Ever since slashem (http://slashem.sourceforge.net/) introduced me to lightsabers, I knew it was only a matter of time before someone made a Jedi starting role (http://www.crash-override.net/patchesslashem.html). I am planning on making a grand variant that will incorporate code from a variety of patches and variants, so I started by checking out the Jedi patch. I recommend following the previous link and reading the description.
Dodgy Code:
There's the old saying about the NetHack Dev Team: "the dev team thinks of everything." Lets run this dodgy code through the gauntlet.
"Also, a skilled Jedi with an activated lightsaber can dodge missiles fired at him (though not reflect them)." Basically, if wielding a lit lightsaber,
"Also, a skilled Jedi with an activated lightsaber can dodge missiles fired at him (though not reflect them)." Basically, if wielding a lit lightsaber,
The first thing that popped out to me: what if the Jedi is wielding a lit lightsaber in her off-hand? I soon realized that I was asking the wrong question, because the followup question covered that: why does the Jedi's lightsaber need to be lit in order to dodge rocks thrown at her? Furthermore, there's some inconsistency here. A Jedi wearing armor gets -20 to hit, similar to Monk's wielding weapons. But a Jedi wearing a brand spankin' new bronze plate mail is nimble as a fox.
So here's my proposal:
A Jedi can dodge missiles with a probability based on her proficiency in the lightsaber skill (must have at least "basic" proficiency). The lightsaber shouldn't have to be lit, or even wielded, in order to dodge, but I figure I can use the lightsaber skill to gauge how "learned" the player is in the Jedi ways. The Jedi should not be able to dodge while wearing armor, and Jedi should not be able to dodge if wielding a non-lightsaber object. Yes, scalpels are indeed a clumsy weapon, as are tin openers and meat sticks. The Jedi must be able to concentrate on the force, so they can't dodge if stunned or confused. A blind Jedi can still dodge, but it's slightly more difficult. This blog believes that hallucination should not restrict dodging. I hear it really opens your mind to the force, man.
I also thought that an 80% dodge rate was a little high, so here's what I came up with. The probability of a successful dodge is as follows:
$(r/6)$ where $r=Prof_{LS} - (1 * Blind)$. skills.h #defines expert level as 4, skilled as 3, and basic as 2. If a Jedi is blind, $1$ is subtracted from $r$. Blind is just a macro that evaluates to a boolean, which on most flavors of unix, is 1 if TRUE, and 0 if FALSE. Quiz: why is TRUE almost always defined as 1 instead of (-1)? A: I have no idea, (-1) makes more sense to me. Anyway, a blind Jedi with expert proficiency in the lightsaber skill will dodge 50% of the objects thrown at him, so long as he's not wielding a non-lightsaber weapon. not wearing armor, not stunned, and not confused.
I also thought that an 80% dodge rate was a little high, so here's what I came up with. The probability of a successful dodge is as follows:
$(r/6)$ where $r=Prof_{LS} - (1 * Blind)$. skills.h #defines expert level as 4, skilled as 3, and basic as 2. If a Jedi is blind, $1$ is subtracted from $r$. Blind is just a macro that evaluates to a boolean, which on most flavors of unix, is 1 if TRUE, and 0 if FALSE. Quiz: why is TRUE almost always defined as 1 instead of (-1)? A: I have no idea, (-1) makes more sense to me. Anyway, a blind Jedi with expert proficiency in the lightsaber skill will dodge 50% of the objects thrown at him, so long as he's not wielding a non-lightsaber weapon. not wearing armor, not stunned, and not confused.
My favorite part of the Jedi patch description is, without a doubt: "The Jedi must then fight along some of his fellow Jedi against the stormtroopers and Lord Sidious himself to gain possession of this powerful artifact which can even reflect beam attacks!" Holy shit! A weapon that reflects beam attacks! Oh wait, the Longbow of Diana does that too...
So, for fun, I added a system of lightsaber deflection. First, the Jedi must be wielding at least one lit lightsaber, and no armor. The probability of deflecting a beam is as follows:
$(r/10)$ where $r=(Prof_{LS}) - (1 * Blind) + (bonus_{LS})$. "bonus" does not refer to enchantment bonus, rather, +1 per lit lightsaber wielded (+2 if double lightsaber). If two-weaponing, the Jedi must be at least "basic" in two-weapon combat to get the bonus. If the Jedi succeeds in the deflection check, then there's an additional check, with the same probability. If the additional check succeeds, the Jedi may choose the direction in which to deflect the beam, otherwise, it is reflected in a random direction. So, if somehow two lit double lightsabers (both beams lit) are two-weaponed, that's a +4 bonus. A non-blind Jedi, expert in lightsaber, skilled in two-weapon combat, wielding two lit lightsabers will have a 60% of deflecting the beam, and if she succeeds, another 60% of choosing the direction in which to deflect the beam, otherwise, it is deflected in a random direction.
