dragon breath skills

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 1:37 pm

I know ive mentioned it before, and several other people seem to think its a good idea: dragon breath spells as skills. i dont think they should take mana, since its a skill, and dragons can keep breathing without getting tired...

of course this would probably be overpowered, but if the spells were all tuned down, they would be good for low level dragons, and persistant high level dragons who manage to get it to level 100ish. it would also be good for whenever you need to quickly flame/blast something. and learning the spell would also be more powerful than the skill, but the no mana part would be helpful at lower levels, like quickly blasting orcs and stuff.

and since dragons are so kick ..., this will probably need to have a high exponential cool down at lower levels, so they can get off ~5-6ish blasts, before it needs to recharge, but if they use it carefully with clawing, they could probably get away with a fairly constant stream of spells.

but if this does get tuned down the right way, it could help young dragonlings level up a little faster, but then it wouldnt be to usefull ar about level 15ish where they get dragon breath. it should also fire a spell coninciding with whatever elemental focus the dragon has:

fire: low powered burning hands
lighning: medium(large?) lightning
poison: poison cloud, preferably in a cone, and not a ball
cold: medium(small?) icestorm

so, suggestions, changes, flamewars? also these should be race spells like fireborns burning touch or weird ... would happen... lightning breathing barbarians anyone?

Arekusanderu · Post by **Arekusanderu** » Wed Jul 20, 2005 4:16 pm

Actually, since the dragon must breathe HARD for the spells, he can't do it for long without getting tired. I mean... Get up from the computer, go over there, and REPEATEDLY try to blow the wall down with your breath.

Stop when you start to feel faint, we don't want you to pass out.

Perhaps have a negative system for the mana, like with grace... No stopping spells though. You just pass out (die) if you reach -100.

If you're wondering about the effects of the pass-out, do you think goblins will refrain for long from cutting apart a big chunk of food that isn't fighting back?

Also, modify "Poison Fog" into a mana-eating spell, call it "Poison Mist", and use it for the poison breath.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Thu Jul 21, 2005 11:06 pm

the whole point is nullified since i cant breathe fire.

>

but if the cool down is high enough, they wont be able to spam it, just cast 4-6 times before they slow down.

Arekusanderu · Post by **Arekusanderu** » Fri Jul 22, 2005 4:05 pm

Aaron wrote:the whole point is nullified since i cant breathe fire. >

No, actually, it's not. The point is that you can't stand their breathing as quickly and deeply as possible for long without your head making a loud >CLUNK< noise on the floor.

Either way, that's the system I was thinking of for cooldown. You can use something else if you like.

Although I'd prefer that MY breathweapon system were implemented, not anybody else's.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 12:54 am

if you want to implement yours, go ahead. i doubt that i will be implememnting this. or anything untill i start the damn alchemy code.

do you know what 'cooldown' is? its the amount of time it takes a spell to refresh. so no dragons are going to be standing there blowing like the wolf in 3 little pigs...

bort · Post by **bort** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 2:35 am

Techically,
there should be a stat bar (like hp) that measures cool down time.
So it counts down really quickly to 0, and you can cast again.

Aaron · Post by **Aaron** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 3:41 pm

somehow i thought the point of skills was to be easily re-usable

if we do that, we might as well throw in the endurance code for everything, which would be good.

the other option is make 4 dragon only spells with extra-low mana cost.

bort · Post by **bort** » Sat Jul 23, 2005 10:49 pm

If your going to make dragon only spells,
then why not make spells for the polar opposite, wraiths?

Rednaxela · Post by **Rednaxela** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 1:30 am

I would hardly call wraiths a polar opposite of dragons, but perhaps more race specific spells would be neat.

bort · Post by **bort** » Sun Jul 24, 2005 1:52 am

Wraiths are a polar opposite.

Dragons are no humaniod. Wraiths are.
Dragons are alive, wraiths are not.
Dragons usually use Gaea, Wraiths use Devourers
Dragons deal in fire, wriaths in ice.
Dragons start with 0 res, and Wraiths with handicapped res on fire.