Sublimation of blood

[Danakh]

After the welcome simplification of twisted resurection, I will really enjoy a simplification in the casting of a second necromancy spell : sublimation of blood !

The problem (for me ) is that regen your mana from a corpse requires too many actions : cut it, loot chunk (for non eatable ones), equip chunk, cast spell, requip your weapon. Up to 12 keys is there is another corpse on the ground.
In addition, this spell becomes unusable with Ashenzari or with vampiric weapons, with no real reason (vampiric brand is nice flavour for necromancer )

I'll suggest that the spell should be castable on chunk in inventory, or on the ground (with an little more time for picking up the chunk). Or even directly on corpse on the ground (but this should take time, and be interrupted with corpse wasted if a monster comes, like a vampire drinking blood from corpse). And of course from potion of blood from the inventory
And the spell should ask which source should be used from allowed ones, or choose him self when casted with Z (picking from ground first, selecting non eatable first, and then older first and if nothing available using own body).

Outside of combat, the spell won't be more powerfull (except for cursed/vampiric/distortion weapons). In combat, corpse option is not available and chunk from ground must be picked up, so you *only* gain time from switching chunck and weapon, which is fast already. I don't think it is an issue, but the spell can be adjust a little (make it level 3 to increase requirement in necromancy, reduce mana gain, add a little hunger cost ...)

[rabidweasel]

I feel the same way about sticks to snakes, it's pretty terrible to admit but I definitely use that spell less than I should just because of the annoyance of having to swap weapons around.

[cerebovssquire]

I agree that it takes too many keypresses. Do remember that Ashenzari/*Curse weapons/vampiric weapons can be compensated with several methods, especially Animate Skeleton, but in rare cases OoD or disint (nearly everyone uses Animate Skeleton of course).

Casting on chunks in inventory is a straight buff since it reduces time taken by almost a turn, if you count wielding/unwielding. This could be attatched to a nerf to MP gain or something but I like the current amount.

Making it directly castable on corpses with a multi-turn delay is good because their is always a dangerous and interesting tactical descision attatched to deliberately paralysing yourself for, say, 2-3 turns.
Interrupting casting when a monster comes into view, however, is a horrible idea. Most people use this spell to regenerate mana to cast more spells in a combat situation, not to speed up their resting. I still approve of multiturn casting though. My position would be to remove the whole "chunk" thing that Sublimation of Blood has and instead do it like this:

(player standing over yak corpse)
(casts Sublimation of Bloood)

Do you want to draw magical energy from the yak corpse? y/n

if y,

You start drawing magical energy from the yak corpse.
(optionally (I don't know if 2 or 3 turns would be appropriate, but I tend towards 2) You continue " " ")
You finish drawing magical energy from the yak corpse.

if n,

Do you want to draw magical energy from yourself? y/n

if y,

normal Sublimation of Blood on self.

if n, cancel casting of spell without loss of turn or MP.


The spell description should indicate that casting it on corpses is a multi-turn action while casting it on yourself takes only 1 turn.

[galehar]

I think the requirement to wield the chunk is important to balance a powerful spell. Regarding Ash, this is the kind of drawback from being cursed, it's fine. The interface could be improved, sure. There's suggestions about it already. Also, don't forget that you can cast it from your own body, any new interface need to allow the player to choose between that a chunk.
You can also use macros to reduce keystrokes.

[Danakh]

I agree the spell is strong, i doesn't need buffing
The suggestions for reagent spells should be enough to make the spell easy to use. So it would be fine

For Ash, I consider the god weak for caster mainly because it removes most form of mana regeneration like channeling and sublimation, without giving any mana it self like vehumet or Sif. But it is a whole other point

Distortion is a real pain, so it works well

But i feel vampiric weapon should be a little better for necromancer (at least) but It would affect DD and Vampire too if it is buffed up


So I will just stick with the suggestion you mention ^^

[galehar]

For Ash, I consider the god weak for caster mainly because it removes most form of mana regeneration like channeling and sublimation, without giving any mana it self like vehumet or Sif. But it is a whole other point

You don't have to curse your weapon. If you're a primary caster, you don't need the weapon skill boost. And piety isn't really a problem by mid-game since you don't spend much of it.

[JeffQyzt]

How does Ash remove channeling?

Aside from (as galehar says) just not cursing your weapon, you can
a) curse your staff of channeling (probably suboptimal, but whatever, it's an option)
b) use a crystal ball.

Also - self-sublimation doesn't require a sharp weapon to be wielded either.

I would appreciate some automation of the steps for chunk sublimation, as I pretty much only use it outside of combat due to the extra time factor.