New Class: Artist (Runemaster)

[madmonk]

The Artist!

Paint brush in hand, possibly the most dangerous graffiti artist you are likely to meet... The thing that makes this class interesting is how you use Sigils!

Schools and Talents

Armour and Weapons
(Qv)

Brands
Brands can be applied to weapons or to traps (for additional damage)
1 Physical
2 Fire
3 Acid
4 Freeze (as per Freeze spell)

Wards
Wards are applied to armour
1 Physical
2 Armour
3 Elemental Resistance (Resist Elements - Earth, Air, Fire, Water)
4 Spell Resistance

Glyphs
Glyphs are traps.
1 Maze (stunned)
2 Fire
3 Acid
4 Earthquake

Sigils
Sigils are combinations of other spells. Traps can be enhanced with this - take Maze and add Fire Damage to it. As can weapons and armour and so on.
1 Combine 2 Schools for increasing lengths of time
2 Combine 3, etc
3 Dry (Makes a Lvl Trap permanent until triggered, at 5th level trap resets and cannot be disarmed)
4 Permanent (Makes any sigil permanent)

Runes
Runes enhance the caster.
1 Increases any physical stat for a period of time
2 Increases any mental stat for a period of time
3 Increases Speed
4 Increases something


Help needed here...

[madmonk]

OK I have revised and expanded this considerably:

The Artist!

Paint brush in hand, possibly the most dangerous graffiti artist you are likely to meet... The thing that makes this class interesting is how you use Sigils!

The Artists main stats are: Dexterity and Willpower. Dexterity for the manual dexterity required to paint the sign to be used and Willpower to provide the necessary Mana to power it up.

Schools and Talents

NB: Tlevel refers to Talent Level.

Armour and Weapons
(Qv)

Brands
Brands can be applied to items or to traps (for additional damage). May not be applied to Artifacts or ego items. Brands last for (tlevel*5 turns)

Melzac's Brand - Each level does X Physical damage in addition to the normal base damage. At each talent level there is a (Tlevel*2)% chance of a stun for tlevel turns.
Flamma Brand - Each level does X Fire damage in addition to the normal base damage. At each talent level there is a (Tlevel*2)% chance of a stun for tlevel turns.
Meldrum's Brand - Each level does X Acid damage in addition to the normal base damage. At each talent level there is a (Tlevel*2)% chance of a stun for tlevel turns.
Rime Brand - Each level does X Frost damage in addition to the normal base damage. At each talent level there is a (Tlevel*2)% chance of a stun for tlevel turns.

Glyphs
Glyphs are applied to items. May not be applied to Artifacts or ego items. Glyphs last for (tlevel*5 turns)

Wall's Glyph - Each level improves the Defence value of the item it is applied to by X.
Erb's Glyph - Each level improves the Armour value of the item it is applied to by X.
Matthiessen's Glyph - Each talent level gives (Tlevel*2)% elemental resistance. (Elemental resistance is resistance to damage from Air, Fire, Water, Earth)
Spell Glyph - Each talent level gives (Tlevel*4)% spell resistance.

Wards
Wards are traps. They are applied on the ground and are considered one shot and time limited in effect. Wards last for (tlevel*5 turns)

The Maze Ward - When triggered the target is stunned for (Tlevel*2) turns
Incendiary Ward - When triggered each level does X Fire damage. At each talent level the damages continues for Tlevel turns
Lewis' Ward - When triggered each level does X Acid damage. At each talent level the damages continues for Tlevel turns.
Quake Ward - When triggered each level does X earth damage. At each talent level the damages continues for Tlevel turns

color=#0000FF]Runes[/color]
Runes enhance the caster. So physical stats are (STR, DEX, CON) and magical stats are (WIL, MAG, CUN). Runes last for (tlevel*5 turns). Only one rune can be cast on the caster at a time. Casting a second rune dispels the first (this includes any Runes that have a Sigil cast on them - even Morrison's).

