3 Character Concepts

[The Water Fraud]

Sorry for the lack of visual designs, but I'm not an artist!

Jakub - Czech Deli Shop Wizard

Jakub is a short, portly butcher, with a stained apron, a bald head and big mutton chops. He carries a bag of holding, from which he pulls the weapons he fights with. He has sausages hanging out of his bag, and runs around with a funny waddle.

Background:
“One does not stop being a Warlock of Prague.

Jakub Dvorak, owner of Dvorak and Sons deli, has been catering to the refined tastes of New York's residents for decades. The bacon, goose egg and cheese (on a kaiserka) is the staple breakfast of low and high born alike. People know better than to ask about Jakub’s scars, or his wondrous magical abilities. Few have ever seen past his jovial nature. That life, those battles, are something Jakub has desperately worked to leave behind.

But they have found him. It was only a matter of time, but here they are once more, the Warlocks at his door, calling him to arms. Jakub has had enough fighting for a lifetime, but the gift of high magic comes with a price. The Warlocks do not forget, and they do not bargain.

As the Maelstrom brews in the sky above the Cursed Apple, the mask cracks. The hardness creeps back into those weathered eyes. Jakub is done with war. He has a new life, a good life, a family and a city that loves him for the little comforts he can provide. And if it takes summoning a patron to rid him of this burden, he will go to battle again - on his own terms, and for the last time.“


Weapon: Cleaver
Jakub throws cleavers from his bag of holding.

• After 10 throws, Jakub must rummage in his bag to reload

Ability 1: Pub Darts
Jakub tosses enchanted darts into the air above him.
Throwing them manually is a skillshot similar to Shiv or Haze's daggers.

Hitting an enemy applies a Butcher’s Mark. Reactivate to send all remaining darts toward marked enemies.

• Can mark up to 2 enemies
• Auto targeting darts can be destroyed mid-flight

Tier 1

• Reduced cooldown
• Increased damage and spirit scaling

Tier 2

• +3 darts
• +1 maximum marked target

Tier 3

• Marked enemies are revealed through walls
• Darts travel faster and track targets for longer

Ability 2: Deli Slicer
Jakub throws an enchanted slicer blade in an arc. Upon landing, it travels forward in a straight line, riding along terrain and walls.

Enemies hit take damage and are afflicted with Bleed.
Tier 1

• Reduced cooldown
• Blade persists longer

Tier 2

• Reactivate to redirect the slicer towards your reticle
• Can redirect 2 times, including back toward Jakub. Does self damage.

Tier 3

• Throws 2 additional slicer blades side by side

Ability 3: Puff of Smoke
Jakub vanishes in a puff of smoke, rooting enemies around his departure point, then reappears at the target location with a barrier.
Tier 1

• Increased barrier strength

Tier 2

• Reduced cooldown

Tier 3

• Departure effect stuns instead of rooting

Ability 4: The Prague Special
Jakub channels high magic, rising into the air and conjuring a massive fireball. Release to launch the fireball, dealing heavy AoE damage.

After casting, Jakub remains airborne for a short duration with limited flight.

Tier 1

• Reduced cooldown

Tier 2

• Increased damage resistance while airborne
• Increased weapon fire rate

Tier 3

• Conjures 2 additional fireballs in succession

 

[The Water Fraud]

Hudson - New York’s Hastrman

Hudson is a typical hastrman, with his tattered green suit and top hat, blueish-green skin, in a constant state of being soaked. He smokes a pipe. He leaves a little trail of water as he walks.

Background:
“The life of a hastrman is simple. Collect the souls of the drowned in your teacups, catch fish on the riverbanks of Dumbo, play cards with the troll of the Brooklyn bridge…

Everything would have been just fine for Hudson. A simple, idyllic life. But people won’t stop throwing trash into the river!

Hudson has one wish, one simple wish. Is it so difficult to not throw wrappers and bodies into his river? Is it? At least when the mob throws someone in the river, it's while they’re still alive - that way Hudson can collect another soul. But people these days…they just pollute. He’s tried bringing it up with the Mayor, but apparently, Fairfax bought rights to dump sludge into the river, and you can’t do anything about people littering, blah blah blah. A long winded way of saying there’s nothing to be done about it!

Nothing to be done? We’ll see what the Patron has to say about that!”

Weapon - Water Blaster
Hudson fires a water gun with 15 rounds of ammo. When he runs out, he opens the lid of the water tank and spits a stream of water into it to reload.

Enemies get Drenched status effects, stacking, similar to burn or fixation. Drenched enemies have slowed movement and firing speed.

Ability 1: High Tide
Hudson sends forward a wide but slow moving wave, which leaves behind a wet area that applies Drenched.

• Enemies caught in the initial wave take spirit damage, receive stacks of Drenched and are significantly slowed.
• The area left behind applies Drenched and a minor movement slow. Hudson gains increased movement speed and stamina regeneration in the area.

