Since I've been bitten by the ToP bug I figured I might as well post my idea of what the staves subset should look like:
(Warning: it's really, really, really weird. I totally expect you all to tear it apart.)
CODE
Staves
--------
TargetBlast All regular phaser attacks can now be targetted
Aim Target a body part to blow off
Incinerate Burn the enemy from within
Anticipate Prepare a nasty surprise for your enemy
Staffparry Your staff is your unbreakable defence
Stance Prepare yourself to evade attacks
Limbparry Protect one body part with another
Stranglehold Strangle your enemy with your staff
Flashkick Swiftly kick your enemy with your feet
Flashstrike Swiftly strike your enemy with your staff
TripPin Trip with your leg, pin with your staff
DodgeImpale Let them run into your staff
ButtStrike Hit them with the blunt end
Disarm Wrestle the weapon out of their hands
Focus Never let go of your targetted limb
Jump Jump into the air for a second
Land Decide where you land
Crouch Crouch down for a second
Smite Staff, meet head
CrotchStrike It hurts
Block Seal off an exit with your body
Okay, so so far you're thinking, 'That doesn't look so weird...'
Well, now it's time to explain what the abilities do:
TargetBlast:
Passive ability, self-explanatory. You can inflict a whole gamut of wounds by firing at a body part with the staff, but that's looks like it's more a common set of afflictions shared by phasers than staff-specific.
Aim:
Syntax: AIM <target> <bodypart|heart>
You take some time to aim your weapon at the target's bodypart, usable from phaser range but not melee range.
If the weapon is aimed at the heart and the attack is a beam, the target is instantly slain.
Incinerate:
Passive ability, this is triggered when the staff fires when it is buried inside a victim's body, as in the case of impalement. The victim suffers internal afflictions as well as increased damage.
Anticipate:
Syntax: ANTICIPATE <direction> <action>
When the first person goes into this room from anticipated direction, the Phaser ability is performed instantly without loss of balance. This does not include any actions in the Staves subset.
Okay, now things get strange. Note that none of the following skills, other than parries and block, can be initiated by the player in combat.
Staffparry:
Syntax: PARRY <bodypart>
Parrying with your staff blocks attacks targetted at that body part and allows a plethora of responses.
Stance:
Syntax: STANCE <head|arms|torso|legs>
Tensing your muscles for evasion, you are able to dodge most attacks, including phaser attacks, aimed at parts of your body and respond disproportionately.
Limbparry:
Syntax: LIMBPARRY <bodypart> with <limb>
Using an unoccupied limb, you can block attacks directed toward other body parts. You will still take the same amount of damage as if you hadn't blocked, and the limb you block with will suffer the full damage of the attack. However, your parry will put you in a position to respond with a counterattack as if you had dodged the blow.
Stranglehold:
Syntax: PREPARE STRANGLEHOLD
After evading a blow, you will slip behind the attacker and bar your staff across his throat. He will soon die of asphyxiation unless he writhes out of your grip. His physical movements, however, are not hindered.
Flashkick:
Syntax: READY FLASHKICK <limb>
While blocking a blow with your staff, you use one of your free legs to break an opponent's limb with a kick. This response can be used in conjunction with other responses.
Flashstrike:
Syntax: READY FLASHSTRIKE <limb>
While dodging a blow, you will swing your staff at the attacker's limb, delivering tremendous damage. This response can be used in conjunction with other responses.
TripPin:
Syntax: PREPARE TRIPPIN <bodypart>
While dodging or blocking a blow, you will trip your opponent, and afterwards your staff will be positioned above the limb of your choice, primed for firing.
DodgeImpale:
Syntax: PREPARE DODGEIMPALE <limb|torso>
While you dodge a blow, your attacker will stumble onto your staff and impale himself. This response can be used in conjunction with other responses
ButtStrike:
Syntax: PREPARE BUTTSTRIKE
After you dodge or block a blow, you will strike at your attacker's solar plexus, which will paralyze and stun him if he has a central nervous system.
Disarm:
Syntax: READY DISARM
The moment you block a blow, you will try to wrest the weapon free with your staff. This response can be used in conjunction with other responses, but replaces FLASHKICK if you are flashkicking.
Focus:
Syntax: READY FOCUS <bodypart>
The moment you dodge a blow, you point your staff at the chosen body part and follow it through the confusion of melee combat, so that after you finish your counterattack your weapon is aimed at that body part and primed for firing. This response can be used in conjunction with other responses, but replaces FLASHSTRIKE if you are flashstriking.
Jump:
Syntax: JUMP, but performed automatically in case of Smite
Whenever you need to smite an attacker on the head and you are not large enough to do so (your size is smaller than his size), you will jump up and then smite him. Jumping up costs a slight balance overhead, and you will be airborne and unable to do much for a second.
Land:
Syntax: LAND OUTSIDE
While you're in the air, you decide that you'd rather land outside your opponent's melee range than within.
Crouch:
Syntax: CROUCH, but performed automatically in case of CrotchStrike
Whenever you need to hit an attacker in the crotch and are not small enough to do so (your size is the same as or larger than his size), you will crouch and then strike. Crouching costs a slight balance overhead, and you will be prone for a second. However, when you automatically stand up after crouching, you trigger all the counterattacks you had assigned to parrying.
Smite:
Syntax: PREPARE SMITE
After you dodge a blow, you will smite your attacker on the head with your staff, giving him severe mental afflictions.
CrotchStrike:
Syntax: PREPARE CROTCHSTRIKE
After you dodge a blow, you will deliver a sharp strike to his crotch, stunning him and severely impeding his motions. This attack only works on male adventurers.
Block:
Syntax: BLOCK <dir>
You block an exit with your body, preventing most people from moving in that direction.
So, for those of you that bothered to read this far, and for those of you who didn't, here's the summary of the skill: I thought of Staves as an RP fighting skill that's very physical, like a mixture of gun kata and those old kung-fu movies or instructional tai-chi videos where people say to just 'go with the flow' of the opponent's attack and use them to your advantage. So with this skill the player never initiates an aggressive combat action (except for the only aggressive action he can take, firing the staff), but instead delivers parry counterattacks that should hinder or afflict the attacker, and ends up in a position where his staff is pointed at a choice body part and ready for firing. Of course, this leads to the problem of the attacker never initiating combat, so I thought putting in block would give the attacker an incentive to remove the player (in corridors, at least; that's where anticipate will be useful as well), as well as giving the player a timed instakill in range distance to incite warriors to engage melee.
Each counterattack takes up a short bit of balance, of course, so the player can't just sit there with two and a half parries and tank a team. And that crotchstrike thing was just inspired by the Ansheri in Imperian, I couldn't think of anything else that was a complement to smite
EDIT: Ugh, love monospaced font, but sometimes it's hard to work in when you're not writing in a monospaced font. Also, this doesn't use phasers that much, huh. The only thing you can do with my imaginary skill is a normal blast at a body part, like how knights fight in Lusternia.
This post has been edited by notsleeping: Aug 28 2008, 12:01 AM
Phaser attacks and afflictions, Some suggestions for the most recent post by Kunin
Jun 7 2008, 02:18 AM
What can I say? I <3 teh pewpewpew!
That actually was my intention, to make a class that was dependent on spatial geometry (corridors, tight ship spaces are great for these guys) and to have some fun creating a class that was... strange. I thought about skills to goad an enemy into attacking, but that kind of goes against the RP flavor of 'Do no harm, young grasshopper', although I kinda doubt that's what Kunin had in mind). By the way, I want to clarify two things (for some reason, the edit button disappeared... either that or it's thing #2 acting up again)