Auroch Rune - Increases any physical stat - the stat is chosen when the Rune is cast. Target is the caster.
Blum's Rune - Increases any magical stat - the stat is chosen when the Rune is cast. Target is the caster.
7 League's Rune - Increases Speed by (tlevel*2)%. Target is the caster
Flower Rune - Increases hitpoints by (tlevel*8). Target is the caster

Sigils
Sigils are combinations of other signs. For example, you can use Sigils to enhance traps - take Maze and add Fire Damage to it. Or use them on armor or weapons...

Seal Sigil - Add a second spell to a primary spell for increasing lengths of time (E.G: Lay a Maze Ward and then use the Seal Sigil to add Fire Brand damage to it.)
Hex Sigil - As Seal Sigil but add 2 extra spells.
Dry - Makes a Trap permanent until triggered, at 5th level trap resets and cannot be disarmed - note that this does not include any additional sigils that have been applied, they will expire normally
Morrisson's Sigil - Level 1 - Make any Brand permanent. Level 2 - Make any Ward Permanent. Level 3 - Make any Rune permanent. Level 4 Make any Sigil permanent. Level 5 - Not sure...

Seal Sigil and Hex Sigil have the following levels:

Level 1 - Access to Brands - You can add 2 or 3 Brands together
Level 2 - Access to Glyphs - You can add 2 or 3 Brands or Glyphs together
Level 3 - Access to Wards - You can add 2 or 3 Brands, Glyphs or Wards together
Level 4 - Access to Runes - You can add 2 or 3 Brands, Glyphs, Wards, or Runes together
Level 5 - ?????

[edge2054]

Interesting stuff. I'll read over it in more depth after I make and eat dinner but for now I'll give you my first impressions.

I don't like this at all...

May not be applied to Artifacts or ego items.

because it seems like a lot of the class is tied up in item enhancement. This would be like not letting a fighter use shield bash with an enchanted shield or not letting a mage cast spells while using a staff that boosted spell power.

Also the powers as you have them don't seem to warrant this either. They're not that much of a buff imo. Really what's the difference between using Ringil or a Galvoron Longsword with a 5/5 Rime rune on it? If Ringil isn't substantially worse (because remember the Runemaster has blown 5 talent points on it) then why not just use Ringil and save the talent points?

I also thank that the chance on hit to stun for Brands is boring. Each element should have it's own effect.

Here's some ideas.

Mezlac's - Chance to sunder. Since you're applying physical damage this would actually boost your damage by lowering Armor when it procs.
Flamma - Chance to catch the target on fire for X additional fire damage over 3 turns.
Meldrum's - Chance to deal X additional acid damage over 3 turns and blind (but less damage then Flamma).
Rime - Chance to Freeze (essentially stun anyhow).

Finally, A+(Tlevel*Stat)/B formulas work better for scaling.

Really though, I like the idea a lot and the talent names are very imaginative.

[madmonk]

Thanks for the feedback, very much appreciated. Please remember that I am being very conservative here. I would prefer to work up to some happy medium rather than have to remove stuff that turns the class into some insane thing...

Interesting stuff. I'll read over it in more depth after I make and eat dinner but for now I'll give you my first impressions.

I don't like this at all...

May not be applied to Artifacts or ego items.

because it seems like a lot of the class is tied up in item enhancement. This would be like not letting a fighter use shield bash with an enchanted shield or not letting a mage cast spells while using a staff that boosted spell power.

Inevitably the whole class is around enhancing oneself, one's items and laying traps. I wanted to have something different to the Alchemist (with its Golem) and the Mage.

I understand your concern around branding items but my concern here is that branding an artifact might turn that artifact into a munchkin item and a game winner in its own right. Perhaps we should compromise here and allow branding of ego items. Or some other way of doing this, I am happy to entertain any idea.

Also the powers as you have them don't seem to warrant this either. They're not that much of a buff imo. Really what's the difference between using Ringil or a Galvoron Longsword with a 5/5 Rime rune on it? If Ringil isn't substantially worse (because remember the Runemaster has blown 5 talent points on it) then why not just use Ringil and save the talent points?

How true, and I am deliberately being cautious, certainly if you feel that we should up the damage allocation, I would be happy to do so. Perhaps you might want to suggest something.

I also thank that the chance on hit to stun for Brands is boring. Each element should have it's own effect.

