[Draft Nearly Complete - Looking for Opinions!!] Sephone

[[LT3]EontheWolf]

Speed: 295
Attack Animation: Chakram (possibly made out of wood with thorns on the edge) being thrown at enemy
Attack Range: Ranged 575
Affiliation: Legion
Primary Stat: INT

Sound and Visual Design
Sound
For the skill sound effects, any sounds of a plantlike, earthlike, or natural kind will do. Voice effects should be slightly high pitched, but not grating on the ears. Maybe a little lower than Moon Queen's.
Visual
A female creature that looks more like a humanoid plant than a human in some ways. In terms of model, I'd like something that looks a bit like a mix between a typical presentation of a Dryad and a human. (IE Green skin and, in this case, tanned skin, mixed to form a sort of tanned olive green skin.) If possible, make her hair look a bit like grass or leaves forming her hair, and maybe not so heavily clothed (beyond the bare essentials).

Story

A human woman was once born with the name Persephone. Growing tired of the 'typical' human life she found so boring & destructive, she went to live among the forests & the land. One day she found that the forests seemed to almost be talking to her...As she followed the voices she thought she heard, she was gravely injured by thieves who thought she was a bounty hunter. Leaving her to die, she crawled to a giant tree to die peacefully. As she later awoke she found that the forest had seen fit to grace her with a new life; A melding of Human & Plant. Changing her name to reflect her new life, she now calls herself Sephone, and is eager to protect and help any forests or plants of Newerth that may be in danger.

Role
-Can reduce enemy damage & ms quite drastically by herself
-Can stop auto attacks with her ulti or casts/items with her nuke
-Usefulness throughout most of the game.
-Support. Plain and simple. She shouldn't be carrying, or tanking. She should be working in the background, keeping them alive with auras, her skills, or items.
Stats
Strength: 18 (+1.4)
Agility: 15 (+1.8)
Intelligence: 23 (+2.6)

Stats based on attributes only at 1 & 25
Strength| 73
Agility| 80
Intelligence| 108


Health at Lvl 1| 342
Health Regen at Lvl 1| 0.54
Armor at Lvl 1| 2.1
Attack speed at Lvl 1| 15
Mana at Lvl 1| 299
Mana Regen at Lvl 1| 0.92

Health at Lvl 25| 1387
Health Regen at Lvl 25| 2.19
Armor at Lvl 25| 11.2
Attack speed at Lvl 25| 80
Mana at Lvl 25| 1404
Mana Regen at Lvl 25| 4.32

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Skill 1

Enticing Smells

Having become more plantlike, Sephone has learned to voluntarily use plant smells to her advantage, for varying uses.
Once gained, switches between 2 different passives with different effects & uses.
Passive 1 affects allied heroes (EXCLUDING her)|Passive 2 affects ENEMY heroes ONLY.
Passive|Passive
Mana Cost to Switch Between: 50/40/30/25
Cooldown between Switching: 10/8/6/4
Range of effect: 800|800
Buff/Debuff disappears after 3 seconds outside of the Range of Effect.
1. Bonus MS: 2%, Bonus Damage: 6 | Damage Reduction: 0.5% every second while in AoE & stacks up to 2.5%.
2. Bonus MS: 3%, Bonus Damage: 12 | Damage Reduction: 1% every second while in AoE & stacks up to 6%.
3. Bonus MS: 4%, Bonus Damage: 18 | Damage Reduction: 1.5% every second while in AoE & stacks up to 10.5%.
4. Bonus MS: 5%, Bonus Damage: 25 | Damage Reduction: 2% every second while in AoE &stacks up to 16%.
Balance: You choose to reduce your enemies attack damage, or help your team's damage & MS. It's a matter of which your team needs more or which is more important at certain stages of team fights. Also, she CANNOT receive this buff herself.
Visual: The ally based passive would a slightly green haze or smoke surrounding Sephone while the enemy based passive would look like a reddish haze surrounding her.

__________________________________________________ _

Skill 2

Quickened Blooming

Where Sephone roams, all manner of plants near her grow increasingly wild...
The area around Sephone and the path she has tread is laden with extremely wild and quickly grown plants. While an ally or enemy walks on the flowers, they get a buff called 'Sephone's Judgement'.
Passive
Flowers spawn in an AoE of 150 around her. Flowers remain where they spawned until they expire.
While on the Flowers, allies get a buff while enemies get a debuff. It disappears once they step off the flowers.
1. Flowers remain on the ground for 4 seconds.
2. Flowers remain on the ground for 7 seconds.
3. Flowers remain on the ground for 10 seconds.
4. Flowers remain on the ground for 12 seconds.
Balance: The flowers do not spread on their own, and do not last long. The effect only lasts as long as they remain on the flowers, and enemies can easily avoid them.
Visual: Distinct flowers on the ground that signify the presence of her passive. Maybe take the grass from Keeper's ult and add more flowers to it.

