Daenks/Meridian59_103 — pull request #152 by M59Gar (2013-12-29 19:19:36+00:00)
Title: Touch Spell Repair & Balancing

Touch spells now do the kind of damage we all remember. The issue was
that touch spells had backwards stroke and proficiency code, so they
were left behind by damage changes. Here's the rundown on how things
work now (note that much of this stuff is the same as before):

Touch spells use 2*Mysticism or Punch for their proficiency, which will
add base damage. Pure mages will find that their touch spells are strong
right from the get-go. Fighters and hybrid characters will have to max
Punch to get the full proficiency damage.

Touch spells also have a larger random damage component
that is dependent on your % in the spell (not spellpower).

Holy Touch does not receive proficiency bonus damage, but instead does
double damage to undead.

I've changed it so that touch spells cannot fizzle, and so that their
spellpower is irrelevant to your damage or to-hit. Instead, the touch spell
will use your % in the spell. This will allow mages to switch elements
at will regardless of gear or AMA, and allow them to use their touch
spells to full effect regardless of prevailing conditions. This should make
touch spells more reliable (i.e. more like the weapon strokes that they
emulate).

Jewels of Froz now have drastically more durability, but scale their
bonuses based on the wielder's HP versus his maximum potential. (For
example, if your Stamina is 25, it's your current HP / 125). Mule PKs
will get almost no benefit.

**Bottom Line**

Touch spells are highly dependent on many factors that will scale
as players build. They will start out doing 3-8 damage, useful for
building on low-level monsters. As the player improves,
he can begin to do more damage, up to the 6-15 range.

Once a player has enough HP to use JoFs effectively, he can hit
the 12-24 range with 2 jofs. After that, victim resists and offensive
buffs can get that damage up to match even the best fighter's melee hit.

Of course, mages using two Jewels won't have Block or Parry...

The resulting balance remains to be seen.