Here's some ideas.

Mezlac's - Chance to sunder. Since you're applying physical damage this would actually boost your damage by lowering Armor when it procs.
Flamma - Chance to catch the target on fire for X additional fire damage over 3 turns.
Meldrum's - Chance to deal X additional acid damage over 3 turns and blind (but less damage then Flamma).
Rime - Chance to Freeze (essentially stun anyhow).

Finally, A+(Tlevel*Stat)/B formulas work better for scaling.

Much more flavoursome... I do like the idea and am happy to go with your suggestions! Including the scaling formula.

Really though, I like the idea a lot and the talent names are very imaginative.

Thank you! I will wait for your reply with interest!

[edge2054]

On branding and glyphs.

I guess I assumed only one brand could be active on any one item. Multiple brands on a single item would make them extremely powerful and might be game breaking rather or not they can be applied to artifacts or ego items. I'm guessing that you meant it to be one per item because the sigils imply it but if not I'll elaborate my fears.

In the multiple brand scenario, the character can essentially front load his damage. The munchkin would play this class by maxing out every brand available, seeing a boss, and casting all his brands as the boss closes. Results, one or two shot boss.


Wards are pretty cool though I feel like they don't have enough variety much like the brands.

I really like the Maze Ward (loved the Maze spell in D and D) but it's probably hard to balance (that's a pretty long stun). A Daze or Out of Time sort of effect might fit well too, especially Out of Time if you're going for the D and D Maze feel.

Incendiary Ward is pretty straight forward, which there's nothing wrong with, but the two wards following are the same effect with a different damage type, which won't be very interesting to play.

So... how about this as a suggestion?

-Incendiary Ward stays as is.
-Lewis' Ward goes aoe with a radius of 2 and blinds (save applies)
-Maze Ward goes to an Out of Time effect like Temporal Prison which is a very powerful effect but since it's a trap, it tones it back a bit, requiring the player to think ahead to put it to good use. (The effect shouldn't be called Out of Time but in essence it would be the same).
-Quake Ward goes aoe with a radius of 3 and stuns (save applies)

The runes and glyphs are pretty straight forward but I liked the ones in the monk thread that Tax posted much better. Active effects create engaging gameplay. Passive effects are nice but the class already has a lot of them and this would be a good place to give the player something to do aside from laying traps and hitting monsters with his weapon. Now I realize these aren't actually passive effects but they all look and will play a lot like them. It's just a lot of self buffs which can be good, but to much can be bad.

Obviously Tax's idea won't work here as a direct transplant because his was all about giving up armor slots (something you probably don't want to do with this class because you can enchant those armor slots) and the mechanics you're developing are much different but it's a good place to get an idea of what I'm referring to by active effects. Maybe transplant the glyph effects to the runes and turn glyphs into something akin to charged items, e.g. you put a glyph on your armor and pay the mana into it, then later when you need the effect you burn off the energy and BAM, whatever happens and the glyph is erased.

The Sigil idea is cool and is part of the reason it's taken me so long to type this up. It really changes how everything interacts.

That said I don't really like Dry Sigil and I would drop Hex Sigil. Both of these Sigils do what other sigils do but just to lesser or greater effect. Seal Sigil at level five could do 3 spells and Hex Sigil could be replaced with some other effect. If you can only have one Morisson's Sigil active at a time (not a bad idea) at level five you could have 2. Unfortunately I don't have any idea right now on what to do with those two empty spots.

Alright, I hope that came off as constructive. I really do like the idea and where you're going with it but I do think it needs more variety in the effects (both the elemental effects as I've outlined and the self buffs) or it's not going to be as interesting to play as it is on paper.

I do have a question though, with Sigils what happens if you add inappropriate effects together? Like if I add a Maze Ward to my Rune? Do I Maze myself? Maybe you should only be able to combine effects with in the same talent tree? So you could do an Incendiary/Maze Ward or a Flamma/Meldrum Brand but no Wall/Maze Glyph's or Flamma/Maze Brands (Ouch, ten rounds of stun and extra damage on swing!!).

[madmonk]

On branding and glyphs.

