Okay... So I've been thinking about a few things and there is one question I do have... Where do the zombies and skeletons come from, lore wise? (Not gameplay wise, since I know how the spawning scripts work and all that stuff).
I'm talking about lore wise... I mean, creepers could be native creatures and are naturally born as such. Endermen could come via portals to the Overworld from The End realm, since they have teleportation. Spiders are also naturally born too... But zombies and skeletons? Explaining the undead being around is a totally different thing and they normally require a bit more thought.
Firstly though, should NOT count the Nether undead into this as the Nether is a totally different realm and could be the original home to undead beings in general (reason why it is filled with undead, discounting blazes since blazes are NOT undead). However, there are NO base portals to the Nether so the undead from there cannot get into the Overworld by default AND the undead are different kinds in the Nether from the ones in the Overworld.
Zombies wise, we can use the virus as an example but doesn't explain sun damage very well. Also doesn't explain skeletons since a virus would need an actual body, not bones, to work. Though there is some sort of virus there for sure since villagers can be infected while also can be cured.
Since the virus thing cannot fully explain what's going on with the undead, gotta go to the second reasoning for undead... Magic. Now, what creature can be magically responsible for raising the dead? Well, human wise... Necromancers but most of time, they are not that powerful to do something at this scale. However, a Lich is a totally different story.
Now for those who don't know, a Lich is an undead life style which a human being can eventually gain, though takes hundreds or even thousands of years to achieve... Depends on the story. The key thing about them though is that they are undead powerful mage users and they can raise + control armies upon armies of lesser undead easily. Liches also tend to be one of the most dangerous enemies ever imagined and could easily defeat the most feared living creatures (including dragons).
So how does a Lich play into this? The idea is simple, and you may already guessed it by now. The Lich is the original creator, the one who raised the undead, in the first place. This Lich would also be the one who created a zombie virus to infect the living or the virus could've been made accidentally when this Lich raised so many undead beings.
Now for the info specifically about the Lich... There should only be one Lich, obviously, and he should be hidden in his own little dungeon, maybe even in the Stronghold itself, but specifically he should be underground and deep. Away from the players who might just be mining underground and such. He should have a good 80 health but low physical defense, thusly he takes great deal of damage from arrows + swords.
However, he still have magic and can use a shield spell to help protect from such physical damage and in order to weaken his magic, thusly shutting down the shield, one should break his living essence (Can't remember the spelling but in order to become a Lich, that individual gotta store his soul into an object, which could be anything. In this case, it would be something made out of Obsidian). Once broken, the Lich will be weakened, but will still be very powerful.
Note: Killing the Lich BEFORE breaking the object, which stores his life essence, will not fully kill the Lich. He will be able to come back a second time and the battle will basically start all over, though this time the object is gone as he used it to come back.
He also takes little damage from magic itself (FYI: enchantments) and is immune to some magical effects, like knock back. He also has a levitate ability (similar to a blaze) and will levitate above water, lava, etc to keep himself safe from such dangers. This levitate ability would also make him immune to fall damage as he'll gently "float" down.
His attacks are magical and he would rotate between attacks. One spell of his would be fire which will act like a Blaze's attack. Another spell would be ice and would slow the target down upon hit. If missed and landed on the ground, this ice spell could cause a thin snow block. If water, could freeze the water. His last magical attack would be a lightning one which does the most damage and can create fires on any wooden objects. This lightning would also charge up any creeper it MIGHT hit and it would stun + knock back the target.
So overall... Here are the spells and their damage + effects if done on HARD with NO ARMOR:
Fire - 4.5 hearts (9) damage + possible set on fire.
Frost - 4 hearts (8) damage + slows down. (If miss, could make a snow or ice block where it hits).
Shock - 6 hearts (12) damage + knock back and stun. Can charge creepers.
Reflection - 1.5 hearts (3) damage + extreme knock back. ONLY uses if close to the Lich.
Shield - Constant protection spell the Lich has. This shield is weakened when you destroy the "spawner".
Levitation - Constant spell effect. The Lich gently floats above ground and can float above water + lava.
The final thing about the Lich is he has a staff which he uses through out the battle. This staff is what raises the undead and he will use it to get skeletons and zombies up and after his enemies at times, though he wont overly use it as it requires charging.
And other than that, I think I'm done. I covered my reasoning for thinking of this, I covered the boss himself, his stats, his attacks, etc... Oh yeah!
Why would a Lich fit in this game? Well simply cause why not? Minecraft is technically a fantasy game and a Lich could easily fit the whole magic ordeal that is in Minecraft. Plus we already have plenty of magical creatures plus enchanting so there is definably magic in Minecraft already... So a Lich would fit nicely.
If you have any questions, then please ask so.
Thank you for your time and I hope you enjoyed it. If you did not, I apologize that I did not entertained you. Otherwise, I hope you have a fine good day.
I like the suggestion, it's well though out, and has plenty of details. I've been thinking of having a overworld boss but I couldn't think of what it could be. This is great idea, and it's not OP. You said you can find him underground? Maybe you can also someone him with a new item called the undead crown, which would be crafted with rotten flesh, bones, and gold. If you put the crown on your head it can summon the boss on the surface, but the crown does not give you any defense. Once you have killed the Lich you can wear the crown as a vanity item or something.
I will have to reject the crown idea cause a Lich would be too powerful to be summoned... At least easily. The player gotta be pretty powerful with magic and know how to use it without using outside sources (outside sources being scrolls, wands, enchantments, etc) to really gain enough control to summon a Lich... I mean, you are talking about force-teleporting an undead being who could be "alive" for thousands and thousands of years doing nothing but gaining power in both land and magic... (Since a Lich is basically a king and all they want is more power really).
So far, Minecraft shows no signs of giving direct magic to the player and most likely it will not happen. At the very most, we might get scrolls or some sort of staff... But never direct magic where we can cast spells from our hands, using magicka which regenerates on it's own or in other ways.
Oh. Fun note! If we can spawn a Lich in creative some how (which I wont mind) then spawning two or more will cause the Liches to fight one another, which would happen naturally by the way... Like I said, Liches want power and they will kill each other for it. (This could also cause any undead in the area to take a side as well so could cause one hell of a battle).
