Report 343

Report #343
Skillset: Psychometabolism Skill: Mindfield
 Org: Nekotai Status: Completed Mar 2010
Furies' Decision:
Solution 1
Problem: Mindfield in its current state functions as an inferior version of
Aethersight, lacking the summoning/teleport identification feature in return for
a few features of negligible use. Instead of costing power, it requires a
channel lock to turn on, crimping the Psionic's flexibility. The "backlash"
consists of what appears to be a paltry 5% health hit on an unfriendly scrying,
which, as earlier reports have noted, are insufficient to discourage repeated
attempts. Backlash against psychic damage from other players is a similarly low
amount of health damage, against the few abilities that actually do psychic
damage, and apparently only while the attacker is in the same room. Given that
Psychometabolism must compete with Acrobatics, which offers superior versions of
generally available skills, Mindfield is highly disappointing, entirely
disposable, and in need of improvement. One or more of the following
improvements could actually make the skill worthwhile:
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #1: Remove the channel lock from Mindfield, and add an
 on/off syntax, similar to Psisense. Mindfield remains
 a poor substitute for Aethersight, to be dismissed
 immediately at Trans Discernment, but at least does
 not actively hinder a Psymet.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #2: Retain the channel lock on Mindfield, and add an
 affliction to the skill. On a successful scry hit,
 psionic power overwhelms the scryer's sight, causing
 the Crow Eyepeck affliction without generating an
 eyeball. This should dissuade repeated scrying
 attempts while adding a bit of flavor to the skill.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #3: Improve the range of abilities that trigger Mindfield
 backlash to all Psionics, Telepathy, and Telekinesis
 skills against the Mindfield user, not just ones that
 cause psychic damage. If implemented with solution 1,
 a slightly lower damage amount on trigger might be
 necessary. If implemented with solution 2, remove
 damage component, and instead give a percentage
 chance to pop an eye, roughly the same level as
 Phantasms PhantomArmour.
Player Comments:
---[Ilaveuse on 3/3 @ 23:04 writes]:
I like solutions 1 and 3, but I'm against 2. Pecked eyes are a regeneration
affliction, and giving a double regen affliction plus the effect of having no
eyes for scrying somebody that may or may not have mindfield up seems like too
much. Or used a dominate skill to force a scry in order to hit the person with
double pecked eyes. And furthermore, given that Glomdoring actually has a use
for pecked eyes and nobody else does, giving them the ability to aslo create
eyes that way seems unfair.
---[Lehki on 3/4 @ 15:20 writes]:
Solution 2 is way too much, even if it was one pecked eye. Maybe blind instead,
though that seems equally as pointless. I think that solution 3 would be best
route for making this actually useful.
---[Raeri on 3/5 @ 06:12 writes]:
Solution 3 would be pretty crazy though, since it'd be what, 15% total health
backlash per TK/TP combo?
---[Thul on 3/5 @ 06:36 writes]:
The point of the excercise is to give scrying against Mindfield something that
says "Hey, I
---[Thul on 3/5 @ 06:37 writes]:
The point of the excercise is to give scrying against Mindfield something that
says "Hey, I shouldn't scry against this guy again" without killing someone
outright. It's going to have to be fairly severe, otherwise it's not going to
get the job done. An herb cure probably isn't going to be enough to discourage
people. Eyepeck came to my mind first because it's a regeneration cure, and
readily noticable when it happens to you. Haven't really dealt with a lot of
dominate skills, honestly, so I'm not sure exactly how easy it'd be to force
someone to scry like that, but that's a valid point. Eyeballs... Nekotai can
already act as spectacular eyeball dispensers. They aren't the rare commodity
you think they are. And 15%, isn't that like, just one sip? If it remains a
locked skill, the attacker can just read Disruption, anyway.
---[Ilaveuse on 3/6 @ 00:08 writes]:
Well, seeing as Glomdoring are the only people that use eyeballs, it's still
unbalanced in their favor. But that's beside the point. The real problem is the
possibility of forcing. For example, a Moondancer could just pooka a target to
scry a monk, even if the monk wasn't in the room or anything, to cause double
pecked eyes. That's way, way too powerful.
---[Thul on 3/10 @ 23:47 writes]:
It doesn't have to actually generate the eyeballs. In fact, it's probably better
from a litter standpoint if they don't. Great. As for forcing... if someone was
going to do it in combat, they'd have to A) catch the target on balance, B) know
in advance what particular scrying method the target is going to have available,
and C) hope that the method is out and ready. In the majority of cases, force-
scrying would be easily thwarted by simply having your ring unworn or your map
put away until it needs to actually be used. In any case, even if force-scrying
is a viable strategy, it's one that's usable by all factions, as all of them
have at least one guild with access to a dominate ability.
---[Ilaveuse on 3/11 @ 07:09 writes]:
Okay, forget the eyeballs, they're not the issue. But those issues with forcing
are true for numerous actions that I've seen people force for, they're not
really a stopping point to it. And it still remains that it would wind up in a
double regen affliction. AND it would put the guilds that have a clear-cut
scrying method at a disadvantage, because there wouldn't be any wondering about
what they would have. Sure, maybe you run into issues with not knowing whether
the person has scry or window, for example, but once you get the right one you
can still run rapid double pecked eyes. And it would suddenly become a
disadvantage to have scry or window as an actual skill, rather than an
enchantment. Still too much. Solution 3 is better.
