(Champion Concept) Grace the Haunted Maligner

Table of Contents:

1. Introduction
2. Appearance
3. Lore (And Short Story)
4. Gameplay
5. Quotes and Animations
6. Ending Notes
7. History of Changes
8. Good Neighbor Requirement

Introduction Hello everyone, and welcome to my 4th champion concept Grace the Haunted Maligner! This concept I came up with while walking around campus (walking is a great way of thinking, highly recommended), and actually started with me thinking of an idea of the kit before the lore... that usually never happens. I couldn't help but feel like it would be fun making this concept (even with my lack of artistic talent), so I thought I'd give it a shot. I'll have additional notes at the bottom, but for now let's get into it!

Appearance Grace is a tall (by that I mean around 5'8 or 5'9?), with a body that is very skilled at seduction... I'll let you interpret what I mean by that. Her hair is a darker blond, and falls to her middle back. In terms of clothing, she wears a fully buttoned pirate captain's coat, which is black with dark silver accents. Underneath it, you can see her wearing a white button down shirt with a black tie. She also wears a white skirt that reaches her knees, underneath it are tight black pants with a belt beneath the waste. She has black boots with about a two-inch heel and silver accents. (So with boots she is about 5’10 or 5’11.)

Lore

Short Lore -

Grace is an orphan that grew up on the streets of Bilgewater, using determination and confidence in her lies to survive. Through the growing of her body, she found that she could not only survive, but lead a life as a worker of a brothel. Gradually, she became more renowned as she worked harder to strive for the top through the use of even more lies and even more determination, gaining a twisted sort of confidence along the way. This all changed when she met Vinson.

Vinson was more a boy than a man, radiating waves of self-doubt and negativity, but he was the first person to ever deny Grace's seduction. This crushed and humiliated her, and she left the brothel sprinting, only taking with her one line he said while she was leaving,

"Why... do you work here...?"

This phrase is what brought Grace to her senses, showing her that she chose to lead this life of lies, rather than being forced to. Using this new found knowledge and determination, she found and followed Vinson to being a rifleman under a pirate captain. While Vinson was hesitant and full of doubt with the rifle, Grace grew more and more confident and loving of the truth of her confidence, rather than the lie of her confidence she held while hiding her disgust at the brothel. She wanted to spread the confidence to Vinson, and after many attempts she was finally able too, but unfortunately he didn't last long.

After being brutally beaten by the captain, Grace had decided to lie once again to kill the captain for harming Vinson. While it did work, Grace had to lie to herself to take the shot, believing that she could kill a man... this lie lead to the downfall of the person she cared about the most. The crew didn't even doubt Grace, and easily targeted Vinson at the perpetrator, shooting him in the head with leaving Grace (who had just arrived) with a single glance from him saying that he knew what she did. She never even got to see him fully smile.

Grace, in extremely rage, grabbed his rifle and killed the crew in a daze. Once she finally awoke, she finally realized that she had loved Vinson... after he died. Empty of confidence and determination to survive, Grace made to throw herself off the ship into the sea, but was held back by a familiar touch... a nearly nonexistent ghost of Vinson that could not feel emotion.

Eventually, she discovered that in order to make Vinson's ghost stronger, she had to make liars feel the truth with Vinson's rifle... but most liars only realized the truth when they were dead. Though Grace is still not used to killing, she is filled with new confidence and determination to do whatever it takes to revive Vinson, so she can finally be with the man she loves.

Longer Lore-

Cold rain fell heavily to the ground, muffling the noise of Bilgewater’s nightlife. In an alley, Grace kicked the con in the stomach, causing him to vomit blood in a vicious coughing fit while being knocked to the ground. Distaste rode heavily on her tongue as she pulled out Vinson’s rifle, carefully maintained in remembrance and purpose. As she pointed the rifle down on the con, his eyes glanced up at her… fearful and crying. He made a motion as if to squeeze his eyes shut and accept his fate, but his eyes caught a figure silently forming behind Grace, a rifle also forming in their hands… a ghost.

