Change "Staff" to "Rod" for Trog Acquirement

[archaeo]

Not much more to say. If acquiring "staff" under Trog always results in a rod, why not just say so in the acquirement menu? We modify the acquirement menu for Fedhas, turning "food" into "fruit," could we do it for Trog?

[Sandman25]

Not much more to say. If acquiring "staff" under Trog always results in a rod, why not just say so in the acquirement menu? We modify the acquirement menu for Fedhas, turning "food" into "fruit," could we do it for Trog?

Wow... I didn't know rod is guaranteed with Trog. It could make some games much easier.

[DracheReborn]

If magic skills are 0 (including Spc) then a rod is guaranteed in staff acquirement yes.

[archaeo]

If magic skills are 0 (including Spc) then a rod is guaranteed in staff acquirement yes.

As long as I'm once again suggesting things I can't really help implement, why not just remove this special case, too, or just extend the situation we already have w/r/t book acquirement under Trog (which treats all casting skills as zero, if I'm understanding mantis right)?

[Siegurt]

if I'm understanding mantis right?

You are understanding it correctly (I was just looking at this bit of code yesterday)

One perhaps-difference between books and staves, is that while Trog forbids magic, and hence the use of spellbooks altogether (Other as fire-fodder), he doesn't forbid the whacking of things with an enhancer staff, so while they aren't as useful as they could be, enhancer staffs *could* theoretically be usable by a Troglodyte, particularly one with a high staff skill and evocation (And perhaps even some elemental skill from before they took up the Trog mantle) I realize that's a weird, and unlikely scenario, but it's not one forbidden by Trog at least.

[asdu]

Guaranteed can still be striking.

Still much better odds of getting something good. Even the second worst option (rod of the swarm) is far more useful than most wands. I'll try my luck with wand acquirement if I have a good amount of them already identified and I'm comfortable with how strong my character is, but in the event of an early scroll of acquirement, a rod is much more likely to make a difference, and hence a no-brainer for me.

Anyway, to go back to OP's suggestion, besides renaming "staff" to "rod" for Trog followers, why not also rename it to "staff & rod" for everybody else? It took me maybe 2 years of playing Crawl to discover that staff acquirement could gift rods.

[rchandra]

perhaps a simpler solution is to separate staff and rod acquirements, and then Trog followers could be able to choose Staff (like felids can't choose armour). Or you could allow staff for them too, no harm in it.

[galehar]

I've split the pointless argument to advice.

rename it to "staff & rod" for everybody else?

Sounds like a good idea.

[neil]

If magic skills are 0 (including Spc) then a rod is guaranteed in staff acquirement yes.

Not exactly: a non-Trog character with 0 magic skills can get a staff (though they are more likely to get a rod). However, acquirement is guaranteed not to give you a useless item, and magical staves are considered useless for Trog worshippers. So Troglodytes in particular always get rods.

[sanka]

If acquirement is guaranteed not to give you a useless item then why can a mummy get staff of energy?

[asdu]

If acquirement is guaranteed not to give you a useless item then why can a mummy get staff of energy?

Staff of energy can also be evoked for MP channeling (recent change).

[DracheReborn]

If magic skills are 0 (including Spc) then a rod is guaranteed in staff acquirement yes.

Not exactly: a non-Trog character with 0 magic skills can get a staff (though they are more likely to get a rod). However, acquirement is guaranteed not to give you a useless item, and magical staves are considered useless for Trog worshippers. So Troglodytes in particular always get rods.

Thanks neil. I looked at it again, I somehow missed the 1-in-5 chance for staff regardless. I guess I conflated it with the Trog thing.