Ds Icemail mutation

[dck]

My understanding of this mut is that the AC regenerates one point at a time because knowing that if you avoid fire sources for a while will net you 10 AC would probably make it optimal to just walk in circles with bad stuff chasing you until suddenly ding you're back at max AC. Now this is a good way of dealing with it I guess but would it be so bad if the AC was also removed one point at a time or depended on damage or something?
Because it's a pretty cool mutation to have, but what's really not cool about it is having to mash 5 forever for the AC to regenerate after being hit by a puff or crossbow bolt of flame whose user you later killed without taking any significant damage whatsoever. It's like resting, only worse and you can't cast regen to speed it up.

[and into]

My understanding of this mut is that the AC regenerates one point at a time because knowing that if you avoid fire sources for a while will net you 10 AC would probably make it optimal to just walk in circles with bad stuff chasing you until suddenly ding you're back at max AC. Now this is a good way of dealing with it I guess but would it be so bad if the AC was also removed one point at a time or depended on damage or something?
Because it's a pretty cool mutation to have, but what's really not cool about it is having to mash 5 forever for the AC to regenerate after being hit by a puff or crossbow bolt of flame whose user you later killed without taking any significant damage whatsoever. It's like resting, only worse and you can't cast regen to speed it up.

I think that's a good idea. Chance for icemail AC reduction can be proportional to fire damage [EDIT: compared vs. mutation level and character level], so a really nasty hit [relative to your level] wipes out your icemail, minor hit just has a chance to knock off 1 or 2 AC.

Alternately, you could have it melt completely when hit with flame, but regenerate very quickly when tension is low, more slowly when tension is high.

The latter option keeps the basic mechanic very similar, while removing long delays. Both would technically be buffs but lots of pointless waiting should be eliminated when it is possible to do so relatively easily, with a few tweaks.

[galehar]

Since it's already the case for condensation shield and ozo armour (their duration is reduced proportionally to the damage taken), it would make sense to do the same for icemail.

[pubby]

I actually have code which does this, although it's from when I was doing a permabuff system so it's tied to that.