I guess I assumed only one brand could be active on any one item. Multiple brands on a single item would make them extremely powerful and might be game breaking rather or not they can be applied to artifacts or ego items. I'm guessing that you meant it to be one per item because the sigils imply it but if not I'll elaborate my fears.

In the multiple brand scenario, the character can essentially front load his damage. The munchkin would play this class by maxing out every brand available, seeing a boss, and casting all his brands as the boss closes. Results, one or two shot boss.

Quite right, only 1 spell on an item. If you have a spell (brand, rune, etc) and then cast another on that item the original is replaced.

Wards are pretty cool though I feel like they don't have enough variety much like the brands.

I really like the Maze Ward (loved the Maze spell in D and D) but it's probably hard to balance (that's a pretty long stun). A Daze or Out of Time sort of effect might fit well too, especially Out of Time if you're going for the D and D Maze feel.

Incendiary Ward is pretty straight forward, which there's nothing wrong with, but the two wards following are the same effect with a different damage type, which won't be very interesting to play.

So... how about this as a suggestion?

-Incendiary Ward stays as is.
-Lewis' Ward goes aoe with a radius of 2 and blinds (save applies)
-Maze Ward goes to an Out of Time effect like Temporal Prison which is a very powerful effect but since it's a trap, it tones it back a bit, requiring the player to think ahead to put it to good use. (The effect shouldn't be called Out of Time but in essence it would be the same).
-Quake Ward goes aoe with a radius of 3 and stuns (save applies)

I am OK with those suggestions too! My original intention was to have the Maze Ward as a simple stun allowing the Artist a few free hacks but quite like your suggestion and I also like your order too!

So it would go like this

Incendiary
Lewis
Maze
Quake

The runes and glyphs are pretty straight forward but I liked the ones in the monk thread that Tax posted much better. Active effects create engaging gameplay. Passive effects are nice but the class already has a lot of them and this would be a good place to give the player something to do aside from laying traps and hitting monsters with his weapon. Now I realize these aren't actually passive effects but they all look and will play a lot like them. It's just a lot of self buffs which can be good, but to much can be bad.

Obviously Tax's idea won't work here as a direct transplant because his was all about giving up armor slots (something you probably don't want to do with this class because you can enchant those armor slots) and the mechanics you're developing are much different but it's a good place to get an idea of what I'm referring to by active effects. Maybe transplant the glyph effects to the runes and turn glyphs into something akin to charged items, e.g. you put a glyph on your armor and pay the mana into it, then later when you need the effect you burn off the energy and BAM, whatever happens and the glyph is erased.

I will have to check out the Monk thread and see what they are like!

I had major problems trying to get Active spells with the Runecaster and eventually accepted that they would be essentially passive! How would your cast the the spell trigger it later idea work?

The Sigil idea is cool and is part of the reason it's taken me so long to type this up. It really changes how everything interacts.

That said I don't really like Dry Sigil and I would drop Hex Sigil. Both of these Sigils do what other sigils do but just to lesser or greater effect. Seal Sigil at level five could do 3 spells and Hex Sigil could be replaced with some other effect. If you can only have one Morisson's Sigil active at a time (not a bad idea) at level five you could have 2. Unfortunately I don't have any idea right now on what to do with those two empty spots.

Again I need to think about this. Sigils are where all the interactions come in and I think considerable extra work is needed around this. Which means I am happy to entertain extra ideas!

Alright, I hope that came off as constructive. I really do like the idea and where you're going with it but I do think it needs more variety in the effects (both the elemental effects as I've outlined and the self buffs) or it's not going to be as interesting to play as it is on paper.

Very constructive, thank you! And yes it needs more variety!

I do have a question though, with Sigils what happens if you add inappropriate effects together? Like if I add a Maze Ward to my Rune? Do I Maze myself? Maybe you should only be able to combine effects with in the same talent tree? So you could do an Incendiary/Maze Ward or a Flamma/Meldrum Brand but no Wall/Maze Glyph's or Flamma/Maze Brands (Ouch, ten rounds of stun and extra damage on swing!!).

