New Race: Gnome

[Winwons]

-----Welcome, Gnomes!-----
Gnomes are a small race of humoids that dwell underground. They visit the surface to trade with other races. Gnomish merchants are well-known for selling rare merchandise and they have a knack for money.
They eat plants and fungi that they cultivate in caves. How they manage to do that is a closely guared secret.They are a light-hearted and fun-loving folk, but sometimes their endless curiosity for pretty much
everything gets the better for them and one brave gnome goes out on an adventure. Gnomes have a natural talent for magic, especially for earth magic, although they shun curses, necromancy and poison magic.
Experimenting with spells or using them even for mundane tasks is commonplace in their culture. Gnomes love tinkering with gadgets and they are able to create some of the most advanced machinations known to the crawl world,
at least if they don't end up exploding. Gnomes are not very religious and put their faith mostly in themselves. Gnomes don't like kobolds because the latter have little respect for life.

-----Even Gnomes have Standards-----
Size: Small
HP: -20%
MP: +10%
XP: +1
+1 intelligence or dexterity every 5th level
+4 magic resistance per level

-----Fighting, Gnome Style-----
Fighting: -2
Short Blades: +1
Long Blades: -3
Axes: -2
Maces and Flails: -1
Polearms: -3
Staves: -2
Unarmed Combat: -2

Bows: -1
Crossbows: +3
Throwing: 0
Slings: +1

Armour: -3
Dodging: +2
Shields: -3

Invocations: -2
Evocations: +4
Stealth: +2

-----The Magic Calls to the Gnomes-----
Spellcasting: +1
Conjurations: +1
Hexes: -2
Charms: 0
Summonings: +1
Necromancy: -4
Translocations: +1
Transmutations: +1
Fire Magic: 0
Ice Magic: 0
Air Magic: -4
Earth Magic: +4
Poison Magic:-3

-----Gnome Life-----
Haggle: Gnomes get a 10% discount in all shops.
Gadgeteer Extraordinaire: Combine two potions, wands or scrolls to create a new item of the same type. The results are wildly unpredictable...
Herbivore 1

[crate]

imo here are some good gnome apts:
armour 150
dodging 70
stealth 70
stabbing 80
shields 120
traps 70
invo 90
evo 45
fighting 100
shortblades 75
longblades 100
axes 100
maces 130
polearms 140
staves 130
unarmed 110
throwing 100
slings 80
bows 100
crossbows 90
darts 60
spellcasting 156
conj 100
enchantments 100
summoning 110
necromancy 130
translocations 130
transmigration 120
divination 120
fire 100
ice 100
air 170
earth 60
poison 130
exp 110

[XuaXua]

Gadgeteer Extraordinaire: Combine two potions, wands or scrolls to create a new item of the same type. The results are wildly unpredictable...

Seems more like a divine ability, not a racial one.

[PleasingFungus]

Hello, winwons! What role do you think this race would fill that isn't already filled by kobolds? They seem very similar.

[Winwons]

Hello, winwons! What role do you think this race would fill that isn't already filled by kobolds? They seem very similar.

Hello. I think that gnomes are less-combat oriented than kobolds, but better when it comes to magic.

[tasonir]

In general, the game designers/developers feel that there's enough standard races, and don't want to add additional races that are primarily different based on aptitudes. A lot of the more recent races are based on some very extreme racial mutations/abilities: see vine stalker, formicid, and gargoyle.

Also while some players like extreme aptitudes, a lot of the more experienced players don't like aptitudes like -4 air +4 earth because it removes the decision of using earth or air - you're basically forced into earth, if you pick one of the two.

Haggle would have very little impact on most games.

Herbivore is an example of a slightly restricted diet of the type that has been removed from more races lately than added, it was taken off centaurs for example. I think ogres also lost fast metabolism in a similar change.

[KoboldLord]

Hello, winwons! What role do you think this race would fill that isn't already filled by kobolds? They seem very similar.

I would hazard a guess that he wants it to fill the role of converting the many hundreds of useless or excess scrolls, potions, and wands into potentially valuable new items without spending any resources or risking any danger. The chance of success doesn't have to be very high when the cost is effectively zero.

[Winwons]

Hello, winwons! What role do you think this race would fill that isn't already filled by kobolds? They seem very similar.

I would hazard a guess that he wants it to fill the role of converting the many hundreds of useless or excess scrolls, potions, and wands into potentially valuable new items without spending any resources or risking any danger. The chance of success doesn't have to be very high when the cost is effectively zero.

A limitation could be added easily - MP, Hunger, Random explosions, a chance to fizzle, explosions, the created item being consumed/activated immeadetaly (which could lead to explosions), explosions... The possibilites are endless!

[Sar]

MP is a terrible limitation for something you do outside of combat (unless you mean maxMP), hunger rarely matters, explosions either can kill you from full HP (in which case you will literally never use that ability) or can't (in which case you just use the ability outside of combat and press 5 if an explosion happens).

[Winwons]

MP is a terrible limitation for something you do outside of combat (unless you mean maxMP), hunger rarely matters, explosions either can kill you from full HP (in which case you will literally never use that ability) or can't (in which case you just use the ability outside of combat and press 5 if an explosion happens).

Contamination, Hp, Exhaustion, Mutations... come on if that's really the only problem with this race I'm sure we can figure out something

[Croases]

Well, what about this: Every potion produces a random battle (curing, heal wounds, magic, invisibility, might, agility, brilliance, confusion, degeneration, strong poison, resistance, haste, lignification, cancellation) effect instead of its own effect. Every scroll produces a random battle (blink, immolate (and make it quadruple weight), teleport, fear, fog, silence, summoning, torment, holy word, vulnerability) effect instead of its own effect. Essentially, you are on perma-quaffid and perma-readid.

