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SKILLS HACK (AGAIN)
Hi again,
I see that there has been alot of new discussion of skills
lately. I really don't have much to add to the current debate:
really, only my points of view. For me, skills are an equalizing
factor for the 'fighter' classes. I like to compare them with
spells that the magic-users possess. Skills should be about as
useful, and like spells, there are no real limits on who may
learn the skills. Now, for the real reason I am posting...
I have patched the skills code from last time. The new patch
may be acquired from ftp.astro.psu.edu in /pub/thomas via
anonymous ftp. It is called skills2.tar.gz. Several things
were done:
1) Minor flaws were corrected.
2) New skills were added. Now the roster includes 11 skills. I
have all of the 'fighters' starting with at least 1 skill.
List of the skills and who may start with them:
(a % means random chance it will be equipped at start)
Skill Description Class starts with it?
Alchemy Ident potion/amulet/ NO
containers
Bargaining Add 10 to Cha for NO
buy/sell in shop
(cha 30 max)
Bowyer Ident bow/xbow/missles Elf
Hiding Can hide. Similar to Ninja,Thief(%),Human(%)
Invisibility, but
movement can spoil it
Jeweler Ident gems NO
Jumping Player can jump 1-2 Barbarian, Warrior,
spaces Viking,Human(%)
Literacy Ident spellbook/scroll NO
Lockpicking Can open normal doors Thief(%),Swashbuckler(%)
Smithery Ident arms/armour NO
Stealing Can steal Thief,Swashbuckler(%)
Thaumaturgy Ident wands/rods NO
3) "Scrolls of knowledge" were created. Reading them
allows the player to use the skill. These scrolls will
appear as treasure and in shops too (albeit rarely).
COMMENTS ==
I have 'playtested' the code pretty well in terms of its
functionality. However, in terms of play balance -- well,
that will take time. I certainly passed out the starting
skills in a semi-addhoc way (I neglected to pass out the most
powerful skills like Smithery and Bargaining, but why should
the Viking be great at "jumping"??--remember the knight in Nh? :).
Indeed, probably other skills might be more appropriate, please
play around with it and let me know your results.
I assigned values to the scrolls of knowledge based on what
I felt their value to be. The cost ranges from 2x weapon
enchantment scroll to about 1/5th. Again, I am not entirely
sure what a fair value for these should be. I have tried to
be conservative :)
Finally, the new code is a patch for UNPATCHED code. DONT try to
patch non-release code with it UNLESS you know what you
are doing. As before, please let me know about any bugs that
might pop up with this code. Thanks, b.t.
thomas@nomad.astro.psu.edu