affects

[Raider]

affects list is often very long..
perhaps instead of

The spell of 'protection' is active for 9 hours,
                 modifying reflex save by 2 for 9 hours,
                 modifying will save by 2 for 9 hours,
                 modifying fortitude save by 2 for 9 hours

there could be something like

The spell of 'protection' is active for 9 hours,
                 modifying all saves by 2 for 9 hours


same with invokers shields and so on.

[Habbakuk]

Already thought of it, would be considered for next boot.

[Werewolf]

(Old)
Spell bless modifies hit roll by 4 for 12 hours
                       modifies reflex save by 4 for 12 hours
                       modifies will save by 4 for 12 hours
                       modifies fortitude save by 4 for 12 hours

(New)
The spell of 'bless' is active for 12 hours,
                 modifying hit roll by 4 for 12 hours,
                 modifying reflex save by 4 for 12 hours,
                 modifying will save by 4 for 12 hours,
                 modifying fortitude save by 4 for 12 hours

May I ask, why the new version is better than old? except that it's longer and the syntax differs from the old one, so I have to learn to grasp it in a split second of flowing text once again..

Also, I'd suggest to give a choice of identify format. The new one is more like a normal language, yes, but as it actually gives some OOC information (could be referred as 'keywords'), I won't mind if it was more compact and easy to grasp.

And, hmm, 'Decreases moves by -10." ? If it decreases them, it should be just 10, not -10.

[Habbakuk]

1) "Spell enhanced fireball modifies" doesn't sound correct..
2) Some spells/skills (like heightened senses) gave you 2 lines with "is active for X hours"
3) Some spells/skills were showing  "is active" in first line, some - not

So, we just fixed up all three.
For affects list to be shorter, we can group up saves and resist bash/pierce/slash  ("all saves" / "physical resistance").

One more tiny bonus is that now you can highlight spells/skills in an easier way.

As for identify - no way for "Extra flags: no_locate", "Restrict flags: human_only", it sounds ugly. If you got any ideas, though, we can discuss them.

[eleazar]

I salute new form of writing affects.
May i ask for slight change in format. Instead
 The spell of 'bless' is active for 12 hours,
                 modifying hit roll by 4 for 12 hours,
                 modifying reflex save by 4 for 12 hours,
                 modifying will save by 4 for 12 hours,
                 modifying fortitude save by 4 for 12 hours

it would be better for me to see name of spell ('bless') more moved to left side, so there can be visual distinction between spell name and its affects. Like this:
The spell of 'bless' is active for 12 hours,
                                  modifying hit roll by 4 for 12 hours,
                                  modifying reflex save by 4 for 12 hours,
                                  modifying will save by 4 for 12 hours,
                                  modifying fortitude save by 4 for 12 hours

It would be easier to see what spells i miss and have to put on. Or name of spell could be bolded or colored yellow, for example.
Actually, i could adjust it in mud client.

[Crusader]

You changed identification for items and now currect affect list looks not right. What about to remove names spell and skill from list?
And instead of
The spell of 'bless' is active for 12 hours,
                 modifying hit roll by 4 for 12 hours,
                 modifying reflex save by 4 for 12 hours,
                 modifying will save by 4 for 12 hours,
                 modifying fortitude save by 4 for 12 hours
make
Your divine faivor grants you (or modifies) ....

Yeap, in this case 'spell/skill' is no more needed.

[Habbakuk]

How about this,

'Channel' spell is active for 11 hours,
                     modifying physical resistance by 8,
                     modifying mana by -100,
                     modifying health by 116.
'Lightning shield' spell is active for 3 hours,
                     modifying physical resistance by 12.
'Airshield' spell is active for 3 hours,
                     modifying physical resistance by 12
'Bless' spell is active for 3 hours,
                     modifying hit roll by 4,
                     modifying all saves by 5.

[Akhulas]

'Airshield' spell is active for 3 hours,
                     modifying physical resistance by 12

why 2 strings for 1 affect?
remove \n
should be:
'Airshield' spell is active for 3 hours,  modifying physical resistance by 12

[Habbakuk]

Then skills/spells with more than one affect will be unjustified.

We can remove "for X hours" from every line except the first, where the name of skill is written.

[Crusader]

How about this,

<div class=log>
'Channel' spell is active for 11 hours,
                     modifying physical resistance by 8,
                     modifying mana by -100,
                     modifying health by 116.
'Lightning shield' spell is active for 3 hours,
                     modifying physical resistance by 12.
'Airshield' spell is active for 3 hours,
                     modifying physical resistance by 12
'Bless' spell is active for 3 hours,
                     modifying hit roll by 4,
                     modifying all saves by 5.
</div>

nice

[Habbakuk]

And one more variant 

Channel spell is active for 11 hours, modifying:
   physical resistance by 8
   mana by -100
   health by 116
Lightning shield spell is active for 3 hours, modifying:
   physical resistance by 12
Airshield spell is active for 3 hours, modifying:
   physical resistance by 12
Bless spell is active for 3 hours, modifying:
   hit roll by 4
   all saves by 5
Sanctuary spell is active for 3 hours

Color may be optional. Quote may be optional. Whatever you want.

