Old elf suggestions from Anubis

Here's a place to talk about each of the races - which is better, what changes you'd like to see, and just general commentary on each.
Post Reply
User avatar
kiri
Needs Help
Posts: 619
Joined: Mon Jan 06, 2003 10:44 pm
Contact:

Old elf suggestions from Anubis

Post by kiri »

Elves: ok, this is what I have planned for elves. I decided to have them branch off an follow dif. gods of good, evil, and neutral for their spells. That way, there will be balanced diversity even inside one race.

I tried to be true to TSR and AD&D (The gods of roleplaying) Here are my 3 elf specialties:
note: None of these are healers or priests, that's for the druids ; )

Conjurer/Enchanter: algn good
desc: These spell casters generally cast spells which in one way or another aid or hinder a player or monster.

ALL Spells and skills available for conjurers.

Lv Spells

1: burning hands create spring magic missile
2: detect invis detect magic
4: continual light faerie fire invis
5: bless
6: infravision locate object
7: enflame weapon fly giant strength weaken
8: acid blast blindness teleport
10: faerie fog identify web
11: armor colour spray
12: enchant weapon dodge
13: control weather energy drain shield
14: charm person sleep
15: fireball mass invis
17: stone skin
18: pass door
25: frenzy *Mordenkainen's Sword
26: dispel magic
30: *Hold Person *Polymorph
33: plague
35: *Prismatic Spray *Mass Hold
40: create potion
48: *Pristmatic Sphere
51: astral
65: firm grasp
80: multiattack

spells with * are new and have descriptions
*Mordenkainen's Sword: Caster not wielding a weapon now attacks as a warrior with a weapon of the same lvl, hit roll of twice lvl, and some damroll that's decently good.
*Hold Person: The thing that has this cast on it is unable to move/attack for a certain amount of time, can be directed in a direction like throw.
*Mass Hold: Same thing as hold, but affects all enemies in area.
*Polymorph Other: Caster gains 1/2 experience normally recieved for a kill if this occurs, subject is turned into some small woodland animal that is really weak.
*Prismatic Spray: a 1/7 chat each of the following : little bit of damage, some damage, a lot of damage, is poisoned, polymorphed, goes insane and attacks a random person in room (including itself), sent to another plane (bamf, except caster gets some xp for the act)
this is an area attack.
*Prismatic Sphere: a giant immobile sphere appears in the room for a while and only the caster can enter it. All mobs attacking the caster through the sphere suffers from prismatic spray.









Here's my fav:
Invoker: This is a neutral elemental mage. yeah, pure damage ; )

ALL Spells and skills available for elves.

Lv Spells

1: burning hands magic missile
2: detect invis detect magic
4: invis
6: infravision locate object
7: enflame weapon fly shocking grasp
8: teleport
9: lightning bolt
10: identify
12: call lightning
13: control weather energy drain
15: fireball
16: *(Modified) earthquake
18: pass door
25: frenzy *Cone of cold
26: dispel magic
30: *Meteor *Blizzard
40: *Mana Nova *Lightning Storm
45: *Meteor Shower
51: astral
65: firm grasp
80: multiattack

*Earthquake: Deals damage to non-flying units on the ground in room and adjacent rooms.
*Cone of Cold: Deals a moderate amout of non-variable damage, can be directed in a direction like throw.
*Meteor: Think of this as a REALLY big fireball area affect that can only be cast from outside, can be directed in a direction like throw.
*Mana Nova: Caster determines the amount of mana to spend, and it deals a corresponding amount of damage to all mobiles in room and adjacent rooms. (no direction setting)
*Blizzard: Outside thing, turns wheather really bad, then things start to get hit by the blizzard (cone of cold type damage, look at meteor shower)
*Lightning Stom: Think lots of lightning bolts that's somewhat powerful damage varies a lot... outside only
*Meteor Shower: Errrr.... Lots of meteors hit a room and all adjacent rooms perodically for a while... outside





I like my idea for the evil one too... grin
Necromancer:
Evil spell caster that raises mobs from dead:

ALL Spells and skills available for elves.

