Unrandart Proposal: Bloodied Targe

[Laraso]

+0 bloodied targe of broken souls {Regen rN+ Stlth--}

"Crafted from the pieces of a disproportionately cruel and evil torture device used by an ancient necromantic cult, this spiked shield is covered in blood and exudes a strong malicious aura. Knowledge of the necromantic practices that this shield was involved in has since been lost to history, but the necromantic enchantments that have been placed upon it make it clear that it was used for nothing less than the most heinous acts of torture. If you listen closely, you can hear echoing cries of pain."

This shield is considered a normal shield. Every blocked attack give you a good chance of performing a shield-bash (similar to minotaur retaliation) which inflicts bleeding and pain, the higher your necromancy skill is the more damage the pain does, just like the pain brand for weapons. Every time something bleeds in your line-of-sight (you hit something and it bleeds or something hits you and you bleed) there is a chance that it will summon a friendly flayed ghost. The chance for a shield-bash increases with higher shields skill (although the chance is pretty good with low shield skill, like maybe 40% at skill level 6), and the chance for a flayed ghost is increased by the amount of blood that was released. For example, if you kill a rat and it only makes one tile of blood, the chance isn't very high, but if you blow up a hill giant with an orb of destruction and it covers the floor in blood and chunks, the chance is very high.

For obvious reasons, equipping this shield will place you under penance by the good gods (TSO, Elyvilon, Zin)

(This is an idea that I would really like to see implemented, I could try my hand at making the code for this shield if it means it has a chance of making it into the game.)

[spudwalt]

I think adding friendly flayed ghosts on top of all the other stuff makes this kinda overpowered. The flayed ghost thing is kind of a cool idea, and might work on a different unrand where it's the main selling point, but this thing *already* gives you:

• pain-branded shield bash
• necromancy enhancer
• rN++
• Regen
• +3 int
• the benefits of an extremely well-enchanted buckler (good SH without impeding weapons or spellcasting much)

Heck, this could probably do without a few of those other things and be just fine.

[Laraso]

Well, I wanted it to be fairly powerful because it's an unrandart, but you make very good points. The flayed ghosts are an integral part of the concept (flayed ghosts are spirits of torture victims who seek to inflict anguishing wounds upon the living, which makes blood go everywhere) so those need to stay. I've edited the original post to hopefully make it more reasonable.

Originally:

  Code:

+6 bloodied targe of broken souls {Regen Int+3 rN++ Stlth-} (necromancy enhancer, shield-bash, flayed ghosts)

Now:

  Code:

+0 bloodied targe of broken souls {Regen rN+ Stlth--} (necromancy enhancer, shield-bash, flayed ghosts)

[and into]

I'd say maybe lose the necomancy enhancer *or* the flayed ghosts on bloodshed (I'd recommend former actually) and make it a regular shield so that putting it on is actually an investment/decision for characters.

[Sar]

There are two artefacts that are spell enhancers (though, to be fair, they enhance any school): Robe of Folly and Hat of the Archmagi. Both of them have very strong drawbacks as well (MR-- and anti-wizardry). Your artefact is a bunch of good stuff, great stuff and awesome stuff jumbled together and put into a slot you are unlikely to find anything better for.

[dck]

There's also our favorite hex enhancer!
But yes the original approach to this is a bit overachieving and I'm not sure making a bashing system for exactly one single unrand is a very good idea, also in practice I don't think retailatory damage on the player works very well, with the exception of Yred's mirror.

[spudwalt]

That works better, though I'm still not sure about flinging in two new mechanics at once (i.e. the shield bash and flayed ghosts, though they work together thematically, at least -- by that, I mean the whole torture flavor). Also, I think this would work better as at least a shield, rather than a buckler -- my mental image of it looks like a chunk of an iron maiden or something -- but other people are welcome to debate the point.

It's a cool idea for a shield, and I imagine there would be quite a few necromancers out there who would be happy to pick it up. I could see myself at the very least using it for the Regen and rN+, if I hadn't found anything better.

[Laraso]

The necromancy enhancer was intended to make it fit with the description and also be more appealing to necromancers, but it does already give you a pain-branded retaliation attack so I guess that would be reason enough for necromancers, so I agree that the necromancy enhancer is probably a bit too much. And I do agree that being a normal shield is a better idea.

I've removed the necromancy enhancer and changed it to be a normal shield in the original post.

But yes the original approach to this is a bit overachieving and I'm not sure making a bashing system for exactly one single unrand is a very good idea

Um, there are tons of unrandarts that have unique "systems" that only apply to them. The sword of power is a great example. Unique properties are what make unrandarts interesting!

Also, the bash is nothing more than a simple chance to inflict pain+bleeding on a successfully blocked attack, it's not like some complex "system" would need to be created.

also in practice I don't think retailatory damage on the player works very well, with the exception of Yred's mirror.

It works for minotaurs quite nicely.

[dck]

Weapons with unique enchantment systems or weapons with fancy brands and then some side effect are completely different from something like a shield that can sometimes upon blocking work as a retailatory headbutt that is also pain branded and causes bleeding (note that bleeding does nothing).
No, I don't think it works very well for minotaurs or both Ds muts that use it.

[Laraso]

(note that bleeding does nothing).

It makes enemies bleed blood. Flavor.

[Leafsnail]

This seems like it would make a lot more sense as a weapon, really.

[Tiktacy]

This seems like it would make a lot more sense as a weapon, really.

+1 for using a round shield as a weapon.

[spudwalt]

(note that bleeding does nothing).

Bleeding saps a percentage of the monster's HP each turn. While it doesn't kill things like poison does, it can still add up to a fair bit of damage -- yellow draconians can bring a hill giant to like 1/3rd health with a couple hits of their acid breath (and only part of that damage comes from the acid). Plus, making monsters bleed would increase the chances of summoning a flayed ghost, since bleeding creatures leave blood trails when they move.

Note: IIRC, whenever a flayed ghost flays something, it creates a large spray of illusory blood (I can remember getting a character flayed a couple times in Crypt and having over half my field of view covered in blood). We should probably prevent that from summoning more flayed ghosts, because that seems like it could break things fairly quickly.

[Laraso]

Note: IIRC, whenever a flayed ghost flays something, it creates a large spray of illusory blood (I can remember getting a character flayed a couple times in Crypt and having over half my field of view covered in blood). We should probably prevent that from summoning more flayed ghosts, because that seems like it could break things fairly quickly.

Well the blood they make when they flay something is, as you said, illusory, so I'd assume there is something under the hood that lets the game know if blood is real or not. I'd assume that all you would have to do is not include that blood in the chance for summoning flayed ghosts.

[Sar]

Fun fact: the blood flayed ghosts spill can be ignited by Ignite Blood (Ds mutation).

[Laraso]

Or how about the chance for summoning a flayed ghost is multiplied by 0.33 for every additional flayed ghost that has already been summoned? Diminishing returns.

[spudwalt]

Or there could just be a cap on the number of flayed ghosts you have, a la Summons.

[Laraso]

Or there could just be a cap on the number of flayed ghosts you have, a la Summons.

That's probably the best idea, actually. I don't know why I didn't think of that.

I think there should be a cap, but also make it so the chance to spawn additional flayed ghosts is halved overall if you have one or more flayed ghosts already out.