Barren Realms MUD

Please comment on the below proposed new race:
Items with question marks are considered but not guaranteed as part of this draft.

GNOMES

Gnomes are magical tinkerers and inventers. They love material items, and the more complex the better. As such, their spells almost exclusively deal with items to one extent or another. A well-arranged gnome will have much better ac, hitroll, damroll and stats than any other character. However, they are vulnerable in getting none of the usual combat abilities. Playtesting will get this to be properly balanced. Their spells, being cast on objects, will have high casting costs, but leave very long-lasting affects on the items targeted. They are designed towards a prepare-then-go playstyle, and in the current draft would actually have little to do in direct combat - their preparations would determine how well they fared. They are best at breaking down opponents - quickly incapacitating them or otherwise reducing their capabilities to fight through their multiple-imbue weapons. They also have very little out-of-guild items, as their dedicated focus on objects leaves them with little crossover.

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SLIST:
2: force dagger boost defense consume brighten
3: force shield imbue essence
4: boost magic drain resistance
5: detection imbue frost
6: frighten mute
7: boost int boost wis electrify
8: force helm boost endurance
9: imbue force dim sight
10: boost accuracy identify limn
11: force mace camouflage envenom
12: drain accuracy accelerate healing
13: force greaves sense
14: boost dex imbue fire
15: boost resistance explosion
16: drain power acid coating
17: boost con air bubble
18: force vambraces ethereal armor
19: boost str cancel
20: repair drain defense
21: force axe disenchant
22: boost fortitude fast healing
23: force gauntlets
24: vampiric
25: boost power mirror armor
27: paralyze
28: force boots
30: recharge
31: force spear
35: force plate
37: scribe brew
41: force sword
51: teleport astral track
53: locate object
65: firm grasp
80: multiattack

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IMBUES:
These are cast on items in the gnome's inventory, then add eq-based affects (like fly or invisify gear) to the wearer once they are worn.

CAMOUFLAGE
Add invis, hide on wear.

DETECTION
Add detect invis, detect magic on wear.

SENSE
Add detect evil, empath (modified?) on wear.

LIMN
Add detect hidden, infra on wear.
Add faerie fire to enemy on hit.

ETHEREAL ARMOR
Add pass door on wear.
-hitroll.

BRIGHTEN
Add light token to armor (acts as torch/light ball when worn).
This would allow gnomes to not wear lights and still see. Call it a replacement continual light for them.

ACCELERATE HEALING
FAST HEALING
Add regen on wear. (Per tick for accelerate, per round for speed.)

MIRROR ARMOR
Add mirror image on wear. Regens images slowly when not in combat.
Mirror image is as the d&d spell: attacks have a chance to hit the image instead of the pc, at which point there's one less image to hit (better chance to hit the pc).

AIR BUBBLE
Add water breathing on wear. Runs out of air like scuba, refills automatically when not underwater.

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WEAPON IMBUES:
These are targetable only on weapons, and would trigger their effects like spell weapons upon a successful hit. The mob would have a chance to save against most of these. Unlike spell weapons, ALL of these that are on a single weapon would trigger on every successful hit, plus the gnome would get a physical hit.

DRAIN STR/INT/WIS/DEX/CON ?
DRAIN ACCURACY/POWER/DEFENSE/RESISTANCE
The offensive version of boosts, these cost the gnome some of his statistics in return
for draining enemies more seriously upon hits.

Essentially, this would have some -stat (for whichever stat is cast), but would perform a stackable -stat affect on the enemy on each hit.

CANCEL
Dispel magic on enemy on hit.
Auto-disenchant on all non-permanent affects on item every tick.
Not a valid target for permanence? Or is the auto-disenchant enough?

FRIGHTEN (scare or demoralize instead?)
Chance of awe, aggro bit removal, flee, trip, vertigo on enemy on hit.

ELECTRIFY
ACID COATING
IMBUE FIRE/FROST/FORCE/ESSENCE
Extra damage on enemy on hit with various damage affects.

EXPLOSION
Group based damage hits. (May also add a room-based damage affect.)

VAMPIRIC
Extra damage on hit, gnome gains health in same amount.

