Changing undead's "Cloak of Deception" mechanic

[inde]

It was proposed in IRC that a change is wanted for the mechanic allowing undeads to enter the world of the living. Currently they use the cloak given/taken from the Necromancer that raised you and wear it in the cloak slot, which is fine and dandy.. until you want to use another cloak. Frankly, keeping an item around and having to swap it around every time you leave a dungeon is a bit unfun, and seems like a bit of unnecessary roleplay that doesn't belong. That's not to say it needs to go away completely - perhaps undead could be given an auxilliary inventory slot and the item be modified to use that slot instead (some sort of 'overcloak' that covers everything and gives no stats). Another suggesting was some sort of sustained illusion ability that allows you to look human (but runs into the problem of not being able to activate abilities on the map). Or the means to 'toggle' the ability could be removed entirely and you just receive a talent that makes you non-hostile could be learned at the end of the undead starter dungeon, or after leaving it and doing another small quest somewhere (possiblly a small undead camp hidden somewhere with a few crummy shops, who knows).

[Canderel]

Or just make the cloak better... My personal proposal was:

+5 to Physical power
+5 to Spell Power
+5 to Mind Power
+5 to Physical Saves
+5 to Spell Saves
+5 to Mental saves

Each of these values has a 0.1 gain per level. So that at level 50 you end with

+10 to Physical power
+10 to Spell Power
+10 to Mind Power
+10 to Physical Saves
+10 to Spell Saves
+10 to Mental saves

[Varil]

Eh. That proposal either means you end up with a great cloak for free, or you end up with a better cloak that nobody ends up wearing anyway, because there are even better cloaks.

I like the overcloak idea. It makes sense for an undead worried about their appearance to trundle around in a large, over-sized cloak to hide their appearance. In this case I would probably just take away the overcloak's power, that or give it some minor bonus to help early-game undead that is just a waste of a turn for later undead.

Maybe an activated talent similar to Meditation, but for hp? Unlike infusions, it'd take a lot of time to use, but it'd be a way for early game undead to get back on their feet without taking 100 turns to rest. It could just give, say, +1-2 life regen while you "Meditate". It could be part of the cloak's fluff. The reason the cloak hides the appearance of undead so well is because its regenerative powers hides their obvious scent of decay, and helps give a facsimile of life back to their emaciated, rotted form.

[Grey]

An activated ability would be quite monotonous.

Switch the cloak to an overcloak, strip its bonuses, and make it effective just from having it in the inventory.

[Canderel]

we can then just as well not call it a cloak at all. it could be an orb or a gem or a bone or charm or anything then.

[Grey]

Yup! Would just need to tweak the lore. Calling it an Illusory Charm or whatever could allow easier justification of other undead races too.

[Rectifier]

Yes please.

[eliotn]

Or, just have the interface swap to the cloak automatically when you enter a town.

[bricks]

I prefer the "overcloak" idea myself. Just make sure it's in the player inventory. Other undead or horrifying races could get a similar mechanic (but a slightly different carry item?). The immersion really breaks down anyway when the escortees totally ignore the fact that you are a talking corpse.

[Zonk]

The immersion really breaks down anyway when the escortees totally ignore the fact that you are a talking corpse.

They also don't have any problems when a Necromancer strides in with a horde of minions, either.