Synergies.

[kandrathe]

The focus now seems to be on the Paladin, however I was thinking about what could possibly be done with necro curses.

Roughly there are three themes (if you call them that);

1. Amp(1) --> IM(12) --> LifeTap(18)
2. Dim(6) --> Confuse(18) --> Attract(24)
3. Weaken(6) --> Terror (12) --> Decrepify(24)

With the que de gras being Lower Resistance(30) needing the 6 prerequisites from tracks 1 and 3.

The variability involved with most curses is radius of effect and duration.

Only two curses have an effectiveness curve others are flat;
- Amp Dmg always 100%
* IM goes from 200% to 675% damage returned.
- Weaken is always -33%
- Life Tap is always 50% life returned
- Decrepify is always -50% speed, damage, physical resistance
* Lower resistance goes from -31% to -62%

To me one of the problems in curses is that radius and duration alone are not motivating enough to invest more than 1 point. You can later rely on + skills items to pump up all the necro skills, or curse skills en masse. Only IM maybe, and LR need any serious investment. So first I think the modder would need to address the entire tree, to see how this can be altered to make it worth investing it. For synergy purposes, it may be better to think about the curses this way;

A. Curses that affect the damage done to of groups of monsters(Amp, IM, LR).
B. Curses that affect how much damage monsters do to others(Weaken, Decrepify, Lifetap).
C. Curses that affect groups of monster behavior (Dim, Confuse, Terror).
D. Curses that affect a single monster(Attract).

Similiar to Warblades concerns relating the Auras, A and B will present the most trouble in changing the skill without overpowering members of the party.

Opportunities for change;

Amp Dmg -- put it on a curve, maybe begin at 50%, 100% at level 10, and 120% at level 20. Since it is the only lvl 1 curse make it be a driver for all curses durations. Curses now mostly go from around 6 seconds to 60 seconds, some more, some less. So, I would reduce the durations of all curses to 1/4 of their current times, and have all curse durations multiplied by (Amp Dmg Lvl *.2 = 4 at lvl 20). It doesn't need to be just one skill however, you could have two curses contributing to duration (curse1 +curse 2) *.1 etc. Radius would be easier to keep a factor of the skill only, but it could also have some synergistic effect.

IM -- You wouldn't want to change the damage curve, but maybe this could be a synergy contributor for life tap.

Lifetap -- put it on a curve, with IM, and/or Weaken contributing synergies. Change it to go from 10% to 50%, with IM/Weaken adding .5%/lvl giving maxed Life tap and maxed synergy giving a max of 60% life returned. Of course the danger is that someone gets +skill items that would send it higher, so you would want to flatten out the ramp up past 20. Aim for 70% max possible with all skills decked out.

Weaken -- put it on a curve, (-10% to -40%), with it contributing to Decrepify, and maybe Lifetap as well.

Dim Vision -- Affecting monster AI is a hard one to theorize about synergistic effects. I guess if it were possible Dim Vision investment could be additive to Confuse. That is, investment in Dim Vision would contribute to the effects of Confuse.

Confuse/Attract/Terror -- Monsters are Confused/Attracted/Terrorized as normal, but also their vision/attention is obscured by your investment in Dim Vision.

Lower Resistance -- have it go from 20% to 40%, with investments in Weaken, Decrep, and IM contributing .5%/level

Anyway, I don't think that would unduly throw balances out the window. What are your thought?