Currently the live release of Conviction is waiting on giving Paladins a few days to register any last minute thoughts and me some time to re-assess my work to make sure I don't want to do any significant changes. Active development is essentially done. So, onto the next step.

Glyph of Light will be my first target after the release of Conviction, primarily because it's relatively simple and a good practice run for more complex glyph rewrites.

Here's my thoughts so far.

Cost:
Currently a factor of Charisma, and caps way too low for modern DR. Will very likely be refactored to raise the cap of Charisma's effect on the cost and allow the cost to dip significantly lower.

Duration & Potency:
Okay, I'm going to say something unpopular and then explain myself: I actually like the core mechanic of how duration and potency decline over time with GoL. It's unique, it's reasonably elegant, and it "feels" substantially different from a spell. The numbers need revision, but unless there's strenuous objection I want to keep the curve.

The details, however, definitely need changing. The decay over time probably can be salvaged, but the duration itself is a function of Holy Magic and is not curved like a normal buff. Will be modernized, and likely made a factor of Conviction. Duration itself will likely be entirely redone, made much longer at base and capped at 40 minutes.

Potency needs to be rewritten, it is out of date both conceptually and mechanically. The variation across the decaying duration needs to be shallower -- I want to maintain the flavor of the decay but not have it be a major factor. Cap will be standard for a buff in DR3, and actual potency of the buff will be... something something. There's currently no skill or stat input into it (it's strictly a function of percentage of Perception dictated by which duration pulse you're on). Probably a Conviction + Charisma combined effect here.

Effect:
Probably won't change. A Perception bonus + a light is a small but okay ability, given a suitably modest cost.

-Armifer
"Perinthia's astronomers are faced with a difficult choice. Either they must admit that all their calculations were wrong ... or else they must reveal that the order of the gods is reflected exactly in the city of monsters." - Italo Calvino

>Duration & Potency:
>Okay, I'm going to say something unpopular and then explain myself: I actually like the core mechanic of how duration and potency decline over time with GoL. It's unique, it's reasonably elegant, and it "feels" substantially different from a spell. The numbers need revision, but unless there's strenuous objection I want to keep the curve.

>The details, however, definitely need changing. The decay over time probably can be salvaged, but the duration itself is a function of Holy Magic and is not curved like a normal buff. Will be modernized, and likely made a factor of Conviction. Duration itself will likely be entirely redone, made much longer at base and capped at 40 minutes.

I don't see a problem with a potency and duration decline over time as a feature of glyphs, especially if the duration is extended to 40 minutes at cap like you stated. Seems reasonable for an instant ability.

>Effect:
>Probably won't change. A Perception bonus + a light is a small but okay ability, given a suitably modest cost.

I agree. I like GoL in appearance and function, although...

>For example, it would be cool if Paladins could use the balls of light as specialized versions of dirt. Paladins could use it a few ways:

>1) Self: A Paladin could force a ball of light to "flare," making themselves shine extra-bright (giving themselves a moderate offensive/defensive buff, with a focus on a long-range combat debuff)
>2) Target: A Paladin could force a ball of light to "flare" at a specific target, giving them in particular a high offensive/defensive buff, once again with a focus on making long-range combat a bit harder

This is a really cool suggestion.

>>I don't see a problem with a potency and duration decline over time as a feature of glyphs, especially if the duration is extended to 40 minutes at cap like you stated. Seems reasonable for an instant ability

It's like, 42 minutes or some nonsense now my man. Silly long, maintaining such a duration is a rather generous move, I dig it. Buffing up the base duration will be very handy to newer paladins though.

Armifer,

The other stuff looks great. As long as the decay isn't so punitive that I'm shaking my fist at the timer till the duration ends to re-launch it, I'm fine with keeping it as a nod to legacy. Especially as the bulk of the active messaging is still rather solid (The initial start-up is a tad out of date).

Speaking from personal opinion - I rather LIKE smaller packaged and costed moves that fill a tight spot. I don't need GoLight to do 37 different things, having it do what it does (Perc/Light source) well sounds excellent. Conceptually, I'd rather have a bucket with a handful of tools to grab the right hammer, vs only walking around with a ballpeen and hoping the nails I run into are the right size.

Samsaren

I like the flare mechanic - as a new glyph, for which we have room for plenty.

As long as the max potency Glyph lasts a reasonable amount of time for PvP encounters (5~7 minutes?), the idea of gradual decay sounds fine, and I'd be comfortable with that as a flavor for glyphs in general or this glyph specifically.

Silly you say...

Paladins wearing all plate armor and with enough stealth ranks should be able to go hull down to mitigate ranged attacks.

Paladins wearing all plate armor and with enough alchemy ranks should be able to pop smoke to do the same thing.

Mazrian

I haven't played a paladin since before 3.0, so forgive my ignorance but does the current buff show up under `exp mods`? If it does not, please put the necessary hooks in so that a paladin can see how much it's fading over time via this awesome verb.