Tier 1:

• increased speed of wave and size of area

Tier 2:

• Allies gain the benefit of increased movement speed and stamina regen.

Tier 3:

• Recasting the ability shunts enemies into the middle of the area.

Ability 2: Electric Eli
Hudson grabs his ally, the electric eel Eli, from his jacket pocket and throws him like a spear.

• Eli electrocutes the target, dealing increased damage to drenched enemies and applying a brief stun.
• Alternative cast - can be thrown into the High Tide area to create AoE damage effect.

Tier 1:

• decreased cooldown

Tier 2:

• Increased stun duration
• increased aoe damage on alt cast

Tier 3:

• Eli’s lighting arcs to nearby drenched enemies, dealing damage and stunning.

Ability 3: Sleep with the Fishes
Hudson throws an anchor boomerang in an horizontal arc. Enemy heroes are briefly rooted on hit and slowed after the root. If an enemy is drenched, they start Drowning, taking damage over time. If Hudson is able to intercept the anchor boomerang as it returns, the cooldown for this ability decreases significantly.

Tier 1:

• Decreased movement speed for hit enemies

Tier 2:

• Increased Drowning damage

Tier 3:

• If Hudson catches the boomerang, the ability is immediately off cooldown.

Ability 4: Teacup Tantrum
Hudson pulls out a teacup with the soul of the nastiest goon that ever drowned in his river, throwing it down in a target area. Where it impacts, the specter of a Drowned Goon appears.

• The Drowned Goon only does melee damage, but has a massive health pool, and swings his meaty hands around wildly.
• The Drowned Goon gains increased movement speed in High Tide.

Tier 1:

• Increased goon health and damage scaling

Tier 2:

• Cooldown reduction

Tier 3:

• Throwing an Electric Eli at the goon electrifies his attacks, dealing increased damage to drenched enemies

 

[The Water Fraud]

Ambrose - New York’s Shadiest Attorney

Ambrose is an unassuming, spindly man with a receding hairline and a devilish smile. He always wears the finest suits, round sunglasses with a spider embossed on the lenses and a black cane with a handle fashioned like a judge’s gavel. The humming purple gem on the top of his cane has burned a brand into his palm, in the shape of an eye.

Background:
“They say Lady Justice is blind. More likely than not, it was Ambrose that blinded her.

They say even the Devil deserves an attorney. What if the Devil is your attorney?

Fairfax, the Friends of Humanity, Ixian warlords, crime bosses and the like, these are the preferred clientele of New York’s shadiest, scariest, criminal defense attorney.

What the hell could he possibly want with the Patrons, you ask?

Ambrose pleads the fifth with an unsettling smile.”

Weapon: Confidentiality
Ambrose holds his cane up, below the handle, and from a dark purple gem at the top of the cane, fires blackish-purple bolts that sound like cut off orchestral screams. This is a high rate of fire weapon, reloading on 30 shots. Ambrose reloads it by cracking the gavel twice against the palm of his hand, with the signature crack crack as the reload sound.

Ability 1: Delayed Sentencing
Ambrose objects to the damage he is receiving.

On cast, Ambrose reduces incoming damage for a short period. A portion of prevented damage is stored as Deferred Damage.
After a short delay, Deferred Damage erupts around Ambrose, dealing spirit damage to nearby enemies. Damage is increased significantly against Liable enemies.

Tier 1

• Increases movement speed during the effect

Tier 2

• Increases the percentage of damage stored as Deferred Damage

Tier 3

• Increased duration of damage reduction
• Recast to end the effect early and immediately trigger the burst

Ability 2: Binding Contract
Ambrose binds a target enemy, applying Liability and tethering them for several seconds.

While near the target, a portion of damage Ambrose takes is redirected to them.
If the target breaks the tether by moving out of range, they take burst damage and are slowed.

Tier 1

• Reduced cooldown

Tier 2

• Increased percentage of damage redirected while tethered

Tier 3

• Breaking the tether briefly stuns/roots the target

Ability 3: Caveat
Ambrose dashes a short distance in a straight line, throwing papers behind him, leaving behind a lingering zone of legal documents.

Enemies inside the zone are slowed, deal reduced damage to Ambrose, and gain Liability. The zone persists for a short duration before fading.

Tier 1

• Increased dash distance and zone duration

Tier 2

• Reduced cooldown

Tier 3

• Ambrose temporarily steals the stamina of those in the zone. Being caught in the zone on cast or entering the zone costs 1 stamina bar, which Ambrose gets as a one use temporary stamina bar, (up to three extra bars)

Ability 4: Class Action
Ambrose binds all nearby enemies into a shared contract for several seconds. Affected enemies become Liable.

While active, a portion of damage dealt to one affected enemy is echoed to the others. Echoed damage is reduced and cannot chain further.

Tier 1

• Reduced cooldown.

Tier 2

• Increased percentage of damage echoed between enemies

Tier 3

• If an affected enemy dies, this deals a burst of damage to all other affected enemies