dumb cards idea #500
First, cards lose their discrete tiers. No longer do they have 3 different versions, just 1 version that scales with power. I would also like to simplify card power; the formulas in the cards below are for a card power of Invo*1100/3 + 100. Thus, minimum power is 100 and maximum power is 10000. (I do not think that card power should be influenced by piety as it currently is, or randomized.) It should be easy to map the formulas onto other ranges.
The original card power formula gives a minimum of 0 and maximum of 928.
All division in formulas here should be done in actual code with div_rand_round() instead of /, of course. These formulas may need balance adjustments as well, but there is one thing I am adamant about: they should not have breakpoints if it can possibly be avoided.
I never expected to say this, but I'm actually adding more cards that I'm removing here.
Deck of Destruction
- Currently, zaps from cards have between 0 and 154 power. I propose to change this to 2 through 200 power. It is fine for 27 Invo to let you do limited 200 power zaps; consider that 27 in a spell skill lets you cast a level 9 spell.
- Pain card is gone.
Degeneration
For each hostile monster in LOS, do an MR check against them with a pre-stepdown enchantment power of [Card power]/20 (similar power to Agony at [Card power]/50 spell power). If the check succeeds, polymorph them with PPT_LESS and halve their HP. This incentivizes you to kill them instead of simply running away from the monsters that got slowed by malmutation.
Against unpolymorphable monsters, or if the MR check fails, simply do nothing. Yes sometimes you draw it against a gargoyle and are sad, that's okay, sometimes you draw Vitriol against an acid blob or Pain against a lich (except not anymore because I removed Pain)!
Compared to old card:
- Checks MR instead of HD.
- Halves the HP of monsters that get polymorphed instead of malmutating them.
- Does not daze unpolymorphable monsters.
- Actually uses card power, instead of just using tier.
the Orb
cast_iood_burst with a power of 15+[Card power]/54 and no target. This is 3 to 7 orbs, each of which does 9d1 full-range damage at minimum power and 9d22 full-range damage at maximum power. However, most of these orbs will hit nothing, and even those that do will probably not reach full range.
The added constant is necessary because power below 14 results in orbs that do no damage at all if they hit too soon; power below 4 results in orbs that do no damage even at full range.
Compared to old card:
- No targeting needed!
- Always does a burst of multiple orbs, but doesn't let you target them. This is weaker than the old tier 1 effect, intentionally.
- Full-range orb damage goes from 9d0-9d19 to 9d1-9d22. Yes, this is a pretty small change; that's because IOOD itself has a stepdown in it.
the Storm
wind_blast() with a power of 28+[Card power]/50, then pick random2(12) random squares that are between 4 and [LOS radius] squares distant from the player, plus another such random square that is in LOS and not a wall (if it is available).
On each of the picked squares that is in LOS and is not a wall, create an Orb of Electricity explosion there with [Card power]/50 spell power. So you get 1 explosion if all the completely random squares were in walls/out of LOS, and 12 explosions if there are no walls around.
If your LOS is so small that there are no eligible squares (nightstalker 3 + Darkness or Robe of Night) then you get no explosions and a flavour message like "The air crackles with electricity for a moment."
The wind blast moves adjacent monsters away to increase the chance that the explosions hit them, and the explosions promote being in the open. The minimum distance guarantees that the explosions don't hit the player. The explosion damage is 1d14 at minimum power and 1d173 at maximum power.
Compared to old card:
- Wind blast power is 28-228 instead of 100 at tier 0 and 200 at other tiers.
- Creates orb of electricity explosions instead of clouds, but see Dragonbreath card below.
- No summoned air elemental.
Vitriol
Corrode all hostile monsters in LOS (instead of a 50% chance for each one) and fire ZAP_CORROSIVE_BOLT with a power of [Card power]/50. This is 4d3 damage at minimum power and nearly 4d33 damage at maximum power.
Compared to old card:
- Doesn't use ZAP_BREATHE_ACID at tier 0.
- Max corrosive bolt damage is 4d33 instead of 4d26.
- Corrodes monsters every time instead of only having a 50% chance.
Wild Magic
Cause a Conj/Fire/Ice/Earth/Air/Pois miscast effect on all hostile monsters in LOS with a power of 30+[Card power]/200 and a fail of 1. This provides tier 0/1/2 miscasts at minimum power, and a slightly under 80% chance of a tier 3 miscast at maximum power. For each affected monster you gain random2(5) MP.
Compared to old card:
- Does not check HD.
- More likely to give lower tier miscast effects.
- Less bizarre scaling due to holding fail at 1 instead of using random2(power).
Dragonbreath (new card)
Create a blast of clouds like the monster versions of SPELL_POISONOUS_CLOUD or SPELL_FREEZING_CLOUD, but without the impact damage, and without creating a cloud under the player. Choose the cloud type as if it was Cloud Cone cast with [Card power]/100 power. Give each cloud a duration of 5 + random2avg(12+[Card power]/133, 3), again matching Cloud Cone's duration formula.
The claim to being different from Cloud Cone here is that the shape of the clouds is very different; it's effective against far away monsters and in enclosed spaces much more than Cloud Cone is.
the Leech (new card)
Smite target a monster and hit it with vampiric_drain at [Card power]/25 power, except this version of it deals full damage regardless of your current HP. This is so you can use it to snipe a boggart or something without having to damage yourself first.
Being ranged should make it different enough from regular Vampiric Draining, and induce nostalgia for a certain bug.