Despite death being near, he attempted to let out a scream at the sight, but fell silent at the noise of a single gunshot. At one last glimpse towards his chest, he saw two bullet holes… and then his vision faded black. The only sort of flower left for his grave was a single tear of rememberance and determination left from Grace, a sign of her determination to keep going with her quest to be with Vinson again.

Growing up as an orphan in Bilgewater, Grace had no one to rely on but herself in order to survive. Determination was her key to living, and she combined it with deceit of the kind-hearted in order to survive. She maintained this way of petty deceit and thievery for most of her childhood, till she began to blossom as a woman. As she grew older, so did her beauty, something that began to enthrall the men that even glimpsed at her on the street. With this, Grace saw a new possibility… a way to not only survive, but to thrive within the city of Bilgewater.

Thoughts of disgust were something to be put behind her as she worked in a brothel, making her way to the top through underhanded methods and sheer strength of will… lying as she carved her path into something of value to the patrons. For the first time in her life, Grace found what it meant to mean something to someone, and she wanted to hold firmly onto that no matter the cost. She thought she finally found her perfect life… a mixture of deceit, disgust, and a twisted sort of morale growing each day till she met a boy in man’s clothing.

He was clearly new to the brothel experience, glancing around nervously and avoiding eye-contact while his comrades easily made themselves comfortable with the other women around. His negativity and self-doubt came off in waves, and it nearly blinded her with anger to see him standing there so carefree. In her mind there, Grace decided that he had never had to work hard for anything, never had to build any sort of conviction in order to accomplish even the simplest of tasks.

Grace grasped him by the hand, sending a shock of surprise that quickly spread throughout his body. Letting a smug huff of air throughout the corner of her mouth when she smiled pleasantly up at him (keeping it to herself that she was surprised to see him at around the same age as him). As quick as the penniless run from the collectors, he smacked her hand away from him and scurried back into a corner, like he was just surrounded by wharf rats. He did this in front of everyone, with all eyes on them… to watch her get turned down by a boy that couldn’t even make eye-contact.

Her confidence that she had been building seemed to shatter at that instance of humiliation. All of her hard work up to that point seemed to be deal nothing in the end. Rather than falling apart, Grace had put all of her defeat into anger, proceeding to attack the boy… only to be held back by her fellow brothel workers. By no means was she weak, exercising daily in order to properly maintain her body, but she couldn’t escape the grasp of the brothel workers that were just as determined to keep her away from him as she was to attack him. They were determined. They were desperate. Just as that thought had hit her mind, she grew limp from realizing what she was doing… stomping on the conviction of the brothel workers to keep themselves alive, even if for just another day. At that moment, an old feeling began to rise through her body, something she had thought she had forgotten… disgust.

At the sign of her weakening, the brothel workers softly released their grip… leaving Grace with a moment to break free and run as fast as she could out of the brothel. As she ran out, a single sentence seemed to call out to her more than the rest… in a voice that belonged to the boy.

“Why… do you work here…?”

It was only after she was a lengthy distance away from the brothel that she began to think about what he had said. His ignorance about her situation infuriated her to no end. He had no idea what she had to do. The lies she had to tell in order to survive… this was her only option to truly live a life. Only option… only option… only option. Only option. Only option. Only option… right? She seemed to spend days wondering around the town, with only this thought on her mind... it was her only option to survive. She had to lie to stay at the top of this world, and this was the only way to do it. The truth would never benefit her... or at least, that's what she chose to believe. At that point in time, Grace had realized… she had only accepted the first option that appeared in her mind as the most acceptable, due to it fitting her past life of lying. That’s why he asked her why he worked there… because he had seen better options if she simply considered the truth an option.

It was the first positive thought Grace had of the boy, whose name she did not yet know. At that moment, he became a little bit of a man in her eyes… the first step to a concept so foreign to her she would have never contemplated it. She decided to seek out the boy, although she had found it more difficult than she originally imagined it to be, with no name to go by. However, determination and grit had guided her through all her earlier predicaments and it guided her through this one. Eventually she found him… working under a pirate captain as a rifleman.

Him working as a pirate surprised her, since from a young age she had known the pirates to be as much of a liar, if not more, than she was. Regardless, she was not about to make assumptions like she had made in the past. Moving with a new form of certainty, one different from what she had in the past, she moved forward to meet the boy again.

