Tome 4: Overgrown poodles rasslin' with dragons

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Video Games > Tome 4: Overgrown poodles rasslin' with dragons

Magres: Jul 14, 2011

Old thread: http://forums.somethingawful.com/showthread.php?threadid=3457973

Tales of Maj'Eyal (ToME)

ToME is an open-source, single-player, tactical role-playing roguelike set in the custom fantasy world of Eyal. The combat is primarily talent driven. Even melee classes like Berserkers use talents and resource pools rather than bump attacking their way through the game.

Like many roguelikes, Tome is a turn based game with dungeon levels that are randomly generated and generally permanent death. However Tome is also very accessible for a roguelike with multiple difficulty settings so new players can start out with a few extra lives if they choose or traditionalists can play on roguelike difficulty in which case the first death is usually the last. The UI is also pretty and functional and everything in the game is full of tooltips letting you know exactly how they function. It's not a game you need to dig through 300 pages of wiki entries to learn and really is something you can jump right into. If you have a question on how something works, just mouse over it and it will tell you. Alternatively you can hit 'space' to bring up chat and ask anyone else who's currently playing the game via Tome's built in chat feature. Fair warning, ToME's pubbies are just as terrible as most game's pubbies, so chat ranges from kind of okay to "dear god they're actually trying to have an analytical discussion of mpreg."

For those that played earlier incarnations of Tome (Tome 2 for instance) note that Tome has been rewritten from the ground up. It's no longer an Angband variant and it's no longer based on Middle Earth. It has it's own rich and detailed world and is under very active development. Darkgod, the developer, is a cool dude who has an SA account and reads the thread and posts some, and some other Goons are involved in helping some with development. Also, there's a new upcoming campaign that starts from the end of the current campaign, where you play as an Orc, who are for the most part the primary antagonists of the current campaign. I hear it involves rocket boots and powerhammers, so it's going to be a giant ball of insanity and fun.

:siren:

You can get it here for free, or on Steam for $7 USD. :siren:

Please consider buying the game, it's a good game worth your money. Buying it will get you Donator status, which unlocks Exploration mode (infinite lives, but can't unlock anything), the Stone Warden class, the Item Vault (can pass items between characters after a certain point in the game - you get a slot for every two Euros - about $3 - that you donate), the ability to make your character look like just about any NPC tile in the game, and recently a new currency that will be used to buy DLCs in the future.

What separates Tome 4 from other roguelikes?

For one a lack of consumable hoarding. The Tome philosophy is that hoarding potions and scrolls until the end of the game is neither fun nor particularly easy to balance. Things generally handled by consumables like healing and teleportation are handled through runes and infusions instead, which are basically swappable talents. Likewise Tome dungeons do not respawn. Once an area is cleared it's generally cleared for good. The game's leveling and xp system is balanced around these concepts so the player should never feel the need to grind to advance.

Tome also comes with a full tile set, has sound and music, as well as an integrated chat system so you can ask advice of other players without leaving the game. It also supports ASCII and has an options menu so almost any feature you don't enjoy you can turn off. Additionally, there are numerous addons to let you customize and tweak your game, as well as classes built by the community you can toy with (no guarantee of quality or balance on the community done classes, obviously)

There's more, the game's pretty innovative and it would be hard for me to cover everything. But briefly, a friendly interface that supports both keyboard and mouse based play along with fully functional auto-explore, a fairly unique combat system, a polished UI (which is customizable), a very active developer who listens to the community, and a growing player base.

Plus... it's pretty.

Some screenshots showing off Shockbolt's tile set and in game artwork.

And some ASCII screenshots for the old-school.

It's a pretty newbie friendly game, as well, and Goons have written lots of guides for pretty much every class in the game. You really can just dive into the game - personally, I recommend playing on Adventurer (you get a few extra lives as you level) for a while until you know what you're doing, because there are a lot of things that the RNG can throw at you that will beat you to death in a round or so unless you know what you're doing in advance, so the Roguelike setting can be frustrating.

If you want to know why you should play this game, seriously just go read the required Corruptor reading below. Corruptor is completely bugfuck crazy, but most classes are at least mildly nuts and hilarious. ToME has the same kind of balance as DotA - if it's not hilarious and over the top awesome/cool, it needs buffing.

Resources!

Official Site: http://te4.org/
Forums: http://forums.te4.org/
The Wiki: Note that some of this is outdated http://te4.org/wiki/wiki
Official IRC Channel: irc.rizon.net #tome
Goon IRC Channel: irc.synirc.net #tome
In game Goon chat channel: /join tome-goons
Development Log: For those curious about upcoming changes http://git.develz.org/?p=tome.git;a=summary
ePub Lore Document: Heavy lore spoilers http://forums.te4.org/viewtopic.php?f=38&t=31703

Introductory Walk Through - A bit outdated: http://te4.org/dl/thirdparty/t4walkthrough/index.html

:siren:

A let's play put together by Mirthless that's a great introduction for new players!! :siren:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ajF8PRCNWg

Gameplay FAQ

What difficulty should I play on? Probably Adventure. You get some extra lives as you level up, which is nice, because ToME will sometimes throw situations at you where you will have no enemies in sight, take a step, and die instantly. They're rare, but they happen and it's immensely frustrating to lose a promising run to RNG shenanigans. Roguelike exists, and there are a couple relatively rare ways to get an extra life on Roguelike, but seriously just play Adventurer. Exploration Mode also exists and will give you infinite lives if you just want to putter around.

What's a good starting race/class combo for newbies? Cornac, Higher, and Halfling start in one of the easiest zones, you may want to skip the end area with the warning pop-up though and come back to it later. Bulwark and Berserkers are your typical warrior classes with the Bulwark being defensive and the Berserker offensive. Both are easy to learn and easy to play. The Alchemist is a bit more complicated but starts off with a pet Golem that's pretty tough in his own right. If you want to throw bombs at people and have a pet the Alchemist is the way to go. If you just want to beat things to death then try the Bulwark or the Berserker.

