re. Unholy blessing:

Why not make it so that paladins are worth a little more in terms of charge to unholies than they otherwise would be, just because they are paladins. Academy still says that aps should work against paladins in particular. Generally aps don't because paladins are quite tough. This would give them a bit more incentive.

wands, scrolls, staves etc.:

why not make the level of the spell gained from the wand, scroll or staff partially dependent on the level of scroll skill of a character, and perhaps his class, and perhaps his int/wis? Maybe this is already the case, but it feels like success rate depends on some of these things but the effect itself doesn't.

a new skill for fighting classes (or maybe just warriors) -- SWAP:

this allows a fighting class to switch the weapon in his primary slot with the one in the dual wield slot, dual wield coding permitting. The advantage is that it avoids the pain-in-the-arse situation where you try to dual wield a weapon only for it to replace your primary etc, and that it only takes one command to execute. I'd make it dependent on dex, and failing the skill means that either your weapon (or both) drops to the ground, or even worse, is batted into an adjacent room by your opponent.

Nordewin:

the academy has an acolyte of Nordewin when Nordewin no longer exists (except as a lowbie pc) if helpfiles and the availability of the name are anything to go by. Maybe change this mob to the acolyte of someone else? (Phaelim perhaps might be suitable?)

Shops:

Under the new economy, perhaps code something to recognise the fact that shopkeepers would also be trading with non-pc's, and therefore generating income besides that which comes from pc's?

Maybe make a random chance each time an area repops that each shopkeeper in the area might sell an item he holds? It seems unrealistic that if I'm trying to sell something worth 100 copper, the shopkeeper will never gain the funds to buy it once he runs out of money. Major advantages of this is that (a) those on after reboot can't clear the shoppies out with useless goods that no pc will ever buy (b) shopkeepers that never have money to start with (ruined city, perhaps) would actually make some money whilst the mud is up, and eventually might be able to buy something! It's not like the stuff they sell is particularly attractice.

Barter. Don't know about others, but I use this command quite a bit. However, shopkeepers really don't seem to barter for things you'd expect them too. If someone offered me, potion salesman, tiamat's mail (perhaps Tiamat could be given a cf name instead of the DnD one too), I would take it because I know that someone will buy such amazing armor. I'd perhaps even give the next person to walk into my shop a quest to go and yell out that I had it for sale in every city, with the reward being either some potions that I sell, some money, or some exp. Yet plenty of shopkeepers won't trade their standard weapons for such mail.

old sumerian creation story.
tiamat has been around for a long long time.
nothing wrong with some great diety figure
appearing in both our world and cf.
kinda lends to multiverse creation stories.
tiamat wasn't killed by marduk, just slinked
off to hide in another universe is all.
greatly weakened of course. :)


gygax and those early dnd folk used things like
this often.
(he later did a mythus game where
he used loads of egyptian/sumerian stuff so
i figure he has some fascination with it or
because you just can't be sued for using names
from ancient texts.)

>re. Unholy blessing:
>
>Why not make it so that paladins are worth a little more in
>terms of charge to unholies than they otherwise would be, just
>because they are paladins. Academy still says that aps should
>work against paladins in particular. Generally aps don't
>because paladins are quite tough. This would give them a bit
>more incentive.

Because they are based on the power of the soul in question. Being a paladin doesn't make you more powerful, though there are paladins that are worth quite a bit.


>wands, scrolls, staves etc.:
>
>why not make the level of the spell gained from the wand,
>scroll or staff partially dependent on the level of scroll
>skill of a character, and perhaps his class, and perhaps his
>int/wis? Maybe this is already the case, but it feels like
>success rate depends on some of these things but the effect
>itself doesn't.

No.

>a new skill for fighting classes (or maybe just warriors) --
>SWAP:

Throw this into the wield/dual-wield revamp which I'm not sure will ever get done because it is such a huge mess in the code.

>Under the new economy, perhaps code something to recognise the
>fact that shopkeepers would also be trading with non-pc's, and
>therefore generating income besides that which comes from
>pc's?

Then they would also be buying things from NPC's draining the money just as quickly.

