[MoM] Add Vitakinetic power Degenerating Touch

[Standing-Storm]

Summary

Mods "[MoM] Add Vitakinetic power Degenerating Touch"

Purpose of change

A third, very high level damaging vitakinetic power I've been thinking about for a while.

Describe the solution

Add the power. Degenerating Touch requires touch (as stated), but when used it reduces the target's regeneration (if any) to 0, their speed by a third, and does massive biological damage over a short duration as the target's cells undergo accelerated necrosis. It probably won't kill powerful targets but it sure does set up them up for death--a shoggoth is much less of a threat if it's not healing at all.

Describe alternatives you've considered

Testing

Power is learnable and works.

Additional context

Now to add the font of vitality and give this power to them. You didn't think you would be the only one who could learn it, did you?

[emixa-d]

Unless "touch" is figurative here, there should be a dodge check, and sufficiently thick armor should stop it. (As an extreme case, isn't a car a really heavy and oddly-shaped power armor?). Perhaps it is figurative.

(Same applies to other touch vitakinetic powers)

My current interpretation (ignoring game mechanics / simplification) is that some actual touching is necessary (so, dodge check and melee range), but it doesn't need to be a skin-to-skin touch - the psionics will go through the armor to reach the target (and touching with a melee weapon can be enough to 'aim' the psionics). I don't know what the maximal thickness and indirectness would be.

(I don't know what should be the case.)

[Standing-Storm]

You are correct and I have tried to think of a way to model that, but the conclusion I came to is that there's an overcomplex bad way and a much better way that is beyond my current capabilities.

The overcomplex bad way would be to build a big EoC chain to handle it. The reason I say this is bad is that while I could check unarmed skill + randomizer vs. dodge skill + randomizer, and account for monster size, a lot of things that affect CDDA's actual combat system (most notably, encumbrance) have no interaction with EoCs and would not affect your chance to hit your target. And this is ignoring that combat is not just skill + 1d10 vs dodge + 1d10.

The much better way that is beyond my current capabilities would be some way, like a "touch_attack": true field, to mark that a particular power requires a successful unarmed attack to affect the target at all. That would use the existing combat code instead of coming up with a rickety version that does the same thing but much worse.

and touching with a melee weapon can be enough to 'aim' the psionics

For vitakinesis at least this would not be true, which is part of my dilemma.