Conceptual Balance Series (Mod)

[Edi]

Zen, looks like you forgot to mark the Basecost for Naga and Golden Naga as changed in the readme, it's down to 90 from 100.

The Caelian Arch Seraph has also not been edited at all, so (other than flying + CR) it's currently far inferior to a lot of the other rainbow pretenders. Something sneezes too hard in its direction and it's toast.

If you (or anyone else) are interested in seeing it, I made some changes into the conceptReadme file (edited file attached). I edited out a couple of spelling mistakes and organized the changes on each pretender into a systematic order, the order of listing varied quite a bit.

I also organized the pretenders by type to the following categories: Monster, Giant, Immobile, Human (rainbow), and added an Unedited Category where the pretenders with no changes are listed. Makes it a bit easier to find what you want if you're looking for a specific pretender's changes.

There are a few pretenders that didn't really fit squarely into any one of the categories, and they are: Virtue, PoD, Medusa (listed under monsters), and Ghost King, the 3 Lich types and Bog Mummy (listed under humans despite being death specific).

Now, I might be ignorant of the finer points of balance issues, especially where multislayer games are concerned, but as of right now, your mod is getting permanent enabling on my Dom2, it makes so many previously useless pretenders attractive and even makes some of them more thematic. Great job!

Edi

[Tuidjy]

I really like these changes. I wish they could find their way into a patch.

There is something that puzzles me, though. Three of the pretenders got a
nerf. I am not going to argue against the logic of it, I will just take it as
a compliment for my taste in pretenders, as the only time I do not use the Ghost
King is when I use the Allfather.

But I wonder, how do people use the Prince of Death effectively? As early
as the middle game you have to stick him in the lab, because undead-specific
spells like Dust to Dust easily destroy him. This is not a big deal for the
Ghost king, because deep down under, he is a rainbow mage. But with the
increased path cost, the Prince of Death looks rather pointless to me.

[Cohen]

PoD is a very good choice as pretender IMO, before the Patch.

Good stats, flying, with massive fear for taking out indies.

[Thufir]

Tuidjy said:
I really like these changes. I wish they could find their way into a patch.

I like the changes, as well. But of course they'll need a good bit of playtesting (to which effort, I would be more than happy to contribute!) before it'd be reasonable to include in a patch. I'd bet IW would be quite open to incorporate these in a patch, after an appropriate level of testing.

[Cohen]

The best way would be to play MP games with them, not only SP games.
The problem is that I dunno if a server like Mosehansen's one could implement Mod usage. Even by default it could be pretty nice to have some new game started with that Mod.

I'd like it really, but Skratti and G.Warlock needs some more HP now that humans are close to them for HPs.

[Ironhawk]

Looks good Zen, thanks for the work!

I like the HP bonuses on the human pretenders. To me, it says that you will no longer be forced to take death magic if you choose them (for Twiceborn). It still makes a lot of sense to do so, of course. But you arent really *forced* to do so, anymore.

[PvK]

Twiceborn works on pretenders?

[Alneyan]

If the Pretender in question can be affected by Twiceborn, it will work on her. This spell does not work for lifeless Pretenders, Undeads and various Demons.

[Cainehill]

On animate pretenders, sure - not undead or most immobiles. Additionally, becoming a wight mage is only a good thing for a handful of pretenders - the human mages being the most prominent example.

[Zen]

Thanks Edi, that is a much better Readme than the one I had previously. I hereby make you my official editor!

Yes the Arch Seraph and a few others that have changes in mind have not been totally modified since I am looking for a little feedback on what people think or feel was a good change and what isn't a good change.

Re: PoD

The only reason this fellow didn't see more play for some people was probably because of the Ghost King. While he is the most affordable Death Pretender, he was also very easy to choose over comprable other Death Pretenders (Liches and Lord of the Gates, notably). I may end up changing him in another way while trying to retain the flavor that he is the PRINCE of Death. As of right now he's still a great choice for a Pretender but might not be viable for his preference (Death). I will have to think more on this.

Postnote: I used the PoD extensively. He was invariably always a good choice no matter the nation (baring Jotunheim), even with his weakness to Dust to Dust (especially since he has longdead friends).