Where do I go? This world map doesn't give me any suggestions! There's a Goon built zone progression guide for newbies on the wiki here.

Why can't I play a mage? Archmages are an unlockable class (along with many many other classes and a few races). The reason they're not available right off the bat is to give you time to familiarize yourself with the game before tackling the more complicated features and classes. There's an addon on Steam (or the ToME website) that will let you bypass all of the unlocks, although some players consider this cheating. If you want to do it legitimately the tome wiki has a fairly up to date list of how to do all the unlocks. In the mean time the Alchemist is a mana driven caster of sorts and a good starting class for new players.

Can I store my gear someplace? Non-artifact items will decay unless they're left in a vault. Artifacts never decay. Later on you'll get access to a 'house' with a storage room that prevents item decay. The house is located under Lake Nur which is a zone you'll find at the end of the Old Forest. One of the lore items in Old Forest will have a key on it you'll need to get to the house. Beware though, the zone under Lake Nur is populated with some difficult monsters even though the zone is about the same level as Old Forest. You'll also need to pass through the Lake itself so water breathing could come in handy.

What classes should I play?

Class playstyles:

quote:

All classes that are, by default, locked, are marked with an asterisk (*).
The only class (currently) that requires donator status is marked with two asterisks (**).

Warriors use Stamina to beat things up.
Berserker - A simple and extremely effective two-handed fighter.
Bulwark - A nigh-invincible weapon-and-shield specialist.
Archer - The primary ranged class, using slings or bows and a variety of positioning skills.
Arcane Blade - Melee fighter that casts free spells with each strike.
Brawler(*) - Agile light fighter able to machinegun punches or wrassle.

Rogues use Stamina to beat things up, only they tend to hide while they do it.
Rogue - Poisoner, trapper, backstabber, rear end in a top hat. The traditional sneaky rogue.
Shadowblade - A hybrid rogue augmenting stealth with magic to produce heavy burst damage.
Marauder(*) - Not really a rogue, more a light fighter specialised in dual-wielding and dirty fighting.
Skirmisher(*) - Precision slinger who plays keep-away with enemies

Mage blast things with the power of their Mana pools, and die to a stiff breeze.
Alchemist - A simple mage that throws crafted bombs while backed up by a mechanical golem.
Archmage(*) - Archetypal spellcasting class able to choose from a variety of elemental specialities.
Necromancer(*) - Dark mage able to blast, summon lots of undead pets, and become a cool-rear end lich.

Wilders are powered by the Equilibrium of nature - overuse it, and it'll fail on you.
Summoner(*) - Nature-based mage able to summon and augment a variety of creatures.
Wrymic(*) - A heavy fighter able to take on the aspects and skills of elemental dragons.
Oozemancer(*) - Extremely defensive caster able to spawn slimes and nuke with acid or natural damage.
Stone Warden(**) - Dwarf only, donator/Steam only. Uses two shields to attack and manipulates stone for offence and defence.

Celestials balance Positive Energy for defensive purposes and Negative Energy for offensive purposes.
Sun Paladin(*) - A magic-using tank class able to operate from range, with low damage but staggering survivability.
Anorithil(*) - Defensive spellcaster relying on massive healing to allow a barrage of low-range spells.

Defilers rely on their Vim, powered by the death of their enemies.
Reaver(*) - The evil opposite of Arcane Blade, getting free attacks with every spell they cast point-blank.
Corruptor(*) - Disease-specialist mage possessing some of the highest burst damage nukes in the game. Cast Summon Dire Herpes, sling Turbo Ebola, and throw bombs made of AIDS and sadness!
Doombringer(*) - Demon-powered explosion barbarian off the cover of a heavy metal album.
Demonologist(*) - Tanky hybrid. Plays Demon Pokemon, except you use the HMs on yourself and they are useful in combat.

Afflicteds Hate things, and the bigger things they can Hate the better.
Cursed(*) - Extremely fast, simple, and effective heavy fighter, marred by a penalty to their healing. One time an enemy tried to run away from my Cursed, he was not aware that Cursed is the Flash but with a tree trunk made of murder.
Doomed(*) - Mind-based spellcaster able to replace normal attacks with spells while debilitating enemies. Can choose between a self-replenishing army of ADHD murderbeasts and being Evil Psychic Batman. Or do both!

Chronomancers cause Paradox. The more unstable the timeline, the more effective their spells... until it breaks.
Paradox Mage(*) - A time mage, in the literal sense. Able to turn back or split either the timeline or an enemy's body. "'Save scumming?' Your character has that as a class ability."
Temporal Warden(*) - Timecop! Does melee and ranged and summons awesome Timecop Dogs to murder things.

Psionicists use, well, Psi. Nothing special going on here.
Mindslayer(*) - An extremely fragile but very shielded class able to use animeblades or an array of mental magic.
Solipsist(*) - Incredibly effective spellcaster focusing around sleep and massive mental damage/debilitation.

You should also read the stories post below this one for some reasons on why most of these classes are metal as gently caress :black101:

Oh god these all have so many options for talents! How do I build these guys? Deptstoremook compiled all of the guides from the old thread here, and Dodge Charms copied all of them to the wiki and listed them all on the wiki Guides page, so newbies without archives don't get left behind.

How do I unlock <insert class here>? This wiki page lists how to unlock everything.

Unlocking Yeek/Mindslayer is completely impossible! What the ****? - The wiki has an easy way to get Yeek and Mindslayer

I can't see my talent hotkeys? Try page up/page down, mouse wheel, or tab.

I'm dying a lot. Game is hard

The thread has compiled a list of things that are beneficial to any character in the game. Follow the advice here and you will survive a lot longer. Something to always, always remember, though, is that the game is turn based. If everything suddenly goes sideways, stop and take a couple minutes to inspect the enemies around you and go over your abilities.

FAQ on Technical Stuff/Issues - To be updated as more questions get asked.

What OS do I need to run this? The download page has Windows, Mac, and Linux executables prebuilt for you along with the source code being openly available. In theory it should run on just about any platform. Some Windows 7 users have reported crash issues while others have not. Some people have had success tweaking the resolution on Windows 7 to get it to run. See below.

