Content Warning: This character reflects big game hunting, which in turn came about due to the colonization of Africa and India. He is intended to be an unrepentant and unsympathetic villain as a member of the Friends of Humanity and mercenary taking jobs on both sides of the Ixian War. In particular, he is a human supremacist and his views about Ixians reflect the mindset of colonialism. He's a bastard and should be viewed as such (and treated as such by most of the rest of the cast).
Van Owen - Bushwhacker. Mercenary. Big Game Hunter.
Weapon - Roland's Headsman - Medium Range, Heavy Hitter
Double-barreled elephant gun. Two Round magazine, very high damage; base delay between shots should be just low enough to double tap a minion+soul orb as it becomes hittable. Much higher than average range before fall-off, but short distance before maximum falloff.
1 - Explosive Round - 1 Charge
Van Owen reloads his elephant gun with a single, highly-explosive round. When the round hits anything, it explodes, dealing spirit damage to all enemies in range. (Mechanics note: If the round hits an enemy, it still does its base bullet damage)
1: +1 Charge
2: Bullet applies healing reduction to the target hit.
5: Explosion damage scales with Weapon Damage; +1 Bullet
2 - Spot and Stalk
Van Owen marks an enemy hero from long range, reducing their ability to hear him and gaining the ability to see them through walls.
1: Increased Duration
2: Mark grants bonus movement speed when near the marked enemy.
5: Van Owen gains damage amplification against marked targets.
3 - Bushwhack
Passive: When Van Owen is not visible to the enemy team, he gains 'Bushwhacker', causing his next bullet to deal bonus Spirit Damage.
1: Bushwhacker also applies a slow.
2: Increased Spirit Damage scaling
5: The first attack against a Stunned, Sleeping, or Immobilized enemy also triggers Bushwhacker.
4 - The Most Dangerous Game
Passive: Van Owen takes trophies from each enemy hero he kills, permanently gaining Weapon Damage and Spirit Power. (Only one trophy can be taken per hero).
Active: Van Owen channels to prepare a pitfall trap with a radius that expands based on the channel time, up to a maximum. Pitfall traps are invisible until activated, with a generous (18m?) detection range. Once activated, the trap remains active until its duration expires. Enemy heroes that activate a pitfall trap are stunned for 2.5 seconds and take Spirit Damage based on their max health. Each enemy hero can only activate the trap once. (Design Note: This is intended to simulate the effect of falling off a zipline; I would expect it to deal significantly less than 15% max HP damage however.)
1: Reduced channel time (Expands faster to cover the same radius).
2: Reduced cooldown
5: Increased Max HP % damage (Still less than 15%!)
A Fate's Tale...
Warren Van Owen wasn't born under Earth's skies. His parents were part of the first wave of settlers to South Ixia, back when it was still a U.S. Territory before it became the 52nd State. They taught him how to survive in the hostile environment, how to hunt the unusually resilient Ixian native fauna, and that "civilizing" Ixia was their family's destiny. When the Ixian War broke out, young Van Owen left home with his best friend, Roland, to seek his fortune as a mercenary. He quickly developed a taste for the work, years of frustration as an outsider being taken out on North Ixians, South Ixians, and whoever else his shadowy employers wanted him to kill. Meanwhile, the idealistic Roland grew soft, sometimes wondering out loud if fighting knee-deep in the gore of the Ixian War was really the best way to help out South Ixia. So, when OSIC decided that they wanted Roland dead, it didn't take much to convince Van Owen to backstab his soon-to-be-former friend and blow off Roland's head.
He wasn't expecting Roland's headless body to come back as a vengeful ghost, hell-bent on revenge. Fleeing through the Astral portal to Earth, Van Owen found himself fabulously wealthy but adrift, searching for meaning and desperate to stay one step ahead of Roland's ghost. No matter what he hunted, no matter where he went, he lived an empty life of paranoia and terror...Until he met John Hathorne.
Van Owen - Bushwhacker. Mercenary. Big Game Hunter.
Weapon - Roland's Headsman - Medium Range, Heavy Hitter
Double-barreled elephant gun. Two Round magazine, very high damage; base delay between shots should be just low enough to double tap a minion+soul orb as it becomes hittable. Much higher than average range before fall-off, but short distance before maximum falloff.
1 - Explosive Round - 1 Charge
Van Owen reloads his elephant gun with a single, highly-explosive round. When the round hits anything, it explodes, dealing spirit damage to all enemies in range. (Mechanics note: If the round hits an enemy, it still does its base bullet damage)
1: +1 Charge
2: Bullet applies healing reduction to the target hit.
5: Explosion damage scales with Weapon Damage; +1 Bullet
2 - Spot and Stalk
Van Owen marks an enemy hero from long range, reducing their ability to hear him and gaining the ability to see them through walls.
1: Increased Duration
2: Mark grants bonus movement speed when near the marked enemy.
5: Van Owen gains damage amplification against marked targets.
3 - Bushwhack
Passive: When Van Owen is not visible to the enemy team, he gains 'Bushwhacker', causing his next bullet to deal bonus Spirit Damage.
1: Bushwhacker also applies a slow.
2: Increased Spirit Damage scaling
5: The first attack against a Stunned, Sleeping, or Immobilized enemy also triggers Bushwhacker.
4 - The Most Dangerous Game
Passive: Van Owen takes trophies from each enemy hero he kills, permanently gaining Weapon Damage and Spirit Power. (Only one trophy can be taken per hero).
Active: Van Owen channels to prepare a pitfall trap with a radius that expands based on the channel time, up to a maximum. Pitfall traps are invisible until activated, with a generous (18m?) detection range. Once activated, the trap remains active until its duration expires. Enemy heroes that activate a pitfall trap are stunned for 2.5 seconds and take Spirit Damage based on their max health. Each enemy hero can only activate the trap once. (Design Note: This is intended to simulate the effect of falling off a zipline; I would expect it to deal significantly less than 15% max HP damage however.)
1: Reduced channel time (Expands faster to cover the same radius).
2: Reduced cooldown
5: Increased Max HP % damage (Still less than 15%!)
A Fate's Tale...
Warren Van Owen wasn't born under Earth's skies. His parents were part of the first wave of settlers to South Ixia, back when it was still a U.S. Territory before it became the 52nd State. They taught him how to survive in the hostile environment, how to hunt the unusually resilient Ixian native fauna, and that "civilizing" Ixia was their family's destiny. When the Ixian War broke out, young Van Owen left home with his best friend, Roland, to seek his fortune as a mercenary. He quickly developed a taste for the work, years of frustration as an outsider being taken out on North Ixians, South Ixians, and whoever else his shadowy employers wanted him to kill. Meanwhile, the idealistic Roland grew soft, sometimes wondering out loud if fighting knee-deep in the gore of the Ixian War was really the best way to help out South Ixia. So, when OSIC decided that they wanted Roland dead, it didn't take much to convince Van Owen to backstab his soon-to-be-former friend and blow off Roland's head.
He wasn't expecting Roland's headless body to come back as a vengeful ghost, hell-bent on revenge. Fleeing through the Astral portal to Earth, Van Owen found himself fabulously wealthy but adrift, searching for meaning and desperate to stay one step ahead of Roland's ghost. No matter what he hunted, no matter where he went, he lived an empty life of paranoia and terror...Until he met John Hathorne.