__________________________________________________

Skill 2's Buff


Sephone's Judgement

When someone walks on her precious plants, Sephone becomes enraged at them or the enemies that dare to follow her retreating allies...
As long as a unit remains standing on Sephone's flowers from Quickened Blooming, they have this buff on them and depending on whether they're enemies or allies, it helps or hinders them.
Buff/Debuff from another Quickened Blooming.
Applied to unit as long as they remain on ground affected by Quickened Blooming (aka 'Sephone's Flowers as I like to call em).
1. Allies: 5% MS increase and 1 HP regen | Enemies: 5% MS decrease and 10 magical damage per second.
2. Allies: 7% MS increase and 1.5 HP regen | Enemies: 7% MS decrease and 20 magical damage per second.
3. Allies: 10% MS increase and 2 HP regen | Enemies: 10% MS decrease and 30 magical damage per second.
4. Allies: 12.5% MS increase and 3 HP regen | Enemies: 12.5% MS decrease and 40 magical damage per second.
Balance: The buff only lasts until the flowers disappear or until a unit steps off the flowers. There's no delay between stepping off & the buff disappearing. Also, she CANNOT receive this buff herself.
Visual: A large flower sitting on the 'head' of the unit when they have this buff.

__________________________________________________

Skill 3

Newerth's Revenge

Sephone convinces the very ground of Newerth to rise up and defend itself from any who wish harm upon the world...
If an enemy unit has Sephone's Judgement when hit by this spell, a unit takes double damage and is only able to auto attack (no items or spells can be used by one's self) for a varied number of seconds. If hit without Sephone's Judgement, a unit takes normal damage and is not silenced/immobolized/stuck.
Targeted Spell
Damage type: Undecided
Mana: 65/155/175/225
Cooldown: 20/16/13/9
(Sephone's Judgement off|Sephone's Judgement On)
1. Unit takes 65 damage. | Unit takes 130 damage & stuck for 1.25 seconds.
2. Unit takes 100 damage. | Unit takes 200 damage & stuck for 1.65 seconds.
3. Unit takes 130 damage. | Unit takes 260 damage & stuck for 2.05 seconds.
4. Unit takes 175 damage. | Unit takes 350 damage & stuck for 2.55 seconds.
Balance: The spell doesn't do a lot of damage without the buff, and with the buff she does average to slightly above average damage for a non ulti nuke. The mana cost & cooldown is about spammability (which, as much as I hate to admit it, she'll need) as much as it is preventing an easy, constant stream of nuking. Plus, any higher and the damage would be too high, while lowering anything would've made it too spammy/underpowered.
Visual: Brambles coming up from the ground for damage, and if 'stunned' vines wrap around the character model who is 'stunned'.


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Ultimate


Sephone's Field/Field of Flowers

As Sephone grows and becomes more attuned to nature, plants will grow in even the most barren & dangerous places to help
Any enemies in the AoE of this spell cannot auto attack, although they can still cast spells & use items. Newerth's Revenge affects them as though they had Sephone's Judgement; They also take more damage & ms reduction than from Judgement, as well as allies getting more of a MS boost.
Activated location based AoE
Mana Cost: 250/375/500
Cooldown: 150/120/90
Flowers last for 8/10/12 seconds.
AoE range: 600/800/1000
Effects from this ultimate prevent Sephone's Judgement from being applied, but the X2 & stun from Newerth's Revenge still apply while they reside on the AoE from this spell.
Enemies cannot auto attack while on Flowers until the last 2/3/4 seconds.
1. Allies: 15% MS increase and 2 HP regen | Enemies: 15% MS decrease and 55 magical damage per second.
2. Allies: 20% MS increase and 3 HP regen | Enemies: 20% MS decrease and 65 magical damage per second.
3. Allies: 25% MS increase and 4 HP regen | Enemies: 25% MS decrease and 75 magical damage per second.
Balance: The cooldown is two & a half minutes at lvl 6, and even at lvl 16, it's a minute & a half, which means you'd only be using as often as the ult of say...Glacius? Also, the MS and damage based buffs/debuffs override those from Quickened Blooming. So while in this AoE, teammates get THESE effects, and off it, they'd get Quickened's normal effects. Plus, this is a targeted AoE & damage is magical. Also, enemies can still cast/use items, they just can't auto attack (think the opposite of NH/Riki's cloud)
Visual: The flowers/grass from Quickened Blooming, only maybe a bit brighter or taller, and of course in the targeted location.

