King Of Birds (Dredmor Mod)

 Back on the old Dungeons of Dredmor kick, eh? Back on it? Naw... still on it. 

I made another Dredmor Mod: King Of Birds! 

Birdwatching. Carrier Pigeons. Falconry. This Kingdom is for the birds!

Link: Dungeons of Dredmor Mod: King Of Birds

King of Birds is a support skill for (bird-brained) Warriors with big ambitions. It's a tool-box of useful tricks and upgradable equipment, with a side of random buffs to super-charge your Warrior build. While it does have some attacks in the skill tree, it's not really intended to be your main attack skill by itself. Your falcons are here to bolster their King, not steal his glory nor his throne.

This is a new mod by the maker of Interior Dredmorating, Swashbucklers, Aztecnologist, and a bunch of rooms from various official Dredmor DLCs.

King of Birds showcases a 7-level Warrior Skill, bolstered with a series of related items and corresponding crafting recipes, a half-dozen new rooms that support the themes and mechanics of the skill, and other silly surprises.

Skill Synergies:

Works best on a Warrior build, but would also be a strong boost to a rogue build. Not intended for use with Wizards.

Pairs well with any of the Weapon skills, or unarmed or throwing, and is great with Big Game Hunter.

This skill does dip it's offal-covered toe into the pool of crafting, but does not require (nor significantly contribute to) any specific crafting skill.

Here's a detailed breakdown per skill level, with some SPOILERS:

Level 1: Birdwatcher

"You keep an eye open for sightings of rare and interesting birds wherever you go. One day, you hope to catch one of your own, and cuddle him, and train him to murder, and name him George."

Starts you with two pieces of basic equipment:

* Birdnoculars - amulet slot, provides bonus sight

* Future Birder's Glove - provides a place for a falcon to perch, should you find one.

As you level up, you'll be able to upgrade the Glove, either hatching or luring in a bird to sit upon it. The main method will involve grating offal on the glove, to feed your little birdling that they can grow up big and strong.

This level also provides Birdwatching Buffs. These are brief sightings of inspirational birds that give you short unpredictable bonuses. There are quite a few of these, so I'm going to leave the varieties of bird uncatalogued for you to discover in play.

Level 2: The Shinies

"Like any King-To-Be, you covet gold. Luckily, birds also love to gather nest eggs. You can convince birds to retrieve shiny trinkets. If the objects are shiny enough, the birds might stick around."

Activate this on a treasure that's out of reach, and a raven will swoop down to get it for you. If they like the treasure, the bird may decide to stick around and serve you for a time.

This level also triggers additional birdwatching buffs, and gives you the recipe for a new falconry glove.

Level 3: Hunting Hawk

"You have successfully trained your bird to swoop down upon an unsuspecting target. Too bad everyone suspects that from you now."

This ranged attack is on an 18-turn timer. It scales its damage to your Melee Power, and simultaneously launches a melee attack on the space adjacent to you in the direction of the target.

Level 4: Momma Bird

"Your birds now fly to your defense, sometimes striking those who attack you. From time to time they even bring you delicious morsels of offal. Nummy. You can only assume they do these things because they fear and respect you, not because they think you are an idiot incapable of feeding and protecting yourself."

This level also gives you the recipe for a new falconry glove.

Level 5: Gonna Need A Bigger Bird

"The Stork Bringeth, and The Stork Taketh Away. You ride at unlimited speeds upon the Audobon, the Aerial Highway of Kings. With all the time this saves you, you can finally sit back, have a drink, and catch up on the news from your Royal Cousins."

The main power here is a straight-line teleport, where a bird carries you to your destination.

Also, when you drink booze, you sometimes recieve carrier pigeons bearing letters from your famous bird-brained royal cousins, such as HRE Frederick II, AFK jr, or Pyngwyn Lannistork. Exactly one of those is worth googling.

Royal correspondence is more reliable than birdwatching buffs, and gives non-wizards a reason to imbibe from time to time.

Lastly, this level also gives you the recipe for a new falconry glove.

Level 6: Post Hawk, Ergo Propter Hawk

"Your regal ferocity has rubbed off on your birds. Like you, they are razor sharp, quick on the attack, and destined to rule!"

This is a better version of the Hunting Hawk attack. Does more damage, recharges faster, and the targeting is more flexible. You'll hit them so hard they'll be seeing cartoon birds (or nothing at all).

Shall we send them the bird, yay or nay? The eyes have it.

Also starting at this level: Yeats and his widening gyre will disrupt magic circles.

This level also gives you the recipe for a new falconry glove.

Level 7: All The King's Birds

"A mass migration of Birdemic proportions will counter all their escape plans. Just try not to get swallowed yourself when all those hungry swallows come back to Capistrano!"

This area-effect does mass damage scaling to your counter-attack rating, as giant flocks of birds swoop down and flex their talons.

Sometimes, some of those birds stick around, and they might not all be friendly.

This level also gives you the recipe for a new falconry glove.

Beyond this point, there are a couple of additional hidden recipes for higher-end falconry gloves, but you'll have to find those by reading bookshelves like normal, and you will have to invest in other crafting skills (smithing or tinkering) to use them.