Tannis
04-03-2008, 01:21 AM
Here are my thoughts about Mindcrafting in JADE. Enjoy!
Starting Out
Mindcrafters are my favorite class in ADOM. I consider them to be the most unique, and would go as far as to say they're the only finished class in ADOM. Their powers are fun and interesting and obtainable only within that class; after all, you can't develop the powers independently of being part of that class, you can't wish for it, you can't gain the ability through an item, it's all or nothing from the get go.
As you can see, this can't possibly work in JADE. Thomas has specifically said there will be no starting classes in JADE. Therefore, one cannot start the game as a mindcrafter or with mindcrafting abilities. I see no alternative to this. How does one become a mindcrafter then? The most logical way to me seems to be through a mindcrafting guild.
The Guild
In certain places like major cities, one should be able to find a Mindcrafter Guild. There, one learns how to harness the latent abilities of the mind. For a presumably heft cost, assuming one meets the Wisdom and Learning requirements, one should be able to join the guild. After paying the initial fee, the training would begin and at its culmination one would learn a basic ability, such as confusion blast.
Developing the Powers
In ADOM, mindcrafters gained powers as they leveled up. Since would not work at all in JADE. After all, a character could join the guild early on, and spend the rest of his career fighting with sword and shield and never return to the guild. Why should he unlock abilities like telekinetic blast without ever visiting the guild again? Therefore, a level based system for new powers does not seem right.
Instead, new powers should be developed through an experience system. Simply put, the more you mindcraft, the better at it you become. In this system, every time you successfully contact other mind in some shape or form, you gain mindcrafting experience. Whether or not one knows how far one has come in mindcrafting is a design feature for Thomas to decide. I have no personal preference, but wizards in ADOM know how effective they are at spells, so I feel it would be fair if mindcrafters had a sense of their power levels.
I feel strongly that mindcrafting experience should only come by contacting another mind, i.e. confusing, mind reading, mental blasting, etc. Otherwise, one could simply have Mental Shield constantly on to develop experience and that doesn't seem right.
Once one has practiced enough mindcrafting, the character would return to the guild. If he has made sufficient progress, his training would resume and he would acquire higher and more difficult powers. Unlike magicians who harness external powers, mindcracting comes from within, so the constant study and training required in my system matches the style of it quite well.
In ADOM, there are elemental camps of magic: Fire, Lighting, Cold, and Acid. There's also energy magic like magic missiles and death rays. Theoretically there could be different flavors of mindcrafting, and in training one could specialize in paths or even join guilds solely dedicated to paths. When I say path, I mean a mindcrafter who focuses on telepathetic abilities versus a mindcrafter who focuses on psychokinetic powers.
New Powers
With a Guild to learn from, there should be loads of new psionic powers in JADE. A few suggestions:
Mind Control: A high level telepathic power, the mindcrafter takes control of an enemy's mind. For the duration of the power, the enemy acts like a completely loyal slave and obeys all commands. Due to the concentration involved, no other crafting powers can be used while controlling an enemy.
Mind read: A telepathic power primarily used to determine if an NPC is lying.
Projectile: A psychokinetic attack that takes an ordinary object like a rock and hurls it at the enemy at great speed.
Disintergrate: A psychokinetic attack that has a chance of explosively atomizing an organic foe. Obviously one of the most powerful attacks one could learn.
Adrenaline Boost: A psychometabolic power that increases ones adrenaline flow, increasing strength and speed. Abuse of this power could cause the mindcrafter to pass out.
Mindcrafting and Magic
The more one devotes ones mind to magic the harder it is to learn how to mindcraft, and visa versa. This can be easily implemented in JADE. For every one level a character has in magic, it should make learning a level of mindcrafting ten times harder, and visa versa. For example, say a character requires 1000 mind crafting points to unlock a level 2 mindcrafting power. Let's say this specific character possesses the equivalent of 3 levels in fire magic. For this character, learning a level 2 mindcrafting ability would take 1000 x 1000. An exponetial equation, it would render it virtually impossible for a high level magic user to acquire powerful mindcrafting abilities and visa versa. I think this is a nice and elegant solution to any balance issues.
Mindcrafting enemies
In ADOM, no monsters really mindcraft against you. Sure, the ACW or the Chaos Archmage can confuse you, but that's it. Enemy psykers should be a possibility in JADE; creatures that can attack your mind and telekinetically damage you. Certain types of helmets could protect against such attacks, while telekinetic attacks would require PV to mitigate.
Misc.
As a final aside, I think mindcrafters should not be able to use certain types of headgear like iron helmets, since these dense heavy metals would block mental powers. Lighter metals like eternium would not hamper the use of such powers. Crystal helmets should amplify mindcrafting abilities, due to the helm's material acting like a focusing device.
