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Most of these ideas will probably be implemented in some form or another, unless an idea is so terrible it can't be saved, which there will likely be a few.
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They are basically in order of when I will implement them, although I often change that order.
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Some of these changes will make the game much easier for the player, and some will make the game much harder. Hopefully they balance out overall. We'll see...
Each rune has a specific curse associated with it which makes the game more challenging. Ascending with the orb with 8 runes is dramatically more difficult than ascending with 3, because of the additional 5 game altering curses. A 15 rune ascension would be nearly impossible on hard mode. Should be like a once a year event that someone actually pulls off a 15 rune ascension under this change in hard mode. Even in easy mode, a 15 rune ascension should be impossible except for the most elite of players.
Each rune also increases monster hp and damage by 2/4/6% based on difficulty mode.
Each rune also has a 1 time effect that they player can choose to use. But when they pick up a new rune, all previous runes they had gain 1 more charge, and can be used 1 more time than before.
When a player enters a rune branch, they receive the rune curse. When they pick up the rune, they receive the rune perk.
- serpentine: stairs randomly teleport nearer monsters ~every 50 turns
- decaying: player rots at a steady rate.
- barnacled: player movement is slowed down by 0.2
- gossamer: traps more common and more deadly
- abyssal: monster spawning increased to be like abyss
- silver: ascending stairs sometimes moves player to a cluster of monsters on same floor instead
- slimy: player randomly mutates, good or bad 50/50
- dark: player vision is reduced to 3, but can still sense the position of monsters in normal LOS, just can't id them until they are closer.
- glowing: contamination doesn't auto decay. Can be cured by drinking any potion.
- fiery: monster damage increased by 25%
- magical: power of monster spells increased
- demonic: when a hit does a lot of damage to a monster, there is a chance that a demon will spawn.
- golden: gold in los has a chance to distract player, causing their attack to miss, or their spell to fail. Higher chance of gold being dropped by monsters.
- iron: walls are all indestructable, but paths to stairs are always guaranteed.
- icy: ice walls or tunnels randomly appear. Can be melted with heat. Never close to player.
- obsidian: walls and trees adjacent to the player occasionally come to life and attack the player, but don't move. When the player moves away from a living wall, it eventually fades back into a normal wall.
- bone: when a monster dies, there is a 1/3 chance it comes back as a zombie or demon
- controlled blink to anywhere on floor
- escape hatch to previous floor
- lightning form: move at 0.1 speed for 100 movements. Everything else is normal speed.
- super scroll: choose from a list of 10 power scrolls (not random)
- super potion: choose from a list of 10 power potions (not random)
- super armour: choose from a list of 10 artifact armours (random)
- super weapon: choose from a list of 10 artifact weapons (random)
- super wand: choose from a list of 10 fully charged wands (not random)
- learn any one spell without needing to spend spell points for it, and without needing a spellbook for it
- super jewelry: choose from a list of 10 artifact jewelry (random)
- select one mutation to remove
- select one mutation from a fixed list of 10 (random)
- select one permanent resistance to gain from a list
- teleport all monsters in LOS to D:1 at dungeon exit
- select one dna booster: good dna, clean dna, resilient dna
- can select the same more than once if you get multiple charges to make it stronger
For normal mode, one "up" stairs will be taken away once orb is picked up. For hard mode, two up stairs will be removed. One way upstairs are left in place, still providing more than one way up.
Identification becomes pointless after about halfway through the game, with identify scrolls nearly worthless. I think that can be changed in a fun way to carry through all the way to the end of a 15 rune run. Here's a crude outline of some ideas I've had:
Identity scrolls don't always work. For the main beginning usages, they will always work. But occasionally there will be a powerful unique item, that requires more "identification power". Identification power is based purely on the players intelligence, enabling those with lower intelligence to quaff a brilliance potion if necessary to identify some of the harder items. But I'm not talking about scrolls being lost when failing, like they were long ago. If you attempt to identify something that's out of your league, the game will tell you that you aren't yet smart enough to do that, but the identify scroll will remain in your inventory.
