Class/magic feature branch

[Nick]

OK, new builds for Windows and macOS up on the build page, source is here. Changes are:

• Update to include all changes to 4.1 master
• Fix by fizzix to stop occasional level generation crashes
• Allow high level spellcasters a saving throw against single combat
• Randomise the landing a bit for dimension door into vaults
• Make monsters more likely to notice item theft the heavier the item is

I still intend to remove sharp weapon and glove penalties; I'll probably keep blessing of weapons, and give priests and paladins some sort of slight advantage for using a blessed weapon. I also want to nerf shield bashes a bit, and make them available to classes other than blackguards.

Please remind me about other bugs that are unfixed (I haven't checked kaypy's read minds bug yet) and balance issues that remain outstanding. I'm aiming to get this to an OK state so that it can be pulled into master once 4.1.3 is released, and I can get on with player races, artifacts and monsters. How hard can it be?

[kaypy]

Small bug with necromancers:

The read minds spell is defined in terms of dice, wheras the read_minds effect in effects.c is set up for effect-yx.

Also, it doesnt seem that effect-yx can be defined in terms of expressions.

[Voovus]

I quite like the new recharge that doesn't blow up wands, though I agree it's probably overpowered. As a alternative suggestion for a fix, how about making recharge give only 1 charge to a wand per cast, up to a maximum of (number of wands in stack)*(some function of magic device and wand level)? Then if you go into a fight with 3 wands of annihilation with, say, a total of 6 charges, you can freely use it 6 times, but after that have to recharge after every use, so that it loses 50% efficiency until the fight is over.

With the current setup, staves of Banishment, Speed and Magi should probably be removed, as they seem too powerful with access to the recharge spell. Perhaps replace them with stacks of corresponding scrolls/potions instead. (I've only tried it with rogue, and not with a mage.) Alternatively, increase the blow-up-when-recharged probability for staves. This would be a bit annoying for Magic Mapping, Teleportation and the like, though.

[Huqhox]

Maybe it's as simple as each use of recharge (and maybe also tap charges) reduces the maximum charges a device can have by one, so eventually they run out. Then they become predictable finite resources, and would add some strategic play around them

[PowerWyrm]

I don't think the damage is the issue. Wands never seem to blow. You can fit more charges in a pack full of wands then you have mana, so it's like fighting with unlimited mana. Your going to recharge it at the end why not casually use annihilition on the grey mushroom patch?

I guess there's a choice here. CPB has devices that recharge but just about everything else does more damage. Anything powerful enough for the serpent is rare & will be around 50% fail on something with a low device skill. It also takes actual mana to fast recharge rather then 4 sps. The old V the top wands blew if you used them on fluff. High damage, limited resource.

So what do we have currently? Spell competive damage for 0 sps, unlimited resource, cheap to recharge. Why bother being a swordsman or mage in a world of guns and heavy artillery?

This is a good point. TomeNET uses a "Magic Device" skill which you have to put points into if you want to use devices properly. If the skill is too low, you'll have really low chances (we talk about 1-2% here) to trigger the effect. So you have the device skill split into damage and accuracy. Unfortunately we don't have this point system in V, so I dont see how we could determine the accuracy rate of devices which wouldn't be based on stats or race/class.

[wobbly]

Should mages keep their dmagae boost with attack wands?

I don't think the damage is the issue. Wands never seem to blow. You can fit more charges in a pack full of wands then you have mana, so it's like fighting with unlimited mana. Your going to recharge it at the end why not casually use annihilition on the grey mushroom patch?

I guess there's a choice here. CPB has devices that recharge but just about everything else does more damage. Anything powerful enough for the serpent is rare & will be around 50% fail on something with a low device skill. It also takes actual mana to fast recharge rather then 4 sps. The old V the top wands blew if you used them on fluff. High damage, limited resource.

So what do we have currently? Spell competive damage for 0 sps, unlimited resource, cheap to recharge. Why bother being a swordsman or mage in a world of guns and heavy artillery?

[PowerWyrm]

For Single Combat, I have an alternative that I use for Summoners in PWMAngband which is the ability to... prevent summons. To avoid being a "win" button, the antisummoning field that is generated caps at 90%. In TomeNET, there's roughly the same feature, but it caps at 75%.

[kaypy]

OK, a look at balance might be in order. Should mages keep their dmagae boost with attack wands?

Wands arent so competitive for mages now that they are competing with double-speed casting...

Even boosted annihilation is less than two mana storms

High level wands are nice mana sources though...

[Voovus]

That looks sensible. I do need to have a proper look at LoS.

Only please don't fully eliminate asymmetric LoS. Currently, asymmetric LoS is only seriously abusive in conjuction with Stone-to-Mud (which is also responsible for pillar-dancing and antisummoning corridors).

It's fun to occasionally play a character who relies on intelligent positioning and use of terrain, rather than on a large supply of HP. Could shooting-from-behind-a-corner be turned into an intended tactic for some characters, e.g. rogues/rangers?

[Derakon]

Potentially, although it would only be useful between starting to need HL and finding a permanent source of it.

The Restoration prayer would also render it largely obsolete.

[Nick]

Dimension door: Unlimited range, pinpoint accuracy, works in vaults

This is a placeholder that will get balanced a bit better eventually, right?

