So I had an idea today for a skill (or a series of skills) centered around theatre. Right now, I'm looking for ideas of what to put in. Stuff like the following: Shakespearean Dramaturgy Out, Out Damned Spot - uncurse Slings and Arrows of Outrageous Fortune - very low chance throw/shot proc for large damage What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks - break an object, burst of radiant damage Swift as a Shadow - buff that gives + and invis. Sondheimian Dramaturgy Into The Woods - extra benefits vs. vegetables. The Demon Barber of Fleet Street - deal extra to demons, extra XP from demons A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Dungeon - starter skill that gives you some random loadout gear. Technical Dramaturgy Smoke and Mirrors - big smoke cloud that confuses, buff, makes some clones Stage Magic - random cast from list of non-damaging status-inflict spells Strike the Set - destroy an adjacent blocker, vendor, etc. Props Master - extra randomized damage on hit
Comedic dramaturgy? Two diggles walk into a bar - Creates a damage buff ("...and boy did it hurt.") Stop me if you've heard this one - Puts a group of enemies to sleep
Shakespearean Dramaturgy The Most Unkindest Cut Of All - Bonus to either slashing damage or crit Exit, Pursued By Bear - Targets enemy. Blinks them off and does a few slashing damage attacks. Sondheimian Dramaturgy West Side Story - Charms enemies to the left of the player. Getting Away With Murder - Buff to player, costs mana every so often. Blinks on kill. Technical Dramaturgy Break A Leg - Debuff to dodge and sneakiness. Spotlight - Mine that makes a circular light on the floor: whoever is on the light gains temp bonuses
"Deus ex Machina" means the gods show up out of a machine and solve everyone's problems and ends the play. So it shouldn't be a skill, it should be an item that, when used, kills the player. Yes, it's been done before but some jokes are worth doing twice.
Oh! You totally need a "star-crossed-lovers! skill, which feigns death. Transmute the character to a corpse, buff their sneak to 100, and have it cancel if they move. Awesomeness!
Maybe a "to be or not to be" item which has a 50% chance of a good effect (maybe invis) or a bad effect?
The Taming of the Diggle - Charms diggles? They Paid the Special Effects Team Too Much - Teleport, Leaving Behind Waves of Fire, Then the Acid Rain Animation in a different Color for - Armor Reduction?
Let's see, based on what we have so far, Shakespearean would be a warrior skill, Sondheimian would be wizardly, and Technical would be roguish. If we emphasize those themes we're in a better position. Actually, got confused a bit. Shakespearean and Sondheimian as-is are both pretty gishy, one should emphasize warrior one wizard if you ask me. Sondheimian has a strong case for warrior with Funny Thing Happened and Demon Barber, but Shakespearean has a few good no-time-to-die jokes for warriors.
Well, that allows us to leave Shakespearean or Sondheimian for Gishing. At this point, prefer Sondheimian for Gishing, since it would give good melee bonuses, with Shakespearean being tweaked over to wizard.
Exit Stage Left -- Perfect teleport four squares in a cardinal direction, stuns all enemies near the beginning point, your Burliness, Nimbleness and Sagacity are debuffed massively--because the play is over. Or something.
Technical - Audience participation - Charms a monster for a short period, maybe 15 turns, 45 CD Technical - He's Behind You! - Either buffs your sneakiness for very short time 4-8 turns but a has a similarly short cooldown, or teleports you adjacent to a mob Shakespearean - Bubble bubble, toil for trouble - Creates an acid puddle much like the explodey rune from promethean magic. Shakespearean - 2b or not 2b, which pencil shall I use? - Existenial and piercing damage to a single enemy, scale to savvy
So far I particularly like What Light Through Yonder Window Breaks (particularly if I can break walls with it), A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Dungeon, Props Master (why the hell not), Getting Away with Murder if it gets some kind of buff while it's draining your mana, To Be or Not To Be, and even the Audience Participation. I love randomness and unpredictability and general not-another-damage-skill things.
Or perhaps some fun plays here: Deus Ex Machinegun: a crossbow that fires very tiny gods! (Righteous/Aetherial damage on hit) Or simply use that as a skill that deals massive damage around you (the gods using a machine gun, which not as technically accurate is also a funny mental image)
I think a Deus Ex Machina skill should be a capstone, with a ridiculous cooldown (you know how Manacalypse has a cooldown of 384? yeah, even more than that.), which damages all enemies around you with a small amount from every type, stuns them, and heals you. The numbers would obviously have to be tweaked, but come on, it's Deus Ex Machina.
Keep in mind that there is an achievment for damaging with all special damage types, so haps if you are going for an all damages type make it short one of them (though as a capstone skill it may not be all that much of an issue).
Chew the Scenery (Technical): Destroy a prop or corpse, gain health/mana. Brick Joke (Comedic): Mine that does nothing for a few turns, then drops the ceiling on anything within its area of effect. Shyamalan Manoever (?): Polymorphs the player into Dredmor. Casting it again whilst polymorphed summons an adventurer who tries to kill you. OR, if that's too hard, make it an asphyxiative-damage spell, or a teleport, or something else to do with twisting. I don't know.
Chew The Scenery should be shakespearean, he was known more those bombastic hammy type characters, Technical should be more about stage handling. As for the Shamalamadingdong Maneuver, I'm not sure where it should go either, if anywhere (I'd go with Comedic as a first choice, even though it isn't really a warrior skill. :\) I mean, I like it as a concept, and the reference to that director is amusing, but I think it may detract from the overall flavor of the specific dramaturgical skills, as he doesn't really fit with any of the imagined ones. Perhaps film magic could be introduced for the more modern ones, and to fill out the different types it could be an all-rounder of useful functions.
