4% sounds good. (for reference, spider jockeys are approximately 0.25% ( 1% of 25%)).
As for those desert temples, while it would be nice, there are a couple of problems. Firstly, there is no way that this could eclipse gold golems in popularity. Second, most of the sandman's attacks are ranged, and with the limited movement inside the temple, that sort of wrecks the balance. Either you have trouble getting away and it kills you, or it has trouble throwing you away, and you kill it. It's only a case of whether you have enough armour to get close enough.
Now, shall we say, 4% spawning rate with 20-24 sand (glass if killed by fire) 4-6 sandbags, and 50 XP. Possibly 0-2 gold ingots? Makes them a bit more valuable, while not too much, given the limited uses of gold and the amount it drops.
Pigs used to be the main food source in Minecraft. Then came the hunger bar, and chicken and beef actually became more common. This is fine, but beef is eclipsing pork in popularity, which makes pigs useless.
The reason for this is that pigs only drop pork. Cows drop leather (which is now necessary for books, so it's useful even if you don't need the armour) and chickens drop feathers, as well as eggs (but eggs may not count because you don't actually kill the chickens for the eggs).
So how do we make pigs more useful? I suggest making them the more effective food option. Pigs should drop more pork than the other animals do their meat. Additionally, pigs should have a shorter cooldown timer on breeding, and a quicker growing up time, and perhaps the chance to produce twins. All this will make pigs twice as efficient for food collecting, which will make pigs jump back onto the useful side of the line. Of course, you can still get food by other means, but pork is just the most effective option, even though they don't produce extra drops like cows and chickens.
It's not a bad idea as such, and I'm glad you put effort into it, but see my sig for my personal interpretation of MC mob philosophy . \/
For starters, I think you are making the thing too dangerous. Giving a mob three powerful attacks makes it too "independent", in my eyes, and a large part of MC is that mobs cooperate and make up for each others' weaknesses so well. How about retaining the sandstorm ability, making desert travel more interesting/challenging for the player, and taking away its ranged attack?
I like the basic idea but I think he is a bit overpowered, perhaps consider removing (at least) one of his attacks. I also think it would be cool if he could hide underground in the sand and burrow after you!
Well, the general idea was to have a sort of miniboss mob, which would spawn rarely, but be dangerous, in the biome which I think is least used by players. I want the mob to be dangerous and interesting.
What do you this of this?
It has its regular melee throwback attack for three hearts.
It has a sandstorm attack, which is still disorienting, and pierces through armour for half a heart every two seconds, lasting for eight to twelve seconds. Also, its sandstorm blows entities back slightly, giving it something like a 10% protection against arrows. This registers as environmental damage so that mobs don't become attack the sandman.
It has a shockwave attack for 1.5 hearts, and knockback, every four to six seconds, from six to eight times, making it difficult to run away from (actually, easy to run away from, since it knocks you away from the sandman, but more dangerous to) and get into a safe house. Also makes it hard to trap. This attack registers as fall damage.
It has 20 hearts (40 hitpoints) and regenerates half a heart every eight seconds while on sand.
Pigs are useless already. No one I know eats pork anymore, because cows and chickens both give extra stuff in addition to meat. Even if apples are made more common, that won't make meat obsolete, because meat is still the better food source. I'd like apples to be common enough to get at least one every two trees. (There was also a very well thought out suggestion for apple leaves, but I can't find it anymore). It should really be the gold that's harder to obtain then the apples.
the picture is.... not default minecraft like, but anyway, I LOVE this idea!
Well, if anyone feels like making a better picture, be my guest. The picture I made was just for conceptual purposes and to shut up the people who think that an idea is not worthwhile if it doesn't have pictures.
I'd rather a mod not be made just yet, until stuff like drops and difficulty are sorted out. That said, I wont bar you from making one if you want to.
Speaking of difficulty, if we're to make the sandman more like a boss mob, here are some ways we could do that:
Up its stats (this is a boring way).
Make it so that the sandstorm attack isn't blockable by armour, much like poison, making it more of a weakening attack, in preparation for the big hit.
