Shield-Hand Evokables


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Tartarus Sorceror

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Post Wednesday, 16th August 2017, 17:49

Shield-Hand Evokables

There are a few items that are so powerful, they could reasonably cost you the shield slot.

One is the Crystal ball of energy.

Another such item could grant invisibility instead of the cloak. Potions would still allow 2h or shield users to use inv, although on limited occasions.

It would be a new class of items, taking as much time as a shield to equip, and giving no SH. Magic staves could join them.
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Post Thursday, 17th August 2017, 14:51

Re: Shield-Hand Evokables

Seems like a finicky idea, but certainly not the worst idea I've heard all day. This would mostly be done as a balance thing though, so there's no need to toss staffs into the mix unless you're gonna allow them to be used to attack alongside a normal weapon.
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Barkeep

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Post Thursday, 17th August 2017, 17:08

Re: Shield-Hand Evokables

CBoE? Really? That has always seemed like it's situationally okay in extended when you have a ton of evo and getting more MP is really convenient, but I've never thought it was, like, generally useful.

I could see the misc evokables reworked into something that would require a hand (similar to scarves/cloaks); that has way more balance and gameplay implications though.

A lot of the effect you're looking for could also happen by making staves 2-handed.

I guess I'm not seeing what all this gains, though. Is it because CBoE and inv cloak are too strong? Or that enhancer staves + shields is OP? Or fiddly? Or...?
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Tartarus Sorceror

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Post Thursday, 17th August 2017, 18:14

Re: Shield-Hand Evokables

Inv because of balance. Inv is enormously powerful. There are a few cases in which it is unusable (see inv monsters, water, glow effects), but it is, otherwise, really, really, good, and it also comes with limitless charges. There currently are no reasons not to wear a cloak of inv any time you find it. So I think that demanding a tradeoff for it makes sense, especially since the cloak also gives you AC.

Last time I used the Ball, it also was exceedingly strong. If you train evo a bit and you remember to use it early, you effectively don't need to reset your fights anymore as a spellcaster. You can just stay there and exclusively use the big guns. And it doesn't even cost an equip slot!

So yes, for these two I am mainly thinking of balance.

Another overpowered item that could become a shield-hand item for balance reasons are boots of running. It wouldn't be an evokable, giving instead the permanent bonus, like they do today.

Staves in shield-hand have two reasons. I think that, as they now are, staves have a large problem. They make your spell stronger, but it takes a lot of effort for the stars to align so that they are actually useful in melee. Now, one could say, "sure, they aren't meant to make your melee stronger". My answer is that the result is just a lot of swapping: you don't sacrifice your melee when using a staff, you just sacrifice that half turn it takes to swap weapons. Turning staves into shield-hand items would correct this swapping, and, reason #2, would also correct the current huge number of skills you need to use a weapon effectively: staves skill + elemental skill + evo + fighting.
The results on power balance would be different according to stave. It would, at least in theory, make elemental staves less powerful, since they would lose their special attacks. It would however open the weapon-hand to a one-handed decent weapon option. The one staff that would become noticeably stronger would be the staff of power. Non-elemental staves, that would, in theory, gain in attack power (because of decent weapon) would mean giving up a buckler. All in all, I don't think the change in overall power would be relevant, but I think that the play experience would be much better, and I believe that this is a very desirable result.
Of course, if instead there were a noticeable loss in power, different staves could be joined together, or their effects could be devolved to magical bucklers. Concerning the eventuality of power increase, I am not really worried about it, because the game already has checks on spell enhancers and max MP.
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Ziggurat Zagger

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Post Friday, 18th August 2017, 00:01

Re: Shield-Hand Evokables

cboe is only good in zigs imo

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Halls Hopper

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Post Tuesday, 22nd August 2017, 11:24

Re: Shield-Hand Evokables

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Post Tuesday, 22nd August 2017, 11:53

Re: Shield-Hand Evokables

I wish CboE wouldn't randomly drain Int, or worse make you lose all your mana. This results in an enormous amount of pointless key presses.

Tartarus Sorceror

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Post Tuesday, 22nd August 2017, 15:08

Re: Shield-Hand Evokables

You all know what the solution to CBoE is. You're just afraid to say it.
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Tartarus Sorceror

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Post Tuesday, 22nd August 2017, 15:21

Re: Shield-Hand Evokables

Rast wrote:You all know what the solution to CBoE is. You're just afraid to say it.

It has its role for slow characters, though.
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Blades Runner

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Post Thursday, 5th October 2017, 13:03

Re: Shield-Hand Evokables

Rast wrote:You all know what the solution to CBoE is. You're just afraid to say it.


Use it as a doorstop because it's too unreliable to depend on.

The chance of losing all mana (when you're using it because you critically need your mana to remain present) is too harsh. It's a bit like the all out stealth character. It's fantastic until it fails, and when it fails, you're in deep *(@%. That's all good and fun, until you have to rebuild your character over and over instead of getting anywhere since the number of encounters you'll face where you use it, in order to make it worth training and holding in inventory, practically assures it will fail.

I think crystal ball should operate like a battery that charges over time. Evoke it, spending time to get the mana out of it like a mini reusable mana potion, but not an endless immediate supply if you're willing to chance very unacceptable consequences. The endless supply is already covered with a staff of energy.

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