How do I change the game settings without opening the game? Or how can tweak things to get it to run on Windows 7 or Vista? "C:/Users/yourusername/T-Engine/4.0/settings/" The resolution.cfg file is an important one that people have had success with tweaking to get the game to run (try something like 800x600). Something else people have had success with is creating a fbo_active.cfg file in settings (if it doesn't already exist), in that file you want it to say "fbo_active = false" (without the quotes of course). If you're running the game on a different OS I'm not sure how to change this. But I'll update this with more information when I have it.

I'm having trouble getting the game to run or compiling it. Where can I get some more help? You can drop by IRC if you like. It's where myself and several other contributors hang out. We generally talk more about technical or development stuff rather then game activities (since most of that has moved to the in game chat) but it's a good place to go if you need help getting things set up. Otherwise you can try searching or posting on the official forums or asking around in this thread.

What's the difference between T-Engine and Tome 4? Tome 4 is actually a module that runs on T-Engine. Both are programmed by the same guy. Other modules can be downloaded and played on the engine but as of this writing there's not many to speak of. A 7DRL was released a few months back for T-Engine called Broken Bottle though I don't believe it will run on the current engine. If anyone is curious though about putting together their own modules it might be a good place to start. You can also drop by IRC if you'd like to talk to people familiar with the code base.

Help?!? I encountered a terrible bug, is there a debug or cheat console I can use to fix my game?Again on windows, (sorry I'm not familiar with other operating systems) you want to create a cheat.cfg file in your T-Engine/4.0/settings/. In this file you want it to say "cheat = true" (again without the quotes). You'll then need to reboot the game and pick a hotkey for the debug menu, it should show up now in the default hotkey config menu (accessed by pressing escape). Once it's bound to a hotkey you can pull up the debug menu and look through the options, it's a pretty hefty cheat menu so most fixes you need should be doable with it. Otherwise you'll need to use the lua console (control+l with cheat mode active). If you're not proficient in lua though or familiar with the code base you may need to get some help from the boys on IRC.

Alternately, if you find Darkgod on the official IRC, he's known to use his secret developer powers to reach in and fix bugs for you - if a mob doesn't spawn that should have and it has broken your game, find DG and he'll probably force it to spawn for you.

Unlocking these classes is a pain in the butt! I just want to stab/punch/shoot/curse mans

Tsurupettan posted:

Go to C:\Users\<NAME>\T-Engine\4.0\profiles\online\modules\tome

Find 'allow_build.profile', or create it if it doesn't exist.

Paste the following into the file:

code:

tutorial_done = true
undead_ghoul = true
afflicted_doomed = true
wilder_wyrmic = true
mage_pyromancer = true
warrior_brawler = true
mage_cryomancer = true
campaign_arena = true
birth_transmo_chest = true
mage = true
afflicted = true
divine_anorithil = true
rogue_poisons = true
birth_zigur_sacrifice = true
chronomancer_paradox_mage = true
wilder = true
divine_sun_paladin = true
mage_necromancer = true
corrupter = true
corrupter_reaver = true
undead = true
cosmetic_race_human_redhead = true
psionic_mindslayer = true
chronomancer_temporal_warden = true
psionic_solipsist = true
rogue_marauder = true
corrupter_corruptor = true
mage_tempest = true
yeek = true
adventurer = true
afflicted_cursed = true
construct_runic_golem = true
divine = true
psionic = true
mage_geomancer = true
wilder_oozemancer = true
construct = true
chronomancer = true
campaign_infinite_dungeon = true
undead_skeleton = true
wilder_stone_warden = true
wilder_summoner = true

Save it, run the game.

Enjoy all of your unlocks!

This should unlock EVERYTHING. If there's something missing, let me know. Note that you still can't be a redhead without donating.

Credit to oneliquidninja for the original OP this borrows heavily from, and to everyone in the original thread who helped me update it. If anyone's got anything that needs adding, yell at me.

Magres fucked around with this message at 21:33 on Mar 28, 2015

# ? Jan 25, 2014 21:18

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# ? Apr 25, 2024 22:44

Magres: Jul 14, 2011

Stories from ToME

A history of the world of ToME (TONS of spoilers)

ProfessorCirno posted:

Hello!

So, one of the fun things in ToME is the lore Unlike most roguelikes, ToME actually has a setting and backstory and such. Now, for me, part of the fun is actually finding the lore notes and putting it all together - but you might want it all up front and easy to read. As such, I present: the history of Maj'Eyal. Note that it's definately a shallow overview; I skip over a lot and don't really go into much detail. Want to learn more? Find the lore in-game!

Note: all of this is absolutely a spoiler, but I don't want to make one giant post that's nothing but a spoiler, so take this as your warning.

Age of Haze: Sher'tul are murdering all the gods for having the audacity to be gods, then gently caress off through the farportals

Age of Allure: Halflings find Sher'tul ruins and start exploiting them for power, create their empire and begin enslaving everything they see including yeeks, orcs, and humans. They even make literal coats out of the yeek, I mean god drat.

Allure Wars: Human Conclave and Shaloren start finding ruins too, a big MAGE WAR begins, and now everything is awful for everyone. One Conclave test experiment escapes and creates Zigur, which ends the war by murdering ever single loving wizard they can find until there aren't enough to continue fighting. Meanwhile the dwarves are doing all they can to wipe out the race of dragons because goooooold.

Pre-Spellblaze: Allure Wars end, everyone's poo poo is wrecked. The dwarves start helping them rebuild because of capitalism, then just vanish right as the orcs decide now is their time to rise up. They're REALLY GOOD at this and everyone is freaked, so the Conclave and Shaloren team up to create an awesome weapon that would wipe out the orcs called the Spellblaze. It works really well! Whoops! Before this happens the orcs find a farportal to the East and set up colonies "just in case."