__________________________________________________ ______________
Special thanks to:

DC Comics/Batman for Ivy who's an awesome character, and a good inspiration for any nature loving characters.

Nome for his excellent Hero suggestion format.

Myself because I'm TOTALLY awesome.

Youtube for a large list of Scatman John, Techno, Rock, & other genres to keep me going.

Guild Wars for being one of my most loved games and how useful their icons are for Sephone.

The weird dream that gave me the idea for a plant spawn n plant nuke combo as well as cementing my want to create a hero of this type.

You folks, for taking the time to read my first HoN/DotA suggestion. I hope it doesn't suck, or that my first guesses at CD's n mana costs weren't too far off ^^;...

Natural20, for helping me flesh out her skills and assisting with stats.

WoWRadio/WCRadio Ventrilo regulars for making me laugh after annoying a** days at High School

Special NO thanks to:

ABC Family for playing Mask of Zorro. Like I didn't already have enough distractions.

My friend for bringing me to an awesome lazer tag game where I met an awesome chick n had an awesome night full of awesome.

Myself for being a complete and utter lazy ***.

------------------------------Changelog-------------------------------
9-20-09| Created Suggestion.
9-20-09| Updated Sound with extra info and themery (I MAKE MY OWN DICTIONARY LEAVE ME ALOOOONE)
9-21-09| Updated 'What I want to know before Finalizing the Draft' with a few more questions, added AoE, Mana & CD info to Quickened Blooming #2, and added AoE info to Quickened Blooming #1.
9-22-09| Added stats, attack type & range, updated 'What I want to know' list, removed the idea of Quickened Blooming version #2, reorganized most of the template with a bit of my own spice on Nome's design, Updated Roles, Combined Quickened Blooming & Sephone's Judgement, updated Thanks & No Thanks list, Removed Notes on Skills & saved them on OpenOffice file on hard drive.
9-22-09| Added desired attack animation.
9-23-09| Added Weapon Visual, Newerth's Fingers added as Skill 3, Updated Thanks & No Thanks list, Updated attack animation.
9-23-09| Added picture to Newerth's Fingers.
9-23-09| Updated Descriptions on Enticing Smells & Sephone's Judgement to make them easier to understand.
9-24-09| Updated Newerth's Fingers stats.
9-26-09| Added & updated info on spells & will add ultimate later tonight.
9-26-09| Added some Ultimate stats and will finish rest later as well as add the text & name, Removed 'What I want to know' list.
9-27-09| Added most of the remaining Ultimate info save for Plaintext, Flavor, and possibly something else I forgot, Added a little extra info throughout the suggestions & updated, changed, or removed unneeded info/wiriting.
9-28-09| Added Flavor text, plaint text, & a name to the ultimate, Sephone's Field/Field of Flowers.
9-28-09| Added what her Health, armor & such would be at level 1 and 25.
9-28-09| Lowered the duration & buffed the damage on Sephone's Flowers as well as changing the auto attack prevention 'setting'.
10-01-09| Changing a title screw up in Ultimate.

[[LT3]EontheWolf]

Reserved for any extra info needed, and a bump to bring it to people for much needed public input.

[[GR]Rentaromon]

il help you make your plant based support hero.

1st: 1 good power but consider makeing the damage nerf for enemys double when attack you.

2nd: WAY to complicated. Consider this: when activated everywhere she walks for a short time will sprout flowers. if a enemy walks on it they have lowers attack speed and take small damage and allies have faster speed and heal slightly.

other ideas for powers:
Soul flower: a flower that when placed will increase mana regeneration. it can also be planted on a unit so they can take it with them (beside you) or a enemy to suck mana from them.

Treants: summons some trees in a area any unit near the trees will take daamge as they attack them. the trees can only be destroyed like normal trees, with runes or certain powers like tempests metior.

good luck with the hero.

[[LT3]EontheWolf]

Enticing Smells: Well, if I double it it will be way too overpowered.
IE 16% of 200 damage is 32 damage removed. Out of 120 damage, 19.2 damage is removed. if it's 32%, then its 64 damage gone for someone at 200, and 38.4 damage gone from 120. Even if its just directly targeting me, that's MUCH too powerful IMHO for a passive that's meant to help allies more than herself directly.