There will be more rare and super rare items, both good and bad, that will be more difficult to identify than normal. Super rare potions and scrolls, as well as unique weapons and armour. They would be infrequent enough not to cause a nuisance, but rewarding enough to be worth some effort to unlock their awesomeness. Identify scrolls will also be less common, forcing the player to consider carefully how to best use them. Do I read-id all my scrolls, but use ID scrolls on my potions? Or do I save the ID scrolls for more exotic items and quaff-id the potions too? Things should be balanced closely enough that there isn't a trivial solution to those questions. It should vary based on character combo and the various random circumstances that happen. This also increases the value of alternative forms of identification, such as Ash's powers, and the Djinni's native "insight" mutation, or even the rare chance that a non-djinni could get that mutation.
Brilliance potions will be more rare, but may be stacked to boost the effect further, so that even low intelligence characters could identify some advanced items. Or an amplification scroll could be used (see below) in combination with the brilliance potion and / or identify scroll.
3/4 of the unique items can still be identified by wearing them, although some will be cursed, and a more rare remove curse will be required (see below). But 1/4 of them can't be equipped at all until they are identified. They will tend to have an extra enchantment beyond what the other 3/4 have, and will never be cursed.
This is a rare scroll that, when read, amplifies the next item used (scroll, potion, or wand). For example, reading an amplification scroll and then drinking a brilliance potion will greatly enhance the effect, enabling a character to cast much more powerful spells, or to identify exceedingly rare and powerful artifacts. Or they could amplify a teleport scroll, enabling them to specify exactly where in the level they want to teleport to. Or they could amplify a scroll of acquirement, causing it to produce 3 items instead of one. Or you could amplify a remove curse scroll to eliminate all curses on any item in your inventory, even the ones that are very difficult to get rid of. You could even amplify another amplify scroll, multiplying the power even further (if you happen to be lucky enough to find 2 in a game). Double amplifying a teleport scroll could allow you to teleport to any branch, although you will be randomly placed in that branch.
Thinking about this further, it will work better to actually make them less rare, but work a little differently. All scrolls and potions will be grouped into the following categories:
- mundane: potion of curing, scroll of teleportation, scroll of displacement, potion of ambrosia
- cool: scroll of inversion, blink scroll, potion of heal wounds
- awesome: scroll of acquirement, amp scroll, scroll of returning
it would require 1 amp scroll to work on a mundane item. It would require 2 to work on a cool item, and 4 to work on an awesome item. The categories do not necessarily correspond with rarity.
I'm open to better names :)
Of course it is so rare that you may only see a few of them in a game. Probably about as common as a scroll of acquirement.
Some ideas for it:
amp + recharge scroll: recharge all items in your inventory, or set one item to self-charge,
or increase charging rate of a self-charging wand (replacements for rods in this version).
amp + cure mutation potion: cures all mutations, or cures only bad ones
amp + beneficial mutation: 3 good mutations
amp + cure potion: provides temporary poison immunity and clarity?
amp + acquirement: get 3 items instead of 1
amp + identify: identify items that would normally be much harder to identify, or identify whole inventory
amp + amp: amp level 9 instead of 3. Can be stacked indefinitely.
amp + haste: longer speed boost (triple duration)
amp + branding: will take a branded item and make it into an artifact with random properties, but the same brand
kind of like the amp scroll, but reversing the effects of the next item used. More common than amp scrolls, but still fairly rare.
inv + cure mutation: gives you a bunch of mutations (like drinking a mutation potion, probably not a great idea).
inv + mutation: same as a cure mutation
inv + silence: immunity to silence
inv + noise: increases stealth
inv + summoning: abjure all creatures in LOS
amp + inv + mutation: cure all mutations
inv + healing potion: instant death, at least on hard mode. Other modes would maybe reduce you to 1 HP.
inv + teleport scroll: teleport all visible monsters
inv + blink scroll: blink a monster in LOS to anywhere else
inv + poison: temporary regeneration boost
inv + degeneration: temporary stat boost
inv + acquirement: produces a amp scroll
inv + identify: unidentify everything
inv + remove curse: curses all items
inv + wand of random effect: changes the wand to always execute one effect
inv + wand of polymorph: clones the target creature
inv + invisibility: corona effect
inv + berserk: clarity, stasis, slow movement?
inv + amnesia: learn a random spell?
inv + cure: confusion or poison
To support my philosophy of keeping the identification game interesting through late game, a few more late game tier scrolls and potions are needed. Most of these are very rare, so they won't tend to clutter up your inventory.
