New Unique: Milton, Devotee of Ashenzari

[and into]

I like uniques who have more to them than a spell set: Dowan and Duvessa, Boris, and so on. Boris in particular can (at least potentially) present a somewhat interesting decision: Since he will come back, is it better just to leave him alone, so long as where he spawned the first time isn't too inconvenient? I like the idea of uniques who potentially make you rethink those sorts of things, and have more global consequences or effects than simply winning a single tactical battle.

So here's my proposal for another such unique:

Milton, Devotee of Ashenzari
Driven onward by his desire for knowledge, Milton has bound himself to the diety Ashenzari and sought to bend even the most chaotic forces to his twisted will. A master of translocation, his calculating and meticulous nature compels him to continue any task until it is complete. For decades he has sought the Orb of Zot, long after his biological eyesight failed him. Blind but seeing, he joylessly marches on in hope of finding every rune, to master their arcane magical lexicon, a task that has led him into the darkest pits of the dungeon. The little enthusiasm he has is reserved for cruelly snuffing out any competition.

Spawns: Late Dungeon, and/or Hells, Pan, Abyss
Strong stats
Spawns with a good cursed weapon, chance of various other cursed gear

"I can see you."

Teleport Self, Blink, Blink Other, Mark (Like vault sentinels—"I'm not the only one who knows where you hide!"), Malign Gateway

Milton has perfect detection: No sneaking up on him! Once you enter a level on which he has spawned, he knows where you are and begins to seek you out. If you are on the same level that he's on, you have a permanent mark status that's specific to him. (Though he can also cast the USUAL mark status at you when he confronts you, drawing adjacent foes down upon your location.) He stalks you, engaging in skirmishes; if you wound but fail to kill him, he'll teleport away, only to try again later.

If you leave the level he is on WITHOUT killing him, he will respawn on your current level after a somewhat randomized countdown timer. ("Did you think you could lose me that easily!" "My task is not yet complete!" "You have won the battle. You shall lose the war.") — Kind of like a reverse Boris. You don't choose to run or to fight; you choose either to keep running, or to confront the threat decisively.

Is the mechanism potentially too annoying....? He only dies once, but if you don't manage to kill him, he will haunt your game (popping up every X thousand turns). Any ideas about power levels? I want this guy to make late-game characters nervous, basically. I think Mark hex (at high power) and Malign Gateway potentially does that. Any ideas?

[dpeg]

I think it's a great concept. Annoyingness can be steered (for scope, compare with Maurice: stealing is annoying, having a single unique do it is okay). Some parameters for his reappearances:

1. The more wounded you leave him, the longer he takes to come back. It does sense thematically (he needs to heal), and makes simply fleeing a quite uninteresting option. If you fight and damage him, you'll have more time before he's back. This is cool because so often a very sound strategy with uniques is "ignore". The way you set it up, this couldn't even be scummed (I am sure some people will dislike this, but I like forcing challenges.)

2. His depth. For example, he could only appear in Pan or Hells.

Some further questions: Can he be pacified? What about banishment?

[reaver]

This sounds a bit like the Wizard of Yendor from Nethack. The main differences are that A) This one doesn't respawn if you kill him B) Instead of getting it at the end of the game, you get it randomly.

I think that having him know where you are is too much of a spoiler, unless you give a very detailed message when they enter the level. As a Branch Boss or something it might be worth it, but I don't think it's a good idea for a general unique.

The "run or fight" mechanism does sound to me like it would be too annoying when doing automated things like exploring and resting. It might be optimal to rest on a previously explored level so he'll spawn there instead. Autoexplore might put you in a dead end, so you might want to hand explore. I think the best way to solve this is to only have him spawn only when the player enters a new level. That way, there would kill most attempts to game his respawn mechanism.

I also think it doesn't really fit the flavor Ashenzari. My thoughts on an Ash unique would be "tailored to you character," like spawning with Ignite Poison if you're a naga, or a scroll of silence if you're a spellcaster. I think the "relentless tracker" flavor works better without relating it to Ash.

Using Sentinel's Mark is clever, because the threat neatly scales with the level of the dungeon he's in, so he doesn't become too weak later. I'm not so sure about Malign Gateway.