>Barter. Don't know about others, but I use this command quite
>a bit. However, shopkeepers really don't seem to barter for
>things you'd expect them too. If someone offered me, potion
>salesman, tiamat's mail (perhaps Tiamat could be given a cf
>name instead of the DnD one too), I would take it because I
>know that someone will buy such amazing armor. I'd perhaps
>even give the next person to walk into my shop a quest to go
>and yell out that I had it for sale in every city, with the
>reward being either some potions that I sell, some money, or
>some exp. Yet plenty of shopkeepers won't trade their
>standard weapons for such mail.

A potion salesman will barter for tiamat's mail, just at a very reduced cost because he's not known for selling tiamat's mail and people aren't likely going to go to him looking for it.

Any shopkeeper will barter for any item (that has a value greater than zero).

>re. Unholy blessing:
>
>Why not make it so that paladins are worth a little more in
>terms of charge to unholies than they otherwise would be, just
>because they are paladins. Academy still says that aps should
>work against paladins in particular. Generally aps don't
>because paladins are quite tough. This would give them a bit
>more incentive.

>>Because they are based on the power of the soul in question. Being a paladin doesn't make you more powerful, though there are paladins that are worth quite a bit.

I appreciate that. If I had to give an example of an analagous thing, the best I could do is the exp penalty races have. It is partly to compensate for racial strengths, and partly to control numbers, from what I understood.

So I'd see ap charges as being based on soul strength, but have soul strength partly based on deathfulness (say) and partly on strength of will or righteousness (which could potentially make paladins stronger, say).

>wands, scrolls, staves etc.:
>
>why not make the level of the spell gained from the wand,
>scroll or staff partially dependent on the level of scroll
>skill of a character, and perhaps his class, and perhaps his
>int/wis? Maybe this is already the case, but it feels like
>success rate depends on some of these things but the effect
>itself doesn't.

>>No.

OK. Fair enough.

>a new skill for fighting classes (or maybe just warriors) --
>SWAP:

>> Throw this into the wield/dual-wield revamp which I'm not sure will ever get done because it is such a huge mess in the code.

Thought that might be that case. Just throwing out ideas.

>Under the new economy, perhaps code something to recognise the
>fact that shopkeepers would also be trading with non-pc's, and
>therefore generating income besides that which comes from
>pc's?

>> Then they would also be buying things from NPC's draining the money just as quickly.

I disagree. The whole point of buying and selling is that a shopkeeper makes money out of it. The reason they don't at present is that only pcs sell to them, and they usually sell stuff that other pcs won't buy. If we assume that they are a viable shop, then ok, maybe they buy stuff from the populace, but we would expect their money to increase over time, in the absence of pcs trading.

>Barter. Don't know about others, but I use this command quite
>a bit. However, shopkeepers really don't seem to barter for
>things you'd expect them too. If someone offered me, potion
>salesman, tiamat's mail (perhaps Tiamat could be given a cf
>name instead of the DnD one too), I would take it because I
>know that someone will buy such amazing armor. I'd perhaps
>even give the next person to walk into my shop a quest to go
>and yell out that I had it for sale in every city, with the
>reward being either some potions that I sell, some money, or
>some exp. Yet plenty of shopkeepers won't trade their
>standard weapons for such mail.

>>A potion salesman will barter for tiamat's mail, just at a very reduced cost because he's not known for selling tiamat's mail and people aren't likely going to go to him looking for it.

I realise this too. I exagerated somewhat, but my general point is that the stuff they turn down can be extremely valuable relative to what they've been asked for.

> Any shopkeeper will barter for any item (that has a value greater than zero).

I didn't realise this though.

Thanks for the response anyhow.

Comments:

a) Why not make it so that paladins are worth a little more in terms of charge to unholies

IMHO very good idea.
There are currently whole bunch of paladins and not many APs at all.
---

b) SWAP

Current dual wield code is terribly complex and inefficient with a lot of 'if's and 'not's. Also my guess coders were afraid to mess with it, not to break it.
Why not implement several simple commands:

1) wield - removes all currently wielded weapons and attempts to wield specified weapon.
2) dualwield - attempts to dual wield specified weapon (can be done with an empty main hand).
3) primary - switches weapon from dual wield to primary hand (removing original main weapon). Can be done while blind.
---

c) Shops:
>Under the new economy, perhaps code something to recognise the fact that shopkeepers would also be trading with non-pc's, and therefore generating income besides that which comes from pc's?