VENOM ?
(New) poison affect on enemy on hit.

PARALYZE
Hold person on enemy on hit.
This would move the enemy to a permanent stunned/tripped state that wore off quickly. Basically, you could hit them, they couldn't hit back.

DIM SIGHT
Blindness on enemy on hit.

MUTE
Silence on enemy on hit.
This isn't actually useful yet, since advanced mob AI isn't in (nor is silence), but as that's something I plan to add down the road, I figured I would include it.

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CONJURED EQUIPMENT:
These are all specialized eq that is timed, locked into being worn (vanishes on removal), but is markedly better at a base level than standard eq. You'll note not every armor slot is filled. The weapons provide a variety of damage types, and would increase percentage-wise how much better their av dam was over standard with higher leveled versions.

FORCE DAGGER/MACE/AXE/SPEAR/SWORD
FORCE SHIELD/HELM/GREAVES/VAMBRACES/GAUNTLETS/BOOTS/PLATE
A gnome can draw upon his extensive knowledge of items to create a variety of powerful
weapons and armor out of pure force. Created through magic, they are significantly
tougher and stronger than normal items, but last only a short time. They will replace
worn items or fizzle if that slot's item is cursed. As they are bound into place,
the weapons cannot be disarmed, and removing any force equipment will cause the spell
to instantly dissipate.

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BOOSTS:
These are standard armor applies that the gnome will be able to add to their equipment. Most of them will likely improve by only a few points, but will work on (nearly) all of the 17 pieces of eq usually worn (no lights).

BOOST STR/INT/WIS/DEX/CON
BOOST ACCURACY/POWER/DEFENSE/RESISTANCE
BOOST FORTITUDE/MAGIC/ENDURANCE ?
A gnome can add a variety of powerful statistic boosts onto equipment by casting
temporary enchantments. Not all equipment can take all boosts, or at the same level of
power.

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The remainder of the skills and spells will work much the same as standard skills/spells do.

CONSUME
Gnomes can draw magical energies out of items and store them in a crystallized form to
use to power other spells or trade in specialized shops. There is a risk when doing so
that the item thus drained will lose its integrity and collapse into dust or backfire
violently.

Specifically, this will remove magic/bless/dark flags and create specialized currency for use in recharge and purchasing from special stores.

RECHARGE
Advanced gnomes can restore the magical energies of wands and staves, using the crystallized
magical energy they've stored from other items. These can only be recharged so many
times before they lose their usefulness, however, and even with stored energy causes
an additional drain on the gnome's mana per charge. In rare occasions, the wand or
staff will be unable to hold the magical energies and will crumble or backfire violently.
Attempting to overcharge will almost always cause an even more extreme backfire.

SCRIBE/BREW ?
Advanced gnomes can take magical energies and transfer them to the physical mediums of
paper and liquid, creating new scrolls and potions from a few raw ingredients.

I still haven't figured out how to trigger this so that the spells go onto the scroll/potion, since gnome spells obviously won't work for that.

IDENTIFY
With their enhanced comprehension of matter and equipment, gnomes can draw out more
information when using the identify spell than standard casters.

DISENCHANT
As gnomes grow in ability, they can remove and crystallize not only the trace magic auras
that consume works upon, but can actually remove imbued, boosted, and permanent applies
from items. The innate affects of any item cannot be removed as those were worked into its
creation, but any later changes can be removed by a skilled gnome. As these affects are
more volatile, much more of the energy goes loose before a gnome can crystallize it.
This process is also fraught with snags, and has a moderate chance of both failure and
destruction of the item.

REPAIR
As a tinkerer of all things material, gnomes learn early on how to take raw metals, leather,
bone, and wood and use it to repair damaged armor, much as the repair shops in major cities
will do for a fee. Going to a professional still has its pluses, however, as gnomes often
leave some flaws in their work.

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As mentioned at the top, please comment with any responses, or concerns. Or if you want some clarification about how I envision some of these skills/spells working.

Edited to clear up confusion with EQ Imbues.

IMBUES:

CAMOUFLAGE
## Would be quite useful to have an invis item, as they are few and

far between, the useful ones anyway ##

DETECTION
## Doesn't seem like the wisest thing to enchant an item with..

