Proposal: Replace Mummy 'unravelling' with rotting


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Mines Malingerer

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Joined: Saturday, 26th April 2014, 18:09

Post Saturday, 26th April 2014, 18:27

Proposal: Replace Mummy 'unravelling' with rotting

From a thematic/realistic standpoint it's bizarre that Mummies 'unravel' instantly in deep water, which among other points behaves as if they are cloth golems rather than corpses preserved through a variety of methods, and it's just inconsistent that other unbreathing species (eg Grey Draconians) are just fine with deep water but for Mummies it still kills them. Additionally, it is a contributing factor in the overwhelming danger presented by their complete inability to cure Confusion.

On the other hand, Mummies are far more capable than Octopodes, Merfolk, Grey Draconians, or any other possible species with a food clock of simply sitting in deep water while spamming magic at enemies unable to reach them for a cheap victory against literally any enemy incapable of moving through water or attacking at a distance, no matter how dangerous otherwise. (Such as hydras with many heads, Hill Giants when you're first encountering them, or even some of the plainer Uniques!) Just removing the drowning behavior is a dangerous 'solution'. (which I'm guessing is at least part of why it hasn't been done)

The compromise that I propose is that Mummies rot if they spend too much time in deep water. This could be a small (5%?) percent chance per ten auts/per turn/whatever makes sense, or there could be some kind of meter tracking how much time your Mummy has spent underwater recently and rotting them if the meter is full, or some clever idea somebody else thinks of, but the general idea is that Mummies would be fine simply travelling through a patch or three of deep water (such as crossing a river) but any Mummy hiding in deep water and resting for 100+ turns would lose several permanent hit points. This would be thematically/realistically appropriate, as real mummies are preserved first and foremost by being dry, would allow Mummies to travel through deep water or even hide in a desperate emergency without allowing them to costlessly abuse deep water, and would slightly reduce the danger of Confusion without entirely trivializing it. (in the way that innate Clarity would)

Thoughts?

Ziggurat Zagger

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Post Saturday, 26th April 2014, 18:29

Re: Proposal: Replace Mummy 'unravelling' with rotting

anyone with the unbreathing mutation should just work the same as grey dracs in deep water

Ghoul King wrote:On the other hand, Mummies are far more capable than Octopodes, Merfolk, Grey Draconians, or any other possible species with a food clock of simply sitting in deep water while spamming magic at enemies unable to reach them for a cheap victory against literally any enemy incapable of moving through water or attacking at a distance, no matter how dangerous otherwise.
octopodes, merfolk, grey dracs and anyone with the flight spell are exactly as capable of this as mummies would be. i agree that water/lava are dumb but letting mummies move through deep water wouldn't really make it any more dumb (in fact it would probably make it less dumb)

For this message the author duvessa has received thanks: 2
Arrhythmia, bcadren

Vaults Vanquisher

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Post Saturday, 26th April 2014, 18:48

Re: Proposal: Replace Mummy 'unravelling' with rotting

Hydras are amphibious, Hill Giants can wade through deep water

Mines Malingerer

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Joined: Saturday, 26th April 2014, 18:09

Post Saturday, 26th April 2014, 18:55

Re: Proposal: Replace Mummy 'unravelling' with rotting

Wait Hydras are amphibious? I'd just plain forgotten about the wading thing, but I've never seen Hydras swim! That's a scary thought.

duvessa wrote:octopodes, merfolk, grey dracs and anyone with the flight spell are exactly as capable of this as mummies would be.


I'm thinking in terms of never needing to leave the water to retrieve chunks. (Of course that brings up spells that produce chunks+Apportation)

Sar

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Ziggurat Zagger

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Post Saturday, 26th April 2014, 20:02

Re: Proposal: Replace Mummy 'unravelling' with rotting

Not only are hydras amphibious, they move with spriggan speed in water.
Also any "giant" monster can wade through deep water, not only the hill ones.
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Dis Charger

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Post Saturday, 26th April 2014, 22:58

Re: Proposal: Replace Mummy 'unravelling' with rotting

Ghoul King wrote:I'm thinking in terms of never needing to leave the water to retrieve chunks. (Of course that brings up spells that produce chunks+Apportation)


...It's such a long period of time before that would happen that it's mostly irrelevant.
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Halls Hopper

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Post Sunday, 27th April 2014, 09:43

Re: Proposal: Replace Mummy 'unravelling' with rotting

This seems like a good idea. I thought up something similar independently and, yeah, it makes a lot of sense and is a simple extension of a system already in effect. No idea how you'd implement it, though, but it seems like a solid idea.

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