How come amulets of rage are still swappable?

[le_nerd]

So we have a strong, onetime effect, with a built in exhaust-timer to prevent abuse- and get no penalties at all for equipping/unequipping it. Why?

Mostly relevant if one has the only other amulet that has no penalties for swapping, amulet of reflection. But then its a nobrainer.

[dynast]

SHHHHHHH

[pedritolo]

Too late, they've read it by now.

[ONIchinchin]

The penalties for equipping it is not wearing an objectively better amulet and letting it occupy an inventory slot in the first place.

[Sar]

Yeah, that one amulet that gives you haste, 150% HP and 1d15 additional damage is pretty damn good, you'd be an idiot to ever wear rage over it.

[milski]

Yeah, that one amulet that gives you haste, 150% HP and 1d15 additional damage is pretty damn good, you'd be an idiot to ever wear rage over it.

You're thinking of the Hat of the Bear, it's a common mistake

[Midn8]

I think it is balanced -as said before- by the consumption of a slot. It also has a 50% fail rate with no Evoke, and all of the normal berserk penalties.

It does do a good imitation of trog early, though

[le_nerd]

@Sar: Its only +1d10 damage, not 1d15. Much weaker /s

[VeryAngryFelid]

Rage is more powerful than harm for melee characters and we do have a heavy penalty for harm.

[Sar]

@Sar: Its only +1d10 damage, not 1d15

No, Berserk is 1d10 and that one amulet that you wear instead of rage (because it's objectively superior) is 1d15. Easy to confuse!

[Lasty]

Rage fell off my radar. I agree it should have a penalty. What penalty should it have? I was thinking exhaust on equip, but that would, ironically, let you use it to block *rage.

[Shtopit]

To counter that, have it also cause rage (or, if rage is impossible, pass out) when removed. Would that work?

[Sar]

Rage is ~inherently problematic~ as an amulet since instead of conveying a constant and clear advantage/disadvantage like other amulets do it just gives you an activated ability.

A really, really good activated ability.

[njvack]

Yeah, passing out on equip/unequip (or both) would be thematic and pretty much eliminate tactical swapping.

But I'm also in agreement with Sar -- "Rage is a holdover from back when amulets were strict buffs; it also duplicates a consumable and a god ability. I'd probably remove it and make !Rage more common if needed.

Having the amulet give *Rage as well as +Rage might be a reasonable "this is dangerous but might have some kinds of uses" tradeoff if keeping it is really warranted.

[Spectrina]

How about just moving it to an armour slot? Evocable armour already exists with cloak of invisibility. It might be kinda neat to start adding more regular ego evocables, like boots of blinking or something. Things like this already exist in the form of artefacts.

Alternatively just remove it, non-Trog berserk is already available in the form of potions. A reliable form of berserk for a non-Trog follower doesn't seem too necessary.

[removeelyvilon]

Berserk works better as a consumable than an ability. Don't know why, but that hasn't stopped anybody in the past.
Infinite berserk ins obvously problematic and bad for the game.
Thus Remove Trog and items with evokable wrath; increase rage pot ratio to compensate.

Seriously though, +1 for preventing tactical swapping with very brief para and keeping the amulet. We need more amulets worth putting on, not less.

[prozacelf]

Rage fell off my radar. I agree it should have a penalty. What penalty should it have? I was thinking exhaust on equip, but that would, ironically, let you use it to block *rage.

+1 level of berserkitis, obviously.

[stickyfingers]

Why not just same-duration slow + exh? Simple and efficient IMO.

[ThreeInvisibleDucks]

+Rage should always paralyze after it wears out so people wouldn't be tempted to use it. Paralysis is an effective design in Ziggurats to discourage people from doing them so it works.

[ion_frigate]

Seconded on adding it as a (body) armour ego. That removes tactical swapping, while also making the choice of body armour more interesting.

[Midn8]

Currently, there aren't very many good hand slot egos for melee characters. Maybe rage could fit in there?

Currently, the slots have the following (not including randarts):

Head: Sinv, Inteligence, Guardian spirit?
Hands: Archery, +3 Str, +3 Dex
Body: Rf,Rc, Rn, Rf+Rc, MR, Rpois, Archmagi, + all dragon armour effects
Boots: Running, Flight, Stealth
Cloak: Invis, MR, Rpois

The ones which seem balanced to me are cloak (many options which aren't nececarily all useful) and Head (Sinv V Int). Body is too cramped, you always use boots of running if available, and there are no good gloves.

Adding rage to cloaks would probably be good, because it wouldn't be an auto-pick.

Gloves also don't have any good egos, and they could be a halfway ego on boots (before running, but better than nothing)

Putting it on body armour would be an error.

[minstrel]

Why not make amulets take 3 turns to swap like body armour?