Rhilgaar, The Forest Ranger and Othar the Bear

Rhilgaar The Forest Ranger

And Othar the Bear

Rhilgaar:

Health: 500 – 1950 Health Regen: 6-15 Mana: 250 – 850 Mana Regen: 7 – 15 Ranged: 550 Attack Damage: 55 – 90 Attack Speed: 0.67 (+0% – 55%) Armor: 22 - 82 Magic Resist: 30 Mov. Speed: 330

Appearance: A gruff, dirty middle-aged man with a bit of grey hair, donning adventurer's brownish/greenish leathers and a cloak, well worn. A long curved bow in both hands, and a quiver on his back. Tough boots and breeches that look like they've been everywhere. Right next to him is a huge brown bear on all fours... Othar is his name. Othar is wearing leather barding and has sharp claws and a ferocious showing of fangs.

Passive: Othar the Bear

Rhilgaar enters the game with Othar, the Bear. He is entirely targetable, killable, and offers XP and money to the enemy that slays him. (I think at least 75g, maybe more.)

Othar the Bear moves around much like Annie moves Tibbers or Shaco moves his clones (Using Alt to direct him to move or attack).

He automatically attacks those you target to attack, and if you hit "S" he will stop just like you. It should feel relatively fluid if Rhilgaar is kiting a target, (move a little bit, attack, move a little bit, attack), so too will Othar (assuming Othar is placed correctly, to be in range to get the auto attack off)

Othar is not like Annie's Tibbers or Shaco Clones or LeBlanc's Decoys in that if Rhilgaar gets too far, Othar will not immediately teleport to Rhilgaar's side. Instead, Othar will immediately run to be in range of Rhilgaar, gaining increased movement speed the further Othar is far away from Rhilgaar (Similar to a jungle creep that reaches it's leash limit, returning to its original spot). The range on Othar's "leash" should be relatively short, I was thinking no more than 1000.

The whole point of Rhilgaar is to be near Othar, not to send Othar to suicide against a tower or farm without risking Rhilgaar. The leash makes it possible to root or slow Othar to provide counterplay, and make it dangerous to send Othar too far.

The only exceptions to the leash are if Rhilgaar teleports or recalls, or uses something like a Tahm Kench Ultimate. In these cases, Othar is teleported with Rhilgaar.

If Othar is killed, not only does it weaken Rhilgaar's abilities, he will not respawn for 30 seconds. (Perhaps at level 18 it scales down to 15). Rhilgaar can recall to respawn Othar immediately, or visit the shop if out of combat. Highlighting the passive will show you Othar's current statistics, similar to pressing C will show you your own statistics. Also included in this tool tip is Othar's respawn time.

Othar the Bear's Statistics:

Health: 120% of Rhilgaar's Health Regen: 120% of Rhilgaar's No mana Melee 125 Attack Damage: 90% of Rhilgaar's Attack Speed: 100% of Rhilgaar's Armor: 120% of Rhilgaar's Magic Resist: 100% of Rhilgaar's Movement Speed: 120% of Rhilgaar's

Q: "Charge, Othar!"

Cost: 80 mana Cooldown: 15/14/13/12/11

Othar charges in a straight line, dealing physical damage and slowing all he runs into, stopping once he runs into an enemy champion. The range of Othar's charge is <500 from Othar's original location.

Damage: 50 / 80 / 110 / 140 / 170 (+ 70% AP) (+ 120% bonus AD) Slow: 20% / 30% / 40% / 50% / 60%

If Othar is killed or beyond 1000 range from Rhilgaar, Rhilgaar instead fires a ~400 ranged skillshot, a swirling arrow that slows the first target it hits.

Visuals: Rhilgaar whistles, and points to the location if he isn't shooting at the time. Othar quickly tramples over minions and the like, and upon impact with an enemy champion, Othar stops the charge in a small explosion of white light and energy, and proceeds to attack the champion if Othar is still in range of Rhilgaar. Otherwise Othar immediately runs back to the leash range of Rhilgaar.

W: Blood Bond Strike

Passive: Othar gains lifesteal equal to 50% / 60% / 70% / 80% / 90% of Rhilgaar's. Rhilgaar gains (and therefore so does Othar gain a % of it too) 2% / 4% / 6% / 8% / 10% lifesteal.

