Wizards learn about spellbooks as they enhance their spell skills

Previously, Wizards got a boost to the chance of writing unknown
spellbooks based purely on being a Wizard (with the chance still
luck-based), leading to a very large power spike when the Wizard
gained access to a luckstone and the ability to max out luck.
This had two main issues: this power spike came *after* the major
early-game difficulty spike, often leaving Wizards forced to deal
with it without having appropriate spells; and it promotes
grinding (for Luck and for Magicbane) at an early point in the
game, meaning that the Wizard early game effectively followed a
sequence of extreme difficulty -> grinding -> minimal difficulty,
which isn't very good balance-wise.

With this commit, Wizards lose their advantage to writing unknown
spellbooks by guessing, and instead learn spellbook IDs based on
their spell skills (advancing a skill gives knowledge of higher-
level spellbooks). This means that writing unknown spellbooks
becomes guaranteed with sufficient skill, but has no advantage
over non-Wizards in schools where the Wixard does not have
sufficient skill.

Due to Wizards' skill caps, there are two spells which they can't
ever write guaranteed: create familiar and charm monster. Create
familiar is a fairly niche spell (that doesn't match the Wizard
playstyle that well) and being unable to write it is not a major
problem. The inability to easily write charm monster is
intentional.
This commit is contained in:
Alex Smith
2023-12-02 03:46:55 +00:00
parent a30a205c45
commit 319dfbdaa3
5 changed files with 47 additions and 4 deletions

View File

@@ -313,8 +313,8 @@ dowrite(struct obj *pen)
/*
* Writing by name requires that the hero knows the scroll or
* book type. One has previously been read (and its effect
* was evident) or been ID'd via scroll/spell/throne and it
* will be on the discoveries list.
* was evident) or been ID'd via scroll/spell/throne (or skill
* for Wizards) and it will be on the discoveries list.
* Unknown spellbooks can also be written by name if the hero
* has fresh knowledge of the spell, or if the spell is almost
* forgotten and the hero is Lucky (with a greater chance than
@@ -349,7 +349,8 @@ dowrite(struct obj *pen)
/* else fresh knowledge of the spell works */
&& spell_knowledge != spe_Fresh
/* and Luck might override after previous checks have failed */
&& rnl((Role_if(PM_WIZARD) || spell_knowledge == spe_GoingStale)
&& rnl(((Role_if(PM_WIZARD) && paper->oclass != SPBOOK_CLASS) ||
spell_knowledge == spe_GoingStale)
? 5 : 15)) {
You("%s to write that.", by_descr ? "fail" : "don't know how");
/* scrolls disappear, spellbooks don't */