Lv Spells

1: burning hands magic missile
2: detect invis detect magic
3: chill touch
4: invis
6: infravision locate object
7: enflame weapon fly weaken
8: acid blast blindness teleport
10: identify
11: colour spray
12: dodge
13: energy drain
15: fireball
18: pass door sneak
20: *Raise Dead
25: frenzy *Vampiric Touch
26: dispel magic *Raise Dead Mastery
33: plague *Ressurection
45: *Powerword Kill
51: astral
65: firm grasp
80: multiattack

*Raise Dead: Caster is able to raise from corpses of mobs skeleton warriors that have 1/2 hp of the mob did. Assists caster in battle (non group), caster gets xp of kills by minions. Number of minions depends on lvl of caster.
*Vampiric Touch: Just that. Deals some damage...
*Raise Dead Mastery: Minions get better...
*Ressurection: Minions are now weaker versions of the mobs themselves... better than skel.
*Powerword Kill: Can you say "insta-kill"? (Chance of misfire and dealing back to caster damage b/c of overexertion into the shadow plane)



OK, those are my ideas for elves and elf skills. Of course, elves should be restriced more on str and not be able to use heavy armor and weapons, that way they'll be more of actually mages. Thanks for taking my ideas kiri! : )

-Anubis
User avatar
kiri
Needs Help
Posts: 619
Joined: Mon Jan 06, 2003 10:44 pm
Contact:

Post by kiri »

These are anubis's rebuttals:

Anubis, I'm forwarding all the responses to your elf comments. If you'd
like, please respond with your answers. Then I'll have it all compiled into
one thing and let the heroes see it. Sound good?




Armageddon/Anubis/Generic's re-reply marked with //

Amystery's comments
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm all for changing them but I have a few notes. I've been pondering
devotion lately, and this seems to be similar. I'd suggest making devotion
alignment based for BR with bless, armor and some beneficial evil spell
being saintly, neutral and satanic respectively.

* Mordenkainen's Sword: Caster not wielding a weapon now attacks as a
warrior with a weapon of the same lvl, hit roll of twice lvl, and some
damroll that's decently good.

Love it. Would have to make it good enough to offset the not using a weapon,
or make it cast able in battle. maybe if the caster had only one weapon they
could still use this spirit weapon.

*Hold Person: The thing that has this cast on it is unable to move/attack
for a certain amount of time, can be directed in a direction like throw.

Love it. It should stop an aggro mob from attacking also, but if the spell
wears off the mob should instantly attack, after all, I would if I'd been
held against my will.

*Mass Hold: Same thing as hold, but affects all enemies in area.

Interesting idea. make it all enemies in the room, cast able during battle?

*Polymorph Other: Caster gains 1/2 experience normally recieved for a kill
if this occurs, subject is turned into some small woodland animal that is
really weak.

I could have so much fun with this spell...

*Prismatic Spray: a 1/7 chance each of the following : little bit of damage,
some damage, a lot of damage, is poisoned, polymorphed, goes insane and
attacks a random person in room (including itself), sent to another plane
(bamf, except caster gets some xp for the act) this is an area attack.

Sounds like fun, especially with the addition of prismatic sphere.

*Prismatic Sphere: a giant immobile sphere appears in the room for a while
and only the caster can enter it. All mobs attacking the caster through the
sphere suffers from prismatic spray.

Make it like mental barrier, lasts a round and hits as many times as the
caster would have been hit.


*Earthquake: Deals damage to non-flying units on the ground in room and
adjacent rooms.

Fine, fix that bug in earthquake.

*Cone of Cold: Deals a moderate amout of non-variable damage, can be
directed in a direction like throw.

An elven throw, ok

*Meteor: Think of this as a REALLY big fireball area affect that can only be
cast from outside, can be directed in a direction like throw.

I'm assuming outside means rooms flagged as outside. Sure, this has a nice
image of a meteor hitting the caster and a ring of fire exploding out from
the caster

*Mana Nova: Caster determines the amount of mana to spend, and it deals a
corresponding amount of damage to all mobiles in room and adjacent rooms.
(no direction setting)

I really like this in the sense that you can set the amount of mana to
expend. I'm not sure its wise to hit all the mobs in adjacent rooms. That
could get ugly very fast. maybe hit one random mob in a random direction
plus the normal area attack.

