ToME WikiRavenRed: Just thinking that these two could be on a conintuum with slowing effects.
Paralysis would become an extension of "Slow", gradually but cumulaitvely slowing a player down to an absolute zero speed (sleep). Sleep / Paralysis and Slow spells would now operate on the same level, modifying player / monster speed.
Each Slowing attack reduces the target's speed by POWER/10. Once the target's speed has been reduced by LEVEL points, the target is then asleep, with all the nasty consequences that brings. Therefore, even a high-level spellcaster will have to cast multiple times to bring a powerful opponent to a standstill.
Free action then becomes another resist, reducing the effective power of the slow attack. A FREE=100 resist would be uncommon, rather than rare, but the 66% resist should be as common as Free Action is currently.
Why?
Well although it blurs the definition between slowing and paralysis, it makes it more of a graduated effect, rather than one which remains an instakill threat into the end-game. Sufficiently heroic characters will be able to resist the terrible spells and basilisk UP TO A POINT. This remains true even with free action resist. This replaces the more binary application of paralysis / sleep that's currently in the game and merges it with the slow effect...
2c worth and counting...
NeilStevens: It blurs things, yes, but it also means there's yet another immunity that the player needs to wait around for, since there are many monsters that can kill you even with only one turn of massive slowing.
I think this would make the game less interesting, just by multiplying the amount of equipment you have to troll around to get.
RavenRed: They need FA anyway. This simply makes FA a resistance rather than a flag. Evenmassive slowing wouldn't be too massive. As a spell, even for monsters it only goes to L50 (on the assumption that it's the same as the player version for monsters) gives a -20 speed penalty by the above formula. It would require at least three castings to sleep a Level 50 character WITHOUT a source of free action. Breathe slow is, of course, an abomination that should be expunged immediately (
). And as I said, FREE=100 shouldn't be absolutely rare. I'm as against boring instakill as you are... NeilStevens: Neither player spell levels nor monster levels are capped at 50. Player spells get the boost of spell power, and monster levelling can do terrible things. And while you may be against making FREE=100 rare, the fact is you're calling for it to be more rare than it is now, and I would hate to see that.
RavenRed: Yes, but this is (hopefully) balanced by the fact that paralysis would now be instakill in only the rarest of cases, and you would have a chance to Teleport / Phase Door / Heal yourself better in good time. BTW, what would the levelled effect of get_cast_level(160), be? (From Killerbunnies) I assume it would be a proportionate rise (i.e. Total Skill x (160/50)?
NeilStevens: All it can take is one double move by a monster to get you killed, though.
RavenRed: Which is a risk which is constantly faced in ToME, anyway...
DarkGod: This idea, nice or not, just cannot be done, because the slower the player gets the harder it is to count turns. Saying you will be paralyzed for 5 turns, when your speed is 0 means nothing, since time does not pass for you. Also speed has an influence over regen and food.
NeilStevens: What about game turns? Can't timers of some sort be based on those?