Expanding on Ego items

[camlost]

I think you are right about this. First, we need multiple pvals to allow more scope for randomness. Second, we need to retain the distinction between egos (which are defined in ego_item.txt) and randarts (which are totally random). So I agree that adding a few more flags for random additions to ego item entries is the way to go - unless a consensus arises for removing ego_item.txt altogether ...

An alternative to ego items would be to simply run everything through the randart code (with power depending on depth, drop quality, and a large pile of luck), and attempt to name certain combinations of properties in an ad-hoc manner after the fact (using current ego items names for items that match (or almost match) their flags). It might even be possible to triage flags into some sort of meaninful naming convention, though I'm doubtful of a good implementation.

[Magnate]

An alternative to ego items would be to simply run everything through the randart code (with power depending on depth, drop quality, and a large pile of luck), and attempt to name certain combinations of properties in an ad-hoc manner after the fact (using current ego items names for items that match (or almost match) their flags). It might even be possible to triage flags into some sort of meaninful naming convention, though I'm doubtful of a good implementation.

It would indeed, but I think I prefer the approach of using a basic ego framework like we have now, and adding more bells and whistles to it (random properties).

[Lord Fell]

My idea (and I'm the OP over here) would be for Ego items to be slightly randomized throughout each game. So, a Dagger of Slay Orc found on DL17 might be more powerful than a Mace of Slay Orc found on DL13 (or, based on randomization, less powerful).

I think the best way to accomplish this would be to really "pare down" the abilities of various ego items, so that there is more "room" for Random Powers. "Basic" Slaying weapons are the easiest; they only have one must-have power. So, take your weapon of Slay Orc, it has the power Slay Orc. It may have additional powers which are "specific" to a weapon of Slay Orc:
ESP (limited to Orcs) or Activate (Berserk Strength) [for example].
It may also draw from a pool of abilities that are common to "any" ego weapon:
Slow Digestion, Increase (stat), etc.

Branded items could commonly have "Activate" for either elemental Bolt or elemental Ball of type.

[Lord Fell]

My last few characters have all been melee types... and I came to a disappointing revelation.

A Dagger (1d4, +5 +5) was the best weapon any of these characters has used. In fact, two of my characters (Warrior, Paladin) have used them, and continued to use them until killing Wormtongue and getting a Mace Defender and a Trident of Westernesse respectively. ...in point of fact, the Dagger still did a lot more damage than the Defender, which I only used because its collective powers made it too good not to use.

I think that, itself, is a problem. I think that an Ego Item should almost always be preferable to a plain, non-powered Magic item.

It may also mean that the way weapon attacks/damage may need to be re-investigated. The fact is, a sword should be a preferable weapon to a dagger, as the reach and damage of a sword makes it a vastly superior weapon to a dagger.

[camlost]

It may also mean that the way weapon attacks/damage may need to be re-investigated. The fact is, a sword should be a preferable weapon to a dagger, as the reach and damage of a sword makes it a vastly superior weapon to a dagger.

You should consider playing one of the following variants: O, FA, Un, Z (newer versions), or S. I'm sure there are more, but these come to mind as variants where base damage dice is more important than +dam.

[EpicMan]

That makes no sense. Randomizing each ego item individually just turns ego-items into destructible artifacts, in effect removing the class property. Certainly that isnt desired ?

But some egos have that right now. Holy Avengers, Elvenkind and Resistance gear, Gondolin weapons, all have either random extra resists or random powers (feather fall, ESP, slow digestion, etc, the quality really, really varies). This is just a random extension of that.

I like the idea of many egos with a small core set of guaranteed powers and several random powers. This could be expanded by giving different powers different values, so slow digestion is 'cheaper' than ESP and makes it more likely that an additional power could be created. If you end up with something overpowered you could convert it to a randart or just lose all random properties and return a ' baseline' ego. So the strongest ego items are those whose ego costs are closest to the limit (which would probably be different for different ego types, i.e. higher for Gondolin than for *Slay Orc*) without going over it.

[Hariolor]

I like this (the original post) idea a lot.

Would it be practical to switch causality for ego items, so that the name was generated *based on* the attributes of the item?

The idea would be that items that only generate one or two low abilities would be named like "a mace of berzerking of slay orc", or "a dagger of illumination of featherfall" or what have you.

Certain attributes would trigger specific names, eg:
rolling "slay evil" + any higher attribute might always be a "holy avenger" rolling for "rbase" + any higher attribute = "defender"
rolling for "slay orc" or "slay troll" + any higher attribute = "of elvenkind"
rolling for "slay giants" + any higher attribute = "of gondolin"
rolling for "slay undead" + any higher attribute = "of westernesse"

or whatever, these are just off-the-cuff

This would predicate a stacked likelihood of attribute addition for items

50% chance to have one minor attribute
50% chance to have a second minor attribute if one is present
33% chance to have additional minor attributes if two are present (rolled until failure)
15% chance to have a major attribute if a minor one is present (cumulative)
10% chance to have a second major attribute if a major one is present
5% chance to have additional major attributes if two are present (rolled until failure)

these would be rolled in sequence, and the likelihoods could be weighted based on dlvl to give better items lower down and fewer higher.

minor attributes = individual slays, individual rbase, featherfall, light, illumination, activate for CLW, activate for CSW, +stealth, +AC, racial ESP, etc

major attributes = *slays*, rbase (as a group), individual advanced resists, activate for teleport, activate for phase, activate for CCW, intrinsic brands, better ESP

this could get really complicated with additional nested probabilities (linking slays to racial esp, compounding slays into *slays*, etc), but I'm just brainstorming so I'll leave it at that.