mageykun wrote:Okay. Let's look at this logically. Currently, magic staves are un-enchantable.
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What changes occur if we make staves enchant-able?
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None of which is particularly interesting. Enchanting staves for melee doesn't add any depth.
Now, if we allow enchantment and tie the magic effects of the staff to the enchantment level, you effect balance. You can nerf or buff staves by what enchantment level is made equivalent to today's standard (ie- does a staff of fire now equate to tomorrows +0 staff of fire, or +9?), and further by how you scale the changes between levels. This gets complicated quickly though, as you'd have to introduce fractional versions of all the staff boosts and bonuses- things like fire boosts and wizardry that as of now stack in neat increments that are fairly easy for the player to count. I'm not sure confusing that adds anything or is desirable.
If we use scrolls of charging instead of enchant weapon, it improves the situation slightly, in that you're faced with the interesting decision of powering up your magic enhancer, or keeping useful wands full. The problems of balance and complexity still apply though.
In your "What changes occur", you miss
- Give an actual reason to have duplicate enhancer staves in a dungeon.
which is actually interesting.
If giving the staff +/+ damage (sticking with EW scrolls here, for now), you have two options:
1) Have it only work for combat purposes (the +/+ work as regular for a weapon. They don't do anything for the effect.)
or
2) Have it adjust the staff effect.
If the enchantment is affecting the effect, it shouldn't be rocket science.
Let's say the current calculation for damage/usage is FOO.
Urgh... too early in the morning to think about formula for this, but yes I see we'd need to set which + today's standard sits at.
At worst (simplest), I'd consider multiplying EITHER the chance of effect or amount of effect by (a % (maybe 0.5) * the sum total of enchantment) and set today's standard where sum total of enchantment = 9 because +5 is right where enchantment starts to get dicey and you can consider generating negative enchantment enhancer staves.
Or even if there is both chance amount, make it to-hit enchantment affects chance and damage enchantment affect amount of effect, and set today's standard of total of enchantment to +5.