Special dungeon features

[Grey]

Many roguelikes have special dungeon features that are randomly found - things like altars, or rooms with special effects, and so on. I think things like these can help spice up ToME4's dungeons. However they must be thematic with the game, and they must be implemented in a way that is consistent with the games general design. To me this means no one-off effects, little random luck, and effects apply equally to player and monsters. They should have a real impact on gameplay and tactics without being overpowering. They should also be used to demonstrate some of the individual aspects of Maj'Eyal.

In terms of implementation, I recommend field effects similar to the Anorithil circles with the coloured ground, but permanently on the floor. These could potentially be thrown in using the vault code (without walls or doors), or they could just be randomly placed. They shouldn't be too common - say 0-2 features per level. There are other ways of implementing them though, and I'm sure DarkGod will have some clever thoughts on this.

Some specific ideas:

Font of Life
Radius 3 circular effect.
Any creatures in the field receive +1 Life, Stamina and Equilibrium regeneration.
Locations: Trollmire, Old Forest, Daikara

Spellblaze Scar
Non-linear area of effect. 3-5 lava tiles in a line, with field effect stretching in a radius of 2 from each lava tile.
+25% spellcrit in area of effect, +10% fire damage penetration
Locations: Scintillating Caves, Mark of the Spellblaze, Charred Scar

Temporal Sink
Radius 2 circular effect
-20% global speed, +30% temporal resistance
Locations: All of the temporal rift areas

Blighted Soil
Radius 3 circular effect
-20% disease resistance, 10% chance when received physical damage to contract a random (weak) disease
Locations: Old Forest, Heart of the Gloom, Deep Bellow, Golem Graveyard, Ritch tunnels

Glimmerstone
Non-linear area over roughly 4x5 squares
Each square has a 1 in 4 chance each turn to switch between being lit an dark. Creatures on the square when it switches have a chance to be dazed for 1 turn
Locations: Reknor (both of them), Dreadfell, Spider caves, Blighted Ruins, Valley Moon Caverns

Protective Aura
Radius 3 circular effect
+5 armour, +16 physical save
Locations: Kor'Pul, Dreadfell, Shertul Fortress

Necrotic Air
Radius 3 circular effect
-40% healing mod, +15% resist all for undead
Locations: Kor'Pul, Dreadfell, Blighted Ruins, Halfling Ruins

Whistling Vortex
Radius 2 circular effect
-15 archery accuracy, +15 ranged defence, projectiles move 30% slower
Locations: Daikara, Tempest Peak, Dreadfell, Reknor

Natural Forces
Radius 2 circular effect
+20% nature damage, +20% nature penetration, -40 spellpower
Locations: Old Forest

Icy Ground
Radius 2 circular effect
+25% movement speed, +10% cold penetration, -20% stun immunity
Locations: Daikara, Tempest Peak

Fell Aura
Radius 2 circular effect
+40% crit damage, -10% resist all
Locations: Dreadfell, Reknor, Ardhungol, Valley of the Moon, Shadow Crypt, Shertul Fortress

I've not included some late game locations since I've not played them. Also the numbers quoted could scale with danger level. Feel free to suggest your own.

[martinuzz]

This would be a nice addition. +1

Some more:

Refreshing Spring
radius 4 circular effect
- creatures inside the pool's radius have their talents cool down by two points per turn instead of one
locations: Trollmire, Old Forest, Norgos' Lair, Lake Nur (dungeon levels without water), Ardhungol

Slimey Pool
radius 4 circular effect
- slows down creature movement (movement speed +20%)
- creatures inside the pool's radius are covered in slime. Inflicts some slime damage when hit (melee).
locations: Old Forest, Hearth of the Gloom, Slime Farportals

Unstable area
- radius 4 circular effect
- creatures passing through here have a chance to trigger a self-centered Earthquake
locations: Deep Bellow, Scintillating Caves, Sandworm Lair

[bricks]

Not all effects need be perfect circles. Things like pools of magical water could use the current pond generator.

I'd actually like to see small level elements, for example: Treasure chests/tombs that have various possible contents, similar to but not as dangerous as those in the Last Hope Cemetery. Windows (or conceptually similar) that allow vision but not bolt-type attacks. Phase Doors; that is, normal-looking doors that cast phase door on you when you use them. Amorphous, shadowy clouds that reduce light radius while inside. Small rooms that have locked doors opened by a nearby lever, like in the Prides.

Temporal disturbances could be really interesting, especially if they caused anomalies or granted you temporary timeline-altering powers.

