Creature: Gargantuan Frog

The gargantuan frog is a giant 30000 HP frog that typically inhabits swamps. Though it can appear in other nasty places. It has the capability to swallow a humanoid whole. The frog has to be killed and the individual extracted before the stomach acids and lack of oxygen kill the victim.


The game mechanic is if the frog succeeds in a tongue drag attack, the victim is rooted to a spot inside the frog. So if the frog moves, the victim moves with it. The frog body is so large that only weapon swings and magic might be seen from the victim. The victim suffers DOT until dead, or the frog is killed and successfully skinned. The victim or someone else can perform the deeds. Damage dealt by the victim is reduced due to confined space.

Once dead, the victim's corpse is un-rooted, thus deposited by the frog.

 

love the team aspect of this mechanic being eaten by a giant frog and slowly consumed by its digestive fluids while hoping your friends save you... nice

EDIT: thinking about this more i do feel like this should be a higher HP critter, especially given that the mechanic is built around team play. maybe 100k to 300k. might have a smaller version that has less HP for lower-level teams.

now i want to bust out the red froggy and slay some more stuff

 

Nice idea. I was thinking about what would happen if a player was rooted inside the frog, but the player/group was never able to kill the frog. If the DOT was severe enough, the then swallowed-player would eventually die, but if the DOT was not able to dramatically counteract the player's HP regen (from foods, potions, buffs, etc), then the player maybe rooted inside the frog for a long time...making it a boring (and seemingly endless) stretch of time for that player.

Maybe consider this: when the frog swallows a player, the player receives significant DOT for 20 seconds (and maybe a debuff that prevents other players from healing the swallowed player), then the frog pukes the player back out (and the DOT/debuff stops).
If the team kills the frog while a player inside the frog, then skinning the frog will release the player and remove the DOT/debuff (such that the player does not suffer the full duration of the DOT/debuff), otherwise the player is puked out of the dead frog after the full 20 seconds.

A higher level frog would have a higher DOT and a longer stomach-dwell time.
A 6,ooo hp frog may have a DOT of -50 HP every 2 seconds , with a stomach-dwell time of 20 seconds (-500 damage in total).
A destroyer 30,000 HP frog may have a DOT of -75 HP every 2 seconds, with a stomach-dwell time of 30 seconds (-1125 damage in total)
A godzilla 100,000 HP frog may have a DOT of -100 HP every 2 seconds, with a stomach dwell time of 40 seconds (-2000 damage in total).

Note that the player's HP regeneration can offset some of the damage. I think that when the player is inside the frog, the player can use glyphs (for attack and healing), but all glyphs have substantially reduced effects. Also, i think the player should not be able to use potions when inside the frog.
So, part of the battle strategy would be to maximize HP regen for the fight, just in case you get swallowed.

Also, having the puke-up mechanic might help prevent players from getting stuck inside the frog for a long time during battles that are several minutes (or tens of minutes) long, and provides a method of escape if the frog dies and no one skins it!

 

Can a player not simply log out to escape?

 

Sure, a player can log-out to escape any situation in game, but i think it would be poor game design to rely on a player logging out rather than have a in-game escape mechanism that does not interrupt game play nor disrupt immersion.

 

I'm thinking Frogzilla is a 1.1M hit point creature. Imagine it hopping out of Spindrift Bay to rampage through Brittany. I think I'm approaching silliness now.

 

20 second delay. I believe that if you take damage then it cancels the timer an you remain online.

 

I hope it jumps through the building with the neon advertising in Central Brittany...