progamermove111
New member
A swanky, silver-suited gentleman hailing from the deep South, Scratch carries little more on his person to the Ritual other than a custom-crafted cue stick and a shiny pearl-gripped revolver. What he seemingly lacks in upfront firepower, however, he makes up for in spades with his practiced use of billiards-based magic. Knocking foes around with his Push Shot, he lines up his shot with a Conjured Ball - and, after easing himself a proper distance aways with his Devil's Hustle, takes his shot. But, of course, when it looks like he's up and sold the farm, he can always turn the tables with a devastating Open Break.
"You just shut yer eyes and stay still, and I'll put you away quick - deal?"
Primary Inspirations:
- Pool hustlers and road gamblers of the 1910s to 1950s (Minnesota Fats and Titanic Thompson especially) and the events leading up to Arnold Rothstein's death
- Venom from Guilty Gear (shamelessly)
- "Gonna Roll the Bones" by Fritz Lieber, featuring a gambler as a hero or conqueror of death
- "Billy Phelan's Greatest Game" by William Kennedy
- Gambling Hansel and Jack o' Kent
Gameplay Overview/Core Concept:
- Ability-based "sniping" mage with a mix of crowd control
- Somewhat melee centric glass cannon who dominates the lane phase by trapping the space, and builds to late game to deploy devilish CC against tightly clustered enemies. Highly mobile in a ground-based fashion, and meant to gank and escape fights with the right amount of planning.
- High risk, high reward gameplay that hinges off the usage of Pool Balls and Item synergies to create unexpected plays.
SKILLS
(1) Push Shot
Rush forward in a straight line and swing a magically-reinforced cue stick in a close ranged arc. On hit, knocks enemies back and deals Spirit damage. Being hit by this Skill is treated as being a light melee hit for the purposes of any other Skills or Items, and this Skill can be parried normally. Can be alt-fired to launch allies forward without counting as a melee attack.
- T1: Increases range by +2m.
- T2: Increases knockback velocity.
- T3: Hit is treated as a heavy melee attack for any Items or Skills.
Summons a Pool Ball entity directly in front of Scratch.
Pool Balls are unique entities that hover above the ground and deal Spirit damage on contact with Heroes and NPCs based off their current velocity, and which have unique physics to bounce off of structures and characters which they hit.
They are launched and accelerated by striking them with melee attacks (or other Pool Balls); they can be parried to kill their momentum; and a Pool Ball's "allegiance" (as in, who they damage on contact) switches between teams based off the last character to strike them with a heavy melee. They can be interacted with via other Skills (e.g. Bebop's Sticky Bombs) as if they were NPCs, and are treated as NPCs for the purposes of targeting via Items.
A Pool Ball exists for either 8 seconds, or until it hits 3 characters, with each hit adding +2 seconds to its remaining time. Its decay time is increased by duration-affecting items.
Summon Ball is a charge-based Skill, and starts with 1 charge.
- T1: Increase max hits before decay by +2.
- T2: Pool Balls gain +1m/s velocity on hit.
- T3: On hit: Pool Ball angles itself towards nearest Hero within 1.5 meters.
Passive. Dealing Spirit Damage to a target increases your Move and Sprint Speed by +0.4m/s, and increases your Stamina recovery by +2%. Gain one stack per instance of Spirit Damage dealt. Stacks decay after 6 seconds.
Max stacks: 10
- T1: Gain +2 Regen for every 5 stacks of Devil's Hustle.
- T2: +10 Stacks and +6 second Duration
- T3: +1.5 Spirit Damage per stack
Take aim and fire a large magical cue ball which detonates in a 3 meter area upon colliding with a surface. Enemies and Pool Balls caught in the blast take Spirit damage and are knocked back approximately 3 meters.
- T1: Increases blast radius by +2 meters.
- T2: Reduce Cooldown by -15s.
- T3: On damage: increase cooldown of other active Skills or Items by 3 seconds
BACKSTORY
Allegedly born in the backwaters of the American South to a materially impoverished but mystically rich family, the boy who would become known simply as 'Mr. Scratch' took to the era ushered in by the Maelstrom like a fish out of water - employing all forms of magical cheating to all manner of games of skill - but especially wielding it within his chosen sport of pool. As the metropolitan centers of the world ushered in the utterly mundane threat of casinos and centralized gambling, however, the man who had so extended his lifespan and finances through Faustian wagers across the whole of the Land of the Brave realized that he faced an existential threat he could not simply fleece his way out of.His solution? The Patrons, of course. Not only did he possess the level-headed confidence that he could swindle a timeless and immortal god out of multiple wishes, but he knew that above all else, they could grant him the greatest gift a road gambler pas their prime could ask for:
The total and complete annihilation of Las Vegas and Atlantic City in their entirety.
PERSONALITY AND (Possible) CHARACTER RELATIONSHIPS
- Presents as a charming Southern gentleman (possibly from Arkansas no less), complete with silver suit and bowler hat; somewhat of a 'gentleman hustler' in the way that he believes that, no matter how you lose, you are always obliged to "pay off" before you leave the table. Secretly somewhat craven and resents the idea of a "fair fight".
- A friend of his and former partner-in-crime lost their soul (literally) in a rigged game posed by Mendoza; in turn, he looks to Ivy for a possible "partnership" in bringing him down, and is skeptical of some characters (notably Mo & Krill) for their past connections to him.
- Possible familiarity with the Drifter - encountered once, ran away from them(?) - trying to stay on his "good side" at all times.
- Bad relationship with Holliday due to criminal past - offers to take her mind off of "that Macomb incident" with a couple of pool tricks.
- Has lost inordinate amounts of money while visiting New York betting on the Bear Pit, and regards Bebop with some degree of contempt for winning multiples matches against "that awful talkative fella". Favorably views the potential "fix" that can be done with his bombs, however.
- Has a vested interest in humiliating and taking down Wraith - possible on-again off-again attraction to her, compounded by a long-running series of attempted cons and hustles performed against her or her underlings.
- Attempted relationship of ingratiation or flirtation towards Lady Geist, seeing her as an easy way to gain access to a longer-lasting form of immortality than simply "shavin' years off the lifespans of foolhardy folk".
- May discuss the economic viability of Wyoming with Mirage, attempting to assert the prospects of other states as being "richer in value" and providing advice in "swindlin' them folks up in D.C."
Author's Notes:
I'll fully admit that I've no mind for balance, let alone in MOBAs, but having read into the history of road gambling in America, I felt a compulsion towards crafting a character concept that could best represent this historic archetype in the context of the Cursed Apple. I think the pool ball aspect, while a bit tacky, is a potentially cool dimension that introduces a non-linear element to the scramble of not only team fights, but even laning.
Let me know what you all think, I guess?
The thought did occur to me about having the individual Skills create Pool Balls, but considering the depth of mechanics that I rounded up and the existence of "swarm" type Skills like Jar of Dead, I thought that having a kit that could be more flexibly oriented around how you engage with or without Pool Balls (such as Push Shot counting as a melee attack for Item procs) so that early lane isn't Hell could be interesting.
