Halls of Mist 1.3.0

[Mikko Lehtinen]

Today's version of the spell list looks like this. Again, a + after the spell means that it can be upgraded once by learning it again.

Arcane			Divine
------			------

(f)ireball +		(o)rb of draining +
(l)ightning bolt +	(y)ank
(a)cid arrow +		(w)ord of holiness +
(c)laws of winter +

(j)inx +		(s)oothe +

(d)etect monsters	(d)etect monsters
(i)lluminate		(i)lluminate

(q)uickness +		(g)uardian spirit +
(v)anish from sight	(u)nearthly might +
(x)eno-lore		(z)eal

(p)owder perfection	(e)nchant weapon +
(r)echarge		(m)etamorphosis
			(t)ruecraft
(b)link +
			(h)eal +
(k)nock			(n)ature's cure

• Jinx uses up a cursed item in your inventory. Lesser version permanently curses a single monster, greater version curses all monsters in sight.
• Quickness temporarily adds +3 or +7 to DEX and Speed.
• Xeno-Lore adds +7 to Lore and Aura. (Lore is the current name for Knowledge/Memory.) The practical effect of Xeno-Lore is that your Spellcasting, Alchemy, Navigation, Magic Device and Spell Save skills get a big boost.
• Powder Perfection adds +1 to powder's radius and +15 percentage points to hitting with it.
• Yank damages and stuns a creature and calls it next to you.
• Word of Holiness removes curse and taint and blesses you for a moment. The greater version also damages and scares undead (resist doesn't help).
• Guardian Spirit gives See Invisible and increases Spell Save and all resistances by +25. The greater version also improves Parry.
• Unearthly Might increases STR by +3 or +7.
• Zeal blesses you and allows to to counter-strike (with a sword it's called riposte) whenever you successfully Parry an attack. Designed for Templars that are best at Parry.
• Enchant Weapon increases a weapon's Offense bonus by 5 percentage points, up to +25%. The greater version sets the Offense bonus to +25% if lower, and gives a random brand to a non-ego, non-artifact weapon.
• Metamorphosis allows to assume a form that is familiar to you from earlier experience. You may choose to return back to your original form.
• Truecraft increases an amulet's or cloak's pval by one, up to +5.
• Nature's Cure cures disease and poison.
• Lightning Bolt is always a beam; Acid Arrow never beams. Fire is used only in Fireball, and Frost in Claws of Winter to attack one or two opponents next to you.
• The lesser version of Orb of Draining is a bolt, the greater version a ball.

[ewan]

More randomish thoughts:

* Am I right to think that mist monsters can pick up objects and then vanish? That seems to be an error, if I am remembering the occurrence correctly. {OK, I see this was just raised. Yes, just have objects drop when the enemy vanishes}

* Concur with buzzkill that I would fairly often have >100 excess mana at the end of a level, and so I would pump up (biggest impact being to max out Absorb Hit, but also e.g. Resistance) before descending.

* Wands of transference are probably much more useful for nonspellcasters.

[Mikko Lehtinen]

People have been complaining about the frequency of circles and altars.

There are six room styles. Currently circles only exist in one room style, and altars in another room style. I could make them both possible in two room styles, but they would be somewhat less common in either of them.

You would find circles or altars more often, but there usually wouldn't be so many of them on the level.

I could also make fountains more common. They are meant to be rare, but currently they may be too rare.

[buzzkill]

People have been complaining about the frequency of circles and altars.

I hope you don't interpret what I put forth here as complaints, but more as observations. I don't feel that circles are too rare. I don't feel that altars are too rare either, but it seems that you never find one when you need one (and finding them very early is frustrating for non-templars). Fountains might be too rare. They are certainly more rare than altars IMO, but they are also the most sought after of the three (something for nothing) so maybe thats OK. My hierarchy of rareness runs circles, altars, fountains. If this is what you are shooting for then I be wary of making a change as doubling the frequency of any of these, I feel would be too much.

You would find circles or altars more often, but there usually wouldn't be so many of them on the level.

I'd say more than one of these on any given level is too many. Finding two like features should be (ego) rare, finding three (artifact) rare. Maybe less so as you get deeper says the guy who can't survive the mid-game. If I found an average of any one feature per level I'd be happy, but I don't know what frequency you as the creator was shooting for.

I could also make fountains more common. They are meant to be rare, but currently they may be too rare.

Having not found many, I don't have a good gauge of how good fountains are, so I can't say rather they are too rare or not. They can give permanent stat boost correct? so they shouldn't be too common.

Ideas without much thought behind them. Maybe being under the influence of a blessing (or curse/taint) when you descend makes finding an altar on the next level slightly more common. Maybe sacrificing jewelery could (maybe ID it and) grant a minor blessing (or curse if it's cursed). A minor blessing would be 1/3 of a normal blessing (better than nothing).

