Why not give the player an adrenaline shot when he gets hit real hard? Anything that hits you for >50% damage will kill you the next turn (presumably) so it should put you on the edge:
+100% speed for 1 turn (total speed 200%)
+50% evade for one turn (reflexes)
+saves (mental, physical, magical) for one turn (alertness)
The idea would be, to give the player a small extra chance to survive a life-threatening situation. I could also give some nice graphical sugar (add sounds, graphic effects and a screen overlay ^_^).
All players would get this, regardless of race/class (except maybe undead because I hate undead :3 - besides they don't have adrenaline). Maybe some talents could improve this one.
+speed when hit for >50% max hp damage in one hit
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Re: +speed when hit for >50% max hp damage in one hit
This would make a good talent or artifact special effect.
I can't really see it being a 'just because it's the player' thing though. Tome Actors and the player are intentionally very similar. Something like this might work in an easier difficulty but it really doesn't fit the current feel of the game (especially not roguelike difficulty).
What might be nice though is if speed or damage was reduced as you got hurt
Say -5% global (or just movement if that's to harsh) or -5% to all damage for every 10% health you've lost. This could work easily enough for both monsters and players 
I can't really see it being a 'just because it's the player' thing though. Tome Actors and the player are intentionally very similar. Something like this might work in an easier difficulty but it really doesn't fit the current feel of the game (especially not roguelike difficulty).
What might be nice though is if speed or damage was reduced as you got hurt
Say -5% global (or just movement if that's to harsh) or -5% to all damage for every 10% health you've lost. This could work easily enough for both monsters and players Re: +speed when hit for >50% max hp damage in one hit
If a reasonably-well built character ever takes more than 50% damage from a single attack, I think that should be reported as a design issue. That's just way too much damage to take from a single source in a single attack. In general, games try to scale attacks more slowly than health/damage resistance, so that end-game mobs and players last longer (and everyone gets a chance to use all those fun skills they have learned). ToME seems to hold to this ideal most of the time, but there are a few things that just scale too well. Granted, this is a roguelike, so some amount of danger is expected, but this should be from lack of foresight or taking on tremendous challenges, not outright overpowered skills. Honestly, I think shielding runes have distorted some of the game's challenge. There are some situations I simply could not have lived through without my instant-cast, damage-nullifying shields. I'd welcome weaker shields in return for overall greater survivability 
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All that said, a "final blow" mechanic would be nice - a chance to act just before your character takes mortal damage. Working that into current gameplay would be tough, and we'd all probably be worse off if NPCs got the same treatment.
@edge: I like that idea, too. Reducing-damage-when-damaged has the unfortunate side-effect of putting individual strong attacks over multiple weak attacks, unless the appropriate adjustment is made. A little integral calculus is all that would be needed to address that. Or, you could apply the damage reduction before the damage and actually penalize large attacks. An interesting thought.
.All that said, a "final blow" mechanic would be nice - a chance to act just before your character takes mortal damage. Working that into current gameplay would be tough, and we'd all probably be worse off if NPCs got the same treatment.
@edge: I like that idea, too. Reducing-damage-when-damaged has the unfortunate side-effect of putting individual strong attacks over multiple weak attacks, unless the appropriate adjustment is made. A little integral calculus is all that would be needed to address that. Or, you could apply the damage reduction before the damage and actually penalize large attacks. An interesting thought.
Sorry about all the parentheses (sometimes I like to clarify things).
Re: +speed when hit for >50% max hp damage in one hit
Reducing speed and damage when hurt might be more realistic, it will create a downward spiral and a lot of ugliness. You get hurt > you get slower > you are in a world of hurt.
My suggestion was to make the game more fun and balanced, rather than making defeat faster.
We can also give it to all humanoids, including hostiles. Might make the game a lot harder and change the 'feel' of the game.
@bricks: I get hit quite often for almost full HP (for example when I am fighting level 30 elites in an innocent looking tomb just outside a peaceful town). There are many monsters and bosses that can hit quite hard.
My suggestion was to make the game more fun and balanced, rather than making defeat faster.
We can also give it to all humanoids, including hostiles. Might make the game a lot harder and change the 'feel' of the game.
@bricks: I get hit quite often for almost full HP (for example when I am fighting level 30 elites in an innocent looking tomb just outside a peaceful town). There are many monsters and bosses that can hit quite hard.
Re: +speed when hit for >50% max hp damage in one hit
If it was given to all humanoids it would be a more interesting mechanic for sure.
My thought was semi-sarcastic but having hit points be something more then just a binary you're alive if you're above X and dead if you're below 0 mechanic wouldn't be bad and working some kinda adrenaline spike in for big hits isn't a terrible thought, as long as it's not just for the player (in my opinion anyway).
My thought was semi-sarcastic but having hit points be something more then just a binary you're alive if you're above X and dead if you're below 0 mechanic wouldn't be bad and working some kinda adrenaline spike in for big hits isn't a terrible thought, as long as it's not just for the player (in my opinion anyway).
Re: +speed when hit for >50% max hp damage in one hit
Yeah, I know. Damage seems rather inflated after a point. Fighting things beyond your level is one thing; bosses that can smear you if they don't decide running away is the best strategy *cough* Subject Z *cough* are another. Giving all actors a bonus to life rating would be an interesting experiment.marvalis wrote: @bricks: I get hit quite often for almost full HP (for example when I am fighting level 30 elites in an innocent looking tomb just outside a peaceful town). There are many monsters and bosses that can hit quite hard.
Sorry about all the parentheses (sometimes I like to clarify things).
Re: +speed when hit for >50% max hp damage in one hit
Thinking about this a bit, and 100% global speed is going to be to strong. +60% movement speed seems much more reasonable (you can run away faster, but you cannot attack twice).
Re: +speed when hit for >50% max hp damage in one hit
Hmmm... how about the movement speed bonus and a bonus to crit? Fight or flight basically. So 1 turn of +60% movement and +60% crit. Could make for an interesting strategic choice when you take a big hit (do I run or try to finish it off). Granted giving monsters +60% crit on one attack could be pretty lethal for the player so maybe not.