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CF: some thoughts on skills





	Hey All, 

	Back again with a redux on some thoughts on further possible
	development of the CF skills code. This is something Id like
	to work on soon.

	Since I previously mailed on this subject to the list, Ive 
	integrated the feedback of others and incorporated some new
	insights into my thoughts. What follows is a refined outline of 
	"objectives" for working on the skills code. Comments are 
	encouraged.

							-b.t.

	PREREQUISITE SKILLS
	-------------------
	We should change the code so that its easy to specify somewhere in
	the skill arch that another skill must be learned first. In this 
	way we can build any arbitrary tree of skills (right now, only the
	use of writing skill requires another skill -- literacy). 

	Use of this new code would allow us to develop "key" skills to limit
	the development of characters (if this is so desired).


	CODE TO ALLOW REMOVAL OF SKILLS
	-------------------------------
	This shouldn't be too hard, but there should be conditions under 
	which we can remove skills from the player, for example at death (but 
    	we never remove a "starting" skill) or by attack ("the reaper hits you! 
	You forget your skill of <name>!!").  One day, we may also wish to 
	remove skills so that better, 'mastery' skills (that provide additional 
	benefits) can replace the older ones (for example 'archery' replaces 
	'missile weapons'). 


	CHANGES TO SKILLS 
	-----------------

	0 - Change the talisman and holy symbol archs so that they always
	are of a more limited effect than having spellcasting/praying 
	skills.

	1 - Increase the cost of most skills (~ x5). This will help promote
	multi-player parties. Another idea (Im just throwing out, NOT serious
	bout it) would be to allow players to learn skills from NPC's for
	a good fee. We determine what we can learn from what skills the 
	NPC possesses (NPC may need to have a level greater than say ~10;
	we can generate these 'teachers' as random monsters occasionally, 
	providing a ready made quest for players). 

    	2 - Here's my revamped list of skills ideas. Some new skills are needed
	in the game (esp splitting up the "smithery" skill), while others are
	a revamp of a current skill.


	Skillname (exp. cat)	Description
	-------------------	------------------------------------- 

		* Movement enchancing skills *

	Running (Misc)		User gets to move faster while the skill
				is readied. Amount of speed gained depends
				on the str/dex/con of the user.

	Riding (Agility)	User can 'mount' a neutral/friendly monster 
				that is of race 'animal'. We change our speed
				based on the creatures (BUT don't use its 
				straight speed value which would be very slow). 
				We also change our carrying capacity too. To 
				dismount, you change to another skill. We use
				the monsters arch while we are mounted. This
				skill should be level based, an only allow
				us to mount animals that have level less than 
				ours and are tame (ie, not aggressive, but
				not necessarily friendly either). For further
				consideration, we could limit the use of this
				skill to a particular set of races (eg animal, 
				dragon, etc). If the animal you mount can
				swim (see below), then you can also cross
				water as well (while mounted). Its possible
				to be thrown off the mount under a number
				of conditions. 

	Swimming (Misc)		User can move onto floor squares that have
				the FLAG_IS_WATERY set. If you change to 
				another skill *while* still 'in the water'
				then you start to drown as per the deep
				swamp code. We would have to edit some maps
				to retain their playbalance. Note: we retain
				the ability to have 'dangerous water' where no
				body can swim by having FLAG_NO_PASS set.

	Shiphandling (Misc)	User can navigate (eg "move") a boat (thats
				and vessel that allows you to move on those
				is_watery squares). Of course, we anyone to
				get on the vessel. 

		* Survival/protection skills *

	Slow Metabolism (Misc)	User can slow down their digestion. Poisoning
				and bleeding effects are also slowed down (as 
				are also the healing of wounds!). 

	Cold Survival (Misc)	User gets some protection to COLD only while 
				skill is readied. Foresee a time when players
				will walk on cold floors (aka ice and snow)
				that do cold damage.

	Mental Block (Mental)	User gets the protection to CONFUSION, FEAR,
				SLOW and PARALYZE attacks while skill is
				readied. Defense versus spells of path_mind
				and path_transfer.

		* Misc 'Fun' roleplaying skills. Give very little exp. *

	Philosophy (Mental)	User gets no advantage, and is in fact paralyzed
				briefly (based on your mental level!) for each 
				active use :). Plan to use this as something you 
				need in order to access certain maps (like 
				the university, sage/scholar's home, etc).

	Theology (Wisdom)	As per philosophy, but for gaining access to 
				inner temple areas, etc.

	Begging (Mental)	User can get a few coins from a friendly/neutral
				NPC. Can provoke them to aggression.
	