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Scroll of Briars
choose a smite targeted empty square, and a wall of briars will be formed in a line, perpendicular to the line between you and the targeted square, extending until they touch walls. The briars can be destroyed by monsters, but it will take a few turns. Ranged attackers can still shoot through them, just like with normal bushes.
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Scroll of Displacement
swap places with a smite-targetted creature. Basically a weaker form of the blink scroll, but has some interesting strategic side effects, since it can be used to get close to a summoner that is surrounded by summons (which blink can't). More common than blink scroll. Amplified version allows the player to swap with a wall, statue, or tree. Inverted form prevents both the target and player from moving or teleporting for a period of time.
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Scroll of Permanence
choose one of your temporary statuses to be made permanent (mutations, briliance, MR+, Stealth+, rF+, Fast, etc). Amplified version allows you to select 3. Inverted version allows you to choose a permanent status to be made temporary. Xom loves it when you use inversion on an unidentified scroll ... :) Requires multiple amp scrolls (according to the item class rules explained above) to use it on a higher level status (speed, health boost, for example).
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Scroll of Karma
applies an enchantment to all creatures in LOS, including the player. While this enchantment is in effect, anything a creature does to another, will be reflected back on it. If a player heals a creature, the player also gets healed. If a monster shoots a needle of sleeping at the player, a needle of sleeping also has a chance of hitting the monster (although they can dodge it, just like the player).
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Scroll of Replication
target an item in inventory or a creature, and they will be duplicated. Of course, reading a scroll of amplification before reading this scroll will cause 3 more of the target to be created instead of 1. The player can also target themselves, creating a friendly version that will fight alongside the player. Inverted form of this will collapse all duplicates of the item down to one (handy for monsters that clone themselves, but will also apply to a pack of wolves, that can be converted into a single wolf). Replication scrolls can't replicate Replication Scrolls or Amplification Scrolls, otherwise with 3 of each you'd have an unlimited supply.
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Scroll of Returning
your current position is remembered, and a one time ability added that will instantly transport you back to that position, no matter where you are within the same branch. Of course if you are carrying the orb, this won't work. Very powerful and very rare. Amplified version of this allows you to return even if you are in a different branch. Inverted form of this will teleport everything in LOS to the return point instead of the player.
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Scroll of Time
time stops for all creatures 2 spaces or closer to the player, including the player. Creatures outside of this 5x5 area may approach the player, but will also freeze when entering the time bubble. When the bubble expires, the player may have a much bigger challenge on their hands than before. Generally considered a bad scroll, however, the inverted form of this freezes all creatures outside of the 5x5 bubble. The player only has to deal with whatever is inside of the bubble, then can rest / etc until the time runs out (which is pretty substantial, maybe 100 auts). If the player steps out of the bubble, it collapses. Amplified version creates a 3x3 bubble instead.
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Potion of Burning
reduces your magic to 0, causing twice that much damage to your hp. The inverted version will also reduce magic to 0, but will heal twice that much.
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Potion of Darkness
lowers visibility to 3 squares in each direction. Amplified version lowers it to 1. Only affects player. Player can still sense monsters within the normal LOS, even though they can't identify them until their are within 3 spaces. Monsters can see and attack the player as soon as they are within the standard 8 square LOS. This is very bad for the player. Inverted version gives temporary see invisibility. Amplified inverted form gives temporary x-ray vision.
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Potion of Patience
Slows players movement and attack speed slightly, increases accuracy of all attacks significantly.
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Potion of Poison Vulnerability
replaces old potion of poison. Inverted form gives temporary poison resistance. Amplified inverted form gives temporary poison immunity.
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Potion of Balance
the player's health, magic, and stamina are averaged. If you start with 10% HP, 90% MP, 50% SP, you will end up with 50% HP, 50% MP, 50% SP. 10% HP, 10% MP, 10% SP will give you exactly the same after drinking this potion, since they are already balanced. Amped version briefly holds all stats in their averaged form, not allowing anything to change them, providing unlimited magic and invulnerability and stamina for 4 turns. Inverted version reverses the balancing effect. If balance would normally take 70% HP to 60% HP, then it goes the other way instead (to 80% HP). Inverted example: HP%/MP%/SP% 20/20/60 -> 7/7/87.
