Report 351

Report #351
Skillset: Wicca Skill: Slaugh
 Org: Shadowdancers Status: Completed Apr 2010
Furies' Decision:
Replaced pox with repugnance, sunallergy left in for now.
Problem: As it stands, slaughs currently have the passive ability to afflict
with dysentery, rigormortis, worms, pox, or sunallergy. Two of these afflictions
passively counteract a fairly reliable sleeplock because of their inherent
nature to cause damage and wake the victim up.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #1: Replace sunallergy and pox with any two from the
 following list to keep with the plague theme:
 epilepsy, paranoia, confusion, repugnance, or
 hemiplegy.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #2: Alter the passive damaging effects of sunallergy and
 pox into an effect which won't wake targets.
 Sunallergy goes through a variety of stages including
 damage, paralysis and eventual death. Perhaps have
 sunallergy cause sensitivity instead of damage on the
 first effect tic, or have it cause paralysis all
 throughout until it kills or is cured and have pox
 cause some amount of bleeding instead of damaging and
 neither should wake a sleeping target up.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #3: Along the lines of solution 2, instead of sunallergy
 doing sensitivity or paralysis instead of damaging
 the health, have it damage the mana instead. Perhaps
 something along the lines of 'You suffer a ferocious
 headache under the harsh light of the sun' or
 something. Same suggestion for pox - just have it
 cause some bleeding instead of actual damage.
Player Comments:
---[Ilaveuse on 4/8 @ 23:32 writes]:
The major thing that sticks out at me in this report is hemiplegy. Given that
barghest already paralyzes, I'm not a fan of giving another paralysis that
stacks up with that on top of everything else. Just something to consider.
---[Viynain on 4/9 @ 07:20 writes]:
I wouldn't mind swapping that out for something else, really. As long as the
affliction doesn't do damage and (somehow) conforms to the plague bit, I'll be
happy.
---[Ilaveuse on 4/9 @ 09:05 writes]:
Not quite sure how hemiplegy fits the plague anyway, so yeah, I think look at
another affliction in its place.
---[Romero on 4/9 @ 21:40 writes]:
The list of possible effects is too strong. As has been the case with many
'skills' its agreed on that some things need to be useless. Hemiplegy would stop
running just the same as rigormortis, epilepsy would stack too much with
brownie, paranoia would turn effects against someone in choke as would
repugnance. Basically this is a big 'please give me better effects for choke'
upgrade. If you were going for balanced and trying to just better your sleeplock
you could delete the two affs that cause you problems and leave rigormortis
which is already useful for stopping runners, dysentery which is a good aff, and
worms which is questionable but it leads to uncon in choke. Other suggested
afflictions to add could be dementia, lethargy, dizziness. Dementia is an aff
that will require a cure but won't bother as much as paranoia leading to effects
hitting yourself and allies in choke, Dizziness will stop running from choke and
is not as OP as hemiplegy or epilepsy. Lethargy will stop flying to escape choke
and is also another cure that isn't as OP as the ones you suggested.
---[Viynain on 4/9 @ 23:34 writes]:
Or we can..follow the set plague theme as been defined by other abilities like
Contagion, SickeningPlague, CarillonKnell, Spew, etc. If I recall correctly, all
of the suggested changes (and mind, I'm leaving that choice up to Sior to make
on which two to put in) are already available from other passive afflicting
classes (save for repugnance, which would be dandy) and I'm not seeing any
considerations for those actively existing abilities already. Of course, this
argument is to be expected from those who have these same afflictions available
to them yet wouldn't want to actually see them used against themselves by their
opponents.
---[Ilaveuse on 4/10 @ 03:16 writes]:
I can't say I know the full list of plague afflictions, but I kind of like both
of these comments. I'm in favour of providing a solid list of plague
afflictions, I wouldn't mind it being balanced with the other plague skills. I
have to say though, I like dementia, dizziness, and lethargy as suggestions for
afflictions. Romero makes some good points about why they would be good choices,
I think.
---[Viynain on 4/10 @ 04:11 writes]:
I'd rather not a list predominantly made up of focus mind cures. Lethargy to
stop flying isn't particularly desirable since people don't fly to escape choke,
and tossing in 'filler' afflictions as dementia and dizziness as opposed to
actual useful ones would just water the ability down.