Spellblaze: EVERYTHING IS hosed. The Magic Ozone Layer gets a giant hole ripped into it, magic goes crazy, everything is on fire and blight starts pouring into the planet. Zigur begin their Spellhunt which involves murdering everything that could ever even be magical in any way. All remaining orcs are systematically wiped out, Shaloren hide their city, remaining orcs lick their wounds in the East.

Age of Dusk: Zigur finally stops killing all wizards, Linoniil founds Angolwen after devouring the energy of a dead god the Sher'Tul embarrassingly forgot to clean up. Necromancers start to appear en-masse, tyrant-warlocks start petty fiefdoms, new and exciting diseases begin to crop up, civilization more or less shrinks down. This goes on for awhile! Eventually, to show her good intentions, wizards leave Angolwen and begin curing the new diseases and helping out as much as they can while staying secretive, because Zigur is still watching for any magic using punks to come around. Dwarves start showing up again as people scratch their heads and wonder where the hell they went. Most people know mages helped cure the diseases, but most people figure they also made them, so it's a bit of a wash.

Cataclysm: Whoops guess the Spellblaze wasn't done, huh? Naloren become naga after their entire part of the continent decides it's better down where it's wetter and the Naloren decide gills would be really nice right about now. The whole continent is pretty much ruined; Daikara (and a bunch of other volcanos) erupt, the Nur Plains become Lake Nur, the island of Rel drifts away and the yeek create the Way because gently caress halflings. Humans sail east to find out what happened to all that land that left, spoilers: they don't find it because it's at the bottom of the ocean, but hey, they do find a whole new continent to the east! Orcs say hello, humans politely greet them back, by which I mean they immediately begin slaughtering each other. Eastern humans find native Shaloren who aren't actually connected to the western Shaloren, found the Sunwall and Gates of Morning ,they teach each other how to make the Celestial classes. Garkul the Devourer, a name you can trust, decides it's time to put his plan into motion. His plan is to murder everything in the loving universe. Orcs learn how to be Corruptors long before the Shaloren figure it out, Shaloren confirmed to be terribe at most everything.

Age of Pyre: Orcs swing on by the western continent via farportal to cook everyone dinner. Dinner is their cities. Orcs proceed to light everything on fire, name the age themselves, and Garkul himself kills probably like ten billion halflings and humans. Everyone freaks out again and the halflings and humans try to put aside their differences and fight together; it helps that the orcs are only making a few side swipes at humans and are far more concerned with their mass halfling genocide (which, mind you, the halflings did to them first). Dwarves start to get involved, which makes the orcs notice them and begin burning their cities which are made of rock; dwarves protest that cities made of rock really shouldn't be burning and swiftly stop being involved (but continue to send weapons to the non-orcs in secret). Orcs begin colonizing the land after the conquer it, leaving only a small token force in the East after pushing the eastern alliance of humans and elves all the way back into the Gates of Morning and Sunwall. Mages of Angolwen and Zigur both join the alliance against the orcs, probably knowing that the other is there, but sticking to their main goal of getting rid of the tuskies. Garkul eventually eats it after taking down Atamathon and a halfling army AND a human army, good lord, most PCs can't even handle the already damaged Atamathon. The human king and halfling queen win the war together and get married and everyone is super happy and it's really sweet and the two races are finally united together; also, mass genocide of all orcs, explicitly hunting down and killing any women and children, ensuring the "orc menace" is literally wiped clean from the planet, whoops guess who doesn't know about the East.

Age of Ascendancy: The half-halfling and half-human prince is born and the Allied Kingdoms are formed. Dwarves reopen all their trade routes but keep their cities a secret, no non-dwarves allowed. Angolwen and Zigur both quietly fade into the background and begin glaring at each other, with Zigur sending out patrols and Angolwen placing agents in some of the cities. People are still suspicious of mages but won't murder them in the street. Zigur is proven completely correct as the Shaloren figure out how to unlock the Defiler metaclass and the Rhaloren split off, preaching magical supremacy. Zigur is unknowingly proven even more correct as two Angolwen mages go exploring East and decide to bring back one of the long-dead gods that hates all creation and wishes to end all life, cool idea man. They disguise themselves as orcs, fool pretty much none of the actual orc leaders, but dangle enough power and revenge in front of them to get their attention. Orcs begin sending scouts through the Iron Throne farportal to check out the west. Adventurers start adventuring. You make your character!

Required Reading for Corruptors

Angry Diplomat posted:

Saw this, rolled up a throwaway Higher Corruptor named Veronica Skullblood with the intention of randomly dicking around to get a feel for the class before dying a stupid death somewhere. Oh my Goooooooood why have I never played this amazing goddamn class before

I am pretty much a walking Bubonic Plague. Everything I can't immediately kill with my two lovely projectile spells and ridiculous blood shockwave, I infect with every disease that ever existed, then atomize to motherfuck and back with Catalepsy (holy poo poo that spell is insane). If it's a group situation, I use Cyst Burst first and then Blood Spray to give a ridiculous fuckload of diseases to everything present, then use Catalepsy. If I need dudes to sit still while I cast Summon Dire Herpes on them, I hit them with Pacification to make them incapable of doing much of anything for roughly infinity years. If my enemies are immune to diseases and Blight damage, welp, Vimsense and Epidemic will fix that. There is literally nothing my mystical smallpox cannot kill.

Also I roll with Overkill active, so anything that dies to the Acatalypse produces a nova that hits everything nearby with a portion of the overflow damage. Every single fight is just a hilarious facemelting clusterfuck of ludicrously excessive Blight damage, with dudes withering away in seconds and then suddenly exploding for no reason because I infected everyone with nuclear influenza.

I got an Injured Seer escort on Wrathroot's level, ran into Wrathroot and three rare monsters, and still saved that fukken Seer I did die once, but that was to some absurd bullshit rare hornet that used a life feeding thing and a bunch of buffs to unblockably steal like 70 health per round from me or something idiotic like that while also dealing 100+ damage per hit; when I fought Wrathroot itself, I mowed that motherfucker down with nary a gently caress given.

