Specials

[Salius]

I propose every special should be marked as coming from one of the eight spheres:
lightning, fire, earth, ice, physical, poison, light, and dark.

If we avoid reworking AC by accepting its current workings, we could then create eight new skills that would work like perception now does vs backstab.

Currently perception works to "evade" a stealth attack. If we put this concept into play to possibly "evade" specials of particular types, there would be a much more unique world and many more years of exp drain.

Thoughts?

[Lucid]

I'm guessing that "sphere" is a metaphor for elemental trees.
I agree that they should all be categorized so that certain armors and spells and enhancements will better absorb them.
As it is now, it is impossible to absorb a special. AFAIK anyway.
Block won't do it. AC can maybe take some of it, not sure really.
Wearing all the AC armor that is currently in the game is not enough protection. It's pathetic the gear in the game.
People get block so high and it is way too much work for the return.

[Salius]

The spheres would better regulate the types of creatures individuals would mass kill over long periods of time. By removing resistance from block to separate resistance checks, the specialization of areas could occur and keep players from always fighting over the same exp areas. Beyond the atruistic, random GM spawns could check the nature of afk as well: just drop a normal looking mob in the same room as a player and see if they notice that the mob is attacking with specials from a much different sphere.

The resistance checks make a lot more sense than block or dodge as a means of protection. If somebody is already at melee (wailing away with some kind of poking device), then blocking or dodging an area affect or short radial burst seems highly unlikely. Use of block would require a blocking tool, shield of some sort, that would be unlikely to stay in good condition after more than a few hits from any elemental branch attack; and would do nothing to shield a life-form from a light or dark attack. Use of dodge would require removing the character from combat encountering. The only time block or dodge make any sense is against physical attacks (these should still affect armor deterioration and encumburance). Use of defense as the main means to defend against specials was a short term measure for the long term problem of how to allow players to survive in a world of six hundred hitpoint specials; thus, a more equitable means of player support could be created by simply setting up a more specialized defense system.

This change would also show exactly which zones were created completely for the purposes of exp generation. We have all seen some interesting zones that are just mimics of older zones with hordes of exp grinding potential, is this why area creation was put in play? Spheres would have to be somewhat random within areas or specialization of sphere would require serious cuts in area exp.

If we had actual spheres of specials then we could just set physical attacks as one of them. Imagine if Lightning Shield was just a counter to physical attacks, this sure seems like a better balance than continually downgrading Lshield and watching GMs read code and train the skills that will debalance the new nerfs. Better yet, we could create new classes or specializations that would have counters for spheres and possibly protections (abjurers). Best of all, if spheres of interaction were put into play as a fix then experience coding could be put in to allow for special exp on a master table and average endgame exp could be balanced for everybody--as much fun as shambling around can be, ogres and dwarves should not be a large portion of the gaming population unless the players want to do some actual RP.

This would be a small step to get away from the Zmud checking movie watchers that are most prevalent these days. Short of real RP requirements and banning board posting while afk, this is one of the few ways to make Tharsis a better experience for everybody.