidal Surge: 100 Charges
• It takes 1 second to Ingurgitate an Item and 2 seconds to Ingurgitate a Totem.
• Aqua Forge’s (Tier 1) Charge time takes 3 seconds and The Devourer’s Movement Speed is reduced to 3.3 m/s or 82.5% while firing.
• Aqua Plunge’s (Tier 2) Charge time takes 2.5 seconds and The Devourer’s Movement Speed is reduced to 3.5 m/s or 87.5% while firing.
• Aqua Beam’s (Tier 3) Charge time takes 5 seconds and The Devourer’s Movement Speed is reduced to 3.7 m/s or 92.5% while firing.
• While firing Aqua Beam, The Devourer’s turn rate (Yaw speed) is 30°/s.
• The Aqua Beam’s range is 50 meters.
• Aqua Cyclone’s (Tier 4) summon time is 6 seconds and moves at 6.1 m/s or 157.5%.
• Tidal Surge’s (Tier 5) summon time is 8 seconds and moves at 5.9 m/s or 147.5%.

Perks:

The Devourer is a forgotten Killer, able to Ingurgitate on various things, living or otherwise to strengthen its Aqua Forge.

Its personal Perks, Beacon: Famine, Beacon, Pestilence, and Beacon: War, put Survivors in precarious situations provided the Flame for the Beacon is still active.

Beacon Perks summon forth a special vessel for Flames, a Flame meant to worship The Entity. Beacon Perks start off active, however, Survivors can put out the flame by putting it out for 20 seconds. Beacon Perks essentially have health bars and Flame put out progress is saved should the Survivor be interrupted.

The Flame’s in the vessel is the default orange color to signify that it is currently active and benefitting the Killer whereas it is put out if the Survivors put the Flame out and is no longer active until reactivated.

Beacon Perks can be reactivated by the Killer putting their weapon in the vessel and after 10 seconds, the Beacon Perk is reactivated.

Beacon: Famine

A Beacon that hinders the Survivors’ vision. Your life path has been blinded, so you blind theirs as well. Each time a Survivor drops a Pool of Blood, their Field of View closes by 0.3°/0.4°/0.5° until healed. Once healed, the effect is removed. Field of View closure is capped at 40°. The Beacon effects persist as long as this Beacon’s Flame is active. “If only it had known what it was up against. Its hunger for strength grows as it pursues.” - ???

Beacon: Pestilence

A Beacon that defends its controller, conquering the area and leaving those that linger vulnerable. The pests you hunt will know what it feels like to deal with a pest. When you are stunned, summon a poisonous disease cloud directly where you got stunned that quickly spreads up to a maximum AOE range of 32 meters and lasts for 30 seconds. Survivors gain the Diseased Status Effect the longer they stay in the disease cloud and if their Disease gauge is full, they are immediately injured for one health state. This effect has a cooldown of 140/120/80 seconds before it can be used again. The Beacon effects persist as long as this Beacon’s Flame is active. “These… ‘Ancients’ are like a disease. It slowly goes around destroying others. Sometimes, however, diseases destroy each other.” - ???

Beacon: War

A Beacon that traps Survivors who defy The Entity. Your senses are heightened whenever a Survivor comes close to this Beacon. When a Survivor steps within 48 meters of this Beacon, this Beacon is immediately covered in a dome of The Entity’s limbs, trapping the Survivor for 20/25/30 seconds. Only the Killer can pass through the dome while active. When active, the dome’s aura is highlighted in White only while outside of it and only for the Killer. This effect has a cooldown of 60 seconds and does not start until after this Perk’s timer is up. The Beacon effects persist as long as this Beacon’s Flame is active. “With their God vanquished by ours, it is only a matter of time now until a war rises.” - ???