This class is basically Alchemist, except you replace the golem with the ability to turn into a demon ghost in Hell, your bombs inflict AIDS damage and you make them out of people instead of gems, and instead of imbuing items with magic you get to imbue people with Turbo Ebola. Corruptor is a goddamn riot to play, and anyone who hasn't tried it really should.

Why you should play a Paradox Mage - kill people in four timelines, then decide which way inflicts the most misery on their family.

MiltonSlavemasta posted:

You have been ignored for your inferiors for so long. "GOTTA GO FAST!!" they wheeze, as they repeatedly mash the same key and give themselves repetitive stress injury. "I GAVE THAT BOSS ULTRACANCER!!" they shout, as they stumble around while out of powers and energy. They snub you. They do not even talk about you. But you are superior, you know that.

You are a loving Time Lord. Your first loving ability lets you double-tap someone with two .45 caliber babalities that reduce them to an infantile state while making them explode from sheer TIME. You don't mash loving keys to walk anywhere in a fight because you were in a different dimension the entire loving time and reappear in a different spot without taking a loving turn. And it's still your loving turn, so you blast the planet with your ~~sonic screwdriver~~ TIME STAFF and suck them all into a singularity because you're also a young Stephen Hawking and they can't go to where you are. They stay there while you destabilize them out of the time stream so they're fading in and out of pictures like Marty McFly's mom and become ultra vulnerable to you using the miniature CERN you call a staff to deliver a QUANTUM SPIKE that causes them to explode onto everyone around them, hitting them both with the physical impact of the gore and the raw energy of the timeline of whatever poor sucker happened to be in your way today. If they are still alive you should just punt them ahead in time a few turns while you kill everything else with your time lasers and double-tap babalities.

Oh, and it takes no time to make yourself borrow some extra time like you're Justin Timberlake arm wrestling at the time fight club in that one movie, so you probably did all of that before anyone walked out of the Singularity, and you instantly moved two-thirds of a screen away before that happened because you were actually sliding through another dimension because you're also Dr. Sam Beckett. But you don't need to wait until you help some historical loser to leave because you can rip open wormholes to come and go like a hosed up space Ouroboros or an Elizabeth from Bioshock Infinite who Don't Need No Man.

And you never get tired of this poo poo either. Stamina? Mana? Vim? No, all that happens when you use your abilities is that you get even crazier and hit people even harder with RAW TIME. Sometimes you mess up and go all Ashton Kutcher butterfly effect but you usually do poo poo like summon scrub enemies from the loser dimension that get in the way of your real opponents or just call down a TIME STORM that you're used to because remember you're sliding through this constantly. I hope you picked the BABALITY or the QUANTUM SPIKE or the SINGULARITY because on top of you having barely any cooldowns and can rewind yourself like a VHS and use your favorite one twice.

If for some reason you're garbage and actually manage to find something stronger than you, you can just call in its doppelganger from another dimension where he's cool and your friend like the good Jet Li, or you can pull a Joseph-Gordon Levitt and bring in your more badass Bruce Willis future self to solve all your problems and kill everything, but then you'll get sucked out of what you were doing and have to play through the Bruce Willis part later.

And, when you meet someone, no matter how fast, you have the power to make them go slow. You can stop the Murdertrain. You can go back in time to before you caught Turboebola. You are that Arnold Berrypatch bastard nerd girls make fan tumblrs about.

You are a Paradox Mage.

Did I do that right?

Stone Warden - Swords are for jerks!

Ciaphas posted:

Stone Warden is what you get if Poison Ivy and a Dwarf Bulwark had a baby. After growing up this baby then decided that if shields are metal, then two of them would be metal as gently caress. He was right!

Hey, you try arguing when your head has been exploded from impact with a hundred pound hunk of metal with massive corded dwarven muscle behind it. Actually, you wouldn't have anyone to argue with; all your friends already choked and bled to death from the thorned, eldritch vines entangling them. And that shield doesn't even have to hit; he could slam it into the ground so hard your tibia explode out of your legs from the earthquake.

"That's okay," you tell yourself, "he's like miles away, he can't bash me from there!" Guess what, he just used those vines entangling you to burrow through the ground and pop up next to you, hale and hearty, shields-a-swingin'. Or maybe he yanked you to him, chin dragging and bouncing across the stony ground between you.

"That's okay," you tell yourself, "I've got like five more friends beating him up, I'll be fine!" Except he just called up an eldritch barrier that explodes with all the force put into it by your friends (who are, by the way, now exploded across five miles of landscape by kilotons of sheer pissed-off nature).

And if that's not enough, now there's three of them, his stone and crystalline essences called forth to bash heads. And when they're done bashing, they rush back to their owner in an explosive nova, whereupon he goes right back to tearing you apart with thorned vines, stone shards, and two giant blocks of gently caress you.

Who the gently caress needs swords, anyway?

If anyone has stories they want added, just yell at me. There have been a lot of good ones

Magres fucked around with this message at 03:45 on Feb 16, 2014

# ? Jan 25, 2014 21:21

Tangents: Aug 23, 2008

I find it odd that in all the love Corruptors get, no one ever talks about their best ability- the power to challenge someone to a duel in the Shadow Realm.

Play a cornac. Get the shadowflame tree at 10. Fearscape every boss.
Worm that Walks is immune to your bullshit? He's not immune to demon fire everywhere.

My single win was a cornac corruptor following this slightly dated guide. It doesn't use diseases, so no turbo-ebola, just million damage single target nukes.

# ? Jan 25, 2014 21:30

Panic! at Nabisco: Jun 6, 2007; it seemed like a good idea at the time

I'm not sure why that bizarre guide to unlocking Mindslayer is in the OP when it's much easier to just rod of recall out and come back and kill him at like level 20.

# ? Jan 25, 2014 21:33

Magres: Jul 14, 2011

That's exactly what it says to do. I saw "how the gently caress do I unlock Mindslayer" get asked like once every six pages in the last thread, because Z wastes the drat Yeek almost instantaneously when you open the door.

I'll move it to the wiki though

# ? Jan 25, 2014 21:36

Tsurupettan: Mar 26, 2011; My many CoX, always poised, always ready, always willing to thrust.

