Deep dwarves and their wand of heal wounds

[CommanderC]

The wand of heal wounds that deep dwarves start with, is just too powerful. I think it may be good idea replacing the wand of heal wounds with a "wand of regeneration". This item would work the same way Trog's Hand does (except the MR part), and the (permanent MP cost)/(Healed HP) ratio would be the same one that wand of heal wounds have.

In many situations, the wand of regeneration would be just as good as a wand of heal wounds. But if you are fighting fast monsters or your hp is very low, the differences become obvious.

[dpeg]

This is an interesting idea. Back when we made Deep Dwarves, we were afraid that the species would turn out frail. (For example, damage shaving was way stronger than it is now.) The starting wand of heal wounds was always seen as a crutch. Removing it restricts god and/or playing style choice drastically. Giving it feels overpowered, as you say. Giving a new healing-related item could work, but I really like the Recharging ability.

Your proposal meets all demands: (1) Keep an intrinsic healing tool for Deep Dwarves. (2) Nerf the species without crippling them. (3) Keep an item that jibes well with innate Recharging.

Also, I would think that Regeneration is more interesting tactically. Instead of an "oh shit, gotta heal now" use, there would be a little more to it.

[njvack]

At a first thought, I wouldn't hate the idea of killing /HW in favor of /Regen altogether... having the same effect available from a potion and wand always struck me as meh. Especially if wand-regenning at full health would also cure a few points of rot...

Would this be a non-Necro-flavored source of regen?

[CommanderC]

Would this be a non-Necro-flavored source of regen?

Currently TSO/Ely/Zin don't care if use ring of regeneration or troll leather armour.

[dpeg]

One point of contention was brought up on ##crawl-dev: there could be a clash between "wand of regeneration" and "ring of regeneration" since the former is supposed to work on DD whereas the latter does not. (Gameplay-wise, the reasoning is one-off vs permanent effect, but we cannot use that.) Two further notes:
1. Trog circumvents this issue with different name ('Trog's Hand") and additional feature (MR boost).
2. There already is a temporary Regeneration effect (spell).

The idea is probably dead in the water - internal resistance

[KoboldLord]

One point of contention was brought up on ##crawl-dev: there could be a clash between "wand of regeneration" and "ring of regeneration" since the former is supposed to work on DD whereas the latter does not. (Gameplay-wise, the reasoning is one-off vs permanent effect, but we cannot use that.) Two further notes:
1. Trog circumvents this issue with different name ('Trog's Hand") and additional feature (MR boost).
2. There already is a temporary Regeneration effect (spell).

The idea is probably dead in the water - internal resistance

Uh, can't this objection be trivially side-stepped by flipping open a thesaurus? It isn't like the proposal is wedded to the specific name.

wand of curing
wand of convalescence
wand of rejuvenation
wand of renewal
wand of revivication

[pratamawirya]

Wand of Reborn/Life Restarting: Regenerates HP but drains MP. Works on every creature, including Deep Dwarves. The strength compared to normal regeneration is this: the regeneration does not get affected by sickness, poison, etc.

[njvack]

Heh, was just gonna suggest either an MP drain or no-MP-recharge during effect, and read your post. "Wand of Rebirth" might be the name you were looking for?

Probably shouldn't stack with Trog's Hand (mechanically, it should probably be the same effect). Maybe rebirth should conflict with other extrinsic sources of regen (ring/spell/TLA), or just the spell (rebirth conflicts with the necromantic aspect of the spell).