ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

so I was just reading a thread, and I came across this here quote

HousePet wrote:Cursed Escort

theres already psionic options from escorts, paradox-related options from escorts, mana-using options from escorts, and positive energy using options from escorts
so for cursed escort, hows this sound
Doomed escort:

Defiling Touch+1 level
Dark Gifts+1 level
Cursed/Cursed Aura(unlock at 0.80 mastery)
Gesture of Pain+1 level
Cursed/Gestures(unlock at 0.80 mastery)
stat/save options

edit: I'm really not sure if replacing dark gift/defiling touch with cursed sentry/ruined earth would be a good idea or not
defiler escorts(reaver or corruptor?)

lets see here... probably the only corruption generic that wouldn't be really OP or otherwise accessible is curses
Curse of Defenselessness+1 level(maybe impotence instead)
Curse of Vulnerability+1 level
Corruption/Curses(unlock at 0.80 mastery)(get dat CP if you want CURSE OF ^%&*ING DEATH)
stat/save options
antimagic options:
stat/save options
anyone got any ideas for abilities?
heres every non-magic non-stone warden generic tree that isn't otherwise accessible by any non-magical class without addons:
Technique/Acrobatics
Technique/Thuggery
Technique/Unarmed Training(obvious no)
Cursed/Dark Sustenance(obvious no; its just too underwhelming unless cursed/doomed/adventurer)
Cursed/Cursed Form(obvious no)
Cursed/Cursed Aura(in the cursed escort idea, so lolno)
Cursed/Gestures(in the cursed escort idea, so lolno)
Psionic/Augmented Mobility(obvious no, gives TK slot, otherwise maybe)
Psionic/Finer Energy Manipulations(obvious no, gives TK slot and would be OP)
Psionic/Mentalism

yes, every wild-gift generic in the entire game is accessible by any non-magic class that isn't undead, and anyone can get either of the two cunning trees; it is literally possible for a bulwark to have access to all 5 wild-gift trees and the two cunning trees as well

so its pretty much Technique/Acrobatics, Technique/Thuggery, or Psionic/Mentalism, oooor make mindslayer generics no longer automatically grant you Beyond the Flesh(except Resonant Focus), and then Psionic/Augmented Mobility would become an option; but that sounds kinda extraneous

please do not pick wild gift/antimagic as the defiler escort antimagic reward
this is for the same reason that getting psiblades/thorn grab from an alchemist escort before leaning mindstars from zigur shouldn't give you +.1 additional mastery/learning Channel Staff/Staff Mastery from an alchemist escort shouldn't give you +.1 mastery when learning staves in Angolwen

sure its nice and all, but it makes some players either feel really, really gimped if they don't get that extra +.1 mastery to mindstar/staff mastery, or they wait, and they wait, and they wait, and by the time they do the last escort in lost kingdom of reknor they either haven't found an alchemist or haven't been able to successfully escort one, and then they feel even worse because they waited until they'd find an alchemist escort to learn staff/mindstar mastery with money

whats that?
you think my ideas are OP?
well look at it this way
seers give you premonition,vision, arcane eye, nature's touch, or earths eyes(non-scaling track)
thieves give you charm mastery
anorithils give you healing light or track
warriors give unflinching resolve vitality or the non-prodigy way to get exotic weapons mastery
sun paladins give chant of fortitude or fortress, the latter of which is better at .8 points invested at a low magic stat, or light of foot, which is freaking amazing for stamina users
temporal explorer gives dream walk sleep or precognition
loremaster gives mind sear spit poison or disarm, all of which are amazing; mind sear is even awesome for every ranged magic user except corruptor/anno
the only escort that isn't OP is alchemist if you get rid of the extra +.1 mastery thing mentioned earlier

also, thanks Housepet for "giving me" the idea that I probably didn't even originally come up with

You shouldn't give Defiling Touch at one point unless the tree is unlocked, that's a cruel trap.

Giving the Dark Gifts tree would be neat. It already comes with built-in suffering mechanics, which are the -2 Willpower loss and the pain of having one "free" point in Defiling Touch before you get any points in the 2nd talent.

Giving class trees is usually bad, but the Cursed / Predator tree is pretty neat, and pretty widely useful for melee dudes, who have no lack of melee trees already. That could be given.

I would be looking at class trees doctornull, but escorts are supposed to only give generics, with the exception of the loremaster, who is clearly a special case because there isn't a loremaster class

Cursed Aura is better granted through another function, so that you don't have to grant it at 0.8 for consistency(0.8 Cursed Aura is very useless).

A Cursed escort probably would need to grant Cursed Form/Gestures. On the downside, no one will take Cursed Form in its current form, ever.

On the upside, this means you can make Relentless one of the talents, and no one will mind seeing that escort ever, with that on there. And Cursed Form will be rebalanced one of these days. So it's not a bad futureproofing idea.

So, Gesture of Pain/Relentless/+2 Will/+1 Cun/Cursed Form at 0.8/Gestures at 0.8.

Corruption is easier, have it grant Curse of Impotence/Blood Vengeance/+2 Magic/+1 Cunning/Torment and Curses at 0.8. Curse of Impotence is useful, if not incredibly so, and Blood Vengeance appears to be a very useful generalized skill that is surprisingly low impact at 0.8-balanced but not useless.