		* craft skills -- we can make stuff found in the game! *

	Cartography (Mental)	User can make a map of the area your in.
				Need a special (expensive) vellum scroll and
				pen. The way this works is you add all 
				currently viewable squares w/ each use. You 
				apply the vellum scroll to see (aka magic
				mapping) what you have mapped (there will
				be "blackout sections" until you map the
				whole area). User is "paralyzed" for each
				use. Maps are worth money based on completeness
				and default difficult of the map.

      Gardening (Mental)      	User can make a garden of plants using 'cuttings'
				(which are any food object w/ FLAG_IS_GROWABLE  
                                and other_arch <mature_plant_arch> set). User
                                level sets the success of growing and number of
                                resulting 'herbs'/'seeds'/etc. 

 		 * the rest of these craft skills allow id of items and we 
		  can re-use the alchemy recipe code to allow creation of
		  various new items by players/npcs *

	Tailoring (Mental)	User can id ARMOUR items that have leather,
				cloth as material. User can use this skill
				in conjunction w/ other items to perform various
				tasks such as: repair (w/ use of needle & yarn),
				spin yarn (w/ spinning wheel), weave cloth
				(w/ loom) and make new items (w/ raw materials
				and a needle). Skill level sets the quality
				of the work performed and what may be made.

	Carpentry (Mental)	User can id WEAPON and ARMOUR items that contain
   				wood as a material.  User can use this skill
                                in conjunction w/ other items to perform various
                                tasks such as: repair wood (w/ use raw materials)
				and build (furniture, all-wood weapons, doors, 
				chests/shelves and wood walls) using wood raw 
				materials and hammer/nails.

        Blacksmith (Mental)	User can id WEAPON and ARMOUR items that contain
	 			mostly metals as a material. User can use this 
				skill in conjunction w/ other items to perform 
				various tasks such as: repair metal items like
				weapons and armour (using an anvil & hammer),  
				build/make metal items (weapons, armour, and 
				metal doors) and refine ore (using a smelter).

        Mason (Mental)		User can id WEAPON and ARMOUR items that contain
	 			stone/bone as a material. Can build stone items
				from raw materials (eg stone wall, stone chest),
				and can make bricks (from mud).

	Cooking (Mental)	User can id FOOD items and make food from raw
				materials using a stove/pot. 

	Poisoner (Mental)	User can id poisoned items. Can make poisons
				from raw materials (but note that we will allow
				anyone to apply a poison to weapon/lock/etc).
 
	Tinker (Mental)		User can build various items using raw materials
				and the appropriate tools. Tasks include:
				creating locks on doors/chests, making clocks,
				building traps (on doors, chests, etc), making
				copies of keys, and building other sundry
				'luxury' items like eye glasses, telescopes, etc.

      	Siege Weapons (Mental)  User can make/id a new type of weapon 
                                "SIEGE_ENGINE". These items are heavy (like 200+
				kg) and slow to fire, BUT do lots of damage. A 
				good possibility for players with a plan for 
				their attack that needs that good opening shot :)

		* Thief skill re-vamp *

	Stealing (Agility)	Allow user to steal from shops (eg use skill
				in the direction of an 'unpaid' item). Failure
				results in punishment (like teleported to jail,
				guards show up to kill you, the item gets
				cursed/poisoned/explodes) all dependent on
				the value/magic of the item being stolen.
				
	Lockpicking (Agility)	Allow the user to pick the locks of chests.
				In fact, as Omega does, DONT let ppl open
				chests unless they: 1) bash it open (can
				destroy contents), 2) use lockpicking or
				3) have a key.  
 
		* Scrounging skills -- find/create raw materials based on the 
		  map difficulty and skill level of the user. These skills
		  don't give much exp for use * 

	Fishing (Mental)	Can extract fish/clams/etc from rivers, lakes
				and the ocean (basically, and floor square
				w/ is_watery set). This probably only available
				as a 'fishing pole' or 'fishing net'.

	Woodsman (Mental)	Can find/id lumber/sticks/herbs/etc generated
				from floor tiles w/ is_wooded flag set. Still 
				gets the movement bonus, but no longer can id 
				food.  You'll need an axe to harvest lumber.

	Mining (Mental)		Can find/harvest 'ore'. Of course, only your  
				best miner will find mithril on the last
				level of the balrog's lair :). You'll need a
				pick/shovel to extract the ore. Ore is only
				generated on is_hilly floor/wall squares.
 
		* New personality skills *

	Leadership (Pers)	May recruit and command Npc's. Replaces current
				oratory skill. We improve the monster parser
				to allow a broad range of things such as commands
				for NPC's to guard <item|creature>, stay, follow,
				and attack <creature|everything but me>. Command
				can fail resulting in a hostile follower or AWOL.
				Can only be used on 'goblin', 'human', 'faery'
				and ?? races.
 
