Balancing release

A few bugfixes, a few tweaks, some new toys.

Perhaps the most exciting new toy for some will be the addition of the [ and ] key bindings - these show all objects and monsters within line of sight or on screen.

Smithing has lost Song of Aule, but has gained more abilities to put on artefacts, cheaper slays, resists, damage and protection, and negative effects now act to discount standard ego items. This is a further attempt at making Smithing more viable in the mid-game and less broken in the end-game.

Coup de Grace has moved to Stealth; given the first Morgoth kill was a stealth character, it could be seen as odd that this is effectively powering up Stealth. I suspect though that the larger factors in that victory were the Smithing and the Songs and the new skill would not have made a huge difference; this may make more combat-oriented stealth more viable.

Melee characters have a couple of powerful new toys in Anticipate and Song of Valour. Morgoth has been buffed a little to compensate.

There are new artefacts, a new curse and a new effect. Also a new spider.

Bugfixes:

• Recharging staff exploit fixed.
• Morgoth angering now processes before mastery or Lorien effects.
• Whirlwind Attack works with Follow-Through (and also Rapid Attack).
• Super-tunneling gone from kemenrauko and nameless ones - they now tunnel more slowly than you walk.

Tweaks:

• Mewlip blind is weakened, Balcmeg and Lug will and perception are toned down.
• Made giants throw boulders a little more often.
• Monster perception adjustment for early levels tweaked slightly - it was +3 for the first 5 levels down to +0 for the last 5, now it runs +2 to -1. I felt after making pacifism runs in original Sil that +3 was a lot.
• Various smithing changes. Weaponsmithing has gained from cheaper damage sides and slays. The major resists have got cheaper, and many more abilities are now available in places that better match artifacts.
• Negative effects on non-artefact items now reduce smithing costs, so e.g. a Shadow Cloak of Winter's Chill is worth making.
• The prerequisites on Forewarned were removed.
• Ring of Venom's End drops earlier, and Daggers of Accompaniment now grant +EV (they're parrying daggers after all).

New toys:

• Song of Delvings drops to 6, replacing Song of Aule. It works faster, detects secret doors and traps, and reduces tunneling difficulty.
• Song of Valour comes in at 10 (I wanted to call it Song of Breathless Deeds but the name wouldn't fit). It increases Strength and Dexterity by 3, may stun enemies with Will below your Song score, and drains health as well as voice.
• Coup de Grace moved to Stealth, costing 11 points and moving the Dex point to 12. It now provides guaranteed kills on enemies with HP under your stealth score.
• New melee skill: Anticipate, requires 12 Melee - rerolls misses up to twice against aggressive opponents. Requires Power or Song of Challenge.
• New spider quite early on.
• [ and ] show lists of monsters and objects; pressed twice they toggle between viewing line-of-sight and everything on screen.
• New effect: cheat death. Saves you from a fatal blow at 1 HP, curing negative status effects and giving you the next move. Amulets of Adornment are now Amulets of Last Chances.
• New curse: betrayal. New artefacts added. Swords and shields grow heavy and lay you open to maximum damage from a blow, helms fall over your eyes and blind you, rings and amulets slip from your finger and neck and alert all your surrounding enemies. They're all primed to pick the worst moment for this, though the curse will not kill you by itself and is triggered rarely.