Most of these suggestions would suit 1-alt best, but I would like to propose a new range of monster abilities to spice up some new or existing boss fights.
- True spells that can be counterspelled or resisted as if it came from a player.
This wouldn't replace the current monster spells, as some of them aren't really spells. Either way, having "true spells" would perhaps place an emphasis on equipping Wisdom modifiers over others occasionally.
- Area attack that damages all players in the vicinity (e.g. Wrath of the Gods).
I originally wanted High Priestess Ku'Nal to have a lightning spell that damaged all players for about 20 or 30 damage each, but decided against it due to the code change requirement at the time. Such a spell is more devastating for large parties over small parties, and would be a nice counterbalance to growing party sizes, especially on multi-alt.
- Ability for a monster to teleport a random crit to a designated room.
Almost like a forced vortex gate, a boss would pick a crit at random as normal, and have it teleported to a designated room set by its designer. It should have a specified chance of success, like the summoning spells, so it does not activate all the time. For 1-alt, it would require players to keep on their toes and attempt to recover from the teleportation by working their way back to the boss, probably single-handedly.
An example could be the Time Mage teleporting a crit to the Portal Opening, half-way through the Chamber of Wisdom. Note that this is just an example and not something I'm actively endorsing.
- Ability for monsters to heal other monsters.
This is where true strategy would fall into play because a small group of monsters could act like players would, and parties would have to identify and kill the healers first if they wish to advance.
Monsters would only be able to heal monsters that fall into a criterion, e.g. "HEAL^black " would only heal monsters that have "black " in their name (note the space), such as Black Bears or Black Knights, but not Blackguards or anything else that lacks the text segment. Note that the monster wouldn't be able to heal themselves using this method - that's reserved for the current self-healing ability already in place - however, if two identical monsters are set to heal a monster, and their names fall into the criterion, then they can heal each other.
Like with the area attack on Ku'Nal, I wanted this ability on the Evil Deities so they could heal Ganymede, but not each other, forcing you to dispel the deities first so you could take down the corrupted Pacifist unhindered.
- Ability for monsters to teleport themselves to designated rooms.
The phrase "Catch me if you can!" comes to mind in this instance. Like with being able to teleport players, a boss would be able to teleport themselves to a designed room, forcing the players to continue their search. The staff teleport sound could also be optionally played for effect (yes if the boss is a mage using true teleportation, no if the boss is a thief slipping through a crack in the wall), along with whatever custom message is in place for that boss.
- Ability for monsters to throw items to the floor.
You might ask what the point in this is, but just think how versatile it could be. For example... a friendly NPC could chuck healing potions onto the floor for players to use, or a Dwarven Grenadier could drop a Fire Bomb, prime for detonation, forcing players to make the choice of either letting it blow and damage everyone, or for a brave soul to pick it up and let it blow in their hand for five times the damage, but saving their comrades.
- Desperation.
Abilities that only activate if they become mortally wounded (possibly have a stat to set this, 0 being "no desperation" and 0.2 being the "mortally wounded" mark), possibly including self-healing (or a stronger version of what they already have), and, optionally, increased frequency of attack. A monster who leisurely attacks you most of the time might go into a panicked frenzy if severely injured in an attempt to survive. Would force players to stay alert and also act as a subtle clue if their health status is hidden.
- Retreat.
As a spell, the monster would simply vanish, like the Giant Mosquito Swarms and the Spirit of Ariat vanishing when they reach the end of their set path. Rather than being predictable though, it is random and probably best suited for regular, 'true neutral' animals that might eventually run away if scared. A high HP boss with this stat probably would never be killed.
- Kamikaze.
Instead of attacking normally, a monster could decide to engage in an attack that also kills them (e.g. a suicide bomber), either as an area attack or a direct attack against a random individual. Such an attack would probably be very high damage.
- Mutually Assured Destruction (M.A.D.).
Like Kamikaze, except it triggers upon their death. Fanatic denizens could make one final effort to take out their attackers (e.g. a dragon falling on the party when shot out of the sky), or could simply be some kind of mechanical device that explodes when too badly damaged, sending metal or stone shards everywhere. Would probably be an area attack.
- Rapid Fire.
Currently, monsters always attack the same number of times in a cycle; for example, Black Bears always attack once and the Bodyguards always attack four times - it never varies depending on the type of attack or spell they are using. Generally this won't find much use, but it would prove useful for the kamikaze and M.A.D. attacks where a dragon falling out of the sky wouldn't crush everyone present, say, but wouldn't just fall on one person.
Ganymede would have had this with his Cellular Collapse spell, casting it five times in rapid succession, while keeping only a single attack on his Staff of Tranquility, but due to the code change requirements it was changed to a dual, hard attack.
ADDENDUM:
The rapid fire ability wouldn't necessarily target the same player. I would propose flexibility with the option on whether to acquire a single target (which might dodge one of the individual attacks), acquire a new target on each attack, or to not pick the same target twice (so the falling dragon doesn't doubly crush an individual), but this might be too much.
ADDENDUM DUO:
With the teleport spells, if the target room is the same room that the monster is currently located, nothing happens.
Edited by Crane, 01 May 2010 - 03:30 PM.
