Balance fix to level drain and potions of restore ability

Right now, the punishment for being hit more than twice by a level
drainer pre-Quest is disproportionate; grinding back up to level
14 from level 13 takes a long time, and yet isn't particularly
difficult, just slow, and a potion of full healing will only
regain one of the lost levels (as only half the lost levels can
be regained this way).

Meanwhile, potions of restore ability are currently automatically
blanked by almost all spoiled players; they don't do anything that
doesn't have more convenient sources (unicorn horn or the spell),
so they're only useful in the very early game for getting poison
resistance.

This commit aims to fix both problems, by allowing potions of
restore ability to restore lost experience levels, in addition to
lost attribute points; an uncursed potion restores one lost level
(with multiple potions making it possible to hit the cap), a
blessed potion restores all of them. That gives players an
incentive to keep them around rather than blanking them. (Notably,
the spell and tool were not changed the same way; for restoring
levels, you need to use the potion.)

diff --git a/src/exper.c b/src/exper.c
index 06456e0c0e436df75133e43a6f1855b8d34a9357..675375ebead5034ea153825f4f3f057666514958 100644 (file)
--- a/src/exper.c
+++ b/src/exper.c
@@ -293,9 +293,11 @@ boolean incr; /* true iff via incremental experience growth */
             u.uexp = newuexp(u.ulevel);
         }
         ++u.ulevel;
+        pline("Welcome %sto experience level %d.",
+              u.ulevelmax < u.ulevel ? "" : "back ",
+              u.ulevel);
         if (u.ulevelmax < u.ulevel)
             u.ulevelmax = u.ulevel;
-        pline("Welcome to experience level %d.", u.ulevel);
         adjabil(u.ulevel - 1, u.ulevel); /* give new intrinsics */
         reset_rndmonst(NON_PM);          /* new monster selection */
     }

diff --git a/src/potion.c b/src/potion.c
index 4925b27b05e62c07bf607a7deec2b6549ea28fd4..5daa9fbcc7de0c225e92c5f360cb5eaeb440b397 100644 (file)
--- a/src/potion.c
+++ b/src/potion.c
@@ -577,6 +577,18 @@ register struct obj *otmp;
                 if (++i >= A_MAX)
                     i = 0;
             }
+
+            /* when using the potion (not the spell) also restore lost levels,
+               to make the potion more worth keeping around for players with
+               the spell or with a unihorn; this is better than full healing
+               in that it can restore all of them, not just half, and a
+               blessed potion restores them all at once */
+            if (otmp->otyp == POT_RESTORE_ABILITY &&
+                u.ulevel < u.ulevelmax) {
+                do {
+                    pluslvl(FALSE);
+                } while (u.ulevel < u.ulevelmax && otmp->blessed);
+            }
         }
         break;
     case POT_HALLUCINATION: