Traps&doors > awareness?

[Strongpoint]

I really like that there are more interesting traps, it's more fun to play now. I like the strategical decision between - pay tax in XP or pay in consumables
But traps&doors is still a boring skill, it almost doesn't change anything... wizmode yourself 27 levels in Trap&doors starting from DL1 and you barely see any difference

I propose to rename traps&doors to awareness, then we may add more interesting usages for the skill

1) hidden items\objects\features.
One time thing, some tiles may have items\ portals\ anything else, but you'll notice it only if you got high enough trap&doors skill check when you first seen it. Neither searching, nor returning with higher skill can help
2) Detecting monsters when you enter the level first time. It's good to know that you'll see Sigmund, Grinder, Mara or Nessos on that level and prepare before actual combat. It would require some flavor text where character hears\smells\notices something
3) Identification of enemy weapon's brands. It's good to know that this kobold carries a dagger of electrocution, and many brands do change appearance when wielded
4) Very major buff - give a small bonus to ranged attacks, like fighting gives to melee... Surely it's possible only with nerfing ranged skills

[Jeremiah]

This, or something very similar has been suggested before.

Maybe an interesting addition (that might not have been suggested before) is that some monsters could have stealth, so even if they are in LOS you might not notice them unless they fire a missile or cast a spell. Maybe they could even stab you if they get next to you without you seeing them. Then obviously this skill would be used to increase the player's chance to spot them

[cerebovssquire]

"Let's give every player almost-free Ashenzari!"

In a nutshell, this is almost what this change would do, especially regarding balance (it is also rather weird to have non-magical Divinations-like skills that do go a bit to far even for a very attentive and aware person).

Plus, I personally think Ashenzari is a great part of Crawl and I also like that divinations and their kind are restricted to her. This reduces her uniqueness greatly, and (understand this as an argument but as my own subjective opinion) if I had the chance between keeping this and Ashenzari I would definitel choose the latter.

[mumra]

"Let's give every player almost-free Ashenzari!"

That would appear to be a slight exaggeration; but yes, recognising weapon brands would be an overlap.

I personally like the idea of T&D being generalised to survivalist/tracker/trapper type skills, so maybe it could be rebranded "Survival". It could have other consequences, e.g. more chunks from butchering / chunks last longer / food provides more satiation (the idea being that you are wasting less of it or preserving it better). Not sure if others will be keen on that tho

[Zzz]

I for one think this is a great idea. While I like T&D as it is and DEFINITELY believe hidden traps and secret doors deserve to stay, giving the skill more use would be nice. Perhaps enough to warrant decision making over other defensive skills.
Not to say current T&D is useless. Dodging Zot traps is quite helpful, and then these new things in trunk I haven't seen.

Also, the name T&D is an eensie weensie bit counter intuitive IMHO ( you cannot lay any traps with it ), and if anything the name change to awareness or other would be a small boost. Neither can you make doors. Not that it would serve any purpose.

Stealth for monsters = +1. I would be most pleased to be one shotted out of nowhere by Maurice. But no really, it is a good idea. But they BETTER NOT get player equivalent stabs. Off topic: sleep stabs are kind of strong/conf stabs are kind of weak.

Last point is that it might be good to remove searching and have a randomized skill level required to see a trap/door. Feel free to debate this point. I'm certain there are valid arguments against this.

[Roderic]

High levels of this skill could detect doors and traps at some tiles of distance. Invisible or hidden items could be a nice feature to add if they are granted to be generated with better brands or good enchantments in average with respect to the items that are merely on the floor.

If you go to awareness concept, then invisible monsters could be detected more often as a "}" if you master this skill. Besides, so as not to overlap with Ashenzari detection, you could get messages as " you can hear / smell a pack of gnolls " sometimes, but not having any spatial information about their location: you simply know that they are roaming somewhere.