[Werewolf]

I just vote against color, as it is easier to color it locally than to remove the colors. Maybe also introduce the option of viewing it like that:

The spell of 'bless' is active for 12 hours
The spell of 'interposing hand' is active for 4 hours
The spell of 'channel' is active for 2 hours

I mean, a brief view to just see what is up, and to omit all the modifying messages (if you play your character a bit, I guess you remember what each spell is responsible for). At the moment, mine affect list often exceeds the possibilities of 1024x768 ;-))

[Nuitari]

Yess!
The best idea regarding affects so far 

[Habbakuk]

I wish to implement colored affects feature for newbies who are not familiar with highlighting / scripting. However, you would be able to turn color in affects on/off by typing something like AFFCOLOR; you would be able to turn quotes on/off ('spell' / spell) by using AFFQUOTES.

As for brief affects, we can do it either by special command (for example, AB (affbrief)) or by introducing the AFFBRIEF option.

So, it would look like this..

Channel spell is active for 11 hours,
   modifying physical resistance by 8
   modifying mana by -100
   modifying health by 116

Lightning shield spell is active for 3 hours,
   modifying physical resistance by 12

Airshield spell is active for 3 hours,
   modifying physical resistance by 12

Bless spell is active for 3 hours,
   modifying hit roll by 4
   modifying all saves by 5

Sanctuary spell is active for 3 hours

.. or, perhaps, like this..

'Channel' spell is active for 11 hours
'Lightning shield' spell is active for 3 hours
'Airshield' spell is active for 3 hours
'Bless' spell is active for 3 hours
'Sanctuary' spell is active for 3 hours

.. and you set all options by your own choice.

[jemma]

I like the color effects. Was going to suggest it ( but using different color for different spell)   but that will be fine as you have done.

When the effects run out, could that message be color also?

Could you do the list  -

The spell of 'bless' is active for 12 hours,
                 modifying hit roll by 4 for 12 hours,
                 modifying reflex save by 4 for 12 hours,
                 modifying will save by 4 for 12 hours,
                 modifying fortitude save by 4 for 12 hours

more compact like -

The spell of 'bless' is active for 12 hours
modifying hit roll, reflex, will and fortitude save
                 by 4 for 12 hours

[Habbakuk]

Dear Jemma,

1) if you read my previous message more carefull, you would have noticed that I've already replaced "fortitude by X, reflex by X, will by X" by "all saves by X"

2) I implemented 3 options:
  - color switching on/off
  - quotes around skill/spell names on/off
  - compact mode on/off (if it's off, there'll be double line breaks between skills/spells)

3) I've also implemented the AB (or AFFECT BRIEF) command for Werewolf to show just names and durations

Hope everyone'll be happy

[jemma]

oooooooh, sowweee. It is early for me. Woke up not long ago. Cup of tea hasn't kicked in yet.

Shall re-read *salutes* oh nice one.

Thank you.

[jAx]

That is a bit to clustered. I really like the direction Habba is going with the affects list...and if you wish to see when you spell goes off you can do so in JMC mud client....just read the help files on how to set a color code, get the text and fix yourself up that way 

Remember let's keep it simple, yet neat, and choose a final change, if we keep changing it, it gets harder and harder to tell what each one does.

Great direction Habbakuk your last post on yours was the best idea I think as far as affects lists go, way to keep the balance between what people find they want.

[Werewolf]

That was not exactly what I meant. My idead was about 2 modes, one full, like this one (the current compact mode):

Detect invis spell is active for 16 hours
Bless spell is active for 28 hours,
   modifying hit roll by 4
   modifying all saves by 4
Protection spell is active for 12 hours,
   modifying all saves by 3

I'd increase the indents of modifying messages though, like
Bless spell is active for 28 hours,
                         modifying hit roll by 4
                         modifying all saves by 4

And the other mode without modifying messages at all, like
Detect invis spell is active for 16 hours
Bless spell is active for 28 hours
Protection spell is active for 12 hours

I do not care much, will the spell name be quoted or not (though a bit tired to update my scripts for each change )

[Habbakuk]

Werewolf, the "other mode" you have mentioned is accessible by AB (or AFF BRIEF) command.

We can also set an AUTO option for it (that is, when you use affects, AB is used instead if you have a consequent option turned on).