Report 1208

Report #1208
Skillset: Night Skill: Shadowtwist
 Org: Shadowdancers Status: Completed Jun 2013
Furies' Decision:
Solution 1.
Problem: Shadowtwist contains many of the core afflictions which make up a
Shadowdancer's offence. At present, if a shadow is unattainable, the
shadowdancer's offence is greatly decreased. In group combat out of the arena,
if a Shadowdancer dies and had a shadow, that shadow drops, and can be picked up
by an enemy to deny access to that shadow until the next dawn. Shadowdancers in
the arena can also purposely steal their own team's shadows in order to deny
opponent Shadowdancers access to shadowtwist. On the flip side of this, if a
Shadowdancer with a shadow is not killed, then that shadow will continue to
build twists, even if the opponent has been killed already by the Shadowdancer's
group. This can result in opponents re-engaging the Shadowdancer starting
extremely close to final twist, which further tilts a fight in the
Shadowdancer's favour more than it needs to be. I would like to propose either
solution 1 or 2 as a fix for this, and solution 3 as a fix and in order to
enable Shadowdancers access to their primary offensive spell even when a shadow
is not available for them.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #1: When a shadow touches the ground have it decay. This
 would dissolve the shadow when they die, so they can
 re-acquire it when and if they return. In addition,
 when the person a shadow belongs to dies, have the
 shadow dissolve, as its owner is no longer alive
 (have this affect the shadow in the arena too), and
 allow a new shadow to be stolen from the owner
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #2: If solution 1 is too difficult to implement, have a 2
 minute (120 second) timer in a shadow until it
 decays. This timer can be reset back to 2 minutes by
 twisting, tightening, or squeezing the shadow.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #3: Either in addition to 1 OR 2, or as a stand alone
 improvement: Create a new skill, shadow effigy, which
 allows a Night user to create an effigy of a person's
 shadow using one shadow from their cauldron. The
 effigy would not give the mana-draining or damage
 boost of the original shadow. The effigy can be used
 in lieu of a shadow to shadowtwist, however
 tightening with an effigy will cost 3p and squeezing
 would cost 2p. This would allow shadowdancers who do
 not have access to an enemy's shadow to gain access
 to some of the afflictions in shadowtwist, while
 making final twist difficult to attain at 21 power.
 Tightening or squeezing the effigy would have no
 influence on the original shadow's tightens or
 squeezes.
Player Comments:
---[Asmodea on 6/11 @ 12:36 writes]:
I prefer solution 1. Though could just simplify it and say that if either the
shadowdancer who stole the shadow or the owner die, then the shadow dissipates.
Alternatively, could allow the witch who stole the shadow to SHADOWCALL the
shadow should they have lost it, providing it was stolen and theirs to begin
with.
---[Nihta on 6/12 @ 08:24 writes]:
Personally, I prefer solution 1 & 3 in combination, although I am unsure if
either can be coded in. Solution 3 also helps to deal with the fact that
Shadowdancers lose most of thier offensive capability without access to a
shadow.
---[Rivius on 6/12 @ 20:06 writes]:
To clarify, does solution 3 then allow for two people to shadowtwist a person at
the same time? I'd rather stay away from that. Solution 1 is reasonable and the
best way to go.
---[Nihta on 6/13 @ 00:34 writes]:
Solution 3 would allow for two shadowdancers to use the shadowtwist affliction
on someone, however, their shadows would remain seperate, and not add twists to
each other (and thus could not help each other build to a final twist). With a
3p cost to tighten, I tried to make solution 3 so that shadowdancers gain access
to some of the utility of shadowtwist when someone else has the shadow without
allowing them to reasonably build to a final twist (which would take 21 power).
---[Chade on 6/15 @ 00:08 writes]:
Solution 1 supported
---[Synkarin on 6/15 @ 00:10 writes]:
I think solution 1 is all that's needed here. Having multiple shadowdancers
twisting and squeezing seems a bit too much to me, even with the improved
powercost
---[Nihta on 6/15 @ 07:00 writes]:
The majority of the Night skillset's combat power is loaded into shadowtwist, if
shadowdancers lose access to it, Night becomes a minor support skillset,
crippling a shadowdancer's offence outside of a large group. Inside a large
group, I don't feel having access to shadowtwist would increase hindering more
than say, spamming nature vines. Two shadowdancers using twist in conjunction in
a small group combat would be the only situation I could see where this might be
troublesome, and even then, one would run out of power fairly quickly after the
first three twists. No other single target ability is crippled to this extent as
far as I know - only multiple target abilities block access to other people
using the same ability.
---[Ushaara on 6/17 @ 11:34 writes]:
I'm agreed with Synkarin. Solution #1 supported.
---[Enyalida on 6/20 @ 20:30 writes]:
Agree with Synkarin. Solution 1 is fine, 3 is not.
---[Shuyin on 6/20 @ 23:18 writes]:
Solution 1 only.
---[Nihta on 6/27 @ 22:37 writes]:
To clarify solution 1, the shadow would decay when it touches the ground
immediately (which happens when the holder dies). (there could be a room message
of the shadow traveling back to that person after touching the ground for RP).
The shadow would also decay if the person who the shadow belongs to dies (if
Kelly dies, then Kelly's shadow evaporates - but can be stolen again from the
resurrected Kelly.
---[Nihta on 6/27 @ 22:38 writes]:
Also, of solution 1 and 2, I would like to say I strongly prefer solution 1, if
its possible to do.