Rainbow Pretender Mod

Catquiet · #1 February 3rd, 2004, 11:09 AM

I like the idea of rainbow mages, but they are too fragile for my taste.

In the mod I gave the Crone immortality and added 99 encumbrance so she wouldn't be able to use spells in battle.

What do you guys think? Suggestions are welcome.

If people show an interest in the mod, I will make a banner for it and send it in to Illwinter.

Catquiet's immortal crone mod
#modname "Immortal Crone"
#description "Crone gets immortality but can't cast battle spells"
#selectmonster 249
#descr "The Crone is an ancient sorceress who has learned how to cheat death. The Crone excels at the careful preparation of ritual spells but her frail body is not suited to the rigors of battle magic"
#immortal
#enc 99
#end

PDF · #2 February 3rd, 2004, 12:34 PM

Humm, I think it's stupid, who will ever play a pretender falling unconscious on 1st round of combat ??

If you feel they're too frail, give them 25 hp or more, make them ethereal, whatever, but why ruining them ??

Unwise · #3 February 3rd, 2004, 03:09 PM

Ignorant question: What is "SC". I've seen it all over the forum, and have assumed several meanings for it (like "Summoned Creature"), but every time I think I've got it, someone uses it in a context that doesn't fit.

PDF · #4 February 3rd, 2004, 03:20 PM

Well, in fact I also like cool Statues and frail mages, but I don't like the idea of a non-magic user mage, even if Immortal...

SC stands for "Super Combatant", a physically powerful Pretender equipped with items and spells to bash army all by himself.
Example : regenerating trampling Great Mother, teleporting Sphinx...

General Tacticus · #5 February 3rd, 2004, 05:08 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by PDF:
Well, in fact I also like cool Statues and frail mages, but I don't like the idea of a non-magic user mage, even if Immortal...

My point was that a rainbow pretender has no business being in combat in the first place; he exists for site searching, researching, ritual spells, item forging, but not to cast in combat.
Of course, you could build a rainbow Great Mother or a rainbow Dragon, and send them to battle, but they would be very expensive. A rainbow Crone, on the other hand, is affordable, but should not be found on the battlefield.

I like the cat-and-mouse game of moving your frail rainbow pretender around while avoiding fights, and it would spoil it for me to know he is immortal... For the same reason, I don't use the "all pretender heal afflictions" mod either. There are immortal pretenders, and ones that heal affliction, and they are priced according to their rarity, which is how I like it

But that shouldn't stop Catquiet from distributing his mod, I'm sure other people will like it...

ywl · #6 February 3rd, 2004, 05:26 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by General Tacticus:

quote:
Originally posted by PDF:
Well, in fact I also like cool Statues and frail mages, but I don't like the idea of a non-magic user mage, even if Immortal...

My point was that a rainbow pretender has no business being in combat in the first place; he exists for site searching, researching, ritual spells, item forging, but not to cast in combat.
Of course, you could build a rainbow Great Mother or a rainbow Dragon, and send them to battle, but they would be very expensive. A rainbow Crone, on the other hand, is affordable, but should not be found on the battlefield.

A rainbow Naga of both of the two varieties might be possible. A 100+ hitpoints mage in combat also sounds fun. But I still haven't got the time to test it much yet.

moodgiesanta · #7 February 4th, 2004, 01:20 AM

Can you realistically have a rainbow Dragon? It seems you'd be very hamstrung by the prohibitive cost of new schools. Seems to me that if you take a Dragon you're pretty much stuck with the one path.

PvK · #8 February 4th, 2004, 02:16 AM

Depends on what you mean by realistic. In single-player, sure you can. In multi-player competetive gaming, it might be at a disadvantage compared to a cheaper rainbow pretender who builds his own non-pretender supercombattants, but having a bit of both worlds is an advantage in itself, and there is some efficiency in being able to conquer a province and then site search it, instead of taking a move to move the rainbow, without accomplishing anything else at the same time.

The immortal non-combat-casting pretender is an interesting idea, and high encumbrance is appropriate for the crone. Enc 99 seems over-much, though. I'd just give her a high encumbrance, low accuracy, immortality, and a higher base cost to pick her. When we can mod in new pretenders, I'd leave the old crone in, and add this new type of crone.

PvK

PvK · #9 February 4th, 2004, 02:23 AM

Ok, I couldn't resist:

Dragon: 50 points

Getting the dragon up to 1-3 in 5-6 paths: 448 points.

Imagining your opponent's face when he tries to kill your lone site-searching "sage" pretender, and ends up getting eaten for lunch: priceless!

PvK

General Tacticus · #10 February 4th, 2004, 02:31 AM

It may surprise some people, but not all of us send their pretender in battle. In fact, I play 40% of my games with an immobile pretender, and 40% with a rainbow site searcher/researcher who avoids combat.

That being said, I don't think I'll use Catquiet's mod. True, it's annoying (very) when a lucky Call of the Wind catches my rainbow mage (or Seeking Arrow, or whatever), but I think it is the price to pay for all my pretender can do.

In my opinion, a SC pretender is only useful on small, crowded maps. I prefer very large ones myself, so I seldom use a SC pretender.