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Hi there. I had a random idea for a character that would be centered around gems & minerals. The name "Wardite" is actually a gem itself! (A pretty nifty-looking one too... And fun fact, another character submission used the name idea, but it is from two years ago...)

The main idea I had for this character actually stemmed from an idea I had: Farmable gems. I know that sounds broken, but I had quite a train of thought with it...

That being, something like Craftable Geodes. And at first, I thought them being a standalone thing would be a neat addition, but then an idea for a whole character came out of it, so. Let's see where this goes. I won't really be talking about the character's stats as that kind of thing is pretty boring and easily interchangeable, more of what is unique about them and what the gameplay could be like.

Geodes

Geodes would be a craftable cluster of rocks that need to "mature" over time, to later be smashed for more materials than were initially put in. Now, while this does just sound as simple as farmable stone, we already have that in a variety of ways, so it's not really worth doing something as simple as that.

Geode farming would center around a structure, a Geode Lab of sorts. Wardites standing near the Geode Lab gain access to the ability to actually make the Geodes in the first place, and the lab must have the geodes placed on them for them to later "mature" and be worth harvesting. So perhaps some small table with some racks on it? About 4 growing geodes could be loaded onto it at a time. I like the idea of it kind of looking like its own bare-bones traveling camp, so maybe a little bit of a tent formation around it, just to make it look like its own little station. I'll get into why I think that'd be neat a little later.

Wardite's Downside, and Signature Item

Wardite would be an interesting kind of person, someone who is very precise with their work. As such, they cannot use such brutish tools of an axe or pickaxe, instead, needing to use their very small and rather wimpy Ball-Peen Pickamacallit. (Patent Pending) The tool uses an animation like the Ball Pein Hammer for every usage, meaning it takes them more time to do just about any manual labor task, such as chopping, mining, general resource collecting, even eating would take longer... But, because that just sounds absolutely sluggish and miserable... I think it'd be worthwhile if they had a chance to get additional materials from doing work, whether it be an extra log or rock or so, so that it's not technically a gigantic waste of time to do work as them in the long run, as it'd make longer-running playthroughs with them unbearable otherwise. Their perfectionism doesn't go unrewarded all the time, just makes the general process take longer.

Oh, and... Trying to use the tool as anyone else lets them get a single use in before it slips out of their hands, so they can't just pick Wardite for an infinite use tool as anyone else... Unless they felt like picking it up after every hit, taking even longer than Wardite would.

However, with such a tool comes additional functionality... Like, for example, hammering structures with the tool gives back more materials than the normal 50%, or, more importantly relevant...

Gem Farming

With their signature item, Wardite has a very important function: Smashing gems. "But wait!" I hear nobody say, "I thought this was about FARMING gems!" I still hear nobody say, only louder. Well, in the process of smashing gems with their unique Ball-Peen Pickamacallit, Wardite gets rewarded with Gem Shards- a sharp little pokey bit of magical crystal. Now, combining a shard with a geode, will now make it so the geode will grow that specific gem when it's ready to harvest!

Gem shards can be crafted back into whole gems, however, to keep more of a focus on Wardite in the process, their recipe for doing so could probably be much cheaper than with other characters so that the shards still feel more useful for them, but not a useless item for the rest of the cast (Or a server missing a Wardite)

Now now, I can still hear that ever-persistent nobody saying "But Authmind! That sounds overpowered beyond all get-out!", so, to them, I say,

The Geode Lab

The geode lab is a structure that is used in the initial crafting of geodes and is used directly in the growing process of them. When placed anywhere, they'll grow geodes at a fine, sluggish rate. We're talking maybe 20-30 days or more for a geode to reach maturity, so this thing is all about long-running worlds and patience. However, what about those gem geodes? "You think just waiting for a long time is going to make it balanced?" Well, no, not exactly, and this actually leads into why I think a little mini... "science camp" design works well for it:

Gem Geodes only grow in specific biomes!

