Saint Roka can't walk on water? Heretic!

[Stormfox]

Subject says it all, really. As accomplished a Beoghite as Roka is, he should be able to walk on water. Fighting him in the Shoals should not end with a couple blasts of Mephitic and a loud splash.

(Unless he burns up all his piety smiting you, or something like that.)

[Curio]

nah.
He's not The One. Not the Messiah. Not Orc Jesus.
You are! (if you play orc priest of course)
He is just aspiring champion of Beogh

[Kate]

https://crawl.develz.org/mantis/view.php?id=1827

(would be cool, yeah)

[Curio]

as alternate, his HD (or just plain "confusion resistance") could be boosted so Mephitic cloud wouldn't end him in disgraceful drowning

[jpeg]

I've originally decided not to let him walk on water because that'd leave his followers stranded. (Though maybe with the improved pathfinding, it would work.)
As Smite-happy as St. Roka is, him not quite having "Messiah" status is a good explanation, though.

[Stormfox]

Makes sense. You don't want to boost his HD too high though as that has some other nasty side effects -- monster smite damage is based on HD if I'm not mistaken, as are some other damage calculations like missile damage. He's already bad enough news as a ranged fighter.

I guess happy accidents happen with even the toughest uniques. In my last game (same one where I drowned Roka), Xtahua never stood a chance -- I dropped about 15 grids' worth of Freezing Cloud between him and me and shouted to wake him up. I don't think he laid LOS on me while awake and alive. Ilsiuw also lost about a third of her health to friendly wave-casting from an aquamancer.

[galehar]

With the recent changes I made on pathfinding, I believe it wouldn't be too hard to give him water walk, but make him pathfind like he didn't. He would use the same pathfind algorithm as his followers, so it wouldn't make it easier to split him from the mob. But you wouldn't be able to drown him and he wouldn't flounder in shallow water.

[danr]

You sir are a very smart man.