There's some balance to this. Yes, it's nice for a starting Jedi to have a 20% chance of deflecting beams, however, due to the nature of random deflection, the Jedi may deflect the beam into a pet, a shopkeeper, watchman, some other peaceful monster, or even herself. The lightsaber deflecting code comes before testing for reflection (from amulet of reflecting, silver dragon scale mail, etc) so even with reflection, a Jedi still runs the risk of randomly deflecting the beam at a peaceful. If the Jedi has reflection and randomly deflects at herself, then it will reflect as normal. The series of screen shots below show an example of lightsaber deflection when the Jedi may choose the deflection direction. I chose down and to the left to show that deflected beams bounce off walls and otherwise behave like ordinary beams.
So, for fun, I added a system of lightsaber deflection. First, the Jedi must be wielding at least one lit lightsaber, and no armor. The probability of deflecting a beam is as follows:
$(r/10)$ where $r=(Prof_{LS}) - (1 * Blind) + (bonus_{LS})$. "bonus" does not refer to enchantment bonus, rather, +1 per lit lightsaber wielded (+2 if double lightsaber). If two-weaponing, the Jedi must be at least "basic" in two-weapon combat to get the bonus. If the Jedi succeeds in the deflection check, then there's an additional check, with the same probability. If the additional check succeeds, the Jedi may choose the direction in which to deflect the beam, otherwise, it is reflected in a random direction. So, if somehow two lit double lightsabers (both beams lit) are two-weaponed, that's a +4 bonus. A non-blind Jedi, expert in lightsaber, skilled in two-weapon combat, wielding two lit lightsabers will have a 60% of deflecting the beam, and if she succeeds, another 60% of choosing the direction in which to deflect the beam, otherwise, it is deflected in a random direction.
There's some balance to this. Yes, it's nice for a starting Jedi to have a 20% chance of deflecting beams, however, due to the nature of random deflection, the Jedi may deflect the beam into a pet, a shopkeeper, watchman, some other peaceful monster, or even herself. The lightsaber deflecting code comes before testing for reflection (from amulet of reflecting, silver dragon scale mail, etc) so even with reflection, a Jedi still runs the risk of randomly deflecting the beam at a peaceful. If the Jedi has reflection and randomly deflects at herself, then it will reflect as normal. The series of screen shots below show an example of lightsaber deflection when the Jedi may choose the deflection direction. I chose down and to the left to show that deflected beams bounce off walls and otherwise behave like ordinary beams.
Jedi Alignment:
In the original Jedi patch, Jedi must be lawful, and must follow a strict moral code, similar to a knight. But what about Dark (chaotic) Jedi? I wanted to make chaotic Jedi a valid starting role, but it doesn't make sense for a chaotic Jedi to follow a strict moral code. I couldn't just get rid of the moral code checks for a chaotic Jedi, because that would be unfair to the lawful Jedi. So, here's the deal for chaotic Jedi: any wielded lit lightsaber functions as if bloodthirsty (like Stormbringer), so you will automatically attack pets and peacefuls. I figured this makes sense as the dark side like to kill things. If the lightsaber is not lit, then it is not bloodthirsty.
Also, I thought that the two different alignments of Jedi should receive different first sacrifice gifts. Regardless of alignment, all artifact lightsabers do not need to be recharged, and all lightsabers emit a light with a radius of 2.
The first sacrifice gift for lawful Jedi is The Windu Blade, in honor of my man Samuel L. Jackson. It is a violet lightsaber, which which deal slightly more damage than green lightsaber: 9+d5 vs. small, 12 + d7 vs. large. It also has +5 to-hit and +10 damage against cross-aligned monsters. This might be a little too powerful, so I'm considering changing it to +5 to-hit and +10 damage against undead.
The first sacrifice gift for chaotic Jedi is The Darth Maul Blade. It's basically Stormbringer in the form of a double red lightsaber: +d5 to-hit and +d2 damage to non level-drain resistant monsters, plus an additional d8 of damage is dealt to current and maximum hit points, half of which goes to heal the wielder. This might also be a bit overpowered as weapons go, One thing I am considering is removing the drain resistance it grants to its wielder.
For both artifact lightsabers, I'm open to suggestions.
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