using spells from afar

[subtledoctor]

Is it possible to simulate delivering spells via a Wizard Eye?

 

Here's the more specific idea: I'm working on 2E-style psionic powers, and I want to make a pseudo-Wizard Eye power in the Clairsentience discipline ("Mental Projection"). My telepathic powers are single-target, with no projectile. So I figure, if I increase the range enough, the psionicist will be able to use the powers against anyone visible by the Mental Projection.

 

1) What range would be appropriate? How big is your average map in these units? (Whatever units they are)

 

2) There are two flags in the .spl file, "No LOS Required" and "Spotting Allowed." What do these do? Would one or both of these be required and/or helpful for the targeting psionic powers?

 

3) It seems like a side-effect of this is that the psionicist could forego the Mental Projection and perform telepathic attacks against anyone visible by, say, a scouting thief. Any ideas how to differentiate between these two uses?

[Jarno Mikkola]

The range has not much to do with casting outside the LOS, except that it needs to exceed the natural one, but considering the chars LOS is ~20. Remember, the target of the spell needs to be set in the spell(Extended Headers 0x000c ) to be 4 "any point in range" as it's referred to in NI.

 

3) It seems like a side-effect of this is that the psionicist could forego the Mental Projection and perform telepathic attacks against anyone visible by, say, a scouting thief. Any ideas how to differentiate between these two uses?

To be fair, the AI's usually quite unintellegent ... so to be that fair, the attack should dispel all "friendly invisibility"... effects. So there's no invisible stalker next to a dragon who just casts heal spells on himself cause there's no actual combat going on...

[subtledoctor]

Maybe I should just use an invisible Projected Image... hmm. Have to think about this.

[Avenger]

No LOS required + spell's range is sufficient + Eye revealing targets should be enough for your caster to shoot spells at the distant target. There is no way to shoot the spells from the eye, unless the eye casts the spells.

[Magus]

The problem with project image is that it's broken. Broken enough for mages, I wouldn't use it for a new kit I'd be making.

[subtledoctor]

Well, Project Image might actually be interesting if cast by a non-Mage, no? We're talking about a psionicist, with about 12 relatively low-level psionic powers... and that's *all* the image could do. Versus a mage, where the projected image can blast away with 10th-level magic.

 

And in this case, since I my psionic powers cost a reduction in max hp to use, I could make it balanced... like, the psionicist suffers a 15 point reduction in max hp, which only slowly recover after the Image is dispelled/dismissed. Something like that.

 

But, maybe easier to just allow powers to be used w/o LOS, then the psionicist takes the hp reduction and has to use his *own* powers on people the image can see, taking *more* hp reductions. So using powers from afar like this will be taxing.

[Fiann of the Silver Hand]

What about assigning a power pool based on INT, assigned as a Local variable at game start. Pool regen is either fixed (say, 1 point per hour), or based on INT (INT 12 = 1 per 3 hours, 18 = 1 per 30 mins), also assigned as a Local. I'll stipulate power "levels" of 1 through 9, each power using its level of points. This would prevent spamming high level powers, while still allowing much freer use of the more insignificant lower level ones.

 

Just throwing stuff out there. No obligation to address any of this.

[Magus]

Well, Project Image might actually be interesting if cast by a non-Mage, no? We're talking about a psionicist, with about 12 relatively low-level psionic powers... and that's *all* the image could do. Versus a mage, where the projected image can blast away with 10th-level magic.

Meaning? The psion isn't going to level up?

 

The answer to the question 1), is that LOS is about 30 units. No idea what range would be appropriate, I guess it has to be considered in context of the kit.

[subtledoctor]

Well, Project Image might actually be interesting if cast by a non-Mage, no? We're talking about a psionicist, with about 12 relatively low-level psionic powers... and that's *all* the image could do. Versus a mage, where the projected image can blast away with 10th-level magic.

Meaning? The psion isn't going to level up?

 

Well, I've only made 20 psionic powers, and the most powerful ones only imitate mid-level spells. The only abilities the Image could use against foes would be analogues of Sleep, Spook, Charm Person, Hold Person, SR Battering Ram, and Produce Fire. Not world-shattering stuff.

 

My Psion kit is a thief kit, so doesn't level up into any powerful magical abilities.

 

What about assigning a power pool based on INT, assigned as a Local variable at game start. Pool regen is either fixed (say, 1 point per hour), or based on INT (INT 12 = 1 per 3 hours, 18 = 1 per 30 mins), also assigned as a Local. I'll stipulate power "levels" of 1 through 9, each power using its level of points. This would prevent spamming high level powers, while still allowing much freer use of the more insignificant lower level ones.

 

Just throwing stuff out there. No obligation to address any of this.

 

I though about using local variables to mimic a mana system, but 1) I'm not skilled enough with them, and I wouldn't want scripting to be anywhere near a system used in combat; 2) there's no visual indicator of how many points you have left; and 3) it doesn't get across the physically demanding nature of the abilities. I was going to use stat decreases but there's not a really good visual indicator of that either. My method of decreasing max hit points seems to be working pretty well. So you can blast someone with a Battering Ram (2d4 crushing damage plus chance of knockback) and see your hit points drop from 20/20 to 15/15. Then it slowly climbs back to full strength at a rate of 1 hp per round. A careless Psion can drop himself to negative hit points... it's a bit weird, your portrait goes gray but you don't die - though, the slightest bit of damage will kill you.

 

Right now, the scaling mechanism is, you gain more hit points but the hp cost to use power stays the same, so you can use them more easily and with less risk. And a power that might have wiped out your hp completely at 1st or 2nd level can be used multiple times at 10th level. The powers themselves don't scale at all... meaning they might become somewhat useless at high levels. But then again, like I said, this is a thief kit, and a thief has precious little to contribute to fights at high levels, so even the ability to use low-level abilities can be a nice thing.

 

If anyone's interested in trying it out, it's part of the Rogue Feats component here:

https://forums.beamdog.com/discussion/43878/mod-might-and-guile-a-tweak-mod-and-kit-pack-for-warriors-and-rogues/p1

 

EE 2.0+ only - it uses some new stuff like Opcode 326. This doesn't include the Wizard Eye/Project Image ability - that will be in the Clairsentience discipline, which I haven't coded up yet.

[Fiann of the Silver Hand]

Ah, it's a thief kit. I was thinking in terms of sort of a silent add-on kit that anyone could have. My old 1e brain.