Class/magic feature branch

[Ighalli]

I've seen monsters miss with bolts and arrows in the version that added the priest class. I was playing a priest and am sure that no one was confused when it happened. At least, I'm really sure I didn't apply any status effects.

[PowerWyrm]

ok, this is really weird and worrying me.

this never-hit-before master rogue just shot in the wrong direction. Also, it's moving erratically. looks like most mobs are just randomly moving to the side and shooting in weird directions. angband-4.1.2-38-g4920786

So that's the version prior to the new priest and the same I have installed. I just used a test character and summoned a colbran... which managed to cast lightning bolts at empty spaces and yeah it also moves erratically instead of just meleeing the character. It's with a human warrior... so clearly it's a more general problem.

Now trying with the official 4.1.2 release... nope, our colbran friend aims perfectly and never moves erratically. So the bug introduced is somewhere between the two releases.

And with the angband-4.1.2-17-g17fe904 release... no problem. So it's clearly related to the new changes concerning druids.

[PowerWyrm]

Had to do with recent change concerning confuse status effects... The code was checking if the monster was actually confused... but now it's not the case anymore so it assumes monsters are always confused

See commit 976c245. The level is given by:

return MIN((mon->m_timed[effect_type] / divisor) + 1, 5);

So that's between 1 and 5, 1 when a monster is not confused. Looking at the code, this roughly gives 40% chance of monsters failing spells, aiming randomly and moving erratically.

[Nick]

Had to do with recent change concerning confuse status effects... The code was checking if the monster was actually confused... but now it's not the case anymore so it assumes monsters are always confused

See commit 976c245. The level is given by:

return MIN((mon->m_timed[effect_type] / divisor) + 1, 5);

So that's between 1 and 5, 1 when a monster is not confused. Looking at the code, this roughly gives 40% chance of monsters failing spells, aiming randomly and moving erratically.

Aha, thank you, that makes sense. I have also changed how ?MonsterConfusion works, and was looking there.

[Nick]

OK, build page now has new builds with the confusion problem fixed, and also graphics kind of fixed (books will be all ASCII, but everything else should be OK).

[Estie]

Is the save file compatible by any chance ? I have a mid game druid and dont want to start over, but also am annoyed by the erratic movements.

[Nick]

Is the save file compatible by any chance ? I have a mid game druid and dont want to start over, but also am annoyed by the erratic movements.

Should be compatible with the previous build, might not be with earlier ones.

[PowerWyrm]

OK, build page now has new builds with the confusion problem fixed, and also graphics kind of fixed (books will be all ASCII, but everything else should be OK).

Concerning graphics, you also need to add entries for Druid in the xtra-xxx.prf files.

[PowerWyrm]

Priests:

- Minor Healing is way too powerful (heals 60% of wounds at level 50 for 2 mana???)
- Heroism duration is displayed as "d-10" at low level
- cannot learn any of the spells past level 30...
- where is the 5th book???

[PowerWyrm]

- where is the 5th book???

From class.txt:

book:nature book:dungeon:[Wrath of the Valar]:5:divine

Duh...

(and this also explains why you couldn't learn all the spells)

[PowerWyrm]

IMO:

- Minor Healing should be adjusted to something like "10+clvl or clvl*0.7%" to give a mix of CCW and Heal at high level (60, 35%)
- Light of Manwe comes too late, it should be a spell useful vs Nazguls (in PWMAngband, the equivalent spell -- Sunfire -- is base level 28)
- Spear of Orome should be the ultimate spell for Priests (similar to what Annihilation was for the old class) and do much more damage (Annihilation was doing 200 and nobody was ever using it, so a spell doing 25d8...)

[Estie]

How many druid books are there ?

Edit: I looked it up, there are 5.

[Estie]

http://angband.oook.cz/ladder-show.php?id=21391

Completed a druid laythrough; observations:

First off, I never found book 5; from what I gather, it contains mostly spell damage. Thats fine though since I was mostly interested in how the shapeshifting got implemented.