Trivia

• In The Entity’s Realm, The Devourer shares the same home turf with The Hag in the Backwater Swamp.
• The Devourer was an Ancient or “Original One”, but was involved in a battle against The Entity for power. Due to The Devourer’s greed and unaware of The Entity’s capabilities, it lost and was conformed to a Killer by The Entity.
• This ‘greed’ is further referenced by The Devourer’s Power’s name being ‘Ingurgitate’, which literally means “swallow (something) greedily.”
• Although The Devourer’s torture is minimal, it is still ghastly. The Devourer’s teeth are not its original ones as its current teeth are those of humans, those which it feasted on before becoming a Killer.
• This is meant to be a taunt from The Entity by making a mockery of a former Ancient by turning part of it into what it hunted.
• If this is the case, it is possible that The Devourer was extremely tortured if you consider the tentacles on the side of its face and the top of its head appearing to have some sort of spine were from two different kinds of intelligent life.
• At the beginning of the description for The Devourer’s perks, I wrote The Devourer to be a “Forgotten Killer”. This is a homage to my Lore Dive on Forgotten Killers and The Devourer being the killer that I thought had the most potential out of all of them.
• The Devourer’s perks are named after the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
• With The Devourer having three of the four Horsemen named perks, one of the Beacon Perks is missing or stolen from The Devourer, Beacon: Death.
• Contrary to The Entity feeding off of the Survivors’ hope, The Devourer fed off of living beings’ despair.
• Therefore, it is possible that at least some Ancients’ source of ‘food’ is based on emotions.
• The ‘war’ mentioned in ‘Beacon: War’ may have been between cultists or followers of The Entity and The Devourer. The original description of The Devourer mask in Payday 2 said that a raid on a murderous cult was done.
• The Void subrealm may have been created from The Devourer’s original ability, ‘Aqua Void’, by The Entity salvaging its previous Ancient power and creating a new Realm in its place.
• This is further possible as both The Entity’s Void Realm and The Devourer’s Aqua Void share a resemblance, with both being places that have zero hope.
• This is again implied as The Devourer fed off of the despair of intelligent lifeforms. Despair literally means “the complete loss or absence of hope” and the Void is “a limbo Realm pocket to which The Entity discards broken Survivors, who have lost all their hope and their soul.”

Author’s Notes On The Devourer

To me, The Devourer is likely the most interesting killer I have done a concept for. The lore, power, and perks are all so interesting to me that I had to share it with whoever may read this. There is a lot to talk about for The Devourer, so I’ll start with the power this time.

For The Devourer’s ability, I once again tried to stray away from the typical ‘zoning’ power that we see a LOT nowadays. So many instances of playing the same mindgame of “Will they throw down the pallet or not?” and “Should I use my Special Attack or cancel it?” for the killer side and “Should I throw down the pallet or loop again?” and “Will they charge up their Special Attack or not?” for the survivor side is asked to yourself so many times when you play against a killer that was made to specialize in those situations that it has started to create stale gameplay. Take Nemesis for example. Nemesis introduced a brand new ability which was A.I. controlled zombies that roam the map going after survivors. This was a fresh, new idea that hyped the player base (which is EXTREMELY GOOD!). However, Nemesis’s secondary ability (his Special Attack) was somewhat underwhelming. Seeing it to be another zoning tool similar to that of Pyramid Head, Twins (Victor’s pounce attack in this case), and a few others was a little bit unfortunate. Because of this, I made it my goal to have The Devourer’s power be as unique as possible.

Some people may immediately choose to critique me and claim that The Devourer’s power is just another zoning tool. However, this is not the case (for the most part (I think?)). The Tier 1 and 2 version of its power push the Survivor away from it, potentially helping the survivor in some cases whereas its real purpose is to push survivors away from strong loops to give you an easier time to hit them. While these two tiers of The Devourer’s power still hold that “Take a seat.” aspect of zoners to an extent, it is still in a never-before-seen way that would peak the playerbase’s interest. This also involves the Tier 3 version of its power. I intentionally designed the Aqua Beam to take a long time to charge, The Devourer’s movement speed to drop, and to have a slow turning rate while using it to spice up the gameplay. Instead of an annoying projectile or extended melee special attack that eliminates and/or restricts survivors’ options, there is a giant, long-range beam attack that functions instead like a Brimstone Attack in Binding of Isaac, a game that features a lot of enjoyable attacks to learn to avoid. 

