Friday, 18th August 2017, 03:26 by Aean
Hm. It's an interesting idea to be sure. I have three observations, and a question.
1. At least part of the piety-gain system seems flawed. As long as enemies are in sight, there's a constant chance of gaining piety because there's a chance of Iacchus acting. This incentivizes some scummy behavior, like dragging a rat around wherever you go. It's also got the whole feedback loop of "Enemy in sight, so Iacchus acts more often, so you gain more piety, so Iacchus acts more often, etc."
Particularly because of some of the passives he offers (say, mesmerisation immunity) it's optimal to piety-farm before entering places like Shoals. You might just want to make him Xom-like for piety, considering your flavor seems to have him acting based on how happy he is with the life he's experiencing through you. Or alternatively to set it so any action has a small chance of giving you piety.
2. The god-wrath system seems problematic and scummy as well. It's never high-danger unless you're already in a dangerous situation, and prevents joining another god. So more than any other god, it makes sense to wait off wrath on D1 (or similar), so he can recklessly charge or attack monsters who wouldn't be a threat anyway. Unless he does these things only when you're surrounded by real threats, or prevents you from ever joining another god, or something like that, the only thing his wrath hurts is your final score.
2. I know you like the life-saving capstone, but I think you might want to redesign how it works. It'd be valuable, but not particularly interesting. Unlike other capstones, it doesn't change your playstyle in any meaningful way. While other gods give you a special brand, book, or spell, or a powerful, piety-draining ability, Iacchus just gives you the Felid-lite experience, once, without the inconvenience of losing a level. This also means that, like gods who grant an item, brand, or spell capstone, it's generally optimal to leave the god once your capstone is expended. You could maybe turn this into an active ability with a strong counterbalance - either turn on a temporary "lifesaving" in exchange for a major cost, or restore health/mana in exchange for a major cost. This makes it an interesting question of when a player uses it, and how it affects them. Say, you get 10 turns of "lifesaving," but in exchange for 10-20% of maxHP/MP, or you restore HP/MP on command, but permanently lose 5 in all stats each time you do.
Now for the question: What makes playing with this god unique? Or if you'd prefer, what makes a Iacchus game different and interesting?
It seems like because his abilities are all passive and beneficial, he doesn't really add much to your list of decisions. You don't choose when to activate a combat buff (like you do with Trog or Okawaru), an escape ability (like Fo, Usk, digging, swiftness), or a lifesaving ability (like Zin). All that happens is that sometimes you get random benefits on offense, defense, or escape. And unlike, say, Ru's sacrifices, Qazlal's noise, or Xom's bad actions, there's no significant drawbacks that go along with it. Similarly, there's no noteworthy conduct, either for gaining piety, or avoiding penance. As you said, it reads like a more benevolent Xom, but with a much more limited set of actions...which makes Iacchus more bland than I think you intended.