To say that he was shocked when he saw her was an understatement, just like it’s an understatement to say he was shocked when she sought out the captain and joined the crew. She had decided that the best way to understand the boy… no, the man, and his concepts of truth was to spend as much time with him as possible. That, at least, was what she believed at the time… remaining unaware of the feelings growing inside of her.

She followed in, what she learned to be, Vinson’s footsteps and decided to learn the rifle… despite the pirate captain stating that she was more adequate in what he described as “physical activities” (something she knew and decided to not acknowledge). Despite Vinson’s self-doubt that still radiated off of him, he proved to be an adequate user of a rifle and teacher. Unfortunately, his hesitation and anxiety before every shot made him more likely to miss on anything larger than a barrel. Still though, Vinson taught Grace skills that quickly let her become a master with the rifle… and a new kind of confidence began to grow within her, a kind built on the truth of her feelings rather than lies. She had Vinson to thank for this, and wanted to repay him for these new feelings he had given her, by building confidence for him as well.

It was a lengthy process, with the trenches of self-doubt serving as defenses against the assurance she inspires to have reach his heart. However, Grace found herself more fortified in this than anything else she had done her life… and eventually it started working. He gradually began to make a little bit of eye contact when they talked, maybe a hint of a smile, and other small steps that would eventually allow him to flourish as the person he was truly meant to be. At least, that was what Grace had planned to happen.

The captain had always been a heavy drinker, spouting and spitting rage at everyone he met while drinking. He reminded Grace of her old brothel life, and it disgusted her like no other, but she lied and claimed that she still enjoyed the captain’s company while he was like this. She avoided getting hit with any blows or even yelling, and there had eventually been whispers that maybe she had even fallen in love with the captain… a thought so crude she wanted to vomit. It was one night that Vinson was finally struck by the captain.

Vinson usually escaped the captain’s rage due to his meek profile, but as Grace had been giving him more self-assurance his presence in the room seemed to go stronger… until eventually he became a target to. His injuries were devastating, and he wouldn’t have made it if the crew hadn’t distracted the captain from him… leaving Vinson to crawl out of the room with bruises laying across him. He returned to his old self when Grace saw him again, having gone to the town in hope of finding a gift for Vinson to improve his mood. When she found out who left the bruises on him, Grace decided to return to her life of lying… to kill the captain.

She had set up the perfect plan for killing the captain, by luring him using the proposition of her old life… no one would doubt her, as they never had before. She was only worried about saving Vinson, and not the consequences. Unfortunately, she lacked experience in one thing… killing. She had never killed anyone before, by pure coincidence or cold calculation on Vinson’s part she still does not know. However, she lied to herself and said she could do it… and she did. Her lie, though, brought disaster upon the person she most cared for.

The crew had discovered the body not long after she had gotten away, and it was true they never suspected her… but they suspected Vinson. They didn’t care whether he could have shot the captain or not in his current state, but rather they easily concluded that the only other person possible to shoot the captain (which was Grace) would never have killed the person she seemingly loved. However, in her eyes she did exactly that. The crew dragged Vinson to the top of the deck and held him beneath the gun without Grace even noticing… her to worried about her lie being discovered over the other possibilities.

By the time Grace got there, it was too late. She only managed to get eye contact with him before they shot him in the forehead, killing him instantly. That one piece of eye contact is something that will forever haunt Grace. It was similar to what she saw on the first day she met him, at the brothel… that he knew the truth of the matter. He died without Grace even being able to see him fully smile.

She was enraged. Her thoughts were absent of her body, but her body knew the one thing it had to do, rushing to grab Vinson’s rifle from his corpse, body moving like a wild beast. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill. Kill.

Grace was unsure how much time had passed, but when she finally awoke to herself panting and sweating, she immediately burst out into tears among the corpses of her former crew and the person she loved. It was only at that point that Grace finally realized that she loved Vinson, and yet she never got to experience such a thing with him. In fact, it could be said that she was the one that killed him. All because she lied to herself and said she could kill the captain... all because of her lying. All because of her. That was what resonated through Grace's head, with each thought crushing her spirit and sending a numbing pain throughout her body.