Quickened Blooming: I'm not trying to lower attack speed or do a DoT for it. I may do it as a mix of activated, but with the functionality of the passive version....
EDIT: By that, I mean I may do it as an activated spell based on the passive version, kind of like you said....I'll keep that in mind...
EDIT2: I also wasn't thinking of having the flowers directly affect anything, as she essentially has TWO passives for the price of 1 skill, so this flower is made to be used in conjunction with the nuke, allowing for some technical tricks and mind games...

Your idea of Soul flower hardly fits her. I admit I thought of that plant n nuke combo spell as one that would originally summon a lot of varied flowers with different effects, and based on how many are destroyed or how much damage is done to them, her nuke would do a certain amount, and I might do that, but I'm trying to avoid the typical AS increase, DoT, and mana DRAIN/burn that seems to be in almost every hero suggestion nowadays.

She's apart of the 'plant world' so to speak, but she doesn't create sentient creatures such as treants. And I dunno, but IMHO, it doesn't seem to fit her theme that I'm trying to go with. I envision her as a hero that, for the most part, is there in the background, having something that helps the team as a whole & maybe a slight babysitter for other heroes early game...Not someone that drains or affects almost every single stat for the enemies....OR allies, for that matter.

[[GR]Rentaromon]

thx for shooting down every single thing i said =(

just trying to help.

[[LT3]EontheWolf]

Well, your supposed change to Enticing Smells is far too overpowered IMHO.

I said I'd keep your idea of an activated version of the way the passive Blooming would've worked (IE it spawns flowers in an AoE radius of 150-200 around her for however many seconds n they last however many seconds, rather than permanently on or a targeted AoE spell) but that lowering enemy AS or doing a DoT rather than a nuke wasn't what I planned, and DoT's can usually be debuffed, which would work against her.

I said I admitted that I thought of doing something similar to your idea for Soul Flower, but summoning a varied amount of flowers with blooming, but that I kinda gravitated away from that, and that mana drain/burn isn't what she should be focused on IMHO, and it's really not needed.

In regards to treants thing I said, I reread what you said and realized I completely misunderstood, but before I explain why what you said is probably even more OP I'll explain the treants thing more; I really don't think she'd just 'create' them. Sure, she may communicate with them, but think about it. What's her general theme?

Forests, Flowers, Toxins/Smells, smaller plants. It's possible she might have something LIKE treants summoned, or something dealing with bigger plants, but as for summoning treants...Well, there's the reasons I listed, and I don't wanna seem like I'm just yanking Furion's move...And in regards to summoning trees that do damage that can only be destroyed by things that destroy normal trees....Do you realize how OP that is? She can just continuously lay them out, blocking runes off, or blocking off paths or creeps....Which would cause thousands upon thousands of dollars from the enemy team to be spent on runes of blight or the logger's axe....Plus, if they remain until destroyed, that's an even bigger issue...I definitely wouldn't mind pursuing something LIKE that, IE Summoning larger immobile, (or not so immobile), plants...but what you suggested just seems....not balanced to me...

Also, just because I shot you down doesn't mean I'm not trying to accept you help. It's just almost all your suggestions seemed like they'd transform her into a very OP support hero, or just OP period. Plus, one person (you) is not the opinion of the beta's 'public;

[archkyle]

my first thought is...

too many AOE spells. if this is an INT hero you need to realize that mana will be plentiful and needs to be spent on something that will actually give the hero a purpose.

second, these are ALL duration spells. why? this will give her almost no use during ganks. as of now this hero is pure defensive support.

third, try and take a look at what makes certain heroes viable.

tempest, all of his spells have great synergy and work very well together. he has spells that support ganks and initiate them, his ult is perfect for team fights.

Pyro, he has 2 'aoe' spells. one is line aoe, one is target aoe. these spells work well together but each one has a seperate purpose and become situational during fights.

Swiftblade, he has a great spell that helps him farm, escape enemy spells, and deal high damage early game. his ult is mostly situational but very effective.

basically you need to ask yourself several questions when making a spell.

'when will this be used?'

'why will this be used?'

'is it supporting/initiating/sustaining ganks?'

'does this spell work well with my other spells?'

'do my spells work well with other heroes?'

there are plenty more but you get the idea. the most important thing to keep in mind is, this is a team game BUT every hero has the same type of spells. which are...

secape mechanics, damage enemies, support allies, farm creeps

ALSO each attribute based hero has a role

STR - tank, stun/disable

AGI - dps (melee or ranged), escape mechanic, almost always has a passive

INT - always has a disable of some kind/escape mechanic/gank support, always has at least one high damage spell

again, there is much more but this is to get you thinking.

take some time to study other heroes before going into too much depth with your own.