How to unlock Mindslayer: Go yeek Archmage. Put a point in arcane eye. Get glacial vapor. Throw it down out of range while the guy dies. Done. You can see him, but he doesn't activate because you're way out of range and he can't see you.

I have been told this works by friends but I haven't tried it myself. I'll try it later and confirm it.

# ? Jan 25, 2014 21:39

Tangents: Aug 23, 2008

Can you still teleport him? Archmage, get phase door or teleport up to 5 so it's targetable, get him or Z out of there. A lot more straightforward.

# ? Jan 25, 2014 21:47

Magres: Jul 14, 2011

Yeah, that's what I wrote up.

I don't need Fearscape, I have a Hatescape.

I did die in Dreadfell, to a mighty Cursed rare. First death though, so I'm feeling good about this character. I have some gloves that boost my hatevision to radius 15 for a few turns, which is amazing. I step into every level with it ready and pop it immediately if I don't have enemies camping the stairs. Being able to see where The Master is just a couple steps away from the stairs was great - I cleared the rest of the level, dug my completely over elaborate tunnels (I mostly wound up pinning him into the corner just south of my character in that screenshot and wailed on him), then pulled him to the Hatescape and crushed him.

Edit: Popped a vault, am kiting it to the Hatescape. Life is good

Magres fucked around with this message at 22:02 on Jan 25, 2014

# ? Jan 25, 2014 21:58

dis astranagant: Dec 14, 2006

Gils posted:

I find it odd that in all the love Corruptors get, no one ever talks about their best ability- the power to challenge someone to a duel in the Shadow Realm.

Play a cornac. Get the shadowflame tree at 10. Fearscape every boss.
Worm that Walks is immune to your bullshit? He's not immune to demon fire everywhere.

My single win was a cornac corruptor following this slightly dated guide. It doesn't use diseases, so no turbo-ebola, just million damage single target nukes.

Shadowflame is kinda awkward early on because every thing in it is so damned expensive. That and if I want to annihilate a boss I'll start putting points in Catalepsy and don't even have to blow a cat point for it. There's very few things that can survive epidemic->vd->blood spray->catalepsy, and the ones that can won't like it once vimsense and curse of vulnerability get involved.

Hell, if I had a stray cat point later I'd probably just toss it on blood because every skill in that tree scales ridiculously and that guide saying that you can't use blood boil from a distance is a loving idiot or never bothered to put more than one point in it.

dis astranagant fucked around with this message at 22:15 on Jan 25, 2014

# ? Jan 25, 2014 22:12

koolkal: Oct 21, 2008; this thread maybe doesnt have room for 2 green xbox one avs

After trying out Cursed with and without the Cursed items, I think I prefer the one with Cursed items as of mid-20s in both paths. Although it takes a good 9-10 points, being able to switch between the various effects on-the-fly is pretty neat. Humanoid dungeon? Dump points into Corpses to add 1/3 chance on kill to summon ghouls. Hard-hitting dudes? Switch on the Shrouds to add a bunch of damage reductions. I think the powers you get definitely outweigh the penalties, but the big issue is always the 9-10 generic points you need to dump in to make use of it. Not having all the points immediately available to dump into Fungal is probably going to start hurting soon...

And swinging a 2-hander with the Curse that gives you a finisher damage boost is hilarious for 1-shotting rares.

# ? Jan 25, 2014 22:36

Magres: Jul 14, 2011

What's the deal with these Elven Cultists chilling next to big obelisks in Reknor, and how likely is it that chopping them up will lead to me dying hilariously?

# ? Jan 25, 2014 23:03

dis astranagant: Dec 14, 2006

Magres posted:

What's the deal with these Elven Cultists chilling next to big obelisks in Reknor, and how likely is it that chopping them up will lead to me dying hilariously?

If you're itching for a fight kill one and only one of them then wait out the timer that comes up. You'll get an achievement and a sweet hat if you win.

# ? Jan 25, 2014 23:04

ToxicFrog: Apr 26, 2008

Gils posted:

I find it odd that in all the love Corruptors get, no one ever talks about their best ability- the power to challenge someone to a duel in the Shadow Realm.

Play a cornac. Get the shadowflame tree at 10. Fearscape every boss.

...for one turn, because Flames of Urok + Fearscape require 180 mana to sustain.

It's probably not worth taking Cornac for that, because you'll be pushing 20 or more by the time you have the mana to actually use it effectively.

# ? Jan 25, 2014 23:13

Magres: Jul 14, 2011

dis astranagant posted:

If you're itching for a fight kill one and only one of them then wait out the timer that comes up. You'll get an achievement and a sweet hat if you win.

Haha, I was kinda scared of the boss when I looked at her talents.

Then I went on a Rampage and got myself a shiny hat.

Cursed continues to be an unstoppable train of hate and murder

# ? Jan 25, 2014 23:15

dis astranagant: Dec 14, 2006

Each cultist you kill after the first weakens the boss and the resulting hat.

# ? Jan 25, 2014 23:18

Magres: Jul 14, 2011

I only killed one, the boss still went down like a sack of bricks.

I was actually really scared after the first meteor shower, I had dug myself a miniaturized Hatescape in one of the walls in Reknor and she blew it up :mad:

I think it would up saving me anyway, because I ducked behind more walls, patched myself up, hit Rampage, and went to town and I think her meteors were still on cooldown the rest of the fight.

# ? Jan 25, 2014 23:21

dis astranagant: Dec 14, 2006

Yeah, she tends to either kill you fast or die. If you have much offense she's not that tough.

# ? Jan 25, 2014 23:24

Dallan Invictus: Oct 11, 2007; The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes, look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.

So as it turns out, fighting your own Doomed Shade as a Moon Paladin (celestial rogue class from a mod) when you both have insanely high physical defences, reflection shield runes, invisibility talents and lovely see invis is a recipe for comedy (and LUA errors from infinite-loop reflected damage).