I also want to note that the Lich should also be aggressive towards any living creature except for creepers and spiders. (The idea is the Lich had the skeletons tame spiders and creepers, since it seems the skeletons actually do have some form of intelligence). This means if any Enderman teleports into the Lich's room, it will be attacked or if you spawn a Lich in The End, it will attack the Enderdragon and Endermen. It would also attack villagers and animals but that should only happen if you spawned him above ground really via Creative Mode.
Also, I have another idea. When you kill the Lich, it was cause an effect to the undead AI in the Overworld. With no leader controlling them now, both zombies and skeletons would do things differently. Firstly, zombies will FULLY become stupid, basically, and will attack anything that moves except for other zombies and creepers. (Idea is that zombies think the creepers are also zombies as well due to creepers being a greenish color). The skeletons though do have some sort of intelligence of their own and will act more differently at random times. Some will not bother you, remembering that you killed their leader while others will still attack you on sight. But in general, skeletons don't change too much.
I like the idea of using the Stronghold as the base of operations, there is already a library there, and it just feels like a natural setting for the Lich concept to appear.
You mentioned 2 (related from a coding aspect) things that I want to highlight/elaborate on:
Now for the info specifically about the Lich... There should only be one Lich, obviously, and he should be hidden in his own little dungeon, maybe even in the Stronghold itself, but specifically he should be underground and deep. Away from the players who might just be mining underground and such. He should have a good 80 health but low physical defense, thusly he takes great deal of damage from arrows + swords.
However, he still have magic and can use a shield spell to help protect from such physical damage and in order to weaken his magic, thusly shutting down the shield, one should break his living essence (Can't remember the spelling but in order to become a Lich, that individual gotta store his soul into an object, which could be anything. In this case, it would be something made out of Obsidian). Once broken, the Lich will be weakened, but will still be very powerful.
Note: Killing the Lich BEFORE breaking the object, which stores his life essence, will not fully kill the Lich. He will be able to come back a second time and the battle will basically start all over, though this time the object is gone as he used it to come back.
From a coding perspective, the 'object' in question could operate like a Lich MOB spawner, The Lich would not spawn naturally, but could spawn in any light level around the spawner/object itself, the object check periodically to see if there is already a Lich in the game before it tries to spawn in a new Lich.
If a player destroys the object/spawner, then a new Lich will not re-spawn into the game.
The final thing about the Lich is he has a staff which he uses through out the battle. This staff is what raises the undead and he will use it to get skeletons and zombies up and after his enemies at times, though he wont overly use it as it requires charging. (The staff COULD be the reward for defeating him. Note: Could be. If so, any friendly undead summoned with this staff counts toward the golem limit and can be used to make both friendly skeletons and zombies).
Actually imbuing a secondary item with the ability to 'raise the dead' or 'summon undead' that only the Lich can use is not required from a programming aspect 'unless' you plan on this staff being a drop item for players to actively be able to use, which I don't recommend as that would be a bit OP.
Alternatively and more simply, the Lich itself can posses the properties of a mobile Skeleton/Zombie Spawner. Whenever the time comes for the spawn to execute, the Lich could animate raising a glowing staff to make it appear as if they are using the staff to summon the undead.
There are some other sophisticated programming challenges in your overall proposal which could be simplified immensely if you would allow for it.
His attacks are magical and he would rotate between attacks. One spell of his would be fire which will act like a Blaze's attack. Another spell would be ice and would slow the target down upon hit. If missed and landed on the ground, this ice spell could cause a thin snow block. If water, could freeze the water. His last magical attack would be a lightning one which does the most damage and can create fires on any wooden objects. This lightning would also charge up any creeper (and the Lich should be set to target creepers purposely with this spell, if there are any in the area going after the Lich's enemy).
One of the big ones mentioned here is intentionally 'charging' creepers with a lightning attack. Since he can't summon creepers, and creepers may or may not be in the area to be 'charged', the Lich is underground, so getting line of sight on a creeper may not be easily 'in the cards', and creepers may or may not see that lightning string as an 'attack' and then turn on the Lich instead...depending on the coding. (currently MOB's will attack each other if they are damaged by the other's attacks).
I don't see this aspect as particularly useful nor would it be used commonly, and might be a bit OP for the Lich concept overall in the game and would suggest this aspect should be dropped.
Instead, maybe lightning should do knockback and stun when a player is struck by it, and incidentally charge creepers if they happen to get in the crossfire (rather than have the AI modified specifically just for the Lich to specifically seek them out only when they are using a Lightning attack).
Otherwise, I like the appropriate secondary effects, fire has a chance to catch you on fire for damage over time, ice has a chance to slow you for a duration, and lightning could then provide a momentary (1 second) stun with knockback.
He also takes little damage from magic itself (FYI: enchantments) and is immune to some magical effects, like knock back. He also has a levitate ability (similar to a blaze) and will levitate above water, lava, etc to keep himself safe from such dangers. This levitate ability would also make him immune to fall damage as he'll gently "float" down.
Workable... Ocelots don't take fall damage either, and excessive drops don't inhibit their pathing AI for movement, spiders AI can go up and down vertical surfaces with ease... so the code is definitely already there for movement. I've never tested a blaze over lava to see if it would sink or not... so I'm not sure about the walking on water/lava bit.... ignoring knock-back is easy enough to code in.
Oh. Fun note! If we can spawn a Lich in creative some how (which I wont mind) then spawning two or more will cause the Liches to fight one another, which would happen naturally by the way... Like I said, Liches want power and they will kill each other for it. (This could also cause any undead in the area to take a side as well so could cause one hell of a battle).
A little more complex, now your object spawner would have to store/track the existence of 'its' Lich before respawning, and when that apparition was defeated, it would have to communicate back to the originating object/spawner to alert it so that it would be able to spawn again.
Its a little more complex than just checking to see if 1 exists in the world... now the game would have to be programmed to track which ones are left in the world in relation to their spawn points.
I also want to note that the Lich should also be aggressive towards any living creature except for creepers and spiders. (The idea is the Lich had the skeletons tame spiders and creepers, since it seems the skeletons actually do have some form of intelligence). This means if any Enderman teleports into the Lich's room, it will be attacked or if you spawn a Lich in The End, it will attack the Enderdragon and Endermen. It would also attack villagers and animals but that should only happen if you spawned him above ground really via Creative Mode.
