Quote:I think that "variant" means a roleplayed theme to a build like a Gothic KnightBeing an asylum variant convert since D1 times, this is the definition of variants that I've always gone with.
Mageazon, etc are "builds" rather than "variants".
Mageazons (at least the original concept) pretty much fit well into the variant definition... in that she emulates the sorceress in all manners except for the use of the bow as a medium for casting spells. Ice bolt as cold arrow, ice blast as ice arrow, glacial spike as freezing arrow, fire bolt as fire arrow, fire ball as exploding arrow and firewall as immolation. And just like a sorceress would pump up mana for offence and use +skills and +mana/+mana regen gear, a mageazon does the same thing... except that faster cast is being replaced by ias.
The same can easily be said for my buriza barb and chance-to-cast barb... characters built to emulate an amazon and tank-sorc respectively. A minotaur sorc using great helm types (for the horns), the minotaur ancient axe, with the high strength and vitality characteristic of a minotaur.