Poschengband game mechanic questions

[wobbly]

The helpfiles are still woefully out of date. I apologize for this, but they largely need to be rewritten and this is a project that is likely to take a month or more of full time boring effort. At some point, I will do it, but every time I start I get depressed

That's understandable, especially at the rate your adding new features. I only pointed it out because it was a direct contradiction.

Thanks for taking the time to answer questions & of course for making a great variant. I appreciate it.

[Fnord]

At first I thought Chris' comment on inventory damage was still incorrect, but when I looked it up, I saw that water bolts use sound resistance for their inventory damage check - figured I'd post that so others don't have to dig!

[Fnord]

Is Sharpness included in the Cw damage display? And what's the exact mechanics?

[chris]

Is Sharpness included in the Cw damage display? And what's the exact mechanics?

Yes it is. Here is a sample:

 Hand #1: The Executioner's Sword 'Crisdurian' (6d5) (+23,+ Accuracy
 Weight : 26.0 lbs                                           AC Hit
 To Hit : 23 + 107 = 130                                     25 92%
 To Dam : 24 + 66 = 90                                       50 89%
 Blows  : 5.00                                               75 86%
 Damage                                                     100 83%
 Crits  : 1.39x                                             125 80%
 Normal : 600 (500-700) [1.69x]                             150 77%
 Evil   : 752 (550-955) [3.38x]                             175 73%
 Human  : 827 (575-1080) [4.22x]                            200 70%
 Undead : 905 (600-1210) [5.07x]
 Orcs   : 905 (600-1210) [5.07x]
 Trolls : 905 (600-1210) [5.07x]
 Giants : 905 (600-1210) [5.07x]
 Dragons: 905 (600-1210) [5.07x]
 Poison : 827 (575-1080) [4.22x]

There is no explicit line for sharpness, but it is reflected in the damage totals and effective damage multipliers. Normal sharpness gives an effective multiplier of 11/9 (1.22x) while super vorpals give 5/3 (1.66x). These vorpal effective multipliers stack with slay and critical effective multipliers. For example, Slay Evil is a 2x multiplier. But Crisdurian is sharp, so there is another 1.22x. And it is a heavy weapon being wielded with two hands, so critical hits give an effective multiplier of 1.39x. So the overall effective multiplier for the Slay Evil line is 2 * 1.22 * 1.39 = 3.39x (Displayed as 3.38x due to round off errors I guess).

But sharpness does not simply multiply damage by 1.22. Rather, every hit for a normal sharp weapon like Crisdurian has a chance of cutting deep (1 in 6) and the multiplier can get arbitrarily high (It supercharges the multiplier 1 in 4). So the reality of sharpness is that most hits do 1x damage, but occasionally, you get a 2x "gouge" or, if lucky a 3x "maim", a 4x "carve", a 5x "cleave", a 6x "smite", a 7x "eviscerate", an 8x "shred", etc. If you work the odds and remember the formula for geometric series than you can work out the effective multiplier of 11/9: 1 + 1/6 * (1 + 1/4 + 1/16 + 1/64 + ...) = 1 + 1/6 * 1/(1-1/4) = 1 + 1/6 * 4/3 = 1 + 2/9 = 11/9. For reference, super vorpals like Vorpal Blade score crits 1 in 3 and super charge 1 in 2: 1 + 1/3 * (1 + 1/2 + 1/4 + ...) = 1 + 1/3 * 1/(1 - 1/2) = 1 + 1/3 * 2 = 5/3.

Critical hits are similarly discrete in their effects. Here, the game uses sampling to compute an effective damage multiplier since the code is rather non-straightforward and I don't have a closed form for the probabilities.

[wobbly]

Is there a way to protect against priests cursing my gear? Or is it simply a matter of killing them quickly.

[Derakon]

It's been ages since I played, but I'm pretty sure you get a saving throw -- that is, cursed gear is a potential side-effect of a successful curse spell.

[Fnord]

As a Death Sword:

* Do you get bonuses from eating unIDed weapons?
* Do you get negative bonuses from eating weapons with such (i.e. -hit, -ac etc)?
* Do negative or dubious properties build up (quake?)?

[chris]

As a Death Sword:

* Do you get bonuses from eating unIDed weapons?
* Do you get negative bonuses from eating weapons with such (i.e. -hit, -ac etc)?
* Do negative or dubious properties build up (quake?)?

Yes. No. No.

It's all good with the Death Sword. In fact, if you are lazy, you can just autodestroy all weapons and you still gain essences, though you don't get to know what you actually drained (You just grow stronger).

[riftor_77]

On an unrelated note, question about new two handed weapon fighting mechanics. I am a paladin wielding a longsword and a broadsword. I have reached Skilled for both weapons, but my dual wielding still reads "Unskilled" despite having used these weapons since birth. Am I doing something wrong? How do the new dual wielding mechanics work?

[Arjen]

On an unrelated note, question about new two handed weapon fighting mechanics. I am a paladin wielding a longsword and a broadsword. I have reached Skilled for both weapons, but my dual wielding still reads "Unskilled" despite having used these weapons since birth. Am I doing something wrong? How do the new dual wielding mechanics work?

You start training dual wield when you attack with (any) 2 weapons. But it's a slow skill, so give it time to raise. It will happen, but the start might be tough with it's low accuracy. Your weaponskill is a different stackable skill. !oHeriosm can help if you don't hit enough.

[krazyhades]

Also as far as I know, it's easier to train it with lighter weapons at first. Not sure mechanically why (whether it's accuracy and you need to hit, or just a hard rule, or what), but it's real.

[klassik]

i have a question.

my ring of protection gives warning.
but i get messages that it glows different colors when i enter the same store. what is it trying to tell me?

[chris]

i have a question.

my ring of protection gives warning.
but i get messages that it glows different colors when i enter the same store. what is it trying to tell me?

It's warning you about uniques. In town, this is probably Farmer Maggot or Lion Heart.

[wobbly]

What's the maximum weapon weight on a ninja? Obviously less then the weight of a jo staff, which was a little disapointing as it fit in my head when I took a draconian ninja.

[chris]

What's the maximum weapon weight on a ninja? Obviously less then the weight of a jo staff, which was a little disapointing as it fit in my head when I took a draconian ninja.

There is no maximum weight, but there are severe weapon restrictions. Ninjas may only wield various types of daggers and smallish swords. You should get a message about not being comfortable with other weapons (e.g. a jo staff) and should also notice a rather large penalty to hit.