Why attack other MOBs at all, especially aggressive? This seems to be an unnecessary addition to over-complicate existing AI algorithms. I'm not saying it can't be done, clearly Zombies will target villagers, and in the PC/Java, endermen will target endermites... but this logic seems largely extraneous to me and doesn't serve a distinct purpose.
IMO the Boss MOB should specifically target the players and not worry about the environment unless otherwise attacked (which should typically only happen by accident as it is).
Also, I have another idea. When you kill the Lich, it was cause an effect to the undead AI in the Overworld. With no leader controlling them now, both zombies and skeletons would do things differently. Firstly, zombies will FULLY become stupid, basically, and will attack anything that moves except for other zombies and creepers. (Idea is that zombies think the creepers are also zombies as well due to creepers being a greenish color). The skeletons though do have some sort of intelligence of their own and will act more differently at random times. Some will not bother you, remembering that you killed their leader while others will still attack you on sight. But in general, skeletons don't change too much.
Radically changing how the AI works for the existing groups of MOBs based on the existence of a specific Boss MOB is very likely not going to happen due to the level of programming challenges to implement that.
From a coding perspective, the 'object' in question could operate like a Lich MOB spawner, The Lich would not spawn naturally, but could spawn in any light level around the spawner/object itself, the object check periodically to see if there is already a Lich in the game before it tries to spawn in a new Lich.
If a player destroys the object/spawner, then a new Lich will not re-spawn into the game.
That is what I was going for.
Actually imbuing a secondary item with the ability to 'raise the dead' or 'summon undead' that only the Lich can use is not required from a programming aspect 'unless' you plan on this staff being a drop item for players to actively be able to use, which I don't recommend as that would be a bit OP.
Alternatively and more simply, the Lich itself can posses the properties of a mobile Skeleton/Zombie Spawner. Whenever the time comes for the spawn to execute, the Lich could animate raising a glowing staff to make it appear as if they are using the staff to summon the undead.
Well. A staff to summon the undead is totally possible on the PC for sure. The Lich from the "Twilight Forest" mod has such a staff and is a possible drop. So totally possible for such an item in Minecraft code. However, the alternative you made I wouldn't mind either and can totally accept.(Though also agree that such a staff could be OP, which is why I had it as an optional idea).
One of the big ones mentioned here is intentionally 'charging' creepers with a lightning attack. Since he can't summon creepers, and creepers may or may not be in the area to be 'charged', the Lich is underground, so getting line of sight on a creeper may not be easily 'in the cards', and creepers may or may not see that lightning string as an 'attack' and then turn on the Lich instead...depending on the coding. (currently MOB's will attack each other if they are damaged by the other's attacks).
Instead, maybe lightning should do knockback and stun when a player is struck by it, and incidentally charge creepers if they happen to get in the crossfire (rather than have the AI modified specifically just for the Lich to specifically seek them out only when they are using a Lightning attack).
I like the ideas you proposed here and will accept them happily. The whole target-creeper thing though was just a thought, like the staff was. You know, a small side idea?
Workable... Ocelots don't take fall damage either, and excessive drops don't inhibit their pathing AI for movement, spiders AI can go up and down vertical surfaces with ease... so the code is definitely already there for movement. I've never tested a blaze over lava to see if it would sink or not... so I'm not sure about the walking on water/lava bit.... ignoring knock-back is easy enough to code in.
I don't think Blazes float on lava normally but they can float in general, it seems. The Lich's main AI would work like the Blazes and the Lich would be move around like a Blaze would while casting spells and such. That is what I was going for anyways. The main idea though is the Lich wants to stay away from melee attacks and dodge range ones.
A little more complex, now your object spawner would have to store/track the existence of 'its' Lich before respawning, and when that apparition was defeated, it would have to communicate back to the originating object/spawner to alert it so that it would be able to spawn again.
Its a little more complex than just checking to see if 1 exists in the world... now the game would have to be programmed to track which ones are left in the world in relation to their spawn points.
You misread the post. The spawner wouldn't need to do anything with this. It only bothers the one which is near it, which would be the Lich in the stronghold. The Liches spawned in Creative Mode will have NO spawner near it... FYI: like spawning them with an egg and such.
Why attack other MOBs at all, especially aggressive? This seems to be an unnecessary addition to over-complicate existing AI algorithms. I'm not saying it can't be done, clearly Zombies will target villagers, and in the PC/Java, endermen will target endermites... but this logic seems largely extraneous to me and doesn't serve a distinct purpose.
IMO the Boss MOB should specifically target the players and not worry about the environment unless otherwise attacked (which should typically only happen by accident as it is).
Just me! I would totally be one of those players who will purposely get things together just to watch them fight. I kinda do it all the time on Skyrim myself... I never said anything about adding it though, which is why it isn't in the OP. (Any idea that isn't in the OP is most likely a small optional thought).OP = Original Post.
Radically changing how the AI works for the existing groups of MOBs based on the existence of a specific Boss MOB is very likely not going to happen due to the level of programming challenges to implement that.
Like I said, it was just a thought. I honestly don't care for it and I totally agree that it most likely will NOT happen.
You misread the post. The spawner wouldn't need to do anything with this. It only bothers the one which is near it, which would be the Lich in the stronghold. The Liches spawned in Creative Mode will have NO spawner near it... FYI: like spawning them with an egg and such.
When I read the post, I read that having 2 objects would allow for 2 Liches that would then be able to fight each other... under the way spawning actually works in the game, the game check the MOB cap before it allows a respawn to occur. In theory, you 'could' have the spawn cap be flexible such that that cap is limited to the number of Lich spawners there were in the world... but then, when they go to fight each other, and one is defeated over the other, there is no way to predict which spawner the 'now defeated' Lich would respawn at, which means they may very well spawn at the home spawner of the survivor of the contest.
Now you could influence that, as you said, by checking which spawner is furthest from the current Liches in the game, but when they end up confronting each other, they will be moving about, such that the Victor 'could' be on his 'opponents' side when the respawn occurs and his opponent respawns again behind him.
Overall, I like the idea for survival mode at least, I'm not overly crazy about them fighting each other and other hostile MOB's in general, ok with them outright attacking/killing passive MOB's, but these are just personal opinions.
You're going to need to define some hard stats, such as health, armor, damage (melee and ranged), Rate of Fire (Ranged), melee damage (if there is any...could be solid ranged, and rate of attack).
