[Class] Wild Talent

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=== Wild Talent ===

Wild Talents gain random powers as they level up. There are 86 (by my hand 
count) racial/class/mutation powers listed at the Heng spoilers page 
(http://www.kmc.gr.jp/~henkma/heng-e/racial/index.html), and I'm assuming that 
somewhere in the code, each one has a corresponding level, mana cost, and 
possibly casting stat. If they lack this information, I'd be happy to help by 
supplying some numbers for use with this class.

Anyway, the idea behind the Wild Talent is that at level 1 and every third 
level thereafter, and at level 50 (1, 4, 7, ... 49, 50), the WT gains a random 
power from among those he doesn't yet have of level N-2 through N (where N is 
character level). For example, at level 10, check which powers of level 8-10 
the WT doesn't yet have, and give a random one of those.

Certain powers are not allowed for the WT to have. These are:

Take a Photograph (useless)
Double Revenge (not an Imitator)
Stop Singing (not a Bard)
Double Magic (not a spellcaster)
Learning (not a Blue Mage)
Absorb Magic (not a Magic Eater)
Break Mirrors (not a Mirror Master)
Mirror Concentration (not a Mirror Master)

"Assume a Posture" must be differentiated between Monk and Samurai postures; 
perhaps the Samurai version could be changed to "Assume a Guard Position", in 
the spirit of Musashi's Book of Five Rings?

If a Wild Talent gains a mutation power that he already has innately, then he 
becomes extra good at it: the mana cost is halved.

The Wild Talent will eventually gain 16 powers, including two very high-level 
ones (at 49 and 50), so hopefully that will be enough to overcome random 
variation in most cases so that almost every Wild Talent will eventually gain 
something really good.

< Skills and unusual abilities >
Fighting/Shooting: like an Imitator
HP: like a Priest
Magic Devices: like a Mage (very strong, that is)
Searching/Disarming: like a Ranger
SP: like a High Mage (Powers are often not very mana-efficient, and I want them 
to be the primary weapon of the Wild Talent.)
Good at riding and dual wielding, but not very good at having lots of pets.
Not great at weapon skills, but warrior-level in weapon skills for unusual 
weapons (Falcon swords, blades of chaos, etc.)
4 blows max.
+ (25 + lvl/2) to the Wand of Wonder roll.
Saving Throw: like a Warrior (not too hot)

< Stats >
STR -1
DEX +2
CON -2
WIS -1
INT +2
CHA +3

< Mutations >
There are 

Original issue reported on code.google.com by djaban...@gmail.com on 22 Nov 2010 at 1:33

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Gah. I was trying to multitask and screwed up the end of the post. Anyway, I 
was thinking that WT's would eventually gain all the mutations that 
periodically grant a buff, like the Berserk, Wraithform, and Invulnerability 
mutations. I'm not sure how many of those there are.

Original comment by djaban...@gmail.com on 22 Nov 2010 at 1:35

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I was planning to clean up the racial powers and mutations code anyway, at 
which point I should be able to create a table of all the abilities (Name, 
Level, Cost, Fail, Stat, Description).  At that point, we can probably better 
decide which powers we want this class to have access to.  If you want to see 
something scary, take a look at racial.c in the source tree.  Its all there, 
but man, the code is hairy.  Gigantic switch statements and hard coded magic 
numbers ... Wheeeeeee!

Original comment by ckou...@gmail.com on 22 Nov 2010 at 4:29

• Added labels: Category-Class

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OK, mutation and racial powers rewrite is complete, so I am now in a position 
to tackle this one.

I will take a stab at designing the power table.  This will be a first draft, 
and of course, I am open to ideas suggestions.  But I will first make a couple 
of points:

[1] Racial powers tend to be weak in terms of hp/sp ratios.  I may counteract 
that by granting this class intrinsic spell power.

[2] Spell costs may be prohibitive if this class needs all 6 stats to spell.  
So I won't necessarily follow the current spell stats for powers.  I won't 
necessarily follow the current costs and fail rates.

[3] I will design the available powers in groups.  The first group, granted at 
CL1, will be weak offensive.  Magic Missile, etc.  The second group might be 
detection/utility oriented, etc.  The goal here is to balance the class so that 
they have a chance at functioning by always getting certain classes of 
abilities.

[4] Upon leveling, you might get a message: "You gain the power of 'Magic 
Missile' like a Dark Elf" or "You gain the power of 'Assume a Guard Position' 
like a Samurai".  There is not fundamental reason to limit the powers to the 
current Race/Class/Mutation choices, and I might add some new ones.  In 
particular, the only high level damage attack is "You gain the power of 'Launch 
Rocket' like an Android."  So, I may take liberties to give some high level 
stuff and you might see "You gain the power of 'Starburst' like a Solar".  I 
don't know yet ... we'll see after I play around a bit.

Original comment by ckou...@gmail.com on 28 Nov 2010 at 2:39

• Changed state: Started
• Added labels: Milestone-0.1

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Also, perhaps !NewLife should re-roll all powers?

Original comment by ckou...@gmail.com on 28 Nov 2010 at 2:50

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Hmmm ... I think more powers are in order.  A single magic realm gives 32 
spells.  At the moment, I am giving 13 powers and 5 mutations, and that seems 
too few.  I'm changing to powers or mutations every other level, for 25 total.

Original comment by ckou...@gmail.com on 28 Nov 2010 at 6:49

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I like all of your suggestions.

Original comment by djaban...@gmail.com on 28 Nov 2010 at 7:20

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First draft added to 0.0.20.  Tweaks to follow ...

Not done:
"If a Wild Talent gains a mutation power that he already has innately, then he 
becomes extra good at it: the mana cost is halved." ... Just too hard.

And I can't find the Falcon Sword skill line ... It must be labeled in Japanese?

Original comment by ckou...@gmail.com on 28 Nov 2010 at 11:10

• Changed state: Fixed