After reading a scroll of acquirement, a list of 4 random items is presented, with a good chance that each will be valuable and useful (but not guaranteed) and the player chooses 1. Some of the items could be multiples, e.g. 4 cure mutation potions, 6 remove curse scrolls, a pile of 800 gold. Amplified version of this will provide a list of 12 items instead of 4. Player still only chooses 1. Inverted form of this presents one random item to the player, which they get 4 of. Amplified inverted form gives 12 copies of 1 random item. Xom loves this particular usage of inversion scrolls...
Spell magic costs will be changed to be geometric instead of linear
Level 1 spell: 10
Level 2 spell: 16
Level 3 spell: 25
Level 4 spell: 40
...
Level 8 spell: 254
Level 9 spell: 403
Of course players would have 10 times more magic capacity in this new system, so 403 points here would be the same as 40 points in the old system. Then they would be adjusted according to spellcasting skill. 0 spellcasting skill would require the base cost of a spell.
Cost of a level 9 spell at
0 spellcasting: 403
1 spellcasting: 376
2 spellcasting: 351
5 spellcasting: 285
10 spellcasting: 202
15 spellcasting: 143
20 spellcasting: 101
25 spellcasting: 71
30 spellcasting: 50
This also allows us to more clearly vary costs for different kinds of spells. Currently transmutation spells cost 3 times as much to cast, because they last indefinitely, so after this change is made, the different spell costs will show up in the spell list menu.
- if it is a rune branch, the rune is in the middle floor of that branch.
- there is an entrance / exit at the bottom of the branch in addition to the one at the top. Always two ways in and out of a branch.
- bottom half of the branch is an optional challenge area for those who are having too easy of a time.
- branches may be the same length (which would significantly shorten the game, since you are only required to travel half the distance to get the rune) or extended a little. We'll experiment and find what's most fun.
Destroying an altar will bring that god's wrath down upon you, but in exchange, you gain an immediate boost of experience. For those of you that find hard mode too easy...
Upon killing a ghost, it drops some of the items it was carrying when it died, randomly chosen. Ghosts would be more difficult to kill. I think this would pose an interesting challenge for those brave enough to go ghost hunting. Ghosts would appear much more rarely, most commonly around "haunted" areas, such as special vaults or the tomb and crypt. But it would be more common to come across grave stones which can be destroyed to summon a ghost.
Picking up another deck of the same type just adds cards to an existing deck if you already have one.
If a monster is adjacent to a door, the player can't close it. Problem solved. No more opening and closing doors until the player heals.
Feels like a debuff here would be nice, and add a little more flavor. These effectively replace the hasting spell, but I'd rather distinguish them more. Haste potion will improve all movement speeds, but will reduce accuracy and spell potency a little. It's inverted form slows you down a bit, but in exchange you have higher accuracy and spell potency.
The wand will only affect movement speed. Attack speed will be normal.
Possibly add more depth to the abyss (is it infinite anyway?), with harder challenges the deeper you go, so that being cast into the abyss late game is actually pretty scary still.
There may be an important reason for rods that I'm not getting, but at least from my limited experience with them, they seem to be just like wands, basically giving the player the ability to cast spells without spell skills or magic required, except that, unlike wands, they charge back up.
Why not just have all wands have a charging rate, which is usually 0 (meaning they don't charge up on their own at all), but in some rare cases you find a wand that has a charge rate of +1 or even +2 (maybe one out of 20 or even 50 chance)? A recharge scroll used on a self-charging wand would increase it's charging rate, instead of actually recharging it.
But on normal wands the recharge scroll behaves normally. Of course, they should charge up as a player gets experience, so players aren't encouraged to just sit around between battles until they charge up. You would find self-charging wands much more often among the more common wands, like the flame, etc, but only in extremely rare cases (god gifts, troves, boss drops) would you find a self charging wand of teleportation or hasting, and then probably only one in 10 games. Some wands maybe would never appear as a self charging wand, such as wands of healing.
