[quote author=]

[b]Maro[/b] - A girl with an affinity for herbs and their alchemical applications. She uses different mixtures of herbs to cripple and damage opponents as well as bolster her own squad's defenses.

Skills work with a tiered system of 'spore' afflictions she is able to place on her opponents. A big part of her gameplay is deciding when to 'upgrade' the type of spore infection on the target to the next level of severity - each tier is not strictly better than the last, but different effects can be procured with each spore. Playing Maro involves unlocking a tree of skills as the battle progresses, making tactical choices about which skills to pursue and which ones to seal off.

Players will not be able to immediately upgrade to the highest tier spore due to MP and energy limitations - it will take an intelligent player to generate enough items, MP, and energy in order to proc high tier Alchemy effects off the most advanced spores.

The three battle commands are;

[b]I.[/b]  Alchemy - Mixtures available to her are determined by which herbs she has discovered in the world. In addition to generating 'charges' of items that can be used, the act of mixing can have an effect on an ally or enemy.
[b]II.[/b] Vials - Special effects that cost energy to use and often function off an existing effect.
[b]III.[/b] Herbalism - Uses item 'charges' generated by Alchemy Mixtures.
[b]IV.[/b] Ultimate Abilities - These are not a separate command, but they deserve their own categorization for how powerful and difficult to execute they are.

[b]NOTES[/b]

[list]Only one type of spore can be on the enemy at the same time - using a new spore will overwrite the last. These effects persist until the target dies or until they are consumed by a trigger ability.

Maro begins with 100 Mana, 20 Energy and always passively regenerates 10 Mana and Energy per turn.

Only one type of spore can be active on a target at once, using a new spore overwrites the old.

All status effects last until character death or battle's end unless otherwise stated.

Abilities will be gradually, intelligently introduced to the player.

Unlike some human beings, I understand that numbers should be a distant afterthought to actual design -- which is to say I winged the damage and cost values listed herein. They will be extensively changed during playtesting.

Skills can be moved between Mixture and Alchemy for balance purposes as the flow of energy generation and consumption is smoothed out.[/list]

Abilities

[b]I. Alchemy - Sets up effects by which advanced skills are procured, generates items. Choosing an initial spore is making a choice about what kind of abilities you will be able to afford inititally, Maro will have more Mana or Energy generation depending on which spore type is applied.[/b]

[b]Drain Spores [40 Mana, +20 Energy] - [/b]Inflicts Drain Spores on the target and produces two [color=#BF0000]Death Blooms[/color]. Promotes Vial-based play with heavy Photosynthesis Lens use.

[list][i]Drain Spores - Siphons 5% of the target's Maximum Health each time Maro acts, healing her for Y% of the damage inflicted and generating 10 Energy.[/i][/list]

[b]Nightshade Spores [40 Mana, +20 Energy][/b] - Inflicts target with Nightshade Spores and produces three [color=#BF0000]Death Blooms[/color]. Promotes item based play with Mana generation and heavy use of Harvest.

[list][i]	Nightshade Spores - Takes 25% additional damage and generates a [color=#FF40FF]Lilac Petal[/color] each time Maro acts.[/i][/list]

[b]Neem Seeds [60 Mana, 40 Energy] -[/b] Places the seeds of a targetable, life-giving tree in the ground which passively restores 10-20 Mana to Maro each time she acts, can be transformed into a Neem Sapling with the Photosynthesis Lens. [i]*Costs for cultivating this tree will be very demanding, forcing Maro's role to shift mostly into support.[/i]

[b]Harvest [80 Mana, +20 Energy] - [/b]Generates items based on what was targeted. Conducive to a playstyle based on heavy mana generation, using all available energy generation to Photosynthesize effects for the purpose of harvesting powerful Herbalism items.

	[list][b]Vampiric Spores -[/b] Empowers Maro, causing her Death Blooms to sap Mana equal to their inflicted damage.

	[b]Nightshade Blossoms -[/b] Harvests two sheaves of Nightshade Petals, which can be thrown at an enemies for heavy damage.

	[b]Crippling Spores -[/b] Harvests the sapped power stored in the Crippling Spores to produce an Empowering Draft, which can be used on the party to restore 15 health and increase damage output by 25%.

	[b]Neem Seeds -[/b] In Progress ^^; Probably energy related.

	[b]Neem Sapling -[/b] Creates a Dream Spore, which places a target in a sluggish dream-state, halving its speed. 	Maro's most powerful moves can be procured from this spore.

	[b]Neem Tree -[/b] Harvests a sheaf of Neem Leaves, which can be used to revive a fallen ally.[/list]

[b]Lilac Salve [80 Mana] -[/b] Consumes all [color=#FF40FF]Lilac Petals[/color] available to douse Maro with a Lilac Slave, placing her in Dreamstate, a condition in which her abilities' costs are halved and her damage output doubled for a number of turns equal to the amount of Petals consumed.