In order to actually farm your gems, you can't just do it from anywhere- You'll need to be parked in a specific biome for it to work, depending on the gem. Otherwise, gem geodes won't even go on the lab (With a line from Wardite, perhaps "This can't grow in this location!" or something similar)

A small idea for where these would need to be:

Spoiler

Red Gem Geode - The Desert
Orange Gem Geode - The Deciduous/Birchnut Forest
Yellow Gem Geode - Savanna/Grassy
Green Gem Geode - Forest
Blue Gem Geode - Mosaic
Purple Gem Geode - Swamp
(It would also be neat if Normal, Gem-less geodes would grow faster in rocky biomes)

This way, with these little stations everywhere, The entire world is utilized, and it gives players a bit of a reason to value long-term plans such as player-made roads/paths, mini-bases, etc. Hence why I think it'd be neat if the thing itself looked like its own little camp set-up: Just add a firepit and a crockpot, and suddenly your world is speckled in mini bases that look truly like small science experiments out in the wilderness, akin to something like the random camps you can find in Red Dead Redemption 2 or something... I think that would look truly very atmospheric for a slow taming of wilderness look, perfect for longer running worlds and especially for shining a light on the more patient playstyle Wardite centers around.

Gem Harvesting, and additional applications

Geodes, once ready, could only be harvested by a Wardite, (Note how I'm keeping an emphasis on staying as the character? That celestial portal really makes designing a character worth sticking around as a hassle...) by using the Ball-Pein Pickamacallit to break them open. They'd release more gem shards, which could then be turned back into gems by Wardite, or, possibly...

As some kind of Warly Spice-like thing, but for tools. I admit, this one sounds a little odd, but since I'm just rattling off ideas that I had, I figured throw this one in for the heck of it. Wardite could use the geode lab (or maybe another structure, but that feels redundant) to upgrade weapons/tools by putting some gem shards on them- Ideas I had for this were like:

Spoiler

Red Gem Shards: Maybe make the tool function like Obsidian tools from Shipwrecked? That's a super unique mechanic absent from DST, just remove the lighting up mechanic I suppose, just make it so the tool gives heat when used...
Orange Gem Shards: Tool is just made more efficient, using fewer chops/swings to accomplish a task
Yellow Gem Shards: The range of the tool is increased, you can chop or mine from further away
Green Gem Shards: The tool loses much, much less durability when used (Makes the Pick/Axe and Moonglass Axe much better!)
Blue Gem Shards: Inverse of Red, can cool you down when using tools, so it'd be a good thing to have for summer work on the surface
Purple Gem Shards: Chance for extra materials when using the tool (More logs, rocks, gold, nitre, a higher chance for fossil fragments...)

Wardite could now not only upgrade their own tool to gain another unique function but could deck out their whole team with enhanced tools, so they can, eventually, contribute a direct benefit to the whole team, in a way that doesn't really step on the toes of anyone else currently in the cast.

This way, shards feel more justified for being their own separate item, as Wardite gives them uses beyond just being lesser gem pieces...

One last bit of ideas

I also believe that using Collected Dust on the geode lab could be used to make the geodes mature a bit faster for a few days or so. It adds another function to the item, because as it sits its only purpose is to be crafted into something else. That's boring! Let's give it another function, and since it takes a while to unlock and won't instantly cause a growth, it still plays into the patient style of play Wardite is based on.

Oh, and if geodes could sometimes drop Salt when Pickamacalled... Mmm, I'd love another way to get that.

Dude would probably love Dust Moths and relate to them. Also probably drools at the idea of moonrocks and thulecite.

Why I think this works

I think having a character centered around an initial slow-down for a payoff in the long term would be a pretty unique idea for a character. And to further complement it, since RoT finished up, and a refresh to hound waves in long-running worlds, maybe we could finally get more stuff centered around world progression, like Through the ages, at long, long last...

With how long the process takes, it wouldn't really consume gameplay either, you could just go check in on your little geode labs every few in-game weeks, so you'd still have plenty of time to do all the other wonderful gameplay opportunities DST offers without feeling like you aren't playing Wardite "At peak efficiency"

This is the last bit of text I swear

I know nobody will probably read this really, Suggestions and Feedback is really barren compared to General Discussion... But, this is the idea I had behind a whole new process to add to the game, and a character that centers completely around it, designed with what I think are pretty important thoughts in mind for a more modern DST character.

Oh, and. If anyone from Klei is reading this.

I'm available for hire. Unprofessional professional writer & good idea-haver, here. Don't even need to pay me, really. I can also barely do art and barely write LUA, so. Yknow. Kind of a big fish in the possible hire-able people department. I know how amazing this was for you to not read, so think of all the amazing things I could come up with if I worked there. Just putting it out there.

This took over an hour and a half to write and proof-read. I hope you enjoy, and have a nice day, to whomever on the forums is reading this! <3

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Just had another idea related to this: If the geode lab was placed on the lunar island, it would be able to make moonrock geodes. Moonrock crystals may even be a thing, where using the tool/weapon gives some sanity. Or something like that. Hm.

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