Poschengband: list of human abilities?

[Brouhaha]

Is there a spoiler for the powers that humans get to choose from?

[nikheizen]

Is there a spoiler for the powers that humans get to choose from?

In /lib/help/Demigods.txt, there will be an up to date list.

I have a guide on choosing them (written by krazyhades, I think?)
Note that it is an old guide: https://pastebin.com/hTi24Nky

[GenericPseudonym]

In /lib/help/Demigods.txt, there will be an up to date list.

I have a guide on choosing them (written by krazyhades, I think?)
Note that it is an old guide: https://pastebin.com/hTi24Nky

That guide is wrong about Fleet of Foot not stacking with the Ninja bonus though. They do in fact stack and you can end up taking only ~15% of a turn for each movement.
What probably caused this misunderstanding is that there are two similar-but-different "quick_walk" effects in the source code. Fleet of Foot gives the same bonus that Mystics have, while Ninjas, Wild-talents, and monster-race hounds get a different bonus which can stack with the first one.

[Brouhaha]

You’re both awesome, thank you!

[CyclopsSlayer]

The problem using the ingame help, or the Demigods.txt file is that the simple half sentence descriptions are too vague to be useful. Take for example this;

"Peerless Sniper-
Damaging a monster with a missile weapon no longer provokes a retaliation"

Whereas, this out of date comment from nikheizen actually says something;

"PEERLESS SNIPER very very good on archer types. Monsters get "ticked off" when you damage them at range and that makes them forget their less-powerful abilities, making them much more dangerous. Less important for the final fight, more important for the late farming stage."

Retaliation is used elsewhere to describe such things as a Monk's free counter-attack. Resulting in non-coders utter confusion as the mutations don't behave in accordance with some vague description.
Afterall, I find nikheizen's better than the ingame. But is that 'Better' a 0.00001% better, or 1045% better?

[nikheizen]

The problem using the ingame help, or the Demigods.txt file is that the simple half sentence descriptions are too vague to be useful.

Yeah, that's why I posted both.

Whoever wrote that guide, their advice is mostly good and does go into more depth on what most of the abilities do, but it's outdated and I can't remember if any abilities have been removed- which should be covered by Demigods.txt.

[Evilpotatoe]

Good to find an answer on this here.
Looking a bit more, I just found out a more factual list, with actual numbers, which is what I was looking for :

https://code.google.com/archive/p/chengband/wikis/SpecialAbilities.wiki

(Seems to refer to early versions, but I'd assume most numbers didn't change)

Special Abilities

• Fast Learner:
  Gain +67% experience from all kills.
• Weapon Versatility:
  Can Master all weapon skills and +8 tohit for both ranged and melee.
• Subtle Casting:
  1/2 chance of not triggering "Ticked Off" status with Offensive Spell (or magic device) (evaluate separately for each monster affected)
• Peerless Sniper:
  4/5 chance of not triggering "Ticked Off" status with ranged weapon attack.
• Unyielding:
  +3 HD (HP adjusted retroactively as well)
• Ambidexterity:
  Treated as having Genji Gloves equipped (does not stack with Genji Gloves)
  Untouchable:
  +30 AC
• Loremaster:
  All items *Identify* upon pickup. Additionally, players gain the ability to Probe Monsters.
• Arcane Mastery:
  -5% spell fail rate for all spells (can't reduce below minimum from Class/stat)
• Evasion: You are never crushed by earthquakes, and all breath attacks do 2/3 damage (Mana Storm, Rockets, etc. still do full damage).
• Potion Chugger:
  You chug potions extremely quickly (30 energy). In addition, timed effects from potions last twice as long.
• One with Magic:
  You have 1/2 chance of resisting Dispel Magic and Antimagic.
• Peerless Tracker:
  Track - Active ability that does Magic Mapping and Detection for 25 SP or HP.
• Infernal Deal:
  Gain 20 HP and 10 SP (or 30 HP) for each monster that dies in your Line of Effect. No upper bound per round, and you don't have to be the one doing the killing.
• Merchant's Friend:
  Gain two shop options: (1) Refresh stock: randomize/refresh a Shop's items for 5,000gp. (2) Hold item: pay 10,000gp to ensure that the item does not get removed from a refresh process (so that you can be sure you can buy it later).
• Sacred Vitality:
  All healing effects are boosted by MIN(MAX(plev, X/3), X*2) where X is the original healing amount.
• Cult of Personality:
  Enemy summons are friendly 1/2 of the time if they fail a save (mlvl + 1d100 < 2*clvl + CHA). If they are turned friendly, then they become a pet if they fail an additional save (mlvl + 1d100 < 2*clvl + CHA).
• Fleet of Foot:
  Moving takes only 50 energy. Stacks with Ninja Quick Walk if you really want to be faster than a speeding bullet (so it would be walking takes (45-(clvl/2))/2 energy). For Bards and Dancers who have abilities that damage at the end of each player action, these ability do 50% damage and cost 50% SP after movement.
• Astral Guide:
  Teleportation (Phase Door, Teleport, Dimension Door, from scroll or spell) takes only 30 energy (so you are much more likely to get out of a bad teleport). Does not apply to Ninja's Hide in Flames, Kawamari, or any other ability that combines Teleport with additional effects/triggers. Astral Guide also grants powers of Phase Door and Teleport.
• Demonic Grasp:
  You are immune to charge draining. (Too Powerful? I was worried that if there is any chance of failure than this talent is not worth picking since, for example, the Serpent might heal back to full health!)
  (DZ: Likely too powerful. How about, you get a save to resist charge draining, succeed if 1d100 > mlvl-(2*INT)? That's a 20% chance that the Serpent successfully drains, but honestly if you're devicing, you're unlikely to be in melee range. For standard Archliches etc., you're immune)
  (CK: Actually, I think this might be OK. To me, it is largely a convenience talent except perhaps wrt destruction vs the Serpent, but one usually has enough scrolls. I think I'll leave it as is until somebody actually picks it and tells me it is too much
• Weird Mind:
  You are unaffected by the Eldritch Horror, gain resistance to confusion, and will never hallucinate. In addition, you can not be stunned.
• Fantastic Frenzy:
  Like the berserker, you only use partial energy when your melee attack kills a foe (attack num * 100 / total attacks). In addition, you gain the power of Massacre at L50.

