Class/magic: non-casters and hybrids

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  • Derakon
    Prophet
    • Dec 2009
    • 8820

    #46
    I think branded ammo had to be made rare under the previous system because it made the unbalanced nature of extra shots really blatantly, un-ignorably obvious. With extra shots being nerfed, branded ammo (and branded launchers) could become more common.

    Comment

    • Nick
      Vanilla maintainer
      • Apr 2007
      • 9351

      #47
      Originally posted by jevansau
      Played through a Dunadan Ranger with randarts.
      Thanks for the thorough feedback. I am not surprised that the nerf to extra shots was overdone; I think +1 every 5 levels sounds good. Maybe some reduced rarity of ego ammo would be good, or maybe a temporary bow brand spell (or both).
      One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
      In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

      Comment

      • jevansau
        Adept
        • Jan 2009
        • 200

        #48
        Played through a Blackguard with randarts:
        To me the blackguard plays like an inferior warrior, EXCEPT for the shield bash which tends to make them stronger than a warrior against susceptible opponents. Given that, the spells seem underwhelming and/or maybe inappropriate. Given the class is so warrior-like, you build a character exclusively for combat. This often leaves you with little mana for the first chunk of the game.
        The bless/berserk are appropriate but inconsequential by the time you get them given how good the base combat is. Fear could be useful, and poison branding is decent and could be useful.
        Piercing shot is useful, but really would be more appropriate for the ranger.
        Generally though, you want to be in melee, and by the time you have the book 2 spells there are only a very few opponents where you want to force them out of melee range. ( Throw Monster, Forceful Blow)
        Thirst for Blood is interesting, but I never found a situation where it was worth the risk. If it was very shallow, I could see using it to power up on a group of Orcs before tackling the unique that would otherwise be too strong, but by the time you get it, you don't need it.

        Overall, I'd say it shows promise, but the spells need a rethink.

        Comment

        • Thraalbee
          Knight
          • Sep 2010
          • 692

          #49
          I find Blackguard an ideal ironman warrior. Outside ironman agreed less interesting.

          Comment

          • Derakon
            Prophet
            • Dec 2009
            • 8820

            #50
            Might it make sense for the Blackguard to cast spells from HP instead of SP?

            Comment

            • wobbly
              Prophet
              • May 2012
              • 2576

              #51
              That gets finiky to balance with healing consumables becoming restore mana. You can see this a bit in pos with dragons breathing from hps. You can carry large stacks of consumables to spam the breathe weapon continuously. It can get tedious.

              Comment

              • Derakon
                Prophet
                • Dec 2009
                • 8820

                #52
                Originally posted by wobbly
                That gets finiky to balance with healing consumables becoming restore mana. You can see this a bit in pos with dragons breathing from hps. You can carry large stacks of consumables to spam the breathe weapon continuously. It can get tedious.
                Double down! Make them not be able to heal from consumables, or take debuffs when they do. Let them heal from killing things, or from knocking stars off a unique's HP bar.

                Comment

                • Philip
                  Knight
                  • Jul 2009
                  • 881

                  #53
                  With monster damage being spiky, and with those spikes frequently being over 1/2 of hp, this sounds difficult to manage. In situations where currently a character ends up drinking (casting) Healing several times in a row to keep out of dangerous territory, you would either end up dead or your character would have to be basically unstoppable so long as they are near a monster, and neither of these possibilities appeals to me. Of course, there is the option of teleporting away. There is not, however, the option of teleporting away and healing up. I suppose this is where the application of debuffs could come in, but it still seems like the two options are either abusable power, or useless in pitched fights. An overhealing mechanic could help characters deal with the spikiness a bit, though it amplifies the issue that a whole lot of abilities that used to be independent and variously distributed suddenly get rolled into dpr.

                  Comment

                  • Nick
                    Vanilla maintainer
                    • Apr 2007
                    • 9351

                    #54
                    Originally posted by jevansau
                    Played through a Blackguard with randarts:
                    To me the blackguard plays like an inferior warrior, EXCEPT for the shield bash which tends to make them stronger than a warrior against susceptible opponents. Given that, the spells seem underwhelming and/or maybe inappropriate. Given the class is so warrior-like, you build a character exclusively for combat. This often leaves you with little mana for the first chunk of the game.
                    The bless/berserk are appropriate but inconsequential by the time you get them given how good the base combat is. Fear could be useful, and poison branding is decent and could be useful.
                    Piercing shot is useful, but really would be more appropriate for the ranger.
                    Generally though, you want to be in melee, and by the time you have the book 2 spells there are only a very few opponents where you want to force them out of melee range. ( Throw Monster, Forceful Blow)
                    Thirst for Blood is interesting, but I never found a situation where it was worth the risk. If it was very shallow, I could see using it to power up on a group of Orcs before tackling the unique that would otherwise be too strong, but by the time you get it, you don't need it.

