Swamp Slogger
Posts: 146
Joined: Saturday, 24th March 2012, 02:07
Proposal: Draconian Revisions
Modify the draconians according to the following:
~ Purple - option 1 )add 'slowing' to the effects of the dispelling bolt. Each effect (e.g. slowing, dispel haste, dispel invisibility, etc.) of the bolt would be subject to MR.
- option 2) breath weapon creates clouds of anti-magic. clouds do damage based on the creatures affinity to magic and creatures act as though struck by an anti-magic weapon.
~ White - reduce breath weapon range by 1. Add an effect to the breath weapon to create a slippery floor with an impact like Leda's liquefaction. Creatures of heat or of sufficient weight will collapse this ice sheet.
~ Yellow - acid spit has chance of striking the target's eyes (if it has them) rendering them blind and distracted while they clear off their face. +1 earth magic, +1 poison magic.
~ Black - replace breath weapon with 'Enervating Shock'; this attack does not target but affects all monsters adjacent to player and may arc outward to adjacent monsters; path always travels outward. The enervating shock damages per static discharge and has a chance based on HD to slow (edit: or paralyze like sticking your finger in an electrical socket) natural monsters.
~ Red - No Change
~ Green - No Change
~ Mottled - No Change
~ Pale - No Change
~ Grey - No Change
Reasoning:
After playing quite a few draconians it became rather obvious that some of them simply lack a tactically interesting breath weapon. Red, Green, Mottled, Pale and in some sense even Grey, all have fun ways to impact the playing field. I don't think they need any modifications in breath, resistances, or aptitudes. The rest have a breath weapon that really is just to do damage. But rarely does this damage compare to one's other options. They are just not worth the keystrokes, it's far more ergonomic and simple to just press tab an extra time or two. To make the other colors more interesting I suggest that the breath weapons provide some tactically interesting benefit (i.e. not just damage).
Purple
The purple breath is incredibly underwhelming, combining low damage with a hunger cost and a situational ability that turns out to be rare. In general, if you really need to dispel the invisibility or haste on that creature then you are far better to flee. For research sake, I tried to dispel Rupert, but it missed so I teleported away. Anti-magic clouds are a currently unfilled option and could provide some benefit through the game.
Yellow
I played a yellow draconian through to victory and made a decided effort to spit acid at everything (280 spits!); it did some damage and by lair:8 I could take a water moccasin from no damage to lightly damaged. It was almost always better to do something else though. A blinding spit is flavourful and could be used to influence combat. However, even with an interesting breath weapon they should have some aptitude bonus to match the draconian theme and I propose a hybrid bonus of +1 earth and +1 poison.
White
Again I made a strong effort to use this breath weapon everytime that I could remember but given its already short range and low damage it was agony to test. A freezing effect would be very useful.
~Black - the breath weapon is simply pointless. I would maybe use it if it were not loud, but it is loud. It also misses a lot. It takes a bit of imagining to come up with a situation where this breath weapon is a good use of a turn.