*Blizzard: Outside thing, turns wheather really bad, then things start to
get hit by the blizzard (cone of cold type damage, look at meteor shower)

Why would you use this instead of Meteor? Seems like it has the bad weather
downside. If it did more damage than meteor I can see it as useful:)

//I just thought I'd throw in a bunch of spell choices. Perhaps something to
balance out speed vs. damage, etc.

*Lightning Stom: Think lots of lightning bolts that's somewhat powerful
damage varies a lot... outside only

Nice image. I could see this working inside too.

*Meteor Shower: Errrr.... Lots of meteors hit a room and all adjacent rooms
perodically for a while... outside

Interesting. Same comments as Mana Nova.

//this one is more random, I was thinking that it could damage caster as
well because it is so powerful that it's hard to gain a full control over
it. same with mana nova.

*Raise Dead: Caster is able to raise from corpses of mobs skeleton warriors
that have 1/2 hp of the mob did. Assists caster in battle (non group),
caster gets xp of kills by minions. Number of minions depends on lvl of
caster.

I like!

*Vampiric Touch: Just that. Deals some damage...

Can it return some health/mana to the caster?

//that was partially why I named it vampiric, yeah.

*Raise Dead Mastery: Minions get better...

How much better? 3/4 hp?

//The details have to be worked out to see just how good these minions are,
and how much better we want to make them. possibly "beta test?"

*Ressurection: Minions are now weaker versions of the mobs themselves...
better than skel.

How much stronger? I like the idea just want to know more numbers.

//diddo

*Powerword Kill: Can you say "insta-kill"? (Chance of misfire and dealing
back to caster damage b/c of overexertion into the shadow plane)

But no destruction like disintegration?

//I was thinking that this just sucked the life-force out of the friggin
thing. *bam* it's gone, either that or a big demon pops up and swallows the
caster lol.

OK, those are my ideas for elves and elf skills. Of course, elves should be
restriced more on str and not be able to use heavy armor and weapons, that
way they'll be more of actually mages.

This goes along with my suggestion of changing the max stats for the races,
let elves max at 18, dwarves at 30.

//I like that, esp. b/c it would make my magical sword spell more
worthwhile.




> Overall, the proposed plan for elves look very cool. I'd like to see
> something like that go in. A few questions though. Does the player chose
> what type of elf to play when they create the character, or is it
determined
> by the character alignment as they play? Also, I like the new spells, but
> I'd like to see a wholly original set of new names for most, if not all of
> them. As they are now, it seems a little too "borrowed" from DnD. I'll
> pass on any other worthwhile comments as they come to me...
>
> -faustus


//I was thinking of perhaps a semi-generic set of spells for the elves till
lvl 10. At that time, it takes their alignment, and they have to go to a
special diety/guild or whatever to attain higher spells dependent on align.
once you get one spell of one align, you can't get spells of other aligns
and you stick with what you have. I don't care about names at all. Name them
whatever people like.


Elric's comments
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> I've looked over Anubis' suggestions and have to admit that most of them
make me nervous. Obviously it's good to have an assortment of new skills
available to elves, but I have to object to breaking them up.
>
>
>
> Do we really need 3 different classes of Elves? Ok, we is a loose term
since I'm not around much ever, but does BR need to split elves into 3
classes. Alignment, at least in the days when I was playing, tends to
fluctuate somewhat massively. Would we remove access to say, the conjurer
skills - Mordenkainen's Sword, Hold Person, Polymorph - if they become
neutrally or evilly aligned. I know that something similar was considered
for the remort - demons and angels classes, but they were intended for a
whole different class of player. Can we expect players to have to adhere
that strictly to maintaining an alignment?
>
>

//In my opinion, all mages/spellcasters require a certain quality of player
to play effectively. That goes for almost any fantasy game I've ever
encountered. Mages should start off weak, but become god-like in the end.
Warriors go around and kill whatever they want because they depend on
themselves for their power. Mages and priests are different, they depend on
nature, the elements, and gods. What if these things get pissed at them?
Then they don't have squat. I think that having a dif. alignment could
weaken your spells, etc. or we could have them not be able to cast their
spells on creatures of a certian alignment. (and duke it out like the
fighters). Or possibly their spells are taken way if they stray from their
diety.