ALT: Dreamstate allows Maro to act multiple times in one turn and generates 3x energy while in this state, requires set amount of lilac petals to activate. (But I don't like that it requires nightshade path)

[b]Mana Draft[/b]

[b]******[/b]

[b]II. Vials - Special abilities which cost energy and often have prerequisites for usage.    Vials are conducive to energy-heavy play, giving Maro immense utility.[/b]

[b]Contagion Vial [60 Energy] -[/b] Deals 16 damage and spreads the spore on the targeted enemy to all other enemies in the battle.

[b]Styptic Vial [40 Energy] -[/b] Dispels negative status effects, restores 14 health and imbues the targeted ally with a powerful reactive healing agent which automatically recovers 25% of all damage taken. Lasts until ally dies.

[b]Somniferous Mixture [40 Energy] -[/b] Consumes existing spore on the target, preventing it from acting for the next 2/3/4 turns based on which level of spore it consumed. [i] (Not a huge deal with Level 1 Spores but a drastic emergency measure if used to consume Level 2 or 3 Spores.)[/i]

[b]Weakening Spore [40 Energy] -[/b] Consumes existing spore on the target, dealing 10 damage and transforming into a 25% damage/healing weaken effect. [i]*Early-Midgame spore, should not be too hard to use, a tactical choice made if burst damage or heavy healing is expected.[/i]

[b]******[/b]

[b]III. Herbalism - Contains the useful Photosynthesis Lens tool, as well as limited-use Herbs resulting from the use of Alchemical mixtures.[/b]

[b]Photosynthesis Lens [80 Energy] -[/b] Utilized on various targets to produce a special effect at the cost of large quantities of energy.

	[list][b]Neem Seeds -[/b]  Restores 20% Health to all party members and causes the seeds to grow into a Neem Sapling.

	[b]Neem Sapling -[/b] Passively restores 20 Mana and Energy to Maro.

	[b]Neem Sapling -[/b] Restores 30% health to party.

	[b]Nightshade Spores -[/b] Consumes Nightshade Spores, causing lethal Nightshade Blossoms to engulf the target's body, inflicting a severe poison which saps 20% of its maximum 	health each time it acts.

	[b]Drain Spores -[/b] Transforms into Vampire Spores, a Severe Spore condition which drains 5% Health and 10 Energy to the entire party every time Maro acts.

	[b]Dream Spores -[/b] Causes the target to be consumed by the Veil, removing it from the battle instantly.[/list]

[b]Death Blooms -[/b] Causes toxic flowers to burst from the spores on the target's body, dealing 25/20/15/30 damage based on the type of spore present on the target. Does not consume the spores.

[list]	[b]Minor: Drain Spore - [/b]25

	[b]Minor: Nightshade Spores -[/b] 20 + 25%

	[b]Severe: Nightshade Blossoms -[/b] 25

[b]Severe: Vampiric Spores -[/b] 25

[b]Special: Crippling Spore -[/b] 15 [i](Using Crippling Spore is a defensive measure and shouldn't grant overly powerful offensive benefits.)[/i]

	[b]Special: Dream Spore -[/b] 30 [i](Damage can't be too good that you will never want to use Dream of Autumn.)[/i][/list]

[b]Nightshade Petals[/b] - Throws a flurry of razor-like petals at the enemy party, dealing heavy damage equal to 30% of their maximum health.

[b]Dream Spore[/b] - Inflicts Dream Spore, which places a target in a sluggish dream-state, halving its speed. Maro's most powerful moves can be procured from this spore.

[b][Secret Item] Tetrahydrocannabinol -[/b] Spontaneously causes all enemies to strongly advocate peace, immediately ending the battle with an armistice.

[b]IV. Ultimates - Extremely powerful abilities that are difficult to activate.[/b]

[b]Dream of Autumn [100 Mana, 100 Energy][/b] - Consumes Dream Spore on all afflicted enemies in order to summon an otherworldly leaf storm, killing them immediately. (If you can manage to produce a Dream Spore, Contagion Vial, and use Dream of Autumn all before the Dream Spore effect wears off, you are a master of this character.)

[b]Neem Tree [100 Mana, 80 Energy][/b] - Uses a Dream Spore to fertilize an existing Neem Sapling, creating a life-giving tree in the battlefield that periodically heals all allies for 20% of their max health. When the tree is destroyed by ally or enemy it releases a massive burst of energy, generating full Mana and Energy for the party. *While 20% pulsing heal may seem very strong, enemies will hit very hard more often than not. A major strength of the Neem Tree is that, its healing being passive, Maro's resources are freed for other endeavors.[/quote]