Shoals Surfer
Posts: 312
Joined: Thursday, 9th June 2011, 19:12
Tuesday, 28th February 2012, 22:09
Suggestion: Heavy Armor casting for dwarves
Suggestion:
I would like to suggest that the spellcasting penalty for wearing armor be significantly reduced for dwarves. This will probably also necessitate reducing casting aptitudes for dwarves to compensate.
Justification:
Right now there is no niche for a heavy armor caster. I propose that this niche could be filled by dwarves. With the removal of mountain dwarves and the potential addition of forge dwarves I feel that dwarves thematically fit very well into this niche. The problem is that the armor penalties for spellcasting are so significant that wearing anything more than light armor before the middle/end game is not optimal (IMO) because the increase in AC for heavier armor is almost never worth the cost in spell success. Conversely, if the armor penalties are half (or less) of current values, but spell casting is limited (-2 or less spellcasting) you would have a character with a few, high hunger spells, but the ability to cast them reasonably in plate mail.
I feel a good balance is that being able to wear plate mail and reasonably cast level 6-7 spells if pure caster and level 4-5 spells as a hybrid at the entrance of Zot. Of course this should only be possible if you neglect spellcasting/fighting to a certain extent so you would have less hps and higher hunger then a pure melee or caster. What I ideally want is a character that actually has a reason to wear chain or scale mail in the mid-game (hell, or anytime really).
Counterarguments:
The first counterargument that comes to mind is the image of a dwarf slinging iron shots from behind a large shield and CPM. Besides being awesome, this is easily countered by adjusting aptitudes so that is not possible until well into the extended endgame. By that point many races are extremely strong (re: nagas) and you can already win the game, so I don’t want to balance around that.
I would like to suggest that the spellcasting penalty for wearing armor be significantly reduced for dwarves. This will probably also necessitate reducing casting aptitudes for dwarves to compensate.
Justification:
Right now there is no niche for a heavy armor caster. I propose that this niche could be filled by dwarves. With the removal of mountain dwarves and the potential addition of forge dwarves I feel that dwarves thematically fit very well into this niche. The problem is that the armor penalties for spellcasting are so significant that wearing anything more than light armor before the middle/end game is not optimal (IMO) because the increase in AC for heavier armor is almost never worth the cost in spell success. Conversely, if the armor penalties are half (or less) of current values, but spell casting is limited (-2 or less spellcasting) you would have a character with a few, high hunger spells, but the ability to cast them reasonably in plate mail.
I feel a good balance is that being able to wear plate mail and reasonably cast level 6-7 spells if pure caster and level 4-5 spells as a hybrid at the entrance of Zot. Of course this should only be possible if you neglect spellcasting/fighting to a certain extent so you would have less hps and higher hunger then a pure melee or caster. What I ideally want is a character that actually has a reason to wear chain or scale mail in the mid-game (hell, or anytime really).
Counterarguments:
The first counterargument that comes to mind is the image of a dwarf slinging iron shots from behind a large shield and CPM. Besides being awesome, this is easily countered by adjusting aptitudes so that is not possible until well into the extended endgame. By that point many races are extremely strong (re: nagas) and you can already win the game, so I don’t want to balance around that.