>
> That sums up most of my objections right there actually. The only other
thing I want to bring up is something I'm sure you've considered. BR isn't
an AD&D type MUD, it never has been. If you are to link it to a tabletop,
pen and paper type gaming it would be to D&D - the very first one before
they started putting edition numbers on it. BR has always been different -
a family MUD that has done something different with the standard MERC races.
Since BR has been around for greater than 5 years, it would be a shame to
suddenly start conforming to gaming conventions that are used by the world
at large. Let BR remain the unique entity it is.
>
>

//I've always been a die-hard DnD fan. I'm sure there are lots of other
people out there too. In my opinion, DnD is mainly the originator for the
role-playing genere. EVERY rpg I've played has DnD elements, whether it be
hitpoints, or damage rolls. There are some innovations such as mana points,
etc. I think that a game should innovate and be creative, but not if it
hurts the enjoyment of playing it (ie: if all the races are really similar
in how they are played). I just named spells after similar DnD spells
because I like DnD. They can be named whatever people like. I have no
objection to name changes, or even changes in effects. I just wanted to
throw out some innovative ideas that I thought would make BR more enjoyable.

>
> Again, while I love the idea of providing new spells for Elves, I think
trying to split the Race into 3 sub-races would be of minor, if any
improvement to the gameplay of the MUD.
>
>
>
> Joe/Elric

//Elves represent spellcasters/mages in general in the land of BR. I though
I'd split them up because not all spell-casters are the same. Neither are
all elves the same.



>From Divebomb
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> my comments start with ***
>
> >Elves: ok, this is what I have planned for elves. I decided to have them
branch off an follow dif. gods of good, evil, and neutral for their spells.
That way, there will be balanced diversity even inside one race.
> >
> >I tried to be true to TSR and AD&D (The gods of roleplaying) Here are my
3 elf specialties:
> >note: None of these are healers or priests, that's for the druids ; )
>
> ***I love the idea of alignment oriented elves. Where there abilities
change like the use of death field on illithid. It's like putting in the
alignment option you do for AD&D without actually asking for it.

// :)


>
> >Conjurer/Enchanter: algn good
> >desc: These spell casters generally cast spells which in one way or
another aid or hinder a player or monster.
> >
> >ALL Spells and skills available for conjurers.
> >
> >Lv Spells
> >
> > 1: burning hands create spring magic missile
> ***magic missile doesn't fit here. We can let burning hands go because it
"affects the caster by enflaming his hands" - and an elf needs some sort of
attack at low levels
>
> > 2: detect invis detect magic
> > 4: continual light faerie fire invis
> > 5: bless
> > 6: infravision locate object
> > 7: enflame weapon fly giant strength weaken
> > 8: acid blast blindness teleport
> >10: faerie fog identify web
> >11: armor colour spray
> >12: enchant weapon dodge
> *** dodge neither hinders enemies nor helps a fellow player and does not
fall under the description. Played D&D/TSR games? If your mage tries to
fight anyone in hand to hand combat, they get their asses kicked so fast you
don't know what happened. I would like to see this in a mage-style character
(no dodge no parry).

//There's some stuff I missed. Also, I wanted a generic set of low lvl
abilities shared by all the elves in general. I thought elves were pretty
agile, so why not dodge?

> >13: control weather energy drain shield
> >14: charm person sleep
> >15: fireball mass invis
> *** take fireball out of here - it should be in the elemental area only

//I sort of saw fireball as generic since the other races all had it. Sure,
make it elemental.

> >17: stone skin
> >18: pass door
> >25: frenzy *Mordenkainen's Sword
> >26: dispel magic
> >30: *Hold Person *Polymorph
> >33: plague
> >35: *Prismatic Spray *Mass Hold
> >40: create potion
> >48: *Pristmatic Sphere
> >51: astral
> >65: firm grasp
> >80: multiattack
> >
> >spells with * are new and have descriptions
> >*Mordenkainen's Sword: Caster not wielding a weapon now attacks as a
warrior with a weapon of the same lvl, hit roll of twice lvl, and some
damroll that's decently good.
> *** I would rather see this as a spell i've seen before called "flame
sword" - more generic too. The mage creates a sword of fire and can wield it
as long as both hands are free. It is considered melee combat and works just
as a regular sword would. Hitroll of twice level and damroll equal to level
would be acceptable. Not bad if you lose your weapon mid fight, but not
really outstanding either - balanced.

