vulcan
staff puppet account
Posts: 28
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Post by vulcan on Jan 29, 2019 6:06:18 GMT -5
Give mages an uncontrollable transform that only happens part of the time. Lift and reuse the mul rage code, maybe. The mage living next door could literally become a ravening monster, their element expressing with crystal spikes through their skin, by drowning victims in vomit, and worse. The uncontrolled transforms get a healthy short term bonus to strength, endurance, natural weapons like summoned weapons, armor, and base O. Again, reuse the sporadic spellcasting code from elementals, so a transformed mage spews spells at random in combat. Install a counter on mages where the more magic they cast in a short time period, the more likely they are to transform until they stop "twinking" for a while. Add npc guards to the temples that kill uncontrollable transformed gemmed. Mages more feared. Check.
Less spamcasting in temples. Check. Mages having a reason to become gemmed. Check. A harder road for ungemmed, rumored to lead to the mythic state of the fully transformed elemental. Check. Edited: Reason for people not to want to be alone with a mage for mudsex. Check. Almost never happens for touched. More reason to play one, comparatively.
I like this approach. Make it totally uncontrollable and dangerous for the mage and the people around the mage. Kind of like the curse idea but the mage is the one cursed (as the people of the city would probably think of them to begin with, so why not make it real?) and that curse has effects on them and their environment. This would make mages scary. Make the curse get worse progressively as they go up in magick ability. So a mage that is very skilled in magick is also very contaminated with it. Make it a permanent problem but exacerbate it whenever the mage has recently used magick (in the past few days or week etc).It would also make mages a little more difficult/annoying to play so they wouldn't just all be FME tavern shitters. I think mages would be a bit cooler in general if they were more of an imperfect conduit for the immense power they are capable of channeling. They shouldn't have a reliable solid grip on this power but instead have it "leak" out as they struggle to maintain control. A lot more unpredictability to magick would also go a long way to making it scary and weird. |
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jkarr
GDB Superstar
Posts: 2,070
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Post by jkarr on Jan 29, 2019 6:18:40 GMT -5
right and the smaller/lower skills effects could be things that are only noticed thru play instead of typing score or stat to see if shit like stats have changed or spells have been added to prevent players from going meta and sniffing players too easy when theres no other ic justifications to accuse otherwise 'mundanes' than random coded shit that could happen for a whole bunch of virtual reasons
hunger/thirst, being weaker/slower/less hardy (and not reflecting this thru stats in score), mv/st taking more dmg in certain terrain but thats also another gameable thing but stuff along those lines for lower skill lvls
plus dont forget the idea of this going both ways so maybe when theyre traveling with their secret viv friend hey they didnt get real thirsty this time when they did a day ride thru the red desert
higher skill lvls well maybe only make them more obvious than the silent effects when theyve used a spell very recently otherwise lurker status cantrips
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Post by gloryhound on Jun 17, 2019 9:14:02 GMT -5
So how about mages are given the ability to curse, as asked, but it permanently costs them something to do it? Like losing a hit point or two for good. Or, they suffer the same effects for as long as they maintain the curse. That way, they'll only try if really motivated.
Not that the curses would be much of a scare anyhow. People would quickly figure out to just pay a Templar and get dispelled.
Re: transforming mages: why not just eliminate magick from the game while you're at it? Who would want to play a mage that's more or less uncontrollable any time magick is used? Might as well be an NPC.
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Post by jcarter on Jun 17, 2019 9:46:35 GMT -5
the true mage curse is the constant existential crisis of knowing you're a pathetic imitation of what a mage used to be
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2019 11:12:12 GMT -5
I have a hard time taking the requests for scary mages seriously, because these players are being protected from the mechanically scary effects mages already have.
I posit to you, good reader, a stalker / destruction krathi with high agi, good stealth gear, and a branched spell tree. Knowing this being can snap their fingers from hiding and vaporize you or a loved one isnt enough to draw a little rp'd fear?
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Post by shakes on Jun 17, 2019 12:27:12 GMT -5
If you encounter them gemmed in the Gaj? Nope.
And that's the rub .. they want you to be scared of them while they're sipping their ale and looking for mudsex.