When I read the post, I read that having 2 objects would allow for 2 Liches that would then be able to fight each other... under the way spawning actually works in the game, the game check the MOB cap before it allows a respawn to occur. In theory, you 'could' have the spawn cap be flexible such that that cap is limited to the number of Lich spawners there were in the world... but then, when they go to fight each other, and one is defeated over the other, there is no way to predict which spawner the 'now defeated' Lich would respawn at, which means they may very well spawn at the home spawner of the survivor of the contest.
Now you could influence that, as you said, by checking which spawner is furthest from the current Liches in the game, but when they end up confronting each other, they will be moving about, such that the Victor 'could' be on his 'opponents' side when the respawn occurs and his opponent respawns again behind him.
The main Lich spawner would NOT be in the Creative Menu, will NOT be dropped as an item when broken no matter what and doesn't "fall" like the dragon egg does. Thusly, impossible to get it as an item and make more of it. Thusly, only one Lich spawner. The Lich spawner will work like you said earlier, it just check to see if there is already a Lich in game. If there is then it will NOT spawn another Lich.
The only way to get more than one Lich in-game would be using a Spawn Egg to spawn the Lich (NOT the spawner) and once they kill each other, they do NOT respawn cause there is still a Lich in-game.
That is what I was thinking about when I mentioned the ability to spawn Liches in Creative Mode.
Also, about Liches attacking other hostile enemies and such... It would be as easy as "copy and paste" a small section of the code and then changing a name. I've read the code for Minecraft on PC and do have an idea how all that works and it is honestly not that hard... Just takes a quick minute to do so... Why not do it? I mean, it doesn't take much time and would make the Lich more "realistic" in the world so... Why not?
You're going to need to define some hard stats, such as health, armor, damage (melee and ranged), Rate of Fire (Ranged), melee damage (if there is any...could be solid ranged, and rate of attack).
80 health sounds good. (Enderdragon is 100 so wanted the Lich's health a bit lower than the dragon). Armor would be 9 or 10 against magical effects and about 7 or 8 against physical attacks UNTIL the "spawner" is destroyed, then the armor for physical attacks would decrease to 4 or 5.
Damage wise... On HARD and if player has NO ARMOR (default damage). Fire would do 4.5 health damage and could set the player on fire for additional fire damage. Frost damage would do 4 health damage while also slowing the player down. Lightning will do the most damage with 6 and would knock back the target + stun.
However, since lightning is attracted to metal as well... If the player is wearing iron then the damage from lightning would increase rather than decrease. However, if the player is wearing leather specific (which is highly resistant to electric) than the damage from lightning would dramatically decrease. But leather is still weak toward the physical attacks from any skeleton or zombie that the Lich could summon up, so remember that!
Lich does NO melee or range attacks. Only MAGIC.
As for attack speed and range... The spells that will move in a straight line until out of sight OR until it hits something. So thusly, the range technically is infinite but the target gotta be within 1-18 blocks for the Lich to spot and begin attacking. The speed would be a spell casted every 3-6 seconds. 3 seconds normally and 6 when changing. Also, fun little small idea... The Lich could have a magical aura which changes color depending on the spell it is using. (Red = fire. Blue = Frost. Yellow = lightning?).
Also, another idea for a spell... If the target gets too close to the Lich, he would use an area spell (the spell hits everything within 1-2 blocks of the Lich) and it simply a small damaging (1.5) knock back spell... You know, to keep himself more safe and such? I think that would make sense, yes?
I thought you said that the fire attack was similar to the blaze attack? And I assumed that the ice attack and the lightning attack were similar aimed/targeted attacks... hence a "ranged" attack (ranged does not imply magical nor mundane, just that the attack happens over range instead of at close quarters, such as with melee...which could also be either magic or mundane in nature).
Please explain how your MAGIC is neither 'optionally used at range' nor is it 'close up only'....
As for attack speed and range... The spells that will move in a straight line until out of sight OR until it hits something. So thusly, the range technically is infinite but the target gotta be within 1-18 blocks for the Lich to spot and begin attacking.
Sounds like the Magic is a ranged attack based on this description.
Also, another idea for a spell... If the target gets too close to the Lich, he would use an area spell (the spell hits everything within 1-2 blocks of the Lich) and it simply a small damaging (1.5) knock back spell... You know, to keep himself more safe and such? I think that would make sense, yes?
I like the spell where he knocks you back if you get too close, but then would it even be possible to do a melee attack on a Lich?
It probably would be, because a 1-2 blocks of knockback isn't too far, so you can easily charge back at him again, UNLESS his knockback spells are instant, then it would be IMPOSSIBLE to do a melee attack on the Lich, unless you go in creative, since in creative, mobs don't inflict damage.
Also, is he only is easy mode and above since he is hostile? Or no?
I thought you said that the fire attack was similar to the blaze attack? And I assumed that the ice attack and the lightning attack were similar aimed/targeted attacks... hence a "ranged" attack (ranged does not imply magical nor mundane, just that the attack happens over range instead of at close quarters, such as with melee...which could also be either magic or mundane in nature).
Please explain how your MAGIC is neither 'optionally used at range' nor is it 'close up only'....
Sounds like the Magic is a ranged attack based on this description.
Oh. I thought you meant range as in archery, guns, etc... In that case then, yes. The spells are ranged attacks.
I like the spell where he knocks you back if you get too close, but then would it even be possible to do a melee attack on a Lich?
Yes. He casts a spell every 3 seconds so you can get in close but if you don't back away fast enough after doing so, you will get hit. Plus if you knock him back enough, he'll end up casting his normal spell which thusly have a greater chance of hitting you cause you being closer to him...
The closer you are to someone, easier it is for them to hit you with ANY attack.
I think the Lich should have the same amount of health as the Ender Dragon, since they are both bosses. I like the idea of him being in the stronghold, almost as if he is "protecting" The Ender Dragon. Their should be like Stronghold Guards, which you would have to kill before going into the stronghold, and then you would have to kill the Lich, to make it more of a challenge.
If the Lich has a shield, then how can he have low defense? Maybe he can have a temporary force field for like, five seconds to protect him since he has low defense in general.
I like the levitate ability. I know that enchantments don't affect him, but maybe when he is levitating, if you hit with a sword with Knockback III, he will fall and a big "Thud" noise will be heard.
