User:Phol ende wodan/SpellsOverhaul
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This is a proposal to rework NetHack's spells so that they scale more smoothly with skill, are more usable with roles that can't excel in them, are less dependent on experience level, and do not duplicate the effects of consumable resources.
The primary feature of this proposal is that most spells have both "lesser" and "greater" forms; the greater form is higher level but has stronger effects. Both spell forms are found in the same spellbook, and can be read separately. The player can choose which of the two forms to cast. (If they find themselves casting only one most of the time, the spell rearrange menu will allow the player to configure whether it should default to the lesser form, the greater form, or prompt the user.)
Spell schools are changed as well, mostly drawing on the spell portion of the class overhaul proposal. In particular, this removes Clerical spells. Several of the other spells also move between schools, sacrificing some flavor to gain gameplay.
This proposal is not for a full spellcasting overhaul. Assume that power regeneration, skill caps, spell failure rates, and any other mechanics all work the same as they do in vanilla.
This was written with monsters-casting-player-spells in mind, so assume that monsters will receive only spells from this list instead of their normal assortment.
Mechanics
Any spell effect that references "resisting monsters" refers to the monster getting a chance of resisting based on its monster magic resistance. Your caster level for these purposes is not simply your experience level; it gains bonuses for skill: +0 for Restricted/Unskilled, +5 for Basic, +10 for Skilled and +15 for Expert. Casting greater spell forms may give more bonuses, which will be noted there.
Temporary intrinsics granted by these spells do not stack with any other temporary source of that intrinsic; they will just set it to the maximum of their own value and the current value.
Any formula that directly uses "skill" as a variable uses the values 0 for Restricted or Unskilled, 1 for Basic, 2 for Skilled, and 3 for Expert.
Changed spells
| Spell | School | Level | Lesser effects | Greater effects | Level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Force bolt | Attack | 1 | (skill+1)d12 damage; not a fixed chance to hit but has a to-hit bonus of +2. Resisting monsters take half damage. | (skill+3)d12 damage; same to-hit bonus. Doesn't break any items on the floor or in monster inventories. Resisting monsters take half damage. | 3 |
| Magic missile | Attack | 2 | Rolls 6 dice of damage. Die size depends on skill level: d4 unskilled, d6 basic, d8 skilled, d10 expert. Resisting monsters take half damage. | Same formula, but rolls 10 dice. Resisting monsters take three-quarters damage. | 4 |
| Turn undead | Attack | 1 | Deals (skill+1)d8 damage to undead monsters. Nonresisting monsters whose level is half of yours or below are destroyed instantly. | Deals (skill+4)d8 damage to undead monsters. Nonresisting monsters whose level is three-fourths of yours or below are destroyed instantly. | 4 |
| Drain life | Attack | 2 | Drain (skill+2)/2 levels from monster (0 if it resists), and deal (levels drained + 1)d6 damage. Limited to melee range. Drains items on the ground and in monsters' inventories. | Same effects, but the spell is now a beam that will not stop at the first monster. Also restore the caster's HP by half of the total HP lost by each monster. | 5 |
| Cone of cold / fireball | Attack | 3 | Current basic effects; fires a ray that explodes in a fireball/cold blast when it hits anything. Range of the ray increases by 2 per skill level. | Current advanced effects: choose a spot within 10 squares that you can see or where you know a monster is, and create (skill+2)-9 explosions on and around that space. | 6 |
| Touch of death | Attack | 5 | Melee range touch of death. Lucky for the monster, it might not work! The usual monsters are immune (undead, demons, angelics). Monsters who successfully resist once attempt to resist again: if they fail this, they are drained 2 levels; if they succeed, they take (skill+4)d6 damage. | Same effects as the touch of death, except that if a monster single-resists and then fails, they are still killed. Two resists and a fail drains 2 levels; three resists deals (skill+6)d6 damage. | 7 |
| Detect monsters | Divination | 1 | Gives temporary warning across the whole level for (skill+2)d6 turns | Detects monsters across the level for (skill+2)d6 turns | 2 |
| Light | Divination | 1 | Lights up an area within line of sight whose radius scales with skill level: 4 for unskilled, 6 for basic, 9 for skilled, 12 for expert | Reflectable ray that "explodes" when it hits something non-reflecting or at the end of its ray, causing everything adjacent to be blinded and lighting the area in a radius as per skill level (lighting it in line of the space where it explodes, not your space.) | 3 |