Good idea - for example give change each reset shopkeeper gains 1d100 copper.
With fixed upper limit of money.
---

d) Barter
This has been brought before - allow to barter for multiple items.
I.e. one sword for 10 pies.
---

e) wands, scrolls, staves etc.:

>why not make the level of the spell gained from the wand, scroll or staff partially dependent on the level of scroll skill of a character, and perhaps his class, and perhaps his int/wis? Maybe this is already the case, but it feels like success rate depends on some of these things but the effect itself doesn't.

Does not make sense.
Level of spell of magical device depends on power of enchanter who created this device, not the person who is invoking it to release spell.

-But I vote for more scrolls to be sold in shoppies.
So far only Udgaard has good supply.
========================================

My observations how to balance certain classes...
Or just make them more fun to play :-)
Some may be pretty controversial.


Thief:
-Give poison_thieves a 'poison' poison already.
-And no more emetic poison affecting ghosts. They are not corporeal enough.
-(Lokain idea) Make so only 11+ chars can untie bindings.
-No +2sizes restriction on blackjack/backstab if target is resting/sleeping.
-Give thieves ‘Dark Vision’ skill.
---

AP:
Please please please...
-Teach APs how to dual wield flails/whips.
APs got these nifty whip/flail skills which aren't that useful right now.

-And remove this stupid faceslash. Give it to dagger spec warriors (or maybe thug thieves).

-Lower mana cost for 'enervating spirits' spell. Now it is 100mana for 5 ticks.
---

Paladin:
Right now it seems like every second Paladin has champion stand and counterstrike.

-Give virtues in lesser chunks.
Leave it up to discretion of Deity which skill would fit this particular paladin worshiping this particular religion.
This will create variety and more RP opportunities for paladins.
---

Transmuter:
-Extend duration of reduce and spiderhands. Now it is 5 hours on hero - LOL.
---

Transmuter & paladin:
-Seriously look at damage output on disrupt bone/organ and strikes of faith/purity/deliverance.

Paladin doing 3 ===OBLITIRATES=== every two rounds does not seem very balanced.
These skills do unreasonable damage compared to the skills/spells of other classes.
With exception of Invoker class I suppose.
But at least invokers have to work long and hard to get their deadliest spells.
----

Necro: Becoming
Pretty balanced class. Weak but strong. :-)
Being stuck on 47 sucks though. An alternative to Becoming would be nice...

-Necromancers need more immortal attention as they are trying to Become.

You don’t even have to create quest for Elixir before you talk to necromancer.
Just interact with him, apprise his quality.
Praying for months and never hearing anything back is extremely discouraging.
---

Shaman: Rot supplication
-Add minor damage to rot (like neurological disruption), so it could not be spammed on knocked-out victim.
-Remove 3con instant death. This is EXTREMELY cheap IMHO (same goes about anaconda's constrict).

As an alternative – stop mana/move regeneration (or even start draining them) in addition to damage. You are rotting for God’s sake.
As rotting progresses (low con) - increase the drain.
So at 3con it could be as devastating as crimson scourge.
---

Healers: As opposed to shamans - Give them supplications granting resistance to poison/plague.
Just a random thought - give 'blade barrier' chance to foil special attacks like cranial/pincer etc.
---


-NNNick-

Re: more charges for paladins

Caveat: this might already be in place. It might be useful to change the charges code to account for each classes's deathfulness. If an anti-paladin kills a paladin that has 30 kills maybe it should count for more than killing a warrior with 30 kills, since warriors typically generate many more kills than paladins.

As for anti-paladins shying away from fighting paladins due to the latter being "tough"- I'm not sure I buy that. Tough is someone who can lag me reliably. Tough is not the guy I can easily outdamage, outlag and outmaledict as long as I put up barrier.

Re: shopkeepers and automatically generating funds

If this is ever implemented, the regeneration rate should be fairly slow, and there should be a cap on how much money the shopkeeper accumulates.

Re: shopkeepers not bartering for amazing gear

A corollary: Shopkeepers should be willing to purchase items they can't afford for less than the item's actual value. That is to say if a shopkeeper has 20 gold and would normally buy my 50 gold item if he could afford it, he should be willing to buy it for the 20 gold he does have.