sdynet wrote:I'll give you two example.
the first example)
Let's assume that the title of this post was 'Flaming/Freezing brand needs rework'. Then I write: 'Let's train fire/ice magic school to increase the damage to this brand.' When you look at this, you will sigh and write: 'Look, increasing the weapon damage has nothing to do with magic training.'
The corresponding magic skill does increase the damage with a
staff, and it also needs an investment into Evocations. When using a staff, you practically need three skills(staff skill + magic skill + Evocations) instead of two (weapon skill + Necromancy), or instead of one (weapon skill). Considering everything that Necromancy can do, including some of the most broken spells the game has on offer, I don't see this as a bad trade.
sdynet wrote:a second example)
Suppose there was no such thing as Pain brand so far. And, let's assume that the title of this post was 'New brand idea'. Then I write: 'Let's train necromancy magic school to increase the damage to this brand.' When you look at this, you will sigh and write: 'Look, increasing the weapon damage has nothing to do with magic training.'
I wouldn't at all mind a new brand idea that relies on a magic skill. Something like Hexes or Transmutation could be pretty fucking cool. Also, let's not assume. If I want to post a suggestion to change the flame/freezing/any other brand, I will post it as such. This is about the pain brand.
sdynet wrote:Yes, I think so, too. We take it for granted just because it's been here before, but if this was a new idea, we wouldn't have liked it. Its design is very old, and it doesn't match the current game design. Pain brand needs rework.
For example, these things?
1. Remove pain brand(Not a favorite opinion.)
2. Change the damage from necro to weapons skill. Perhaps the formula for the negative energy damage is '1d(4 + weapon skill/5)?'
3. To remove pain brand and add staff of pain( For magic users). This adds additional negative energy damage to the attack spell. This damage is based on necro.
This is all I can think of now. Anyway, what I want to say is simple. No magic training is needed to increase the damage caused by melee attacks.
1. Feature removal is actually quite popular on tavern. Especially when it concerns old features.
2. This would pretty much make it a nerfed vorpal brand. Why would you want this?
3. A staff that directly adds damage to attack spells does seem interesting, but depending on the actual numbers could spell (pun intended) trouble when implemented. It would either be weaker than the usual # boost a staff normally gives, or so universally powerful it would just overcharge early/mid spellcasters. Would this negative energy damage apply to all attack spells, or just to a subset? Would the damage boost be additive or multiplicative? What would the scaling be with regards to skills, would it need a hard cap, would it need diminishing returns?
More to the point: "No magic training is needed to increase the damage caused by melee attacks." If you don't rely on the pain brand or staff hits in most of your games, does it even matter? A game element that you rarely use or consider a niche case may well be the best option for others. Aside from casting Excruciating or being gifted by Kiku, I almost never even see weapons with a pain brand, let alone take them up as a staple. By the time a strong Necromancy skill is useful for spells, you don't need it for a pain weapon anyway because it works on next to nothing.
There is always something new to learn.