//I'm not into details, sry ;)

> >*Hold Person: The thing that has this cast on it is unable to move/attack
for a certain amount of time, can be directed in a direction like throw.
> ***unable to move or attack seems a bit much. Perhaps unable to flee or
disarm you (kind of like what a real trip would do). Think of it as an
upgrade to web

> >*Mass Hold: Same thing as hold, but affects all enemies in area.
> ***Too powerful in my opinion.

//I was thinking a break in battle to quaff some grails, or maybe to regain
your mind after reading a million lines of battle text. It could also be a
nice prep spell, soften up the enemy before he can start attacking. Maybe if
you attack or get too close it breaks up the effect of the spell.

> >*Polymorph Other: Caster gains 1/2 experience normally recieved for a
kill if this occurs, subject is turned into some small woodland animal that
is really weak.
> ***would have to be the start of a fight and a low chance, but it's clever
with the 1/2 xp for it

//I thought it would be funny. esp in the arena ;) lol

> >*Prismatic Spray: a 1/7 chat each of the following : little bit of
damage, some damage, a lot of damage, is poisoned, polymorphed, goes insane
and attacks a random person in room (including itself), sent to another
plane (bamf, except caster gets some xp for the act)
> ***i dont like the idea of chances of polymorphed and bamf'd having equal
chances. I would also change teh "insane" part to randomly attacking anyone
in the room and affected by berzerk.

//whatever, I stole this from DnD because I thought these were the coolest
spells ever in all the campaigns I've been in.

> >this is an area attack.
> >*Prismatic Sphere: a giant immobile sphere appears in the room for a
while and only the caster can enter it. All mobs attacking the caster
through the sphere suffers from prismatic spray.
> ***sounds like a you-attack-me, i-attack-you spell. Which is cool.
>
>
> >Here's my fav:
> >Invoker: This is a neutral elemental mage. yeah, pure damage ; )
> >
> >ALL Spells and skills available for elves.
> >
> >Lv Spells
> >
> > 1: burning hands magic missile
> > 2: detect invis detect magic
> > 4: invis
> > 6: infravision locate object
> *** no locate object, doesnt fit the "pure damage". Invis and infravision
do because of their ability to deal with the enemy
>
> > 7: enflame weapon fly shocking grasp
> > 8: teleport
> > 9: lightning bolt
> >10: identify
> >12: call lightning
> >13: control weather energy drain
> >15: fireball
> >16: *(Modified) earthquake
> >18: pass door
> >25: frenzy *Cone of cold
> >26: dispel magic
> >30: *Meteor *Blizzard
> >40: *Mana Nova *Lightning Storm
> >45: *Meteor Shower
> >51: astral
> >65: firm grasp
> >80: multiattack
> >
> >*Earthquake: Deals damage to non-flying units on the ground in room and
adjacent rooms.
> *** only if it pisses em off and causes non-sentinels to come into the
room and fight you. If you kill a mob in an adjacent room you shouldn't get
xp for it.

> >*Cone of Cold: Deals a moderate amout of non-variable damage, can be
directed in a direction like throw.
> >*Meteor: Think of this as a REALLY big fireball area affect that can only
be cast from outside, can be directed in a direction like throw.
> *** this one i like, especially with the conditions

> >*Mana Nova: Caster determines the amount of mana to spend, and it deals a
corresponding amount of damage to all mobiles in room and adjacent rooms.
(no direction setting)
> *** interesting but strange, im not sure i like it

//I was thinking of how to give the caster some control over how much damage
he/she wanted to deal. Really powerful mages should be able to do a lot more
than a punny one, even if they cast the same spell. I thought mana would be
a nice way to determine it. If you put everything you've got in one shot, it
should hurt.

> >*Blizzard: Outside thing, turns wheather really bad, then things start to
get hit by the blizzard (cone of cold type damage, look at meteor shower)
> *** how about can only be used when outside and snowing - does more damage
than meteor - does not automatically change weather

//sure, it could also adversely affect party members if it goes out of
control. You shiver and freeze.

> >*Lightning Stom: Think lots of lightning bolts that's somewhat powerful
damage varies a lot... outside only
> *** same type of restrictions, let the elf do damage depending on the
current weather state.