In a heartrending state, Grace stood up with empty strength and slowly made her way to the edge of the ship… fully attempting to climb off, all will to survive completely gone, just like Vinson. However, a familiar touch stopped her from taking the final step off the edge to join him. Him.

She turned around, ignoring all possible reason and dashing towards the touch… only to pass right through cold air. Confused, she had turned around only to be looking upon an almost nonexistent figure… a softly glowing Vinson stood before her eyes, looking blank and nearly gone, but there. It would be days before she would figure out what she had to do in order to make Vinson appear even stronger than before, and by then her determination had grown to do whatever it took.

Now, she shrugged off her coat as she moved to go to bed. Vinson was growing with each lie she killed with his rifle, and it seemed the only way to do it was death. She had still not gotten used to killing, but she would do whatever it took to get him to live again. Cradling the rifle tightly in her arms, she drifted softly off to sleep with the slight touch of a lover’s embrace.

Want to read the short story about Vinson? Check here!

Gameplay Stats- Health: 523-1869 Mana: 355-925 Attack Damage: 57-87 Attack Speed: 0.648 (+0 - 37.1%) Armor: 21-81 Magic Resist: 30-38.5 Range: 500 Movement Speed: 325

Gameplay - Grace can be compared to that of an AD caster, with her relying heavily on her skillshots to initiate her passive that scales each time it hits. She is meant to be taken as an ADC, but she would build closer to that of Jayce over the typical marksman build. You'll find out more when you read her kit~!

Passive - Vinson's Rifle

After a 0.5 delay after Grace hits an enemy champion with a basic ability, Vinson’s ghost appears and fires a skillshot towards the enemy dealing (100/125/150 [1/6/13] +10 for every shot Vinson hits) as magic damage (is shot from where Grace currently is to enemy's location when hit.) {Side Note: For a few milestones of Vinson's successful shots, he gets quotes!}

Q - Splintering Ricochet (Cost 50/55/60/65/70 {Cooldown 15/14/13/12/11 seconds})

Grace fires a skillshot (800 range) that deals 60/90/120/150/180 (+90% Bonus AD) physical damage to all enemies it passes through (dealing 50% damage to minions and monsters). If it hits a champion, it will fire at a 90 degree angle away from the target. Additionally, after each additional firing it will deal 15% less damage (minimum: 40% dmg).

By autoattacking an enemy champion, this ability's cooldown is reduced by one.

W - Unwavering Confidence (Cost 70 at all ranks {Cooldown 22/21/20/19/18 seconds})

Grace jumps quickly to a target location (500 range). Upon landing, Grace can reactivate this ability to fire a skillshot (reactivation time is extremely short) (600 range) in the direction of her cursor that deals 70/75/80/85/90 (+60% AD) to the first enemy champion hit. If it hits a champion, this ability’s cooldown is shortened by 75%.

E - Shrapnel Accuracy (Cost 45/50/55/60/65 {Cooldown 20/18/16/14/12 seconds})

Grace shoots a shot in the air to land at a target location (range 600), dealing 50% damage of 70/75/80/85/90 (+30% AD) on impact, along with slowing the target by 30/35/40/45/50% a decaying slow for 2 seconds. After a brief delay, the shot them detonates, shooting shrapnel in a horizontal line both left and right and, stopping and dealing the full damage, but the same slow duration to the first enemies hit. (Enemies can only take damage and be CCed once from this ability.)

R - Bewitching Truth (Cooldown 140/120/100 {Cost 100 at all ranks})

Upon activating this ability, it gains 2/4/6 charges to be used by reactivating this ability {0.5 second delay between charges reactivating} (duration: 10 seconds). Upon reactivation, Grace fires a fast skillshot (range 900) that stops at the first enemy champion hit, dealing (70/85/100 +40% AD). If an enemy is hit by two shots, they are charmed towards Grace for 0.5 seconds. (An enemy can only be charmed once per ultimate activation).