---[Ilaveuse on 4/10 @ 08:01 writes]:
Well, the point about dizziness is at least a fair one, I've had a good bit of
success in keeping the target in the room due to dizziness from sliceear. But I
also can't say I exactly see the issue with focus mind cures, since given how
much mana it takes, it just sort of feeds toad...
---[Viynain on 4/10 @ 09:00 writes]:
Oh, also, lethargy doesn't exist anymore after the whole streamlining thing, so
that suggestion won't fly. Thanks to the people who reminded me about that wee
little fact.
---[Ilaveuse on 4/10 @ 17:59 writes]:
Heh, okay, lethargy's definitely out. In that case, I think I'd probably prefer
paranoia, of the suggested list.
---[Lehki on 4/14 @ 03:30 writes]:
Not really a fan of solution 1, most of the suggested afflictions would be
pretty strong additions.
---[Ilaveuse on 4/15 @ 16:39 writes]:
I like solution 2, the parts involving damage that doesn't wake and sensitivity.
I'm against having it give repeated paralysis until cured, though. Given that
both sunallergy and paralysis can be delivered through poisons, having
sunallergy deliver paralysis on affliction that repeats and leads to a death
would make mantakaya somewhat redundant. I don't particularly care for the
damaging mana idea, mostly since there are already so many mana drains.
---[Nejii on 4/16 @ 15:14 writes]:
Redundant is better than actively counterproductive.
---[Ilaveuse on 4/17 @ 10:23 writes]:
But we'd be changing the affliction itself, which would have farther-reaching
effects than just Shadowdancers. Having sunallergy give paralysis as soon as it
hits means mantakaya would never get used, there wouldn't be any point. Besides,
having sunallergy give constant paralysis is a similar problem to having the
slaugh give hemiplegy, which we already talked about.
---[Viynain on 4/17 @ 17:53 writes]:
I'd agree if sunallergy automatically tic'd on affliction, but it doesn't. Cure
it out before it tics and you don't get hit with the paralysis.
---[Ilaveuse on 4/18 @ 23:29 writes]:
Oh, I thought we were proposing to change the affliction to paralyze on
delivery. Either way, I still don't like that due to the same problems with
hemiplegy, and everything (even sunallergy) is harder to cure in Choke. Plus...
I don't know about you lot, but passive paralysis in a pyromesne makes me
shudder.
---[Viynain on 4/19 @ 20:13 writes]:
Somehow, the passive paralysis really isn't the thing that sticks out at me in
Pyromelds.
---[Fillin on 4/20 @ 05:29 writes]:
I agree with making sunallergy paralyze straightaway, though it shouldn't take
any less time to insta than it does now, and making pox do bleeding instead of
damage/mana (but not a lot; it's supposed to be a pretty weak affliction, I
think).
---[Viynain on 4/20 @ 20:35 writes]:
-nod- As long as the change renders the chosen afflictions to not wake the
target up, I'd be pretty happy, really. Moreso if the chosen afflictions are
useful!
---[Ilaveuse on 4/22 @ 23:12 writes]:
I mean passive paralysis on top of everything else in a pyromesne would be hell.
Less so since the changes, but still. It just seems too strong for an affliction
that's too easy to land. And having passive paralysis would be terrible in a
slitlock, as paralysis stops at least Full, not sure about Green/Gedulah. One
extra poison for a monk or something to deliver that makes the lock virtually
impossible to escape (except with artifact soap) that leads to a self-contained
instakill? No thanks.
---[Fillin on 4/24 @ 06:14 writes]:
Sunallergy is a simple liniment cure that's very possible to cure before it even
ticks once, and it doesn't even work indoors/at night. With the pyro nerfs, you
should even be able to cure it in a pyromeld before the affliction ticks once.
Paralysis is of little consequence in a slitlock since, not only can you still
focus body while slitlocked, you can still green/gedulah. If you show me a monk
that would use saxitin to secure a slitlock instead of calcise, I'd have to give
him the noob stamp. And if you really wanted to deliver paralysis with your
poisons, there is a much more effective and obvious choice that is so commonly
used I don't think I even need to name it here.
---[Talan on 4/29 @ 21:36 writes]:
How about something as simple as an endurance hit, as opposed to paralysis? It's
as benign in immediate effect as the small health damage, but will help if
you're trying to sleep them.
---[Viynain on 4/30 @ 23:59 writes]:
I wouldn't mind an endurance drain either!