| Detect unseen | Divination | 2 | Detects unseen things in a radius scaling with skill level (same radii as with light); however, the farther from you a space is, the lower the chance it is detected. Rough scaling of this is 100% next to you down to about 25% at the far edge. | Similar effects, but with a +3 radius and a 100% chance of detecting things, and gives (skill+1)d6 turns of intrinsic automatic searching. | 4 |
| Identify | Divination | 3 | Type-identifies a number of items in inventory scaling with skill level. 1 for unskilled, d2+1 for basic, d4+1 for skilled, d6+1 for expert. | Identifies type, beatitude, and erosionproof status of the same number (scaled with skill) of items in inventory. Not charges or enchantment, though. | 5 |
| Detect treasure | Divination | 3 | Detects all gold, gems, and artifacts in a radius scaling with skill: 6 unskilled, 9 basic, 12 skilled, 15 expert. | Same radius, but detects any items. | 5 |
| Magic mapping | Divination | 2 | Maps a radius around you and all dungeon features: 2 unskilled, 4 basic, 6 skilled, 8 expert. Does not detect secret doors. | Same effects, plus increases all radii by 6. | 4 |
| Sleep | Enchantment | 1 | Puts non-resisting monsters to sleep for (skill + 2)d4 turns. Skill bonuses versus monster magic resistance apply. | Puts non-resisting monsters to sleep for (skill + 4)d8 turns. Skill bonuses versus monster magic resistance apply, with a further +10 bonus. | 5 |
| Confuse monster | Enchantment | 2 | Directional, with range 1 or, rarely, 2. Non-resisting monsters in this direction become confused. Skill bonuses versus monster MR apply. | Attempts to confuse all monsters within a 3-square radius. Skill bonuses versus monster MR apply, with a further +10 bonus. | 7 |
| Cause fear | Enchantment | 3 | Scares non-resistant monsters within radius 3. Skill bonuses versus monster MR apply. | Scares non-resistant monsters within radius 8. Skill bonuses versus monster MR apply, with a further +Cha bonus. | 6 |
| Charm monster | Enchantment | 2 | Temporarily pacifies adjacent non-resisting hostile monsters (for (2+skill)d8 turns). Skill bonuses versus monster MR apply, with a further +Cha bonus. If trying to pacify an angry shopkeeper or aligned priest, has a further +30 bonus. | Attempts to tame a single adjacent non-resisting monster. Skill bonuses versus monster MR apply, with +Cha and +10 bonuses. | 7 |
| Remove curse | Enchantment | 2 | Removes curse from (skill+1) items (any; player chooses) | Removes curse from (skill+1)d3 items (any; player chooses) | 3 |
| Invisibility | Enchantment | 3 | Melee range. Target becomes invisible for (skill + 6)d6 turns. If already intrinsically invisible, offers to end invisibility instead. | Melee range. Target becomes invisible and stealthy for (skill*2 + 6)d6 turns. If already intrinsically invisible, offers to end invisibility instead. | 5 |
| Cancellation | Enchantment | 2 | Cancels a nonresisting monster in melee range. Skill bonuses versus monster magic resistance do NOT apply. | Cancels a nonresisting monster in melee range and all objects on its square. Skill bonuses versus monster magic resistance apply, plus a +20 bonus. | 5 |
| Healing | Healing | 1 | Heals (skill+3)d4 hit points. If directed at a monster, the beam stops when it hits a monster. | Same effect, except heals (skill+3)d10 hit points. | 3 |
| Cure sickness | Healing | 3 | Current effects; cures sickness. | Cures sickness if sick. If not sick, grants 4d5 turns of sickness resistance. | 5 |
| Restoration | Healing | 2 | Restores 1d(skill+1) lost skill points. | Restores 4d(skill+1) lost skill points, and if your maximum HP is less than its former maximum, increases 1d4 maxHP up to that former level. | 4 |
| Panacea | Healing | 2 | Beam spell. The only spell that can be cast while confused or stunned. Target monster has three separate (skill+1)/4 chances of clearing blindness, clearing confusion, and clearing stunning. | Same effects, plus the target gains immunity to blindness, confusion, and stunning for (skill+2)d4 turns. | 5 |
| Resurrection | Healing | 5 | Resurrects a corpse on your space with its maximum HP cut to half and its current HP set to 1/3 of that. Only works on monsters whose base level is (skill+1)/2 times your experience level. | Resurrects a corpse on your space with full maximum HP and full HP. No level limitations. A pet resurrected in this way will always come back tame. | 7 |
| Knock | Matter | 1 | If Unskilled, opens an unlocked door. If Basic or above, unlocks doors and containers. If Skilled or above, also opens the door. | Can be targeted on any doorway in line-of-sight and in radius 3*(skill+1). When it hits a door, notifies you of any unseen monsters within 2 squares of the door (showing as I). If a door or a container is trapped, it notifies you and asks you whether you want to remove the trap. Always unlocks. | 3 |