There are many phases in a druids life where his playstyle changes; I like that very much. Start with melee, switch to stinking cloud, then there is a long long stage where I played him like a bookless mage - melee and archery, supported by the occasional cloud and detect life/sense surrounding. The problem is that both lightning strike and earth rising destroy loot, so they never become mainstay spells (and dont get a macro); I really quit using them when I saw lightning strike destroy some of the drops of a unique with the killing blow. Stinking cloud is too weak after a while and fox form isnt exactly boosting killing power while pukelman is late and in the beginning, more detrimental than helpful - so the vast majority of fights was mage melee.

Book 3 has not a single spell I consider useful, I carried it all the way but only because this was a test run. Normally it would get squelched.
I tried to alter a storm giant a couple times because, while he was an easy fight at the time, he likes to destroy wands, but after 4 consecutives failings at changing his shape I gave up. Not sure how random polymorph can be made into something worthwhile, but a polymorph that doesnt work sure isnt going to take up inventory space.
Mass sleep/confusion ? Well, if I am in LOS of mass and things are awake, I probaly want to gtfo and not take risks by attempting to sleep, which is probably going to affect the lowlevels I dont care about and not affect the dangerous things in the room. I dont know if that has been changed, but casting sleep could actually wake up already sleeping monsters.

Eventually @ grew enough to be able to cast spells from book 4, and that one is an entirely different matter. All spells are excellent, with the possible exception of pukelman. The loss of speed is likely going to be a dealbreaker before +10 base speed; and casting both haste and transformation doesnt really work when the manapool is low and the failrates are high. Just haste self without pukelman is superior. Also, shouldnt the shape between the fox and the bear be a wolf ?

When bearform became useable I started swiping all the lategame uniques. It is a nice combat boost, but really barely worth the hassle of transforming. An idea: replace the healing spell with a heal over time, something like 50hp/round for 10 rounds or so, to be cast before transformation.

The druid I played definitely feels like a hybrid, not a caster. To maximize shapeshifted forms, you have to gear like a warrior; high wisdom just reduces the fail rate of shifting, and that isnt a problem as it is a buff used before combat under controlled circumstances.

To be a real caster, there would have to be some boost to the combat form from at least high wisdom, it not a spell power stat similar to tome2.
A simple fix would be to give the shifted forms the hybrid attack table, for a more appropriate damage output and a needed extra incentive for shifting. Then a druid who uses forms is a hybrid, while one that utilizes the elusive book 5 would be a caster.

Kudos for implementing the shifting in a way that doesnt use game time; if it had consumed a turn to change form, the whole concept would not have been viable.

It feels a bit weird to run over items and not get the usual messages; can that be changed ?

Thats all I recall for now, I might add to this if I remember more. All in all, it was a fun playthrough, even with that grindy part in the midgame.

[Nick]

Completed a druid playthrough

Thanks so much for that - it's really helpful. I think right away I'll increase the commonness of the 5th book (and that goes for mages and priests as well) and rethink all the 3rd book spells and pukelman form, then I'll start thinking about the hybrid/caster issues.

[Nick]

Minor Healing should be adjusted to something like "10+clvl or clvl*0.7%" to give a mix of CCW and Heal at high level (60, 35%)

Yes, that looks better - I was having trouble finding the balance.

- Light of Manwe comes too late, it should be a spell useful vs Nazguls (in PWMAngband, the equivalent spell -- Sunfire -- is base level 28)

I was thinking of it more as comparable to Mana Storm, but I wanted mages still to have the more powerful spells - but I think I've made it too weak. Maybe level*5?

- Spear of Orome should be the ultimate spell for Priests (similar to what Annihilation was for the old class) and do much more damage (Annihilation was doing 200 and nobody was ever using it, so a spell doing 25d8...)

It is a beam (the idea being priests don't really get powerful single target spells); what do you think, doubling the damage be too much?