I like all of the magic spells he casts, but how much damage do each attacks do to the player?
I like the staff idea. Maybe when you use the staff, you now have the ability to collect mob spawners if you have a pickaxe with silk touch? Maybe.
Maybe if you are on hard mode, the Lich can summon monsters while you are fighting him, and the monsters can help him in the battle?
I got three results that suggest a boss of some sort. But I still like this idea. Very creative. The Lich seems a little too powerful though.... I mean, lightning staffs and magic? It seems a bit... too overpowered.
Um... Technically speaking, the Lich is underpowered with what he has.
You gotta remember, Liches are well bucking fully powerful creatures... I'll be more afraid of a Lich than a Dragon any day... Heck, a Lich will wreck a Dragon in matter of minutes and than resurrect the dragon's dead corpse for it's army... So ye'h. Liches are suppose to be very powerful and I have no wishes to making him any weakener in the suggest (since he is already quite weakened from what he should be).
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Wikipedia says the Lich is a "powerful magician or king striving for eternal life uses spells or rituals to bind his intellect to his animated corpse and thereby achieve a form of immortality." So he doesn't seem TOO powerful, and also: "Liches are depicted as being clearly cadaverous, bodies desiccated or completely skeletal" So he is not some sort of beast, just a powerful magician or king who's body looks skeletal. So yeah..... he doesn't seem as powerful as you are describing him.
Does ANYBODY have any ideas anymore how powerful MAGIC can be these days? Who cares what the Lich looks like, they are powerful in the art of magic... All sorts of it actually. Mostly dark magic though, as to become a Lich you do need to get into dark magic the most... Heck, the only type of magic a Lich will NEVER use is pure light magic. Everything else though is free game! Plus since a Lich is already by nature a very powerful magical being, gotta remember the fact of the older you are, the wiser you are with magic... So a Lich who could be thousands up thousands of years old could be EXTREMELY magically powerful.
There is a reason why Liches are almost always the most powerful common enemy in RPGs (Like in The Elder Scrolls series, for example). Heck, some of the most powerful NPCs in the MMORPG known as "RuneScape" were originally meant to be Liches (though Jagex twisted some ideas and made a new creature on their own called The Mahjarrat).
Also, the main villain in the Harry Potter series is considered as Lich though a weak one as he hadn't completed the full process yet... And he was pretty much extremely powerful in that weakened state (let alone what he would've been if he was a full blown Lich).
Trust me, Liches are powerful cause of their magical abilities... They can learn, they can grow in power, and that is all they do for thousands and thousands of years cause they are undead. No need for sleep, food, or anything... They just work on magic, work on their power, and so on...
Really, I could easily give my Lich idea more spells like a healing spell, an absorb health spell, a paralyze spell, teleportation, and more! Name any spell you know that is NOT a light spell, that Lich can have! Heck, only giving that Lich FOUR basic spells is already an insult to what a normal Lich can easily be. (Technically five spells if you want to count the "levitate" as a constant spell he does).
Hello?!!? Magic?!?! Hello magic, how are you doing today?
Does ANYBODY have any ideas anymore how powerful MAGIC can be these days? Who cares what the Lich looks like, they are powerful in the art of magic... All sorts of it actually. Mostly dark magic though, as to become a Lich you do need to get into dark magic the most... Heck, the only type of magic a Lich will NEVER use is pure light magic. Everything else though is free game! Plus since a Lich is already by nature a very powerful magical being, gotta remember the fact of the older you are, the wiser you are with magic... So a Lich who could be thousands up thousands of years old could be EXTREMELY magically powerful. Actually, I don't have an idea on how powerful magic is these days because in real life it doesn't exist.
There is a reason why Liches are almost always the most powerful common enemy in RPGs (Like in The Elder Scrolls series, for example). Heck, some of the most powerful NPCs in the MMORPG known as "RuneScape" were originally meant to be Liches (though Jagex twisted some ideas and made a new creature on their own called The Mahjarrat). I don't play RPG's.
Also, the main villain in the Harry Potter series is considered as Lich though a weak one as he hadn't completed the full process yet... And he was pretty much extremely powerful in that weakened state (let alone what he would've been if he was a full blown Lich).
This should go with the paragraph above ^
Trust me, Liches are powerful cause of their magical abilities... They can learn, they can grow in power, and that is all they do for thousands and thousands of years cause they are undead. No need for sleep, food, or anything... They just work on magic, work on their power, and so on...
Lovely. Can I train for magic too? *puppy eyes*
Really, I could easily give my Lich idea more spells like a healing spell, an absorb health spell, a paralyze spell, teleportation, and more! Name any spell you know that is NOT a light spell, that Lich can have! Heck, only giving that Lich FOUR basic spells is already an insult to what a normal Lich can easily be. (Technically five spells if you want to count the "levitate" as a constant spell he does). Four basic spells?! I don't even know how much damage they do.
Yes, I see your point.
It's hard to tell if the powers are balanced since you didn't say how much damage each spell gives...
80 health sounds good. (Enderdragon is 100 so wanted the Lich's health a bit lower than the dragon). Armor would be 9 or 10 against magical effects and about 7 or 8 against physical attacks UNTIL the "spawner" is destroyed, then the armor for physical attacks would decrease to 4 or 5.
Damage wise... On HARD and if player has NO ARMOR (default damage). Fire would do 4.5 health damage and could set the player on fire for additional fire damage. Frost damage would do 4 health damage while also slowing the player down. Lightning will do the most damage with 6 and would knock back the target + stun.
However, since lightning is attracted to metal as well... If the player is wearing iron then the damage from lightning would increase rather than decrease. However, if the player is wearing leather specific (which is highly resistant to electric) than the damage from lightning would dramatically decrease. But leather is still weak toward the physical attacks from any skeleton or zombie that the Lich could summon up, so remember that!
As for attack speed and range... The spells that will move in a straight line until out of sight OR until it hits something. So thusly, the range technically is infinite but the target gotta be within 1-18 blocks for the Lich to spot and begin attacking. The speed would be a spell casted every 3-6 seconds. 3 seconds normally and 6 when changing. Also, fun little small idea... The Lich could have a magical aura which changes color depending on the spell it is using. (Red = fire. Blue = Frost. Yellow = lightning?).
