ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

Although Morgoth was the source of the corruptions, his servant Sauron continued them for millennia in his absence, and the malevolent forces remain entwined in the corrupted forms of orcs, trolls and dragons. So if one happens to catch a blight that was of this ancient design, it may twist your body. These are a few examples of how that might happen.

Body modifications:

Warg's Muzzle: You are able to smell monsters nearby and you can bite for CON/2 additional blight damage when fighting hand to hand. Unfortunately the awkward shape gives you a 30% chance of spilling a potion rather than drinking it.

Balrog's Horn: +3 STR and a CL/2% chance of causing monsters to flee from you in terror. But you can only wear wizard's hats.

Troll Skin: +4 CON and -2 DEX. +5 to armor but most (all?) armors no longer fit over your deformed body.

Rotting Flesh: -3 CON and no natural HP regeneration. But you get free access to the Plague tree. (See the corruption thread)

Draconic Talons: +2 DEX and you sweep your (foot) claws in an arc in front of you for STR/3 puncturing damage. A critical hit causes bleeding. But you cannot wear any kind of boots.

Blighted Eyes: You see DEX/2 squares around you in complete darkness but your vision range decreases with the brightness of light nearby (you *can* wear a light source, but its not recommended ). 75% blindness resistance. But you are susceptible to light damage.

Any other ideas, criticisms, etc.?

The game needs a way to recognize when the player is wearing something he shouldn't be and disable the bonuses it provides or force the player to take it off somehow. Otherwise that'll be a big loophole in a few of these.

I really like the darkvision one.

How would scent work? Pinpoints stealthed and invisible foes within the radius?

Rotting Flesh would probably kill most characters. Maybe combine it with some way of healing. Maybe a bite attack that lets you take a bite of your enemy. It'd still be a very negative draw back but at least it would give the character the impression they could survive it.

Here's another thought on a fear effect.

Twisted Visage - X% chance of a Fear effect when monsters see you but shopkeepers will no longer sell to you.

The game needs a way to recognize when the player is wearing something he shouldn't be and disable the bonuses it provides or force the player to take it off somehow. Otherwise that'll be a big loophole in a few of these.

I thought that when a corruption occurs the game engine would check to see if the player is wearing that kind of armor and then automagically remove it.

How would scent work? Pinpoints stealthed and invisible foes within the radius?

That and tell the distance to nearby monsters (or just a short-range telepathy).

Rotting Flesh would probably kill most characters. Maybe combine it with some way of healing. Maybe a bite attack that lets you take a bite of your enemy. It'd still be a very negative draw back but at least it would give the character the impression they could survive it.

I don't mean healing pots don't work, just that you can't stand somewhere and regenerate HP anymore. So you have to buy more healing stuff to survive. But I didn't mean any of these to be wonderful.

Twisted Visage is another good idea.

Considering how much my characters use their auto-heal, I am positive they'd die fast with that corruption -- probably long before they could get to town to desperately spend all their money on healing potions.

Well, perhaps it would be better if Rotting Flesh caused a smell that (almost) anything would detect, so your position is known by all monsters in a radius of 10?

That sounds excellent and more balanced to me.

Balrog's Horn: +3 STR and a CL/2% chance of causing monsters to flee from you in terror. But you can only wear wizard's hats.

AHAH now I will have to live with a mental picture of a balrog wearing a wizard hat !

AHAH now I will have to live with a mental picture of a balrog wearing a wizard hat !

Of course, if it's wearing Rincewind's hat it would be named Hot Head the Cerebrally-Challenged Balrog....