Is there really a point in having a stone of tremors instead of just a wand or scroll of tremors? Ok so it add a tiny bit of flavor, but I'm not sure it's worth the complexity cost of multiple oddities that a new player must figure out how to use. If they were just scrolls, the new player would know that they were a one time use item that does what it says. When I pick up a sack of spiders, I have no idea if it is a one-time-use item, or if it recharges and I can use it multiple times. Even decks of cards are functionally the same as random effect wands. You could still use Nemelex's abilities to identify what the next few wand zaps will do, and there can still be different sets of random functions just like different decks.
Change him to have piety like other gods. Piety starts half filled. No selectable abilities, just like normal, but there are higher chances the random things he does will benefit you at higher piety (like normal). Gaining piety is based on doing actions that are interesting (exploring new territory, taking on powerful monsters, getting unintentionally banished). Scumming type activities will reduce piety quickly. Playing it safe too much will also end up with lower piety levels, which will cause Xom to make things more interesting for you. He's nice like that.
I'm thinking of something like this: 6 strength should have twice the impact on how much damage you do with a weapon as 3 strength. 9 strength = twice what 6 strength would do. 12 strength would then be 8 times the effect of having 3 strength. 24 strength would have 128 times the damage of 3 strength. This eliminates any diminishing returns for boosting those attributes. Gaining strength / dex / int, will always matter in a significant way. The same applies to skill levels. Now gaining skills will still have a diminishing return as it will cost exponentially more experience for each new level.
So to clarify further:
for simplicity, say damage caused by a particular spell = Fire Magic power
Fire Magic -> Fire Magic Power = Damage caused by spell
0 -> 1.0
1 -> 1.2
2 -> 1.6
3 -> 2.0
4 -> 2.5
5 -> 3.2
6 -> 4.0
7 -> 5.0
8 -> 6.3
9 -> 8
10 -> 10
...
15 -> 32
...
20 -> 102
21 -> 128
22 -> 161
23 -> 203
24 -> 256
25 -> 323
26 -> 406
27 -> 512
Every level up kicks up the damage 26%, with no diminishing return. Even late in the game, each level up is meaningful.
Most attributes and skills I think would follow this 2^(x/3) pattern. Spell levels however, should translate into a steeper scale, maybe a 4^x kind.
Spell level -> Spell difficulty
1 -> 4
2 -> 16
3 -> 64
...
9 -> 262144
Chance of casting it successfully would be (spell power)/(spell power + spell difficulty). Say spell power was skill power * int power
Skill, Intelligence -> success rate for level 4 spell
0, 0 -> 1.2%
0, 2 -> 1.9%
0, 5 -> 3.7%
0, 10 -> 11%
2, 10 -> 16%
5, 10 -> 28%
10, 10 -> 55%
15, 10 -> 79%
20, 10 -> 92%
25, 10 -> 97%
Skill, Int -> success rate for level 9 spell
10, 10 -> 0.5%
15, 10 -> 1.6%
15, 15 -> 4.9%
20, 20 -> 34%
21, 20 -> 39%
21, 21 -> 45%
25, 25 -> 84%
25, 26 -> 86%
27, 27 -> 93%
Notice how at any position along the scale, incrementing the factors by one or two still made a noticeable difference in the outcome.
For me I pretty much ignore traps, almost all of the time. They just don't impact my game very much. There's got to be something that can be done to either make traps more interesting and meaningful, or remove them entirely.
Teleportation traps are useful and interesting, as well as shaft traps. So they can stay as is. I'm not sure about the rest though...
Dragons ought to be harder than they are. A single dragon, even one of the weaker variety, ought to be a couple times more deadly than a hydra.
A slime species and a fairy species would be nice. I would like an even 30 species. Any species needed beyond that should replace the most boring species.
Scoring should be based purely on runes obtained and difficulty level, not on speed or kills or anything else. Since each additional rune picked up makes the orb ascension more difficult, it means much more for a player to beat the game with 5 runes instead of 3. Each player will have a total score, based on the highest score of each species played. So to have the highest possible score, a player must win 15 runes with each of the species on hard mode. The game will be calibrated to the point where a 15 rune win with even the easiest species on hard mode would be a legendary feat that few would accomplish. And to be able to do it with all species should be something people spend years trying to achieve.
