I've noticed that there are generally two camps when it comes to discussing various ideas for "game balancing" on these boards. One camp insists that the game needs to be made harder, closing various non-bug exploits and increasing difficulty in various other ways, in order to improve the game. The other camp insists that the game needs to be toned down a little, providing new ways to make things easier and intentionally turning non-bug exploits into truly legitimate and intended effects.

As such, I'm suggesting a new "difficulty setting" for ADoM. Now, I know what you're thinking: "That's a lot of work to do, and not a lot of gain"... which is why I'm proposing an approach that is minimalist in nature.

Three things will happen, with the specifics depending on the difficulty setting, which would come in three different flavours: Novice mode, Normal mode, and ChAoS mode.

1. The first thing that happens is a modification to a few numbers. Of these, the most important one is the hidden Luck stat. In Novice mode, a positive modifier is applied to this stat, increasing luck across the board. The exact amount would be up for discussion and/or experimentation, but I'm thinking that roughly the effect of being Lucky and Blessed combined should be enough to make it worth it. To be clear, that's on top of regular modifiers (so a Novice can still be Lucky, Blessed, have Fate Smiles, etc). Other than the Luck stat, the character would get an extra skill increase at each level, an extra talent at character creation, and, say, an extra point to each stat at character creation.

Normal mode wouldn't touch these numbers relative to the current game, of course. In ChAoS mode, mostly the exact opposite would occur - the character would have an intrinsically lower Luck stat (by roughly the same amount as the increase for Novices), they would get one fewer skill increase, and fewer talents (minimum one) and one less to each stat at character creation.

2. Next, certain techniques and tactics would be made active or inactive. In almost all of these cases, the changes would be applied according to modifications already being requested, with a flag allowing the original version to be kept. For instance, if pickpocketing were to be "fixed" to make it so that it's harder to do, gives lower-quality results and is mostly only useful against powerful creatures, and failure adds a risk of berserking, then the flag would be inserted here - in Novice mode, pickpocketing would operate as it currently does. In Normal mode, it might skew towards lower-quality items when pickpocketing lower-type creatures (like a goblin), while in ChAoS mode, berserking would be added, as would further conditions on use.

Few of the changes in this category would occur without being part of existing modifications to the code - that is, the majority of the difficulty-based modifications would occur only where changes are already being made to the code, and thus shouldn't require too much extra work (adding flags while in the process of making the changes shouldn't take much).

3. Finally, certain locations and game features would be made available or unavailable, depending on the setting. For instance, Novice Mode should disable all endings except the normal ending, and perhaps a special simplified version of the Original Chaos God ending (to disable the other endings, just disable some of the quests necessary to complete them). Similarly, ChAoS mode should make every challenge option open... but it might also remove features that make the game easier. An example of this could be making Cooked Lizards inedible (or removing them entirely).

Some more examples of possible modifications for the two new difficulties... SMC could be given a much gentler increase in difficulty with level for Novices, while ChAoS mode could close the back entrance to the HMV (or make it harder to access, by moving it to a different location). Novices might have access to the Pyramid up to level 20, while in ChAoS mode, the game could require entrance while exactly level 13. Teleportation restrictions could be lifted on certain locations in Novice Mode, while they could be further imposed on extra locations in ChAoS mode (in fact, perhaps just add a 10% chance that any particular level is generated with teleportation restriction, just to make it a bit random). The Background Corruption timelimit could be removed for Novice Mode, and made just 45 days for ChAoS Mode. Blessed fireproof blankets could be immune to fire-based destruction in Novice Mode. ChAoS Mode could add a 'h'andle somewhere below the Eternal Guardian, providing access to the Tomb of the High Kings (thereby making it necessary to pass a hostile Eternal Guardian at least once). Novice mode could prevent cats in the Arena, while ChAoS mode could guarantee at least one cat.

In short, the idea is to make a mode that is significantly less difficult, and a mode that is of severe difficulty, with relatively minimal work. Changes should be possible with relatively few alterations to the code, comparable to implementing the starsigns. That is, at least, my goal with how I structured the idea - to make the changes sweeping, but minimal. I am assuming that, for instance, luck is coded in a smart manner, not requiring that the same code be copied to every part of the code that is impacted by luck (that is, that luck is handled by a function, and not inline every time).