I do like the idea of giving axes the /flavour/ of what is being discussed for the 2h weapon skill. I did this to a certain extent to distinguish the weapon skills but perhaps I should emphasize it way more. My thoughts are like this: Swords: agile warrior, fencer; lots of countering and dodging, piercing Axes: viking berserker, lots of raw damage (not necessarily piercing) and wild attacks Maces: tank warrior, armour piercing, high strength Staves: defensive fighter/mage, more blocking and magic-boosts Unarmed: kung-fu master with tons of crazy secondary abilities and some supernatural bonuses but a lower base damage Hmm. I should play these up more in another patch.
@KittenMaster if a 2h bonus was added to the axe skill line, I'd prefer to see it come with an either/or skill. Like, for example, you get slvl X and you have an axe and a free hand, it gives you a passive damage bonus or something. If you get the same skill and have an axe and shield (or two axes), you get a different passive instead. That way it doesn't force any axe wielders to drop their shield or 2nd axe. @David Yeah, I was thinking something similar for the weapon flavors too. Basically the three things that would separate the flavors would be: 1) The equipment itself. Like how staves tend to deal more elemental damage, there's a high level fire mace, etc. Also which stat bonuses tend to come on weapons (staves getting magic, for example). 2) The stats that come with the skills. Right now swords get high counter, axes get... nothing special, maces get a little bit of crit, staves get block and haywire (bit of magic power), and unarmed gets LOTS of block and counter with a bit of crit. They all get high EDR. Procs also apply here. 3) The active skills. Right now, these are pretty lacking in variation. They mostly get a 20% proc at lvl 2, and an AoE at lvl 4. If you want to make more drastic variation, I'd probably start here. Lots more active skills would be nice, really. Going by your own list, I can think of a few ideas. - Swords could get a buff that gives them a 100% (or very close) counter chance, but it breaks after one hit. The cooldown doesn't need to be too long, because it would be somewhat silly to use it in combat, so you'd have to wait for a break in the fight to use it (or when there's no combat at all, so you go into a fight swinging). - Axes could get a strong attack that has no cooldown, but gives you a 10turn debuff that reduces your defense. Can stack 10 times. Maybe a skill that deals a good deal of extra damage, but lowers your EDR. Also, I'd increase crit for axes in general (gives it more of that 'wild attack' flavor, don't you think?) - ... okay, I can't think of anything good off the top of my head for the other three, but you get the idea. Nothing game breaking, but definitely give the weapons a specific feel. Although now I'm way off topic of 2h skill....
@fishofmuu - Swords could get a buff that gives them a 100% (or very close) counter chance, but it breaks after one hit. The cooldown doesn't need to be too long, because it would be somewhat silly to use it in combat, so you'd have to wait for a break in the fight to use it (or when there's no combat at all, so you go into a fight swinging). No that won't do at all. "Counter" also blocks damage, so having 100% counter also means you won't ever get hit. I think counter should be capped at 75.
Oh, does it? Then, yeah.... that would be a bit strong. Just kite in circles until the timer runs out. Maybe add in a proc that will deal weapon damage and use that for the skill... or just not use that idea at all -shrug-
Or just add a special buff with 1 charge that does a special move next time you get hit. So that's sorta like a normal counter but still takes damage.
Right. That's what I was saying, but using weapon damage specifically (so it's a 1 use counter that still lets you get hit). Would work exactly the same as the way I was thinking (How did I never notice that counter blocks damage? Oh, well). The axe idea could still work pretty well. Something like +2 damage for the attack, but it gives you a 10 turn debuff of -1 dodge and can stack up to 10 times. Or maybe -1 dodge, -1 block, -1 counter, and give a +1 crit (but then you could end up with +10 crit, if you use the attack 10 turns in a row).
Also, no one in their right mind is going to use a skill that destroys their weapon. That's suicidally stupid to have. The only weapon in this game that should break under any circumstances is the Sword of Glass. Because it's glass. There's also zero Roguelikes with item breaking skills. Because no one would ever play it. Not even Omega did that, and it was a very very hard Roguelike. Change it to be corrupted or something, and it would be better.
one way to tackle the empty slot problem is to add new item. for example a Glove that would use hand slot.... it would also benefit unarmed style to remove the 2 shield martial-arts style. Glove item that is not a weapon or shield and just gives some stats
also glove items could spawn a new martial arts style since the first one is about kicking. martial arts Strikes .. kicks can use shields but strikes needs gloves. some iron palm and exploding fists for example but in Dredmor style.
we do already have: Clockwork Power-limb lvl4 Tinker item Sagacity-1 Melee Power 3 Block Chance 2 Armour (Ring) This byzantine collection of gears, springs, and braces will augment the power of any limb you strap into it. Keep this well oiled and don't splash too much ichor around the moving parts. Why not add some more!
How about making 2-handed weaponry do passive semi-AoE damage, perhaps as its first skill? When ever you attack an enemy, any enemies standing to either it or your sides takes 50% of the damage, at max hitting 2 additional enemies(possibly hitting a 3rd and 4th as part of its capstone). Combined with master or arms, artful dodge, vamp, assassin, blacksmith, and your weapon of choice, I think this could be a very powerful and fun to play skill set. As for skills, maybe things like a shockwave from the strength of your swing that hits all enemies in a 3x3 area in front of you(no knockback) and a double strike that does double damage to your primary target, but none to the auxiliary targets. For stats, pure damage and life points. Burliness and Melee power, and maybe some Stubbornness to drive home the wild-juggernaut feeling. Basically, make it powerful enough to overcome its inability to get stats from a second hand equip and fun to play just for the satisfaction of all the carnage cutting swaths through a hoard of enemies with out pause can bring.
Another 2-handed idea came to mind: A cleave-like skill. When you land a killing blow on your primary target, each of your aux targets have a 25% chance of receiving full damage as opposed to half.
I can easily imagine the entire Axe tree being themed towards two-handed weapon fighting. All it would take is checking to see if your other hand has an item in it. If there is an item, then you don't get the two-handed bonuses. But we have to ask ourselves if focusing on making Axes two-handed worth distancing axes from Dual Wielding?
One more idea came to me: A stacking buff to Burliness activated on hit. It can give +3 Burliness, proc 20% of the time, last for 15 rounds, and stack up to 3 times. Even if it is maxed, it is still only 9 health and 3 melee damage, so it's not really as over powered as it might sound. Then again, this might do better as a new skill for Berserker Rage, which I have felt was a little ho-hum, personally.
