Off topic discussion on Shadow Monsters (split from SCS v32: Spell Systems)

[Luke]

On 4/27/2019 at 2:26 AM, subtledoctor said:

...but their first attack should carry an opcode 248 effect that weakens them if the target makes a saving throw. Something like that...

What were you suggesting exactly? Guess it's either that or op#326 (Apply SPL) + a spell state.....

[subtledoctor]

goddamit, the forums ate my post. 

[Luke]

20 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

goddamit, the forums ate my post. 

What  ?

Could you rewrite it please? I'm curious about your implementation of "illusionary monster"....

[subtledoctor]

Something like:

Illusionary creatures get a custom race or some other identifier. Their weapons do little or no damage; most or all comes through a subspell/.eff. On hit, the target must make a saving throw. If the save is successful,* the target gets immunity to the damage subspell, and thac0/damage bonuses to the race/identifier.

* A bit awkward to apply effects on a successful save, since the engine usually works the other way. But it's doable, similar to my spell evasion function. 

[bob_veng]

sounds good.

[subtledoctor]

If I ever get around to doing more work on my mods, this woukd be a nice addition to Tome & Blood. 

[Luke]

On 8/17/2019 at 7:18 PM, subtledoctor said:

Illusionary creatures get a custom race or some other identifier.

I'd use the existing gender (offset 0x0275) ILLUSIONARY => In so doing, they'll be instantly killed by Remove/Dispel Magic, Detect Illusion (Thieves, Dark Moon monks, Shamans) and True Seeing; at the same time they'll be immune to Death Fog (which is fine since they should not be considered as "conjured matter" as @bob_veng said).

The only problem I foresee is that they'll no longer be subjected to the summoning limit => having said that, this will probably be irrelevant since their attacks are not reliable and they can be instantly killed by various common spells.....

Edited August 19, 2019 by Luke

[subtledoctor]

9 hours ago, Luke said:

I'd use the existing gender (offset 0x0275) ILLUSIONARY => In so doing, they'll be instantly killed by Remove/Dispel Magic, Detect Illusion, and True Seeing;

Is that a thing? Do DM/RM and TS auto-kill illusionary creatures?  Or is that something you've implemented with a mod?

[Luke]

13 hours ago, subtledoctor said:

Is that a thing? Do DM/RM and TS auto-kill illusionary creatures?  Or is that something you've implemented with a mod?

That's vanilla game.

Open NearInfinity and look for those SPLs. You'll notice an opcode #177 (resource = ~DESTSELF~) targeting GENDER: ILLUSIONARY. The .eff file "DESTSELF" performs the auto-kill via opcode #168 (Remove creature).