Add a new attack, that when you are sufficiently far away, or across a biome border, the sandman throws blocks of sand at you. One every 2-4 seconds, and they deal 3 hearts of damage. (Credit to Acme_Pig)
Add a new attack, that when the sandman is unable to reach you, he hits the ground and makes shockwaves that deal 2 hearts of fall damage. On wave every 4-6 seconds, for a total of 4-6 waves. (Credit to Acme_Pig)
Make it so that the sandman will target arrows headed towards it, giving it a fighting chance against bows.
Allow it to teleport once a minute. During the teleportation process (which should take at least four seconds) it is vulnerable, and has a cool visual effect. (Credit to MrJtPv)(I'm shaky on this idea. Any possible improvements, please suggest)
Good idea...
This isn't perfect but a few suggestions.
1. water causes the sandman to grow and be more powerful but it would make it slower. This would be because if the sand is dropped into water it would mix no? but it would become heavier,which would make it slower.
2. If it is in the water/wet then it has access to a powerful ranged attack where it launches wet sand(which would be a new block which can either be natural or a drop)
3.im not sure if this is already thought of but it the sandstorm would cause a tiny shock wave launching blocks into the air and so on.
4.it can turn into dust and teleport all around.
5. it can drop sandy diamonds which can be cleaned by crafting it with a bucket of water to make a diamond which would cause this to be a better boss so lowering the spawn rate would be a better idea too since it is powerful.
Thats all my current ideas. what do you think?
1: No. The sandman is already fairly slow, so the handicap is outweighed by the boost. Also, this makes it a bit too complicated. And how often is the sandman going to stroll into water in a desert biome?
2: See 1
3: The sandstorm already makes you dizzy. A separate shockwave has been suggested, as well as a block throwing suggestion.
4: No. The sandman's main handicap is that it's slow. The only way I'd support it being able to teleport would be if the teleport took no less than five seconds to accomplish, it were vulnerable during the teleport, and it came with a really cool visual effect. And since the sandman is primarily ranged anyway (and its attacks tend to be disorienting), teleportation is of minimal advantage to it.
5: No. If diamonds are to be made a mob drop, I think they should come from a rare underground mob, This just doesn't make sense. Gold would make more sense, but even that's a stretch.
Awesome idea! One thought i had was since the sandman is made of sand, he would be unable to leave the desert biome. If he did he would slowly fall apart, leaving a trail of sand behind him until he was gone. He should also be weak against water since it would cause him to dissolve.
It can't leave the desert already. See the main post. As for water, I think Minecraft has enough mobs vulnerable to water, and you could make a case for water actually making him more dangerous. Wet sand doesn't dissolve.
Awesome idea! other attacks it should have is, it pickes up sand blocks and throws them, and it raises its arms and hits the ground and creates some sort of shock wave. the sand throw would do 3 hearts and the shockwave 2 hearts along with the nausea affect (dizzyness is nausea potion affect)
Interesting thoughts. But under what conditions would the sandman launch these attacks?
Possibly, if the player is too far away, or if he leaves the biome, the sandman would throw blocks. And if the player is somehow inaccessible, like if the player or the sandman is in a building, it'd do the shockwave, making safe houses less safe, and making traps still dangerous. Also, standing on wool, beds or water should lessen the shockwave effect.
It does seem pretty interesting actually. However, I'm not sure that "sandbags" are a good drop really. Perhaps just sand and a decent amount of experience. Also, I believe the spawn rate should be dropped to about that of a spider jockey's spawn rate. These things seem very powerful, and it would be a bit aggravating to deal with one every two or so days if you lived in the desert.
Well, I think that "boss" style mobs (after all, this is essentially a miniboss) should drop something that allows you to emulate some aspect of them. Such as endermen dropping pearls that allow you teleportation. Blaze drop what is possibly the hardest to come by ingredient for fireballs. Creepers drop things that make explosions. (I count creepers here because they are easily the most dangerous overworld mob, and are still dangerous even after you're well equiped.
Regarding spawn rate, I wanted to make it so that sand would be a renewable resource, which it currently is not. Lowering the spawn rate, I think would then require upping the drop rate. After all, a couple of smoke bombs and some sand are hardly worthwhile drops for something you'll only see once in a blue moon. And, if Acme_Pig's attack ideas pan out, that makes them even more difficult to deal with.
So, if Acme_Pigs ideas pan out, and we lower spawn rate to... say a 2% chance during a spawn cycle, and no more than two in one desert biome at a time, what do you think appropriate drop rates would be? I'm thinking 20-24 sand (glass if killed by fire), 4-6 sandbags and 50 xp. What do you think?
