Monday, 23rd January 2012, 14:09 by Galefury
IMO having different names for the same item would be fine, if there were no actual differences for any aux armor slot. If it's clear that anything that goes in that slot is the same base item it's not that confusing for it to have multiple names. Of course there's not really any benefit or anything interesting or flavorful about it either, so might as well just call anything that goes on your hands the same for the sake of clarity (artifacts can do their own thing of course).
Now for actual differences between base items. Most slots don't have different base items. Also most of the aux items you find are +0 with no ego, completely mundane and identical. Which means few upgrades, and if you find something with any enchantment at all you use that instead of whatever mundane or racial item you were wearing (nobrainer). Choices only happen when you have multiple ego or artefact items to chose from, and even then they tend to be extremely simple.
Little bonuses (like for helms) could change this in theory. The thing is, in a typical game you don't find a lot of different items to go into each aux armor slot. Usually one of the items for your head slot is clearly the best for any situation. Same for the other slots. Having to actually think about what to put into an aux slot is extremely rare. Which means adding more little differences just means more nobrainers. Instead of leaving that other +0 helm on the floor, you replace your old +0 helm with the new horned +0 helm you found because it's strictly superior in a way that is probably never going to matter to your character unless it's very early in the game. This is not interesting, just unnecessary complexity.
The cap/helm distinction actually has potential to be useful for race balancing, but "if you are a minotaur you find fewer items for your head slot" is just not interesting at all. I think just axing caps and wizard hats would be fine.
Because of the low number of aux items for each slot found in a game I favor simplicity. Aux item choice is almost always a nobrainer, and horned helms don't change that at all. Neither do caps. One item type per slot, egos and enchantment level provide enough variety. Crawl would be a better game if all helms were the same base item.
If the base item effects were actually on the same level of relevance as ego effects this might be different (note that this is very much the case for weapons and body armors). But having extremely small differences between base items is just complexity for the sake of complexity. Aux slot base items should either be properly differentiated or unified.