Idea: Wand of Apportation

[danr]

What do people think?

Most of the wands / rods in the game are basically just canned conjurations, though there are some enchantments, dig, and teleport.

[szanth]

Do want.

[acvar]

What about making it brand that gives an evokable ability on launchers. Get back that ammunition easily.

[danr]

It would be very annoying to identify, and nearly impossible to identify for players who don't know about it ahead of time.

Why should that be? You zap it, target it, and then depending what you targeted (usually it will be something that you can't apport) you get a message like "You feel the wand reach out across space" or something and then it is just auto-ID'd as a wand of apportation. After that it would autotarget on items just like the spell does.

[Moose]

Personally, I think this game needs less apportation rather than more.

To me, it's just another cheesy little trick that casters can do that makes the game easier for then than melee characters. Having this wand accessible to melee would surely put things on a more even keel, but it would almost make the spell version absolete, as you really only get major benefit out of apporting runes and the orb.

I think apportation should be much harder than it currently is.

[szanth]

Apportation is only really useful -because- it's so easy, I think.

On topic, maybe it'd be better off being a rod instead of a wand. Harder to find, but generally more useful once you do.

[smock]

Apportation on a unique blowgun would be great fun.

[danr]

I like to use apportation for all kinds of things - to retrieve things stealthily, without moving into anything's LOS, to grab things across water barriers. It would have really helped in the bailey I just died in.

[Moose]

Apportation on a unique blowgun would be great fun.

Queue the "God of Apportation Proposal" thread in 3 ... 2 ... 1

[Shade]

Personally, I think this game needs less apportation rather than more.

To me, it's just another cheesy little trick that casters can do that makes the game easier for then than melee characters.

Even if you are primarily a melee character, choosing not to cast anything at all is just that: a choice. It's like choosing not to use any of your god given powers, or a caster playing with no weapon other than a butchering knife. Apportation is useful enough, even if you never see a Rune or the Orb, that it is worth the memorize, or worth the wand / rod (or whatever). I've followed some of the discussions around apporting the Orb, etc, but I think the potential nerfs are rather simple. Make Runes / Orb have more mass (or more crudely, make them no-apport), and make apporting require even more skill for more mass...

I know crawl hates no-brainers, but after you have your bases covered, apportation is a no-brainer, and it's not a bad thing in this case. It's just handy to be able to yoink things across a gap, while fleeing, while in the Abyss, or that are on the periphery of your vision. (Though I'm not opposed to keeping it lv. 1 and making it scale more with skill.)

[danr]

I think apportation creates interesting tactical options for those with the imagination to think of them. It helps with staying out of LOS, you can use it to simulate a "spear of returning", an alternative to levitation, just to brainstorm a few.

If it was available to pure fighters as well, you could create vaults where the ability would be useful, like a bunch of one tile squares of land surrounded by deep water, with an item or monster on each tile. It would be prohibitive to use levitation (w/o controlled flight) to retrieve the loot / corpses, but apportation could let you get the stuff.

Hmm... I might go design that vault anyway. I think I'll stick a centaur on the middle island just to be evil...

[Zicher]

If it was available to pure fighters as well, you could create vaults where the ability would be useful, like a bunch of one tile squares of land surrounded by deep water, with an item or monster on each tile. It would be prohibitive to use levitation (w/o controlled flight) to retrieve the loot / corpses, but apportation could let you get the stuff.

Hmm... I might go design that vault anyway. I think I'll stick a centaur on the middle island just to be evil...

Don't forget that the first wand of fire/ice could break it, just for the sake of XP

[lk1d]

Sounds good to me -frequently I'll miss a useful item in the Abyss, because I teleport before reaching it...

Also maybe apportation on weapons of reaching? I recently missed out on CPM in the orc bailey with the moat, because I was separated from it by one square of lava . I think this adds a bit more flavour to the reaching brand which is less than stellar. That halberd could become a long spade?

[Zicher]

Also maybe apportation on weapons of reaching? I recently missed out on CPM in the orc bailey with the moat, because I was separated from it by one square of lava . I think this adds a bit more flavour to the reaching brand which is less than stellar. That halberd could become a long spade?

Dependent on your weapon skill, with a grab check and a check for the space inbetween, so you don't drop the loot? With no intervening monsters (you don't want to grab the loot from their feet that easily?
Sounds very useful without being overpowered.

[lk1d]

Dependent on your weapon skill, with a grab check and a check for the space inbetween, so you don't drop the loot? With no intervening monsters (you don't want to grab the loot from their feet that easily?
Sounds very useful without being overpowered.

Aye -something like that would work great... At least till the spell or the wand turns up, it'd make me carry a reaching weapon around.

[TGW]

Wand of blinking?