Ideas for two mixed-blessing items

[Therem Harth]

NB: I came up with these as a non-cheesy way to make ToME 2 traps less horrible. I don't think they apply as much to V, where traps are not as varied and not as lethal, but I figure someone might like them, so...

Ring of Forethought
This ring can warn you of hidden dangers, at the cost of making you more timid.

Subtracts 1-3 points from to-hit and to-dam. When worn, it can be activated for trap detection every 150 turns.

(This is just hedge magic; it should be available from the Magic Shop for a bit over 100 GP.)

Ring of Passage
This ring can disarm any trap, but derives its power from the wielder's life force.

Drains experience. When worn, it can be activated to disarm traps on all adjacent squares every 10 turns.

(This is more along the lines of black magic. Should be available in the Magic Shop, but not cheap; more like 1000 GP or so.)

[Estie]

Errrm...I squelch all items of disarming as they get found in Vanilla, so why would I spend gold to be able to incur a penalty to have an ability that I dont need in the first place ?

[Mondkalb]

Oh well, if your char had really bad disarming skills and the way to unfathomable treasures were blocked by a trap door, a means of disarming might come in handy. ^^

General, the idea of items with pros and cons isn't that bad at all. Currently there are only a few of them in Vanilla, like rings of the dog and rings of the mouse, rings of escaping, some artifacts with discounts on stealth, amulets of inertia, and so on.

In FAangband there are a lot more. You can get rings and amulets with useful activations that may have drawbacks of different kinds. Or they may have bonus and minus points to attributes or resistances (which are percentages in FA). Same is possible for armor.

I like the idea and it gives some interesting choices.

[PowerWyrm]

Ring of Forethought
This ring can warn you of hidden dangers, at the cost of making you more timid.

Subtracts 1-3 points from to-hit and to-dam. When worn, it can be activated for trap detection every 150 turns.

I don't see the purpose of this when you have rods of trap detection (or the spell for any spellcaster) that are quickly available and do the job much better...

[Derakon]

I don't see the purpose of this when you have rods of trap detection (or the spell for any spellcaster) that are quickly available and do the job much better...

This is my main thought as well. The abilities (trap detection and disarming) are readily found on rods before they become requirements for safe dungeon exploration, and inventory slots are at far less of a premium than ring slots. Mixed blessing is one thing, but these are just not very good, period.

I do like the idea of a "utility ring" that can be activated for useful abilities. If you could put several activations onto it (e.g. trap detection for 15 turns recharge; cure serious wounds for 50, frost bolt for 30, recall for 60) then people might consider using it despite the EXP drain, for awhile at least.