ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

So... I thoroughly enjoy this category but here are my humble suggestions:

1. At talent level 5, ghouls that die within your Putrescence add 2 turns instead of 1. I'd like to suggest that 1 turn also be added to the initial duration so that it's not 3 turns per ghoul but instead 1 + 3/ghoul. Even better would be starting there and then making it 2 + 3/ghoul.

Currently, it's so tight that if you start it with one and anything goes wrong then you'll have to move or spend a turn and lose the Putrescence as it'll expire. Adding just that one (or two) turn would be immensely helpful. As it is, it's a little difficult to combo with things like Bone Yard/To the Grave...

2. The number ghouls that can start a Putrescent Liquefaction (PL) ought to be capped at 3. It's just a bit soul-inefficient as it is and so it discourages its use until later in the game when you can manage soul consumption better.

3. Master Necromancer...

This category is great for skeletons but a little mediocre for ghouls (suffer for me is great but not alone worth it for the entire category). As such, to tempt ghoulish necro's, I suggest that Surge of Undeath offer the speed and heal bonus to skeletons and Dreads but not ghouls. Why would you care about healing ghouls anyway? Instead , for ghouls, have it increases the duration of PL and Corpse Explosion by 1 turn per active talent level while also speeding up the summoning of a new, free ghoul by 1 turn per active talent level.


Well, those are my suggestions!

1. I agree. you can't really much use of this unless you have a few levels in it as it is. Radius is small, and duration too short to use it at level 1. Not worth the turn use. Personally, I don't really bother with it or any of the other ghoul abilities until I have adept, as I don't feel they are worth the talent levels. Putrescence and Explosion are not very good with one point invested. I would probably use the explosion if I didn't have to waste a point on Putrescence to get to it, and those points are VERY precious early through to late game. I still say explosion should come before Putrescence.

2. Yes, I can agree with this too. 9 turns is plenty to start out, and you will most likely have a few ghouls die in those 9 turns, definitely if you use explosion.

3. Agree again. I don't see any reason to get Master Necromancer with ghouls as it currently stands. The resistances and power output is OK with the first ability, but if you just plan on blowing them up anyhow, you just need then to last long enough until they explode.

Given the potential damage output from your spells, I'm wondering if the ghoul tree on Insane will simply become under-powered...

With that in mind, I have another suggestion:

Putrescent Liquefaction:

All resistances (including resist all) decline 5% per turn but instantly reset once out of the Putrescence.