ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

I learned the hard way that after you create the Crystalline Staff it's locked in whatever element it was before. I found 5 or 6 white staves but none of them was of my element of choice. This doesn't seem very fair, melee users don't need to find the exact elemental flavor of sword they want.

Yes, I discovered the hard way that you should use command staff to change a staff to your favorite element Before you crystallize it. But adding command staff to the resulting artifact would certainly be my preference, too.

I'd imagine crystalline staves should probably be locked into arcane. Y'right that it's not even that staff users get to shift things around freely, heh.

It used to have command staff, but it caused bugs (with being able to get like +60% damage on it). Also, it allowed you to change the output of the staff to something other than arcane which doesn't fit with the crystal focus.

On casters it's better to use the focus on a pair of gloves.

Well, how useful an arcane-damage staff would be to anyone except one specific build of Archmage?
Edit: also it doesn't even mention that it can be used on gloves. I certainly wouldn't think of gloves as weapon for a caster.

It probably needs either better staff specific bonuses, or to grant something to a weapon that would make it more useful for casters.

It's hard to find something really arcane themed for that, that hasn't been ran into the ground, though. Maybe something corruption themed? Curse of Vulnerability L2/20% odds would make it uniquely good at breaking high resistances enemies in a pinch, and generally would make for an interesting option relative to early and midgame staffs.

Wouldn't be that great late, but that's sorta something it's stuck with, it doesn't grant enough spellpower to be that great lategame anyways. Then again, maybe it needs to multiply the base equip's spellpower a bit more too.

SageAcrin wrote:It probably needs either better staff specific bonuses, or to grant something to a weapon that would make it more useful for casters.

It's hard to find something really arcane themed for that, that hasn't been ran into the ground, though. Maybe something corruption themed? Curse of Vulnerability L2/20% odds would make it uniquely good at breaking high resistances enemies in a pinch, and generally would make for an interesting option relative to early and midgame staffs.

Crystal weapons (including gloves) already grant something useful when in a set bonus (10% chance to cast manathrust, on spell). Crystal set is a viable endgame option, I've used it on two winners. I don't think it needs a buff.

omeg wrote:Edit: also it doesn't even mention that it can be used on gloves. I certainly wouldn't think of gloves as weapon for a caster.

They are a weapon for brawlers, and probably the best way to use the crystal focus as a caster, because the tier of the gloves doesn't really matter unless you plan to hit stuff with them.

Crystal set is a viable endgame option, I've used it on two winners. I don't think it needs a buff.

But have you used it with a staff?

Because the one time I've made a Crystalline Staff, I was intensely disappointed.

I'm talking about specifically staff related boosts, not general ones.

If those boosts aren't specific enough, maybe we need more specific ones?

SageAcrin wrote: But have you used it with a staff?

Because the one time I've made a Crystalline Staff, I was intensely disappointed.

I'm talking about specifically staff related boosts, not general ones.

Back when it had command staff, yes, because it was broken. Since then, no, and like I said, I would use the crystal focus on gloves instead.

There already is an arcane staff with no command staff in the game (staff of arcane supremacy). You could make this an improved (t5) version of that.

EDIT:That would require making a special case out of the staff though, and that sounds iffy.

I don't think "When it had a bug that it doesn't now" counts for these purposes. >_>

Anyways, you don't need a special case, not if the bonus is mostly just caster oriented.

Spellcasting speed, spellsurge, spellcrit, and caster oriented on_hit(spell) effects can all do that.

You could also make it multiply the base spellpower(Quite easy, just have it multiply any existing spellpower when it does the check for existing power, before it applies the +12 to the item), except that I'm not sure if blank staves have any.

I thought I recalled that they did, but the code points to resolvers.staff_wielder() for wielder traits, and I don't know if that means it's rerouting where the wielder traits of a blank comes from, or just using that as a placeholder for other effects...and I can't figure out where it's doing either.