FOREST RANGER
The Forest Ranger is PROJECT F4E's (now called "Vaultbreakers") take on the Healer class, combined with the "ADC" or "Marksman" role from contemporary titles. Aesthetically she's a mix of archer and druid, and this dichotomy defines much of the character.
This was the first player character I got to design from the ground up, using my experience reworking older characters to ensure the Ranger had a clear and consistent gameplay identity that matched the expectations of players drawn in by the character's aesthetics, fulfilling the promised fantasies of both huntress and druid. As well as making sure the character and her core mechanics where scalable and had plenty of long-term design space to house the potential 100+ planned abilities.
BASE KIT
1.0 Intro
In F4E, players chose between 100+ interchangeable active and passive abilities, each power is part of a larger group of powers, or "branch" that each has its own gameplay system. These powers then slot into a character chassis, or "base kit" that serves as the foundation for each character.
1.1 Starting Active
The starting active is equipped by default, making it the character's one constant. It naturally informs much of the characters play-pattern and team-play identity.
Thematically, I don't think this ability could be anything but a bow shot without very good justification. I used what I'd learned from the Barbarian Rework and split the ability into dual casting modes, Hold and Tap.
Verdant Shot: Tap
Narrow, medium-range projectile that deals moderate damage to the first enemy hit. Simple but satisfying, the ability is intended to easily be woven into any combat-pattern, fitting seamlessly regardless of what direction the player takes their build.
1.3 Starting Passive
Every third basic attack deals significantly increased damage.
A simple ability that reinforces the ranger's ADC/Marksman identity by making players more cognizant of their basic attacks.
Verdant Shot: Hold
Piercing projectile that damages enemies and heals allies. The healing area broadens while the damaging center only grows in length, preserving the sharpshooter fantasy and skill expression, while allowing for smoother co-op and strong visual feedback.
SYSTEMS
(CORE MECHANICS)
Three different, randomly selected types of flower can be spawned on the ground, each type triggering a different area effect after a short delay when a player gets near.
The soothe flower heals players, the burst flower damages enemies and the exceptionally rare gilded flower makes players invincible and doubles their damage for a duration.
The delay and generous area of effect helps remove co-op friction, and gives VFX artists room to enhance the feedback. The flowers have a short windup period to avoid getting triggered accidentally and gives players room to coordinate.
The increased variance leverages the game being PvE to allow for big memorable moments, without the frustration that would arise in a competitive environment — both for the player and would-be human opponents.
2.0 Intro
Systems are reoccurring mechanics that the draftable abilities utilize in different ways. The different mechanics function as signposts for their respective branch of the character fantasy.
These mechanics can be upgraded and modified, akin to RPG skill-trees or deck-building card games where further investment into a certain mechanic may allow for exponential scaling.
Alternatively, experimenting with combinations of abilities from different branches can create powerful new synergies and interactions.
Serving as the signpost for the ranger's more supportive playpatterns, "bloom" is a small healing-over-time buff applicable to yourself and allies.
Spreading the heal out over time dilutes its impact, but allows the buffed allies to become catalysts for abilities such as "bloomburst", which deals damage in an area around all players with bloom.
2.2 Mark
A stackable debuff that increases damage the marked enemy takes from all players. It can only be applied to elite enemies and bosses.
Mark is the branch for the ranger/marksman side of the character identity. That it stacks and is limited to powerful enemies reinforces the hunter fantasy; tracking down and focusing on a key target.
2.3 Flowers
2.1 Bloom