| Wizard lock | Matter | 2 | If Unskilled, closes a door. If Basic or above, locks it. Creates the door if it's broken or not there. | Always closes and locks, and creates a door if not there. Forces items and monsters off the square to adjacent squares. (If a monster can't move off the square, it becomes embedded in the door.) Can be targeted on any doorway in line-of-sight and in radius 3*(skill+1). At Skilled or above, door becomes secret. | 4 |
| Create familiar | Matter | 3 | Monster lists based on skill level:
|
Creates a monster of the appropriate list depending on skill with a boosted base level and maximum HP, scaling based on your XL. | 6 |
| Dig | Matter | 1 | Shoots a weaker digging ray that digs about half as far as a wand of digging does currently. | Digs one space in all directions and shoots a weak digging ray in one direction. | 3 |
| Polymorph | Matter | 5 | Polymorph beam 3 spaces long. Morphs objects on the ground. Nonresisting monsters polymorph randomly. nted from polymorphing into something of significantly higher difficulty. | Same effects, except the player is allowed to choose what form any nonresisting monsters are turned into, so long as that form is of lower or equal difficulty. If they refuse to choose, use the same random logic as above. | 7 |
| Jumping | Movement | 1 | Jumps. Range scales based on skill: Unskilled is 2 spaces orthogonally, Basic is 2 spaces in any direction, Skilled is that plus knight's moves, Expert is that plus 3 spaces orthogonally (equivalent to current jumping boots). | Jumps. Range scales based on skill, using current jumping spell distances. Additionally, the jump may pass through hiding monsters or monsters underwater. | 3 |
| Haste self | Movement | 1 | Player gains very fast speed for (skill + 2)d6 turns. | Player gains very fast speed for (skill + 4)d12 turns. | 3 |
| Levitation | Movement | 2 | Player levitates for (skill+2)d6 more turns, and cannot willingly end it. | Player levitates for (skill+2)d20 more turns, and can end it at will. | 4 |
| Teleport away | Movement | 3 | Teleports one adjacent nonresisting monster and any objects on that space, if the level allows teleportation. Skill bonuses versus monster MR apply. Teleports self if targeted at self. This is deliberately cheaper than Ctrl-T teleport. | Same effects, but if the level doesn't allow teleportation gives a -50 penalty to caster level. | 5 |
New spells
| Name | School | Low level | Lesser effects | Greater effects | High level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lightning | Attack | 5 | Ray of lightning that deals (skill+4)d6 shock damage. | Ray of lightning that, whenever it hits a reflecting target, may send the beam in a random direction, and whenever it hits a nonreflecting target and has more distance to go, may spawn up to (skill+1) beams in random directions. Deals 8d6 shock damage. | 7 |
| Paralysis | Enchantment | 3 | Melee range. Paralyzes a monster for (skill+1)d2 turns. | Same effects, but paralysis lasts for (skill+1)d6 turns. | 5 |
| Repair | Matter | 2 | Repairs erosion on a player-selected item. 50% chance of repairing one level if Unskilled, one level guaranteed if Basic, two if Skilled, three if Expert. | Fully repairs erosion on an item, and erosionproofs it if Skilled or higher. | 4 |
| Shove | Movement | 2 | Beam spell, first monster it hits will be shoved backwards up to 1d(skill+1) squares. Shoving a monster could be similar to dealing it a staggering blow. | Same, except shoves outward in all 8 directions at once. | 7 |
| Summon allies | Matter | 4 | Summons up to (skill+1) tame monsters around a hostile targetable monster. The monsters' level can be no higher than half your XL. | Summons up to (skill+2) tame monsters around a hostile targetable monster. The monsters' level can be no higher than your XL. | 7 |
Removed spells
- Protection: its formula is extremely complex and it is annoying to cast repeatedly.
- Create monster: in any game with a coaligned altar, enables infinitely renewable food, prayer, luck, favors, and gifts.
- Detect food: used by no one ever.
- Clairvoyance: removed in favor of better magic mapping scaling.
- Cure blindness: used by virtually no one ever.
- Slow monster: NetHack's speed system for monsters is too uncomplicated to be a scaling spell. The wand of slow monster covers the single case of permanently slowing a monster.
- Extra healing: Folded into greater healing, no longer needs a separate spell.
- Stone to flesh: Works better as a wand than as a spell; effects are too uncomplicated to be a scaling spell.
Other things
- Add a wand of stone to flesh, replacing the spell. Healers start with one.
- Wands of locking now optionally let you set a trap on the door.
- Wands of digging now dig a 3x3 space at the end of their ray.
- The wand of undead turning remains a source of corpse resurrection, but the spell no longer does it.