[Mikko Lehtinen]

I'd say more than one of these on any given level is too many. Finding two like features should be (ego) rare, finding three (artifact) rare. Maybe less so as you get deeper says the guy who can't survive the mid-game. If I found an average of any one feature per level I'd be happy, but I don't know what frequency you as the creator was shooting for.

Finding two circles makes the coinflip-powders good. If you have a good pile of powders, you essentially have 75% chance of getting what you're shooting for.

Finding two or more altars lets you choose between them, which is the intention of the religion system. Let's say you're carrying an artifact. If you find only one altar on a level, you would often let the game choose the goddess for you.

These are the reasons why I'd generally like there to be more than one of these features on a level.

[buzzkill]

Finding two circles makes the coinflip-powders good. If you have a good pile of powders, you essentially have 75% chance of getting what you're shooting for.

This made me think. I generally carry a wide assortment of powders once I find them, generally a minimum of 2 or 3 and as many as 6 or 7, even once inventory constraints start to kick in. I carry these primarily for use in circles. Is this normal?

[Mikko Lehtinen]

This made me think. I generally carry a wide assortment of powders once I find them, generally a minimum of 2 or 3 and as many as 6 or 7, even once inventory constraints start to kick in. I carry these primarily for use in circles. Is this normal?

After the inventory constraints kick in, I carry 2-5 piles, usually 2-3.

Ewan's winning characters didn't carry that many piles. For that reason he had big troubles to get stuff identified and maybe missed some rituals.

[ewan]

No maybe about it. But I don't think it would have helped me get stuff ID'd - I did try for pack ID *many* times with the first char, and it never worked, so I gave up on the idea. Certainly true that I de-prioritised powders; slots were taken up with (i) ammo, (ii) consumables and (iii) ego items in case of altars or as swaps (for SI or FA usually).

I found plenty of circles (most common by a lot), the odd fountain (rare but not impossibly so; happy for them to have current frequency and feel special), and fewer altars than I would think is optimal.

Can fountains really give stat boosts? So far I have either had shape-change (indicated, thankfully, by a sign on the ground - really like that) or 'feeling of purity' or some such which I am guessing might heal disease but I never found one while diseased. One was faery-protected, two were foul-smelling.

[Squeak]

I have actually been quite happy with the frequency of altars/circles/fountains. I find powders in general really helpful and also use them a lot as thrown weapons, although part of the reason is that I've mostly been playing rogues.

[Mikko Lehtinen]

No maybe about it. But I don't think it would have helped me get stuff ID'd - I did try for pack ID *many* times with the first char, and it never worked, so I gave up on the idea.

In the future you can use both of your identify points in a Circle of Knowledge to automatically either Identify Pack or Fully Identify.

I found plenty of circles (most common by a lot), the odd fountain (rare but not impossibly so; happy for them to have current frequency and feel special), and fewer altars than I would think is optimal.

The feedback seems to suggest that "do nothing" is the right choice for now.

Can fountains really give stat boosts? So far I have either had shape-change (indicated, thankfully, by a sign on the ground - really like that) or 'feeling of purity' or some such which I am guessing might heal disease but I never found one while diseased. One was faery-protected, two were foul-smelling.

Yes, a random stat boost is possible. Once you have identified the fountain with your Perception skill ("You smell disease") , you can actually 'l'ook at it for accurate description (Fountain of Disease).

[Squeak]

I noticed that AC increases after jumping is above 100%. It seems like it's 1 AC for every point of jumping above 100%. I don't remember seeing anything about this in the help files. Are there similar benefits for increasing other abilities above 100%?

[Mikko Lehtinen]

I noticed that AC increases after jumping is above 100%. It seems like it's 1 AC for every point of jumping above 100%. I don't remember seeing anything about this in the help files. Are there similar benefits for increasing other abilities above 100%?

Currently that's the only one. I'll add a mention about it to the help files, thanks!

Weapon skills will be pure percentage rolls in the future, just like all the other skills. Points over 100% will increase your critical chance (even when not ambushing).

[Squeak]

How about navigation above 100% (not really sure how you would reach that) giving you a chance to map the entire level)? And perception >100% giving you a chance of "seeing" monsters out of visual range (sort of like the Listen ability in Sil)? Not so sure about alchemy, maybe a chance of creating more than one potion by mixing 2 potions if skill >100%.

[Squeak]

Another thought for navigation > 100% is that it would increase your chance of finding good objects on the next level (sort of like felpurr luck)

[Mikko Lehtinen]

Good ideas. Perhaps whenever the game offers a chance to raise a skill over 100%, there should be some sort of benefit.

Some skills would break the game when they reach 100%. It will not be possible to raise Parry or Stealth to 100%. But for Perception, Navigation, weapon skills, etc., skill scores over 100% are ok.