Player distortion brand --> no TP


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Blades Runner

Posts: 593

Joined: Tuesday, 11th December 2018, 19:14

Post Monday, 9th December 2019, 20:57

Player distortion brand --> no TP

Since we're getting away from consistency between player and monster options anyway, this one is a glaring example that could do with a little improvement. Blink/banish/damage effects are all fine on player distortion, especially blink is dangerous but something you can factor when using it.

That is not the case for TP. Teleport other is a beneficial optional spell, but spamming this effect constantly is annoying. You either lose XP or hunt down the monsters. Cases where teleporting the monster creates additional danger for the player rather than reducing it are very rare.

This is in contrast to monster distortion. A random monster getting tossed somewhere else in the level isn't threatening to the player, but the PLAYER getting warped elsewhere in the level might be more dangerous than even banishment, depending on how far along in the game it is. So this is a reasonable thing to leave on as a threat.

Annoyance should not be a primary deterrent from using something. I'm neutral on whether it's better to simply increase the odds of other brand effects or simply replace "teleport other" effect with "nothing" for player distortion. Either serves the purpose as far as I'm concerned.

Vestibule Violator

Posts: 1508

Joined: Monday, 21st November 2011, 07:40

Post Monday, 9th December 2019, 21:10

Re: Player distortion brand --> no TP

IMO one of the best parts about using the distortion brand is the tele effect. I'm not worried about losing XP, and teleing a monster is almost as good as banishing it a lot of the time. If it's an especially dangerous monster that I want to ensure dies, I can just find it and kill it by itself.
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Ziggurat Zagger

Posts: 6454

Joined: Tuesday, 30th October 2012, 19:06

Post Monday, 9th December 2019, 21:26

Re: Player distortion brand --> no TP

It seems to me that a brand used against a monster by the player should typically be of net benefit to the player. Teleport on average is, although it may also cause some tedium along with generally making you slightly safer. Brands use by the monster against the player should be bad for the player, which teleport on average is, generally it results is slightly *less* safety and may also cause tedium (Generally where you teleport somewhere not dangerous and have to walk back to where you were and try to kill the thing with distortion again)

Teleport's main problem is that a lot of the time it causes no increase/decrease in safety and instead just makes things boring-er.

This is true for both player->monster and monster->player distortion. So while I agree that TP isn't really a very good effect for a brand, I don't think it's a problem with monster/player parity.
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Ziggurat Zagger

Posts: 8786

Joined: Sunday, 5th May 2013, 08:25

Post Tuesday, 10th December 2019, 03:26

Re: Player distortion brand --> no TP

banishing a monster can completely destroy its items and some of its XP; surely that is more annoying?

Blades Runner

Posts: 593

Joined: Tuesday, 11th December 2018, 19:14

Post Tuesday, 10th December 2019, 17:41

Re: Player distortion brand --> no TP

duvessa wrote:banishing a monster can completely destroy its items and some of its XP; surely that is more annoying?


Not really, there's no optimal/self-safety behavior of hunting it down ASAP so it doesn't approach by surprise in this instance. It's gone for all intents and purposes, permanently if it's not unique. So you can treat it like a reduced-XP lava incineration.

Randomly flipping monsters elsewhere in the level does encourage such behavior, however.

If you really want something a monster is wearing, you can kill it with non-distortion (even when not following Lugonu). This is a tiny % of all monsters, however, in contrast to the TP effect which could easily warp the same monster around multiple times. So breaking from your normal weapon brand to make sure things like TRJ or a monster with amulet of 4 winds dies right here is less taxing than killing everything with something other than your held weapon.

Snake Sneak

Posts: 124

Joined: Monday, 14th March 2011, 11:14

Post Friday, 10th January 2020, 11:57

Re: Player distortion brand --> no TP

One good use of Teleport + distortion is poison. It's a lovely combination, and I'm totally cool with monsters dying to poison out of my sight, where they can no longer hit me.

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