POSCHENG...paralyzed with FA?

[MWGE]

So...
A cloaker paralyzed me...but i had FA (twice in fact).
Double checked on screen dump just to be sure i hadn't swapped it out.

Am I missing something?

[Derakon]

Free Action is not 100% protection in PosChengband. You got unlucky.

[wobbly]

Since 7.0 it's save based with a short duration. I think multiple FA = multiple saves? I only briefly skimmed the code, you'd need to check. So AC is a big deal against melee paralyzers but even better is magic shell which'll give you a near perfect save.

[MWGE]

Thanks both
Does rather put me off playing as it's a bit "It breathes, you die" for my taste at low to mid levels for a melee character.
Especially as cloakers are (by design) very hard to see.
In this case i went from 200Hp to dead and there I was with double FA.
I suspect another variant is for me which is a shame as there is much to recommend Poschengband i think but instadeath is a bit painful.

[PowerWyrm]

Originally Posted by MWGE

Thanks both
Does rather put me off playing as it's a bit "It breathes, you die" for my taste at low to mid levels for a melee character.
Especially as cloakers are (by design) very hard to see.
In this case i went from 200Hp to dead and there I was with double FA.
I suspect another variant is for me which is a shame as there is much to recommend Poschengband i think but instadeath is a bit painful.

Frankly Poschengband is a variant of a variant of a variant... of a variant. You can't expect stuff to be balanced. Things have been done recently to address some issues with the result being ComPosband. You should try that instead if you like the Poschengband atmosphere.

[Gwarl]

This mechanic hasn't been changed yet in compos, but in future 1 source of FA will provide 90% protection from paralysis and two sources will provide 100%.

Paralysis is much less lethal to characters with no source of FA now, and I think that's worth being occassionally paralyzed even with FA for, but a sudden death to a basilisk through 3 sources of FA convinced me it should be possible to avoid completely.

[wobbly]

Alternatively a pre 7.0 version. As a bonus you'd get the blue mage as an option

[Derakon]

My personal take on status effects is that effects that remove all options from the player aren't very interesting unless they're heavily telegraphed and there are clear actions the player can take to avoid being hit by the status effect in the first place. Angband does not do a good job of telegraphing anything, so paralysis is not very interesting in it.

As an alternative, consider replacing paralysis with temporary slowing. Make it impossible to clear with CCW/Curing if you like. Being slow is still quite dangerous, but the player still has options.

[Gwarl]

Frankly, it breathes, you die. You probably haven't played much of 7, but I survived a cloaker without even having FA recently. You can even do OMW without it. Paralysis is fine and a good way to inspire terror in the player but for most things you get two pips of resist you're in the clear, paralysis can go and sit with them.

[Sideways]

Like wobbly said, FA pips give you saving throws against the paralysis; which means the dangerousness of paralysis depends on your saving throw as well as the number of FA pips. By late game your saving throw will be better and you'll have to be very unlucky to get paralysis-killed through two pips of FA.

(Even in the late game you can still get paralyzed through two pips of FA, because the original saving throws will be in part against monster level, which is also higher in the late game; but you'll recover super-fast.)