Uhh, the picture is bad, no offense. It is a retextured iron golem that doesnt even follow the 16x16 pixels.
It is not a retextured iron golem. The iron golem has a nose, a thinner body, a more forward head, longer and thinner arms, a tiny waist, and two legs.
Any criticism on the idea itself, and not the picture? The picture is just there to appease those who think an idea is worthless if it doesn't have a picture. Particularly mob ideas.
Say hello to your friend the sandman.
Actually, say hello to your enemy the sandman.
The sandman is a semi-rare spawn in desert biomes. And by that, I mean it spawns often enough so that you'll see one every two or three days (if you spend most of your time in a desert), but they cannot spawn within 64 blocks of another one. Once spawned, these guys will slowly lumber around, using their arms to pull them along the ground. On occasion, the sandman will stop, and a dense cloud of particles will swirl around it, reminiscent of a sandstorm. The sand will raise in a plume going up to ten blocks above them. This is mostly aesthetic, but also serves as a way to alert the player to the sandman's presence. The whole show lasts for about fifteen seconds before the particles start to dissipate.
When within 16 blocks of a player, the sandman becomes hostile, and it will stay hostile until dead, or the player leaves the sand biome. The sandman will follow the player to the edge of the biome, but once the player leaves, will retreat back into the desert.
The sandman has three attacks. But before any attacks, it moves forward at an alarming rate, given its usual slow nature, until it is sixteen blocks from the player, or closer.
When ten to sixteen blocks from the player, the sandman will create a sandstorm that lasts 6-8 seconds, and deals half a heart every second (every half second if the player comes within eight blocks of the sandman during the storm). Aside from damaging the player, this also disorients them, adding a sort of dizzying effect for four seconds after the storm recedes.
When six to ten blocks away from the player, the sandman will point its arms towards the player, and send forth a thick stream of particles, dealing one heart of damage every second, and knocking the player back up to four meters. This attack lasts for four seconds. Note that the player can move to the side and avoid some of the attack.
When less than six blocks away from the player, the sandman will race forward, and knock the player back, dealing 2.5 hearts of damage, and knocking the player back up to eight meters.
To fight this mob requires some strategy. You could use a bow, sure, but the sandman will soon catch up to you. It has ranged attacks too. Or you could attack it head on. To do this, the ideal strategy would be to goad the sandman into launching its sandstorm (as this is the least damaging attack), and then sprint forward and hit it, as it cannot attack you until it has finished its sandstorm. Then it will throw you back, and you retreat to recover health. Rinse and repeat.
The sandman has 25 hearts of health, by the way, and recovers half a heart every eight seconds, so don't dally too long in killing it.
Now, during the day, the sandman's attacks are 50% more effective (what with hot sand and all), but at night, there are other mobs around. What to do, what to do? Note that creeper explosions are excellent weapons. In fact, the sandman may be the only instance in minecraft single player where TNT is an effective and efficient means of combat. The sandman's attacks (save for the last one) count as environmental damage, so other mobs are never hostile to the sandman (and the sandman is only ever hostile to the player).
Upon death, the sandman drops the following items:
6-8 sand (glass if it's killed by fire)
1-3 sandbags
40 xp
Sandbags can be thrown like snowballs and eggs. On impact, they release a dense particle smoke, deal up to one heart of damage to all mobs and players near it, and applies the dizzying effect to them for four to eight seconds, depending on how close they are.
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As for those desert temples, while it would be nice, there are a couple of problems. Firstly, there is no way that this could eclipse gold golems in popularity. Second, most of the sandman's attacks are ranged, and with the limited movement inside the temple, that sort of wrecks the balance. Either you have trouble getting away and it kills you, or it has trouble throwing you away, and you kill it. It's only a case of whether you have enough armour to get close enough.
Now, shall we say, 4% spawning rate with 20-24 sand (glass if killed by fire) 4-6 sandbags, and 50 XP. Possibly 0-2 gold ingots? Makes them a bit more valuable, while not too much, given the limited uses of gold and the amount it drops.
