I wanted to brew up the idea of a character who started in a soul debt at the start of a match and played with the idea of being in the negative and positive of their "soul value balance" and this is what I came up with.
Wart is an anthropomorphic slimy Newt businessman who is participating in the ritual because of a colossal stock market failure that resulted in him being in massive debt to some very dangerous people. He now looks to secure a wish with the patrons to become rich, or at least get as many souls as he possible during the ritual to clear out his debt.
He's constantly nervous and sweating in slime because he knows how screwed he is if he doesn't pay his debt.
Wart's debt is represented by the 3200 soul deficit that he begins with at the start of every match. While he is locked out of most items at the beginning of the game, some of his abilities are centered around the idea of generating him additional revenue and also having additional effects based on whether he is in the positives or negatives on his soul value.
To kind of give a better picture of how his kit would work, we'll start with his 3 which is a passive called Greed that generates him 25 unsecured souls per minute. While he is in the soul negatives, he has an overall 10% damage reduction, but when in the soul positives he has 10% amplified damage. The upgrades to this ability would include an increase to the souls generated per minute, the ability to spend an 800 soul loan in the item shop every 2 minutes, and an ability to spend that soul loan every minute along with improved amplified damage while in the positives.
His 1 is an ability called Cash Out that costs him 600 souls to use in addition to it's cast, but throws a scaling 85 spirit damage grenade. While in the negatives the scaling for it's damage is reduced, while in the positives it's scaling damage is increased by a small amount. It's upgrades would include a 200 soul discount on the souls used to cast it, an increase on the spirit scaling while in the positives, and charges on the grenade.
His 2 is an ability called Dividends that lets him pay 400 souls to cast a buff on an ally he casts it on that lets him gain the same amount of souls that character generates while the buff is active and reducing a percentage of the incoming damage for that character by taking that damage himself. The upgrades for the ability would include increasing the duration of the buff, reducing more incoming damage for the character he buffs while reducing the damage he receives from it, and an upgrade that turns it into a charged ability that lets him apply the buff to multiple characters.
Wart's Ult would be an ability that changes its effect based on if he is in the soul negatives or positives. While in the negatives, the ability is a passive that grants him the Cheat Death effect and a simultaneous invisibility effect before going on cooldown at the cost of 4800 souls. While in the positives, it lets Wart spend all his current souls to throw an aoe damage ability that deals damage equal to 5% of the souls he spent to cast it. The upgrades for this ability would reduce the cost of the Cheat Death effect while increasing it's duration, improve the percentage of damage to 8% of the souls he spent to cast it, and give an additional 800 soul loan when casting the ability (it would be an additional 64 damage when he casts the ability).
His gun would also spend 5 souls for each bullet he uses as he got the weapon on loan from the bank.
A fun bonus is that if he fails the ritual in soul debt that he has an animation where he's swallowed into the ground by loan sharks.
This would definitely be a character whose exact numbers would need to be tested to see if this concept could work, but I think it's a neat exercise in playing with the soul value mechanics in a fun way.
Wart is an anthropomorphic slimy Newt businessman who is participating in the ritual because of a colossal stock market failure that resulted in him being in massive debt to some very dangerous people. He now looks to secure a wish with the patrons to become rich, or at least get as many souls as he possible during the ritual to clear out his debt.
He's constantly nervous and sweating in slime because he knows how screwed he is if he doesn't pay his debt.
Wart's debt is represented by the 3200 soul deficit that he begins with at the start of every match. While he is locked out of most items at the beginning of the game, some of his abilities are centered around the idea of generating him additional revenue and also having additional effects based on whether he is in the positives or negatives on his soul value.
To kind of give a better picture of how his kit would work, we'll start with his 3 which is a passive called Greed that generates him 25 unsecured souls per minute. While he is in the soul negatives, he has an overall 10% damage reduction, but when in the soul positives he has 10% amplified damage. The upgrades to this ability would include an increase to the souls generated per minute, the ability to spend an 800 soul loan in the item shop every 2 minutes, and an ability to spend that soul loan every minute along with improved amplified damage while in the positives.
His 1 is an ability called Cash Out that costs him 600 souls to use in addition to it's cast, but throws a scaling 85 spirit damage grenade. While in the negatives the scaling for it's damage is reduced, while in the positives it's scaling damage is increased by a small amount. It's upgrades would include a 200 soul discount on the souls used to cast it, an increase on the spirit scaling while in the positives, and charges on the grenade.
His 2 is an ability called Dividends that lets him pay 400 souls to cast a buff on an ally he casts it on that lets him gain the same amount of souls that character generates while the buff is active and reducing a percentage of the incoming damage for that character by taking that damage himself. The upgrades for the ability would include increasing the duration of the buff, reducing more incoming damage for the character he buffs while reducing the damage he receives from it, and an upgrade that turns it into a charged ability that lets him apply the buff to multiple characters.
Wart's Ult would be an ability that changes its effect based on if he is in the soul negatives or positives. While in the negatives, the ability is a passive that grants him the Cheat Death effect and a simultaneous invisibility effect before going on cooldown at the cost of 4800 souls. While in the positives, it lets Wart spend all his current souls to throw an aoe damage ability that deals damage equal to 5% of the souls he spent to cast it. The upgrades for this ability would reduce the cost of the Cheat Death effect while increasing it's duration, improve the percentage of damage to 8% of the souls he spent to cast it, and give an additional 800 soul loan when casting the ability (it would be an additional 64 damage when he casts the ability).
His gun would also spend 5 souls for each bullet he uses as he got the weapon on loan from the bank.
A fun bonus is that if he fails the ritual in soul debt that he has an animation where he's swallowed into the ground by loan sharks.
This would definitely be a character whose exact numbers would need to be tested to see if this concept could work, but I think it's a neat exercise in playing with the soul value mechanics in a fun way.
