Spell effect ideas that should be in some variant

[Jude]

Angband variants already have a vast variety of spell effects such as random teleportation, teleport away monsters, destroy doors, wall destroying, gravity effects, etc. that aren't present in many other games often for technical reasons...I was thinking of a few more that seem like they would make an interesting addition to *bands if implemented right, as spells or abilities for the player or monsters.

-Create wall. Maybe this already exists somewhere; if not it seems like it should. Wall destruction already lets you shape the battlefield to some degree; this is the converse of that. As a monster ability it seems like it would be too potentially buggy, but maybe it could work some way.
-On a similar note, jam doors. You can do it with spikes iirc but it seems like a spell would be good for this too.
-Drain life/mana. Zangband, at least, has a drain life effect for vampire and death magic characters, but it could work well as a spell too. For drain mana, there'd have to be a mana meter for spellcasting monsters (or it could just turn their health into your mana) and the casting cost would be in hit points instead of mana points for obvious reasons.
-A few ideas from Diablo 2....Iron Maiden/Thorns (an aura similar to electric/fire auras in Z where anybody who hits you takes double or more the damage...might be overpowered though), amplify damage (cursed monsters take more damage), attract (cursed monster becomes the target of other nearby monsters until it's dead or the curse wears off).
-Something like the "wraith armor" from Blood Omen, where if you get hit, half the damage is subtracted from your HP and the other half from your SP.
-Ring of Fire or similar - runes of warding already let you create a safe spot on the floor; why not cast a spell on the squares immediately around you that hurt any monsters which step close to you?

Add your ideas or discuss ITT. I think adding new mechanics like this, as long as it's tested to make sure its sound in terms of balance and so on, makes games a lot more interesting as it adds more variables and potential tactics to battle.

Another idea: Banish Unique - might have a high chance to fail, but if you can successfully hit a unique with it, they will vanish from the level permanently, but have a somewhat increased chance of spawning on later levels.

[Zikke]

Originally Posted by Jude

\ Banish Unique - might have a high chance to fail, but if you can successfully hit a unique with it, they will vanish from the level permanently, but have a somewhat increased chance of spawning on later levels.

... and will be very pissed.


Good ideas! I think the thorns idea is pretty neat (damage shield in WoW terms).

[Psi]

These are the ones I've seen to some degree at least...

Originally Posted by Jude

-Create wall. Maybe this already exists somewhere; if not it seems like it should. Wall destruction already lets you shape the battlefield to some degree; this is the converse of that. As a monster ability it seems like it would be too potentially buggy, but maybe it could work some way.?

There are create wall spells in ToME. Is it stone prison? Also wasn't there a wand of wall creation in Moria?

Originally Posted by Jude

-On a similar note, jam doors. You can do it with spikes iirc but it seems like a spell would be good for this too.?

You can cast a spell of holding on doors in FA.

Originally Posted by Jude

-Drain life/mana. Zangband, at least, has a drain life effect for vampire and death magic characters, but it could work well as a spell too. For drain mana, there'd have to be a mana meter for spellcasting monsters (or it could just turn their health into your mana) and the casting cost would be in hit points instead of mana points for obvious reasons.?

In FA, necromancers have the Orb of Death spell and Vampiric Drain.

Originally Posted by Jude

-Ring of Fire or similar - runes of warding already let you create a safe spot on the floor; why not cast a spell on the squares immediately around you that hurt any monsters which step close to you?

ToME has the fireflash spell that creates that effect down the length of a corridor... very useful!

[Jude]

Is nice

I might try those variants...actually I think I already have TOME somewhere but I'm so used to Z that it's hard to adjust to any other one.

[will_asher]

Originally Posted by Jude

-On a similar note, jam doors. You can do it with spikes iirc but it seems like a spell would be good for this too.

DaJAngband has wizard lock which does this (it can even create a jammed door on an empty space).

Originally Posted by Jude

-Drain life/mana. Zangband, at least, has a drain life effect for vampire and death magic characters, but it could work well as a spell too. For drain mana, there'd have to be a mana meter for spellcasting monsters (or it could just turn their health into your mana) and the casting cost would be in hit points instead of mana points for obvious reasons.

DaJAngband also has vampiric drain which is borrowed from O/FA. It also has a drain charges spell which allows necromancers or assassins casters to heal themselves by draining charges from a wand or staff of your choice.

