I totally forgot, that this usefull Wiki even exists...
I´d like to present my ideas for the ring-functions of Dain and Thorin. Concerning Hannar I will wait for Aule, as the whole creation of this character was his and his friends idea. This will be a longer post and most of it is not about Durin or the ring-function at all, but it´s aim is to complete the topic by focussing on Dain and Thorin, thus the ring-heroes of the other subfactions.
My hope is to integrate it into the other concept to get a whole new ring-system for the Dwarves with alot more authenticity.
If it´s in the wrong place you can move it to another thread or write me and I will do it myself.
Standart abbilities of the two different versions of Dain:I now re-read not only the ring-concepts of Dain and Thorin, but also their normal abbilities and it came to my mind, that Dains character-developement as described in the books (and in parts seen in the movie) is, as I alredy mentioned, somehow contradicted.
Young Dain was the one, who came with his army by forced marches all the way from the Iron Hills and was totally fine to let the situation escalate and fight against Elves and Humans. He doesn´t seem to me to be a defender, more an atacker.
Gandalf: It is Dain, Lord of the Iron Hills. He's Thorin's cousin.
Bilbo: Are they alike?
Gandalf: I always found Thorin the more reasonable of the two.
I know this quote is from the movie, not from the books and book-Dain was definitly wiser than movie-Dain, even trying to talk Thrain out of the Moria-adventure if I remember it right, but still he was willing to fight Elves and Men, before even listening to their cause. I simply don´t have the time to search for propper quotes and this one made me laugh... Old Dain was the friend of King Brand and defender of Dale, who was able to refuse Saurons influence. He fought at the foot of Erebor alongside the Bardingers against the Easterlings, indeed giving his life to defend Brands dead body. In the end his dwarves managed to be victorious against an army with superior numbers, so in my oppinion he seems to be the defender.
Additional this subdivision better suits the ring-concepts I have in mind, but you will see that later...
Based on this thoughts, I would switch two abbilities between the versions of Dain:
- Iron Hill-Dain get´s Baruk Khazad! and Erebor-Dain get´s Lord of the Iron Hills renaming it to King under the Mountain. This abbility is in a way the reverse of Thorins abbility with the same name which nicely points out the differences in character.
- Vendetta is transferred to the ring-function, while his normal version get´s Forced marches, which increases the speed of foot soldiers on the map for 30 second, but making them in exchange after that a bit slower for 10 seconds. Defend the Halls! is transferred to Erebor-Dain, who indeed died defending his halls and his friend.
- I also thought about switching Meeting of the Dwaven Realms and Forces of the Dwaven Kingdoms but didn´t find it necessary, in the end, they are kind a similar in my oppinion.
I´m aware, of the fact, that the Edain-team didn´t chose the abbility-sets for no reason and it all fits in the overall theme of precise specialisation for the different Dwarven subfactions, but I don´t see it in this particular case as a very big problem:
Dain is a late-game hero, so when he appears on the battlefield the player normally would have the opportunity to buy upgrades, to cope with the realm-specific weaknesses.
Besides that all the effects are either temporarely or only affecting nearby troops, so the over all theme of the subfaction would still remain.
I even find it more interesting to have the opportunity to somehow change tactics using Dains abbilities.
Just strengthening your already existing specialisation seems somehow boring.
Futhermore I decided to create those two ring-heroes competely new and give them entirely individual abbility-sets leaving
Mahals Forge for DurinVII.
Thus DurinVII as a more defense based hero would fit in much better next to those two and all three of them have different assignments.
Additional it doesn´t make much sense for me to have a corrupted ring-hero with defensive strategy, because this would in the end compromise Saurons cause. Erebor-Dain or rather Durin VII wouldn´t have this problem, because there is no corruption of the ring involved. All his strength comes from himself.
Dain Ironfoot as ring-bearerAs mentioned before, the ring takes advantage of young Dains pugnacious nature making him even more proactive and impulsive and therefore leaving his home undefended.
Level 1: Blood lust (passive)Due to the whisperings of the ring Dain becomes paranoid seeing foes everywhere and wanting to destroy them immediatly. He develops an Addiction for fighting and starts to enjoy brute force more and more. He completly forgets to reflect his actions and leaves his home undefended.Dain puts on a Mithril mail, gains improved stats and inflicts area damage. He now uses the
Baruk Khazad-abillity automatically in regular intervals, when in fight. This abbility provides stronger boni with each war cry and his own atack damage increases, too. All buildings gain passivly 25% less armour, so the player is forced to rely on his atack.
Level 3: Mount/Dismount Level 5: Get ready for War! (passive)Dain wants to focus on war and expansion, not on innovation.All Hall of Warriors and Forge Works recruit much faster, but upgrades are more expensive.
Level 7: VendettaDain scrapes all his forces together to take vengance for all the losses the Dwarves have suffered and smash his hated foes. Only a few are left at home for mining or other works.For one minute all the Dwarven units on the map move faster and cause higher atack damage. In the meantime the ressource-production decreases.
Level 10: Meeting of the Dwarven realmsThorin Oakenshield as ring-bearerLevel 1: Fili and KiliLevel 1: Dragon Illness (passive)The ring takes advantage of Thorins desire to restore the wealth of past ages. He now is willing to risk everything even the lives of his friends to enlarge his treasure, tolerating no opposition and coqardliness at all. Mining and conquest of new ground are his goals and he is ready to fight anybody who stands in his way. His closest friends are shocked and lose their courage.Thorin puts on mithril mail, gains improved stats and inflicts area damage. All mines and stoneworker produce more ressources, units gain more ressources per kill, but all the other heroes lose armour.
Level 3: Dwarves first! (passive)Thorins despisement for everything "undwarvisch" deepens more and more and he focusses on taking advantage of his allies, only selling Dwarvish goods for horrendous prices but still expecting unquestioned loyalty. His allies feel cut out and grant unwillingly only the absolute minimum of support.Costs for Upgrades of buildings and troops are reduced extensively, but Laketown-Units take a lot longer to recruit.
Level 6: Defend our Treasure!For a short time Thorin and all troops next to Ressource-producing buildings are invulnerable.
Level 10: Gleam of the Arkenstone As you can see those two mechanics play out completely different: Young Dain aims for a fast definitive strike, while Thorin wants to win the fight through a superior economy.
Each specialisation has also it´s downside, as it should be common for most "good ring-heroes" and you might have noticed, that in a way Thorin and Dain are opposite to each other, because their downside weakens the other tactic.
Old Dain (Erebor) as written earlier refuses the ring and summons Hannar instead as the ring-bearer. Therefore he isn´t changed at all, only his passive abbility is improved a bit:
Level 1: The incorruptible Ally (passive)Dain became wise and highly respected not only from his kin, but also from Men and Elves. His Dwarven stubborness mixed with the knowledge he got from Gandalf about the true nature of the enemy (and maybe the Dwarven rings), made him immune to the influence of the ring instead giving it of and leaving this matter to his grandson Hannar.Not only the hero, but also nearby allied buildings provide increased armour and fear-resistance. Additional Dale-units are recruited faster and/or cheaper.
Sadly I´m competely inexperienced concerning picture-processing programms and therefore not able to upvalue my concept through suitable palantir-pictures for the abbilities. So if anyone who likes the concept and takes delight in this kind of work would help me with that I would be very thankfull and mention his work of course in the concept...
I hope you like my ideas and am open for critique. I know I changed the system radically, but found this necessary to make it more interesting.
Yours sincerely
Isildurs Bane
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1. kingsjewel