Dungeon Dilettante
Posts: 2
Joined: Thursday, 19th June 2014, 02:14
Jiyva mutations should be permanent
It is also makes sense mechanically, however. For example I have had great success with a monk character because Jiyva's statistic-shuffling made him practically untouchable . And the mutations were a massive help when they were gained - for example, even the most dangerous blademaster becomes a punchbag when you can grab disarm him, and when you are being barraged by multiple archers, the small jelly attachment comes in really handy... For as long as it lasts, that is.
With this in mind, I think Jiyva's mutations should be permanent. A few ways of incorporating this into the game could be:
1. Making special Jiyva's mutations simply permanent. Once you gain them, they do not abandon you (unless piety gets too low or you abandon Jiyva).
Pros:
+Faithful followers get a considerable avantage over time.
+Decent reason to worship Jiyva earlier on
Cons:
-Could make such followers a bit too overpowered. Eyeballs 3 with Translucent Skin 3 is a particularly deadly combination I got to experience (for a little bit, that is).
2. Making Jiyva biased towards rewaring "normal" mutations rather than Jiyva's own special mutations, whilst making the later permanent.
Pros:
+As per the above, however chance compensates for powerful mutations.
Cons:
-Depending on when you convert, it could be technically possible to never get a single Jiyva mutation, negating the original point of making the special mutations permanent.
3. Give Jiyva a passive chance to reward followers with his special mutations based on how pious they are. A new convert or low-rank worshipper will likely never get these special mutations, whilst an Arch-Jelly or Royal Jelly is guaranteed to get most, if not all, of them without much ado in a short time span.
Pros:
+Solves both of the above whilst giving a good reason to reach the "Royal Jelly" level (in addition to current passives, as well).
Cons:
-New converts or low-rank followers will not benefit as much from Jiyva mutations as before.
4. Allow players to sacrifice artifacts of their choosing to Jiyva, in exchange for a permanent Jiyva mutation. Slimes currently do not target artifacts at all, granting players an elegant option to do away with otherwise deemed useless artifacts in the dungeon.
Pros:
+Will solve the issue of a fully-Jiyva-mutated character being overpowered, as such characters will likely become rarer.
+Sacrifices are guaranteed to generate good Jiyva mutations only, as opposed to the god's grace which can grant a "normal" mutation instead.
Cons:
-Will likely reduce the overall amount of Jiyva mutations in a game to be far fewer than possible otherwise. Currently, it is theorically possible to maximize all Jiyva mutations (if only for a short time). In such a scenario, you would be entirely dependant on the total amount of artifacts in your game.
-What if you never sacrifice a single artifact, for whatever reason?
Please do note that I am not saying Jiyva's mutations are overpowered, I just think all of them combined could be rather poweful, even to relatively new characters. It is also that I really liked them, but since Jiyva is just as likely to give you a mutation as he is to give you nothing or a good mutation (and in turn, you have to roll on which mutation you get) I see these special mutations as wasted potential.