                    Overall, I'd say it shows promise, but the spells need a rethink.
                    I think probably what is needed here is to nerf combat and shield bashes so the spells are necessary.

                    Shield bashes I had already thought were OP, and I want to give them to warriors and probably paladins, so that's easy. Once that's done, I'll see whether a nerf to melee skill is necessary too.
                    One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
                    In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

                    Comment

                    • Ingwe Ingweron
                      Veteran
                      • Jan 2009
                      • 2110

                      #55
                      Comments on Druid Class:

                      Been running a Dunadan Druid on angband.live (the latest RIP to a stupid mistake while dealing with Feagwath, argh). A few gnits on the new Druid:

                      1. Why, oh why, does the Druid start without any offensive weapon whatsoever? Completely dependent on luck of finding an inexpensive weapon or launcher in the stores or very quickly upon descending, many @'s just die for lack of "punching" power, especially if they're not a half-troll.

                      2. It could very well be my lack of experience using the shape-shifting mechanic, but by the time @ can cast a shape-shift with any reliability, I found the shape-shifting useless compared to @'s regular capabilities. Fox form also didn't help a bit with the lack of weapon problem noted above. Also, what is the command to shift back to normal (apart from attempting to pick something up or cast magic)?

                      3. At CL 42, and max CON, my Dunadan Druid barely had over 400 hps. That seems very low. Was it just a completely bad run of hp rolls, or is the HP curve really off for this class?
                      Last edited by Ingwe Ingweron; May 2, 2018, 18:24.
                      “We're more of the love, blood, and rhetoric school. Well, we can do you blood and love without the rhetoric, and we can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and we can do you all three concurrent or consecutive. But we can't give you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory. They're all blood, you see.”
                      ― Tom Stoppard, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

                      Comment

                      • Nick
                        Vanilla maintainer
                        • Apr 2007
                        • 9351

                        #56
                        Originally posted by Ingwe Ingweron
                        At CL 42, and max CON, my Dunadan Druid barely had over 400 hps. That seems very low. Was it just a completely bad run of hp rolls, or is the HP curve really off for this class?
                        Sorry, this was a big oversight on my part (despite having been told about it a number of times), and not just for this class. Will fix.
                        One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
                        In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

                        Comment

                        • Sky
                          Veteran
                          • Oct 2016
                          • 2309

                          #57
                          so .. Bloodlust.

                          looks pretty darn good. Kill stuff, get buffs. As far as i can tell, you can get +2 attacks from it. However, there are some side effects ... such as?

                          Do i understand correctly that you sometimes get affected by Confusion ? for like, 1 turn or something. i've noticed i move erratically *sometimes* when my bloodlust counter becomes purple.
                          "i can take this dracolich"

                          Comment

                          • Nick
                            Vanilla maintainer
                            • Apr 2007
                            • 9351

                            #58
                            Originally posted by Sky
                            so .. Bloodlust.

                            looks pretty darn good. Kill stuff, get buffs. As far as i can tell, you can get +2 attacks from it. However, there are some side effects ... such as?

                            Do i understand correctly that you sometimes get affected by Confusion ? for like, 1 turn or something. i've noticed i move erratically *sometimes* when my bloodlust counter becomes purple.
                            Well, bad stuff can happen when your counter gets low, or when you miss with a blow, or when you hit with a blow... And then sometimes you hit something you didn't mean to. But if your counter is high enough, you're really hard to kill.

                            Does that help?
                            One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
                            In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

                            Comment

                            • Sky
                              Veteran
                              • Oct 2016
                              • 2309

                              #59
                              hmm. .. i tried using this in serious play, and it's .. kinda like Wonder, yeah you could get some amazing results, but in practical terms it's best not to cast it.

                              The idea is that you line up a bunch of minor mobs, feed your thirst, and when you are pumped, you go kill that big Unique. However, the Confusion status (there's others, like getting random wound statuses just happen) means you can lose a big number of turns. And it's not preventable by pConf.


                              Also, weird, but, fitting, is that Thirst For Blood (who the heck named it, when they could have named it Bloodthirst; i now petition that the spell be renamed Bloodthirst) doesn't really wear off until you've stopped killing mobs for a while, so if you've done killing that Unique, and now need to wade through a horde of summons or breeders, you could well remain under the influence for quite some time ...
                              "i can take this dracolich"

                              Comment

                              • Sky
                                Veteran
                                • Oct 2016
                                • 2309

                                #60
                                posted it here: http://angband.oook.cz/forum/showthread.php?p=129868

                                but i want to be sure this doesn't go unnoticed .. i found a *slightly* overpowered ego sling.
                                Something tells me this isn't supposed to happen.
                                "i can take this dracolich"

                                Comment

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