ToME WikiKhymChanur: Some ideas for more rod ego types:
Careful casting: Rod is 4 times easier to activate, but takes twice the time.
Hasty casting: Rod is 4 times faster to activate, but is twice as hard to activate.
Speedy charging: Rod recharges 4 times as fast, but only has half the capacity.
Greater capacity: Rod has 4 times the capacity, but recharges only half as fast.
Also an idea for a rod tip ego type (though there might be problems with giving the tips ego types, including making the names for tip-plus-base even longer):
Powerful: The rod tip has a more powerful effect, but takes more mana and is harder to activate. For bolts, does more damage; for balls, does more damage, and maybe has a larger radius; for radius-divination spells, increases the radius; for Healing, heals more HP.
Some more:
Damaged: It can either be destroyed or have a random aiming problem (drain to zero and no other effect if not directional) one time in 20. Its destruction damages the player 3d6. It gains a negative flag 1 time in 10. May occur as part of effects that can destroy rods.
Inferior: It's harder to activate, charges slowly, has limited capacity, and casts slowly.
Vampiric: Every time it recharges a point, it drains you one HP. It charges fast. It can't be dropped while cursed.
Draining: It can only charge each point by draining 2 point from other rods. It charging speed is multiplied by the number of nondraining rods with leftover mana you have. Zapping it will drain your MP as well as use its own, and if you run out of MP this rod will still spend its mana when you fail to zap it.
Heavy: It has random good qualities, extra weight, plus X10 maxcharge on top, but can never recharge again.
New: It has more mana that its maxmana. It will never recharge to that level again, only to the maxmana level. This ego vanishes when its mana is no longer higher than its maxmana and with probability 15% a new ego is gained instead.
Wild: it comes with one of a few effects you can't get by adding a rod tip (not all of them good). Adding a normal rod tip will make the rod damaged and/or inferior.
Of peace: You can't attach an attack tip to it.
Of flamboyance: It systematically destroys its rod tip when used, but the effects are enhanced greatly. It lights rooms as a side-effect if the effect can't be enhanced. It occasionally destroys itself too but when it does the effect is even greater.
light-eating: It refuses to charge and/or zap when not in a lighted square (or during the night). It recharges fast when it can and may discharge slowly up to half when not where it likes.
dark-eating: It refuses to charge and/or zap when in a lighted square (or during the day). It recharges fast when it can and may discharge slowly up to half when not where it likes.
of (Valar's name): It won't zap if you don't have high piety and worship the named Valar. It gets easier to use in proportion to your prayer skill.
Incomplete: it requires being combined with other incomplete rods of the same type. It shows up in lower levels than its complete type, but is rather rare and completed rods are mostly damaged or inferior (never rolling for the better egos).
Elemental: it makes the 4 basic bolt/ball rod tips shoot stronger in relation to your magic device skill, making those rod tips still worthy of mid-game. It's rare.
Stained: It's 100% discount because it looks useless. Rare.
Broken: It's 99% discount because it is nearly useless (won't zap or charge at all, only good for drain). Rare or result of some disaster.
Thief-proof: Cannot be stolen.
mentor: it vanishes if you zap it when you are over a certain level (healing and curing you when it vanishes with probability 20%). It leaves its rod tip behind. It always lights rooms when zapped. It is really easy to use. rods from deep cannot get this ego.
insane: it hurts your sanity 1 point per zap. You may hallulcinate with probability 5% if you don't have chaos resistance. It will not zap if you're at less than SN = 3.
harmonic: it always zaps itself succesfully whenever another rod is zapped succesfully. This can be either good or bad depending on your rod collection...
unlit: it causes darkness as a side-effect of being zapped.
poisoned: it poisons you and causes a small degree of hunger (as compensated by eating one food ration).
loud: zapping it succesfully wakes up a few opponents.
legendary: it has all the attributes of powerful in double (including harder to zap). It may causes curing, satisfy hunger, or restore a random stat as a size-effect of being zapped as well as always lighting rooms when zapped. It is a very deep-level artifact. It allows you to switch rod tips. It cannot be drained. It has no mana left when first found or not in inventory (fooling people who didn't ID it into thinking it's a weak type).
knowledge: it zaps itself randomly if its mana is full - the only rod tip it accepts are divination types.
Chatter
TobiasParker: This could lead to new junkarts as well, well maybe this could be used anyway.
Unidentified - A Wrench, Identified - Yogi's Toolkit of Malfeasance, Effects - Can be activated for Remove All Rod Tips in Inventory every 5000 turns
Or maybe a very expensive new shop, perhaps a very rare dungeon shop, that charges something to remove rod tips, money wouldn't work because it is just too easy to get for an ability like this. What about if every rod was assigned a "value" and you had to trade a rod of equal value for every rod tip you wanted removed. If you have both in your inventory you choose one to remove the tip and one to destroy, with alot of "Are you sure" messages to avoid the inevitable mistakes. I guess that's it...