Active: Cost: 50 mana Cooldown: 12

For the next 5 seconds, Rhilgaar and Othar heal each other with their lifesteal as well as themselves. This can also be used as an auto attack reset. (Perhaps if the skill needs to be more interesting the auto attack reset also increases the next attack for both Rhilgaar and Othar, although I worry about throwing too many things in one skill)

If Othar is killed or beyond 1000 range from Rhilgaar, Rhilgaar still gains the auto attack reset, and the passive lifesteal, but no extra healing.

Visuals: Rhilgaar and Othar glow a bright red and blood explodes from each of their auto attacks.

E: Ranger's Retreat

Cost: 75 mana Cooldown: 18 / 16 / 14 / 12 / 10 Range: 450

Rhilgaar leaps toward the targeted location. Rhilgaar can instead use this to leap to the top of Othar for up to 3 seconds, permitting Othar is within 450 range. Rhilgaar can tumble away before the 3 seconds are up (Range: 50) in a direction by reactivating the ability.

When Rhilgaar jumps to the top of Othar, several things occur during the ride: Othar is no longer targetable by single target spells, although any damage over time or area of effect may kill him, thus ending Rhilgaar's ride early. Rhilgaar gains the greater movement speed of Othar. If E is casted, and then Q, Rhilgaar follows atop of Othar as they charge. Othar can no longer auto attack, and moving either with standard right clicks or using the alt key moves both Rhilgaar and Othar as one.

Visuals: Rhilgaar deftly (surprisingly deft for how old he looks) leaps into the air briefly to land on his location. If he lands on Othar, Othar looks back at Rhilgaar with a wicked grin of his fierce fangs. If Rhilgaar doesn't immediately attack or use any other ability, he pats Othar on the scruff of his neck and says "Good Boy!"

R: Call of the Wild (Ultimate)

Cost: 100 / 75 / 50 mana Cooldown: 180 / 120 / 60

Rhilgaar gains extraordinary attack speed and movement speed for 8 seconds. Othar gains even more.

Rhilgaar gains 40% / 50% / 60% more attack speed and 30% more movement speed. Othar gains 50% more on top of that which Rhilgaar gains, (since he already scales off Rhilgaar's attack speed and movement speed)

Visuals: A large fiery spectral bear head appears over Rhilgaar and floats there for the duration of the ultimate as he shouts a blood-curdling "Yah!" or "Mush!" loudly. (not as loud as a Sion or Nocturne ultimate, but still very loud for anyone nearby.)

Playstyle

The versatility of a "permanent pet" champion that has a pet that scales off both Auto Attacks/Attack speed as well as Health/Armor/Magic Resist makes this champion effective at many roles. Most likely, Rhilgaar and Othar will be played as a jungler or a marksman in bot lane, although I wouldn't be surprised if Rhilgaar and Othar find their way in the solo lanes as well. It solely depends on what you build.

The character should be listed as "Marksman" as primary role, and "Fighter" as secondary, but the build path is entirely up to you.

Going high in attack speed and AD and Lifesteal items like any other Marksman will find Rhilgaar and Othar to be a strong early-mid game champion, although without other on-hit effects (than lifesteal) or criticals from Othar make Rhilgaar and Othar potentially fall off in damage output in late-late game. However, the utility of having Othar could be the balance to that.

Going high in tank gear like a Fighter makes both Rhilgaar and Othar tanky and hard to kill, although with a lack of % health damage, going full tank will not do much damage at all.

I expect the typical build to be more of a hybrid of the two, with a bruiser build instead of focusing solely on damage or tank.

Recommended Items:

Starting Items (Jungle): Hunter's Machete and Potions, Yellow Trinket

Starting Items (lane): Doran's Blade and Potion, Yellow trinket

Core Items (Jungle): Boots of Mobility, Stalker's Blade (Warrior Enchantment)

Core Items (lane): Berserker's Greaves, Bloodthirster, Black Cleaver

Aggressive Items: Rapid Fire Cannon, Essence Reaver, Infinity Edge, Lord Dominik's Regards

Defensive Items: Dead Man's Plate, Maw of Malmortius, Spirit Visage, Randuin's Omen

Situational Items: Blade of the Ruined King, Guardian Angel, Youmuu's Ghostblade, Banshee's Veil, Mercurial Scimitar

Animations and VFX

Movement Rhilgaar runs smoothly and springly, much unlike his age may deem. Rhilgaar calls as he moves saying "Othar, this way!" to which Othar replies with a growl, or "Feels just like the Old Forest". If Othar is currently dead or out of range, Rhilgaar instead calls "Man, it feels lonely of late", or "If only Othar had my back right now" Othar tramples about proudly and with a wild ferocity. As he moves around he growls a low gutteral noise.

