Balancing starting equipment in Ironman.
I tried creating humans of all the different classes and it seems that if a warrior sells all his equipment he'll have about twice as much gold as a ranger, three times as much as a paladin or priest, four times more than a mage and as much as seven or eight times more than a rogue.
This isn't necessarily wrong, warriors are the only class who have to rely completely on scrolls and potions when all other classes, at least theoretically will have access to some sort of healing/teleport via their spell books.
I suggest the following basic equipment is made standard for all classes.
- Twice as much food as now (6-14 rations instead of 3 to 7)
- Instead of torches you get oil, twice as many flasks as you currently get torches, (6-14 instead of 3-7)
- A Brass Lantern
In addition to this:
I suggest
warriors either start with:
1. The same as today, Armor, Sword and Berserk Strength.
2. 10 Teleport Scrolls and 5 Cure Serious Wounds.
1: This allows the player to sell his gear and wait for the shops to have a sale, but this also reduces the actual play time. However it gives the player more freedom.
2: This allows the player to dive much faster, as all he needs to do is buy a weapon and additional oil/food/armor for the gold that he starts with.
I think #2 is better.
mages start with:
The 2'nd spellbook and 5 Teleport Scrolls.
priests start with:
The 2'nd book of prayers and 5 Teleport Scrolls.
rogues start with:
The 2'nd spellbook and 10 Teleport Scrolls
rangers start with:
A long bow and 5 Teleport Scrolls
Note: Rangers keep the long bow instead of getting the 2'nd spellbook.
paladins start with:
The 2'nd spellbook and 5 Teleport Scrolls
I suggest starting with the first two spellbooks and teleport scrolls because I think in a game like Ironman MAngband you don't want to spend all day waiting for the shops to sell the item that you want, you just want to dive.
- Warrior