Small change to bloodcasting talent

[Red]

Actually, I do see something wrong with that. If you'r buffing a talent to make it similar but weaker than an existing prodigy, you're leaving it totally useless. In fact, if the old prodigydid something else, you're now making it less useful because back then it gave something else at the very least, now it's just Hidden Resources but worse.

I'd rather see it buffed to be equivalent to Hidden Resources, but different. My idea was longer lasting but more costly version of it, for those who have the healing and durability to make proper use of it.

[Doctornull]

Actually, I do see something wrong with that. If you'r buffing a talent to make it similar but weaker than an existing prodigy, you're leaving it totally useless.

Red, stop skipping words and trying to argue with things nobody actually said. You're either persistently misunderstanding, or you're persistently making straw-man arguments. Neither is good behavior.

What I said is that it's fine to buff X with an inferior version of Y (which I'll call y).

Thus the new prodigy is X+y, and Y is still better than y, but X+y is also better than just plain X standing there by itself.

Nobody said "replacing", you're either making shit up, or just randomly skipping what people actually said in order to ... I don't even know what. But it's not helping, so please stop doing it.

Thanks!

[Red]

I see that I made a mistake. If we're looking at adding Bloodcasting to Corrupted Shell, though, we should probably actually look at how that'd affect it and whether or not it'd actually be worthwhile, or if it'd be pointless.

Corrupted Shell by default adds life, defense, armour hardiness and saves. Saves and life are useful for anyone, but for Archmages, Corruptors, really any straight mage class it's not going to be that useful. Defense and hardiness won't be used for much of anything, the saves will almost certainly be too small to matter (Constitution/3 is not much unless you really work Constituion), though the life bonus is still big. However, because the Bloodcasting bonus comes with HP cost, invariably Hidden Resources will be better for pure mage types.

The classes who will benefit a lot from this are the hybrid classes. Arcane Blades, Shadowblades, Sun Paladins, and I'm sure other classes will be able to utilize the Corrupted Bloodshell very well. (Not sure how Reaver will fit in because they laready have Bloodcasting and I don't know what would replace it.) Heavy armor using Arcane Blades and Sun Paladins will benefit a lot from the hardiness, evasive Shadowblades will use the defense, and they'll all benefit immensely from the saves and life. Sun Paladins especially should have the healing needed to benefit from Bloodcasting and the other stats needed to synergize with Shell.

The other thing to look at is how it compares to other prodigies. It does not need to be the best prodigy, since thematic if inefficient builds are most certainly a thing that exist, but it should be a good choice.

Sun Paladins benefit from most Strength prodigies, especially Irresistible Sun. Outside of Strength, the Eternal Guard, Spectral Shield, Arcane Might, and any standard prodigies (either Draconic, Cauterize, etc.) are good for them. The buffed Corrupted Shell would almost certainly not replace Irresistible Sun as the top prodigy, but it might fit in a similar spot to Arcane Might. Large bonuses from Corrupted Shell are passive, same as Arcane Might, though on the defensive rather than offensive side, and the Bloodcasting ability, massive HP pool, and low resource costs of their abilities would synergize very well for emergencies that Arcane Might does not let you handle. If, like me, you enjoy passive abilities this might actually be a good second prodigy for a run that is not thematically blight and is simply an attempt to win.

I have not played nearly as much Shadowblade, Arcane Blade, or Reaver, so if those more experienced on those classes could try to figure out how useful the new Shell would be and whether it'd be a viable buff that'd help see if this idea will work.

[HousePet]

This change would devalue Hidden Resources, which I don't see as helpful and could lead to power creep at a later time if the devalue is compensated for.
It also doesn't make Corrupted Shell an interesting prodigy. It is still going to be a collection of generic stuff.

I think this thread has gone from making Bloodcasting a little more flexible into trying to find a problem we can fix by adding Bloodcasting to.

[Doctornull]

Heh, good point.

Anyway, for now:
- changes going in to allow Bloodcasting to apply to other talents; and
- a high-tier armor which fits the same niche as the Iron Mail of Bloodletting and gives Bloodcasting 4/5 on use.

Internally, I want Bloodcasting to use different variables for the different Arcane resources, so stuff like the Flenser can still only allow Life->Vim for its always-on passive talent.