Wizards on RP?

[BotchKing]

A lot of people have been discussing this recently and we usually find a common theme:

Wizards on RP could be really cool but their current loadout is not appropriate for it.

I share this opinion too, but I'd like to know what people think could be meaningful changes that would make wizards work on RP.

Some ideas I've had:

• Nerf offensive spells cooldown and power (or change them for something else entirely)
  
• Change into different creatures yourself with the ability to revert back
  
• Produce enchanted items or enchant current items with a variety of effects
  
• Share your powers with others for a limited time
  
• Make spells resource-based (like mana) rather than cooldown-based
  
• Give them objectives related to crew interaction (for example, collect player trinkets) in exchange for spell ressources.
  
• The goal here would be to make them negotiate with players to trade objective rewards and magic powers in exchange for giving the crew magic items or blessings. I think it's similar to the beloved chaplain contract system which works great on RP.
  
• Make some spells like polymorph take a longer time to cast
  
  

I'd love to hear your suggestions and what you think about the ones above.

I want to try coding some additional spells, so I'd love to contribute making wizards RP-viable

[Lord_earthfire]

I think the problem is just that 90% of spells wizards have that interact with the crew can only be used to deal damage or permanently debilitate crewmembers. The rest are litteral escape spells.

Adding objective based gameplay (which is the worst possible change to do for RP, because many peopke don't greentext on RP), nerfing cooldown or spell power simply won't change this.

If all a wizard can do is fireball, polymorph, prismatic spray and run away AND their options for use of station items are limited, what do you expect them to do, really?

So limiting the use of their tools doesn't resolve the issue if these are the only tools they have.

Wizards really need new RP- and gimmick-enabling spells. In fact, i would say they should do the bulk of their kit. Afterwards, we can think how their offensive spells get nerfed so they pick more RP friendly ons. They need their offensive spells as well, but it shouldn't be everything they got.

[BotchKing]

I threw out the idea of adding objectives to distract wizards from going all out on destruction. The objectives wouldn't be ignored on RP if they had mechanical advantages like ressource gaining.

The ressource gaining à la vampire blood, changeling DNA and arcfiend power is there to limit the speed at which they could get the more powerful spells.

I agree they need a new kit of spells, I don't propose they keep the ones they have currently, which is why I wanted to ask for spell/mechanics ideas.

I think most mobility spells should also be removed in favor of stealth in general.

[Kotlol]

Here's an idea...
insted of buttons....
THE WIZARD ACTUALLY HAS TO SAY THE SPELLS TO CAST THEM!

[BotchKing]

that would be funny haha. Also a good way to prevent spell spamming

Here's another idea:

The wizard has to collect magical beans across the station to increase his power. The different departments can either hide the beans or negotiate rewards from the wizards in exchange for them.
If you destroy the beans, two more spawn somewhere.

[ThatScarlett]

Wizards on RP, I believe everyone, or majority of RP players want.
My opinion on why not there yet? Just no one working on how to change wizards to fit on RP, coding and making a PR for it. Sure, would take a lot of work, but I doubt the own developing team would take a step before the players.

[Decarcassor]

I'd rather see wizards redesigned as a whole in a way that would make them more suited to RP, instead of having separate rules for RP and Main. But obviously its a lot of work.

Currently wizard's only objectives as far as I can tell is a murder list and general grief. Their spells are different flavors of damages with disabling effects, escape tools, and "screw you" spells that can hardly be defended against. And if its to have wizards just chill around the RP servers not using their spells because they are too disruptive, what is the point ?

[babayetu83]

i think it would be interesting if the wizard was sent there to be a diplomatic envoy, where then the heads of staff and wizards form some kind of agreement/pact which then leads to an assault by hostile npcs

[BotchKing]

Decarcassor, this post is mostly about what wizards could be on RP, not what they do currently on main. Yes I know they are griefy and violent right now, this is why we're discussing spell ideas for RP here. The point of the project is to make them work on the RP servers.

babayetu, I think this could be a cool one-time gimmick but I dont want to limit what wizards represent on the station. They can be an ambassador if they want, or something else entirely. The assault of hostile NPC sounds great honestly but I dont know if it should be associated with wizards by default.

[Decarcassor]

What wizards could be on RP is better wizards as a whole and therefore I don't see a reason to exclude main from the discussion. Its not like nobody think wizards could use some changes over there either.

