Having just brought a FeBe to Vault 3 (as well as read this entire thread), I'd have to agree that Felids are not interesting enough as currently implemented. I do not have a problem with the extra lives mechanic, however a large part of the fun in crawl is finding cool new items to use against upcoming enemies. Too many items are useless to felids and the extra lives mechanic, to me, is not interesting enough to replace that loss.
To remedy this I propose the following solution:
Weapons, armor and wands remain unwieldable/unwearable to Felids, but that does not mean useless. Felids get a race specific ability (not unike deep dwarves' device recharging) named 'release magical energy', this is used on a magical item ('runed/glowing/shiny' etc, but also fixedarts and randarts) and destroys the item in the process.
The effects vary according to the item enchantment:
- A common enchantment like a +1/+2 spear would give the felid a temporary +1/+2 boost to it's teeth/claw weapon, a venomous +3/+0 dagger would give the felid +3/+0 venomous claws etc. Enchantments stack, brands replace previously gained brands, but all effects wear off after some time.
- +x armour of any kind gives temporary +x bonuses to AC. Resistances of any kind are temporarily gained.
- artifact effects like +4 STR, +3 INT are likewise temporarily added to Felid stats
- activated ability effects do not become temporary abilities but are activated immediately (releasing the energy from the cloak of darkness will turn you invisible and not give you the ability).
- wands are a special case. Felids are allowed to throw the wand a limited distance when releasing its energy (because it might otherwise hurt the felid). Upon landing it will then start giving some random effects that are fitting to its type. The effects take place every few turns until the wand runs out of charges, A wand of flame might conjure flame/give fireball explosions/sprout (neutral)firebats/imps. A wand of teleportation might create teleport traps in the area (one for each charge). A wand of healing might generate beneficial potions (again one for each charge over the course of many turns until it runs out of charges) in the area. etc.
-items without the "runed/shiny/embroidered" etc. adjectives remain useless to felids
Problems with this idea might be the following:
- this buffs the felid, while it doesn't need a buff
- encourages item hoarding and 'hoovering the dungeon'
For the first problem a drawback might be necessary, just like the deep dwarves ability costs it a permanent MP, perhaps the sacrifice of a scroll or something. For the second, perhaps disallow Felids carrying unwieldable items in inventory. I'll wait with developing this idea further until I see if people like it in principle.
The extra lives mechanic can stay or go, I'm kind of neutral about it, but it fits flavorwise.