CF: ideas for next experiments

[David Andrew Michael Noelle <dave@Straylight.org>]

    I'm wrapping up my current experiments and considering some new ones. 
Tell me what you think of these ideas:

- boomerang
    A flag on weapon objects that causes them to return to their owner when
thrown.  That flag sets a counter in the thrown object equal to the maximum
distance the object will travel.  It flies straight in the direction thrown,
as normal, until it run out of momentum or hits something/someone.  Then, if
the boomerang counter is non-zero, it is added to the remaining momentum (if
any) and the direction is reversed.
    When the boomerang returns and "hits" its owner, it inserts itself in
the owner's inventory instead of doing any damage.  (You automagically catch
it.)  Optionally, it might require a dexterity skill check to catch
non-magical boomerangs.
    Prime candidates: mjoellnir, magical throwing axes and hammers
    Reason to carry three mjoellnirs: juggle them.  Throw all three, and
stand still, waiting for them to return.  Each one inserts itself back onto
the top of your inventory, where you can just click to throw it again. 
Repeat.  Throwing skill becomes an effective mid-level attack.


- per-type damage (major change)
    This would require a major change, but since a major object rewrite is
in the works now, this seems like a good time to suggest it.  We would have
a lot more flexibility if instead of one amount of damage that comes equally
from an array of attacktypes, each type in an attack had a seperate amount
of damage. Instead of taking damage only from whichever type does the most
damage with the given base amount, you would take damage from each type
you're not immune to that has a non-zero amount.
    This would allow things like darts of lethal poison that do 2 points of
physical damage and 32 points of poison damage.  A flametongue sword would
do 8 points of physical damage, and an additional 8 of fire damage.  Against
a physical-immune, fire-vulnerable creature, it would do 0 physical damage
and 16 fire damage, for the same result.
    This would turn attacks into an array of 18 integers instead of one
integer for damage and one for the attacktype bitmask, but I think the
increased flexibility would make it worthwhile.


- seperate hitback 
    If there was a hitback achetype, a "force" object with attack stats,
that could be used for hitback instead of normal attack damage.  This would
allow things like Flame Shield, which would protect from cold and do fire
damage to anyone who hits you, without applying your weapon damage as well. 
If there is no hitback object present, but the hitback flag is set, the
creature's normal attack would be used, as it is currently.


- protection from magic
    Attacktype: magic indicates that an attack is magical, unless it's the
only attacktype present, in which case it means that the attack is raw
magic, such as magic bullets, speedballs, or my new raw magic spells. 
Either way, immunity to magic means you're immune to the whole attack. 
Shouldn't protection from magic similarly protect from the whole attack?  As
it stands now, protection from magic only protects from raw magic attacks,
which aren't really all that common.


- teleportation spells
    I suggested these a while back, but there wasn't much comment on them.

    Word of Return
A prayer that takes just as long as Word of Recall to return you to wherever
you were when you last cast Word of Recall.
magic items: scrolls and books

    Portal
A spell that marks a location the first time you cast it, then the next time
you cast Portal, it creates a temporary two-way portal between the first
location and the second.  The portal lasts for 10 seconds + 1 second per
level beyond 12, so it won't last a whole minute until you reach level 62.
magic items: books and "portal stones"

    The concerns the last time I mentioned these were that 
a) They could be used to make it even easier to visit all the stores very
quickly.  I think these are now too limited to do much damage there,
especially if various other town-to-town teleporters are removed.
b) Players could teleport in and out of a room to deal damage without taking
any.  For high-level mages, that's the only valid strategy.  If you're not
sure that you can destroy everything that's attacking you before they can do
any damage, all you can do is hit-and-run.  Yes, Portal could still make
that easier, but it doesn't last long, is expensive to cast, and is worth
getting some tactical advantage if you can use it correctly and time your
moves well enough to not get stuck on the wrong side when it vanishes.  If
that is still considered a problem, I can just add a catch to it:
teleporting leaves you stunned for a moment.  Four to eight ticks should be
plenty to cut down the tactical advantage.

    One other concern is that players could set a teleport marker when they
pick up some treasure, wait for the map to reset, then create the portal and
just step through, into the newly restocked treasure chamber.  Or Recall out
of the treasure room, wait for reset, and Return back in.
    The first solution that comes to mind is to simply disallow inter-map
portals if either one is surrounded by anti-magic fields, and to not mark a
Recall location for Return if that location is surrounded by anti-magic. 
Most treasure rooms already are, to prevent Dimension Door.
    Another method that I like less, but is easier to implement, is to set a
short time limit on both Portal and Return, or to make them only work until
the map resets.


- drain by proxy
    Now that I have an Animate Weapon spell, I find myself faced with a
dilemma:  When I aminate a Stormbringer (attacks: electricity, drain),
should I gain half of the experience it drains, as I would if I were
weilding the weapon myself, or do I have to actually be in physical contact
with the weapon?  Similarly, if I have pets with drain attacks, do I get the
experience when they drain, or just when they kill?  Opinions anyone?

-- 
            -Dave Noelle,                 dave@Straylight.org
            -the Villa Straylight,  http://www.straylight.org
Coalition Against Unsolicited Commercial Email  ==  http://www.cauce.com

Disclaimer: U.C.L.A. doesn't share my opinions; life isn't that good.

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