           Dragoons: Introduction

A Dragoon is telepathically and sympathetically linked to a dragon at the
time it hatches.  A Dragoon and a dragon share everything: feelings, pain,
even death.  They live for each other and die for each other.

With a young dragon, most of the responsibility falls on the Dragoon.  The
young dragon must be protected, provided for, and taught.  As the dragon
grows, it will become more and more of an equal partner to the Dragoon.

What does this mean?  This means that if you become a dragoon, you'll
be presented with a young and close to helpless dragon you will have to
expend untold time and effort simply to keep him or her alive.  It means
that anything that happens to the dragon will also happen to you, which
can become extremely painful at times.  It also means that after enough 
of that effort, you will have a powerful, protective, and extremely large
beast that loves nothing in the world better than you.      

            Levels and Stats

Dragons must gain experience and raise their levels, the same as their
dragoons.  Also as with their dragoons, they have stats to be raised.
Stamina   how much punishment a dragon can take from enemies.
Strength  how much punishment a dragon can deal out.
Speed     how fast and how deftly your dragon can move.
Hide      a measure of the toughness of your dragon's skin.
Bond      the strength of a dragon's bond to his dragoon.
Finally, a dragon has four elemental stats: fire, air, water, and earth.
Elemental stats affect a dragon's breath- see below.

When a dragon raises a level (max dragon level is 20) it recieves 4 
normal stat points and 2 elemental stat points.  (normal stats have a limit
of 16, elemental stats have no limit, but mixing them gives the best effect)
If a dragon dies, it looses 4 stat points and 2 elemental points at random.
NOTE:  these stats start at zero, though 4 normal and 2 elemental
       are picked when the dragoon selects a dragon
Also, There cannot be more than a 5 point difference between normal stats
Experience point requirements for level and stats paralell those for players,
but with a steeper curve for stats.  Requirement for dragon level 20 is
3 million exp.
tentative stat cost formula: stat*stat*200 (200 to advance to 1, 51200 to
advance to 16)

Experience division is directly proportional to levels, a la the party
object, but without the option to modify number of shares


dragon hp:  40+level*8+sta*8 (min 48, max 348)
dragon ac:  4+hide (min 4, max 20)
dragon wc:  5+strength*1.5 (min 5, max 29)
speed and bond affect dragon spells and other abilities - basically they
  provide a basis for failure percentage and damage caps

             Dragon Breath

Dragon breath is the primary power of the dragoon guild, and is affected
by the configuration of the dragon's elemental stats.  Cost and damage
are calculated directly from the sum of the elemental stats, but the right
combination of stats results in a chance of certain beneficial side effects.
The appearance of the breath depends on which stat is highest, and is
also randomized, but doesn't affect damage.

Breath damage: random(total elemental stats) (min 2 max 40)
Breath cost:   (total elemental stats)/2  (min 1 max 20)

These spells can't be cast unless the dragon is in combat, but are added
as spell_object spells for the dragoon.  Note breath damage doesn't even
reach the power of fireball until the dragon is level 20.  This is because
(1) dragon physical damage is rather extreme and (2) breath does other
things beside straight damage.
 
When the breath spell is cast the player chooses the primary element for
the player to use.  There will then be a chance of an ability with that
element as the primary element being selected, if the dragon's scores in
all elements in the ability are high enough.


               Dragon Breath Effects

blinding steam:    fire(10)   water(5)  3+random(3) rounds of wc/2
sheet of ice:      water(10)  air(5)
magic tornado:     air(13)    water(8)
air into plasma:   fire(16)   air(15)   costs double sp, does -2hps for several rounds
barrage of stones: air(5)     earth(2)  wc-2 for two rounds
bubbling lava:     fire(12)   earth(8)  
piercing diamonds: earth(16)  air(12)
snowstorm:         air(7)     water(4)
blizzard:          air(16)    water(10)

               Other Powers:

shield:    start tanking for their player
withdraw:  stop tanking for their player
retreat:   exit combat entirely, exp cost
deliver:   take an item elsewhere on the mud.  weight limits, chance of failure
speak:     guild channel
scout:     take a look at a neighboring room
transport: teleport to guild or a preset location
emote:     dragon emotes what the player tells it to
sprint:    guild speedster.  dragon lifts up the dragoon and half-carries him
           as he moves.  damage and end sprint if they don't move (ie, if
           they run into something)
lift:      dragon lifts the dragoon into the air and drops him, letting him
           deliver a devastating physical attack.  ac penalty and time limit
           between uses.  (possibly deathblow only)

              Dragon Combat:

When the dragon is not tanking, combat works much like normal player and pet
combat.  The dragon gains experience as players from the damage it does.
bigger exp prizes are divided up relative to the levels of the player
and the dragon, via a shadow if no better way presents itself.

When the dragon is tanking, any damage taken from a hit_player call
will be reduced by one fourth and applied to the player with an add_hit_point.
(The dragon takes full damage, and the player takes 1/4 of that damage)

If a dragon's hps go below zero, OR its player dies, then the dragon is
considered to have died.  When a dragon dies, if the player isn't dead, it
is immediately killed as well.  As with a player, a dragon looses 1/4 of its
experience.  Stats are randomly subtracted until it has the proper number
for its level.  A dead dragon can only be revived at the guild hall, and
only after the player as revived.