Starting Out
Mindcrafters are my favorite class in ADOM. I consider them to be the most unique, and would go as far as to say they're the only finished class in ADOM. Their powers are fun and interesting and obtainable only within that class; after all, you can't develop the powers independently of being part of that class, you can't wish for it, you can't gain the ability through an item, it's all or nothing from the get go.
As you can see, this can't possibly work in JADE. Thomas has specifically said there will be no starting classes in JADE. Therefore, one cannot start the game as a mindcrafter or with mindcrafting abilities. I see no alternative to this. How does one become a mindcrafter then? The most logical way to me seems to be through a mindcrafting guild.
The Guild
In certain places like major cities, one should be able to find a Mindcrafter Guild. There, one learns how to harness the latent abilities of the mind. For a presumably heft cost, assuming one meets the Wisdom and Learning requirements, one should be able to join the guild. After paying the initial fee, the training would begin and at its culmination one would learn a basic ability, such as confusion blast.
Developing the Powers
In ADOM, mindcrafters gained powers as they leveled up. Since would not work at all in JADE. After all, a character could join the guild early on, and spend the rest of his career fighting with sword and shield and never return to the guild. Why should he unlock abilities like telekinetic blast without ever visiting the guild again? Therefore, a level based system for new powers does not seem right.
Instead, new powers should be developed through an experience system. Simply put, the more you mindcraft, the better at it you become. In this system, every time you successfully contact other mind in some shape or form, you gain mindcrafting experience. Whether or not one knows how far one has come in mindcrafting is a design feature for Thomas to decide. I have no personal preference, but wizards in ADOM know how effective they are at spells, so I feel it would be fair if mindcrafters had a sense of their power levels.
I feel strongly that mindcrafting experience should only come by contacting another mind, i.e. confusing, mind reading, mental blasting, etc. Otherwise, one could simply have Mental Shield constantly on to develop experience and that doesn't seem right.
Once one has practiced enough mindcrafting, the character would return to the guild. If he has made sufficient progress, his training would resume and he would acquire higher and more difficult powers. Unlike magicians who harness external powers, mindcracting comes from within, so the constant study and training required in my system matches the style of it quite well.
In ADOM, there are elemental camps of magic: Fire, Lighting, Cold, and Acid. There's also energy magic like magic missiles and death rays. Theoretically there could be different flavors of mindcrafting, and in training one could specialize in paths or even join guilds solely dedicated to paths. When I say path, I mean a mindcrafter who focuses on telepathetic abilities versus a mindcrafter who focuses on psychokinetic powers.
New Powers
With a Guild to learn from, there should be loads of new psionic powers in JADE. A few suggestions:
Mind Control: A high level telepathic power, the mindcrafter takes control of an enemy's mind. For the duration of the power, the enemy acts like a completely loyal slave and obeys all commands. Due to the concentration involved, no other crafting powers can be used while controlling an enemy.
Mind read: A telepathic power primarily used to determine if an NPC is lying.
Projectile: A psychokinetic attack that takes an ordinary object like a rock and hurls it at the enemy at great speed.
Disintergrate: A psychokinetic attack that has a chance of explosively atomizing an organic foe. Obviously one of the most powerful attacks one could learn.
Adrenaline Boost: A psychometabolic power that increases ones adrenaline flow, increasing strength and speed. Abuse of this power could cause the mindcrafter to pass out.
Mindcrafting and Magic
The more one devotes ones mind to magic the harder it is to learn how to mindcraft, and visa versa. This can be easily implemented in JADE. For every one level a character has in magic, it should make learning a level of mindcrafting ten times harder, and visa versa. For example, say a character requires 1000 mind crafting points to unlock a level 2 mindcrafting power. Let's say this specific character possesses the equivalent of 3 levels in fire magic. For this character, learning a level 2 mindcrafting ability would take 1000 x 1000. An exponetial equation, it would render it virtually impossible for a high level magic user to acquire powerful mindcrafting abilities and visa versa. I think this is a nice and elegant solution to any balance issues.
Mindcrafting enemies
In ADOM, no monsters really mindcraft against you. Sure, the ACW or the Chaos Archmage can confuse you, but that's it. Enemy psykers should be a possibility in JADE; creatures that can attack your mind and telekinetically damage you. Certain types of helmets could protect against such attacks, while telekinetic attacks would require PV to mitigate.
Misc.
As a final aside, I think mindcrafters should not be able to use certain types of headgear like iron helmets, since these dense heavy metals would block mental powers. Lighter metals like eternium would not hamper the use of such powers. Crystal helmets should amplify mindcrafting abilities, due to the helm's material acting like a focusing device.