So, recently it has come to my attention that Phantasmagoria seems to be utterly useless. It's a Trans skill which, at the cost of 10 Power, allows you to do what you could do without using any Power, just in a slightly longer amount of time (Stalker). Copying stuff I said in another topic:

Scenario 1: You're sitting in your -relatively large- demesne, and a number of enemies (3-4 or 7-8, doesn't really matter, your demesne is big) enter. Why the hell would you waste 10 power on Phantasmagoria when you can simply Stalker them all in a couple of seconds?

Scenario 2: You're sitting in your -relatively small- demesne and you see a large number of enemies (say, 7-8) enter. You don't waste time using Phantasmagoria (AND 10 Power), you run. Unless you're Acrune or the likes, but that's beside the point.

Scenario 3: You're sitting in your -relatively small- demesne and you see a number of enemies (3-4) enter. If you can tank them, maybe you Stalker one or two then go after them. You still don't waste 10 fricken Power just to Stalker them all at once.

Scenario 4: You're -not- just sitting in your demesne, you're in the middle of combatting 3-4 (or 7-8, doesn't matter) people at once. You don't spend your entire available Power just to Stalker them all (unless you're near death and you just do it as a final act of spite). And if you're fighting 7-8 people alone, you're most likely dead, and not actually fighting. So yah.

And plus, even if you DO spend a shitload of Power on it, a group is likely to have a skilled mage/bard with them who can just dispell the Stalkers, wasting your 10 Power completely. I just fail to see the point, why should I Trans Phantasms for such a (seemingly) useless skill?

Why does Glamours get Maze while we get a multi-Stalker which costs 10 Power? I obviously don't have first-hand experience with either skill, so forgive my rantiness. But in theory, I just don't see the point of Phantasmagoria. If someone can explain why anyone would ever really use it, please do.

So as not to let this topic look like a pain old rant, I have to make some suggestions!

First thing that crossed my mind is simply to make Phantasmagoria an all-Phantom, instead of all-Stalker. But I immediately discarded it because, even though it makes perfect, perfect sense, it would immediately be jumped at for being OP.

Well, actually, I'm currently out of ideas, can't think of anything powerful and balanced enough... Need some sleep... Maybe send sightstealers to everyone in the demesne? Mnah...

Well, hope I don't get too flamed. And I hope for some ideas when I wake up. G'night.

EDIT: Or maybe just reduce the cost to 5-7 Power? So you can actually DO something immediately after Phantasmagoria without waiting for your reserves to refill your Power? Anyway, now really, g'night.

Mages don't really use power for very much anyway once they get the demesne set up. If it were lowered to like 5p I think Phantasmagoria would be a decent skill (though probably still a bit lackluster for a trans skill).

Maybe make it do Phantoms/Claws/Thoughtstealer/Sightstealer at once?

Mages who like to whore Claws/Phantom waste the Power nicely though... But yah, I got your point.

Perhaps something called PhantomSpur. Double the affliction rate of a phantom for ten power. Lasts the same length of time, but it'd be utterly brutal. As in, doubles the speed of the afflictions given.

Maze is a terrible, terrible skill. I just use it because its funny. I've used maze on someone and they were back before I got eq back. So if that is your justification as to why phantasms should get a better trans skill, find a new one

And Yrael, doubling phantom speed would be crazy, there would be a decent amount of people who wouldn't be able to survive that alone.

Perhaps Arix and other Aquamancers are just pathetic, but it dsoesn't really seem that bad to me. The entangled bit is the worst of the lot.

It's not phantoms alone, but phantoms coupled with the other passive afflictions mages can do. Not to mention the active ones. Imagine twice-as-fast phantom coupled with demesne hitting coupled with contagion (which undead geo's can breathe) coupled with two afflicts + mindblast.

Or, BOOM, HEADSHOT.

Phantoms and claws together, maybe, but not the rest of what Furien said. That sounds too good to be true.

@Jack: Don't forget Reality. Which is mostly like phantom except without entangle and with...confusion? I think it's something like that. But it's still one more passive affliction.

@Yrael: What Acrune and Jack said.

@Acrune: Yeah, I thought it might be, but it really isn't my excuse. My excuse is Phantasmagoria's utter suckiness. If you think Maze is utter suckiness too, make a topic and brainstorm ideas on what to replace it with.

@Fionn: Due to my highly developed sense of humour, I reckon Furien was -joking-. Phantom and Claws on everyone would be terrible. Good terrible, I mean. Too good. Not to mention sightstealer (in Furien's version), which could then be used to further send Claws and Whispers and whatnot.

And I just had a (IMO) good idea. Why not make Phantasmagoria work like Mirage, but instead of weaving Terrain throughout the entire demesne, you do Reality! Only a somewhat shorter-lasting, maybe weaker one, obviously, to balance it out...

Thoughts?

Yeah. I forgot claws too. Pretty big oversight considering how effective it is. In summary, Phantoms is a solid skill as-is and Phantasmagoria should be an active effect, if any changes are exacted.

Eh, I was only half joking. Claws/Phantoms (dunno what the stealers really do, honestly) on everyone would definitely make it worth the full 10p.

Callus, I think you're over-editing yourself a little bit. In all reality, it's not likely any of this is going to be implemented directly. You're going to have to come up with a suggestion and then get an envoy to submit it. So think of this as the rough draft, or even the pre-writing stage. For example, I don't think that casting Phantom compared to Stalker on everyone in the demesne is necessarily overpowered. The only difference is the length of time they last. And even if it is OP, there's no reason not to suggest it at least. The worst that can happen is that people say, "That's too strong for X Y and Z." and then you modify the suggestion before looking up an envoy.

In terms of the actual skill, it would be really neat to have something like a phantom ent, or maybe some sort of phantom shroud/aura that has a chance to randomly give phantom afflicts when you're struck.

I do over-edit. My brain just storms on and on and I can't help but add the new conclusions... Anyway, yeah, thanks for the clear-headed reminders. I get carried away sometimes. I just intended this as a brainstorming topic, to get to a nice, balanced suggestion to submit. And regarding OmniPhantom - you're right, it wouldn't be OP. Main reason I discarded it is because I'm greedy, and think that an OmniStalker -> OmniPhantom change would be too little. But come to think of it, that would actually be the very best option. *apologises for greediness*

And @Furien: Thoughtstealer just reports back to you anything said in the room the victim's in. Sightstealer, however, allows you to both see through their eyes, AND (if they're in your demesne) send Stars, Claws, RedMask or Whispers after them -from afar-, which is not nice at all.
And though I would SO love Phantasmagoria to be OmniPhantom & OmniClaws, I still think it is way too much. It would decimate most people, and really hinder the more resistant ones.

Oh, and off-topicishly, the thought occured to me recently... Couldn't PhantomSphere be potentially a surefire death if you Stonewalled your demesne? It's supposed to raise stonewalls on all the edges of your demesne, no? So, that would pretty much destroy (almost) all hope for escape, unless the person can break them...

Tumble?

You can Tumble -through a wall-?! Sick.

"Under," supposedly. Or around, maybe. Not sure why I can't just walk around, but hey!

It's one of those "balance over roleplay" things.

Assuming the walls are raised on all the demesne edges, there would be no 'around'. But yeah, I get it. =) Wow, really useful.

You go callus

Yeah, ask someoneto change it please..