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The reason for this is that pigs only drop pork. Cows drop leather (which is now necessary for books, so it's useful even if you don't need the armour) and chickens drop feathers, as well as eggs (but eggs may not count because you don't actually kill the chickens for the eggs).
So how do we make pigs more useful? I suggest making them the more effective food option. Pigs should drop more pork than the other animals do their meat. Additionally, pigs should have a shorter cooldown timer on breeding, and a quicker growing up time, and perhaps the chance to produce twins. All this will make pigs twice as efficient for food collecting, which will make pigs jump back onto the useful side of the line. Of course, you can still get food by other means, but pork is just the most effective option, even though they don't produce extra drops like cows and chickens.
Thoughts?
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Yeah, I did manage to find it.
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Well, the general idea was to have a sort of miniboss mob, which would spawn rarely, but be dangerous, in the biome which I think is least used by players. I want the mob to be dangerous and interesting.
What do you this of this?
It has its regular melee throwback attack for three hearts.
It has a sandstorm attack, which is still disorienting, and pierces through armour for half a heart every two seconds, lasting for eight to twelve seconds. Also, its sandstorm blows entities back slightly, giving it something like a 10% protection against arrows. This registers as environmental damage so that mobs don't become attack the sandman.
It has a shockwave attack for 1.5 hearts, and knockback, every four to six seconds, from six to eight times, making it difficult to run away from (actually, easy to run away from, since it knocks you away from the sandman, but more dangerous to) and get into a safe house. Also makes it hard to trap. This attack registers as fall damage.
It has 20 hearts (40 hitpoints) and regenerates half a heart every eight seconds while on sand.
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Do you think I should add a poll for drops, attacks, and general existence?
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Well, if anyone feels like making a better picture, be my guest. The picture I made was just for conceptual purposes and to shut up the people who think that an idea is not worthwhile if it doesn't have pictures.
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Speaking of difficulty, if we're to make the sandman more like a boss mob, here are some ways we could do that:
Up its stats (this is a boring way).
Make it so that the sandstorm attack isn't blockable by armour, much like poison, making it more of a weakening attack, in preparation for the big hit.
Add a new attack, that when you are sufficiently far away, or across a biome border, the sandman throws blocks of sand at you. One every 2-4 seconds, and they deal 3 hearts of damage. (Credit to Acme_Pig)
Add a new attack, that when the sandman is unable to reach you, he hits the ground and makes shockwaves that deal 2 hearts of fall damage. On wave every 4-6 seconds, for a total of 4-6 waves. (Credit to Acme_Pig)
Make it so that the sandman will target arrows headed towards it, giving it a fighting chance against bows.
Allow it to teleport once a minute. During the teleportation process (which should take at least four seconds) it is vulnerable, and has a cool visual effect. (Credit to MrJtPv)(I'm shaky on this idea. Any possible improvements, please suggest)
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I'm glad you take criticism well. Your ideas have merit, I just don't think they would work in this idea.
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1: No. The sandman is already fairly slow, so the handicap is outweighed by the boost. Also, this makes it a bit too complicated. And how often is the sandman going to stroll into water in a desert biome?
2: See 1
3: The sandstorm already makes you dizzy. A separate shockwave has been suggested, as well as a block throwing suggestion.
4: No. The sandman's main handicap is that it's slow. The only way I'd support it being able to teleport would be if the teleport took no less than five seconds to accomplish, it were vulnerable during the teleport, and it came with a really cool visual effect. And since the sandman is primarily ranged anyway (and its attacks tend to be disorienting), teleportation is of minimal advantage to it.
5: No. If diamonds are to be made a mob drop, I think they should come from a rare underground mob, This just doesn't make sense. Gold would make more sense, but even that's a stretch.
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It can't leave the desert already. See the main post. As for water, I think Minecraft has enough mobs vulnerable to water, and you could make a case for water actually making him more dangerous. Wet sand doesn't dissolve.
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I don't like this. It's basically a bow with lower stats.
Interesting thoughts. But under what conditions would the sandman launch these attacks?
Possibly, if the player is too far away, or if he leaves the biome, the sandman would throw blocks. And if the player is somehow inaccessible, like if the player or the sandman is in a building, it'd do the shockwave, making safe houses less safe, and making traps still dangerous. Also, standing on wool, beds or water should lessen the shockwave effect.
