Mechanics questions

[wobbly]

I have a question about which monsters sil considers undead. Wraiths & wights are marked specifically in there descriptions. Vampires strangely are not. Raukar are described as spirits. I'm guessing only wraiths & wights are vulnerable to weapons of final rest? Raukar I guess I'd read either way, but why not vampires?

[half]

Originally Posted by wobbly

I have a question about which monsters sil considers undead. Wraiths & wights are marked specifically in there descriptions. Vampires strangely are not. Raukar are described as spirits. I'm guessing only wraiths & wights are vulnerable to weapons of final rest? Raukar I guess I'd read either way, but why not vampires?

In the works of Tolkien, vampires (and werewolves) don't seem to be people who are tainted with something, but just a type of spirit/demon that was never human or elf.

[wobbly]

Hard to know whether I agree as I can't think of a reference to either in his works (which doesn't mean it's not there somewhere).

Are hunger & sustenance identical rates? The descriptions are a little vague. Just built an artifact with regeneration & sustenance in the hope that they cancel each other.

Sorry if this is answers somewhere else charge w/rapid attack. The charge bonus is on both attacks?

[Patashu]

It might be worth making vampires count as undead under the 'principle of least surprise'

[debo]

Originally Posted by Patashu

It might be worth making vampires count as undead under the 'principle of least surprise'

Alternately, changing the descriptive text on final rest to "it slays wraiths" instead of "it slays undead", to make the distinction clear.

The word "wraiths" is already used on "haunted dreams and other wraith-generating things, IIRC

[Nick]

Originally Posted by half

In the works of Tolkien, vampires (and werewolves) don't seem to be people who are tainted with something, but just a type of spirit/demon that was never human or elf.

Yeah, there's this whole weird thing of beasts being kind of possessed by some (unspecified) spirit:

• Carcharoth: "...the fire and anguish of hell entered into him, and he became filled with a devouring spirit. tormented, terrible and strong"
• Glaurung: "Then suddenly he spoke, by the evil spirit that was in him..."

The only vampires I know of are Thuringwethil, the messenger of Sauron, who was said to "fly in vampire's form to Angband; and her great fingered wings were barbed at each joint's end with an iron claw" and Sauron himself, who after losing his fight with Huan "took the form of a vampire, great as a dark cloud across the moon". From that, I would take "vampire" to be a synonym for "big evil bat thing".

Further on spirits, there is also this remarkable passage:

It is therefore a foolish and perilous thing, besides being a wrong deed forbidden justly by the appointed Rulers of Arda, if the Living seek to commune with the Unbodied, though the houseless may desire it, especially the most unworthy among them. For the Unbodied, wandering in the world, are those who at the least have refused the door of life and remain in regret and self-pity. Some are filled with bitterness, grievance, and envy. Some were enslaved by the Dark Lord and do his work still, though he himself is gone. They will not speak truth or wisdom. To call on them is folly. To attempt to master them and to make them servants of one own’s will is wickedness. Such practices are of Morgoth; and the necromancers are of the host of Sauron his servant.

Here the Unbodied are houseless spirits of dead Elves who have refused the summons to the halls of Mandos from where they might eventually be re-incarnated.

On the whole, I think there's plenty of scope for the game designer to do whatever works best

[BlueFish]

I've noticed that sometimes a mattock can shatter quartz and sometimes it can't. What's the mechanic behind that? Seems to be based on character strength?

[half]

Originally Posted by BlueFish

I've noticed that sometimes a mattock can shatter quartz and sometimes it can't. What's the mechanic behind that? Seems to be based on character strength?

I can't remember exactly, which is why it is being changed to something simpler in the next version. In 1.1.1 it is a function of player strength and mattock weight, and if you aren't strong enough it gives you a warning message, then lowers your tunneling score by 1.