//Aren't brids (flying objects) and things in/around water susceptible to
lightning? More damage in the air, around water, etc. Weather restrictions,
whatever. It could also just change the weather by itself. Maybe might go
haywire (people in metal armor might not like electricity)

> >*Meteor Shower: Errrr.... Lots of meteors hit a room and all adjacent
rooms perodically for a while... outside
> ***just make this or meteor the equivalent of lightning storm and blizzard
except in hot/windy conditions

> ***The best thing about the neutral elves is their ability to initiate a
battle from a distance (the throw-like spells). THAT pertains to the D&D/TSR
style and it rocks as an idea.

//I like not having to succumb to the lowly toe-to-toe fighting fighters
have to do.

> >
> >
> >I like my idea for the evil one too... grin
> >Necromancer:
> >Evil spell caster that raises mobs from dead:
> >
> >ALL Spells and skills available for elves.
> >
> >Lv Spells
> >
> > 1: burning hands magic missile
> > 2: detect invis detect magic
> > 3: chill touch
> > 4: invis
> > 6: infravision locate object
> > 7: enflame weapon fly weaken
> > 8: acid blast blindness teleport
> >10: identify
> >11: colour spray
> >12: dodge
> *** eliminate dodge here too for the same reason on the good elves.

> >13: energy drain
> >15: fireball
> >18: pass door sneak
> >20: *Raise Dead
> >25: frenzy *Vampiric Touch
> >26: dispel magic *Raise Dead Mastery
> >33: plague *Ressurection
> >45: *Powerword Kill
> >51: astral
> >65: firm grasp
> >80: multiattack
> >
> >*Raise Dead: Caster is able to raise from corpses of mobs skeleton
warriors that have 1/2 hp of the mob did. Assists caster in battle (non
group), caster gets xp of kills by minions. Number of minions depends on lvl
of caster.
> *** like a pet that you can't equip (should recall and teleport with
player)

//yeah, it should fallow you around even when you recall, tp, etc. either
that or get destroyed b/c the magic becomes out of range.

> >*Vampiric Touch: Just that. Deals some damage...
> *** should be an energy drain - maybe this instead of energy drain.
Vampiric touches tend to draw life away from the victim and give it to the
caster.

//yeah, vamp=drain and give to caster. sorry for not writing this in the
desc.

> >*Raise Dead Mastery: Minions get better...
> >*Ressurection: Minions are now weaker versions of the mobs themselves...
better than skel.
> ***this would be awesome
>
> >*Powerword Kill: Can you say "insta-kill"? (Chance of misfire and dealing
back to caster damage b/c of overexertion into the shadow plane)
> *** an insta-kill backfiring would kill the caster. If you really want to
give an insta-kill (the player would have to be evil - an uncommon trend)
then you probably want to bamf and curse the player instead of dealing
damage. That would make them think twice about using it freelance style ;)

//hehe, you get swallowed by a big demon. curse, bamf, blind for 10 tics?
lol. or it could just deal some damage to you.
>
> >
> >
> >
> >OK, those are my ideas for elves and elf skills. Of course, elves should
be restriced more on str and not be able to use heavy armor and weapons,
that way they'll be more of actually mages. Thanks for taking my ideas kiri!
: )
> >
>
-Anubis
>
> ***I think Anubis's ideas are great and with some refinement this would be
an extremely interesting change to BR and to the elves. He did a good job
keeping to TSR/D&D style and it should/would make the results great.
> DB
User avatar
Divebomb
Avid Player
Posts: 299
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2003 8:39 am
Location: New Hampshire
Contact:

Post by Divebomb »

Now that i've re-read this months and months later and I've read other people's comments. I have new comments. Yay!

First off, I think Elric has very good points. Conforming too much to D&D takes away from the ambiance of BR. Moreso, conforming too much does not fit very well in the dynamics of BR's game-playing.

Looking at the proposal for Humans and my proposal for Dwarves, I don't think this change is nearly as drastic as those are. The Hum and Dwf proposals totally revolutionize the way the race is played because they're not all that interesting now. Playing an elf now is challenging and interesting imo. This only really big change here is the alignment restriction. While I like the idea of different skills relating to your alignment, I'm not sure it's "enough" to merit these changes. I remember talking to Kiri about it, and she didn't want to change a race unless we REALLY CHANGED a race. This a few new spells, some of them revolutionary, but usually not appearing until late in the game.