[dpeg]

reaver: Yes, spawning on entering a new level seems like the right mechanic. I think it's also good to always announce it (both for the tension and the gameplay). The Ashenzari flavour is not so far off with Milton's seeking powers... but the flavour can definitely go several ways.

For the reasons you give, Milton is much better than Yendor. You could put it as "Yendor done right"

[Kalma]

Mark can be kinda op when it pulls monsters from special vaults, including panlords.

[Mankeli]

But if you do kill him, he doesn't come back, right? So how is this Wizard of Yendorish at all?

I've hoped for a new interesting very late game/ extented end game unique for a while. This, in my eyes would fit in perfectly! Nice concept.

The marking can be a bit too brutal in Hells or Tomb though (if Tomb was ever on the list anyways).

[dpeg]

Mankeli: Could make it so that Milton would never spawn in Hell:$ or Tomb:* -- if you visit these places without having killed him first, it's an intentional risk you take.

[Wahaha]

Encountering him in Pan and probably Abyss is much more dangerous than in Tomb, and somewhat more dangerous than in Hell.

[MoogleDan]

How about having him only spawn on D:27, possibly in a unique Zot entrance vault (preferably one without legions of draconians which would chase down your marked patooty)? If the guy hasn't grabbed a single rune, it makes sense that he'd be crankily contemplating the gate, and a character at D:27 is guaranteed to be at least beefy enough to tear through stone giants, deep troll packs, and the like, so it's not like he'd be ganking unprepared characters. Even characters who stealth stab their way past everything should have somelevel of back-up offense at that point.

As terrified as I am of blink other on a character that's calling the entire floor upon you, there's always stasis, and it's still better than dimensional anchor.

[and into]

I'm glad there's some interest in Milton.

reaver: Thank you for the feedback. I agree it has a bit of the Wizard of Yendor flavor, though.... I mainly had in mind "Boris in reverse" though when I thought this guy up, and in some ways Boris is more like Wizard of Yendor. Ash flavor can stay or go, he could easily be reflavored as a translocation master, whose ability in this area gives him an acute sense of the space around him. I like the whole "blind but seeing" flavor. Ash has a creepy undertone, as far as gods go, and this unique would play that aspect up. I named him "Milton" after the poet, I took that wordsmith's tragic life and made it into a kind of comic-book-villain origin story... But flavor is not as important as the core mechanic, so this can of course be altered however. I'd be happy to write an alternate flavor description or accept a different version.

(I don't want to get off topic, but I *really* like your idea, reaver, for a unique that spawns with spells and abilities that are specifically geared to try to take you down! But, in my view, I would think of that as a unique shapeshifter-type enemy—but a very cool concept in its own right. (Another take on same theme: A shapeshifter who takes the form of different uniques! Even one's you've killed. We have glowing shapeshifters and an antique lich. Why not a "brilliant shapeshifter" unique that's so "brilliant" he can copy Mara, Kirke, Donald, Xanthaa, Boris, Wiglaff, etc.—obviously not pan lords or the guaranteed uniques like the Royal Jelly. He'd give jewelry-mongering item-swappers a real headache! But back on topic.... I have too many things I'm trying to help design right now as it is.))

1. The more wounded you leave him, the longer he takes to come back. It does sense thematically (he needs to heal), and makes simply fleeing a quite uninteresting option. If you fight and damage him, you'll have more time before he's back. This is cool because so often a very sound strategy with uniques is "ignore". The way you set it up, this couldn't even be scummed (I am sure some people will dislike this, but I like forcing challenges.)

2. His depth. For example, he could only appear in Pan or Hells.

Some further questions: Can he be pacified? What about banishment?

Agreed as to 1. Milton is getting kind of old.... Can't bounce back like he used to, ya know? If you NEARLY kill the guy, he's off your back for a good while, that way it does feel like you've accomplished something.

As for 2., my initial stab at flavor could easily justify his appearing in extended only, if that is felt to be more appropriate....

reaver & dpeg: The "spawn upon entering level / new area of pan / etc." is a definite improvement, avoid any scumming. Milton can perhaps be cast as somewhat arrogant; accordingly, he announces himself when you enter one of "his" levels.

