Proposal: monsters stealthier than you


Although the central place for design discussion is ##crawl-dev on freenode, some may find it helpful to discuss requests and suggestions here first.

User avatar

Crypt Cleanser

Posts: 720

Joined: Friday, 7th January 2011, 01:43

Post Saturday, 26th January 2013, 18:42

Proposal: monsters stealthier than you

Hello,after a few months silent I return glad to see new progress.

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.
Last edited by Roderic on Saturday, 26th January 2013, 21:18, edited 1 time in total.
duvessa wrote:Christ, you can't remove anything without tavern complaining about it.

o_O

Snake Sneak

Posts: 100

Joined: Friday, 30th September 2011, 07:08

Post Saturday, 26th January 2013, 20:31

Re: Proposal: monsters stealthier than you

Might want to make it not revealed by damage to avoid people zipping magic darts or whatever in front of them as they move.

Other then that, I like it. Some stealthed monsters following you could turn a fight interesting very quick.

Tartarus Sorceror

Posts: 1776

Joined: Monday, 21st February 2011, 15:57

Location: South Carolina

Post Saturday, 26th January 2013, 21:02

Re: Proposal: monsters stealthier than you

Lurkers would make trapdoor spiders redundant, right?
User avatar

Crypt Cleanser

Posts: 720

Joined: Friday, 7th January 2011, 01:43

Post Saturday, 26th January 2013, 21:16

Re: Proposal: monsters stealthier than you

I think about "lurker type" as a class of monsters which lurk, just as they are magic monsters, ranged monsters, flying monsters, poisonous monsters ... I was thinking specially on crocs and alligators, which currently are redundant with respect to any other lizard-like monster and this feature would identify them and they do not share the same environment with spiders.
duvessa wrote:Christ, you can't remove anything without tavern complaining about it.

Return to Game Design Discussion

Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 64 guests

cron
Powered by phpBB © 2000, 2002, 2005, 2007 phpBB Group.
Designed by ST Software for PTF.