Again, I like the alignment idea, but I think Elric is also right in pointing out that alignment fluctuates rapidly. This could make playing the race overly frustrating. Demons are a pain enough to maintain at a low alignment, but at least with them you deal massive damage. Elves would have to recover mana, recover life, and recover alignment constantly.

Seeing as some of our spells don't even function like D&D but have the same names (Colour Spray, Burning Hands), I think this would need more work than just adding the new spells too.

If people are really interested in focusing on the D&D style spells, then I think this list needs to be upgraded to include some of the other spells:
- Melf's Acid Arrow
- Melf's Minute Meteors (replaces weapons with flaming rocks that are thrown - damage + fire damage)
- Lance of Disruption - large ball dealing lots of damage to all mobs in a path
- Power Word Blind
- Power Word Silence
- Abi Dhalzim's Horrid Wilting (difficult because we don't classify mobs) - deals damage to all creatures that are water-based (i.e. humans, pools, water elementals)
- Planar Rift - creates a sword in caster's hands that deals a lot of damage with small chance to disintegrate mob
- Protection from Evil

And even on top of that, if you're going to look into a "Conjurer" then why not add some conjuring spells?!
- Summon Lesser Elemental
- Summon Elemental
- Summon Carrion Crawlers
- Animate Dead (probably the same as raise dead, but the higher level you are, the better type of undead you raise).
- Summon Monster I,II,III,IV,V, etc etc

I guess long-windedly all I'm saying is if we're going to change elves, let's really revolutionize them or let's just leave them alone.
Fine art is the only teacher except torture.
- George Bernard Shaw
User avatar
Score
Mud Addict
Posts: 461
Joined: Thu Jun 26, 2003 12:04 am
Location: "The space between the rain that falls..."

Post by Score »

Hmmm...okay, I'm not normally on this topic but I kinda wanted to comment on the ideas made about the elves.

The idea about alignment based spells is cool. I like it alot and think it was very cleaver. The one that stands out to me is raising the dead one. I'm a lil fuzzy though on that, you'd be assisted by mobs you'd killed in the room?
What if you have auto sac on? That kinda takes that away if I understand it right.
I think one way to make it a little more challenging is if the case is it's a mob you've killed, pending on your alignment and it's alignment it might not help you if you ressurect it. If you're evil and you killed something angelic, it comes back to assist the mob you're fighting..

Hee hee..or maybe just no matter what it assists you, but at the end it's like a charmed mob and you have to murder it. *shrug* just an idea.

My 2 cents is this. I like elves best of all. The down side to it is yes, elves are weak. It's difficult to level an elf alone. Lower levels gotta group with fighters right off the bat if they wanna make level fast or they have to refrain from enhancing to keep that TNL down...

I think the best thing to do with the elves is just make their spells stronger. Also it wouldn't hurt to give them summons before they hit avatar. One last suggestion I have about elves is when they cast invis, they stay invis even after they've been in a battle. Again, their weakest of the races and if we're in battle and have to flee, and happen to flee into a room that's aggro..damn it, we're done for!!

I dunno. *toe*
"We've come for your daughter Chuck..."
User avatar
Everybody
Needs Help
Posts: 542
Joined: Wed Jan 08, 2003 2:14 am
Location: Madison, WI
Contact:

Post by Everybody »

With the fixes in flaming code that Slart put in (quite) a while back, now, I no longer find elves challenging in the least to level. Yes, you have to explore somewhat more to find the eq you need for a full set of flaming, but you can easily take down mobs 15+ levels above you. Elves' spells certainly do not need powering up any more. I wouldn't mind seeing a radical proposition/change (as Dive was suggesting) to make them play differently from other spellcasters, but since that fix, my interest in revising elves has waned considerably.
-EB
Your local know-it-all. ;)
User avatar
Stars
Mud Addict
Posts: 446
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2003 10:10 am
Location: Earth

Post by Stars »

I'm sorry if I repeat anything written above, but I don't have the attention span to read through the whole thing...

