Usability improvement: Remove unique names for priest spells
issueid=3221 07-22-2014 03:11 AM
Junior Member
Number of reported issues by Dental_floss: 6
Usability improvement: Remove unique names for priest spells
There is no reason to have two names for 1 spell. This only makes the game harder to play without adding depth.

Adom has two different names for many spells. This is very confusing for me, even as a long time multi-win player and I can only imagine its hell on newer players:

http://www.adom.de/forums/showthread...ly-spell-names

I think that the spell names should be one spell = one name. Even the flavor text that appears after casting shows how trivial the names are:

The orc is hit by the stun ray! The orc seems to shrug off the stun ray! The orc grunts in fury!
You become more efficient in using the 'Lesser Divine Touch' spell (now +1).

Since this spell IS stun ray, why not call it stun ray?
Issue Details
Issue Number 3221
Issue Type Feature
Project ADOM (Ancient Domains Of Mystery)
Category All
Status Suggested
Priority 9
Suggested Version ADOM r50
Implemented Version (none)
Milestone (none)
Votes for this feature 4
Votes against this feature 14
Assigned Users (none)
Tags (none)




07-22-2014 04:00 AM
Ancient Member
I like this division as I think it adds an appropriate amount of flavor.

I do agree it's a bit confusing, but then, that's what the manual is for.

07-22-2014 08:57 AM
Ancient Member
No, please! Having the clerical spell names is great for immersion. Us roleplayers would cry if this change were implemented.

07-22-2014 09:48 AM
Senior Member
From usability point, things that do absolutely the same thing should have the same name.
To be worth having a different name, the divine and arcane spells should have unique aspects - and different speed of acquiring Effectivity is not such a unique aspect.

07-22-2014 09:50 AM
Ancient Member
Almost certainly this is not going to happen. Here's somewhat similar bug/RFE that's marked as won't fix: http://www.adom.de/forums/project.php?issueid=2420.

07-22-2014 05:40 PM
Senior Member
I agree with the OP and absolutely hate the differently named spell lists.

Any chance of making this a configurable option?

07-22-2014 09:41 PM
Junior Member
Quote Originally Posted by SirTheta
I like this division as I think it adds an appropriate amount of flavor.

I do agree it's a bit confusing, but then, that's what the manual is for.
I agree with you that lore and flavor are cool essential elements of ADOM, no question there! I guess for me personally moving from the game to the manual excessively reduces immersion.

Does anyone else just create the programming equivalent of a pointer that reminds them "oh, major punishment is fireball"? That kind of equivalence knowledge isn't as flavorful as a different set of spells like some other game systems have.

07-22-2014 11:59 PM
Ancient Member
My biggest problem with the priest spells is finding them in the manual. They're alphabetized by Wizard name.
If there were an easily available list in-game, sorted by Priest, that mapped back to Wizard names, I'd appreciate that.

07-23-2014 01:41 AM
Junior Member
I can understand dental_floss' rationale. But I really like the clerical spells having pious names. ..But I also have a web-browser open all the time with various ADOM Guidebook and Wiki pages open too, so I just do a quick google for the spell-name, and one of the top hits has the entry with the clerical and normal names side by side. (I also used to have the manual open in a text-editor, and did a quick search that way .. it's become routine now as priest is my favourite class. :)

So, my ADOM behaviour seems to indicate dental_floss has a good point, but I really like this naming convention. Maybe the appropriate compromise would be to have the manual entry for the spell pop up when you mouse over it, with the clerical version of the name first, if you're a cleric/priest/paladin/etc, and the normal spell name in parenthesis after it?

For example, if you moused-over Lesser Divine Touch (either the spellbook, or the spell in your spell list) you'd see:
Lesser Divine Touch (Stun Ray)
This spell dazes the targets and makes them move with little coordination.

But if you were a wizard/elementalist/etc, you'd just see:
Stun Ray
This spell dazes the targets and makes them move with little coordination.

07-23-2014 01:51 AM
Senior Member
I think there is a definite issue here, but I think the OP's solution is not to the taste of many players, or from the looks of that other RFE, to the creator. FWIW, I tend to avoid divine casters because of this issue.

I agree that having two sets of names gives only the trappings of flavour, instead of the actual flavour you have in a classic RPG where most mage spells damage or disable, and most priest spells heal or buff.

I also agree that having two sets of spell names for identical spells is annoying for usability, and at the very least the manual layout very annoying for divine casters.


Edit: I like tkoyah's idea.

07-23-2014 12:04 PM
Junior Member
This problem can be easily solved by making said priest spells unique in effect. Like wizard Stun Ray, but it has a different flavor, when it hits.

07-23-2014 12:44 PM
Ancient Member
I'm inclined to think that
"The orc is hit by the stun ray! The orc seems to shrug off the stun ray! The orc grunts in fury!
You become more efficient in using the 'Lesser Divine Touch' spell (now +1). "
deserves a separate RFE, because it's clearly confusing.
Same with Death Ray IIRC.

07-23-2014 09:24 PM
Junior Member
Quote Originally Posted by _Ln_
I'm inclined to think that
"The orc is hit by the stun ray! The orc seems to shrug off the stun ray! The orc grunts in fury!
You become more efficient in using the 'Lesser Divine Touch' spell (now +1). "
deserves a separate RFE, because it's clearly confusing.
Same with Death Ray IIRC.
This kind of thing goes very deep into the game though. When a priest eats a blink dog do they get Ethereal Bridge control? When a priest casts Veil of the Gods does "Veiled" appear in their character's status? Pop quiz, which is arcane; destroy undead or dispel undead? This "feature" just feels like a forced increase of complexity for no real benefit.

To the people who downvoted this issue, why not make the game even better and add a 3rd or 4th name for the spells? We could have hurthlings cast "Acrid Foot Oder" which is acid ball, or a mist elf cast "Enveloping mist" which is invisibility. More names = more flavor right?

07-23-2014 10:11 PM
Ancient Member
The name of the spell is "Ethereal Bridge", the effect is that you teleport. The name of the spell is "Veil of the Gods", the effect is that that veil makes you invisible. I see no particular incoherence there. There isn't anything wrong with that, unless you also think that "Strength of Atlas" should be called "Increase Carrying Capacity" and "Mystic Shovel" should be called "Dig".

07-23-2014 11:14 PM
Junior Member
Ethereal bridge is a spell that casts the wizard teleport spell for you. You're right, that makes perfect sense.

07-23-2014 11:16 PM
Senior Member
What if the spells were actually removed from one of the lists? I.e. no "Stun Ray" or "Invisibility" for wizard - but no "Minor Punishment" or "Major Punishment" for priest.

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