Demigod Concept - Nocturne

Having spent the past week or so lurking around here, I thought that the time was about right to jump in and get my ideas heard.

I've seen comments tossed back and forth about how a Stealth based Demigod would be a good addition, but no real concepts on the subject. This idea has been kicking around in my head for a while now, slowly growing and changing and I thought it had been incubating for long enough, and it was time to get it out there.

I wanted to design a character that could be used stealthily, but that wouldn't be forced to, I wanted to give him some interesting abilities that would synergise well, but that wouldn't be forced to and I wanted to bring an interesting concept to life. So with that in mind, here he is.

Nocturne

Light Assassin

Background:

Okay, so I don't have it nicely typed out yet, but the cliffs of the idea is like so. There was this incredible mercenary warrior who travelled the world, lending his services to whoever needed him most. Stories were told of his prowess, he was one of the most accomplished swordsmen in the world and watching him fight was more like watching a dancer, or a great cat hunting. As he grew older, he tired of this life and so made a pilgrimage to an isolated monastary, far in the north. He laid down his weapons there and made a vow to never harm another living thing.
It was a simple life, but he enjoyed it, toiling in the fields with his fellow monks, spending long hours in study and prayer. One night though, a group of barbarian raiders is seen landing on the nearby coastline. The bell is rung, and the monks all flee to the central chapel for shelter. As the barbarians approach, the mercenary-come-monk walks out the door to confront them. He tells them that they are just peaceful monks, with nothing of value to be taken, he says that if they come in peace, all are welcome in the monastary. He warns them though, that if they come with darkness in their hearts they will find nothing but regret here. The leader of the barbarians laughs in his face and strikes him down where he stands, then makes to enter the chapel.
As soon as he sets foot on the steps, the gargoyle at the peak of the roof, an image of a great winged cat, breaks free and tumbles to the ground, crushing the barbarian in a heartbeat. The statue has barely a scratch on it from the fall, and the rest of the barbarians turn and flee, believing this to be a sign from the heavens. As they flee, a heavy fog sets in and they become separated, unable to find each other as they begin to hear screams in the darkness. All through the night, the monks cower in the chapel, listening to the dying cries of the barbarians. Any time they open the door, all that they can see is an impenetrable fog, and so they remain inside.
Come morning, the fog disappates as suddenly as it arrived, and the monks venture out. There is no sign of the statue, nor of the mercenary's body, but out in the fields they find the corpses of the barbarians, each torn apart as if by a great cat. Down at the coast the ship is sunk, huge gouges like claw marks out of the few remaining pieces of wood.

Concept:

The idea behind Nocturne is that he would have two forms, the first would be a fairly weak but stealthy form, ideal at luring enemy Demigods out on their own, and seperating them from their friends. The second form would be a strong combat form, with skills to stop the enemy Demigods from escaping, and to stop their Allies from arriving to aid them. Overall he was designed as a hit and run attacker, able to harass the enemy and quickly recover out of sight, but vulnerable if you pinned him down.

Image:

In Stone Form Nocturne would be vaguely humanoid, but with a the head of a panther, bat wings and carved from stone.

In Shadow Form, his skin would be much darker and more subtle, like black leather, he would appear simple as a huge cat, but have a gait similar to a lizards (very low to the ground, with legs out to either side), in shadow form he would have a constant cloak of dark mist flowing off him (Simply a visual effect)

Abilities:

Change Form - Like the Torchbearer and the Queen of Thorns, Nocturne would have this ability as default, allowing him to switch between his two forms; Shadow and Stone.

Shadow Form

In Shadow form Armor is greatly reduced and Nocturne cannot capture flags, but Nocturne can become invisible (Fade) after a period (10 seconds?) spent motionless. As soon as Nocturne moves, attacks or uses an ability, his invisibility is lost.

Active Abilities

Fog - Creates an area of impenetrable fog of war (As in, even if you're in the middle of it, you can see maybe 5 feet through it at best), duration and size increase with level. Nocturne is unaffected by the Fog. At high levels any enemies in the Fog can be seen as silhoettes to Nocturne (And his allies? Unsure.)

Doom - Does a small amount of damage per second until it is cured or target dies. Top level synergy lets Nocturne use Doom without losing Fade. (I would say a similar amount of damage to Plague would be fair here, or slightly less. The endless effect would be balanced by the fact that it doesn't spread.)

Holy Ground - Can be cast on your own flags. The flag glow slightly (Just a subtle effect, enough that an on the ball player could spot it) if the enemy captured it while the effect remained, the flag would be cursed for them until it wore off (For example, a +20% Experience Flag would become a -20% Experience Flag, or a Gold Mine Flag would drain Gold.) Lasts a moderate time.

Passive Abilities

Shadow Strike - Allows Nocturne to do a bonus percentage of damage when striking from invisibility.

Fade - Reduces time taken to fade, and at higher levels allows Nocturne to move after fading, and finally to fade while moving (but not attacking)

Stone Form

In Stone form Armor is greatly increased.

Active Abilities

Gargoyle - Nocturne lands in a crouch and folds his wings, turning to solid stone. All remaining Mana is rapidly converted into Health. Once Mana is empty, Nocturne takes flight again. If he is struck during this process, the healing would stop, and Nocturne would be stunned for a short time while he recovered.

Screech - Enemy minions (Both Demigod Minions and Portal Minions) will flee from the Screeching Demigod in terror. After a short time they will return to fight again.

Mark of the Hunter - Lasts a short time, while Marked, a character does not show up on the map to his allies and may not teleport.

Passive Abilities

Predator - Gives an excellent damage bonus, which is reduced for every ally the enemy has within a (fairly large) radius. Only works in Stone form.

Despair - Nocturne's constant harrasment drives foes to the edge, and when he finally shows his true form, his opponents are struck down with such fear that death seems inevitable. Allows Nocturne's attacks in Stone Form to reduce enemy attack speed, increased for each of his Shadow Form abilities (Doom or moving within Fog) that they are struck by.

A couple comments to close with. Two of the abilities I am less sure about are Holy Ground and Mark of the Hunter - With Holy Ground I have been going back and forth on whether it should be cast on your own flag (As I have currently) or on an enemy flag (In which case it could also be removed in the same way as capturing a flag, but at final level would be permanent.) Mark of the Hunter, however, could easily be a passive skill, allowing a skill slot for a true combat power (Maybe a Stun, or just a nice damage power.)

Edit: I can't believe I forgot this! Credit for the concept behind the "Mist" power goes to TheScottishAlien in his thread "New Item Idea: Smoke Machine (with Pics) - I'd link it properly, but am having trouble figuring out how.