Especially if there's a stat increase available.. These spells could

easily be used with the scribe/brew and made into single use potions.

It's not something you'd want as a permanent effect.

LIMN
## Might be useful.. at low levels for sure. Faerie fire would

certainly be useful. ##

ETHEREAL ARMOR
## If this is minus HR for the player than it seems a steep penalty.

Especially when death eater potion and trans potions are aplenty. ##

BRIGHTEN
## Again seems like a waste of an enchantment, a ball of light is

easy to come by, even at low level. ##

ACCELERATE HEALING
FAST HEALING
## Now we're getting to the good stuff. This would be a very useful

enchantment, however one of my main concerns is i) will these imbues

stack? ii) to what extent will it increase? ##

MIRROR ARMOR
## doesn't even need mentioning, fantastic skill. ##

AIR BUBBLE
## Unless plenty of fun underwater adventures are added i don't see

the point in this one.. In my entire playtime i've only ever gone

underwater properly once.. and by that time i had a nice scuba tank.

##

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WEAPON IMBUES:

## Some very nice skills that i can see being quite a lot of fun.

very small comments for this one - "FRIGHTEN" - one of the most

annoying things is chasing a fleeing mob around.. If it were dynamic

for say.. A large group of mobs, causing some disarray within the

ranks then that would be a very useful enchant. Perhaps to make it a

bit more of a wildcard it could go from one end of the spectrum to

the other. a chance of flee, awe, trip, rage, frenzy ##
## A few i can think of is.. perhaps Enfeeble.. lower weight carry,

lower strength, perhaps this could have a chance to disarm also. Some

practical use as well would be something along the lines of encumber,

negates flying/brings winged mobs to the ground. This would be a

temporary effect and on chance. ##

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CONJURED EQ:

## Another great idea that looks to spice up gameplay. Have a

suggestion for this one.. When creating the item obviously the gnome

will need to concentrate, what could be quite fun is for instance at

lower levels there's a chance for either a optimal creation (small

bonus to item) or that the gnome has had his mind wander marginally

or forced to lose concentration and create a sub-standard item. For

instance - "You draw upon your knowledge, focusing your will into an

object of pure force!"
"You need to concentrate more! A Malformed Dagger of Force appears in

your hand"
As your skills get better/level gets higher the chance of a malformed

item gets lower, and the chance of a perfect item gets higher. Of

course this is marginal..##


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CONSUME

#Please change the name of this. Please. Please. Please..
the gnome should not consume something to make crystals..It's just

weird. However.. Synthesis.. distillation.. etc. ##

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IDENTIFY:

## Woohoo! i can finally make a barren realms fine arts/antique

dealer with my superior knowledge! Nah i kid. Extra identify is good

for low levels when stat building is getting interesting. Also adds

another useful element for a group.. And maybe even a small money

making oppurtunity. ##

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DISENCHANT:
## Sounds like a time saver more than anything else.. Rather than

going and finding the item again you can just clean it off and start

afresh But i think if there's a significant chance of failure,

destruction of item, or negative outcome, people will be more

inclined to just go get the item again. Obvious exceptions for hard

to reach/rare items. ##

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REPAIR:
## Where do the raw materials come from? Is there varying degrees of

quality for the materials? such as high level mob bones compared to

smurf bones..
Is there any bonus for a gnome to repair his own gear rather than

have a shopkeep do it? Other than financial..
One way to expand upon this idea is to allow upgrades to items, maybe

nothing major.. or else it might unbalance things..But lets say a

gnome repairs an item.. It becomes tagged as gnome restored.. Now

this item having been repaired expertly, could be futher enhanced

lets say by.. using a high quality metal to sharpen your blade.

[(I) On a side note i believe this would make a very fun mud-wide

feature.. Lots of different materials with different attributes..

Upgrading weapons and eq etc..] ##

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ADDITIONAL:

(II) Small tweak to the skills and abilities.. Just add a fancier

name to the drain/boost etc. for instance drain strength could be

Enfeeble. boost dex could be elf feet, nimble toes, ddr master etc.

Obviously these suggestions aren't the best, but you get my drift.


