ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

I understand Blood of Life not giving an extra life for undead, but thought it would be nice if they got something out of it.

My thought is that the Blood of Life would give an undead a brief stirring of life and restore some past memories granting them two generic talent points, but also stunning them for several turns.

It could give a give some dialog like, "You feel a sharp stab of pain in your chest as your long dead heart weakly beats twice and then stops again forever. For a brief moment you remember what it was like to be alive leaving you shaken and struggling to remember more of your past life."

Or it would insta-kill them ..

darkgod wrote:Or it would insta-kill them ..

I like this idea!

Maybe just reduce them to 1 HP? A symbolical thing more than anything.

darkgod wrote:Or it would insta-kill them ..

Haha that works too!

I was bandying around the idea that using a Blood of Life as an undead would convert you to a random, living race while still keeping a few perks. Like, skeletons would keep their existing points in Skeleton and Resilient Bones [since those are more physical/magical modifications to your structure] while entirely losing Bone Armor and Re-assemble. You'd probably have your physical stats [str/dex/con] reset to your new racial standards, along with gaining whatever racial tree it has.

It could also function as an indirect additional life, by giving you a full restore when you drink it. (Alternatively, it could stun you and drop you to 1hp since revitalizing a dead body probably involves a good deal of pain.)

Heh, I'd favor it best as an unlock to a Vampire Race.

"You taste the Blood of Life and suddenly feel very different. You badly crave....more..."

Considering all the costs already employed in playing undead (high xp penalty, no infusions, no anti-magic option, an often nullified cloak slot slow movement for ghouls), I think making it a good option would be better.

Unlocking a vampire race by drinking the blood of life would be cool, but that means there must BE a vampire race (I'd love it, but it's not here yet).

Granting extra memories (class or generic talents) would be interesting, too. Or granting extra stat points. Maybe automatically spent on CON?

I think it's fine how it is, but it would be nice to see an artifact that gave bonuses to undead only.

bricks wrote:I think it's fine how it is, but it would be nice to see an artifact that gave bonuses to undead only.

What, a no-stat cloak isn't good enough for you?

What if it restored just enough flesh that you no longer needed the cloak of deception?

edge2054 wrote:What if it restored just enough flesh that you no longer needed the cloak of deception?

Oh-- I like this. The cloak is great at lower levels, but it does get a bit annoying switching it all time later on.

How about adding an in-game option that any character can choose? Like an NPC that you can trade it for something unique. Perhaps you could give it to one of the alchemists in exchange for an extra potion, but I like the idea of it being something unique that you can only get by giving up your extra life. Something powerful enough that even a non-undead player might seriously consider it for their build, similar to choosing anti-magic.

edge2054 wrote:What if it restored just enough flesh that you no longer needed the cloak of deception?

I searched for this thread JUST to suggest that, after failing the Wayist quest because I hadn't the cloak on.

I don't see how it would be unbalanced, and it sounds like a nice flavour effect(although, for a skeleton to look human, you'd have to regrow...quite a lot).