Unique: Alford

[Klown]

An Alchemist who, low on funds, has wandered into the dungeon in search of ownerless items to transmute into gold; which he plans to use to continue his alchemy research. And maybe pay for a few trips to the local brothel. He enjoys transmutations magic, and has long blond hair.

Location

  Code:

  The Dungeon:10-16
    The Orcish Mines:2-4
    The Elven Halls:1
    The Lair:1-5
    The Swamp:1
    The Shoals:1
    The Snake Pit:1
    The Spider's Nest:1

Items: Ego Robe
Spells: Blade Hands
Drops: Ego Robe & Much Gold

Under the hood, he acts as a jelly, slurping things up(but no messages will tell the player about this). He spawns with 500 gold, and gains 100 more for each item he transmutes(slurps up). This gold goes to the player that manages to slay him. If the player leaves the level after noticing Alford, his gold will reset to 500 next time the player enters that level.

HP: 100
HD: 12
XP: 1500
Speed: 12
AC: 0
EV: 12
MR: 70
Attack: 12(plain)

[dpeg]

Cool concept, but scummy players might try to abuse poor Alford. (You fixed the worst by resetting gold. But I am afraid more is possible.)

[dck]

Leaving aside how exploitable the gold thing is, a speed 10 melee monster whose only spell is one he must to cast to have decent offense doesn't sound very good.
Even if the mechanic is supposed to be that he only gets good offense for a while when he's got BH turned on (but since there isn't monster bh let's assume the implementation would make it really dangerous) then it's still silly because he's speed 10 and you can walk around a pillar for a bunch of turns until his bh ends, then hit him a couple of times and repeat.

[WalkerBoh]

Nice idea! Don't link gold dropped to items slurped up though. Just give him a random amount between say, 400 and 1000. A transmutations unique is a fun idea though. Even better if you make him an octopode!

[Klown]

Leaving aside how exploitable the gold thing is, a speed 10 melee monster whose only spell is one he must to cast to have decent offense doesn't sound very good.
Even if the mechanic is supposed to be that he only gets good offense for a while when he's got BH turned on (but since there isn't monster bh let's assume the implementation would make it really dangerous) then it's still silly because he's speed 10 and you can walk around a pillar for a bunch of turns until his bh ends, then hit him a couple of times and repeat.

Now you dun it.
12 ev and speed. Alford is now the agile one. Move like a bee, sting like a bee.

[Jeremiah]

Give him spider form instead of blade hands?

[dck]

Well I guess a fast, melee only Urug is better than current Urug.
I don't think transmutations in general can make for very interesting monsters (certainly not at this stage of the game) since for example the only difference between being hit by a great sword and being hit by bh is what the hit is flavored as.

[and into]

How about: Alford has large amount of gold that is randomly generated, and he gets stronger the more stuff he slurps up, at least to a certain point. He swipes stuff and transmutes that shit to steroids and juices up, man.

[MiraclePrism]

What if a transmuter unique was a unique shapeshifter? He/she could shift to new forms that try to exploit holes in your resistances. If you lack rPois, spiderform. If you lack rC, iceform. Etc. This unique might need a tiered list for the case of where you are lacking multiple resistances, or might just pick a vulnerable element randomly.

You can also justify the unique seeing your resistances by flavoring them as a worshipper of Ashenzari, thus accounting for another god in monster representation!

[Tiber]

What if he keeps the slurping ability; however, instead of 100 gold, have it be based at least partially on item value so that stones aren't suddenly worth 100 gold. The new catch is, instead of blade hands, he has spells which transmute the gold into ranged attacks, such as a gold spear attack. Therefore, trying to lure him around would be pointless, as he'll use up your reward attacking you. Players are rewarded more for dealing with him quickly, but can deal with him more easily once he's out of gold. Also, give him apportation, so he's less easily to manipulate via pathing.

[Lasty]

Giving him apportation would mean you could waste a bunch of his turns by fighting him in an area you pre-seed with junk.

[Tiber]

He would still only cast it randomly, and if that's a problem you just make it affect all items in line of sight. You could even make it a charm-type spell that causes all items in range to move towards him each turn, for a short period of time. Problem solved.

[Lacuenta]

He would still only cast it randomly, and if that's a problem you just make it affect all items in line of sight. You could even make it a charm-type spell that causes all items in range to move towards him each turn, for a short period of time. Problem solved.

Proposal: rename to Hoover.

[khalil]

I think the idea of him getting stronger for items he eats just turns him into a new version of that one unique who could animate all weapons in LoS: Deadly if you leave a bunch of junk on the ground, harmless if you pick it all up.