An alternative would be to increase the associated bonuses considerably. Keep the 1500 base energy cost but, increase the bonuses to +8 St, +6 PV, +4 To or something.

Even then I'm not sure it would be worth it. 1500 base energy cost is just lethally slow.

I agree. I made that post in General ADOM discussion thinking similar thoughts. The penalty for stiff muscles is over the top. The only solution is to reduce the base movement cost penalty.

I do think it serves some utility for screwing people who wait the corruption clock out too long and use up all their sources of corruption removal. I think your suggestion is pretty much perfect though.

I've played with stiff muscles, and it's not that lethal. All the options your character had are still available, if they're stuck in melee they do have the PV boost. It's bad - the universally worst corruption - but that in itself doesn't justify neutering it into meaninglessness. 1200 seems just a little bit inconsequential. I'd go with JellySlayer's suggestion and increase the boosts.

I feel like I'd still be pretty likely to remove it nearly right away every time, even with the changes Grey suggested. But I can imagine that in some limited situations I'd keep it.

I think, to be balanced, there need to be some limited circumstances in which you'd keep it, even if only for a limited time. Answer honestly Silfir, do these new bonuses now tempt you to maybe keep it on? You were on the fence about it before in some circumstances, but these new bonuses would sway your mind?

Well it can be a design choice to have one universally bad corruption. To balance corruption as a whole. There are players who get corrupted on purpose, hoping for good ones. The existence of things like stiff muscles makes this more of a risk than it otherwise would be.

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't mind a tweak to stiff muscles, but I don't think it's really needed for game balance.

There are a great number of corruptions that I wouldn't keep voluntarily. Stiff Muscles is one of them, no question about it. Grey's suggestion isn't based on the consideration that players would universally remove it right away if they could, but that it's lethally bad. As in, characters who get stuck with it are going to either remove it quickly or be sufficiently crippled that they cannot handle the rest of the game, period. I don't think it's quite that bad.

Some corruptions in the pool are overall good. Since corruption is supposed to be a "playing with fire" sort of gamble - bartering with the forces of chaos for blessings that are curses in disguise - some corruptions in the pool should be overall bad. The only question is whether or not stiff muscles, as it stands, is too bad, and what should be done to remedy it. I just happen to think that reducing the energy cost penalty - to less than half of what it was no less - reduces the "I'm screwed now" response corruptions are supposed to elicit. Increasing the boosts not only makes the character more likely to survive through the immediate aftermath of the corruption should you get it in the midst of battle, it also does a better job of disguising itself as a blessing, when in truth it's still a terrible corruption that you should remove. A corruption like "Your feet have transformed to hooves" barely elicits any emotional response at all. "Fuck I'm screwed" is much preferable to "meh" when it comes to corruption.

(Though with stuff like +8 St, +6 PV, +4 To I can even think of some situations where characters would survive thanks to the boosts; for instance a fairly anemic early game PC caught in a mass of chaos rats, going from being nibbled to death to being impervious to damage.)

I think all effects of corruption should be tempting to keep. Sadly some of the new ones aren't either.

I wouldn't keep it even if it gave +20 St and +20 PV. I don't think everything in the game should be perfectly balanced either...

I'd definitely keep it for +20 PV and +20 St... Nothing wrong with playing as a moloch.

+20 PV alone is perverse, especially in the early game. Who cares if you can't run if you don't need to?

Tension room of quickling queens? :)

Those kill you even without stiff muscles. Unless you have something to teleport with, and stiff muscles doesn't interfere with teleporting. Unlike, for instance, mana battery, if all you have is a wand, which is a fairly common scenario because of the VDDL.

That's why I'm not really buying the "lethality" argument. All that happens with stiff muscles is that you're slower, way slower, but you retain full use of your items and abilities.

I agree with increasing the boosts, rather than decreasing the energy penalty. Corruptions should be exciting.