ToME WikiOrvin: Instead of making branding all-or-nothing, how about introducing a power for each brand, with "average" branded items doing the normal brand damage, some brands being capable of greater brand damage, and some of less. So, some really powerful artifact with a fire brand might have a stronger fire brand than the average fire-branded sword.
With such a system, perhaps the brands archers create when making ammo should depend on their level or certain skills (e.g., an archer with more magic skill might create more powerful brands, especially if he knows spells that do the corresponding damage type).
NeilStevens: You know, it might indeed be interesting to give certain very rare, very special artifacts extra brand power..
RavenRed: The broken dagger of Fiery Doom (1d1) (+0,+0) [x12 Fire damage] type of thing?
KhymChanur: The current 3.0.0 code lets brands and slays have arbitrary multipliers. So you could easily have extra powerful brands, or weaker-than-average x2 brands.
NeilStevens: Yeah, though I don't want to overuse it. I intend to give each branded ego-type a fixed multiplier, rather than a randomized amount. We'll see, though. In moderation this can be a good feature.
KhymChanur: I think we could do interesting things with x2 brands. Like, for instannce, a Lesser Elemental ego, which does x2 damage from the four elements and poison, and only provides 44% resistance to each damage type, but drains mana at a slower rate.
NeilStevens: Why would we want to drastically complicate the resistance system? I'm adamantly opposed to that, though it has nothing to do with the brand idea listed here.
KhymChanur: Drastically complicate? I thought the whole point of having percentile resistances in 3.0.0 was so that items and spells could grant more or less than the 2.x 66% resistance? I mean, the Elemental Shield spell gives variable amounts of resistance, up to 81% with spell power at 50, and Potion of Resistance gives 50% resistance.
RavenRed: I think what Neil's saying is that we shouldn't dramatically alter the player's experience, just because the new engine allows us to. Personally, I'm more or less of your opinion. At least in that I think gradations and variations are now far more flexible and that it would enhance the player's experience if we could integrate that variation and gradation within the game mechanics. It needs to be done wholesale rather than piecemeal, however...
NeilStevens: Let's just say that DG is due to decide how the resistances will work any day now. Apparently this decision must apply to all resistances, and not just combat resistances, heh.
DarkGod: items resistances can(and already do) vary in strengths, but they do NOT stack, the highest one is took and then merged(not a simple addition though) with temporary resists.