Should "smart" monsters avoid poisonous clouds?

[njvack]

Just got my first spellcaster to Elf:7. Took the vault by:

• Spamming poisonous cloud on the entry corridor
• Shouting for attention
• Leaving, standing, on the upstairs, and Feeling More Experienced as pretty much everyone in the vault walked into the poisonous cloud and died.

I needed to victory dance just to keep my experience pool from overfilling. Never even saw a blademaster, only needed to pick off a master archer and a handful of death mages who didn't wander into the cloud at first. Of course, I got them by dropping more clouds and running back to the upstairs.

I mean, this was fun, but maybe the high-level elves shouldn't be quite so eager to suicide...

[Curio]

Maybe it's hard to code but what if "locked in place" mobs would just run away from player if they gonna be shot/zapped at. And don't come back until the path is cleared from the poison.

[galehar]

I think he has a point. It's better to make them easier to escape than easier to kill. Especially the monsters who guards branch end vaults.

[Shade]

Maybe it's hard to code but what if "locked in place" mobs would just run away from player if they gonna be shot/zapped at. And don't come back until the path is cleared from the poison.

Or:

1. Count the '* Cloud' as an obstruction, and try to path around.

2. If no path is found, flee and regroup out of LOS.

3. Critters that are smart enough, or have knowledge of magic, should move back toward the source of the cloud based on the duration of the cloud. The smart, but not that smart, should move back toward the source aft the cloud after some timer.

There should be some variability and 'flavour' built in... But that's what I'd do.