I don't like that. I do like it that their is the potential to screw up... So if you add Maze to a Rune you will indeed Maze yourself!

Potentially this is a very powerful class, so some sort of balance is necessary. I would also assume that this class is only unlockable!

So I will check out the Monk thread and do the rewrite (later...)!

[madmonk]

Further changes... Compliments to Edge for the suggested changes.

The Artist!

Paint brush in hand, possibly the most dangerous graffiti artist you are likely to meet... The thing that makes this class interesting is how you use Sigils!

The Artists main stats are: Dexterity and Willpower. Dexterity for the manual dexterity required to paint the sign to be used and Willpower to provide the necessary Mana to power it up.

Schools and Talents

NB: Tlevel refers to Talent Level.
NB: Use some sort of appropriate scaling formula for this to work. E.g When you see X below perhaps use: (A+(Tlevel*Stat)/B)

Armour and Weapons
(Qv)

Brands
Brands can be applied to items or to traps (for additional damage). May not be applied to Artifacts or ego items. Brands last for (tlevel*5 turns)

Melzac's Brand - Each level does X Physical damage in addition to the normal base damage. At each talent level there is an (X)% chance to Sunder armour.
Flamma Brand - Each level does X Fire damage in addition to the normal base damage. At each talent level there is an (X)% chance of extra fire damage for 3 turns.
Meldrum's Brand - Each level does X Acid damage in addition to the normal base damage. At each talent level there is an (X)% chance of blindness for 3 turns.
Rime Brand - Each level does X Frost damage in addition to the normal base damage. At each talent level there is an (X)% chance to Freeze for 3 turns.

Glyphs
Glyphs are applied to items. May not be applied to Artifacts or ego items. Glyphs last for (tlevel*5 turns)

Wall's Glyph - Each level improves the Defence value of the item it is applied to by X.
Erb's Glyph - Each level improves the Armour value of the item it is applied to by X.
Matthiessen's Glyph - Each talent level gives (X)% elemental resistance. (Elemental resistance is resistance to damage from Air, Fire, Water, Earth)
Spell Glyph - Each talent level gives (X*2)% spell resistance.

Wards
Wards are traps. They are applied on the ground and are considered one shot and time limited in effect. Wards last for (tlevel*5 turns)

Incendiary Ward - When triggered each level does X Fire damage. At each talent level the damages continues for Tlevel turns
Lewis' Ward - When triggered each level does X Acid damage. At TLevel 3 it becomes an Area Effect spell Radius 2. At each talent level there is a (X)% chance of blindness for 3 turns.
The Maze Ward - When triggered the target is stunned for (X) turns
Quake Ward - When triggered each level does X Earth damage. At TLevel 3 it becomes an Area Effect spell Radius 2. At Tlevel 5 it has a radius of 3. At each talent level there is a (X)% chance of Stun for 3 turns.

Runes
Runes enhance the caster. So physical stats are (STR, DEX, CON) and magical stats are (WIL, MAG, CUN). Runes last for (tlevel*5 turns). Only one rune can be cast on the caster at a time. Casting a second rune dispels the first (this includes any Runes that have a Sigil cast on them - even Morrison's).

Auroch Rune - Increases any physical stat - the stat is chosen when the Rune is cast. Target is the caster.
Blum's Rune - Increases any magical stat - the stat is chosen when the Rune is cast. Target is the caster.
7 League's Rune - Increases Speed by (tlevel*2)%. Target is the caster
Flower Rune - Increases hitpoints by (tlevel*8). Target is the caster

Sigils
Sigils are combinations of other signs. For example, you can use Sigils to enhance traps - take Maze and add Fire Damage to it. Or use them on armor or weapons...

Seal Sigil - Add a second spell to a primary spell for increasing lengths of time (E.G: Lay a Maze Ward and then use the Seal Sigil to add Fire Brand damage to it.)
Level 1 - Access to Brands - You can add 2 Brands together
Level 2 - Access to Glyphs - You can add 2 Brands or Glyphs together
Level 3 - Access to Wards - You can add 2 Brands, Glyphs or Wards together
Level 4 - Access to Runes - You can add 2 Brands, Glyphs, Wards, or Runes together
Level 5 - Add 3 spells together.

