A weapon can gain abilities *if you use it long enough*. Think of
"Berserk", where Guts' great-sword gained an unholy aura by killing
legions of demons. Of course, Frost/Fire brand go away to accomodate
this system.
Here are the brands:

1. venom. Kill 10 enemies with a poison attack.
        Poisons an enemy. No instakill, just "extremely toxic" 1/10
chance.
2. sinful. Kill 7 peaceful humans. Peaceful pet = 1/2 human. Heh heh
heh...
        50% more damage, 10% chance of noise, 10% chance to autocurse.
"Your weapon becomes a monument to your sins!"
"Your weapon echos the screams of slain foes!"
"The chill of death encircles your hand(s)."
3. distortion. Kill 10 quantum mechanics, stalkers, or shapeshifters.
        10% chance to teleport monster, 10% chance to polymorph
monster. Horribly dangerous to player in early game due to polymorph
attack, but could be used as a (RISKY) pet-polytrap in Sokoban.
kill suitable enemy: "Your weapon distorts a bit."
attain brand: "Your weapon is ignoring the laws of physics."
4. dancing. 1/20 chance when you kill a golem.
       Becomes a pet that attacks any monster regardless of level,
with 10 * (average damage) HP, -5 AC (hard to hit a dancing weapon!).
"Your weapon shines with an animating force!"
Kind of bad since you've lost your main weapon. ;) Actually makes
golems more threatening...

What do you think?

But not just any sword -- I think we would have to create crystal swords.
A magical material to hold the magical capability.

Don't forget drain level. Kill enough vampires et al and have a percentage
change of drain level ; without the immunity to drain level offered by other
artifacts.

Which of course shatter unless foo-proofed. The sword could be named using
a diamond or Magicbane; but that would damage the sword and remove the foo-proofing.

Good in theory, which is why it's YAOI. I've never seen a good execution
of it.

_Bad_ idea.

So samurai can't kill venomous monsters any more. Nice.

50%? I'm chaotic, bring on that curse!

And just about kills the Samurai quest.

I think it could do with rather a lot more balance.

Richard

On Jul 5, 10:59 am, ralt...@xs4all.nl (Richard Bos) wrote:
OK, then they *don't* go away.

No, they can switch to *another weapon* to kill venomous monsters.
There's almost always a +2 dagger in the mines, which is far better
for killer bees, soldier ants and snakes with -3 AC and low HP. And
daggers get a throwing bonus, widening the gap even more.

Seriously, what's with wanting a "golden hammer" weapon *in the early
game*?

I thought you were a samurai. ;) As-is, the weapon is probably far too
powerful. But if the system were actually implemented, make no
mistake: just about *every* non-artifact weapon a player used would
eventually become a Brand of some sort, so monsters in the later game
could be adjusted with tougher stats.

So how about this: instead, there's a 50% chance of slowdown.
"Your sins encumber the FOO!"

Why? Teleporting/polymorphing a ninja in posession of an attack wand
is a *good* thing, and polymorphing the nemesis into an animal just
about kills him. He'll just teleport right back due to covetousness.
Furthermore, anyone who tackles the samurai quest *without* an
artifact is vastly underprepared for the quest nemesis, and artifacts
will resist Brand-ing.

Do you mean the weapons are too powerful or too cumbersome?

On Jul 5, 10:59 am, ralt...@xs4all.nl (Richard Bos) wrote:

Really? There *are* successful roguelikes (Crawl) where random weapons
get branded. In fact, you can actually brand a weapon deliberately via
spellcasting and scrolls. In fact, there's a lot of strategy involved
in choosing a Crawl weapon because one brand (distortion) is
*extremely dangerous to wield/unwield*, among other reasons.

What I'm mostly trying to address is the monotony of random weapons in
Nethack. As-is, your starting weapon becomes better than 99% of random
weapons after *a single blessed ?ew*, so every other non-artifact
becomes junk. If random weapons had some capabilities beyond a
fleeting chance +X enchantment, I think trying out gear might be more
fun.

So maybe you don't create brands by use. Maybe some weapons just turn
out to be Brands of one of the aforementioned types.

This turns out not to be the case.

I'll cheerfully attempt the samurai quest without an artifact as long as
I have reflection (to stop a monster with a wand of death from wasting
all the charges or killing me), a ring of levitation (to avoid the board
traps around AT), a potion of paralysis or charged wand of sleep (to mug
AT with), and a charged wand of death (to kill AT with).

If I don't have at least reflection and a charged wand of death, I am
not sufficiently prepared to confront AT.
--
\_\/_/ turbulence is certainty turbulence is friction between you and me
 \  /  every time we try to impose order we create chaos
  \/   -- Killing Joke, "Mathematics of Chaos"

When I first read the title, I assumed "brand" meant "name of
manufacturer is prominent".

You swing your mighty Ritter Steel® Braided Leather Giant Samurai
Sword. ("No other Samurai Sword is made in the USA!")
You hit the newt!
The high carbon spring steel blade ("sweated over for many hours by
our expert craftsmen") decapitates the newt!
You sigh and look around for a volume control.

On Jul 6, 4:53 am, Martin Read <mpr...@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

In addition to reflection or MR to escape the wands in the Quest
levels, AT can be dealt with via a scroll of earth, a wand of sleep,
and some projectiles.

ROFLMAO!
You forgot to include the busty blonde babes in X-small tank tops
popping out of side passage demonstrating and displaying all the
various features.

On Jul 5, 9:31 am, "3cnf...@gmail.com" <3cnf...@gmail.com> wrote:

It is a good roguelike idea, but it might not be a good Nethack idea.

Nethack is a weird mix of slapped-together ideas that has had a
overall design imposed on it.  The result, as we all know, turned out
awesome, but it makes it hard to add new ideas now without breaking
the design.

The biggest thing I can see it adding to the game is that it adds more
instances where the player will want to use a "normal" weapon rather
than an artifact.

The biggest problem I can see with it is that it adds to power
proliferation.  Newbies may still have trouble with it, but expert
players find the game's winnable almost every time.  Adding something
like this can only make the game still easier for players who know
what they're doing.

I'd suggest:
- Artifacts cannot get brands.
- Limiting the number of brands on an item to one (at a time).
- Cancellation removes a brand.
- Making brands not a "permanent" attribute.  I'd suggest that high-
level magic-using monsters get a spell for removing a brand on a
current weapon, and maybe a new scroll that removes a brand.
- Make brands powerful, but give them all a negative attribute.

Note: I think it was a prior version of Rogue that called such a
weapon enhancement a "vorpalization."  Although it's a name conflict
with Nethack's Vorpal Blade, I prefer that term to "brand."