Obviously less murder spells and more fun/weird spells should be on the menu, but I say why stop here ? Turns wizards into full on D&D nerds. They start a level 1 with a set of "quests" and level up by completing them. They gain a new spell every level with the most powerfull spells being restricted to higher levels. Also they no longer have infinite ressources. They have a number of cast per spells and need to rest to recover them.

Wizards quests should revolve around being a bunch of technophobic secretive magic nerds. They still want to kill people who know their secrets, but they also want to stop NT from messing with plasma or draw mysterious runes all over the station for nefarious reasons, steal personnal belonging for sympathetic magic and magical spell reagents, etc...

[nefarious6th]

I agree with decarc in that splitting the RP function of wizards from the classic function and kit of wizards adds more tedium to a gamemode that people on both servers could see reworked; splitting of RP vs Classic features and functions in general is tricky, hard to maintain and clean, and more difficult to telegraph to players

[BotchKing]

Yeah I like the idea of leveling up to get access to the more powerful spells. About the "resting" part, I think it would have to be something other than just sleeping or staying still just to prevent breaking the flow of the game. Maybe make it relatively short similar to the changeling recovery.

What do you think the quests should be? Here are some of my ideas:
- Place runes that periodically summon hostile critters for the crew to fight until the runes are erased.
- Spawn several activated wizard artifacts (not bombs)
- Summon dead people as demons?

[Kotlol]

Yeah I like the idea of leveling up to get access to the more powerful spells. About the "resting" part, I think it would have to be something other than just sleeping or staying still just to prevent breaking the flow of the game. Maybe make it relatively short similar to the changeling recovery.

What do you think the quests should be? Here are some of my ideas:
- Place runes that periodically summon hostile critters for the crew to fight until the runes are erased.
- Spawn several activated wizard artifacts (not bombs)
- Summon dead people as demons?

"Leveling up" is technically a thing for Vampires.
For Changeling/arcfiends they have to do their feeding to get the power they need to fight.

So why not insted of leveling.. go for a "mana system"
You start with minimal mana... then the more wizard things you do that don't involve destruction but you know.. breaking robots, breaking doors and such give you Mana to fight back.
They hate technology, so breaking technology and such would work.

Pick several ideas how Wizards can "generate" mana and the more powerfull spells you pick the more mana charge you need.
This would balance out wizards in general...
The more powerfull and annoying the spell, the more mana it costs.
This would also prevent the ole run and gun wizards on classic since they need mana.

Though I'd say they need a slight buff in being able to cast spells without wearing their staff, hat and robe. They just DECREASE the cost of casting spells, but you can cast weaker spells without clothing if they want a stealth approach.

The moment the wizard feels ready to rampage and strike.. they can do it.

[Decarcassor]

Yeah I like the idea of leveling up to get access to the more powerful spells. About the "resting" part, I think it would have to be something other than just sleeping or staying still just to prevent breaking the flow of the game. Maybe make it relatively short similar to the changeling recovery.

What do you think the quests should be? Here are some of my ideas:
- Place runes that periodically summon hostile critters for the crew to fight until the runes are erased.
- Spawn several activated wizard artifacts (not bombs)
- Summon dead people as demons?

Resting could simply be a button where the wizard has to stand still and be defenseless for a few seconds to recover its powers. Meaning a wizard out of spell juice and on the run from sec would be in trouble. It would also encourage wizards to cooperate and watch over each other while they rest.

As for quests I would keep things simple and not tie unnecessary extra mechanics to them. Spief stuff really, but instead of stealing, it would be focused on sabotage of plasma based equipement, destruction of technological weapons and strange magical vandalism. I suppose we should keep the occasional murder target too, for the sake of tradition.

But now that I think about it, wizards running around, blowing cloning and stealing batons wouldn't really be very different or any more fun than what they already do right now anyway. So what about hexing/cursing instead ? It would cause general malfunctions upon affected targets and could be removed by the chaplain.

So you would have objectives such as:

-Place a curse upon a foul cloning pod !
-Hex 3 heinous stun batons !
-Draw 2 greater runes inside security !
-Draw 7 lesser runes in south east maintenance !
-Kill Randy Staffguy for he knows too much !

And while we are just spitballing ideas out there, there should really be some kind of special wizard interaction with Zoldorf.

[0oze]

[And while we are just spitballing ideas out there, there should really be some kind of special wizard interaction with Zoldorf.]

Rescue zoldorf from confinement. Having a wizard running around with a deattached animatronic zoldorf sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe have him act like a wand, or maybe something special if he was possesed. Its like the stirstir mission but a lot more easy.
Another idea is to have zoldorf act as a sort of trader maybe?