Well, I think that "boss" style mobs (after all, this is essentially a miniboss) should drop something that allows you to emulate some aspect of them. Such as endermen dropping pearls that allow you teleportation. Blaze drop what is possibly the hardest to come by ingredient for fireballs. Creepers drop things that make explosions. (I count creepers here because they are easily the most dangerous overworld mob, and are still dangerous even after you're well equiped.
Regarding spawn rate, I wanted to make it so that sand would be a renewable resource, which it currently is not. Lowering the spawn rate, I think would then require upping the drop rate. After all, a couple of smoke bombs and some sand are hardly worthwhile drops for something you'll only see once in a blue moon. And, if Acme_Pig's attack ideas pan out, that makes them even more difficult to deal with.
So, if Acme_Pigs ideas pan out, and we lower spawn rate to... say a 2% chance during a spawn cycle, and no more than two in one desert biome at a time, what do you think appropriate drop rates would be? I'm thinking 20-24 sand (glass if killed by fire), 4-6 sandbags and 50 xp. What do you think?
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It is not a retextured iron golem. The iron golem has a nose, a thinner body, a more forward head, longer and thinner arms, a tiny waist, and two legs.
Any criticism on the idea itself, and not the picture? The picture is just there to appease those who think an idea is worthless if it doesn't have a picture. Particularly mob ideas.
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7
Actually, say hello to your enemy the sandman.
The sandman is a semi-rare spawn in desert biomes. And by that, I mean it spawns often enough so that you'll see one every two or three days (if you spend most of your time in a desert), but they cannot spawn within 64 blocks of another one. Once spawned, these guys will slowly lumber around, using their arms to pull them along the ground. On occasion, the sandman will stop, and a dense cloud of particles will swirl around it, reminiscent of a sandstorm. The sand will raise in a plume going up to ten blocks above them. This is mostly aesthetic, but also serves as a way to alert the player to the sandman's presence. The whole show lasts for about fifteen seconds before the particles start to dissipate.
When within 16 blocks of a player, the sandman becomes hostile, and it will stay hostile until dead, or the player leaves the sand biome. The sandman will follow the player to the edge of the biome, but once the player leaves, will retreat back into the desert.
The sandman has three attacks. But before any attacks, it moves forward at an alarming rate, given its usual slow nature, until it is sixteen blocks from the player, or closer.
When ten to sixteen blocks from the player, the sandman will create a sandstorm that lasts 6-8 seconds, and deals half a heart every second (every half second if the player comes within eight blocks of the sandman during the storm). Aside from damaging the player, this also disorients them, adding a sort of dizzying effect for four seconds after the storm recedes.
When six to ten blocks away from the player, the sandman will point its arms towards the player, and send forth a thick stream of particles, dealing one heart of damage every second, and knocking the player back up to four meters. This attack lasts for four seconds. Note that the player can move to the side and avoid some of the attack.
When less than six blocks away from the player, the sandman will race forward, and knock the player back, dealing 2.5 hearts of damage, and knocking the player back up to eight meters.
To fight this mob requires some strategy. You could use a bow, sure, but the sandman will soon catch up to you. It has ranged attacks too. Or you could attack it head on. To do this, the ideal strategy would be to goad the sandman into launching its sandstorm (as this is the least damaging attack), and then sprint forward and hit it, as it cannot attack you until it has finished its sandstorm. Then it will throw you back, and you retreat to recover health. Rinse and repeat.
The sandman has 25 hearts of health, by the way, and recovers half a heart every eight seconds, so don't dally too long in killing it.
Now, during the day, the sandman's attacks are 50% more effective (what with hot sand and all), but at night, there are other mobs around. What to do, what to do? Note that creeper explosions are excellent weapons. In fact, the sandman may be the only instance in minecraft single player where TNT is an effective and efficient means of combat. The sandman's attacks (save for the last one) count as environmental damage, so other mobs are never hostile to the sandman (and the sandman is only ever hostile to the player).
Upon death, the sandman drops the following items:
6-8 sand (glass if it's killed by fire)
1-3 sandbags
40 xp
Sandbags can be thrown like snowballs and eggs. On impact, they release a dense particle smoke, deal up to one heart of damage to all mobs and players near it, and applies the dizzying effect to them for four to eight seconds, depending on how close they are.
Thoughts? Comments? Questions?