(III) One thing i would like to see for the gnome is a druid feel.

Now i'm not talking br druid.. i mean an elemental badass. Master of

the realms kind of thing. Able to enchant items with elements (I can

see you've come up with some, maybe just a bit of expanding.

Obviously have the generic ones then a bit more out there.) and

create resistant equipment. Mobs/areas that are elementally themed

are kind of already there, but would be nice to see expanded and new

ones created.

(IV) One thing i find BR slightly lacking in is proficiency, Races

have a set skill list and just tend to use whatever's on it with a

few oog. The gnome would be a great race to start with.. Have bonuses

for sticking to one kind of enchanting, for instance using plenty of

one element/resist or defensive/offensive enchanting. Would give an

incentive to focus on building a specialized character. Which gives

more personallity to our characters.




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that's all i've got for now

D

I guess I wasn't clear about how imbues would work. Here's a more complete rundown via example.

Gnome casts detection on its ciq sword. It lasts for 100 ticks.
Gnome wears ciq sword, now gains det invis, det magic (shows as infinite in affects list - "comes from your equipment", like fly gear or invisify gear).
Gnome gets disarmed (or removes the sword), det invis, det magic get removed.
With 50 ticks gone, Gnome casts limn on the same ciq sword. It lasts for 50 ticks.
Gnome wears ciq sword, now gains det invis, det magic, det hidden, infra (shows the same way as before).
Gnome uses ciq sword in battle, and enemies hit by it get a stacking faerie fire affect. (Each hit increases the penalties, duration or both.)
50 ticks pass. Both detection and limn wear off on the object. Gnome doesn't remove the ciq sword, but det invis, det magic, det hidden and infra all wear off of the gnome's affect list. Gnome's hits no longer deal faerie fire.

So, things to take: multiple imbues can be cast on the same item. The same imbue can be cast on multiple items you're wearing (and will stack). They wear off, but not for a long time.

Now, a few specific rebuttals:
The minus hitroll on ethereal armor is a balance point for having such a long lasting pass door (as an imbue should be). If the spell lasts as long as current pass door, there wouldn't be any penalty, and things like this are why playtesting will occur.
The point of air bubble is so that you can create a temporary scuba item out of any existing piece of eq. This saves you from having to dump your 12/12 questprize on-body wear for a 0/0 scuba tank when going underwater. Also, the easier I make it to go underwater, the more people might explore the underwater zones we already have.
Frighten was unclear: on a hit, you get a random selection out of the five listed affects. They wouldn't all hit every time.
Enfeeble: lowering weight carry or strength on a mob wouldn't do anything as they don't have checks against those (unless you're trying to give them something, which wouldn't be a combat situation). A magical disarm is a possibility, although pretty much every race already has a disarm capability.
Adding an affect to temporarily ground fliers is a good idea in general, although I'll have to work through the logistics.
Better/worse conjured eq is certainly a possibility.
Main bonus of disenchant is for building up quantities of crystallized magic by imbuing then disenchanting. Thus the explode/destroy possibilities.
Repair: I haven't worked through any of the details on this. The primary bonus is financial, especially at higher levels, although actually improving armor beyond its normal resilience/protection level is an interesting thought. I was figuring on having raw materials, but was unsure how, exactly, they'd play into the process. I agree that upgrading equipment via a craft/repair mechanism, working in a variety of raw materials, is an interesting idea. I'd certainly like to move towards something along those lines, but I'm trying to constrain myself from adding significant underlying structure to support these new ideas.
All names are up for grabs right now. I used boost/drain because it gave a sense of what, exactly, the spell did by looking at the name, and allowed me to give a condensed version of the related help.

As to III (3), most of the elemental inclusion listed in gnomes is cosmetic (although they are tagged to include some variety of interesting side affects beyond damage). The reason for this is that a large scale elemental damage/resistance code is a massive undertaking, both in reworking the combat code and then applying resistances/weaknesses to a percentage of mobs in-game.

As to IV (4), I'd love to get a proficiency system in play using feats (or skill trees, or something similar), however that would again be a very large code undertaking that would, in essence, affect every race. More importantly, I'm not sure how to balance it out or even design the structure as of right now