[[LT3]EontheWolf]

...No they aren't all duration. I haven't even decided on an Ulti yet first off.
Take your own advice, and actually read her.
Enticing smells: 2 Passives in one. You spend mana to switch between them. That means once you get it, one is always active, like a 'typical' passive.
Quickened Blooming: I'm trying to decide on which version I want, #1 or #2. I figured I'd ask folks here as well which they think is better. One is a passive which is currently always on, although I've been thinking about other ways to have it's effect, or add more to it so it's not quite so dependent on Judgement...The reason, however, for setting it up like it is at present time is because I figured it'd balance out with the 2 passives for one she has already. Judgement is like many typical spells some characters use. It's an AoE around her. If you have the buff from walking over Blooming, and ur in the aoe when she casts it, you get whichever effect you should based on if you're allied or an enemy.
Her ultimate I still haven't decided on, partly because I don't wanna go the boring, unoriginal 'summon something' route, but I'm having trouble thinking of something else that would go with her theme at the present moment in time. Also, attribute doesn't mean they have to do that. Look at Behemoth n to some effect, Tiny. They're Str, but require Int to be effective. One can double as a tank of sorts. The other cannot. The best way to get your hero noticed, like Nome suggests in his template thread's tips is this;
Don't go the typical route of 'STR Tank' or 'Agi Carry' or 'Int Nuker'. Try a 'Str Nuker' or an 'Agi Tank' or an 'Int Tank'. Do something that is interesting and/or original. I'd like to think I've accomplished that at least a little, although she's still a long way from finished.
EDIT: TLDR;
I'm trying to not go the typical route most people think of when they think of a hero n a stat. And she has 2 passives in 1, and if I go with Quickened Blooming #1, She'll have 3 for 2. Judgement is a nuke with an AoE AROUND her. Her ultimate I haven't decided on yet.

[[LT3]EontheWolf]

Bump. Completely updated OP and changed/combined skills 2 & 3, as well as adding much needed extra stats info.

[[LT3]EontheWolf]

Bump. Added Newerth's Fingers & changed attack animation.

[[x2]ShredderIV]

meh, 2nd and 3rd forced synergy... dun like, t-down.

[[LT3]EontheWolf]

Well, If you WANT to look at it that way. But it still does damage. If I go too high, she'll be doing 350 damage-500 damage with a non nuke ability...

[[LT3]EontheWolf]

Bump. Finally finished Ultimate, now looking for general opinions on her overall, and to see if its possible to put her up for a poll yet, or if people think she needs more work.

[[LT3]EontheWolf]

Just bumping this to ask for general opinions. See if anyone thinks she could use some more work or some adjustments to the #'s before I make a thread in the actual suggestions section for her...

[Aepoch]

To be honest, I'd give you a yes vote if you'd just clean up the maturity level of the post a few notches. I'm aware you're a tiny 15 years old, but it's very distracting.

[[LT3]EontheWolf]

Maturity level of what? The suggestion? Just how is it distracting? Or are you referring to the bold print in my sig? That I did as a joke....

[[UTG]LotharsHedge]

Ill be honest, I stopped reading after the first ability. Everything after it is a crazy mess of of ms/ hp regen/ more ms stuff.

[[LT3]EontheWolf]

Yes, but if you didn't notice, the ult's effects have priority over the 2nd skill, and towards the end of the game, most players would probably have her passive set to the enemy damage reduction. Also, the ult is to her 2nd skill as moon finale is to moon beam. Only, u cant stack the effects of these 2 skills. Plus, her nuke is nuke n mini stun/stun. So...it's not really a crazy mess.
P.S. - She's a support....There's not much to buff except MS/AS, HP/MP regen, Armor, possibly short term stat buffs, or mana/health....And I figured I'd go the not so normal route n focus on damage n ms/as with mp/hp so she can still help support beyond that. Not to mention most of her passives only affect ALLIES, not HER...

[[M15]XivCake]

you played to much Batman =(

[[LT3]EontheWolf]

Lol...So, you take one look at her picture & assume it's like poison ivy? Yes, because plants totally grow wild & do magical damage to people when Ivy's around! I said I took some inspiration from her with the general theme & a lil bit from the first skill....I chose her pic because it's the closest to what I've envisioned.
Also, next time? Provide actually constructive criticism.
Christ, some people can't provide any sort of constructive feed back, can they?