2112345 by lemuel, eronarn and dpeg, inspired by 2014006. The title is a misnomer. The crucial property of the god is constant piety, paid with permanent health. The god was supposed to replace Kikubaaqudgha but that deity got fresh blood after 0.5, so may survive in his old incarnation. So the new god is now proposed as a separate entity. However, this proposal is still focused on the Necromancy, so before adding it, we need to think about Kikubaaqudgha's role again (or attempt a merger).
”[god] commands vast armies of beings either summoned or enslaved or undead. This god is always looking for capable commanders, who are willing to devote themselves thoroughly and gain powers for leading the enslaved masses in return.”
It's me or could this god be reflavoured into a deity which demands more and more followers to worship her blindly ? the necromantic issue would be rather secondary but the pact idea still persists. The player would become a slaver or a brainwasher to convert the mass. There's a proposal in the tavern about a god which treats slaves carelessly (i.e no penance for let allies be killed) https://crawl.develz.org/tavern/viewtopic.php?f=8&t=3016 that can be merged with some of the mechanics of this one. — roderic 2011-11-14 16:44
Implications:
Piety is replaced by Pact, which is a value between 0 and 200, but not fluctuating. Players can turn maxhp into Pact, at a 1:1 ratio. Upon taking on the god, get 15 Pact at no maxhp cost. Your innate healing stops at your current maxhp (as it should be) but healing powers can extend to your 'old' maxhp. The current pact should be listed as Pact: 127/200
. [Notes: more elaborate ratios (depending on species etc.) are conceivable. The above is a good start. It is intended that worshippers sacrifice more and more hp over time. It is not intended that they reach full pact. Also, while going with Fighting+Armour is best for high maxhp, this is a playing style having no synergy with the god's powers.]
Followers can choose powers from a set. There should be at most 20 powers but it is okay to start with much less. Many of the powers could be passive, some could be extendable. Need full database entries for all powers, so that players can plan their Kiku career fully in advance. Changing powers is possible, but should come with a (pact) cost. Strategical resetting the abilities is okay, tuning powers before every battle (i.e. tactical use) is not. Either each change has a pact cost of one (or two), or changes cost 0,1,2 etc.
Some examles for abilities which I think would work well:
damage = damage - damage/(1+d3)
, at least one damage survives (Cost 10)chance = (25 -current_hp_%)/50
of several friendly greater undead appearing near you. (This power is permement but won't activate more than once within ~100 turns.) Cost 30.
Perhaps give a starting book 'Evil Command' or 'Dark Secrets', containing both Nec and Sum spells. This god will not use Invocations anywhere. This fits (dedication is shown by increasing Pact) and helps to circumvent late game scams (can't get Inv up to 27 with another god, then switch). As piety with the new god inreases, Pact is removed. This restores the lost maxhp. Retributions can occur each time this happens. Granted and heavy retributions occur upon switching to another god, and losing the last point of Pact.
Some retribution ideas:
There are many possible ways how the god could hand out (and possibly take back) powers. Please read the FR for this. Just one comment by lemuel: Again, I think a much wider variety of powers will be used — and the decisions about taking powers will be more interesting — if specific bargains are offered periodically, rather than allowing any power to be chosen freely. This would also let us randomize the costs a bit, which could lead to players taking a power they wouldn't normally want because it was unusually cheap.