Store - Absorb a spell cast at you. You get a percentage of the mana used to cast the spell and take %damage less as a result, the mana gained is added to your current mana level even if it takes you over your maximum allowed mana.
Eruption - Create a special Ward (Area effect when triggered is 2) which takes all your mana and all your physical health (except 1 pt). When triggered a percentage of this energy is released and used as damage to the target.
Morrisson's Sigil - Level 1 - Make any Brand permanent. Level 2 - Make any Ward Permanent. Level 3 - Make any Rune permanent. Level 4 Make any Sigil permanent. Level 5 - Lock any Brand/Rune/etc, so it cannot be overwritten

[madmonk]

Just a comment...

A Gold star to anyone who can come up with the relationships of names of spells to their effects.

Hint: Lewis and Acid have a relationship.

[edge2054]

What I was getting at for glyphs was something like this.

Glyphs - Glyphs can be applied to any worn piece of equipment but each piece of equipment may only have one active glyph, they may not be applied to items that can already be activated rather via the charge ego or an artifact property. Glyphs may be activated by using the selected item and remain on the item until activated. At level 3 Glyphs may be activated twice before needing to be reapplied and at level 5 they can be activated three times. (Think of this just like a charge effect that you apply with a 1/1 charge ratio or 1/2 and 1/3 at levels 3 and 5 respectively).

Glyph of Chain Lightning - You apply a Glyph of Chain Lightning to the selected item. When activated you create a forking lightning bolt on the selected target that inflicts X damage before traveling to another target aside from the caster. The bolt may fork up to X times but will never hit the same target twice.

Gotta feed the baby, I have some other ideas on this I'll post later.

[madmonk]

My original thought was to have the following:

Brands as Personal attack
Glyphs as Personal Defence
Wards as Traps (Anti-Personnel Mines)
Runes as personal Buffs
Sigils as personal multiplier to allow for complex interactions of the rest.

Quite open to changing the concept.

What I was getting at for glyphs was something like this.

Glyphs - Glyphs can be applied to any worn piece of equipment but each piece of equipment may only have one active glyph, they may not be applied to items that can already be activated rather via the charge ego or an artifact property. Glyphs may be activated by using the selected item and remain on the item until activated. At level 3 Glyphs may be activated twice before needing to be reapplied and at level 5 they can be activated three times. (Think of this just like a charge effect that you apply with a 1/1 charge ratio or 1/2 and 1/3 at levels 3 and 5 respectively).

So you would use the "A" command to activate it, I assume.

The only drawback to this is that then Glyphs cannot be used with Morrison's Sigil unless some method is found to recharge the Glyph. This is then, for me, a problem since we enter the realm of micro-managing our spells - not somewhere I want to go...

If it can be resolved happy to entertain the idea!

Glyph of Chain Lightning - You apply a Glyph of Chain Lightning to the selected item. When activated you create a forking lightning bolt on the selected target that inflicts X damage before traveling to another target aside from the caster. The bolt may fork up to X times but will never hit the same target twice.

Gotta feed the baby, I have some other ideas on this I'll post later.

Feed away...

[edge2054]

My original thought was to have the following:

Brands as Personal attack
Glyphs as Personal Defence
Wards as Traps (Anti-Personnel Mines)
Runes as personal Buffs
Sigils as personal multiplier to allow for complex interactions of the rest.

Quite open to changing the concept.

Yeah, what I was suggesting was that all Personal Buffs (defense buffs included) basically get moved to Runes and Glyphs turn into another type of attack tree. This would leave Runes and Sigils as generic trees and the other three as class trees.

Brands could also be tweaked to include +X resist if applied as part of a Rune which would basically cover armor and resist buffs. (The physical damage Brand would be physical damage resist in this case). In this set up the player could basically equip Brand and Rune combos to up their defense before combat without dumping a bunch of talent points into defense only skills (which aside from Shield Wall I've never found appeasing myself).

So you would use the "A" command to activate it, I assume.