Not having tested them, I feel a bit skeptical about "Peerless Sniper/caster".

=> If I get it right, you have 20%/50% chance to proc a "critical" shot/spell which will "disable" their lesser abilities.
e.g. an arch-vile wouldn't cast fireballs anymore.

Buy this won't disable "high level abilities", so I guess mortal wounds, mana storms, rockets, hand of doom... will still be used.

I'm afraid in end game, this perk would mean enemy casters will ONLY use their most powerful spells, since the other will be automatically disabled, maiking it counter-productive, since I doubt their cast rate will be reduced !

=> may I be right ?
=> and in all cases, is there a list of what is or is not disabled ? (what about "fire an arrow", or "throw a rock", for example) ?

[Gwarl]

Frogcomposband has detailed in-game descriptions that I need to steal for composband.

[CyclopsSlayer]

I don't have an Evasive character at the moment, but I will swear that under Frog I was dodging missile attacks as well. ???

[Sideways]

Evasion works on breath attacks, rockets, rocks and arrows (and in FrogComposband 7.1.toffee it will also work on chickens).

Evasion doesn't work against bolts, balls or generally any attack that's a spell attack rather than a physical attack.

[Bucephalus]

I'm afraid in end game, this perk would mean enemy casters will ONLY use their most powerful spells,

=> may I be right?

You're close. AFAIK, what makes this a perk is that Subtle/Peerless give you a 50%/20% chance of triggering it. Not having them means it will trigger every time.

[Bostock]

> Evasion: You are never crushed by earthquakes, and all breath attacks do 2/3 damage (Mana Storm, Rockets, etc. still do full damage).

Whoaaaaa. That is a LOT better than what I thought it was (2/3 chance of full damage).

Note that some of these have been changed in Composband/FrogComPosBand, and even changed differently in the two. Also, where's Fell Sorcery in this most recently cited list? (Fell Sorcery is one of the ones that's changed, in fact.)

[Evilpotatoe]

The wording still makes it hard for me to understand the correct reading

• the monster has a % to skip his action (no counterproductive behaviour here). Seems to be what Bucephalus suggests, if I got it right.
• the monster just won't use that action again, and may therefore use something else (more dangerous) instead

While I doubt it's documented somewhere for now, having a list of [un]affected effects would be a plus.

---
Just discovered FrogComposband, and took a glance at it, but the description for Peerless sniper isn't different from the one in PosC. (checked both the in-game description and /lib/demigods.txt file)

Speaking of it... is oook.cz "variants" page completely out of date ?
I only happen to pass by every few monthes to check for new versions, and noticed last "variants" updates were back in 2017-oct.
Is there something wrong with oook.cz, or is there another reason ?

[Bostock]

With Peerless Sniper / Subtle Caster, I think things are just being said more complicatedly than they have to be. Here's another try:

* When you zap/shoot a monster, they will reach straight for their most dangerous ranged responses. This is true even if you don't have Peerless/Subtle, and when it triggers, it works the same for everyone.
* If you have these abilities, "will reach" is replaced with just "have a chance to reach".

[Evilpotatoe]

Seems much more clear said that way, indeed.

I didn't remember monsters do that (and didn't play for about a year )

My lvl 31 demigod ranger (@DLvl 35~40) didn't seem to suffer from it yet... I don't miss those retaliates.
playing PoscHenband 7.0 beta


Just for the record, looks like I got lost by this description (https://pastebin.com/hTi24Nky)
"PEERLESS SNIPER very very good on archer types. Monsters get "ticked off" when you damage them at range and that makes them forget their less-powerful abilities, making them much more dangerous. Less important for the final fight, more important for the late farming stage."


Thanks for the clarification.