Time Lord fail effects

[Djabanete]

Hey,
I was playing a Time Lord and felt that the fail effects were too
nasty, but I figured that unless something disastrous happened, I was
probably just being a crybaby. Then something disastrous happened!
Temporal Inversion (slows you instead of hasting) is absolutely
crippling. I was at full HP (360), +13 base speed, fighting a Dark
Elven Shade, and my haste ran out (+28 down to +13). I tried to cast
Haste Self again, but unfortunately I got the temporal inversion (down
to -2 speed) and was instakilled (I ended up at -250, so even if I had
resisted Darkness I'm not sure I would have survived). The only
advantage of the Time Lord is that you never get double moved, since
Haste Self is your only good spell (and it's great when it works!),
and your damage is so-so; and since your HP are terrible, getting
double-moved is much more dangerous than for some other classes.

I guess the moral is that the game is meant to be difficult, and that
you should never cast Haste while in the LOS of anything that could
kill you if there were a sudden -30 speed differential.

(Also, the "kitten" effect is harsh. Drain all stats, bypassing
sustains? Maybe add some effects that only drain one stat, so that the
kitten effect is less frequent. I'd hate to get kittened in, say, the
Cloning Pits. Maybe also allow sustains to save your stats under the
kitten effect, and only have sustains bypassed in the single-drain
effects?)

The XP drain effect is pretty balanced.

Maybe make a hunger fail effect? "Your metabolism accelerates
suddenly": Gorged, Full, or None becomes Hungry, Hungry becomes Weak.

Maybe make evolution fail effects? One monster or all monsters nearby
evolve a notch. "Evolution accelerates in your vicinity" if it's
triggered.

Maybe make a breeder fail effect? Any breeders in sight spawn copies
all around them. "Reproduction accelerates in your vicinity" if it's
triggered.

Maybe make a decay fail effect? "Decay accelerates in your vicinity"
if there are any walls or doors adjacent to you, and they are replaced
by open space.

[Chris Kousky]

Well, I'll tone down the odds a bit. What was your fail rate beforehand?

For 0.0.26 and later, lets say your fail rate is 20%. You now need to:
[1] Fail the spell (20% in this case).
[2] Roll 1d100 under Fail/2 (10% in this case).
[3] Roll 1 in 10 for Temporal inversion (Was much higher, now only 10%).

So, odds are now .2 * .1 * .1 = .002 or 0.2%. I think that is OK.
"Kitten" is now only 5% on [3] so 0.1% odds.

But yeah, you are correct. You should be careful where you are when
you attempt to spell. Mindcrafters have similar issues, and can
become confused even if they resist confusion, or stunned even if they
resist stunning.

I'll work on your other suggestions ... and let me know if you still
think it is too harsh.

--Chris