Also, another idea for a spell... If the target gets too close to the Lich, he would use an area spell (the spell hits everything within 1-2 blocks of the Lich) and it simply a small damaging (1.5) knock back spell... You know, to keep himself more safe and such? I think that would make sense, yes?
Actually, I did. Forgot to edit original post to add in the info though.
I'm talking about lore wise... I mean, creepers could be native creatures and are naturally born as such. Endermen could come via portals to the Overworld from The End realm, since they have teleportation. Spiders are also naturally born too... But zombies and skeletons? Explaining the undead being around is a totally different thing and they normally require a bit more thought.
Firstly though, should NOT count the Nether undead into this as the Nether is a totally different realm and could be the original home to undead beings in general (reason why it is filled with undead, discounting blazes since blazes are NOT undead). However, there are NO base portals to the Nether so the undead from there cannot get into the Overworld by default AND the undead are different kinds in the Nether from the ones in the Overworld.
Zombies wise, we can use the virus as an example but doesn't explain sun damage very well. Also doesn't explain skeletons since a virus would need an actual body, not bones, to work. Though there is some sort of virus there for sure since villagers can be infected while also can be cured.
Since the virus thing cannot fully explain what's going on with the undead, gotta go to the second reasoning for undead... Magic. Now, what creature can be magically responsible for raising the dead? Well, human wise... Necromancers but most of time, they are not that powerful to do something at this scale. However, a Lich is a totally different story.
Now for those who don't know, a Lich is an undead life style which a human being can eventually gain, though takes hundreds or even thousands of years to achieve... Depends on the story. The key thing about them though is that they are undead powerful mage users and they can raise + control armies upon armies of lesser undead easily. Liches also tend to be one of the most dangerous enemies ever imagined and could easily defeat the most feared living creatures (including dragons).
So how does a Lich play into this? The idea is simple, and you may already guessed it by now. The Lich is the original creator, the one who raised the undead, in the first place. This Lich would also be the one who created a zombie virus to infect the living or the virus could've been made accidentally when this Lich raised so many undead beings.
Now for the info specifically about the Lich... There should only be one Lich, obviously, and he should be hidden in his own little dungeon, maybe even in the Stronghold itself, but specifically he should be underground and deep. Away from the players who might just be mining underground and such. He should have a good 80 health but low physical defense, thusly he takes great deal of damage from arrows + swords.
However, he still have magic and can use a shield spell to help protect from such physical damage and in order to weaken his magic, thusly shutting down the shield, one should break his living essence (Can't remember the spelling but in order to become a Lich, that individual gotta store his soul into an object, which could be anything. In this case, it would be something made out of Obsidian). Once broken, the Lich will be weakened, but will still be very powerful.
Note: Killing the Lich BEFORE breaking the object, which stores his life essence, will not fully kill the Lich. He will be able to come back a second time and the battle will basically start all over, though this time the object is gone as he used it to come back.
He also takes little damage from magic itself (FYI: enchantments) and is immune to some magical effects, like knock back. He also has a levitate ability (similar to a blaze) and will levitate above water, lava, etc to keep himself safe from such dangers. This levitate ability would also make him immune to fall damage as he'll gently "float" down.
His attacks are magical and he would rotate between attacks. One spell of his would be fire which will act like a Blaze's attack. Another spell would be ice and would slow the target down upon hit. If missed and landed on the ground, this ice spell could cause a thin snow block. If water, could freeze the water. His last magical attack would be a lightning one which does the most damage and can create fires on any wooden objects. This lightning would also charge up any creeper it MIGHT hit and it would stun + knock back the target.
So overall... Here are the spells and their damage + effects if done on HARD with NO ARMOR:
Fire - 4.5 hearts (9) damage + possible set on fire.
Frost - 4 hearts (8) damage + slows down. (If miss, could make a snow or ice block where it hits).
Shock - 6 hearts (12) damage + knock back and stun. Can charge creepers.
Reflection - 1.5 hearts (3) damage + extreme knock back. ONLY uses if close to the Lich.
Shield - Constant protection spell the Lich has. This shield is weakened when you destroy the "spawner".
Levitation - Constant spell effect. The Lich gently floats above ground and can float above water + lava.
The final thing about the Lich is he has a staff which he uses through out the battle. This staff is what raises the undead and he will use it to get skeletons and zombies up and after his enemies at times, though he wont overly use it as it requires charging.
And other than that, I think I'm done. I covered my reasoning for thinking of this, I covered the boss himself, his stats, his attacks, etc... Oh yeah!
Why would a Lich fit in this game? Well simply cause why not? Minecraft is technically a fantasy game and a Lich could easily fit the whole magic ordeal that is in Minecraft. Plus we already have plenty of magical creatures plus enchanting so there is definably magic in Minecraft already... So a Lich would fit nicely.
If you have any questions, then please ask so.
Thank you for your time and I hope you enjoyed it. If you did not, I apologize that I did not entertained you. Otherwise, I hope you have a fine good day.
Your ideas are better than mine. I support.
^^^^ Click it! You know you want to...
So far, Minecraft shows no signs of giving direct magic to the player and most likely it will not happen. At the very most, we might get scrolls or some sort of staff... But never direct magic where we can cast spells from our hands, using magicka which regenerates on it's own or in other ways.
Oh. Fun note! If we can spawn a Lich in creative some how (which I wont mind) then spawning two or more will cause the Liches to fight one another, which would happen naturally by the way... Like I said, Liches want power and they will kill each other for it. (This could also cause any undead in the area to take a side as well so could cause one hell of a battle).
Also, I have another idea. When you kill the Lich, it was cause an effect to the undead AI in the Overworld. With no leader controlling them now, both zombies and skeletons would do things differently. Firstly, zombies will FULLY become stupid, basically, and will attack anything that moves except for other zombies and creepers. (Idea is that zombies think the creepers are also zombies as well due to creepers being a greenish color). The skeletons though do have some sort of intelligence of their own and will act more differently at random times. Some will not bother you, remembering that you killed their leader while others will still attack you on sight. But in general, skeletons don't change too much.
You mentioned 2 (related from a coding aspect) things that I want to highlight/elaborate on:
First:
From a coding perspective, the 'object' in question could operate like a Lich MOB spawner, The Lich would not spawn naturally, but could spawn in any light level around the spawner/object itself, the object check periodically to see if there is already a Lich in the game before it tries to spawn in a new Lich.
