why don't shock serpent explosions harm their allies?

[xentronium]

As far as I know, shock serpent explosions are the only ones in the game which don't harm enemies and only harm the player. I don't see how it makes sense.

[Kismet]

As far as I know, shock serpent explosions are the only ones in the game which don't harm enemies and only harm the player. I don't see how it makes sense.

it would be too much fun if they did

[Hirsch I]

because having a pet shock serpent following you when you have rElec would happen.

[bcadren]

they need to spawn with like 1 gallon of bees.

[PleasingFungus]

because having a pet shock serpent following you when you have rElec would happen.

actually I'm not sure this is true; I think they might be too fast & deal too much damage for this to be practical even with relec.

I'm also not sure about the OP's claim, fwiw

[Hirsch I]

I can think of a heavily armored makleb follower doing that.

[bcadren]

I can think of a heavily armored makleb follower doing that.

I can think of a giant queen bee species doing this with all of it's tentacles tied behind it's thorax. Doesn't make it feasible.

[Hirsch I]

the difference is that Makleb is a thing, heavy armor is a thing, giant bee species is not. I really dont see what your point is supposed to be here.

[Berder]

I can think of a heavily armored makleb follower doing that.

If you're that heavily armored with rElec and makhleb, then why bother with tricks? Just crush everything. 99% of characters in snake are not strong enough to have a pet shock serpent without taking severe damage.

Besides, if a pet shock serpent actually worked, it wouldn't be a problem. If you could get an advantage from having a pet shock serpent then why not? That would be a neat tactic. And I see no reason to specifically prevent it.

[duvessa]

Do you keep pet shadow dragons when you have rN+++? Pet death drakes when you're undead?

the bigger question is "why do shock serpent explosions exist" though

[cerealjynx]

rElec will not save you from a Shock Serpent. They are jerks.

[Hirsch I]

well, gamey, boring behavior like that is a good thing to prevent. it woulg give you a random aoe elec attack that costed some health, but you could disable in two or three turns if things got a little ugly, trading only your capacity to auto explore. idk if that's a good thing, but im no game designer yet.

[xentronium]

Imo you'd get a better effect with no hassle by carrying around a disk of storms. Those aren't so uncommon.
To reiterate though, the problem I have is that I can see a giant explosion engulf everything around the shock serpent, but it only damages me for some reason.

[Greyr]

The only 'pets' I've had have been silent specters. But those won't actually kill you in melee... Directly.

[Bloax]

  Code:

shock serpent (S) | Spd: 15 | HD: 10 | HP: 41-67 | AC/EV: 2/15 | Dam: 20(elec:10-14)

If this thing can repeatedly bite you while you're walking around without you taking damage then you're not afraid of any monster in snake.

[Hirsch I]

my point was that you could heal with makleb, but holy shmoly, they are much stronger than I remember.

[edgefigaro]

If they make this a thing I am designing a vault specifically with shock serpents and bees.