Posted by Soren on September 22, 1999 at 05:37:22:
In Reply to: I feel like a fool jumping on the bandwagon, but.... [Imms: includes an apparent BUG] posted by The Arcane on September 21, 1999 at 12:16:10:
Normaly the conjurer is protected from the attack, If not they would die all the time. As it is now, its not problem. And, could it be Daerian actualy tryed to kill Septach ?
Soren
> ....that's just plain wrong.
> Firstly, killing you three times in a row the second you unghost in that manner is complete bullshit.
> Secondly, the fact that it's *possible* to kill you three times in a row in that manner is complete bullshit. The set of conjurer spells that reaches into guilds, cabals, norecall/nosummon places, and so forth is at odds with what seemed like a fairly consistent philosophy regarding hunting and access within Thera. Oh, and as an aside, I wonder if only one nightgaunt can be on a person at once, or if a trio of conjurers can get together and basically have a remote instakill by simul-casting three nightgaunts.... I dunno.
> Nightgaunts themselves are not overpowered. But the way in which they can be used is. This reminds me highly of the initial implementation of force duel, back when only Lachdanan had it. I had an Imperial assassin at the time, and I remember Joshu's transmuter (Ispin was it? Something like that I think) deleting over it. Now, that was an overreaction, but he was right. At the time, for those of you who don't know, force duel could be called:
> a) In other people's cabals
> and
> d) Healing weapons healed you during force duels.
> A was changed immediately, as it was really unbalanced. Lachdanan could raid, and anyone who tried to defend against him would get force duelled and likely die. B,C, and D followed not too long after, and now weapons no longer healed you, you couldn't FD someone who was fighting, and you couldn't FD if you'd been in combat recently (i.e. no flee/return/FD... it had to be purely pre-emptory).
> Force duel in and of itself continued to be quite powerful, but it wasn't the obscenity it was initially.
> I know it's only a matter of time before nightgaunt is toned down, but I guess it alarms me that it's taken this long.... Here are my suggestions, for anyone who cares...
> In the helpfile, it says nightgaunts are capricious beings who turn on their binders frequently. Maybe this is happening a lot, but I honestly don't think so.... Areas where you can be nightgaunted should be restricted--not inside guilds, cabals, underground, or across continents or the Void. Underwater is fine. Now, if you try and nightgaunt someone who is in one of these areas, your nightgaunt will turn on you. This way, it's a risky proposition for you unless you know for sure where your target is.
> Granted, I don't have firsthand knowledge from the conjurer's perspective. Maybe conjurers are dying to their own nightgaunts by the boatload and I don't know about it. But I haven't heard about it, that's for sure.
> ---
> Oh, and there's an apparent bug in here as I mentioned above:
> Judging from what we see below, I think nightgaunts are by default part of your group when they're sic'd on you... that conflicts with the way autoassist mechanics work... as we see below, Daerian actually autoassisted AGAINST Septach (we know this because Septach didn't yell "Help! Daerian is attacking me!") when the nightgaunt attacked. Next time one of you is nightgaunted, type gr immediately and see what shows up. I'm curious.
> > Your shield blocks a faceless nightgaunt's slap.
> b) On people who were already in combat
> c) At any time as long as you weren't fighting
> > Daerian steps out of the shadows.
> > You parry Daerian's slash.
> > You parry Daerian's slash.
> > You parry Daerian's slash.
> > You parry Daerian's slash.
> > You parry Daerian's slash.
> > Daerian's slash MASSACRES you!
> > A faceless nightgaunt stops following you.
> > Your pierce MASSACRES a faceless nightgaunt!
> > A faceless nightgaunt dodges your pierce.
> > A faceless nightgaunt has a few scratches.