The Sonic Grenade

[SplendidFault]

The malignant chanter and the Angel of Mercy are the monsters that we know can somehow affect their enemies and allies with their singing abilities. To add to the tactical depth of the game, I come up with the idea of the sonic grenade that temporarily deafens the creatures that are 'n the vicinity of the grenade and who somehow have sound perception. Though we may have to fix the issues that arise out of this enhancement, such as still hearing the crunching noises of the armadillo whilst the player’s character is deaf. What do you guys think?

[mciul]

That sounds cool!

The malignant chanter uses sound to increase concentration and the Angel of Mercy uses sound to reduce tension. I wasn't thinking about them in connection with each other when I created the Angel of Mercy but now I'm thinking maybe the sonic grenade could have some kind of effect on tension and/or concentration. It seems logical to me that it would both break concentration and increase tension. That would make its effect applicable in more situations, as well as affecting any other sound-based abilities. What do you think?

[SplendidFault]

@mciul I initially thought some strategies that require not being in active combat, but I think your point-of-view would make sense too. I consider the sonic grenade as a sister grenade to the flash grenade, simply cancelling the effects of sound for several turns. I leave the job of developing strategies to the players' imagination 🙂

PS: we can have some earplugs that acts as the blindfold, eliminating all sound being heard by their user. Yet another addition to the tactical depth. Right? 😉

[mciul]

While I like the simplicity of that, being able to see affects every attack, while being able to hear doesn't do anything to attacks currently. We do have the stunned mechanic - the sonic grenade could stun everyone who can hear. That could have an interesting wrinkle if we decide some monsters can't hear. Off the top of my head, I'm not sure which ones those would be.

Let's see...

• the rotting corpse when it has no head
• Automatos
• maybe the chain golem?
• the jumping bomb perhaps?
• the swarm of daggers
• the tentacle?

I'm also thinking of other sound events in the dungeon, like the angel of compassion and the demon of rage, and the minotaur's maze. Oh, and everyone who talks! We'd probably need to group sound events together so they can be handled consistently.

Hm... perhaps the sonic grenade/earplugs could protect you from Drakul's hypnosis.

[SplendidFault]

We'd probably need to group sound events together so they can be handled consistently.

There are just too many occasions where the mobs are somehow producing sound. Let’s take Miranda’s second level of concentration as an example:

Chanting softly, Miranda aligns her spirit with the ambient energies.

Or the Reaper’s concentrations:

1. The Reaper contemplates the meaning of Death.
2. The Reaper immerses himself further into his meditations on mortality.
3. ‘I see your end!’ the Reaper announces as he finishes his contemplations.

We can find much more than these snippets if we really dive into the code. Sounds a bit daunting to me, as I definitely suck at Inform. 😟

Hm... perhaps the sonic grenade/earplugs could protect you from Drakul's hypnosis.

Being the most dangerous vampire, Drakul should probably be still affecting you even though if you become deaf, but I'm not sure. I should read about it some time.