Also, I really hope HousePet can fix the bugs I reported for that class because it's kind of nice to have one that actually synergizes with the Moon/Star combo daggers and their damage bonuses.

edit for last-thread quote:

Fhqwhgads posted:

I think I just had a bullshit death. Cormac Archmage running through the maze, I turn a corner and

"Something hits Fhq for 341 darkness damage"
Fhq was darkened to death by whatever the Temporal Stalker.

341 is way more than my max HP. Do I just chalk that up to RNG or is there a way to avoid getting one shot turning a corner that doesn't involve micromanaging only moving when all shields are up?

The RNG is a cruel god when it makes rares, but Archmages are squishy, yo. Stack more con, try and keep shields up more often, scout around corners with Arcane Eye and the like, hope for the best in areas like the maze that are full of surprises.

Dallan Invictus fucked around with this message at 23:32 on Jan 25, 2014

# ? Jan 25, 2014 23:24

dis astranagant: Dec 14, 2006

Starslinger from the same addon is loving bullshit and no one should play them. If you insist on trying prepare to be married to the shadow shot key because that's the only skill you have that doesn't break stealth and it's a long way til unseen actions.

# ? Jan 25, 2014 23:28

Dallan Invictus: Oct 11, 2007; The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes, look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.

dis astranagant posted:

Starslinger from the same addon is loving bullshit and no one should play them. If you insist on trying prepare to be married to the shadow shot key because that's the only skill you have that doesn't break stealth and it's a long way til unseen actions.

I actually still like Moon Paladins because you have SO MANY gap closers, and you don't really rely on stealth/backstabbing to survive or do damage, so much as you rely on a) stacking defence against physical attackers and b) having like three or four different ways to instantly cross the battlefield, get in a caster's face and shred it with your daggers.

Want to Rush to six different enemies in one attack? Go nuts (but pray it doesn't leave you in front of something you don't want to be in front of). Want a controlled Phase Door that does AOE damage at both ends? Got it. Want a free movement infusion as a generic talent? Got it.

If you get to add better status clearing from Providence in Celestial/Light (escort) or more cooldown reduction from Totality in Celestial/Eclipse (unlockable) I think things would get even more hilarious. Antimagic/silencing enemies are still bastards because you depend on Celestial Aegis and other sustains so much for your survivability, but the answer to that is to puree them into fine bits before they become a problem.

Also the Windblade prodigy owns and I want to see what my next dual-wielding Arcane Blade does with it. :getin:

# ? Jan 25, 2014 23:50

Angry Diplomat: Nov 7, 2009; Winner of the TSR Memorial Award for Excellence In Grogging

ToxicFrog posted:

...for one turn, because Flames of Urok + Fearscape require 180 mana to sustain.

It's probably not worth taking Cornac for that, because you'll be pushing 20 or more by the time you have the mana to actually use it effectively.

It's still worth taking Cornac for that because you're still a Corruptor and Cornac Corruptor owns way hard.

# ? Jan 26, 2014 00:21

Magres: Jul 14, 2011

As Cursed, should I be putting any points into Dex? Like, I'm level 35 and have yet to put a point into it and I think I'm doing okay, accuracy wise :shrug:

# ? Jan 26, 2014 00:23

Angry Diplomat: Nov 7, 2009; Winner of the TSR Memorial Award for Excellence In Grogging

Magres posted:

As Cursed, should I be putting any points into Dex? Like, I'm level 35 and have yet to put a point into it and I think I'm doing okay, accuracy wise

Nah. You've got Combat Accuracy and Stalk gives you a shitpile of bonus accuracy with a few points. Basically max Strength/Will/Con before even giving a poo poo about anything else.

# ? Jan 26, 2014 00:29

Lprsti99: Apr 7, 2011; Everything's coming up explodey!; Pillbug

quote:

Tome also comes with a full tile set, has sound and music, as well as an integrated chat system so you can ask advice of other players without leaving the game (hence the thread title). It also supports ASCII and has an options menu so almost any feature you don't enjoy you can turn off. Additionally, there are numerous addons to let you customize and tweak your game, as well as classes built by the community you can toy with (no guarantee of quality or balance on the community done classes, obviously)

The thread title no longer refers to this, as a note, it refers to two of the best classes now.

# ? Jan 26, 2014 00:33

Magres: Jul 14, 2011

Edited, thank you!

# ? Jan 26, 2014 00:35

Angry Diplomat: Nov 7, 2009; Winner of the TSR Memorial Award for Excellence In Grogging

I have an important question: where can I find the insanely :rock:

music that plays on Tempest Peak? I want to put that on my phone and listen to it at work.

# ? Jan 26, 2014 00:42

Bumper Stickup: Jan 7, 2012; Mmm... Offshore Toast!; Grimey Drawer

I downloaded the latest version to give this a go and I've got a weird graphical bug that makes the game drat near unplayable. I get constant screen flickering and tearing whenever I go to play. It's kinda like constant black bars scrolling from the top down on my screen that increase and decrease in speed at random intervals. Is there any way to fix this?

# ? Jan 26, 2014 00:59

ToxicFrog: Apr 26, 2008

Wow, it's not even pretending to generate fair escort quests anymore.

Anyone have any insight on how I can get her to the portal in one piece?

Angry Diplomat posted:

I have an important question: where can I find the insanely music that plays on Tempest Peak? I want to put that on my phone and listen to it at work.

The music is inside <your ToME install dir>/game/modules/tome-music.team (which is just a renamed zip file), in the data/music/ directory.

The specific track you want, based on a quick look at the source, is either Lords of the Sky or Through the Dark Portal.

E: oh wait, Tempest Peak. I think you want Driving the Top Down for that.

ToxicFrog fucked around with this message at 01:05 on Jan 26, 2014

# ? Jan 26, 2014 01:02

Fungah!: Apr 30, 2011

ToxicFrog posted:

...for one turn, because Flames of Urok + Fearscape require 180 mana to sustain.

It's probably not worth taking Cornac for that, because you'll be pushing 20 or more by the time you have the mana to actually use it effectively.

