Ranger spell review

[Estie]

While were at it...Ive had this idea for a long time now. Ill just throw it out:

There is a line on the song of Eärendil:

His bow was made of dragon-horn

which could give rise to a new bow type, the dragon-horn bow (x4), purple {, and rare similar to the purple melee weapon types.

[Nick]

While were at it...Ive had this idea for a long time now. Ill just throw it out:

There is a line on the song of Eärendil:

His bow was made of dragon-horn

which could give rise to a new bow type, the dragon-horn bow (x4), purple {, and rare similar to the purple melee weapon types.

And maybe we should revisit Numenorean steel bows...

[Estie]

Hadnt heard of those. I dont know, numenoran steel doesnt have the same ring to it as dragon-horn

[archolewa]

Thanks everyone for the excellent discussion, I am again amazed by this forum

I agree with pretty much all the points made. So here's my current thinking:

• Herbal Curing really is rubbish where it is. How about we just replace Cure Poison with it, in book 1? Probably just for rangers, I don't know what we do for druids.
• I'm inclined to agree that rangers should get the same bonuses for all missile weapons. This kind of loses the niceness of Create Arrows. Could we maybe add a later spell that creates bolts or shots (out of something else, or even out of nothing), so regular bows have a distinctness still?

Opinions on these, or other suggestions?

Not sure how feasible this is to implement, but shots could be made out of rubble: spell turns all rubble in line of site into shots. The quality could scale with either CL or DL.

"Oh man, I just found a rubble room! My ammo problems are *over*!"

Bolts could be made out of melee weapons, higher quality weapons get turned into higher quality bolts. If a melee weapon has brands, your ammo is guaranteed to have one of them.

I'd be inclined to just want one spell, that turns the appropriate object (or dungeon feature) into the appropriate item. Modern Angband is working really hard I think to avoid "dead" spells, and if you have three separate spells, two of them are going to be "dead" at all times.

This also, I think gives a bit of a unique flavor to each launcher and how it interacts with the ammo spell:

slings -> quality depends solely on DL. So getting quality ammo when you cast the spell is a bit more reliable, even if the launchers themselves are weaker.

crossbow -> Because of preserving one brand, and because melee weapons are common, you'll have no problem getting ammo, and you can pretty reliably get branded ammo.

bows -> Ok, this ones perhaps a bit boring, but hey you get extra shots as a class feature, so maybe it's ok for the ammo to be a bit boring!

[Pete Mack]

Why doesn't a ranger start with a longbow? Ever since damage scrolls became fairly rare, a (0,0) longbow hasn't been all that valuable.

[MattB]

Would it break the game if, instead of extra shots, rangers *never* missed with a bow?
Seems like a nice buff which would help an early character without overpowering a late one.
Maybe at level 30 crits would become more likely.

[Pete Mack]

Rangers with buffs average about 75-80% against tough targets. So that is the equivalent of â…“ of an extra shot.

[Nick]

So what I went with in the end was:

• Pebbles/shots never break
• Bolts break a little less often (20% of time instead of 25%)
• Extra shots the same with all missile weapons
• Cure Poison replaced with Herbal Curing
• In place of Herbal Curing, rangers get Brand Ammunition at level 40

Druids' Herbal Curing spell remains where it is, but it has the added effect of nourishing to 80%, which should work nicely in combination with Rapid Regeneration.

[Pete Mack]

The create arrows spell is already pretty darn strong. I just convert every staff I see--at DL 40 I always manage to have some branded ammo, and not just F/C/P.

[Nick]

The create arrows spell is already pretty darn strong. I just convert every staff I see--at DL 40 I always manage to have some branded ammo, and not just F/C/P.

Yes, indeed - this is just throwing a bone to sling and crossbow rangers.

[Hounded]

YES! Dwarf Ranger with crossbow here I come!

(insert early fluke drop of Long Bow of Bard here just to taunt me... you know you want to, RNG)

[Pete Mack]

Now all i need is a "create longbow" spell. I'm still using the +15 shortbow i bought around DL 12. So at DL 43 i mostly use melee and am stalled out.

Yes, indeed - this is just throwing a bone to sling and crossbow rangers.

[Voovus]

Just played through with a Hobbit Ranger to test the new rules. They seem to me to be a significant improvement.

1. My @ was genuinely a ranged character from start to finish.
2. The new sling is wonderful.
3. Bows/crossbows/slings have a slightly different feel to each other, although this could probably be strengthened. (The way I imagine it is: (i) for bows, ammo is average, but easily obtainable, (ii) crossbows have very strong ammo, but it's limited, (iii) sling ammo is like equipment - if you find good ammo then great, and getting those mithril shots of holy might can feel like finding the one ring.)

Possible problem: my @'s ranged weapons, in chronological order, were sling, crossbow, crossbow, crossbow, sling, bow - with the bow only used in the final fight against M. I think the issue is that the Create Arrows spell doesn't create strong enough ammunition. (Possible solution - increase break chance on arrows, but improve the Create Arrows spell. Maybe also put it in the first spellbook, in which case you could push the break chance to 100% if so minded... This is likely to mess with non-rangers, though.)

Which reminds me: is Create Arrows functioning correctly? I've got plenty of rubbish arrows from top quality staves, and some excellent ones from Slow Monsters (at 4950', admittedly).

Finally, Brand Ammunition can be made cheaper and with no fail rate. It's not like you will be casting it in a battle.

[Nick]

Possible problem: my @'s ranged weapons, in chronological order, were sling, crossbow, crossbow, crossbow, sling, bow - with the bow only used in the final fight against M. I think the issue is that the Create Arrows spell doesn't create strong enough ammunition. (Possible solution - increase break chance on arrows, but improve the Create Arrows spell. Maybe also put it in the first spellbook, in which case you could push the break chance to 100% if so minded... This is likely to mess with non-rangers, though.)

I'm inclined to leave the ammo breakage where it is, but maybe improve what comes out of Create arrows.

Which reminds me: is Create Arrows functioning correctly? I've got plenty of rubbish arrows from top quality staves, and some excellent ones from Slow Monsters (at 4950', admittedly).

It is quite random, but I can look at that too.

Finally, Brand Ammunition can be made cheaper and with no fail rate. It's not like you will be casting it in a battle.

True, but I want it to feel like a high level spell

[mrfy]

Does the dungeon level you're at affect the results of Create Arrows? Or just the quality of staff and your player level.