Lurker + items == untouchable lurker?

[CivBesch]

O, thanks for that clarification.

So I actually saw it, but didn't know about it.

I curious how many very interesting surprises I'll be getting going further down.

[PowerWyrm]

Originally Posted by CivBesch

Shouldn't an invisible creature become visible using one of the above means?

The problem is not that the lurker is invisible, it's that it's a '.' symbol, so it looks like plain floor. If you don't want the hassle, edit monster_base.txt and replace '.' by something else. Or use tiles (Shockbolt tileset).

[CivBesch]

O, no, I am fine with that. It was just confusing I had never met a Lurker before.

[emulord]

I think lurkers should be a colored "."
With only "It" as the REAL annoying hidden monster. I hate having to use the look command to see the square a lurker is on.

[Pete Mack]

Yeah, it doesn't make a lot of sense to keep them hidden after they are exposed by melee.

[kandrc]

Originally Posted by Pete Mack

Yeah, it doesn't make a lot of sense to keep them hidden after they are exposed by melee.

Somebody, 30 years ago, thought it was clever. In the intervening time, we've learned a lot about game design. We know it's not clever. We know it is annoying.

I think that Nethack gets this right, actually. Mimics, after disturbed, change to an m. Furthermore, there is an ability that allows you to see them from the start (protection from shape changers). There aren't many things I'd be willing to claim that Nethack does better than Angband, but this is one of them. I don't like trappers and lurkers for the reasons discussed in this thread. I even more dislike new (I guess it goes back about 10 years by now, so not that new) mimic code that makes them undetectable until disturbed, especially with respect to how it interacts with squelch, and the justification for it, that if you (a human behind a keyboard) are squelching coins, then you (an adventurer in a dungeon) are so godlike that they are beneath your notice, is pure BS and interferes with suspension of disbelief and conflates interface with gameplay.

Why is it bad? @ is waiting for a Big Bad to come around a corner into an corridor. @ TOs Big Bad, but the (squelched) $ or . is TOd instead. Big Bad breathes. @ dies.

[Ingwe Ingweron]

Lurkers and their big brothers, Trappers, always bring to my mind the T-1000 terminator when it posed as a checkerboard floor in Terminator 2-Judgment Day. I'm just glad they don't turn into psychopathic robots that chase @.

[Derakon]

Originally Posted by Ingwe Ingweron

Lurkers and their big brothers, Trappers, always bring to my mind the T-1000 terminator when it posed as a checkerboard floor in Terminator 2-Judgment Day. I'm just glad they don't turn into psychopathic robots that chase @.

BRB, making a new mimic monster that can be disguised as literally anything in the dungeon.

[Patashu]

Originally Posted by Derakon

BRB, making a new mimic monster that can be disguised as literally anything in the dungeon.

Not impressed unless it can generate a Morgoth, Lord of Darkness Mimic.

[Derakon]

Originally Posted by Patashu

Not impressed unless it can generate a Morgoth, Lord of Darkness Mimic.

A monster that could be disguised as any other monster could actually be an amusing concept. Give it only +0 speed and it should be readily detectable by observant players (plus it might choose to mimic an already-dead unique). But what abilities would it get besides the shapeshifting?