[Variaz]

Originally Posted by Jude

-Create wall. Maybe this already exists somewhere; if not it seems like it should. Wall destruction already lets you shape the battlefield to some degree; this is the converse of that. As a monster ability it seems like it would be too potentially buggy, but maybe it could work some way..

Portralis has a "Grow Trees" spell effect that lets you create trees, so it's kind of similar. Can be combined with many Ranger abilities!

Originally Posted by Jude

-A few ideas from Diablo 2....Iron Maiden/Thorns (an aura similar to electric/fire auras in Z where anybody who hits you takes double or more the damage...might be overpowered though),

Portralis also has something like this in one of the Mage's abilities. Elemental Lord has an elemental variation of this.

Originally Posted by Jude

-Ring of Fire or similar - runes of warding already let you create a safe spot on the floor; why not cast a spell on the squares immediately around you that hurt any monsters which step close to you?

Not exactly the same thing, but I have implemented elemental damages field in Portralis, which will cause damages to enemies stepping into them.


Portralis has quite a few things I'm sure you'd like, but keep in mind that it's extremely different from Z.

[Mangojuice]

A lot of these effects are already in Zangband, and some more of them made it independently into my Z+Angband project, which I've just released for the first time.

Originally Posted by Jude

-Create wall. Maybe this already exists somewhere; if not it seems like it should. Wall destruction already lets you shape the battlefield to some degree; this is the converse of that. As a monster ability it seems like it would be too potentially buggy, but maybe it could work some way.

Exists in Zangband. There is a nature spell "wall of stone" that surrounds you with walls.

-On a similar note, jam doors. You can do it with spikes iirc but it seems like a spell would be good for this too.

Zangband had it. My variant doesn't: I was trying to compress the one school of magic that had the spell in it.

-Drain life/mana. Zangband, at least, has a drain life effect for vampire and death magic characters, but it could work well as a spell too. For drain mana, there'd have to be a mana meter for spellcasting monsters (or it could just turn their health into your mana) and the casting cost would be in hit points instead of mana points for obvious reasons.

Vampiric draining is in Zangband as you mention. Mindcrafters have an ability that does damage to foes and gives them mana. My variant has a couple of spells that can get you extra mana in other ways.

-Something like the "wraith armor" from Blood Omen, where if you get hit, half the damage is subtracted from your HP and the other half from your SP.

Zangband has "Wraithform" as a top-level Death spell. You can pass through walls and take much reduced damage.

-Ring of Fire or similar - runes of warding already let you create a safe spot on the floor; why not cast a spell on the squares immediately around you that hurt any monsters which step close to you?

Z+Angband features a "Wall of Fire" spell that works much like this.

Another idea: Banish Unique - might have a high chance to fail, but if you can successfully hit a unique with it, they will vanish from the level permanently, but have a somewhat increased chance of spawning on later levels.

It's called "Alter Reality."

I had actually contemplated a spell I was going to call "Imprison" which would have worked like an Alter Reality spell you cast on a monster instead: *they* get sucked into the alternate reality and can't get back to yours... effectively, banishing them. But somehow it didn't fit. *shrugs*.

--MJ

[Jude]

Originally Posted by Mangojuice

A lot of these effects are already in Zangband, and some more of them made it independently into my Z+Angband project, which I've just released for the first time.



Exists in Zangband. There is a nature spell "wall of stone" that surrounds you with walls.



Zangband had it. My variant doesn't: I was trying to compress the one school of magic that had the spell in it.



Vampiric draining is in Zangband as you mention. Mindcrafters have an ability that does damage to foes and gives them mana. My variant has a couple of spells that can get you extra mana in other ways.



Zangband has "Wraithform" as a top-level Death spell. You can pass through walls and take much reduced damage.



Z+Angband features a "Wall of Fire" spell that works much like this.



It's called "Alter Reality."

I had actually contemplated a spell I was going to call "Imprison" which would have worked like an Alter Reality spell you cast on a monster instead: *they* get sucked into the alternate reality and can't get back to yours... effectively, banishing them. But somehow it didn't fit. *shrugs*.

--MJ

All sounds interesting...although Alter Reality is a lot more drastic than temporarily banishing one unique!

Also for the wall of stone, I was thinking you'd be able to choose where you want to make the wall, as in targeting, not just all around you. (isn't there a trump effect that does that too? I've never played with Trump much, just looked at spoilers)