Chain Reactions
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Chain Reactions
As it currently stands, I can burn up, break, freeze, or otherwise destroy lots of magical items without any sideeffects whatsoever. I think it would be interesting if destroying scrolls, wands, staves, rods, potions, dusts, et cetra would sometimes trigger whatever effect those items had. eg: blowing up a rod of fireball might throw a few fireballs in the process.
Agreed, this could be an interesting thing. Already, trapped chests do this when destroyed (destroying trapped chests triggers traps, in some cases destroying other chests, and such), and indeed perhaps potions and wants could do similar things.
This should not be hard to implement really. A couple of questions though: Should the effect always be triggered or should there only be a chance of it? Should the effect always be exactly what the contained spell is?
I'm not sure about those details but maybe someone has a thought to chime in
This should not be hard to implement really. A couple of questions though: Should the effect always be triggered or should there only be a chance of it? Should the effect always be exactly what the contained spell is?
I'm not sure about those details but maybe someone has a thought to chime in
I'd personally think there should only be a chance of this happening. It maybe depends on the object.
For example, with scrolls, one could say that the reading of the scroll is what invokes the magic, so chances of it going off when destroyed is low. Potions could be argued relates to the actual ingestion (and effects on the body).
But most all potions are beneficial effects to the character, and not attack type spells, so detonating them doesn't have much effect.
Wands and rods make more sense - it seems clearer that the magic is stored in them.
But one has to be careful that this suddenly doesn't become a new attack method - drop a bunch of wands, wait for a monster to approach, and then cast something that destroys the wands, and thus kills the monster (or conversely, don't want an instant death of players either). So it should probably be a limited number of charges fired off.
For example, with scrolls, one could say that the reading of the scroll is what invokes the magic, so chances of it going off when destroyed is low. Potions could be argued relates to the actual ingestion (and effects on the body).
But most all potions are beneficial effects to the character, and not attack type spells, so detonating them doesn't have much effect.
Wands and rods make more sense - it seems clearer that the magic is stored in them.
But one has to be careful that this suddenly doesn't become a new attack method - drop a bunch of wands, wait for a monster to approach, and then cast something that destroys the wands, and thus kills the monster (or conversely, don't want an instant death of players either). So it should probably be a limited number of charges fired off.
Well, attack potions are already triggered when thrown at a monster I believe, so it also seems clear to me they should often be triggered when destroyed by other means. Also it could be argued that burning a scroll releases the magic uncontrollably and could either result in the spell being cast, or a raw mana attack (i.e. manaball/manabolt) happens.
I agree that for wands, a limited number of charges should be fired off. Perhaps even just one fire at a level dependent on the remaining charges, but never more than twice the normal casting level.
Personally, I don't think we need to be too careful against this becoming a new attack method if that's accounted for. After all, while it may be powerful, it would be non-reusable. I imagine that by the time one could afford lots of wands, or have lots stocked up, it would only be useful in combat in specialty situations anyways.
I think these sorts of mechanics could let players come up with some neat ideas. Perhaps one could use this to make a magic "fuse" and run it around a dungeon and detonate it remotely...
I agree that for wands, a limited number of charges should be fired off. Perhaps even just one fire at a level dependent on the remaining charges, but never more than twice the normal casting level.
Personally, I don't think we need to be too careful against this becoming a new attack method if that's accounted for. After all, while it may be powerful, it would be non-reusable. I imagine that by the time one could afford lots of wands, or have lots stocked up, it would only be useful in combat in specialty situations anyways.
I think these sorts of mechanics could let players come up with some neat ideas. Perhaps one could use this to make a magic "fuse" and run it around a dungeon and detonate it remotely...
While sitting there with your fingers in your ears waiting for the Big Boom your subjugated (pet) Vampire walks up carrying several of your previously carefully placed wands and asks "What are you doing?"Rednaxela wrote:...
I think these sorts of mechanics could let players come up with some neat ideas. Perhaps one could use this to make a magic "fuse" and run it around a dungeon and detonate it remotely...
e-mail: poof \a\t eracc \d\o\t com
Oh yes, all the more amusementpoof wrote:While sitting there with your fingers in your ears waiting for the Big Boom your subjugated (pet) Vampire walks up carrying several of your previously carefully placed wands and asks "What are you doing?"Rednaxela wrote:...
I think these sorts of mechanics could let players come up with some neat ideas. Perhaps one could use this to make a magic "fuse" and run it around a dungeon and detonate it remotely...
Using wands and rods as remote detonation devices as a new way to kill things probably isn't much a problem - it would be difficult to find in sufficient quantity, as I don't think there is any way for players to really make those right now.
But scrolls are a different matter. A character could sit around and make a pile of fireball scrolls, and perhaps use those as an attack method.
Then again, if players are clever enough to get those around the monsters and properly destroy them, maybe we let it works. Player still wouldn't get exp for it (since the death would be from an unattributed source), so it would really just be a way to get past a monster for maybe good treasure.
But scrolls are a different matter. A character could sit around and make a pile of fireball scrolls, and perhaps use those as an attack method.
Then again, if players are clever enough to get those around the monsters and properly destroy them, maybe we let it works. Player still wouldn't get exp for it (since the death would be from an unattributed source), so it would really just be a way to get past a monster for maybe good treasure.
I don't think we need to worry about it. I'd say methods like this shouldn't be nerfed, as it already has inherent disadvantages (cost, no exp, set up time, relies on the monster not picking the items up, etc.). I think 'emergent' behaviors (within reason) like this are part of what makes a game like this fun
I got this idea because I play Nethack a lot when I'm not online, and I really like the whole, "you can do almost anything" part of it. Wands and staves are, at the moment, practically useless. Everyone just carries rods which don't run out of charges.
Scrolls should probably just burn up 99.9% of the time. And maybe the effect they have when they do go off should be random. Broken wands, rods, and staves I would think would release most of their energy. Potions should definitely trigger whatever effect they're supposed to have. That's what they do when you uncork one and throw it.
For a way to balance it somewhat, I suppose you could make it so that there is a chance of items the player is carrying being destroyed when they get hit with certain kinds of attacks. This would make carrying a large number of magic items into an area for use as a bomb rather dangerous, since the dragon could torch you on the way in and watch you go up in a blaze of released magic...
Scrolls should probably just burn up 99.9% of the time. And maybe the effect they have when they do go off should be random. Broken wands, rods, and staves I would think would release most of their energy. Potions should definitely trigger whatever effect they're supposed to have. That's what they do when you uncork one and throw it.
For a way to balance it somewhat, I suppose you could make it so that there is a chance of items the player is carrying being destroyed when they get hit with certain kinds of attacks. This would make carrying a large number of magic items into an area for use as a bomb rather dangerous, since the dragon could torch you on the way in and watch you go up in a blaze of released magic...