Quotes and Animations

Upon being picked: "They will face the truth... for our gain." Upon being banned: "Afraid of the truth? Why am I not surprised?"

Upon starting a game: "My determination will not falter." Upon starting a game: "Let the truth begin." Upon starting a game: "I'll get Vinson back, even at the cost of their lives."

Attacking: "Shots fired!" Attacking: "Ready yet?" Attacking: "You'll need more than that!" Attacking: "Determined yet?"

Movement: "Keeping up my form, even outside of the brothel." Movement: "This distance is nothing!" Movement: "Walking is a sign of the simple-minded." Movement: "Reminds me of my training... ah Vinson...."

Killing an enemy: "It could have been different if you just admitted it." Killing an enemy: "I don't have time to mourn." Killing an enemy: "I'm sorry, I truly am."

Upon using Q: "Vinson is clearly proud!" Upon using Q: "Confidence guides this one!" Upon using Q: "I'm the only one that could hit this!"

Upon using W: "Try to keep up, you rats!" Upon using W: "Reminds me of my training with Vinson." Upon using W: "No matter what, I can pull this off."

Upon using E: "This bullet's truth will be seen." Upon using E: "Come now, see this coming." Upon using E: "Try not to lose your legs."

Upon using R: "The truth is more intoxicating than lies." Upon using R: "I experienced the same sensation you will." Upon using R: "I'm not seducing you, it's the truth that is!"

Taunt: "How many lies have you told today?" Taunt: "I've lost too much, and you'll help me get him back." Taunt: "Come now, face the truth."

Joke: "When Vinson left my brothel room, he tripped over his own shoe." Joke: "Beauty and Grace... the ultimate combination just for Vinson." Joke: "Ever heard of Trove Brothel? Don't visit it, they like to steal underwear."

Dance (Grace begins to do the waltz and Vinson appears to do it with her, looping the animation after he appears). "You're a surprisingly good dancer... I love that." "I can't wait till I can hold you in my arms." "This is one service I've only performed with you."

Recalling (Grace twirls the gun before waving and turning away with moving her hand over her eyes like she's crying). "This is goodbye... definitely not the last." "I'll see you later... Vinson." "Determination is the key to survival, be sure to use it."

Death (Grace cradles the gun tightly before she dies, and spirit is seen leaving her body) "Together... in... death." "Our tragedy has ended...." "I'm home, Vinson..."

Vinson landing 10 shots quotes: Upon landing a shot: "I... somehow did it..." Upon landing a shot: "How...?"

Upon landing 20 shots quotes: Upon landing a shot: "Grace... I did it." Upon landing a shot: "I... knew I could do it. I felt I could."

Upon landing 30 shots quotes: Upon landing a shot: "I can't afford to be left behind." Upon landing a shot: "You know... I truly love you."

Ending notes

Thank you for reading Grace the Haunted Maligne, with special thanks to everyone in the Concept and Creations Discord for assistance! To be honest, she was originally going to be a support... that sure changed, huh? I actually drew heavy inspiration from my OTP in terms of characters and the like (you might be able to guess it)! Please leave any comments you have about Grace below, I'd love to hear your feedback.

By the way, this was my first attempt at writing anything with romance... despite my love for the genre. I hope I did a pretty good job, as I'm pretty nervous about it. Oh, and if you didn't notice my lore has no dialogue... another one of my weaknesses. I've got to take some creative writing courses to help out my skills, but till then this is what I'm doing.

Oh, a side note is that this is an entry for the September CCOS, a competition where champion concept creators can get detailed feedback. Highly recommended if ya feel like making a champion concept!

Till my next concept, farewell! (0_0)/

History of Changes 9/16/2017: Posted. 9/16/2017: Woops, forgot to edit some! 9/17/2017: Added a short lore, have fun reading! 9/17/2017: Is that a complete rework of abilities? IT IS! 9/18/2017: Editted some numbers along with some clarification. 9/18/2017: Did I seriously just revamp the lore? I absolutely did. 9/19/2017: Vinson short story and a few milestone quotes added! 9/19/2017: Also, some longer CDs and giving E more counter play room for pushing towards ADC. Good Neighbor Requirement