	Peacemaking (Pers)	Can use this skill to calm and pacify creatures.
				This skill replaces singing.

	Interrogation (Pers)	For each use, the user gets one randomly selected
  	 			message from the NPC's msg buffer. Can only be
				used on 'friendly' or 'neutral' or "paralyzed"
				hostile creatures. You risk making NPC hostile 
				with each use. This skill can kill weak hostile 
				creatures (no exp awarded!). 

	Insult (Pers)		Can cause Npc's to fight with each other. Failure
				results in them attacking the player! 

	Snake Charming (Pers)	Versus hostile NPC with race 'reptile' you can
				make peaceful. Vrs neutral/friendly you can use
				this skill to 'charm' them into 'golem'. (you
				can control only one reptile at a time).

	Herding (Pers)		Each use of this skill results in creatures
				of race 'animal' moving 1 square in the
				indicated direction. Works only on neutral/
				friendly creatures (race 'animal' or 'bird').

	Animal training (Pers)	As per the leadership skill, but works versus 
				creatures from the 'animal', 'bird' and 
				'dragon' race lists. 

		* Ritual skills, I doubt these will get implemented any time
		  soon, but I like the idea (from Kundi) alot. *

	Ritual Wizardry		For this skill we invent a new type of spell
				casting: "ritual magic" which allows several
				players to contribute to the casting of a spell.
				To do this we need a "RITUAL_SPELL" arch that
				is created when a player uses this skill and 
				his 'readied spell' is deposited into the 
				RITUAL_SPELL (it can look like a swrilling 
				mana pool next to the player). Mana then begins
				to slowly 'drain' from the player into the
				RITUAL_SPELL upto and BEYOND the mana cost 
				normally charged for this spell. The spell is
				enhanced in effectiveness for each time the 
				mana cost is doubled from the normal value. 
				The spell is then released by player making 
				a ranged attack in direction they desire. BEFORE
				the spell is released another player with
				the same spell and the Ritual Wizardry skill
				readied may contribute mana to the spell too.
				Control can be lost if too much mana is fed
				to the spell. Exp for anything killed by the 
				spell goes to the original caster (or maybe
				is split? hmmm.). Only incantations can be
				cast with this skill. NOTE: you don't need 
				to have the normal wizardry skill to use this
				one (although it could be a requirement for
				learning ritual wizardry). Its an interesting
				idea that only talismans and ritual wizardry
				could exist in a CF game world... 
				[ must know spellcasting before you learn this]

	Ritual Prayer (wisdom)	As per Ritual Wizardry, but for cleric spells
				only. Also, all casting priests must share
				the same religion (or at least not be enemy
				aligned gods!).  
				[ must know praying skill before you learn this]

		* New Wisdom skill *

	Sacrifice (wisdom)	The priest can use this skill to sacrifice
				body parts over their gods altar to gain 
				experience and/or grace/other benefits.
				Body parts must come from enemy aligned races. 
				[Requires theology skill to learn]

	     * and some new skills for that 'boring' Monk character! *

	Kung Fu (Phys)		User gets improved attack (better than karate)
				and defense. Thought: user gets to make a 
				'chi' strike with the special attack. This
				attack costs the user mana, but has the 
				ability to hit magical creatures (we just
				at AT_WEAPONMAGIC to that attack).
				[This skill should require user know meditation
				AND theology before they can learn it.]

      	Drunken Fighting (Phys)	This HTH skill is same as karate, but allows
				the user the benefit of better ac. This rare
				skill requires user know karate first.

	Piercing Punch (Phys)	A martial arts attack form that lets the
				user make a special IMPALE attack. Normal HTH
				attack is slightly worse than Karate.

	Slicing Stroke (Phys)	A martial arts attack form that lets the
				user make a special CUTTING attack. Normal HTH
				attack is slightly worse than Karate.

	Disarming Hold (Phys)	A martial arts attack form that lets the
				user make a special DISARM attack. Normal HTH
				attack is a bit worse than Karate.

	Blinding Touch (Phys)	An 'esoteric' martial arts form that lets the
				user make a special attack w/ AT_BLINDNESS. 
				This HTH attack is slightly worse than Karate.
				[Must know kung fu skill first]

	Breaking Grip (Phys)	A martial arts attack form that lets the
				user make a special attack to damage the WEAPON
				and armour of your opponent. This HTH attack 
				is a bit worse than Karate.

	Quivering Palm (Phys)	The most dreaded 'esoteric' martial arts form,
				it lets the user make that AT_DEATH special 
				attack.  Compares user phys level vrs opponent 
				to determine success. Can 'backfire'.
				This rare skill should require Kung Fu skill 
				and a difficult quest! ] 

	
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