For reference, the damage is 3+random2avg(9, 2)+random2(pow) / 7, without random rounding, so at max card power (400 pow) it would be about 36 damage on average.
Deck of Summoning
- I think it's best to just get rid of hostile card summons. If you drew your last summoning cards early on and get a hostile summon you might die, but most of the time the hostile summons are just annoyances that get eaten by the rest of the summons.
- Independent of that, though, some of these need to be nerfed a bit.
- I think that all of these should have a summon duration of 3, except for Illusion since duration is the only thing it can really scale with power.
the Elements
Summons 1+random2([Card power]+1)/2500 friendly air elementals, earth elementals, fire elementals, or water elementals. You only get one type of elemental per card; it summons 5 air elementals, not 1 air and 2 fire and 2 earth elementals.
Compared to old card:
- Summons 4 different monsters instead of 12 with tier dependence (raiju, wind drake, shock serpent, basilisk, catoblepas, iron golem, fire vortex, molten gargoyle, fire dragon, ice beast, polar bear, ice dragon).
- Duration is always 3.
- Summons 1 to 5 monsters instead of always summoning 3.
the Pentagram
Take x = 5-random2avg([Card power]+1,2)/1000. If x > 0, summon a random friendly demon of that tier. If x <= 0, summon a friendly Pan lord.
Compared to old card:
- Summons one monster instead of two, and it's always friendly.
- Can summon 5s and 1s.
- Duration is always 3.
- You need a lot more Invocations to get good monsters from it.
the Dance
Summon a friendly, unbranded dancing weapon with an enchantment of [Card power]/400. Give it a subtype of great sword, battleaxe, glaive, or great mace, all with equal chances. Initialize it with a power of [Card power]/100.
Getting fancy with brands and subtypes and randarts risks making the card impossible to predict without spoilers. Dancing weapon power and enchantment is enough to tune the card's power level - dancing weapon power alone would be enough if it weren't capped at 100.
Compared to old card:
- The weapon's base type is not tier dependent.
- The weapon's enchantment depends on power instead of tier.
- The dancing weapon power does not cap out until card power itself does.
- Duration is always 3.
Foxfire
Summon 1+random2([Card power]+1)/1000 friendly killer bees.
Compared to old card:
- Summons 1 to 1-10 monsters scaling with power, instead of 2-4 to 8-10 scaling with tier.
- Only summons killer bees, instead of summoning insubstantial wisps, wyverns, killer bees, vampire mosquitoes, and hornets depending on tier.
- Duration is still 3.
the Rangers
Summon two friendly monsters. For each one, if two [Card power] in 15000 chances succeed, it is a deep elf master archer; if only one of those chances succeeded, it is a centaur warrior; if neither succeeded, it is a centaur.
Compared to old card:
- Always summons two monsters instead of summoning 2 or 3 with equal chances.
- Does not summon yaktaurs, fauns, yaktaur captains, naga sharpshooters, satyrs, or merfolk javelineers.
- Uses power to decide monster type instead of tier.
- Duration is always 3, instead of starting at 5 and decreasing with tier (what the hell?)
the Illusion
Summon a friendly illusion of yourself with a summon duration of 1+random2([Card power]+1)/5000.
Compared to old card:
- Duration is 1-3 based on power instead of 2+random2(tier). This card is kind of impossible to tune, hopefully a duration of 1 at low power is enough...
the Garden (new card)
Summons 4+random2([Card power]+1)/500 friendly monsters. Each monster is an oklob plant with a [Card power] in 40000 chance, otherwise it is a briar patch. Briar patches are nice because you and the oklobs can shoot through them, and monsters that attack them will take damage.
This does step on Fedhas a bit, but stationary summons are neat, and unlike with Fedhas you actually *want* enemies to attack the briar patches.
Deck of Escape
- This deck is known for some of its cards being much more useful than others, which could be cool, but with Stack Five and Triple Draw around, it just means you throw away a lot of the cards instead of adapting to what you're given. So I'm trying to bring them more in line with each other.
- The Cloud is gone; it belonged in Destruction more than it belonged here anyway.
the Elixir
Grant 1+random2([Card power]+1)/1000 turns of both DUR_ELIXIR_HEALTH and DUR_ELIXIR_MAGIC (same duration for both).
Compared to old card:
- Duration is based on power instead of tier, and is never guaranteed to be more than 1.
- Does not heal allies.
Pick one: Exile or the Shaft
These cards are both doing basically the same thing, so pick one of them and get rid of the other. I think I like the Shaft a bit better, ironically.
Attempt to [banish/shaft] all monsters in LOS, checking MR with a pre-stepdown enchantment power of [Card power]/20. (Never banishes the player|still creates a shaft under the player).
Compared to old cards:
- Exile: Does not banish the player; works against any number of monsters but checks MR.
- Shaft: Checks MR instead of having a flat tier-based fail chance.
the Tomb
entomb(random2avg([Card power]+1,3)/20)
Compared to old card:
- different power formula; doesn't guarantee a minimum duration
Velocity
Cast Swiftness at [Card power]/100 power, and additionally grant random2([Card power]+1)/100-random2(51) turns of haste (no haste if the result is 0 or negative).
Compared to old card:
- Does not affect allies or enemies.
- Does not remove Slow.
- Based on card power instead of tier.
the Squid (new card)
Grants a status for 1+random2([Card power]+1)/200 turns. This status creates clouds of fog/smoke around you to block LOS, ring of flames style.