The positive potion effects mean that you always have a random array of potion effects that you can use prior to battle, the negative effects mean that using them in the battle itself may get you killed. All scrolls are now fun scrolls. This is probably scummable or otherwise a very bad idea for reasons I can't think of at the moment, but I'll be damned if it won't be fun to play.

Be a Gozagite and do it with Potion Petition for extra fun!

[Wahaha]

What the limitation is doesn't matter yet. A racial ability doesn't even necessarily need a limitation if it's one of the race's perks. What matters is whether the ability to combine consumables is good or not. The idea of being able to trade less useful consumables for random ones at a 2:1 ratio is possibly interesting. But the main problem is that using such an ability can get very fiddly if it's used a hundred times (probably more) per game because of having to select two items every time. If we're looking at the race in general and not specifically this ability, the ability isn't enough to make the race interesting by itself, and is currently the only possibly interesting thing about it.

[TheArcanist]

Well, what about this: Every potion produces a random battle (curing, heal wounds, magic, invisibility, might, agility, brilliance, confusion, degeneration, strong poison, resistance, haste, lignification, cancellation) effect instead of its own effect. Every scroll produces a random battle (blink, immolate (and make it quadruple weight), teleport, fear, fog, silence, summoning, torment, holy word, vulnerability) effect instead of its own effect. Essentially, you are on perma-quaffid and perma-readid.

The positive potion effects mean that you always have a random array of potion effects that you can use prior to battle, the negative effects mean that using them in the battle itself may get you killed. All scrolls are now fun scrolls. This is probably scummable or otherwise a very bad idea for reasons I can't think of at the moment, but I'll be damned if it won't be fun to play.

Be a Gozagite and do it with Potion Petition for extra fun!

EVERY scroll and EVERY potion?

Better hope you don't pick up a cursed weapon, then.

In fact, don't bother with weapons at all, really, because it's not like you can enchant them.

(Strategic scrolls are important mmkay, or at least being allowed to read !remove curse is)

[Croases]

Well then, let ?remove curse, ?ew, ?ea, !cmut and the status-removing part of !curing apply their regular effects in addition to their random effects.

Unnecessary inconveniences should be eliminated, as long as ?acquirement and !experience are still subject to the randomizer rule.

[KittenInMyCerealz]

Why would you ever quaff potions when there is only like 20% chance they will help you, and the same chance to kill you

[Croases]

Why would you ever quaff potions when there is only like 20% chance they will help you, and the same chance to kill you

1. Find tough enemy
2. Step back from enemy
3. Quaff potion
4a. If you got something bad, wait it out
4b. If you got something good, kill enemy

So you can quaff potions before battle, but not during it. You'd still be quaffing potions and reading scrolls all the time. It's just that you're trading the ability to have emergency supplies for strong pre-emptive battle effects.

[Sprucery]

3. Quaff potion
4a. If you got something bad, wait it out

Would you really risk getting confusion or strong poison without the possibility of reliable curing? Doesn't sound like fun to me. I'm not a developer, but I'm pretty sure there's about zero chance for a race with this kind of gimmick to get implemented.

(Also, I'm really sad that I didn't win a gnome, elf or hill dwarf back then...)

[Croases]

Would you really risk getting confusion or strong poison without the possibility of reliable curing?

Well then, let ?remove curse, ?ew, ?ea, !cmut and the status-removing part of !curing apply their regular effects in addition to their random effects

No longer a problem.

But the "ideal" way to play this is kind of boring and involves a lot of kiting, so I don't see it getting in either.

[Leafsnail]

The species that can't drink potions is already the weakest in the game. What you're proposing is very close to a species that can't drink potions or read scrolls.

[Croases]

No, I am not. In fact, I'm proposing a species that drinks potions all the time, because it can't reserve them for when things turn sour. You're getting a solid advantage (enter every tough fight with might/haste/invisibility/whatever) with a solid disadvantage (can't gain these within the fight itself, or else you risk the negative effects).

Besides, mummies are plenty strong!

[Leafsnail]

Oh right, so you intentionally set it up to make the potions scummable? That's even worse than what I thought you were going for, that sounds horrendously boring. Still you forgot to mention the solid disadvantage of "basically can't use tactical scrolls ever".

[Klown]

I'm all for more races.
But this one thing is odd. A Crossbow is probably larger than the Gnome itself, yet it has +3 and becomes the most badass crossbow shooter in the land of Crawl?

[Croases]

Oh right, so you intentionally set it up to make the potions scummable?

You can't scum potions because you have a finite number of them. But yeah, that's exactly what would make this sort of gnome boring to play.

Still you forgot to mention the solid disadvantage of "basically can't use tactical scrolls ever".

There are tactical scrolls in Crawl? Well, other than immolation and fog I suppose.

[Leafsnail]

Blinking, teleportation, fear, summoning

[mikee]

holy word, silence (but it's bad), vulnerability, recharging (sort of), magic mapping (sort of). Scroll of noise used to have a tactical use, but I don't know if it does or even exists anymore. I've also seen tactical enchant armour, but that's obviously really bad.

Anyway, the main reason this proposal isn't getting much traction goes beyond any problems with it or the fact that people are jerks or developers don't want certain kinds of races - you have to sell it, as it has to be worth adding to the game to make up for the added complexity of having it. There's a guide on how to do that sticked to the top of this forum.