Mob idea...The leafy berry bush...Ok, hear me out...

[TheKingofSquirrels]

So I´ve been thinking for some kind of use for the leafy berry bush, as it doesn´t have any real purpose other than to look different, and I came up with an idea. What if it was a mob? It would be bush that at night would migrate in herds around the map and whenever the player would come into contact with it, it would stop and pretend to be a normal bush (kind of like The Weeping Angels from Doctor Who, it only moves when you are not looking at it). That way, it´s kind of hard to keep picking berries from them, as they constantly change location. Now they aren´t hostile and it´s perfectly safe to pick berries from them, unless you dig them up with a shovel, and in that case, their defense mechanism kicks in. What happens is, if you dig one up and then decide to then re-plant it, the next batch of berries it makes will be poison and fatal to the player if eaten, but they  will look completely normal and can easily get mixed up in a stack of safe berries.

 

If the player consumes the poison, nothing immediate will happen. What happens though, after a day from consumption, the player will be unable to eat anything without throwing up (there won´t be an animation for this), so eventually the player will starve to death, unless he finds a cure (Mandrake Stew or maybe Electric Goat Milk).

 

I don´t know. I like the idea of having a poison that brings a slow death. Also, I though this could be a good idea for Don´t Starve Together, you could poison people´s crock-pots without them knowing, or have a fun game of Russian roulette, by placing one poisoned berry in a stack of safe berries which you take turns eating.

 

 Any thoughts?

 

 

[Problematicr]

I like the idea of a Berry bush mob, and i like the idea of other uses for the leafy meat... but poisoned berries? Meh...

[NikMik]

Intant death berries? Nahp. Don't Starve is uncompromising, but at least it doesn't just flat-out throw instant deaths like my art teacher threw Fs onto people's reports because they didn't sound happy enough when they said hello.

 

If it just did damage to health or sanity, sure. But not insta-death.

 

[Mobbstar]

Whilst technically it's possible, I see two flaws with your otherwise good idea:

1) see Mr. Tiddles' comment

2) Players would just not pick/dig those bushes if they were bound to be evil. I'd give them a 30 % chance to turn into... how are they called? "bushanker"? "beerrie bush"? Definitely not "berry bad people", that's already taken.

EDIT: The "leify Berry Bush"?

[TheKingofSquirrels]

Intant death berries? Nahp. Don't Starve is uncompromising, but at least it doesn't just flat-out throw instant deaths like my art teacher threw Fs onto people's reports because they didn't sound happy enough when they said hello.

 

If it just did damage to health or sanity, sure. But not insta-death.

 

But...It´s not instant death, it´s the exact opposite...It´s a slow and painful death...That´s the whole point...You would eat it and after a while the poison would stop any kind digestion. Leaving the player to slowly starve to death.

 

I don´t really like the idea of loosing health and sanity immediately, we already have that with mushrooms, we don´t have poisons that actually make you sick that can´t be simply cured by just eating some meatballs.

[TheKingofSquirrels]

Whilst technically it's possible, I see two flaws with your otherwise good idea:

1) see Mr. Tiddles' comment

2) Players would just not pick/dig those bushes if they were bound to be evil. I'd give them a 30 % chance to turn into... how are they called? "bushanker"? "beerrie bush"? Definitely not "berry bad people", that's already taken.

EDIT: The "leify Berry Bush"?

 

Well, as long as you don´t dig the bush up, it´s perfectly safe to eat. 

[geni0529]

I think this a awesome idea ... but mabie a cure easier to get?

[Battal]

Yeaaaaaaahhh, I think that certain death is kind of cheap.  Maybe it makes it just so that food gives much less hunger points, and it wears off in a few days?

 

Other than that, I like it.

[Palpetinus]

It's not insta-death? As soon as I see my character throwing up and starving, and I don't have a cure nearby, I'm simply going to restart since I'm dead anyway.

[BurningSprite]

What's to stop me from digging up a herd, walling them in, and trashing the first poison berry harvest? Can they teleport/break walls? If not, later on, walls make them redundant

[TheKingofSquirrels]

It's not insta-death? As soon as I see my character throwing up and starving, and I don't have a cure nearby, I'm simply going to restart since I'm dead anyway.

The starvation isn´t accelerated or anything, so I think there is enough time for you to find the cure. 

[TheKingofSquirrels]

What's to stop me from digging up a herd, walling them in, and trashing the first poison berry harvest? Can they teleport/break walls? If not, later on, walls make them redundant

They most definitely would be able to to destroy walls when you are not looking, so containing them would be hard.

[BurningSprite]

They most definitely would be able to to destroy walls when you are not looking, so containing them would be hard.

Perhaps rather than just poisonous berries, they could have varying defense mechanisms (poison berries, bushguards, clouds of angry bees nesting within, explosive bushes, teleportation, stealing gear, corrupting other berry bushes, super fast spoilage berries, a bush that secretes pheromones to attract enemies.) Then you couldn't just trash the harvest, because you'd never know what will hit you!

[SteelRedemption0]

Perhaps the berries should be a different color so that it can be decerned as poison and used for other purposes, poisoning them freaking gobblers perhaps?