>2) The identification of equipment, potions, scrolls, etc. is a key (albeit
>a small key) piece of the gameplay in crawl and providing any "free" means
>of identification cheapens this aspect of the game. It also "forces" players
>to delve enough into spellcasting to pickup the identify spell.
>Regards,
>Robert Burnham
Robert, I think you reflexively answered this question without any thought.
Specifically you ignored the game mechanics I requested and put in a generic
anti "ID spell" argument that quite frankly did NOT apply.
That is, yes the ID of equiptment, potions, scrolls etc is key and I carefully
took that into account when I designed the spell. The concept that it is
impossible to hae a spell that ID's stuff is foolish. If you have specific
objects to the spel I described, raise them, not a generic rehash.
Lets look at what my spell does again. First remember it does not help at all
for "cursed" or 1gp items, and you must wield/wear/put the item on. Now lets
look at the rest by category.
Weapons ID brand when you wield them, so the spell just gives +,s. If you have
any fighter skills, you get this for free (time) already. This spell lets a
non-fighter type get to ID things that quite frankly he should NOT be using,
without waiting for time. At best, for fighter/mage hybrid types, he gets the
+'s a little bit sooner, for the cost of some mana, a spell memorized, and some
food.
Armor again, self Id's when you wear, so no benefit at all from spell.
A bit more than half of all Jewelry self-ID already. More if you are deep in
the game. Honestly, you won't have that much jewelry to choose from till you
are deep in the game.
Potions all Self ID when used, and most Wands and scrolls (assuming you have
stuff up) . The most important thing here is Scrolls - as you can use them and
not figure out what they are.
OK, so now we have a 3rd level spell that helps wizards know things they don't
really need to know, speeds up hybrid's knowledge of the minute differences
between his weapons, helps out a bit with Jewelry, gives you one extra wand
charge, and gives one extra Potion, and really is only usefull with the
beneficial scrolls that don't self-ID.
There is no need to take caster levels to get this spell - you can still use
the existing methods. Do you still want Scrolls of Identify? Yes. Do you
still need to buy the 1gp stuff from the stores? Yes. Do you still need
Remove Curse/Detect Curse Scrolls, Yes.
The spell gives a relatively MINOR advantage, without majorly effecting game
play.
Again, I await a reasonable critique, as opposed to an out of hand dismissila
based on a generic argument.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WhatsUp Gold - Download Free Network Management Software
The most intuitive, comprehensive, and cost-effective network
management toolset available today. Delivers lowest initial
acquisition cost and overall TCO of any competing solution.
http://p.sf.net/sfu/whatsupgold-sd
_______________________________________________
Crawl-ref-discuss mailing list
Crawl-ref-discuss@lists.sourceforge.net
https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/crawl-ref-discuss
