Open Questions

Open Questions

Things deliberately left undecided as of 2026-09-27 (design sessions 1-2)3):

1. Damage during exec: no auto-abort by default - large spells stay viable. Design direction: significant damage triggers a concentration check; the threshold and which stats the check uses are 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 as speed stat: how much prep/recover jitter should initiative shave (and does it compound with 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 timing: shouldlean ALLis a uniform rule - all reactions resolve on the tick after their trigger,trigger rather than same-tick? If reaction-triggered reactions wait a tick, why do initial reactions not - needs a decision between a uniform deferral rule and a bounded(no same-tick cascade.vs next-tick split). Consequence: single-tick execs are effectively uninterruptible by reactions; multi-tick execs have interruption windows (see 17).
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?: should 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: keepdirection - drop the MVP'd20; it's d20all +probabilities on a computer. Use a uniform roll on 0-1, optionally displayed as 1-100 percentages (roll*100+1) for readable tuning. Keep the degrees of success mechanic from Pathfinder - it prevents nat-20/nat-1 -style oversized effects for attacks/damage/saves,events that should happen 5% of the time, and gives leveling a solid mechanism (the experienced archer is reliably better). Note: a uniform 0-1 roll is mathematically identical to a d20 (both flat) - the real questions are which thresholds define success/crit bands (PF2e uses +10/-10 over the DC) and whether to keep the distribution flat or move to a differentbell model?curve Undecided(2d10-style) into tame the ticktails redesignfurther. -The andopen "tooresidue: farhow fromclose Pathfinder"to freedomPathfinder's appliesthreshold herestructure too.vs making it our own.
14. Tick clock scope: doesdirection (initial) - while in the globaldungeon tick runproper the wholeclock gamealways (exploration,runs; any actor within XX tiles of activity is part of the PER loop. Open: the XX radius, rest, patrols,non-combat worldbehavior, time)patrols orand onlywandering combat?(phased Monster patrol/wander behavior between fights matters for the Ammann model.exploration).
15. Player decision points: player-paced means the game stops for inputdirection - but how often? Player actions are clear (stop when the player must act); do player reactions also prompt, or getare automated via a pre-player-set reactiondecision policy?policy Frequent- promptingthe couldfirst real "let the AI handle something" option for the player. It must be exhausting.logged so the player can review and tweak their policy. Open: the policy UI, default policies, and this doubling as the testbed for autopilot mode.
16. Group tactics: profileslargely resolved - no separate squad AI. Even in a group, every monster decides independently; team tactics are per-monster-type,built butinto Ammanneach monstersmonster's fightdecision policy as unitsteammate-conditional (goblinrules: gang:fighters lurers, flankers, shaman support). Is there"if a squad/groupteammate layeris abovewithin individualx profilestiles, (formations,move coordinatedto triggers)?flank" or "if a teammate caster is present, stand between them and the enemy"; archers "move behind the meat shield / behind cover before firing". The specific rules are tuning.
17. DeathInterrupted or death mid-action: anbroader actorthan dies during prep/exec/recoverdeath - doeswhat happens to actions interrupted mid-tick? With the in-flightuniform actionnext-tick completereaction rule (see 9), single-tick execs are effectively uninterruptible; multi-tick execs can be interrupted (many spells, the dyingwhirlwind). mage'sInterruption behavior is specified per action; default: nothing happens. Example: a two-tick fireball lands;(tick 1 summon, tick 2 shoot) interrupted on tick 2 explodes in the dying fighter'caster's swinghands. connects)Death oris fizzleone atcause death?of Needsinterruption, anot rule;the currentonly lean:one. a completed exec lands, a prepped-but-unexecuted action dies with its caster.Open.
18. NoiseSenses and attraction: dostrong louddirection actions- (combat, screams, big spells) generate noise that drawsalerting monsters over time? Reinforcements arriving mid-fight is corea Ammannfull sensory model, gated by the monster's nature: noise, smell, distant lights in darkness, the sudden absence of light, a patrol not showing up when it should (which triggers very different responses from lazy goblins vs trained mercenaries). Loud environments mask sounds - near an active forge or rushing waterfall, nothing triggers. Intelligence and squarelyPerception inare the roguelikekey tradition.drivers. Specs open.