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Open Questions

Open Questions

Things deliberately left undecided as of 2026-09-27 (design sessions 1-2):

  1. Damage during exec: no auto-abort by default (- large spells stay viable),viable. butDesign direction: significant damage triggers a concentration check; the gamethreshold needsand disruptionwhich toolsstats (reactions/abilitiesthe thatcheck push or slow a cycle) or committed castersuses are untouchable. Tuning, not structure.tuning.
  2. Reaction PER values: exact phase costs for reaction actions - baseline guideline is short/zero prep, short exec, padded recover as the tax (the 0/1/N shape).
  3. Initiative magnitudeas speed stat: how much prep/recover jitter should initiative should shave (and whetherdoes it compoundscompound with the fighters' zero-phase feats).? Also worth asking whether the speed effect is necessary or even valuable - initiative already provides tick ordering and reaction priority; the jitter may be complexity without payoff.
  4. Encumbrance model: weight lands in the exec stat-side for movement (alongside dex) but the concrete numbers are open.
  5. Danger tiles and 3D: proposed approach is 3D tiles - there are no "open" tiles; stepping into an open space at your level means falling until you hit the bottom, then you're on that level; fly/levitate keeps you at height unless you take an action to rise or sink. Open because ASCII display is hard: shading on tiles could indicate space above; blank tiles could indicate space below.
  6. UI/information design: how ASCII conveys phase state, and whether the player's Lore/Int gates what the UI reveals (identification-tradition style). E.g. a first-ever encounter with a baby dragon - does it show as "d" (dragon) or as "L" (big lizard, because you've never seen one)?
  7. Exact tick basis and tile size: confirm the ~10 ticks/foot granularity and the base tile (leaning to 1 cubic foot; human footprint ~2 wide x 1 deep, matching the taller-than-wide roguelike glyph). Per-tile movement baseline at even terrain.
  8. Decision-model backend choice: hosted vs local vs fallback, when the judgment layer actually ships.
  9. Reaction chainingtiming: canshould ALL reactions resolve on the tick after their trigger, rather than same-tick? If reaction-triggered reactions wait a reactiontick, triggerwhy do initial reactions not - needs a reactiondecision inbetween thea sameuniform tick?deferral Proposal:rule reactionsand triggered during the reaction pass queue for the next tick -a bounded andsame-tick deterministic, one reaction per actor per tick. Feats/stances may bend it.cascade.
  10. Reactive builds: acting almost entirely on reactions (a duelist stance that punishes anything acting nearby; reacting during your own reaction's recover to skip the tax). The exploit window makes this risky by design - a feat/stance space to explore.
  11. Interruptibility details: which actions pause vs cancel when the actor reacts (concentration-dependent on_react property); the taxonomy needs building out per action.
  12. Terrain on all prep/recover?: Shouldshould terrain influence every action's prep and recover, not just movement? Casting on a mountain ledge in a thunderstorm should be harder than on steady ground. If yes, terrain applies a general prep/recover modifier, with movement-specific rules layered on top.
  13. Core resolution mechanic: keep the MVP's d20 + degrees of success for attacks/damage/saves, or move to a different model? Undecided in the tick redesign - and "too far from Pathfinder" freedom applies here too.
Tick clock scope: does the global tick run the whole game (exploration, rest, patrols, world time) or only combat? Monster patrol/wander behavior between fights matters for the Ammann model. Player decision points: player-paced means the game stops for input - but how often? Player actions are clear (stop when the player must act); do player reactions also prompt, or get automated via a pre-set reaction policy? Frequent prompting could be exhausting. Group tactics: profiles are per-monster-type, but Ammann monsters fight as units (goblin gang: lurers, flankers, shaman support). Is there a squad/group layer above individual profiles (formations, coordinated triggers)? Death mid-action: an actor dies during prep/exec/recover - does the in-flight action complete (the dying mage's fireball lands; the dying fighter's swing connects) or fizzle at death? Needs a rule; current lean: a completed exec lands, a prepped-but-unexecuted action dies with its caster. Noise and attraction: do loud actions (combat, screams, big spells) generate noise that draws monsters over time? Reinforcements arriving mid-fight is core Ammann and squarely in the roguelike tradition.