I guess not being able to land in a vault would be fairer.

1 ) Remove Wands of Annihilation. Drain Life is sufficiently good.

OK, a look at balance might be in order. Should mages keep their dmagae boost with attack wands?

2) Change allowable targeting. Right now, a character one space into a corridor can target like so:

     # #
     #@#
     #.#
     ...
    .....
   .......
  .........
 ...........

i.e. the full 45 degrees from the mouth of the corridor, same as if they were standing at the mouth of the corridor rather than one space in. I think this should be changed to only allow targeting like so:

     # #
     #@#
     #.#
     ...
     ...
    .....
    .....
   .......

i.e. 30 degrees from the mouth of the corridor.

I believe this would reduce the worst of the abuses, since monsters in a room approaching the player will do so along the 45 degree vector, and so not be targetable. This would still allow, e.g. indirect fire (area-effect spells landing nearby), and, importantly, preserve the ability to safely teleport-other a monster from "around the corner" when it appears at the mouth of the corridor. I by no means claim this to be a perfect solution or anything, but it seems like it would be an improvement over the current state of affairs.

That looks sensible. I do need to have a proper look at LoS.

3) Artifacts are just generally overpowered, and there are too many of them

All artifacts, or just randarts?

4) Despite what I just said in (3), there is a relatively powerful thing I'd like to see added. Rand-Arts are fun to play, but I often find myself with difficulties because the gear doesn't mesh together, e.g. 8 things with Resist Nether, but nothing with Confusion Protection. So I'd like to see something, I'd suggest Cloaks of Aman, have an Activation that allows the player to *choose* a resistance or ability. It would have a huge Recharge time (10,000 or 100,000 turns), and of course, only *one* resistance/ability. But it would let the player plug some important hole in their kit, and make Rand-Arts less frustrating.

Interesting idea.

5) The Paladin's "Single Combat" prayer seems too strong. As an alternative, I'd propose a prayer that protects against Drain Charges for a short time. Such a thing of course has its own set of tradeoffs, but seems (to me anyway) to be very powerful but less disruptive.

I'm kind of fond of the effect, though - maybe there's some way to nerf it a bit.

6) I really like the way the spells/prayers have been condensed into fewer books.

Oh, good! It was one of the main features, and nobody's really mentioned it

Come to think of it, a temporary Hold Life spell would be cool.

Potentially, although it would only be useful between starting to need HL and finding a permanent source of it.

[Sky]

Come to think of it, a temporary Hold Life spell would be cool.

[bron]

My $0.02 from the comp 216 experience:

1 ) Remove Wands of Annihilation. Drain Life is sufficiently good.

2) Change allowable targeting. Right now, a character one space into a corridor can target like so:

     # #
     #@#
     #.#
     ...
    .....
   .......
  .........
 ...........

i.e. the full 45 degrees from the mouth of the corridor, same as if they were standing at the mouth of the corridor rather than one space in. I think this should be changed to only allow targeting like so:

     # #
     #@#
     #.#
     ...
     ...
    .....
    .....
   .......

i.e. 30 degrees from the mouth of the corridor.

I believe this would reduce the worst of the abuses, since monsters in a room approaching the player will do so along the 45 degree vector, and so not be targetable. This would still allow, e.g. indirect fire (area-effect spells landing nearby), and, importantly, preserve the ability to safely teleport-other a monster from "around the corner" when it appears at the mouth of the corridor. I by no means claim this to be a perfect solution or anything, but it seems like it would be an improvement over the current state of affairs.

3) Artifacts are just generally overpowered, and there are too many of them

4) Despite what I just said in (3), there is a relatively powerful thing I'd like to see added. Rand-Arts are fun to play, but I often find myself with difficulties because the gear doesn't mesh together, e.g. 8 things with Resist Nether, but nothing with Confusion Protection. So I'd like to see something, I'd suggest Cloaks of Aman, have an Activation that allows the player to *choose* a resistance or ability. It would have a huge Recharge time (10,000 or 100,000 turns), and of course, only *one* resistance/ability. But it would let the player plug some important hole in their kit, and make Rand-Arts less frustrating.

5) The Paladin's "Single Combat" prayer seems too strong. As an alternative, I'd propose a prayer that protects against Drain Charges for a short time. Such a thing of course has its own set of tradeoffs, but seems (to me anyway) to be very powerful but less disruptive.

6) I really like the way the spells/prayers have been condensed into fewer books.

[kaypy]

Dimension door: Unlimited range, pinpoint accuracy, works in vaults

This is a placeholder that will get balanced a bit better eventually, right?

[Nick]

Are mid-level mages supposed to have effectively limitless mana?

If not, then recharge/tap is probably a broken combination.

But I also note that !mana are reasonably plentiful and eg FA has an outright give-me-more-mana spell, so it may be working as intended...

Possible fixes if needed:
* make recharge drain mana per added charge, limited by player pool- still good for prepping items in advance, but uneconomical for tapping

* make tap able to destroy target item (the recharge phase can destroy items, but its pretty rare, which is probably best for the 'recharging items for actually using them' case)

Good point. I think it's probably a good idea to make tap able to destroy the item, even if it's a small chance.