I have been disappointed with some of the changes that Elves have gone through, even before the novelty of flaming eq wore off. This alignment-based change sounds fantastic! I would really LOVE to see a similar change for all races in the realms. It sounds similar to "classes", but instead keeps the focus within the usual direction of the race (fighter, magic-user, etc). So, we have different names for each "race", like Dwarf-Stone Warrior (probably neutral) or Elf-Necromancer (evil). The only difference for these sub-classes is that their effectiveness is influenced by alignment, meaning that each focus tends towards one end (or middle) of the spectrum. I have made similar suggestions in the past, and hope to see something like this implemented in the game.
The stars brightly shine upon our world, a constant reminder of our origin. We are stars.
User avatar
Leiland
Newbie
Posts: 30
Joined: Fri Feb 07, 2003 6:43 pm
Location: CA
Contact:

Post by Leiland »

I know it's been suggested before, and probably since I posted concerning it a while back, and I haven't gone through everything since I was last here, which was admittedly quite a while ago... but here goes anyway. Some of the new spells look pretty nice. But I think elves are alright the way they are. So... what if we just made new races, one using the conjurers as a template, one with the invokers, and one with the proposed necromancer spells? I don't know enough about the work involved to know if it's feasible, but I just thought I'd throw that out there. Bottom line is I would love to see new races go into BR before we start tinkering with ones that we know work just fine.
Just ignore me...
User avatar
RadicalEd
Newbie
Posts: 130
Joined: Mon Jan 06, 2003 11:28 pm
Location: Where?
Contact:

Post by RadicalEd »

yeah i think leiland has a point. Look at the excitement for adding in demons? The addition of a new race would add variety. This would probably also draw more players and more "new blood". Plus it wouldn't anger those current elf users that like they way they are. It may be alot of work but it doesn't have to be now. ANd i'm sure there are many people that would be willing to work on it. Including myself. Before we go editing the races we already have, why not expand?
"Anima Sana In Corpore Sano"

Rad
User avatar
Stars
Mud Addict
Posts: 446
Joined: Tue Jan 07, 2003 10:10 am
Location: Earth

Post by Stars »

If we add a whole new system based on the alignment of all races, then it would be like having 3 times the number of races we have now. Each alignment would have its own unique skills and spells, even though they would still be similar to others of the same race. That way, a good or neutral natured illithid would not be "required" to be evil in order to use its best spells. This could be one big project, and there is no reason why other races couldn't be added along the way (easy for me to say, right?).
The stars brightly shine upon our world, a constant reminder of our origin. We are stars.
User avatar
RadicalEd
Newbie
Posts: 130
Joined: Mon Jan 06, 2003 11:28 pm
Location: Where?
Contact:

Post by RadicalEd »

Stars wrote:If we add a whole new system based on the alignment of all races, then it would be like having 3 times the number of races we have now. Each alignment would have its own unique skills and spells, even though they would still be similar to others of the same race. That way, a good or neutral natured illithid would not be "required" to be evil in order to use its best spells. This could be one big project, and there is no reason why other races couldn't be added along the way (easy for me to say, right?).
Actually i don't think she would be talking about changing every race. she would be giving an unfair advantage to the elves, as if they don't rule already =P
"Anima Sana In Corpore Sano"

Rad
User avatar
disaster
Needs Help
Posts: 572
Joined: Sat Jan 18, 2003 12:47 am
Location: the true north strong and free
Contact:

Post by disaster »

as for "changing" races, i'm not a big fan generally, i just like the current races too much. if we're going to change races, i'd much rather see the existing race remain as an option, and have the new version available as a new option. for instance, people chosing to play an elf could be given another option, whether they want to play a generalist elf as they currently exist, or one of the specialty caster elves suggested above. or, instead of chosing based on ad&d schools of magic, there could be a choice to play either a normal elf, a wood elf, or a drow elf. similarly, people could play as normal dwarves, or as duergar, as druids or dryads, humans or gnomes, and between different versions of avians varying in how bird-like they eventually become.
"Freedom of speech" is not the same thing as "Freedom from consequences".
Exo
Newbie
Posts: 32
Joined: Fri Jan 31, 2003 10:11 am
Location: Texas
Contact:

Post by Exo »

sounds like classes to me, i vote no on this and any other "alignment" based variety of a race. flat out, its a bad idea, not in principal, but in usage for BR. we dont have classes here, i dont want there to BE classes, and this sounds like the beginning of classes.
I am happy to let girls indulge themselves using my body.
Post Reply