Moogledan: Glad you like the idea! I wouldn't want him to spawn only at D:27 though... It would then feel kind of like a (non-guaranteed) Wizard of Yendor, and also like stepping on Tiamat's toes as scary unique who spawns in very constrained area, capable of cutting you down just on the cusp of victory. Anywhere very late game (like after D:24, plus maybe some extended areas) seems appropriate. Probably not in Zot though... Milton knows to stay away from Tiamat, he's more interested in the runes than the Orb anyway. And Mark in Zot, while hilariously nightmarish, might be a little much.


EDIT: Pacification... Can count as death I think. But he will be hard to pacify, high HD. Banishment: He is removed and his timer reset, as if he escaped at 1 HP.... Very long timeout, but he's coming back!

[zugundertherug]

I named him "Milton" after the poet, I took that wordsmith's tragic life and made it into a kind of comic-book-villain origin story

Milton seeking the Orb "long after his biological eyesight failed him"? Sure he wasn't seeking something else, like a stapler...

You've actually made an awesome reference to Office Space without even realizing it.

He sounds interesting, though I'm sworried about him being an insurmountable, unavoidable, inescapable game-ending obstacle for a stabber. For a stabber he's seems to be on the level of Mennas for a caster. This isn't necessarily a bad thing but if he's unavoidable and inescapable a stabber needs some way to kill him, especially if encountered relatively early. When diving very deep in the dungeon to get the most use out of invis while playing a stabber you're a fairly low level compared to other characters, running into this guy would be game over.

[Kate]

Ignacio already does roughly this in Pan and I don't think it works very well. It just sort of means you have to kill him if he shows up (presumably much more so for this proposal, due to the spell set and knowledge of player location).

[dpeg]

MarvinPA: I think it can still work -- this depends a lot on how the unique does damage (was not discussed much yet). If, for example, he is formidable but the damage has little variance (e.g. no spells such as LCS), then players would basically have to estimate how much (and which) resources they want to spend. The combination of announcement and sentinel mark is an interesting combination, in my opinion.

[Mankeli]

Encountering him in Pan and probably Abyss is much more dangerous than in Tomb, and somewhat more dangerous than in Hell.

I'm finding this hard to believe. In Pan, you can dig so that pretty much takes care of the situation for at least melee characters/ranged weapon characters (barring many diggers). I guess Abyss 4-5 can be nasty but who'd want to be there anyways. Barring unintentional early game banishment Abyss is still a breeze.

I have to say that I didn't remember Ignacio had the ability so respawn if not killed. However, I think the Ash flavour and the marking kind of sets it apart IMO.

[forest]

How about giving him an ability to curse your items somehow. Not on death (thats mummies trademark) but when he hits you. Or he can simply cast/invoke a spell.
Although he would have to turn friendly, if you worshop Ash yourself, as it could be benefical to just dance around him to have your gear cursed )

[Lasty]

The Wizard of Yendor has an instant death attack, clones himself, and steals the game-winning artifact (think Orb of Zot) and runs away with it. The Wizard of Yendor also comes back frequently if you kill him. This guy isn't much like the Wizard of Yendor.

He's also not much like Ignacio, even if Ignacio does respawn: Ignacio is an executioner, so you really can't get away from him without teleporting, and Ignacio doesn't run away. This guy is a very different type of threat, and so being able to follow you onto future levels would be a very different experience from Ignacio.

Assuming he's resistant to invisibility, blind, and confusion, stabbers could still disable w/ Petrify or wands of paralysis, but even if they can't, by the point in the game where Milton appears, a stabber should have some other way of killing things than stabbing. Oh, and there's also Enslave and Discord and needles. If the stabber can land any kind of tier-1 stab, that would prevent him from ever showing up again, so arguably stabbers would be pretty good against him.

In short, I like this proposal, and I think Milton would be an interesting addition to the set of uniques. I particularly appreciate the OP's desire to make more uniques that aren't just another buff caster.