The only drawback to this is that then Glyphs cannot be used with Morrison's Sigil unless some method is found to recharge the Glyph. This is then, for me, a problem since we enter the realm of micro-managing our spells - not somewhere I want to go...

If it can be resolved happy to entertain the idea!

Right on the A command. I don't follow the issue with Morrison's Sigil. It already doesn't effect Glyphs as you wrote it up.

There would be some micro-managing but there always is. The way I see it playing is like this.

I'm trekking through the dungeon and hit level 2. I dump a point into one of my Glyph talents and start inscribing Glyphs on my gear as I go along (the Glyph cooldown should be decently high). I come across a monster that manages to make it past one of my traps with a lot of health left and by this point I've managed to glyph all my gear out, my lantern, my robes, my weapon, and the pair of boots I found in the dungeon. I have four glyphs of foo active and burn a couple on the monster as it closes managing to reduce it to a more manageable hit point total so I brand my weapon and finish the fight. I burned two glyphs of foo during the fight so now my gear looks like this, weapon (charged glyph of foo), robes, lantern (charged glyph of foo), boots.

Much later on I'm combining my brands with my glyphs and I can inscribe much cooler effects on my gear like robes (charged glyph of foo/brand of flamma) which would produce two effects as I burned it leaving me with just plane robes.

Think of it like it's own resource pool (each item you have equipped) but you have to pre-spend the pool to use later. Was that what you meant by micro-management? It is an extra step to cast but I really thought of the casting as stuff you would do before combat.

This would also open up another direction for glyphs, utility glyphs, all those items charged with sense had to come from someplace.

Anyway, it's just a thought.

I also thought about some different ideas for wards so it's not just a trap tree or maybe an expanded tree for wards.

- Teleportation Wards could work both as traps and as a way for the character to run. Gate Wards would be cooler but I'm not sure right now how to do that (basically two wards linked together so when you step on one you're teleported to the other).
- Healing Wards could give heal over time effects. Maybe call them shrine wards though?
- Power Wards could give you bonuses while you stand in them. Defense bonuses, offense bonuses, whatever we'd want to put here.
- Protective Wards could prevent creatures from passing

[madmonk]

Aaargh! type on Morrisson's:

Morrisson's Sigil - Level 1 - Make any Brand permanent. Level 2 - Make any Ward Permanent. Level 3 - Make any Rune permanent. Level 4 Make any Sigil permanent. Level 5 - Lock any Brand/Rune/etc, so it cannot be overwritten

Level 4 should be make Glyphs permanent not Sigil, in fact I would rejig slightly so that we get:

Morrisson's Sigil - Level 1 - Make any Brand permanent. Level 2 - Make any Glyph Permanent. Level 3 - Make any Ward permanent. Level 4 Make any Rune permanent. Level 5 - Lock any Brand/Rune/etc, so it cannot be overwritten

As for the rest of your comment's I need to read your post thoroughly and will post anon!

[madmonk]

Yeah, what I was suggesting was that all Personal Buffs (defense buffs included) basically get moved to Runes and Glyphs turn into another type of attack tree. This would leave Runes and Sigils as generic trees and the other three as class trees.

Brands could also be tweaked to include +X resist if applied as part of a Rune which would basically cover armor and resist buffs. (The physical damage Brand would be physical damage resist in this case). In this set up the player could basically equip Brand and Rune combos to up their defense before combat without dumping a bunch of talent points into defense only skills (which aside from Shield Wall I've never found appeasing myself).

Which means that you would be reducing the need to use the Sigaldry schools (Sigils) to combine spells.

Right on the A command. I don't follow the issue with Morrison's Sigil. It already doesn't effect Glyphs as you wrote it up.

Fixed see my comment above, my typo, my bad!

There would be some micro-managing but there always is. The way I see it playing is like this.

I'm trekking through the dungeon and hit level 2. I dump a point into one of my Glyph talents and start inscribing Glyphs on my gear as I go along (the Glyph cooldown should be decently high). I come across a monster that manages to make it past one of my traps with a lot of health left and by this point I've managed to glyph all my gear out, my lantern, my robes, my weapon, and the pair of boots I found in the dungeon. I have four glyphs of foo active and burn a couple on the monster as it closes managing to reduce it to a more manageable hit point total so I brand my weapon and finish the fight. I burned two glyphs of foo during the fight so now my gear looks like this, weapon (charged glyph of foo), robes, lantern (charged glyph of foo), boots.