~Hunter Hanryu
>Everything Rangers have is just a lame version of something cool.~Morkim

I was going even more off-scope of thread so I figured it made sense to start a new one.

>>Speaking from personal opinion - I rather LIKE smaller packaged and costed moves that fill a tight spot. I don't need GoLight to do 37 different things, having it do what it does (Perc/Light source) well sounds excellent. Conceptually, I'd rather have a bucket with a handful of tools to grab the right hammer, vs only walking around with a ballpeen and hoping the nails I run into are the right size.

Paladins being able to manifest their conviction as "holy light" via glyphs (which kinda works with how soul is depicted), and those glyphs all having light-thematic actions would be neat, as well. Going with the idea of more variety, I split apart the two suggestions I made in the other thread.

In other words:

ward	Barrier made of holy light protects graves
self-radiance	Makes your shield shine with pure holy light, making it so people have a harder time hitting you, with a heavy penalty focus on ranged-combat in particular.
brilliance	Makes the area around a target shine excessively bright, making it so they have a harder time hitting others (or avoiding being hit), with a heavy focus on ranged combat in particular.
bonding	Infuses a weapon with a holy light that causes it to resonate with the soul of the owner, even when not a Paladin, so it returns to them even in situations that wouldn't typically allow it (note: Bonding should work even when the corpse isn't in the same room as the weapon)
light	It's light. It's holy. It's a holy light.
ease	Holy light that generates as soothing heat, which improves fatigue and spirit recovery.
renewal	Holy light goes into holy weapon to make it all refreshed
alert	Allows the Paladin to call attention to danger in a particular area, so people in that zone (and the surrounding zones?) can be made aware of a dangerous situation. Think of it like shooting up a signal flare to indicate that there's still critters invading around X. The Paladin version of Eillie's Cry.

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Uzmam! The Chairman will NOT be pleased to know you're trying to build outside of approved zones. I'd hate for you to be charged the taxes needed to have this place re-zoned. Head for the manor if you're feeling creative.

With respect to the grave protection mechanic, I find that functionality very meh nowadays. Pretty much any deader ability we have or might get would probably be mediocre since it's squarely clerics' domain. I'd rather have a few tools to keep self and others from dying until they can be healed than post death stuff.

Armifer, some of my thoughts on Glyph of Light, as found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1hwgF4U-oCiNDTMirtHmJBTolYQkflriF8-Rpr63XDCo/edit?usp=sharing

Include an option for Glyph of Light to be used on the room. In this usage, Glyph of Light illuminates the room over the course of three pulses. On the first pulse, the light is raised to normal illumination levels. On the second pulse, the light is bright enough to dispel any shadows in the room, revealing people in hiding and preventing any further hiding from occurring. On the third pulse the searing light cuts through any and all forms of invisibility, dispelling and preventing magical means of concealment as well.

Soul Cost: High
Duration: X

Thoughts: Armifer wants stealth to be stealthy. Stealth is a real, viable defense for Survival Prime. Specifically Armifer went on to say, “That is, if a PC is attempting to be quiet and strategic, I want to give him the initiative.” I completely agree, which is why Glyph of Light is a reactive ability and not a proactive one.

Traced this way, the Glyph does not follow you from room to room. This fact, coupled with its high soul cost, means that you need to be selective in its use. You’re drawing a line in the sand and saying to the Survival Prime member in the room with you, “Fine, you want to stay here and fight? Let’s fight.” It is their choice to remain in the room once you have traced Light.

Should they choose to remain, they’re now on your turf. Your home court. And you have all the home court advantages. This is my proposed solution to the solution/problem offered by Armifer: “That's why I kind of like the basic formulation of nuking the room ignoring stealth. If you know a certain PC is in the room with you you should have options to interact with him. But I grant the current nuke options are not Paladin-friendly and we need to work out something here.” Glyph of Light is the “nuke the room” concept without dealing any collateral damage to innocent bystanders or getting you in problems with the law. It also leaves the choice of a fight entirely to the Survival Prime member in question, should they want to continue the engagement and fight on your terms.

Probably needs to come with a reuse timer in addition to the high soul cost.

I like the idea of an anti-stealth nuke as part of the Paladin toolset, but if I do it ("if" mainly because my memory is terrible, not because I'm against the idea), it'll be its own, new glyph, not GoL.

With a few exceptions, I'm trying to honor the existing function of the glyphs. There's a few glyphs where this isn't feasible and we're talking entirely new functions, but GoL is not one of the ones that need to be reinvented from the ground up.

-Armifer
"Perinthia's astronomers are faced with a difficult choice. Either they must admit that all their calculations were wrong ... or else they must reveal that the order of the gods is reflected exactly in the city of monsters." - Italo Calvino

>>Regarding perception, would it be possible for the perception to increase as a percentage instead of a set amount?

It's gonna be put on standard buff mechanics, so it won't be any worse than if someone cast CV at you at some relevant Potency.