Winning with 12 runes on easy mode would give the same score (and should be roughly as difficult) as winning with 3 runes on normal mode. Winning with 12 runes on normal mode should be as difficult as winning with 3 runes on hard mode, and the score will reflect this.
So a 3 rune win on easy mode would produce 3 points for the player. Then if with a different species they do a 3 rune win on normal mode, that win produces 3 x 4 = 12 points, which is added to the 3 points of their easy mode win, giving that player a total of 15 points. A 3 rune hard mode win would give 48 points for each species. A 15 rune hard mode win would give 15 x 4 x 4 = 240 points. Maximum possible score then would be 30 species x 15 runes x 4 x 4 = 7200 points.
Games that are too old (played on too different of a game version, where the rules were significantly different, and so can't fairly be compared to modern games), would expire, and the win would have to be achieved again to count. Maybe somewhere between 1 and 3 years?
Streaks and speed runs would have their own scoreboards, and be only scored and compared to others in the same category. Maybe to facilitate this, the game itself can award multiple scores, one for getting runes, and one for speed runs. Streaks can just be pulled from a database.
Spells no longer have levels associated with them. A player can cast a spell at whatever level they want. This would definitely add to the complexity of the game. I'm ok with adding complexity if it really adds to the depth and replayability, with minimal added annoyance.
A player would type z, the spell letter, and then the power level, 1-9. One extra keystroke is required per cast, which can be made into a macro of course for the more common spells. As some of these other proposals get freed up, more keys will be freed up for macros, which will be essential to minimize the tedium of this particular proposal.
Both spell power and cost of the spell will change based on the power selected. The advantage of this is that several spells that are really just different power levels of the same idea can be collapsed into a single spell. But it could add incredible depth to existing spells, enriching the game in interesting ways. For example, a level 1 shatter could just shake up any monsters adjacent to the caster, causing a small amount of damage to each. A level 9 version of force lance becomes tornado. Level 5 version of shock is a lightning bolt. Level 1 version of fireball is flaming tongue. Level 9 version of fireball is firestorm.
This does take away from the aspect of trying to find high level spells. There would be less spells overall, and spellbooks would probably have 1 fewer spell than before, but the spells inside would be more versatile. Maybe when you start with a spell, say flame tongue, you can only cast up to level 3 of it, without learning more about it from a spellbook. Spellbooks can contain beginner, intermediate, or advanced versions of any given spell. Learning an advanced version of a spell automatically gives lower level knowledge. Intermediate spells can cast levels 4-6 of the spell, while advanced can cast 7-9.
Maybe not all spells would have all 3 classes, but it would be simpler if they did. Some spells would only have levels 4-9, for example, and some may only have 1-5. This adds more complexity, and it would be nice to avoid this if possible, and just allow 9 levels for every spell.
Example spells:
Level
1-3 Blink Conjure Flame Force Lance Freeze Swiftness
4-6 Semicontrolled Blink Fire Ball Air Strike Freezing Cloud Haste
7-9 Controlled Blink Fire Storm Tornado Glaciate Phase Shift
Level
1-3 Call Imp Spider Form Sting Inner Flame
4-6 Summon Demon Hydra Form Venom Bolt Ignite Poison
7-9 Summon Greater Demon Dragon Form Poison Arrow
Level
1-3 Summon Butterflies Sticks to Snakes Stoneskin Beastly Appendage
4-6 Monstrous Menagerie Sticks to Hydra Statue Form Blade Hands
7-9 Summon Horrible Things Sticks to Dragons Passwall Song of Slaying
Level
1-3 Infusion Confuse Animate Skeleton Zombie Form Sneak
4-6 Spectral Weapon Mass Confusion Animate Dead Wraith Form Hide
7-9 Tukima's Dance Discord Resurrection Necromutation Invisibility
Level
1-3 Mephitic Cloud Metabolic Englaciation Summon Jackal
4-6 Poison Cloud Ensorcelled Hibernation Summon Warg
7-9 Freezing Paralysis Summon Hellhound
Notes:
Semicontrolled blink allows the player to choose the direction of the blink, but not the specific location.
Phase Shift is a much more powerful version. Swiftness increases movement speed, Haste adds to that attack speed, Phase Shift adds to that change to avoid all attacks, even normally undodgable ones (like lightning).