The ones who are willing to go out, skill up their mundane skill tree and quietly branch their spells, avoiding the Gaj and the gem ... those get my OOC and IC fear. And I bet ya those aren't the guys asking for those "let me destroy you from a position of complete safety" abilities.
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Post by pinkerdlu on Jun 17, 2019 12:36:50 GMT -5
And that's the rub .. they want you to be scared of them while they're sipping their ale and looking for mudsex. The ones who are willing to go out, skill up their mundane skill tree and quietly branch their spells, avoiding the Gaj and the gem ... those get my OOC and IC fear. And I bet ya those aren't the guys asking for those "let me destroy you from a position of complete safety" abilities. Well said, man. |
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Post by jcarter on Jun 17, 2019 14:07:59 GMT -5
I have a hard time taking the requests for scary mages seriously, because these players are being protected from the mechanically scary effects mages already have.
I posit to you, good reader, a stalker / destruction krathi with high agi, good stealth gear, and a branched spell tree. Knowing this being can snap their fingers from hiding and vaporize you or a loved one isnt enough to draw a little rp'd fear?
unless the numbers have changed, the only krathi spell that could threaten a one-hit kill was a third tier spell cast at mon which required a component. the real usefulness of a krathi was that their damage was treated differently than physical hits iirc: you didn't have to worry about dodges or armor anywhere near as much, which mostly pertained to NPC monsters rather than players. yeah i guess it's "scary" but it's not really any worse than what a mundane character could accomplish. |
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Post by shakes on Jun 17, 2019 14:32:19 GMT -5
I feel that way about all magic available to normal players now. No, I'm not talking about those legacy karma guys who run around with sorcerers and such ... but the touched and then the 2 karma options.
I've been stronger and killed more people with zero karma choices than I have seen killed by these 'mages' in modern times. Most examples of how terrifying mages are come from the long past. Mages today are mostly a nuisance, blowing you a few rooms away from your mount or shooting at you and dashing away quickly. They are not the great threat people would like them to be.
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Post by lechuck on Jun 17, 2019 19:44:37 GMT -5
They are if used right. The most powerful spells are now the ones that complement melee damage or prevent someone from escaping, not the ones that deal a bunch of fire damage. Instead it's stuff like the strength spell. You won't even know if someone has it, you'll just get smashed in combat. Mages are no longer wizards, they're just better fighters. And sometimes they can also fly and shit like that.
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kannot
Clueless newb
Posts: 126
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Post by kannot on Jun 18, 2019 12:14:32 GMT -5
Dwarf, strength spelled mages are kind of gamey, throw in a gemmer tag to avoid risk and I start wondering how the fuck the player even takes himself seriously with that amount of meta lol.
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Post by shakes on Jun 18, 2019 12:48:52 GMT -5
How many points is a mon level Rukkian strength spell going to add? So ... I've not played any successful gemmer ever. I don't know the gemmer culture or the gameplay. I don't know what the gem actually does. Can anyone elaborate on this? I'm gem-curious.  |
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jkarr
GDB Superstar
Posts: 2,070
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Post by jkarr on Jun 18, 2019 13:22:09 GMT -5
I'm gem-curious. whether u log in with the gem or come out later as transgemder all it is is a mostly unremovable leash for the templars to mark u and hold a claim to use u for allanak |
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kannot
Clueless newb
Posts: 126
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Post by kannot on Jun 18, 2019 13:30:23 GMT -5
I'm gem-curious. or come out later as transgemder all it is is a mostly unremovable leash for the templars to mark u and hold a claim to use u for allanak Since when does Tek have a futanari army? Dont get me wrong I'm a 100% down with this plot. |
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2019 13:31:31 GMT -5
How many points is a mon level Rukkian strength spell going to add? So ... I've not played any successful gemmer ever. I don't know the gemmer culture or the gameplay. I don't know what the gem actually does. Can anyone elaborate on this? I'm gem-curious. The gem is Armageddon's allowed slave rp, mostly.
The gem itself gives a wearer +5 mana pool. You are not allowed to cast spells, be under the effects of spells, or have enchanted objects within the city walls. The Templars also get cute, no save ways to enforce obedience.
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