Allow gods to gift their brands anywhere

[xentronium]

Currently you need to backtrack all the way to an altar of your god if you want to take advantage of their weapon brands. This often involves a trip all the way back to the temple from wherever it is you were when you achieved the requisite piety.
This seems really unnecessary to me; why not just let the brand be a one-use ability, activated anywhere, like Zin's cure all mutations ability?

Case in point: when switching to TSO to do extended, currently players need to backtrack to temple or wherever to start worshipping TSO; then go gather piety in crypt; then go all the way back to temple to pray at an altar of TSO, then go all the way back. Granted autotravel makes this a lot less painful, but it still seems annoying to have to do this trip repeatedly.

[Sar]

muh flavour

[and into]

The flavor of praying at altar is good and all, but on more than one occasion I have dipped below the piety level to be able to get the pain/holy/distortion brand while autotraveling back to nearest altar. That is not fun, nor is it flavorful.

[Sar]

Maybe the offer should persist after you reach ****** for the first time, unless you abandon the god, of course.

[Greyr]

Maybe the offer should persist after you reach ****** for the first time, unless you abandon the god, of course.

That'd fix it.

Also let me point out that Abyssal Knights would be 'buffed'.

[jejorda2]

I always liked the idea of spending something to reach the overflow altars behind lava or clouds or what-have-you to get branding. Though I don't think I ever actually have, and it's too cheap to matter by that point in the game.

[rchandra]

Going back to the altar is ok for something you only do once per game, but having the offer vanish en route is pretty awful - I try to keep playing and earning piety for the current floor or maybe the next, to make sure it's not a problem.

Greyr: Abyssal Knights wouldn't be that much better, they can already make an altar using Corrupt. It just costs a little piety.

[Moose]

Even though some of you don't seem to mind the hike back to the altar, what would it hurt to eliminate that as suggested in the OP?

So far, I've just seen the flavour argument.

[njvack]

There are also places (Pan, Abyss) where you might become eligible for TSO's blessing but not have easy access to an altar.

Kiku could maybe bless you wherever, but probably TSO and Lucy are better requiring an altar.

[xentronium]

There are also places (Pan, Abyss) where you might become eligible for TSO's blessing but not have easy access to an altar.

Kiku could maybe bless you wherever, but probably TSO and Lucy are better requiring an altar.

I actually think this is an even better argument for allowing TSO/Lucy to bless your weapon wherever you are. From crypt all you have to do is autotravel, but given how randomness plays such a huge factor in getting out of abyss/pan, it can be very frustrating trying to get out in order to bless the weapon. The only case I could see where on-the-spot blessing would make a difference would be if it would make a big difference in your ability to escape. I would argue that you are probably strong enough to escape with little risk if you are close to ****** piety anyway.

[ragnarokchu]

Why not give you the one time ability to spawn one alter of your choice at max rank?

I mean being the ultimate worshiper I see why wouldn't the god allow you too.

[Lyrick]

Being the ultimate avatar of your god, why does your piety decay anyway?

[Psiweapon]

Just make it a regular but one-time ability and give it a confirmation prompt, the trek back to an altar is kinda silly.

[Hirsch I]

Being the ultimate avatar of your god, why does your piety decay anyway?

because balance > flavour.

[Sharkman1231]

I think it would be strong for those three gods to be able to brand your weapon anywhere, but I still think they should be able to. What if the action took 10-ish turns?

"You cobble a makeshift altar to "foo", and kneel down to pray". That way it would need to be out of combat.

[and into]

I don't think the ability being useable in the midst of combat is a large buff. No more so than being able to use Zin's Cure all Mutations in just one turn, as you can do currently.

Really it comes down to convenience vs. flavor. Yes, there are the specific (but not too common) cases of first hitting six stars in abyss, pan, or a portal vault. But I don't think it is worth inconveniencing everyone just for those edge cases, and there would be ways of accomplishing the same game play effect without the inconvenience, so really all you lose is the flavor of "pilgrimage." That's the only reason to keep it in. Since it generally only happens once in a game, at most (though technically up to three times), I think it has stayed in just because the inconvenience was deemed to be very low in most cases, while the flavor was felt to be good. Unfortunately, the flavor is also bad in cases where you lose your sixth star while making your pilgrimage back to an altar. It feels like your god is saying "never mind takesy-backsies LOL" even after you've been a faithful servant. So yeah, something should be done about this mechanic. (Of course, it makes sense for the god to take it back if you go into penance or w/e, and make you work your way back into good graces before you have the option again.)

My recommendation: You get the ability to brand your weapon, under your ability menu. When you do this, Kiku/Lugonu/TSO creates an altar where you are standing (assuming the place is legit) and blesses your weapon, or (in Kiku's case) gives you the pain/necronomicon option. You must be standing on a square with no other terrain/dungeon features, but other than that (very small) restriction, you can do it wherever. You can give a fancy flash of light/purple smoke/dark smoke and whatever other flavorful stuff you want. I think this would retain much of the drama and sense of accomplishment, without being annoying.

[dpeg]

I'd be loathe to lose the altar pilgrimage and I hope it won't happen as long as I am around. Arguing with the interface is amusing: Crawl still forces the player through so many repetitive activities, and Ctrl-G T is such a fast action (in real life) that I'd call a change on these grounds diminishing returns.

I understand that losing the ability during pilgrimage is annoying, but the solution is ready at hand: if your god offers the branding, then you keep the power unless you incur penance.

Crawl has been throwing out flavour left and right; I want to keep this one because I think its gameplay cost is marginal. There are ways to actually make the altars more relevant themselves, but that's another topic.

[damiac]

What exactly is the 'flavor' of this pilgrimage? You press "Ctrl+F", type 'Altar' or 'Lugonu' or whatever, then press enter. A few seconds later, you press 'P', 'Y'. Then you 'ctrl+g' back to wherever you were in the first place, probably eat a ration somewhere on the way, and lose a small chunk of piety from all the walking.

I just don't understand what's flavorful about that sequence. Of course, I don't think it's a big deal either way anyway.

[dpeg]

damiac: I think flavour shares with humour that it's hard to explain. So I won't attempt it!

[The Ferret]

I don't think the ability being useable in the midst of combat is a large buff. No more so than being able to use Zin's Cure all Mutations in just one turn, as you can do currently.

It's a one-time free Holy Word or Torment for TSO/Kiku respectively, as it stands now.

[khalil]

I don't think the ability being useable in the midst of combat is a large buff. No more so than being able to use Zin's Cure all Mutations in just one turn, as you can do currently.

It's a one-time free Holy Word or Torment for TSO/Kiku respectively, as it stands now.

Kiku hands out torments anyway, and it's not like TSO isn't already absurdly good against the things Holy Word works on and useless against everything it doesn't.

[n1000]

I support this change unless there is some sort of goal to make altars into something more useful. I haven't considered this at all, but I can believe there are some fun mechanics that would make your god's altar something you interact with more than once or twice a game. (Everything ADOM altars do is probably a good starting point...for what not to do...in case someone wants to make a thread about this)