user:ryo:balance

for each spell, define a base spell, and how parameters like damage, radius, duration are adjusted by level
for each parameter type, define modifier words, like small, large, quick, long, strong, weak
let the player specify modifiers when casting
parameters have a weight, modified by the previous words, those weight define the level repartition between parameters

Example with fireball, level 1 spell:

Thus fireball has 3 adjustement variables.

At level 10 (9 levels over base level), the fireball can be:

modifier	damage weight	duration weight	radius weight	damage	duration	radius
(none)	5	5	5	1 + (9 * (5/15)) * 3 = 10	1 + (9 * (5/15)) * 1/3 = 2	1 + (9 * (5/15)) * 1 = 4
small	5	5	0	1 + (9 * (5/10)) * 3 = 14	1 + (9 * (5/10)) * 1/3 = 2	1 + (9 * (0/15)) * 1 = 1
long	5	9	5	1 + (9 * (5/19)) * 3 = 8	1 + (9 * (9/19)) * 1/3 = 2	1 + (9 * (5/19)) * 1 = 3
longest	5	100	5	1 + (9 * (5/110)) * 3 = 3	1 + (9 * (100/110)) * 1/3 = 4	1 + (9 * (5/110)) * 1 = 1
strong	9	5	5	1 + (9 * (9/19)) * 3 = 14	1 + (9 * (5/19)) * 1/3 = 2	1 + (9 * (5/19)) * 1 = 3
strongest	100	5	5	1 + (9 * (100/110)) * 3 = 26	1 + (9 * (5/110)) * 1/3 = 1	1 + (9 * (5/110)) * 1 = 1
quick strong	9	0	5	1 + (9 * (9/14)) * 3 = 18	1 + (9 * (0/14)) * 1/3 = 1	1 + (9 * (5/14)) * 1 = 4

and so on. Modifiers can be combined (quick strong for instance).

List of modified should be correctly defined (suggestion: 4 modifiers per parameter, weakest / weak / strong / strongest)

define exactly what effects the attacktypes have:
- chaos?
- magic?
- cold: slow a monster? make ground slippery?
- fire: melt armors?
define what effect the associated resistance, if it exists, has: reduce effect? reduce damage? cancel effect?
decide which attacks apply to arrows: draining? what about spells like transference on arrows?

define player evolution when leveling: how does hp go up? what is the constitution bonus's impact?
for dragon players, how do ac go up? wc?
what is the expected resistances of a level 5 player? level 10? level 50? level 110?
from all that, balance armors and weapons, including item power
- scale up item power, what about values at 30?
define wc for bows and missile weapons
define monster leveling up rules: how many hps to gain? what about hp regeneration?
define some level 1 monsters, apply the leveling rules to create higher level monsters ; assume eg an archangel is a levelled up cherub, see what happens, adjust
specify rules for special attacks: poisoning, confusion or paralysis at low level are more dangerous than mere fire attacks, but at high level they are less dangerous
decide maximum reachable resistances: can a player have resistances in all attacks?
extract enough code to be able to simulate player vs monster fights ; this should take into account items the monster can have through treasures (if the monster has an ac of 1 but always an armor ac 3 in treasure, then that should count) ; check existing monsters

check special items and monsters on maps against the previous rules
balance alchemy-like things: what level should one be to make an item? take into account ingredients' difficulty
create quests to gain skills, instead of skill scrolls
create “big” quests lines, like the royalty in Scorn
use quests to introduce the game, the rules, the background story

make artifacts on-the-fly archetypes during server load, save them as “real objects” ; this enables changing them and impact the existing ones in-game ; balance artifacts with previous rules