Interesting idea, but monsters don't currently have any concept of light / dark. The assumption being that they can all see in the dark because they live there. Monsters can only sense where the party is and only then when they're within a given radius (which is already configurable on a per monster type basis).I assume, many monsters do have a visual sense, reacting upon sight. If still out of direct line of sight to the party: Do they also see flying missiles and similar and will they investigate them if so? Do see the party only, or do they see the light spread by the party too (that'd be cool, it would create an etire new ninja-like combat tactic approach, sneaking up to monsters in the dark. Maybe that could even increase ninja damage)? Can monsters glow in that they do not only have body parts, that don't darken in low-light conditions like the other body parts, as some parts of the screamer grafics are supposed to, but in that they spreaed light by themselves, visible to the party if wandering about in low-light conditions?
Always ignore it.If monsters with visual senses approach an invisible party, will they always ignore it, or do they react to the parties actions?
Can custom monsters possibly use the invisibility spell themselves (OMG - invisible gigglers...)
Yep, they can already do this :twisted:
Again, interesting idea, but not currently possible.Is it possible to have light sensitive monsters that will avoid certain light levels (imagine a floorpad triggering spectre that will only appear in the dark or a fairy that only shows up in twighlight).
!Would a monster with visual senses follow a trace of magic footprints (THAT'D BE COOL!!!)
No, the map of the dungeon that monsters use to navigate is held globally, not per monster. This is purely a practical measure to keep down memory usage. A fake wall is only marked as an open tile when the party passes through it (and not when a missile / spell does).I know that monsters will respect a fake wall until the party passes through. Does party passing through generally disable a specific fake wall for all monsters or do monsters individually memorize whether a wall is fake or real? If the latter is the case, will they only be enabled if they see or otherwise sense the party passing through? Would they also disbelieve the illusion if they saw another monster or missile passing through?
Not easilyCan they be made to hesitate a slight moment before passing a fake wall, as player characters also often do?
Not applicable because that isn't implemented! (but again, it's an interesting idea for the future).I assume, that there are monsters with tremorsense, sensing the parties movements, as worms are supposed to do. If such a monster moves into perception range to a still standing party, will they ignore it and pass by harmlessly? Would they feel an item dropped or a wall or door being knocked or triggered (or even bashed)?
Monsters will always detect a party on the adjacent tile.Do monsters with or without whatever senses always sense a party on the adjacent tile (lets say like by smell or warmth or something)? Or can a threatening monster pass harmlessly by the party in the right conditions?
Not applicable because that isn't implemented! (but again, it's an interesting idea for the future).I assume that there is an accustic sense. Does it react to the parties footsteps? If so, is there a difference left between having accustic senses only or accustic senses AND tremorsense? MOST IMPORTANT: Does a monster hear an item hitting the floor and/or dropping to the ground, or a door operated or a floorpad triggered or a teleporter buzzing or a wall or door being knocked (or even bashed)? If it heard such a sound, would it investigate it? It'd be so cool to lure monsters by throwing stones, especially while invisible. Would a monster hear a warcry or horn blow from a distance? If so, how would it react? Would it have to make a saving throw vs. fear? If it succeeded at the save, would it come to investigate?
Monsters currently ignore items and only go after the party.Would it be possible to have monsters be able to trace the party by investigating left behind items?
Do the different senses have individual range?
Currently there's only the one sense so yes! In the grand scheme of things, then if there were multiple senses then they would be individually configurable.
Why are teleporters "poor"? Internally, that's all stairs are (a special case teleporter), so I'm not sure what the problem is with the current implementation.Would it be possible to create custom monsters that are able to climb stairs without having to emulate that poorly by teleporters?
Not currently, but a good idea for the future.Does the engine allow for custom monsters that are able to backstep or sidestep? Humanoids caught under a closing door should strike and backstep, not do a circular jig.
Can monsters have an intelligence flag or byte to determine, whether they can backstep, sidestep or do tricky manoevres (see below)?
Seems reasonable (when there's parts of the AI to turn on / off).
It's always random, but tilted by the relative recovery time between movement and attacking for each monster. The monsters in DM move faster than they recover from attacks, so they nearly always (remember, it's random) move rather than attack. For custom monsters, this could be pushed to be the other way around or more balanced.Currently all monsters quickly close in and only attack when adjacent to the party, no matter whether they attack by close combat or by spells. Can monsters with ranged attacks first shoot from afar and then randomly decide whether to shoot again or to close in?
Yes, that's already possible - just give them an attack method that creates arrows (or whatever else you fancy).Can monsters attack with physical missile, like let's say enemy archers?
Not yet, but again an interesting idea. Having said that though, in earlier versions of RTC, when monsters were more intelligent and waited to ambush the party everyone complained that they were too clever, so I'd be reluctant to add too much extra AI in...Can smart monsters jump out from behind a corner, fire their spells or missiles and then duck back again behind the corner, as player characters often do?