[MoogleDan]

How about giving him an ability to curse your items somehow. Not on death (thats mummies trademark) but when he hits you. Or he can simply cast/invoke a spell.
Although he would have to turn friendly, if you worshop Ash yourself, as it could be benefical to just dance around him to have your gear cursed )

Nah, Ashenzari could just absorb the curses for you, as he does with mummies. But that effect would suddenly make scrolls of remove curse MUCH more crucial if an unescapable monster just kept constantly locking down your gear... Perhaps an ability with duration like the Flay status effect would work better? He passively locks down your equipment slots while he's in lin of sight, but it all unfreezes if you kill him or manage to get away from him for long enough. Scroll of remove curse could instantly unlock it all long enough to make a swap or two, but it'd be a temporary measure; he'd just start re-freezing it a few turns later. I think that'd be too weak for an active ability (I'd much rather have uniques waste turns forcing me to use the gear I've already decided to use against them than actually hurt me), but it could add to the anxiety quite a bit if it just happened alongside his assault.

[and into]

Nah, Ashenzari could just absorb the curses for you, as he does with mummies. But that effect would suddenly make scrolls of remove curse MUCH more crucial if an unescapable monster just kept constantly locking down your gear... Perhaps an ability with duration like the Flay status effect would work better? He passively locks down your equipment slots while he's in lin of sight, but it all unfreezes if you kill him or manage to get away from him for long enough. Scroll of remove curse could instantly unlock it all long enough to make a swap or two, but it'd be a temporary measure; he'd just start re-freezing it a few turns later. I think that'd be too weak for an active ability (I'd much rather have uniques waste turns forcing me to use the gear I've already decided to use against them than actually hurt me), but it could add to the anxiety quite a bit if it just happened alongside his assault.

Not at all a bad idea, but I think locking down item-swapping (through this mechanism or through the more direct, currently implemented curse system) would make more sense on an earlier unique. You can make it fit the flavor I suppose, but as I said, Milton is intended to make late-game characters nervous, so I'd see something like this as being somewhat inappropriate. Except for weapon, lot of late game characters don't need to switch around their stuff so much, because they often have a really good static set up that provides for all or nearly all or the needs for a given branch. (You might switch out some stuff going into Cocytus, but in general I find my characters doing ring swapping way less in late game than in mid-game. On the other hand I try to minimize jewelry swapping, as I find it annoying.) Furthermore, by late game you'll usually have remove curse scrolls than you'd ever need (even with Tomb and a zig or two), unless maybe you did worship Ash, but in that case the cursing of items won't bother you anyway.

[MoogleDan]

Nah, Ashenzari could just absorb the curses for you, as he does with mummies. But that effect would suddenly make scrolls of remove curse MUCH more crucial if an unescapable monster just kept constantly locking down your gear... Perhaps an ability with duration like the Flay status effect would work better? He passively locks down your equipment slots while he's in lin of sight, but it all unfreezes if you kill him or manage to get away from him for long enough. Scroll of remove curse could instantly unlock it all long enough to make a swap or two, but it'd be a temporary measure; he'd just start re-freezing it a few turns later. I think that'd be too weak for an active ability (I'd much rather have uniques waste turns forcing me to use the gear I've already decided to use against them than actually hurt me), but it could add to the anxiety quite a bit if it just happened alongside his assault.

Not at all a bad idea, but I think locking down item-swapping (through this mechanism or through the more direct, currently implemented curse system) would make more sense on an earlier unique. You can make it fit the flavor I suppose, but as I said, Milton is intended to make late-game characters nervous, so I'd see something like this as being somewhat inappropriate. Except for weapon, lot of late game characters don't need to switch around their stuff so much, because they often have a really good static set up that provides for all or nearly all or the needs for a given branch. (You might switch out some stuff going into Cocytus, but in general I find my characters doing ring swapping way less in late game than in mid-game. On the other hand I try to minimize jewelry swapping, as I find it annoying.) Furthermore, by late game you'll usually have remove curse scrolls than you'd ever need (even with Tomb and a zig or two), unless maybe you did worship Ash, but in that case the cursing of items won't bother you anyway.

I'm actually fond of jewelry swapping myself, and while Milton himself doesn't seem to have much in the way of exotic elemental damage attacks, I imagine a large part of his Track-You-Down behavior will be scary because he will eventually show up while you're in the middle of a fight with other baddies. Even if it does constitute a minor rise in threat (which I think is debatable, especially for characters with blowguns or rods; forcing players to spend time reading scrolls instead of attacking), it doesn't detract from the unique in any way, does it?