Much later on I'm combining my brands with my glyphs and I can inscribe much cooler effects on my gear like robes (charged glyph of foo/brand of flamma) which would produce two effects as I burned it leaving me with just plane robes.

Think of it like it's own resource pool (each item you have equipped) but you have to pre-spend the pool to use later. Was that what you meant by micro-management? It is an extra step to cast but I really thought of the casting as stuff you would do before combat.

This would also open up another direction for glyphs, utility glyphs, all those items charged with sense had to come from someplace.

Anyway, it's just a thought.

Aha! So really we might have this:

Brands #1: Close up attack buffs on personal equipment
Brands #2: As #1, but only if needed
Glyphs #1: Ranged attack buffs on personal equipment
Glyphs #2: As #1, but only if needed
Wards #1: Traps, etc
Wards #2: Utility spells
Runes #1: Personal Defense Buffs
Runes #2: As #1, but only if needed
Sigils: Combo/complex spells

Might be a little much but lets see if we need to have them. Sigils are the heart of the Runecaster and so should be considered Class specific by the way. I would consider Wards and Runes as generic classes.

I also thought about some different ideas for wards so it's not just a trap tree or maybe an expanded tree for wards.

- Teleportation Wards could work both as traps and as a way for the character to run. Gate Wards would be cooler but I'm not sure right now how to do that (basically two wards linked together so when you step on one you're teleported to the other).
- Healing Wards could give heal over time effects. Maybe call them shrine wards though?
- Power Wards could give you bonuses while you stand in them. Defense bonuses, offense bonuses, whatever we'd want to put here.
- Protective Wards could prevent creatures from passing

I like these! I'll write something up in a bit!

[edge2054]

haha.. I think that might be to many talent trees.

How about..

Brands - Elemental Effects. Fire, Acid, Frost, and Lightning Brands. When a Weapon is branded you get an elemental damage buff. When armor is branded you get an elemental resist.

Glyphs - Offensive. Offensive Glyphs could be different types of debuffs mixed in with different forms of areas of effect. As an example. Chain Daze (chain lightning area of effect but dazes), Blinding Aura (blinds targets in a turn based radius around you), Web (lingering pin effect in a cone), Thunder Crack (stun effect in a standard radius based aoe). The reason I'm suggesting doing it like this is because you can combine things. So if you want a Chain Lightning you combine Lightning Brand and Daze-y Chain and you get a Chain Lightning that Dazes your foes. If you combine Lightning Brand with Web you get electrified webbing. By the way all these names suck and are just off the top of my head things to illustrate the general idea.

Glyphs - Utility. It's boring but it's utility and it helps us all survive. We can coolify it later. Or we skip it leaving us with Wards, Runes, and presumably Combat Techniques for generic talents which isn't bad. Sigils, Brands, and Glyphs for class trees?

Wards - A trap that does physical damage, gate ward (or teleportation if it's easier), maze ward, and power ward. Again, if we want elemental damage wards or blinding wards we add that effect in later with a sigil. You could even do power wards with runes in them that give you extra buffs using the Sigil system. Maybe Maze ward should be something else and Maze should be an offensive glyph. Power Ward, Gate Ward, Trap Ward, Protective Ward (and if the protection gets broken it works like a trap ward?)

Runes - We could do the double effect here too like was used for brands. If it's used defensively you get +speed for instance. If used offensively you get -speed. Make them melee/personal so you're still applying the Rune to the body (just the foes body). Then we could combine these using a sigil and get effects like a glyph that when activated does a daze chain lightning that slows your opponents as it marks them all with your glowing purple/blue/red/whatever rune.

Sorry, brainstorming out loud again

If you like these ideas we can take them further but I'll let you gloss over them first.

[darkgod]

I like all those, keep it up !
(Oh gods so many classes to implement )

BTW what about a sigil that "fires" your current brand as a short beam ?