Basic Attack Rhilgaar draws an arrow from his quiver and nocks it, and pulls back and fires. The arrow is wooden and basic unless Blood Bond Strike is active and it glows a deep red, with a small trail of blood-red flare behind it. Rhilgaar calls as he attacks: "Have at ye, knave!" or "Othar! Attack this one!" to which Othar roars ferociously. Othar rakes with both claws simultaneusly or bites with his mouth, randomly changing between the two. If Blood Bond Strike is active, the claws and bite unleash a small spray of gore. Othar calls as he rakes with the claws with loud roars and makes ferocious biting noises when biting.

Critical Strike Rhilgaar fires an iron arrow with a distinct metallic "thwack" of the bow and a "thump" of the impact of the arrow into the target. Rhilgaar occasionally on a critical cries out "Aha!" or "Gotcha!" Othar cannot critical strike.

Recall Othar circles around Rhilgaar once, twice, and then finally ends behind Rhilgaar perfectly timed with Rhilgaar as he "trust falls" into the side of Othar, right before they teleport back to base.

Death Rhilgaar cries a painful "Oomph" as his bow breaks and he falls to one knee for a second before he falls forward, dead. If Othar dies, Rhilgaar cries "Nooo Othar!", as Othar makes a dying wail, landing with legs spread out.

As Othar respawns, Rhilgaar states "Thank the Forest you're back!"

Lore

I haven't fleshed this part out entirely, but the whole concept of Rhilgaar and Othar is that the two are bonded at an early age as a part of the Forest Ranger's Guild. The guild isn't exactly a large gathering... most times each Forest Ranger keeps to themselves (beyond the animal that they bond to) in different forests. The Forest Rangers are tasked with protecting the animals and plants of their Forest and rarely leave for more than a quick supply run to a nearby village or city.

Someone (Perhaps Thresh?) has desecrated the forest assigned to Rhilgaar, having gotten away with it by striking quickly while Rhilgaar and Othar visited a village for supplies. Having no Forest to defend, Rhilgaar and Othar seek retribution and judgement for the sinner in the Fields of Justice.

Notes

The largest challenge when playing as Rhilgaar and Othar will be microing two different characters at all times, and utilizing the two and the abilities that relate to both of them. The abilities may sound simple, but managing both Rhilgaar and Othar will make this champion more of a challenge to master.

There are obvious weaknesses and strengths in this champion. When Rhilgaar has Othar, he will be scary strong, and when Rhilgaar is without Othar, he will be scary weak. The counterplay will require the enemy champions to make a choice... Kill Rhilgaar outright and Othar dies too, but it may be easier to temporarily weaken Rhilgaar by targeting Othar first.

I've considered a few tweaks depending on how strong Rhilgaar and Othar end up being: Mainly, does it make sense to have Othar have more scaling into late game... on-hit effects such as the blade of the ruined king or Red Lizard's buff, critical strikes, add a small magic damage on hit from Othar scaling with AP to provide more item builds and make things like Guinsoo's or other hybrid items more effective. At the present build, I think Rhilgaar and Othar will be very strong early on (the game is practically a 6v5 at that stage) but will quickly fall off without Othar critting or causing on-hit effects. However, if you throw something like Guinsoo's on Rhilgaar and Othar, and you do allow on-hit effects, they would scale better late game than any other champion, except perhaps a Veigar, Sion or Nasus or the like. This would all depend on how testing the champion would do.

Yes, this is a relatively burst-mobile champion if you perfectly combo the abilities E onto Othar > Q > R > E again in a straight line, but I've intended on letting these have relatively long cooldowns, and wouldn't be very easy to gain such a big burst of mobility unless you planned for it. Othar would require being away from the enemy team, otherwise you'd be jumping into the enemies. And, since Othar is melee, you'd be missing out on potential DPS. It would require high amounts of micromanaging your two units and constantly making a trade off of "Do I want to be safe?", with Othar in the back or aggressive with Othar in the front.