Passwall includes the benefits of stone form, plus the ability to merge with walls, walking right through them. Movement is very slow through walls of course, but can provide ridiculously powerful escape options.
Zombie form is basically a weaker version of the player, with half health, and vulnerability to dispel undead, holy word, etc., but with: rC+ rN+ rP+ rRot
Wraith form is full health of the player, with the attributes of Zombie form, adding: rC+ rN+ rMut rConstr
Necromutation is everything good about wraith plus: rN+ rC+ rTorm MR+50 AC+6 draining branded attacks, no hunger or quaffing, necromancy power boost
Sneak increases stealth significantly
Hide makes a player undetectable (if they haven't been seen yet) if they are next to a wall, until they move again. This lets them rest for free safely.
Invisibility is more powerful than normal invisibility, since it auto hides when stopped next to a wall. Higher power levels makes it harder even for monsters with see invisible to detect the player.
(Some of this crawl already has, it's just all laid out in this form for completeness)
I'd like to see more distinct differences between the elemental magics.
Electric attacks should not be dodgeable, and can penetrate multiple enemies and bounce off walls. Although it is logical that electric attacks would also bypass armour, that is too much. Rarely do monsters resist this.
Ice attacks should bypass armour and have a chance of slowing the attacker (any attacker not cold resistant, not just reptiles). Monsters are often resistant to this.
Poison attacks are all about lingering damage, or confusing effects. Monsters are often resistant to this.
Acid attacks are about degrading armour or weapon effectiveness. Rarely do monsters resist this.
Earth attacks should be good against heavy armour, with slow, powerful blows, although they are more easily dodged, have a chance to stun the target, and are not resistible.
Fire damage should be distinct from these others. It can be resisted by armour, can be dodged, and elemental resistance to it isn't hard to come by. Maybe it just does more immediate damage than the other elements. It should have a lingering effect on others. Maybe it's just better at area effects. If an enemy is damaged with fire, there's a chance it could also damage a nearby enemy (but not going any further, unlike chain lightning). Even simple fire bolts should have a little explosion when they hit, possibly damaging nearby enemies.
The current auto-pickup menu and options in the rc file are both not powerful enough to avoid some awkwardness and inconvenience, and also somewhat hard to understand and use for new players. The problem is that what I want to autopickup varies based on my character combo and the stage of the game I'm in at the time. So I pull up the autopickup menu a few times to set things up. That part isn't too bad, but what if I want to pick up any long swords, but leave behind other weapons? What if I'm okay with picking up cursed weapons, or what if I'm not? There is no way to set that now, so I have to either pick up all weapons, or manually move over to any weapons and pick them up, which causes me to often miss items of value in some cases. Or what if you only want to pick up artifact armour, ignoring the rest?
Maybe instead of the configuration menu, the game can just intelligently respond to what the player does. At the beginning, the autopickup system picks everything up. The player decides that he doesn't have any use for maces, so he drops the common mace that he has. That is automatically removed from the auto-pickup list. But branded and unique maces will still be picked up. If he then drops a mace of flaming, all maces of flaming are no longer on the auto-pickup list, but artifacts will still be picked up. Since all artifacts are unique, dropping an artifact will only take that exact one off of the list, other artifacts will still be picked up. Now if you drop an unidentified rare mace, that means you don't want any maces, so none will be picked up in the future. Then if you go to manually pick up a mace again, that will change your auto-pickup options too.
This would probably just be an option: adaptive-autopickup = true or something like that.
The macroing system can be tightened up a bit, and introduction of more relative commands could greatly improve macro power. With an extended, well designed vim-like keyboard interface, you would be able to build macros for most of the things that you need lua scripts for now, which I think will make advanced gaming more accessible to players that would be too intimidated by trying to create a lua script. I'm talking about something so powerful you could program your own auto-explore or auto-fight macros in the same way you make simple macros today, without needing to touch a lua script.
There would be a command to display a string, and another to display the contents of a variable (such as, last damage done to the player, or how much health the player has left). There would be a command to target the nearest unexplored part of the map. There would also be commands that would allow conditional tests to be executed, and then specific "submacros" would handle the result of that test.
Sacrifice can happen automatically when a player rests or auto-explores. That gives no more reason for prayer. Frees up another key on the keyboard.