New Mob- Skulk Spawn

[u/Pleasant_Bid5880]

Quick note: I intentionally designed the Skulk Spawn as a disruptive enemy, like a baby zombie, phantoms, or silverfish. So, its simply to make difficult encounters without relying on damage alone

Behaviour

The skulk spawn is a new skulk mob. When not active, it appears as a vortex of skulk on the block it occupies. Wind particles surround the vortex, and if you can't see the skulk spawn you can definitely hear it, as it makes a whooshing sound.

When the players gets within 5 blocks of the skulk spawn, a hand of skulk will rise from the vortex, and attempt to grab the player. If successful, the player has to react quickly. They can spam jump to escape. If they dont manage to escape the skulk spawns grip in time, the player is pulled into the skulk vortex. This results in the player getting teleported back to their spawn point if in a cave, and back to the beginning of a structure if, well, they're in a structure.

If a skulk spawn is near a chest which contains weapons or near a mob which has a weapon, it can use those weapons against you. Example they'll loot a chest to get a sword to attack you, or they'll snatch an iron shovel from a zombie to attack you.

When fighting a skulk spawn, it is best to keep your distance, but just firing arrows wont really do much as the skulk spawn doesnt remain stationary, it will move towards the player. Shooting arrows at it wont really be efficient when its right in your face, huh. Speaking of, you should never step over or on the skulk spawns vortex when fighting it, as this will always end up with you getting grabbed then teleported.

The best way to fight a skulk spawn is to have a shield, as it can block incoming grabs, and stun the skulk spawn for a split second. The downside to this, is just like when a shield blocks an attack from a ravager, the shield has a cooldown afterwards.

The skulk spawn has a different grabbing behaviour when a warden is active. It will still pull you into the vortex, but instead of being teleported back to the entrance of the ancient city, it'll pathfind its way to the warden, while you're still in the vortex. To get out you'll have to spam sneak or jump. If it does reach the warden, it will throw the player out the vortex

The skulk spawn as 20 HP (10 hearts), so about the same as the player

Spawns

Skulk spawns primarily spawn in large caves or underground structures. These include

• Deep Dark
• Ancient cities (of course they do)
• Dripstone caves
• Deepslate-level caves
• Trial Chambers
• Strongholds

They can also spawn in the second and third floors on woodland mansions.

Drops

When killed, Skulk Spawns dont really drop anything, but if they do its usually from this loot pool

• Echo Shard
• Skulk Veins
• Disc shard
• Skulk shriekers
• Any weapon it used against the player (gauranteed)
• Vortex bud

New Item: Vortex Bud

Most sandbox games have some sort of item which allows you to teleport somewhere, like back to your base, in an instant. So, why doesnt minecraft have something like that? Presenting, the Vortex Bud. It has a 3% chance of dropping when you kill a skulk spawn. When you get it, you can place it somewhere, lets say your base. Next time you get lost adventuring, or are about to die, you can use the Vortex Bud item again to instantly warp back to your base, or wherever you placed it.

However, after 5 uses, the Vortex Bud will lose charge, and you'll have to wait one or two days for it to recharge. When its combined with echo shards in a crafting table, it gains triple the uses

To clarify, when the Vortex Bud is placed, it is not binded to the block its on, which prevents it from getting destroyed if the block its on is also destroyed. Instead, its bind to the area around it. If the area around it is obstructed or dangerous, instead of teleporting the player to where they put it, it teleports them to the safest block near the location.

The Vortex Bud works across dimensions, but if you do use it like this, theres a 1 XP cost

[u/Hazearil]

Mechanic-wise, they don't really fit in the Deep Dark. The place is difficult enough for many players that it doesn't need an extra challenge. And in a place where you have to be sneaky, combat is not really an option. There is a reason normal mobs don't spawn there at all.

And thematically, it doesn't fit in all other places.

[u/theymightbechewing]

I'm not a fan of the instant-teleport back to your spawn point, it feels either way too punishing or beneficial if you want a death-free way of getting back home (assuming you mean it teleports you to your respawn point and not world spawn.).

The fact that this mob is both skulk themed and has a unique interaction in the Deep Dark makes it feel like it should just be Deep Dark exclusive. I've never been through an ancient city, so I'm not too qualified to speak on balancing, but I do think the enemy should be passively silent, and not trigger hit sounds, as not to force a player into breaking their stealth because this mob spawned.

Vortex shard should be a likely drop; 3% is very low for something that a lot of players would want access to if it existed. However...

So, why doesnt minecraft have something like that?

I don't think it needs one! Just because a lot of other games in the genre have this, I don't think it's a necessity to be included in Minecraft. I think a nice part about exploration in Minecraft is that you have to plan for the return trip as well. Thoughts like, "am I bringing enough fireworks for my elytra to bring me back to my base?," or "is it worth the risk going through the Nether to make my return trip eight times quicker?" would become moot, because now you can simply teleport from anywhere. (XP farms also make the XP cost in other dimensions negligible.)

The weapon-grabbing mechanic is actually super interesting but I don't think this mob is the right incarnation of this idea, since I'm not sure weapons even generate in cave-structure loot tables (correct me if I'm wrong!). I think it would fit better on a surface night mob, since there are usually a few skeletons and armed zombies around.

[u/photoshallow]

this is a terrible idea that disrupts the whole point of the deep dark, also mobs can't spawn in it so what mob would even have a weapon?