If a player destroys the object/spawner, then a new Lich will not re-spawn into the game.
Second:
Actually imbuing a secondary item with the ability to 'raise the dead' or 'summon undead' that only the Lich can use is not required from a programming aspect 'unless' you plan on this staff being a drop item for players to actively be able to use, which I don't recommend as that would be a bit OP.
Alternatively and more simply, the Lich itself can posses the properties of a mobile Skeleton/Zombie Spawner. Whenever the time comes for the spawn to execute, the Lich could animate raising a glowing staff to make it appear as if they are using the staff to summon the undead.
There are some other sophisticated programming challenges in your overall proposal which could be simplified immensely if you would allow for it.
His attacks are magical and he would rotate between attacks. One spell of his would be fire which will act like a Blaze's attack. Another spell would be ice and would slow the target down upon hit. If missed and landed on the ground, this ice spell could cause a thin snow block. If water, could freeze the water. His last magical attack would be a lightning one which does the most damage and can create fires on any wooden objects. This lightning would also charge up any creeper (and the Lich should be set to target creepers purposely with this spell, if there are any in the area going after the Lich's enemy).
One of the big ones mentioned here is intentionally 'charging' creepers with a lightning attack. Since he can't summon creepers, and creepers may or may not be in the area to be 'charged', the Lich is underground, so getting line of sight on a creeper may not be easily 'in the cards', and creepers may or may not see that lightning string as an 'attack' and then turn on the Lich instead...depending on the coding. (currently MOB's will attack each other if they are damaged by the other's attacks).
I don't see this aspect as particularly useful nor would it be used commonly, and might be a bit OP for the Lich concept overall in the game and would suggest this aspect should be dropped.
Instead, maybe lightning should do knockback and stun when a player is struck by it, and incidentally charge creepers if they happen to get in the crossfire (rather than have the AI modified specifically just for the Lich to specifically seek them out only when they are using a Lightning attack).
Otherwise, I like the appropriate secondary effects, fire has a chance to catch you on fire for damage over time, ice has a chance to slow you for a duration, and lightning could then provide a momentary (1 second) stun with knockback.
He also takes little damage from magic itself (FYI: enchantments) and is immune to some magical effects, like knock back. He also has a levitate ability (similar to a blaze) and will levitate above water, lava, etc to keep himself safe from such dangers. This levitate ability would also make him immune to fall damage as he'll gently "float" down.
Workable... Ocelots don't take fall damage either, and excessive drops don't inhibit their pathing AI for movement, spiders AI can go up and down vertical surfaces with ease... so the code is definitely already there for movement. I've never tested a blaze over lava to see if it would sink or not... so I'm not sure about the walking on water/lava bit.... ignoring knock-back is easy enough to code in.
Oh. Fun note! If we can spawn a Lich in creative some how (which I wont mind) then spawning two or more will cause the Liches to fight one another, which would happen naturally by the way... Like I said, Liches want power and they will kill each other for it. (This could also cause any undead in the area to take a side as well so could cause one hell of a battle).
A little more complex, now your object spawner would have to store/track the existence of 'its' Lich before respawning, and when that apparition was defeated, it would have to communicate back to the originating object/spawner to alert it so that it would be able to spawn again.
Its a little more complex than just checking to see if 1 exists in the world... now the game would have to be programmed to track which ones are left in the world in relation to their spawn points.
Why attack other MOBs at all, especially aggressive? This seems to be an unnecessary addition to over-complicate existing AI algorithms. I'm not saying it can't be done, clearly Zombies will target villagers, and in the PC/Java, endermen will target endermites... but this logic seems largely extraneous to me and doesn't serve a distinct purpose.
IMO the Boss MOB should specifically target the players and not worry about the environment unless otherwise attacked (which should typically only happen by accident as it is).
Radically changing how the AI works for the existing groups of MOBs based on the existence of a specific Boss MOB is very likely not going to happen due to the level of programming challenges to implement that.
Now i'm making an adventure map about the Lich. Should be exciting.
I play MINECRAFT. And TERRARIA. MESSAGE me if you want to play Terraria.
When I read the post, I read that having 2 objects would allow for 2 Liches that would then be able to fight each other... under the way spawning actually works in the game, the game check the MOB cap before it allows a respawn to occur. In theory, you 'could' have the spawn cap be flexible such that that cap is limited to the number of Lich spawners there were in the world... but then, when they go to fight each other, and one is defeated over the other, there is no way to predict which spawner the 'now defeated' Lich would respawn at, which means they may very well spawn at the home spawner of the survivor of the contest.
Now you could influence that, as you said, by checking which spawner is furthest from the current Liches in the game, but when they end up confronting each other, they will be moving about, such that the Victor 'could' be on his 'opponents' side when the respawn occurs and his opponent respawns again behind him.
Overall, I like the idea for survival mode at least, I'm not overly crazy about them fighting each other and other hostile MOB's in general, ok with them outright attacking/killing passive MOB's, but these are just personal opinions.
You're going to need to define some hard stats, such as health, armor, damage (melee and ranged), Rate of Fire (Ranged), melee damage (if there is any...could be solid ranged, and rate of attack).
The main Lich spawner would NOT be in the Creative Menu, will NOT be dropped as an item when broken no matter what and doesn't "fall" like the dragon egg does. Thusly, impossible to get it as an item and make more of it. Thusly, only one Lich spawner. The Lich spawner will work like you said earlier, it just check to see if there is already a Lich in game. If there is then it will NOT spawn another Lich.
The only way to get more than one Lich in-game would be using a Spawn Egg to spawn the Lich (NOT the spawner) and once they kill each other, they do NOT respawn cause there is still a Lich in-game.
That is what I was thinking about when I mentioned the ability to spawn Liches in Creative Mode.
Also, about Liches attacking other hostile enemies and such... It would be as easy as "copy and paste" a small section of the code and then changing a name. I've read the code for Minecraft on PC and do have an idea how all that works and it is honestly not that hard... Just takes a quick minute to do so... Why not do it? I mean, it doesn't take much time and would make the Lich more "realistic" in the world so... Why not?
