Horn of Plenty

[UglySquirrell]

Was wondering if we could get an artifact that can be activated for nourishment. Horn of Plenty . 5 lbs can be activated to create Elvish waybread takes 500 turns to recharge. Or just have it bring you to full state and remove gorged effect. I guess it could be a rod activation. Was just thinking, could the various rods be given more colorful titles? Steamband did this , shotgun shell generator etc. Maybe instead of rod of illumination it could be globe of light, or rod of detection crystal ball. Description on activating could be you stare into you're crystal ball, and much is revealed . Or you raise you're globe of light up, there's a bright flash of light. Would add a bit of flavor anyway.

[Max Stats]

I can think of one issue: Artifact activations currently only recharge when the item is being worn, and the activate command only lets you choose equipped items as the target of the command. It would require a special case in order to work. However, the Rod of Nourishment idea (or whatever you want to call it) would work. It sounds like having the rod activate for Satisfy Hunger would work better than creating food, if only because it already exists as a spell and scroll effect.

[UglySquirrell]

That would be fine, its no big deal but playing a warrior and carrying around 30 pounds of food when there's so many other magic items in the game seems weird to me. Thanks for the reply.

[buzzkill]

It's barely necessary to even carry food if you gorge yourself before descent. Unless your a troll wearing multiple items of regeneration, I see it being almost completely useless (and it would unbalance Iornman, maybe).

[UglySquirrell]

Well, I'm just playing ironman now, but don't really see how it could unbalance it. Finding food and scrolls of satisfy hunger aren't that difficult. Thought it could be interesting, not having to carry around stacks of food/scrolls. It could be a rare drop like rod of detection or drain life. The only class it would really effect would be warriors, because all the others get the spell anyways.

[fizzix]

Well, I'm just playing ironman now, but don't really see how it could unbalance it. Finding food and scrolls of satisfy hunger aren't that difficult. Thought it could be interesting, not having to carry around stacks of food/scrolls. It could be a rare drop like rod of detection or drain life. The only class it would really effect would be warriors, because all the others get the spell anyways.

Carrying food around as an ironman warrior is currently the only possible situation where hunger is even remotely interesting! Honestly, I'd rather get rid of the spell for all but priests, and then change 'slow digestion' to 'remove hunger' where you never get hungry or gorged.

[Timo Pietilä]

It's barely necessary to even carry food if you gorge yourself before descent. Unless your a troll wearing multiple items of regeneration, I see it being almost completely useless (and it would unbalance Iornman, maybe).

AFAIK regeneration or slow digestion do not stack.

[UglySquirrell]

Okay, maybe not the best idea probably been suggested before but how about making food have temporary effects. Elf liver nourishes for 5000 and temporarily hastes you for 25d25 turns or troll brains nourishes for 5000 and grants +4 strength but lowers intelligence and wisdom by 5 for 20 turns.

[Timo Pietilä]

Okay, maybe not the best idea probably been suggested before but how about making food have temporary effects. Elf liver nourishes for 5000 and temporarily hastes you for 25d25 turns or troll brains nourishes for 5000 and grants +4 strength but lowers intelligence and wisdom by 5 for 20 turns.

I rather avoid eating liver, I find it kind of metallic in taste, and eating brains just feels disgusting.

Mushrooms already do provide some nourishment and temporary effects so that mechanism already exist in the game. They are just too useless for effects currently, only really useful one is the vigor. For mixed blessing items they have too bad side-effects.

[Derakon]

AFAIK regeneration or slow digestion do not stack.

Correct. There's no point in wearing more than one item of slow digestion, or one item of regeneration. If you have both, you still consume food faster than normal, but not as quickly as if you had regen and no slow digestion.

Going back to the request for more flavorful item descriptions: my only concern is that flavor can sometimes get in the way of clarity. For example, how do rods and orbs differ? Right now we have consistent descriptions for most things, e.g. "Detection" is "Detection" both for the rod and the priest spell, "Satisfy Hunger" is the same for the mage spell, the priest spell, and the scroll, etc. It's not perfect -- e.g. we still have the priest spell Clairvoyance which gives an enlightenment effect -- but it's better than it used to be.

[fizzix]

Going back to the request for more flavorful item descriptions: my only concern is that flavor can sometimes get in the way of clarity. For example, how do rods and orbs differ? Right now we have consistent descriptions for most things, e.g. "Detection" is "Detection" both for the rod and the priest spell, "Satisfy Hunger" is the same for the mage spell, the priest spell, and the scroll, etc. It's not perfect -- e.g. we still have the priest spell Clairvoyance which gives an enlightenment effect -- but it's better than it used to be.

The biggest beef I have is with 'free action.' That really confused me when I started playing. I think the description is actually 'prevent paralysis' now, so it's also better than it once was.

Derakon's point is good. At what point, if any, do you want to sacrifice clarity for flavor? I would say, never.

[Timo Pietilä]

The biggest beef I have is with 'free action.' That really confused me when I started playing. I think the description is actually 'prevent paralysis' now, so it's also better than it once was.

IIRC Free Action also prevents spell-derived slowing effects, so monsters that cast slow wont slow you down. Inertia and Gravity still slow you down, but that's all if you have FA.

I think that is why it isn't simply called "resist paralysis".

[Nomad]

The biggest beef I have is with 'free action.' That really confused me when I started playing. I think the description is actually 'prevent paralysis' now, so it's also better than it once was.

It was only thanks to playing Angband that I retroactively worked out what rings of Free Action were supposed to do in Nethack. I played that game for six and a half years and eventually Ascended a character without ever having figured that out.