Let’s look at an example to try and help those who may be a bit confused have a better understanding of what I’m talking about. 

Example #1: Survivor VS. Trickster

The Survivor is running towards the Killer Shack and The Trickster readies up his knives. The Survivor is injured. Let’s look at the Survivor’s options:

1. Keep running for the window, getting to one of the strongest loops in the game for Survivors.
2. Run to a long L short L loop that is to the left of the Killer Shack.
3. Try running behind various objects in hopes to not get hit.
4. Run for the pallet at Killer Shack. 
5. Literally any other decision that would guarantee you to fail.

Now given The Trickster is already throwing knives at you, your options are beginning to close. Let’s see what you can’t do anymore.

1. If you run for the window, the six blade hits will most likely down you.
2. The long L short L loop is too far away. Six blade hits are most likely going to connect.
3. This ‘might’ work, but you’re just delaying the inevitable.
4. Same problem as #1 and #2. You’ll get locked in the animation of throwing down the pallet or vaulting the window and will get downed. 
5. Fail (probably).

There are such things as mistakes, so some of those options above could work, but if we’re considering an experienced Trickster and Survivor going up against each other, The Trickster is more likely to win in those scenarios more consistently. This results in a killer that zones with the intention to close and restrict the options of survivors, leaving them in a “guess I’ll die” situation if too many options are closed, a situation that is becoming more and more boring to fall into. This is where the next example comes in.

Example #2: Survivor VS. Devourer

The Survivor is running towards the Killer Shack and The Devourer readies up its Aqua Plunge (Tier 2) attack. The Survivor is injured. Let’s look at the Survivor’s options:

1. Keep running for the window, getting to one of the strongest loops in the game for Survivors.
2. Run to a long L short L loop that is to the left of the Killer Shack.
3. Try running behind various objects in hopes to not get hit.
4. Run for the pallet at Killer Shack. 
5. Literally any other decision that would guarantee you to fail.

Considering that the killer this time is The Devourer, this actually changes everything. Instead of just the Survivor needing to make a helpless decision while The Trickster just mindlessly throws knives, making for a simple, but dull playstyle and waiting for the inevitable down, The Devourer also needs to make a decision:

1. Am I confident enough to win the chase at Killer Shack?
2. Should I push the Survivor to the long L short L loop for a more manageable chase?
3. Should I try to push the Survivor into objects to slow them down?
4. Something else? 

Now if we think about what one of the best options might be, the most surefire choice would probably be Number 2, since #1 will take too long, #3’s objects are too jumbled together and could actually assist the Survivor, and no other option seems suitable in this situation. So, let’s say The Devourer chooses Option #2

The Survivor is now caught in a surprising “Oh sh*t!” situation, with their initial option of looping at Killer Shack closed, but the option and new scenario of “Now we’re chasing at the long L short L.” now OPEN, creating a new playstyle of closing some options, but opening new ones to throw your opponent off guard.

The next topic I wanted to discuss regarding The Devourer’s ability is the Ingurgitate. I believe the values for eating Water Flies is balanced and The Devourer getting rewarded for downing Survivors is fine, especially since the Sugar Rush side effect discourages slugging. However, what I did want to discuss is the ability to ingurgitate Items and Totems, as the ability for The Devourer to do this is game changing and even changes the meta. 

With The Devourer having the ability to eat items off the ground, I have no doubt that Franklin’s Demise will be a top tier option on The Devourer. Franklin’s Demise is just too good of a perk for The Devourer to pass up that it just makes sense for it to be a necessity. This would create the ability to 100% counter keys, something that is currently nonexistent in the game, as Survivors can just drop their keys out in the open and avoid getting hit with Franklin’s Demise and losing their item’s charges. Meanwhile, The Devourer can find the Item on the ground and eat it if the Survivor leaves the item on the ground or even tries to hide it.

As for Totems, with The Devourer’s ability to eat Totems as well, it opens up extremely interesting options in the means of perks to use as the typical meta of Hex: Ruin and Hex: Undying is no longer a viable option for The Devourer.

