Taunt skill does not always work?

[Nick]

I have a character who has the taunt skill and a BC of anywhere from 120% to 160% depending on what items I have equipped at the time. When fighting some of the monsters on the way to Remgard I found that they don't loose AP if even after 20 rounds or more. Any idea if this is a bug or working as intended?

[Usirim]

I have the taunt skill too. My BC is around 300, so monsters should have a miss should on regular base <evil grin>.
I've tested a few monsters. While they have a regular AP of 3, they make only 2 attacks per round (I hit two times "next round" and checked battle log afterwards). So the skill works fine (never thought about that; now it is proofed).

Remark: monster stats were not modified, that is something that could be changed in future versions (hint, hint)

[Zukero]

I checked the source code and it looks like Taunt works as expected. It has a 75% chance of triggering when the monster misses you. Check your combat log. If the mob doesn't miss, you can't taunt him.
However, it is possible that their stats aren't refreshed correctly. IIRC, this bug is fixed in the dev version. I'll check.

[Nick]

@Urisim, it does seem to work as you said. But against mobs that have attacks that cost 10 AP they still attack even after a large number of misses. Perhaps it can't stop them form ever attack.

Thank you two for your replies.

[Nut]

Hi Nick,
Maybe there is some misunderstanding about the taunt effect: After missing the monster could loose some AP indeed, but only for 1 round. So it has an atttack less - in that round. Next round it has the full AP again, so you wont see a diminished AP at the monsters stat.

Nevertheless - I myself like the taunt skill very much.

[Nick]

Ah k, I didn't realize it expired after a round.

Thanks.

[rijackson741]

I tested this for another actor condition (I forget which one, but it was one inflicted by a weapon). The effect lasts for the remainder of the existing round (if any), and the next round. So you should always have at least one round of effect. I don't think I tested the specific case where the monster only gets one attack though, and I haven't tested any actor condition that is inflicted by a skill. My expectation would be to get at least one round from Taunt though, so if a monster with an attack cost of 10 AP misses then the monster would lose a round.

[Zukero]

Taunt isn't applied as an actor condition, but more like a potion. It gives an immediate loss of AP, as if trying to flee or change equipment, to the taunted mob. Next round, the mob gets full AP back. It's more a temporary disruption than a permanent injury to its ego

[rijackson741]

Ah. Thanks for the information. That's good to know. I was looking at Taunt as a skill I wanted, but that makes it less useful than I thought. The description doesn't say how long it lasts, and I just assumed 1 round, in the same way an actor condition behaves. The fact that there is no "Taunt" actor condition should have been a red flag for that idea! I think it would be a good idea to change the description to "When an attacker makes an attack that misses, there is a 75% chance that the attacker loses 2 action points (AP) for the remainder of the round.".

Is this also how Fracture, Concussion, and Internal Bleeding work, or do those actually induce the actor conditions (the descriptions are equally vague)?

[Usirim]

I think the skill is powerfull enough, but the price for buying it (7 skill points = 28 levels) is big nuyen.
That means, when one has the points to buy it, this skill isn't that usefull any more. But that is always the problem with high level skills.