Crypt Cleanser
Posts: 720
Joined: Friday, 7th January 2011, 01:43
Proposal: monsters stealthier than you
The game is evolving to get rid of the features which required detection such as secret doors and currently people complain about some traps. I think the skill could be renamed as perception to get a broader sense. In the proposal below you get the reason.
In Crawl the player has an advantage over monsters. Despite that the LOS is symmetrical, you may detect the monsters unaware of you or even sleeping when investing on stealth, but the reverse situation is not allowed. I would like to see a type of monster(s) which are able to render undetectable until get closer enough to you, i. e. monsters stealthier than you for that situation.
There is several differences with true invisibility: stealth monsters remain undetected but every turn your perception skill gives a chance to detect them forever until they get out of your LOS after a certain time. They would get revealed irreversibly if getting close to another creature you are attacking or if hit by something, for example.
I figure out two kind of monsters: the lurker type and the stalker type.
a)The lurkers are those monsters which remain hidden by staying in the same place and attack you when you approach them too much. This behavior is similar to the "spider trap" and they are actually monster traps. This would fit very well with crocodiles and alligators and some other monsters able to remain submerged or burrowed and having a burst attack.
b)The stalkers are those monsters which move stealthier than you can detect even if being in your LOS. The perception skill would help to find them every turn or if, you are unlucky, you would discover them when they attack you unexpectedly. I'm imagining about a "ninja orc" or some assassin role.
I've read proposals to rework the submerged monsters and somebody talked about monsters which may vanish in the air, I think this idea could help to redefine some type of monsters and add flavour and challenge, and to keep the trap skill alive to be more useful than currently is.
duvessa wrote:Christ, you can't remove anything without tavern complaining about it.