After seeing David Lynch's adaptation of Dune I figured that somebody had to make a Mentat class for Dungeons of Dredmor since Lynch's Mentats all have the same crazy eyebrows that the DofD Player Character does Spoiler But I don't have a good enough familiarity with Dune to figure out what the class's abilities should be other than boosts to sagacity. Any ideas?
I picture it as a Wizard class support skill, kinda like magical training. (Could also justify it being a Rogue skill, or, with a little work, it could be something conceptually useful to both archetypes.) You could probably make it a Dune-in-general skill, instead of just a Mentat-purist skill, to give you liberty to include other effects and references. I'd still call it Mentat, 'cause the eyebrows are so perfect for Dredmor. The whole "It is by will alone I set my mind in motion" mantra could be a spell or a timer-based buff, perhaps it helps restore a little mana and gives a sagacity boost? I'd probably start the tree with it, unless you can figure out a way to work in a princess irulan "beginnings are a delicate time" joke, in which case the mantra could be second level. Juice of Sapho could be a potion of some sort. Likewise, the Spice and/or Water of Life could be potions. Maybe you get 1 of them at every level via the code that gives out an item at level-up, so they could be fairly strong single-use short term potions. Set them to be like the phylactery so they're not found or rarely found in the dungeon, and being that rare you can make them fairly potent. Or make them more common, but code them to also trigger a second/stronger effect if you have the mantra buff active when you drink it? Flavor text on the Juice of Sapho might involve some ubernerdy joke conflating Sapho with ancient greek lesbian poet Sappho. I will bend like a reed in the wind - adds to dodge and/or agility Poison Tooth, it's a really short range toxic damage attack. The Art of Kanly Is Still Alive would be a level that adds to Caddishness and Trap Sense. Pull The Heart Plug boosts Critical Hit Chance. The Slow Blade Penetrates The Shield - gives bonus Piercing Damage. My name is a killing word - adds or does blasting damage. Fold Space - I know, I know, it's the Guild Navigators who do this, not the Mentats, but an acceptable amount of flavor bleed to let you insert a Teleport of some sort into the tree and make it more useful. Fear is the Mind-Killer - possibly a level that causes fear effects in monsters? Or it's a buff for you that adds stubbornness and magic resist. And How Can This Be? - The last level could have you become the kwisatz haderach, or at least have the greatest eyebrows in the universe. Somewhere in the tree there probably has to be a joke about milking cats.
Here's what I'm thinking so far Lv0 The Art of Kanly is Still Alive "'Vendetta' in the ancient tongue" +1 -1 +1 +1 +1 Lv1 The First Step to Avoiding A Trap Is Knowing It's There "Now if I just had some idea what to do next" +1 +1 Lv2 Boosted Eyebrows +? +? Lv3 My Mind In Motion "The room appears to be spinning as well" +1 Drinking booze or potions adds extra drunkenness and procs buff similar to azure magic Lv4 Extra Boosted Eyebrows +? +? Lv5 We're Finding These Sabotage Devices Too Easily +2 -1 +1 Lv6 Supreme Eyebrows +? +? Lv7 Break Imperial Conditioning "With the right lever, you can beat a man's wife to death" +2 +2 +? +? Charm spell similar to Unconditional Love