I'm not entirely sure yet how to derive "Potency" in this case, except that it's going to fluctuate slightly based on duration and will probably be Conviction something something.

-Armifer
"Perinthia's astronomers are faced with a difficult choice. Either they must admit that all their calculations were wrong ... or else they must reveal that the order of the gods is reflected exactly in the city of monsters." - Italo Calvino

>Doesn't ward reduce the number of favors you use when you do depart items/full? It's not a game changer, but it's a useful one.

Yeah, it's alright, but I try not to die as much as possible. Don't get me wrong, I'm not totally anti stuff like that. I just think at best it should be a little bit of icing on a big tasty cake.

>I like the idea of an anti-stealth nuke as part of the Paladin toolset, but if I do it ("if" mainly because my memory is terrible, not because I'm against the idea), it'll be its own, new glyph, not GoL.

If it's up for discussion, I like sixth sense for this sort of functionality, assuming sixth sense makes the ability cut. I've always thought successive stealth actions performed against a paladin should become increasingly difficult under certain conditions and within reason. (I'm not in favor of totally nuking stealth to the point of unusability as a tactic.) Plus, any buff to sixth sense is a buff to Clarity... A double-buff.

>Do standard buff mechanics grow with the character?

Yeah. Spells, for instance, grow with a character in potency, duration and integrity based on magic skill and mana and stuff. NMUs have similar mechanics for their abilities, but they grow based on their respective supernatural skill. Pretty much any 3.x buff works this way.

New stat-buffing glyph sounds like a fine addition. Agility or strength and charisma is go.

>>Teveshszat: Doesn't ward reduce the number of favors you use when you do depart items/full? It's not a game changer, but it's a useful one.

Not when I tested it. However, it would be nice if it reduced the favor cost of departing (whatever option you used) by one -- if we are going to keep the death functionality.

However, I would not totally mind seeing the obsolete death functionality go away if it's replaced by something better.

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Used on another character in September 2017 (in my most recent death where I departed, auto-glyph did not fire):

Isharon traces the Glyph of Warding over your dead body! A soft red glow settles over you.

Favors : 35

> depart item
Your corpse begins to glow brightly, the radiating heat becoming almost too much to bear. Your skin turns first bright red, then splits apart as brilliant rays of pure sunlight burst forth from within! The light is blinding for a brief moment, but this soon passes.

Favors : 33

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Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall rank!

Paladin new player guide: https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Paladin_new_player_guide

armor and shields: https://elanthipedia.play.net/mediawiki/index.php/Armor_and_shield_player_guide

>While I'm okayish with keeping death-support functionality in event that you guys care about it enough, I'd much rather just cut it out of the ability set than to try to make it relevant in today's DR and replace it with stuff you'd rather do while alive.

Casting my vote with what seems the unanimous majority. I don't care about the death functionality and haven't used it in years. I'd rather dump it all and have the functionality shifted to something more practical.

The concern about soul pool stated by Teveshszat does seem real though. I would love for glyphs to become part of the everyday Paladin routine but I see soul pool becoming a concern if we get a couple glyphs that are meant to be used before every hunting session.

Definitely would prefer the dropping of the death-support. Outdated mechanic in current DR.

FWIW, I like Warding in its current incarnation. It's just really niche, and I find the effects to be too mild in light of that fact. My current glyphs usage is essentially:

Warding: Occasionally (often in spars against ranged users, rarely for favor thing)
Bonding: Never
Light: Occasionally
Mana: Frequently
Ease: Very rarely

Even though I don't use warding often, I feel strongly about the -aiming functionality and would welcome its expansion (it previously did spells, but something else would be cool, too... -melee weapon accuracy, anti-DFA or something else). Even though I don't use Light frequently outside of spars, I find it extremely useful and welcome the updates to power. I find all glyphs underpowered in terms of potency. I would probably like the favor thing more if, for instance, it made full depart 1 favor and prevented mem loss, reduced scroll loss chance, etc. Ease at ~170th circle is +10% fatigue on a long timer. We'd be better off with fatigue regen pulses and maybe some other +resource regen (I imagine mana regen is off the table but mild mana regen would probably be the most useful thing for a magic tert who relies heavily on spells). Apologies in advance for pulling out my harp for a second... Ranged attack and engagement stuff would also be super useful if added to any current glyphs; or other abilities. I'm not picky :D.

Regarding the decaying potency. I think the vast majority of the time it should be full potency, perhaps in the last 5 minutes it becomes unstable and cannot be maintained further, leaving more abruptly rather than a steady pace of decay.

Not sure if you're digging the Flare idea Armifer, but it would be great to debuff someone's defenses/stealth if we could shoot one of the 3 light balls over at them. Keeping some of the perception boost at the expense of the debuff. Or maybe they just flare up extra bright every so often and automatically unhide people. Rather than requiring to search. Especially if you are "watching" someone.

Definitely the cap could be raised on GoL. Further, because this is a glyph, can a perception boosting spell (scroll spell) further boost the perception bonus? It seems appropriate considering their different source types.