Destructible terrain has been brought up in a few places recently. I think this could be readily implemented by replacing appropriate walls with actors that block line-of-sight, have high health, physical, fire and lightning resists, do not attack, and are immune to status effects. They should be neutral so enemies and player allies don't rush to kill them. These needn't be too common, but they would make fun additions to vaults.

[tiger_eye]

how 'bout having random sandstorms that move through Eruan? Care would need to be taken to make sure they wouldn't kill all NPCs, which should be doable with a proper friendlyfire setting.

Similarly, perhaps Tempest Peak could have lightning storms.

[Grey]

I think directly damaging field effects are best avoided. Sandstorm could reduce vision and infravision radius whilst reducing physical saves for instance. Lightning storm could carry a 10% chance of chain lightning being triggered whenever lightning damage is dealt to someone (and the chain lightning would be independent of faction).

[Aquillion]

Yeah, nothing that inflicts damage, please. The current damage-dealing traps are horribly annoying; we don't need more of that. Most of the time it just makes the player waste keypresses healing after leaving them.

[Zonk]

Necro(it's been almost one year) to suggest some new features, perhaps involving temporal and mental forces? I really like the current mini-events but we need more so...

Unstable Time Field
Radius 3 circular
Actors have a global speed modifier, which fluctuates randomly but gradually between + and - X% and is the same for all of them. Perhaps temporal resistance could fluctuate too.


Hole in reality
Radius 2 circular
Creatures passing have a chance to have to cause a horror to spawn(weak, but based on their level)which initially targets them. Paradox increases are X% higher.

Mindvortex
Radius 2 circular
-X mental saves, creatures must save every turn or be confused(low power though).

Bloody ground
Radius 3 circular
Any physical damage suffered has a chance of causing significant bleeding; Vim gain is increased by 25%

Nexus of Elements
Radius 2 circular
Elemental(fire,cold,lightning,acid) damage is increased by 15%. Every turn, moderate chance of a burst of low-mid damage of a random element hitting all of the area.


(Not sure on the locations, would have to be decided on a case by case basis)

Also, minor, but for the larger ones it could be interesting if the strength of the effect varied
based on how close you are to the center.

[HousePet]

I'd like a tweak to Font of Life. It currently regenerates Psi, which seems wrong to me, and doesn't regenerate Vim, which seems very wrong to me.

Blighted Soil is also killing creatures rather quickly. Perhaps the diseases it causes need less damage?

Overall, I quite like these thingos.

[phantomglider]

Font of Life, if I remember correctly, restores all the non-magical resources except Hate (eg. Stamina, Equilibrium, and Psi). I don't think Psi needs to be removed from that list, and I definitely don't think Vim should be added to it.

[Mewtarthio]

I'd like a tweak to Font of Life. It currently regenerates Psi, which seems wrong to me, and doesn't regenerate Vim, which seems very wrong to me.

Bear in mind that, in the setting of Eyal, psi and nature are very closely linked (hence mindstars). The Fonts of Life are apparently areas that are particularly close to nature, so they can heal creatures and refresh their natural abilities. They don't restore arcane resources, because arcane powers are entirely separate from natural ones. They definitely shouldn't restore vim, which is basically the exact opposite of nature.

Still, it might make more sense if the Fonts didn't heal undead, constructs, or demons.

[Frumple]

They don't heal undead, actually. Not sure about the demons or constructs, though.

[Mewtarthio]

*double checks*

Well, whaddya know? It still puts the effect on them, but with "+0" for every value. I guess I just wasn't paying close enough attention. Doesn't look like there's any provisions for demons and constructs, though.

[HousePet]

I realise Vim is using life energy in an unnatural way, but what is there to stop someone from using the energy from a Font of Life in an unnatural way?

[Frumple]

That... might actually be somewhat interesting. If a vim user steps into a font of life, they could gain +vim but cause the effects of the font to invert for everyone inside it. So it turns from plus life/stam/etc. regen to plus vim, minuslife/stam/etc. regen. Possibly at a reduced rate compared to the normal positive effect, but still...

Might be neat. Kinda' evil, too.

[Roguelike Enthusiast]

throwing in a few ideas: (ok one idea)

Unhallowed Ground
(any ruins/crypt map should have these) - radius 2 circular
Walking on the location should trigger three skeletal warriors to spawn, scaled by your level, with a very small chance of one being a rare. At the same time you should be debuffed with an appropriate physical and mental condition. The spawn is a one-time deal, but the debuff will still have a percentage chance of occurring if you step back onto the affected tiles.