From: petitc@nuge102.its.rpi.edu (Christopher Jon Petit)
Subject: Re: Unique Character Class Abilities?
Reply-To: petitc@rpi.edu
Organization: Rennselaer Polytechnic Institute.
Date: Thu, 9 Apr 1992 13:06:22 GMT

In article <1992Apr09.100044.29204@CS.ORST.EDU>, zeiglea@prism.CS.ORST.EDU (Anthony Zeigler) writes:
|> In article <w93t71h@rpi.edu> petitc@rpi.edu writes:
|> >
|> >  Do you all think that each character class should have ONE UNIQUE ability, in
|> >addition to the standard adjustments to stats?  
|> >>Some comments deleted to save space<<
|> > Well, enough griping.  On to the suggested class abilities:
|> >
|> > Mage:  Only this class can detect if an item is magical, or see a magical item
|> >from a distance.
|> >
|> > Priest:  Only this class can (A) Remove a curse, and (B) Detect if an item is
|> >cursed.
|> >
|> > Warrior:  Can detect monsters within a certain radius, REGARDLESS OF WHAT IS IN
|> >THE WAY (my justification is that warriors live to fight, and fight to survive,
|> >so they WILL learn to 'sense' monsters a distance away).
|> >
|> > Rogue:  Gets "first strike advantage"  Thieves always fight to kill in the first
|> >blow, since they can NOT go hand-to-hand for a long time.  So, I say, give them
|> >a bonus (level-dependant) to their ability to get Excellent, Superb, and Great
|> >hits.
|> >
|> > Ranger:  Has ability to get a 'pet' like in Nethack (where the pet follows the
|> >guy around and can fight for him sometimes but also gets in the way and eats food
|> >).
|> >
|> > Paladin:  Naturally cures poison within self at 2x normal rate, as well as only
|> >taking 1/2 damage from poison gases (e.g. AMHD).  Can sense evil creatures as for
|> >a Warrior.
|> >
|> > Also, let's make it IMPOSSIBLE for certain classes to EVER use some types of
|> >weapons, armor, items.  I'd say this could be done with 1 byte extra---a type
|> >byte saying what kind it is (and then each class has a list of types not
|> >permitted).
|> >
|> > I mean, really, do you see a mage as wearing Ribbed Plate Mail (28) armor???
|> >
|> >
|> > What say you all?
|> >
|> It sounds like you have some damn good suggestions with just one problem...
|> The ranger ability would be EXTREMELY hard to manage... Perhaps another 
|> suggestion for them? (perhaps give one of them the ability to see undead at 
|> a certain distance like ghosts?) You could give this to the paladin while 
|> giving the paladins poison resistance to the ranger??? The sensing of 
|> invisible creatures could be from thier holy mix with the fighter class 
|> although this would weaken the fighters ability unless it only worked when
|> the invisible creatures were within sight or just sense the invisible creatures.
|> 

  I agree.  The Ranger ability is kinda a pain to program, so let's give Rangers
the ability to sense normal animals (e.g. Beetles, Snakes) from a great distance
automatically.


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