User:Shai Halud/Norn: Transformations

This is the first of three short articles describing the three different classes of mounts and the details of each. This is an elaboration on the article "Mounts as Companions and More..." so if you haven't already read that, then you'll have no idea what I'm talking about. Anyway, this covers how Norn will function without either companions or mounts as neither suits their individualistic culture and because having three classes of mounts is more interesting than just two but we'll get to that later.--Shai Halud 15:06, 26 October 2008 (UTC)

Norn Physique
The Norn are too large to be carried aloft by any mountable beast, which suits them just fine as the idea of enslaving beasts of burden and, more than that, being dependent upon them fills Norn with disgust. The Norn are rumored to be the descendants of giants and can easily match the strength and endurance of any horse. This makes the Norn the only race in Tyria capable of running at increased speeds without the aid of a mount. This offers them a decisive advantage not only in travel but, also, in battle, where they can charge after their enemies and ram them into the ground.

Them Norn can dash quickly between enemies to further increase their already deadly efficiency in battle. The Norn, however, accelerate more slowly than most mounts, so their dashing ability is somewhat less useful when fighting in close quarters. The Norn also become exhausted when running at increased speeds. Luckily, their stamina is equal to that of most mounts, so they do not readily become exhausted. Another advantage this affords is how increased speeds affect attacks and skills. Dashing at full running speed causes Norn melee weapon attacks to knock enemies on their backs or off their mounts. It also tends to impart this ability to skills used during a dash, especially weapon skills. Ranged weapon combos change to strafing attacks when used at increased speed.

Transformations
All Norn are capable of transforming into bestial states. While transformed the Norn become berzerkers wildly dashing between enemies and tearing apart any lightly armored foes who can't take them down fast enough. Their acceleration maxes out in beast form allowing them to be just as deadly in close quarters as they are on the open plains. Their racial skills, in this state, are replaced by the skills of their transformation. Also, while in this form, if a Norn hits a stationary enemy at running speed it automatically knocks that enemy down. Their weapon attacks are changed as well, often made capable of hitting more than one enemy at a time. Their health points (and, depending on the transformation, their energy points)and their armor ratings are dramatically increased, almost doubling their fighting potential as this is meant to allow one Norn to do the job of two players.

The only limitation these transformed states have is that they quickly drain stamina. Simply being in a transformed state causes a Norn's stamina to slowly drop. Running at increased speeds taxes their stamina the same as it did in their regular form. Also, weapon attacks and the transformation's skills drain stamina. If their stamina reaches zero, they will naturally return to their original state and be incapable of transforming until their stamina regenerates to a certain percentage of its maximum. The best way of dealing with a Norn transformation, therefore, is to dodge or block his attacks forcing him to waste stamina and speeding his return to normal form. The transformation also disables several of a Norn's skills (depending on which transformation it is). This prevents them from being too overpowered and also forces them to be more dependent on stamina-draining weapon attacks and transformation skills. Still, if not combated properly, a transformed Norn might be able to overpower two or three characters at a time.

Well, that about sums it up. The only other thing is that, as the benefits of higher levels decrease, they do so more gradually for the Norn, so the Norn receive slightly more benefits from higher levels than other races do. This is, again, to compensate for their lack of a companion. While in their normal state, they can only combat one player at a time and do not really do that much damage compared to say an Asuran elementalist. They have to be able to interrupt enemies and have easy access to their transformations to be able to survive in the thick of battle. They're better tanks than they are brawlers. Sheer offensive capability is a Charr specialty. Also, the raven form will need be powerful enough to encourage some Norn to be sorcerers. There should be more healers and summoners than elementalists among the Norn, but that doesn't mean their elementalists should be weak. Perhaps some of their summons and enchantments could benefit elemental attacks.