Different ways to apply D&D mechanics to a real-time RPG

[Jackinthegreen]

I've just been watching some Diablo 3 and Path of Exile stuff and it occurred to me: There are enemies that get random modifiers and abilities and such in other games, but I haven't seen a D&D game (mostly for lack of seeing many to begin with) where the enemies get visible augments based on various abilities and such, like in Diablo 2 where the mob might show up as having spectral hit which means it does random elemental damage.  In D&D terms a random elite mob might have multiple projectiles at once and show up as having Manyshot or Greater Manyshot.  A melee monster might show up as having Shock Trooper, in which case you might have to treat it with caution because it has the potential to charge for serious damage as well as push people around and trip them up.

Path of Exile especially has gotten me to think of how feats and such might be better organized visually.  Its improvement system is difficult to describe without actual visual aid, so click here to see what I mean.  A system like that, with some (understatement of the year) tweaking, would at least be an interesting way to display and compare feat chains and perhaps other abilities like spells.

Does anyone know of a D&D game with a presentation even remotely like any of this?

[linklord231]

I think something similar does exist in D&D, in the form of templates.  Sometimes a creature shows up that's just better than average - it has damage reduction, spell resistance, darkvision, some elemental resistances, and can Smite Good.  In other words, it's a Fiendish monster. 
But I don't think this is exactly what you meant.  You seem to be looking for something where you can just have a few pre-generated "kits" with a certain combination of feats and class levels, that can turn any monster into a certain archetype. 

Ferocious creature
Prerequisites:  base creature must have at least 4 Hit Dice
Feats:  Power Attack, Leap Attack, optional:  Improved Bull Rush, Shock Trooper, Combat Brute
Classes:  WhirlPounce Wolf Totem Barbarian 2
Tactics:  A Ferocious creature activates its Rage as soon as possible, giving it +4 Str, +2 AC and Reflex saves, and an extra attack (all attacks have a -2 penalty).  It then makes a Leap Attack at the closest target, allowing it to make a full attack via Pounce.  It uses its Improved Trip feat to knock people down and gain a free attack whenever possible.  Ferocious synergizes best with monsters that have +1 BAB per Hit Dice and/or high Str scores.  Bonus points for being Large or larger sized and for lots of natural attacks.

Stalking creature
Prerequisites:  base creature must have at least 6 Hit Dice
Feats:  Darkstalker, Craven, Shadow Blade or Weapon Finesse
Classes:  Swordsage 2 (Maneuvers should be drawn primarily from the Tiger Claw and Shadow Hand schools, one of the stances should be Assassin's Stance
Tactics:  A Stalking creature often acts alone, either as a solo encounter or a scout for its allies.  It sneaks up on the party and tries to set up Sneak Attack whenever possible.  Stalking synergizes best with creatures that already have some form of Sneak Attack, have high Hide and Move Silently modifiers, and/or some form of invisibility. 

Edit:  thought of another one
Brutish creature
Prerequisites:  Size Large or Larger
Feats:  Power Attack, Improved Bull rush, Knockback
Classes:  optional DungeonCrasher Fighter 2 - 6
Tactics:  Brutish creatures smash things.  They smash doors, objects, party members... everything.  Whenever a Brutish creature hits with a Power Attack (which they use every round), they always use their Knockback feat to Bull Rush the target farther away or into walls or objects or whatever.  If using the DungeonCrasher levels, Bullrushing in this manner causes extra damage.  Brutish synergizes well with big, strong enemies and little corridors. 

[Jackinthegreen]

Templates/kits would probably be the D&D equivalent, yes, although adding class levels wouldn't make sense for certain monsters.  Tweaking bas stats and feats/special abilities is one way to do it, provided such things are pretty damn obvious.  Point Blank Shot?  That won't get noticed.  Rapid Shot might since it's faster attacks.  Manyshot would definitely get noticed though because it's multiple attacks at the same time.  Likewise Shock Trooper would probably get noticed more than just Power Attack.

Another random thought:  Perhaps a measure of how powerful a feat is would be whether it'd have a noticeable effect if put on a character in a hack-and-slash RPG.

[linklord231]

Obviously you don't have to include class levels in the kits, it just makes it easier to add certain signature, "visible" abilities onto monsters. 
I personally agree that feats should have a noticeable impact on play style from the moment you take them.  That's part of what I like about Frank and K's Tome feats - perhaps that's more what you're looking for?  Be warned, they're (intentionally) much more powerful than official feats. 

[Jackinthegreen]

I've read the Tome stuff before and I agree the feats are nice and properly powerful.

But part of what I'm asking is if there is a D&D video game that already does this sort of stuff like randomized feat kits for monsters and such?  If not, pitching it to whomever could do that sort of thing would certainly be interesting, but I expect nothing to come of it really.

[linklord231]

As far as I'm aware, every video game based on the 3.5 rules set was fully scripted, with no randomization except for minor loot items and random encounters (except, only the when part of the encounter was randomized, not the actual enemies themselves)