That's why you play Cornac, you take the tree that gives the vim-boosting sustain at one and by 14 you should have more than enough vim to use Fearscape every now and then.

# ? Jan 26, 2014 01:02

A Magical Lamp: Aug 16, 2010

The thread title is making me want to play my Reaver. :3:

Turboebola meets Murdertrain.

# ? Jan 26, 2014 01:09

ChibiSoma: Apr 13, 2008; by FactsAreUseless

So... who wants to make a successful, recorded, commentated Madness run?

There are a handful of Insanity videos, but very few Madness ones. Usually just one or two levels. The first hit Youtube gives back is the first level of Dreadfell.

It's 41 minutes long.

I dunno, maybe I'm the mad one, but I'd watch someone dismantle the game on that difficulty. The strategy involved would be interesting, I think. I'm lousy at the game, so I love seeing other people play. Especially on higher difficulties!

# ? Jan 26, 2014 01:10

ToxicFrog: Apr 26, 2008

What do the glowing monoliths and neutral Rhaloren cultists in the Daikara do, if anything?

# ? Jan 26, 2014 01:28

Tsurupettan: Mar 26, 2011; My many CoX, always poised, always ready, always willing to thrust.

Tsurupettan posted:

How to unlock Mindslayer: Go yeek Archmage. Put a point in arcane eye. Get glacial vapor. Throw it down out of range while the guy dies. Done. You can see him, but he doesn't activate because you're way out of range and he can't see you.

I have been told this works by friends but I haven't tried it myself. I'll try it later and confirm it.

So yes, this is correct.

Tribeam archmage to get through, dump points in vapor + arcane eye, sneak up and cast vapor on him til he dies of chills. I took off my lamp 'just in case'.

# ? Jan 26, 2014 01:29

ExiledTinkerer: Nov 4, 2009

In general, I hope for a good many more quality video excursions for the game now that it has landed on Steam and all on top of things like Madness and Insanity---or at least one of the updates to come has Mirthless get back at it in style and out for blood as those were drat fine videos that will distill in you some timeless basics indeed even if they are of far older builds as this point.

I really need to get some traction with a character again and reach the endgame after all these busted attempts...my minion heavy Ghoul Necro died to the Master since I didn't want to go Caster to win else I'd have just been playing a straight caster, Stone Archmage somehow got killed in Lake Nur's underground in Melee while stoneform was up, and the loot and luck continue to not be there on Cursed Cornacs.

Classes that are functionally dead to me at this point as far as having either a win or nothing compelling left barring a reworking from burning so many into the ground: Alchemists, Sollipsists, Wyrmics, Summoners, Mindslayers, Corruptors I suppose, Time Wardens, Oozemancers, Archers have always been dead, and Anorithils.

Something always just seems to go wrong on Melee classes with me it seems, well, moreso than the many ranged classes at least---Rares are pretty much the cause of all strife in the game, especially rare skeletons it seems.

# ? Jan 26, 2014 01:44

Tin Tim: Jun 4, 2012; Live by the pun - Die by the pun

Groundfloor :black101:

Also thanks for collecting the guides, guys!

# ? Jan 26, 2014 01:52

oneliquidninja: Jan 6, 2007; I swear I wrote something funny here.

Thanks for starting a new OP.

quote:

is still in beta and has its share of bugs, it is under very active development with 20 betas being released in this last year alone (granted some were bug fix releases but many of these have added tons of new content, classes, and game features).

This should be updated since the game is no longer in beta.

# ? Jan 26, 2014 01:55

Tallgeese: May 11, 2008; MAKE LOVE, NOT WAR

What does buying the game get you exactly, if anything?

# ? Jan 26, 2014 01:56

Raitzeno: Nov 24, 2007; What? It seemed like
a good idea at the time.

Tallgeese posted:

What does buying the game get you exactly, if anything?

Same thing as being a Donator. You get a cross-character Item Vault (at your "home", once any given character unlocks it) and access to the Stone Warden class (dwarves only!).

I forget if there's anything else but those are the important ones anyway.

# ? Jan 26, 2014 01:58

jsoh: Mar 24, 2007; O Muhammad, I seek your intercession with my Lord for the return of my eyesight

Red Hair!

# ? Jan 26, 2014 02:04

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Apr 25, 2024 22:44

Jazerus: May 24, 2011

ToxicFrog posted:

Wow, it's not even pretending to generate fair escort quests anymore.

Anyone have any insight on how I can get her to the portal in one piece?

You don't, unless you can get all the way to the end of that line of enemies in a controlled manner - if you've been putting points in Conveyance then you have a shot. She's going to run, and probably she will have a turn or two before she dies, so you could theoretically get between them and her if she can get a little distance and then tell her to wait so that she doesn't run forward into the inevitable Storm Giant boulderthrower/family of storm drakes/etc. that's probably further up the corridor. Also, you have Lightning, which is a beam attack - you could damage them all with one shot of that. Unfortunately, I doubt a Shadowblade has the magic to kill them in one shot - it'd be tough even for an archmage, necromancer, or anorithil to do that, but they could break out other beams/AoEs/etc. A Corruptor could just cast Pacification Hex on the guys close to her and probably have time to kill them all before it wore off. This would be a 100% fail situation for anybody but the classes that are adept at precisely targeted area attacks. Even then the orc pyromancer would mulch her instantaneously if he decided to target her instead of the player.

But don't worry, you really don't need absolutely every possible advantage to win with a character most of the time. It sucks that you're losing an anorithil escort, but if you feel like getting back at the game for its bullshit then you can game the next escort you get. Escort class is randomly generated on the spot, so if you crash the game by ending the process you can go back to the beginning of the zone and reroll the class. Make that loremaster an anorithil! None of the loot or encounters will change, just the escort. I don't endorse doing this on a character you genuinely feel could win, since it cheapens it a little, but if you're just trying to learn the game it won't hurt anything.

ToxicFrog posted:

What do the glowing monoliths and neutral Rhaloren cultists in the Daikara do, if anything?

They are attempting to hold off/control a demon. Kill them to fight it.

# ? Jan 26, 2014 02:07

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