[crossfire] Wraith changes

[Anton Oussik]

On 31/12/05, Mark Wedel <mwedel at sonic.net> wrote:
> Anton Oussik wrote:
>
> > Another thing that could be done is to reduce the feding speed. What
> > is the proper way of reducing weapon speed of a skill? I looked around
> > briefly, but could not find it.
>
>   I don't know if there is actually a way to do this - it may be hardcoded right
> now, but there must be some diffrence, as I know karate is faster than dragon
> clawing even at the same level.

I will have a look in a couple of weeks when I have time, when I have
the time. Maybe I can just hardcode the actual hp adding code to only
add hp randomly and sometimes as opposed to always. That will
effectively slow down the skill.

> >
> >>   If so, I wonder if it may be nice to give starting wraiths some like a staff
> >> of minor healing just so they can use it to get enough hp to go kill wimpy
> >> things.
> >
> > As it stands now, a newborn wraith at 0hp can quite happily clear a
> > room of kobolds and come out with full hp. I feel it is too powerful,
> > so perhaps doing both, scaling down the feeding speed (probably about
> > 5-10fold), and also not giving the wraith the skill until they reach
> > level 15 would be appropriate to balance the race.
>
>   but my original point was also that if I'm at 0 (or near zero hp) and low
> level, what can I do?  Arguably, fighting anything should have some danger, and
> given that hp level, a stray hit could kill me.  Yet if I don't get hp back by
> waiting, I'm sort of stuck - I basically have to risk death to get the hp back.

Yes, as the patch stands that is the risk of being a wraith - you suck
monsters dry with ease, yet you are very weak, so to keep alive you
have to suck all the time. If you bump into a wall for 3-4 seconds
your hp drops from full to 0 and next thing you know you are in a bed
of reality. I guess it is wrong in a way, but a level 8 dragon I made
to compare could do the same... just it had to run away when it got
injured not turn around and start sucking at a kobold.

>   I wonder if level should also come into play?  I could otherwise see more
> moderate level wraiths who have very few hp thinking 'hey, I should go to the
> newbie dungeon to suck up some hp', which probably isn't what we really want.
> That 8th level wraith probably shouldn't get nearly as many hp back fighting
> kobolds if we want to try and discourage that behaviour.

That would be a quite easy thing to do - if you feed on something
lower level than you you would not get any hp for it, and a message
saying that this monster is too weak for you to feed on.

This would also make it interesting at high level, as either you have
to know where the high level "feeding grounds" - areas of easy to kill
high level monsters are, or you start to rely on healing potions (and
therefore a way of spending your disposable income :-D ) to survive.

Also as a wraith I found when I played that you run from zombies and
skeletons as if it were banishment itself. Since you can not feed on a
zombie you have to use something that does not replenish you in
combat, and so I imagine even at level 30 wraith running into
something like a zombie tc would be equivalent to a suicide. It is an
interesting side effect of the patch, but you automatically have to
avoid killing your race.