Other potential changes: Instead of sharing lifesteal temporarily, perhaps the W sacrifices some health from Othar and gives it to Rhilgaar. This would provide a huge risk/reward decision thing, but I imagine Othar would need to have more health regen or lifesteal to make up for this.

Important Things to Consider

Can Othar Be Healed? That would depend. I think a single-target "Must target allied champion" heal such as Nami's or Sona's shouldn't heal the bear. However, I would think that the AoE heal of Alistar or Taric would heal Othar as much as they would heal a minion.

Can Othar be Slowed/Stunned? I would consider giving him a small bit of tenacity/slow resistance naturally, and perhaps the tenacity/slow resistance rises the further away Othar is from Rhilgaar. However, it still must make sense to attempt to root or slow Othar especially if Rhilgaar separates from him.

Can Othar be used to tank turrets? That is a good question. I expect that proper way to handle this is similar to what Tibbers does to Annie when under turret fire. If Othar attacks an enemy champion under a turret while no other allied champion is tanking the turret, and Rhilgaar is in range of the turret's attack (most likely he will be), Rhilgaar should gain aggro from the turret. That way Rhilgaar and Othar aren't just the most miraculous divers in the game, solo, at only a loss of Othar for ~30 seconds. However, different from Tibbers or other pets, I think Othar shouldn't immediately start taking primary turret aggro like other pets. In this way he should be considered another champion. Otherwise Rhilgaar and Othar would be nearly useless in attacking towers even with minions.

Can Othar be Sent beyond his leash of 1000 range? No is the simple answer. Othar will go to the edge of the leash, and stay at that range unless commanded to move elsewhere or Rhilgaar moves and thus he must move with him.

Do offensive abilities that only hit champions hit Othar? This is a very important question. I'm tempted to say yes, but it may require some balancing. Things like Ezreal's Essence Flux and Leona's Zenith Blade, it makes sense, but can Othar be used to trigger Caitlin's Traps, or block her Ultimate? Can Zed use his Ultimate on Othar? If Evelynn Ultimates, does she gain a stronger shield for hitting Othar too? Does Karthus hit Othar with his ultimate? Can Illaoi pull the spirit of Othar away and make Othar a vessel? The vast different applications of this question make this a challenge for us to figure out. The easiest way would be simply to say Othar is not considered a champion. Thus, he is susceptible to smite (even if they don't have challenging or chilling smite) and Nunu's Consume. This would then be balanced by the fact you can't Nami Heal Othar or other various allied Champion-only targeted abilites (Imagine for example if Sona could shield and heal Othar, and speed him up and cause his auto attacks to do more damage, it could be very messy to balance!).

Champion Interactions:

Possible good champions to combo with:

Alistar: Strong heals make a nice support for Rhilgaar and Othar, so that Othar can be used more offensively. If Othar slows a target, he may be in range of Alistar's deadly combo.

Kindred: Kindred can save Othar's life with her ultimate, and can combo the slows to catch targets.

Lulu: Lulu can shield and fire her Glitterlance from Othar, giving more control of long range poke than shielding a minion would.

Possible good counters to Rhilgaar & Othar:

Bard: Bard would find it very easy to stun both Rhilgaar and Othar as they rarely leave each other's side. If they do separate, Bard's Ultimate could easily let the opposing team pick off one of them.

FIddlesticks: With a toss of the crows on the duo all alone, both will take enormous damage as the crows bounce back and forth. Add in the high damage AoE ultimate and tons of crowd control, and Fiddlesticks could be a very strong counterpick.

Nunu: Depending on how we decide to go about this, Nunu could immediately counter Rhilgaar and Othar by chunking Othar with true-damage Consume.

Thoughts? Suggestions? I give credit to all the other "permanent pet" ideas I've seen in this forum as well as Jeremy "The Gaming Curious" posting his Summoner video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2FAwBUYkC8. I feel this character concept could be the easiest way with current game mechanics to have a unique playstyle of a potentially powerful champion with a permanent pet with limitations and room for counterplay.