StarCrawlers: Chimera Archetype Previews

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Written by ValH on February 1st, 2021

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Juggernaut Games is currently working on StarCrawlers: Chimera - a single-character follow-up to their sci-fi dungeon crawler StarCrawlers. A couple of months back, we got this article detailing the game’s archetype-driven character system, and now, we can learn more about those archetypes. Meet Muscle, Guile, and Intellect.

Here are the text parts for the latter:

Feature Friday again with more upcoming abilities in StarCrawlers Chimera!

The Intellect Archetype is composed of Skill Trees that enhance smart play and blasting things with overpowered psyker magic. Here are three of these trees and some of their abilities - remember these trees are still in development and are likely to change. Starting off with a fan favourite from StarCrawlers : the Void Psyker.

Psykers are individuals with the ability to channel their mental energies into the physical world. Void Psykers have an intuitive connection to the parallel dimension of the Void which grants them powerful psykonics with little or no drawbacks!*

* Exposure to eldritch horrors may cause insanity.

• Shadowcoil consumes a small amount of Stamina to unleash a ravenous shadow that leaps between targets or assaults a single enemy. As with all psyker abilities, Shadowcoil grows in damage with your Psi Power attribute. Shadowcoil generates a small randomized amount of Void Energy each time it deals damage.
• Ignite consumes a larger amount of Stamina to inflict a powerful damage-over-time effect on a single target, dealing both Void and Fire damage over a number of turns, and building Void Energy. With a Perk Point applied, Ignite also spawns a chaotic Shadowflame hazard that also deals both Void and Fire damage.
• Tentacles! - a Void Psykers best friend. Sometimes. Your abilities have a chance to summon friendly tentacles to slap your enemies around. Tentacles are short-lived but deal high damage and can absorb attention that would otherwise be directed at you. As your Smarts increase, so does the summon chance and damage of your tentacles.
• Void Energy All active Void Psyker abilities generate some amount of Void Energy. If you had a Void Psyker on your team in StarCrawlers, you may have experienced the joy of what happens when they accumulate too much Void Energy. In StarCrawlers Chimera, Void Energy attracts... things... from the Void. The more Void Energy you accumulate, the higher chance of attracting bigger and more numerous horrors. Though you attract the horrors, they're not picky about what they try to eat, so this can be an unexpected advantage - or really, really bad.

Next up the Support Tree of Nanomancy! As with any modern high-tech facility, the Chimera building is plagued by occasional swarms of rogue nanites. Nanite Clouds form when bugged (or hacked) nanites coalesce into a group which then behaves erratically: attacking nearby organisms one moment, then attempting to heal them the next. As a Very Smart Person, you've studied these clouds extensively and can (usually) control them.

• Craft Nanite Jar is essential for any aspiring nanomancer. A Nanite Jar can be tossed at a Nanite Cloud to capture it for study and later release at a different location - perhaps on a group of enemies, or at a dull party. As your Smarts increase, so does your chance to immediately fill a crafted jar without the need to track down a Nanite Cloud.
• Angry Nanites While most Nanite Clouds will do whatever takes their fancy in the moment, you've developed a technique for making them very upset. Tossing a nanite jar with this ability unleashes the cloud in an angry state that deals increased damage based on your Smarts. You can then recapture the nanites after they're done killing your foes. Brilliant!
• Nanite Plague should never be used by novices, and even experienced nanomancers should be aware of what they're unleashing. With some complex modifications and incantations, a nanite jar can unleash a Nanite Plague that devours everything nearby, spreads, and grows in power. Warning! Nanites unleashed with this ability cannot be safely recaptured...

Lastly, the Utility Tree of Combology. While you can certainly build a character with abilities from just one archetype, hybrids are certainly viable, and Combology is all about supporting hybrid play by granting damage bonuses for using abilities from different archetypes.

• Combo Builder gives Combo Points each time you use an ability of a different archetype from the last ability you used. For example, first Cyberninja Dash -> then Soldier grenade toss : get a Combo Point! Combo Points boost the damage of your next attack and can stack up to 5.
• Limit Break is a passive ability that has a chance to grant you a neutral Combo Point (can be followed up by any ability) when you take damage. As your health drops, the chance increases, and can trigger multiple times if you're taking several hits in one turn.
• Combo Breaker rewards you when your Combo Points expire (after having racked up at least 3 with Health and Stamina regeneration. Works great with Limit Break to mitigate incoming damage or to top you up after a fight.

I hope you've enjoyed this preview of the Intellect Archetype and some of the Skill Trees and abilities. There is more to share Soon™ and don't forget to wishlist StarCrawlers Chimera - and tell a friend!

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