Drops to benefit monsters before they die?

[grumbleguts]

It'd be fun though watching saruman or someone trying to work out what everything does. Saruman quaffs a bubbling orange potion. He starts moving much slower. He aims a nickle plated and at you. Now there are two of you.

[Adley]

Monster have intrisict item knowledge.

[Tiburon Silverflame]

That brings up a point...how much would any given monster know, about the items he (or it) has? Then you also have to code in logic to say, OK, this rod of fire bolts does average 55 damage, while my fire bolt does 60...so I never use that rod of fire bolts, but I would use a wand of dragon's breath. That is, if you want the monster to use those items intelligently.

And, what items are actually usable? If the critter's got a ring of damage, does it apply to all its melee attacks? That may lead to the damage scaling out of proportion; in a sense, it's *already* factored in. If the monster has Ringil, how do we code in that he wields it properly...it could be that his standard melee attacks are nastier. And how many attacks would he get, with a weapon? Armor's equally tricky.

[fizzix]

And, what items are actually usable? If the critter's got a ring of damage, does it apply to all its melee attacks? That may lead to the damage scaling out of proportion; in a sense, it's *already* factored in. If the monster has Ringil, how do we code in that he wields it properly...it could be that his standard melee attacks are nastier. And how many attacks would he get, with a weapon? Armor's equally tricky.

How do both a kobold and a half troll fit in the same armor anyway? How would a dragon wield a sword? Why does it take the same amount of time to swap body armor as it does to drink a potion? What's logical doesn't necessarily make for good gameplay. If you want monsters to use the items they have, you must make it good for gameplay even if logic is stretched.

for the record, i'm not convinced that having monsters use drops is a good idea. Thematic drops, certainly. priests should drop prayer books and blunt weapons. molds should drop mushrooms etc.

[Magnate]

Yes, currently, monster drops are created on death. You can verify this by save scumming, though you'll have to change the RNG state to get a different drop. Obviously any system where monsters use the items they have (or where players can steal from monsters, etc.) would have to generate those items when the monster is created.

There is no need to speculate about this, as there is at least one variant (Un, IIRC), which creates monster drops at level generation and allows monsters to use items they are carrying. Try it and see how you think it would affect V.

[andrewdoull]

There is no need to speculate about this, as there is at least one variant (Un, IIRC), which creates monster drops at level generation and allows monsters to use items they are carrying. Try it and see how you think it would affect V.

Un does this in a deliberately limited way:

1. Monsters that throw or shoot items, get those items created when they are created, both to limit their ammunition supply to a fixed amount, and so you can burn or otherwise destroy those items from their inventories (pay back time).

2. If you pick pocket a monster or trade items with it, its inventory is created.

As for using items, monsters can only use items in two ways: either as ammunition for throwing or shooting attacks, and eating food or potions or body parts to recover damage. Everything else would be unfair on the player.

Andrew