[T-Plus] Still working hard on it...

Archived from groups: rec.games.roguelike.angband (More info?)

For those of you who've wondered why no new T-Plus release has appeared in
over six months...I've stayed up almost round the clock lately to add some
new code for the 2.3.x-compatible release. Priests are going to notice the
most changes:

1. Varda is slated to join the other Ainur in this release; having Manwe in
the game without her makes little sense, especially considering how
prominent "Elbereth" was in the Ring trilogy. If you need more reasons for
characters to worship her, I have two words: "radiance damage".

2. The celestial patrons (unique angels) are finally going to act more like
standard gods in this release: their spells will cost piety, and character
actions will have more effect on whether an angel can use his/her special
spells.

3. A "Ceremony" skill will exist for all priests to use regardless of the
deity they've chosen; as long as he still worships someone, a priest will be
able to build or convert altars, consecrate areas, or invoke a
quick-and-dirty Bless that doesn't grant extra benefits at high levels.
Ceremonies will take more time to complete (use more energy) than spells;
they will use mana, but their success or failure will alter piety.

4. Prayer books will become holy symbols, worn in the amulet slot (and
available with some amulet ego types as well). They will come in different
strengths like those of musical instruments in the current game: basic
spells will require a holy symbol +1 for the appropriate god, but more
powerful ones may require a symbol +3 or +4. Symbols will also be needed for
the Ceremony skill to work: even angels, whose priest spells are staying
bookless, will need a holy symbol for ceremonies.


In addition to the Great Religion Overhaul, here are a few more changes that
will affect everyone:

1. New damage types for use in player spells and in items; T-Plus 2.3.0 will
have *nineteen* damage types which do not exist in standard ToME if I
counted correctly. (This includes "pseudo-damage" like consecrate/desecrate
area, heal animal, and so forth.)

2. New spells, of course (in at least six or seven of the existing
non-religious schools).

3. New items (mostly staves and wands, though four armor types and two
weapon types will be added as well).

4. New subraces (which I'll let you wait to see).

5. Loss of some items (mostly armor and weapon types) which should not exist
in any part of my gameworld: boomerangs and katanas are blatantly
inappropriate, among others.

If it were not for the character ladder on Pav's site, I would have
considered changing the name of my revised module completely. "Tales of
Three Worlds" seemed like an accurate description of the mixed theme/setting
that I've developed; for the sake of keeping access to the character ladder
though, that has become an "official subtitle" for all releases of T-Plus
after version 2.3.0. (I finally got an ASCII-art screen made which shows the
gates of Moria, a different Tolkien quote, and the Elven numeral for
"three": a new look for the third edition.)

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Ingeborg S. Nordén
(runelady@chorus.net)
Ek Ingwibergô stabaz fahiðô