“But you’re CLOSING options now like you wanted to avoid, remember?”

Wrong.

By removing hexes as a ‘primary’ choice (no one said you HAVE to eat your perks) for The Devourer, this in turn OPENS the player to new ideas that are coincidentally away from the meta. Of course, you are still able to run Hex Perks, it just will not be a solid choice if you also play as The Devourer.

“But you’re CLOSING options now for Survivors! They can’t run perks involving items and totems anymore!”

You know who else ‘closes’ options for survivor perks?

Plague.

You know who also ‘closes’ options for survivor perks?

Pyramid Head.

Both of these killers specifically counter certain perks that pertain to healing (Plague) and unhooking someone or yourself (Pyramid Head). This is what a killer’s power can do, it is sometimes meant to serve as a counter to a handful of perks sometimes. In fact, I would argue that The Devourer does not close the option for Totem-based perks, but instead further assists the goal of Survivors by cleansing its own Totems. In fact, I would have no objections if The Devourer eating a Totem counts towards a Survivor’s Archive Mission. That would just make those super long “Craft Times Over.” Archive quests easier and would just be a nice treat for Survivors if they happen to go against The Devourer. After all, totem-based perks are mainly used for eliminating totems, so if anything, The Devourer is helping the Survivors by removing that fear of a Hex perk such as Hex: Ruin. 

As for items, I am perfectly comfortable with having a killer be able to counter items and item-based perks and I think Survivors would be fine with that too. We have yet to see a 100% counter to items and as of right now, they are a very strong mechanic in the game with current options not being too feasible. 

I’ll end on this for The Devourer’s power, I think the Aqua Cyclone and Tidal Surge abilities would be insanely fun to go against. These two abilities are truly unique and something we have yet to see in the game. With The Devourer’s power finally covered, it is time to move on to its unique perks. 

Starting with my thoughts on Beacon Perks, I think they would be a super cool idea to bring to the game. However, this is a brand new idea and sometimes, brand new ideas may be a little scary to implement since nothing like it has been implemented before. However (again), in this case, I think Beacon perks are similar in some ways to Hex Perks, but with a unique spin on things as they serve as a sort of ‘King of the Hill’ side objective/minigame. I have noticed survivors wanting more things to do in the game other than repairing generators. I believe it is fair to have Survivors be able to retain progress made to wearing out the flame as long as the Killer can bring back their Beacon Perk. 

I would love to talk about Beacon Perks more, but this is a mechanic that we have never seen before in the game. I ‘think’ it would be balanced since Beacon Perks are sort of similar to Hex Perks, but there is just no way for me to know since I cannot test it. All I can say is that I think they would make for extremely interesting additions in the game!

Finally, I know The Devourer’s lore has potential. With so many mysteries and secrets behind the Ancients, it would be so cool to see a former Ancient turned into a Killer, resulting in another lore-based killer like The Blight, something that got high reception. With The Devourer having a high amount of connections to other things in Dead By Daylight's universe, it would make for an exciting time for players piecing together exactly what happened to The Devourer and learning more about the scrumptious world of Dead By Daylight.

   

New Map: Chinonso Village

A familiar place for one of the first drowned places, the Chinonso Village was a grim place, full of high ruling order by King Kgosi. A time before many but ahead of their time, they developed ritualistic habits that they hoped would someday protect them from beings of the deep.

The Chinonso Village would be an outdoor map, with a handful of decrepit small houses that would open up new structures for players to learn. Some similar tiles would still make an appearance on this Backwater Swamp map with the previous ones to not ruin the consistency. The size of The Chinonso Village would be about 10,000 m^2, similar to the previous Backwater Swamp maps. 

Thank You For Reading:

You have no idea how happy I am to finally be typing this part of the Chapter Concept, the part where I am minutes away from sharing this idea with the community. Thanks a lot for reading what you read. Of course, feedback is appreciated. It lets me know what people want in a Dead By Daylight Chapter. Stay safe out there and thanks again.

See you around,

icemancat