---[Raeri on 3/11 @ 11:26 writes]:
For Solution 3, 15% might mean "just one sip", but that's potentially tying up
every (or every second) potion balance if a TP/TK wants to be using a full combo
every 6(?) seconds. So no wound curing, no sipping mana if you need to clot down
bleeding. And the monk would still be hitting you. It might be easier to see my
objection to this one if I reversed that comment and suggested that telepaths
gained a skill which dealt a backlash of 5% ego damage per hit when a monk
attacks (so 15% ego drained per monk combo). You could probably also cover that
by sipping, but it's not counting in any of the other parts of their offense.
Besides, Solution 3 doesn't do anything to help the anti-scrying part of the
skill. Solution 2, the peckedeye on psychic damage would turn the skill into a
passive regen affliction on a tic against illusionists (I believe both mages and
bards get a psychic damage ticing affliction). That said though, I do think it
needs upgrading. I'd go with Solution 1, at the very least, but I personally
don't think passive Eyepeck or anti-TP/TK is the way to go.
---[Thul on 3/11 @ 22:20 writes]:
So is your problem more that the affliction is too strong, or that players with
a dominate ability would have another way to cause an affliction? If it's the
latter, that's really an issue with dominate. If it's just that the affliction
is too strong, there're a number of other things that can be done in place of
double eyepeck. Single eyepeck, guaranteed on scry, chance on psionics hit is
one. Percentage willpower drain is another. There's also blackout, and/or a
random selection from a list of mental afflictions. Power drain was suggested in
an earlier report, and so was a new effect that actively just prevents future
scrying, though those two options seem to have been passed over for whatever
reason. There're a lot of things that can be done. I'm pushing for some sort of
easily-noticable and hindering affliction, however, as that's what's most likely
to get noticed and dissuade future scrying attempts.
---[Thul on 3/11 @ 22:36 writes]:
Solution 3 doesn't address the scrying problem because it's addressing a
different area in which Mindfield is lacking. Mindfield's components are: scry
notification for anyone not allied, a penalty to dissuade future scrying, and
feedback against psionic attacks. The third part has been part of Mindfield's
design from the beginning, just a part that nobody seems to be aware of because
there are about four player skills that actually trigger it, and for whatever
reason, you have to be in the same room for it to even go off like that. As
stated above, I'd prefer some sort of affliction over damage, as it's more
likely to get noticed. Maybe a percentage chance to pop an eye on a psionics
ability hit in lieu of damage? Or whatever affliction is decided on? Passive
affliction of this kind already happens with things like PhantomArmour, so I
don't see a big issue there.
---[Ilaveuse on 3/12 @ 00:24 writes]:
Even a single pecked eye is too much, I think. Really it boils down to the fact
that you're proposing to give monks (of all people) a passive, power-free
regeneration-cured affliction. I would much rather go with something like
phantomarmour if we have to go with giving monks passives. Blackout or a mental
affliction would be better. Seems to fit the flavor more as well.
---[Thul on 3/12 @ 21:12 writes]:
There's no power cost on mindfield. Instead, there's a psionic channel lock,
which means that if a psychomet is using the ability, he doesn't get to use a
number of his active powers, or lock a different helpful power. This is far more
limiting than a one-time power cost. I don't believe that it would be balanced
to both get rid of the channel lock and have it cause afflictions, however, and
I'll shortly be updating the solutions for final submission. I believe that
single eyepop, guaranteed on scry, possibility on psionics hit will be balanced
if the channel lock remains. If attacking a psymet with TK/TP, the way to not
get hit is to read disruption. If scrying, the way to not get hit is to stop
scrying (which is the point of the skill in the first place.) And if you're
still getting hit with eyepop someplace you can't read disruption at the monk...
your problem isn't the monk.
---[Thul on 3/12 @ 21:14 writes]:
Updated solution 2, which formerly read as follows: "2: On a scry hit, cause
both of the scryer's eyeballs to pop out of his head, as per Crow Eyepeck. This
will provide the intended discouragement from scrying and add a bit of flavor to
a blandly-implemented skill. Consider single peckedeye on psychic damage."
---[Thul on 3/12 @ 21:16 writes]:
Updated solution 3, which formerly read as follows: "3: Improve the range of
abilities that trigger Mindfield backlash to all Psionics skills against the
Mindfield user, not just ones that cause psychic damage."
---[Ilaveuse on 3/12 @ 23:37 writes]:
I still think passive regeneration afflictions that come from a forceable action
are too powerful, Scroll of Disruption aside. And I don't get how eyepeck fits
the flavor at all. You cup your hands, fill them with water, look through it at
somebody and... an eye falls out? Wot? It's a backlash against your mind, so
stupidity/epilepsy/paranoia/whatever makes more sense. It's more balanced, makes
more sense, and locking a channel for passive/forceable mental afflictions would
be worthwhile. Possibly consider using the same affliction list as Moon's Dark
or something.
---[Xenthos on 3/28 @ 15:45 writes]:
I'd say solution 1 here, having eyeballs burst when you scry seems a bit
excessive to me.
---[Fillin on 3/29 @ 16:39 writes]:
Solutions 1 or 2 are acceptable in my opinion. Solution 3 if it remained for
psychic damage only, but entire TK/TP combos would be too much. Keep in mind
that there are 3 psi attacks per combo, so as phantomarmour is ridiculous for
monks, mindfield would be ridiculous for everybody it affects. Even moreso since
eyepeck can stack with itself a bit, unlike blackout.