80 health sounds good. (Enderdragon is 100 so wanted the Lich's health a bit lower than the dragon). Armor would be 9 or 10 against magical effects and about 7 or 8 against physical attacks UNTIL the "spawner" is destroyed, then the armor for physical attacks would decrease to 4 or 5.
Damage wise... On HARD and if player has NO ARMOR (default damage). Fire would do 4.5 health damage and could set the player on fire for additional fire damage. Frost damage would do 4 health damage while also slowing the player down. Lightning will do the most damage with 6 and would knock back the target + stun.
However, since lightning is attracted to metal as well... If the player is wearing iron then the damage from lightning would increase rather than decrease. However, if the player is wearing leather specific (which is highly resistant to electric) than the damage from lightning would dramatically decrease. But leather is still weak toward the physical attacks from any skeleton or zombie that the Lich could summon up, so remember that!
Lich does NO melee or range attacks. Only MAGIC.
As for attack speed and range... The spells that will move in a straight line until out of sight OR until it hits something. So thusly, the range technically is infinite but the target gotta be within 1-18 blocks for the Lich to spot and begin attacking. The speed would be a spell casted every 3-6 seconds. 3 seconds normally and 6 when changing. Also, fun little small idea... The Lich could have a magical aura which changes color depending on the spell it is using. (Red = fire. Blue = Frost. Yellow = lightning?).
Also, another idea for a spell... If the target gets too close to the Lich, he would use an area spell (the spell hits everything within 1-2 blocks of the Lich) and it simply a small damaging (1.5) knock back spell... You know, to keep himself more safe and such? I think that would make sense, yes?
I thought you said that the fire attack was similar to the blaze attack? And I assumed that the ice attack and the lightning attack were similar aimed/targeted attacks... hence a "ranged" attack (ranged does not imply magical nor mundane, just that the attack happens over range instead of at close quarters, such as with melee...which could also be either magic or mundane in nature).
Please explain how your MAGIC is neither 'optionally used at range' nor is it 'close up only'....
Sounds like the Magic is a ranged attack based on this description.
I like the spell where he knocks you back if you get too close, but then would it even be possible to do a melee attack on a Lich?
It probably would be, because a 1-2 blocks of knockback isn't too far, so you can easily charge back at him again, UNLESS his knockback spells are instant, then it would be IMPOSSIBLE to do a melee attack on the Lich, unless you go in creative, since in creative, mobs don't inflict damage.
Also, is he only is easy mode and above since he is hostile? Or no?
I play MINECRAFT. And TERRARIA. MESSAGE me if you want to play Terraria.
Oh. I thought you meant range as in archery, guns, etc... In that case then, yes. The spells are ranged attacks.
Sorry for misreading...
Yes. He casts a spell every 3 seconds so you can get in close but if you don't back away fast enough after doing so, you will get hit. Plus if you knock him back enough, he'll end up casting his normal spell which thusly have a greater chance of hitting you cause you being closer to him...
The closer you are to someone, easier it is for them to hit you with ANY attack.
If the Lich has a shield, then how can he have low defense? Maybe he can have a temporary force field for like, five seconds to protect him since he has low defense in general.
I like the levitate ability. I know that enchantments don't affect him, but maybe when he is levitating, if you hit with a sword with Knockback III, he will fall and a big "Thud" noise will be heard.
I like all of the magic spells he casts, but how much damage do each attacks do to the player?
I like the staff idea. Maybe when you use the staff, you now have the ability to collect mob spawners if you have a pickaxe with silk touch? Maybe.
Maybe if you are on hard mode, the Lich can summon monsters while you are fighting him, and the monsters can help him in the battle?
I support.
I play MINECRAFT. And TERRARIA. MESSAGE me if you want to play Terraria.
http://www.minecraft...age__hl__"boss"
http://www.minecraft...age__hl__"boss"
http://www.minecraft...age__hl__"boss"
I got three results that suggest a boss of some sort. But I still like this idea. Very creative. The Lich seems a little too powerful though.... I mean, lightning staffs and magic? It seems a bit... too overpowered.
Partial Support.
Click this to see if you can decode the sentence above: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROT13
You gotta remember, Liches are well bucking fully powerful creatures... I'll be more afraid of a Lich than a Dragon any day... Heck, a Lich will wreck a Dragon in matter of minutes and than resurrect the dragon's dead corpse for it's army... So ye'h. Liches are suppose to be very powerful and I have no wishes to making him any weakener in the suggest (since he is already quite weakened from what he should be).
Click this to see if you can decode the sentence above: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROT13
Hello?!!? Magic?!?!
Does ANYBODY have any ideas anymore how powerful MAGIC can be these days? Who cares what the Lich looks like, they are powerful in the art of magic... All sorts of it actually. Mostly dark magic though, as to become a Lich you do need to get into dark magic the most... Heck, the only type of magic a Lich will NEVER use is pure light magic. Everything else though is free game! Plus since a Lich is already by nature a very powerful magical being, gotta remember the fact of the older you are, the wiser you are with magic... So a Lich who could be thousands up thousands of years old could be EXTREMELY magically powerful.
There is a reason why Liches are almost always the most powerful common enemy in RPGs (Like in The Elder Scrolls series, for example). Heck, some of the most powerful NPCs in the MMORPG known as "RuneScape" were originally meant to be Liches (though Jagex twisted some ideas and made a new creature on their own called The Mahjarrat).
Also, the main villain in the Harry Potter series is considered as Lich though a weak one as he hadn't completed the full process yet... And he was pretty much extremely powerful in that weakened state (let alone what he would've been if he was a full blown Lich).
Trust me, Liches are powerful cause of their magical abilities... They can learn, they can grow in power, and that is all they do for thousands and thousands of years cause they are undead. No need for sleep, food, or anything... They just work on magic, work on their power, and so on...
Really, I could easily give my Lich idea more spells like a healing spell, an absorb health spell, a paralyze spell, teleportation, and more! Name any spell you know that is NOT a light spell, that Lich can have! Heck, only giving that Lich FOUR basic spells is already an insult to what a normal Lich can easily be. (Technically five spells if you want to count the "levitate" as a constant spell he does).
Yes, I see your point.
It's hard to tell if the powers are balanced since you didn't say how much damage each spell gives...
Click this to see if you can decode the sentence above: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ROT13
Actually, I did. Forgot to edit original post to add in the info though.