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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