J.E. Sawyer

Sorry. Yeah, we do still have minimum damage through threshold. Currently, I believe it is a constant. This is nice because it's very easy to change. We may or may not put different values on certain weapons. It will probably be a while before we finalize those numbers. We do currently have (flat value) DT bypass as a property of weapons like the stiletto and estoc.

It's not that we don't think it could work; we just don't think a large number of people would actually want to play the game that way. We're trying to support a fair amount of niche preferences in PE, but when those niches drop significantly below 10% of the people we believe are interested in the game, the motivation for us to support that preference goes down sharply. So while it isn't incorrect to say that we're trying to appeal to keyboard and mouse players, I do think it's incorrect to identify them as the "elite". In this case, they are very much the "popular". I have a Steel Battalion controller that I could use in a variety of PC games (especially mech games, obviously). I'd love it if a developer supported it, but I understand why they don't.

Personally, I also like systems like that. However, I don't have any design problems with randomized damage as long as it's relatively narrow band. While it may seem at times like we're turning the world upside down with some of our system conventions compared to D&D, I'm trying to walk a fine line between familiarity and innovation.

Doesn't this mean it's now much less important to optimize your characters towards scoring critical hits on hard-to-hit boss enemies? Just wear 'em down with grazes instead. On a related note, I don't believe you've ever said whether there's still some minimum damage value that always penetrates the DT, ever since the armor system changed. If there is such a value, does it still differ per weapon, or is it a universal constant? Hit point- (or in our case, Stamina-) oriented slugfests are endurance races. On a long enough timeline, even a D&D character with a 15% chance to hit will do enough damage to take down some big bruiser. In practice, that character is probably going to have his or her face pounded in long before that time arrives. When armor is involved (and most creatures do have some amount of DT), the practical effects of a Graze vs. a Hit are more than just .5 vs. 1. In the previous example I gave, 6 points of DT meant that the Graze did, in the final tally, 66% less Stamina/Health damage than a Hit with the same base damage. On a Crit, that 18 turns to 27, which means it does 21 Stamina damage vs. the normal hit's 12. In practical testing, attempting to Graze your way to victory is often a dangerous road to follow. I had a situation a few weeks ago where the party was pounding on a fighter in scale armor with high Deflection. My fighter was occupied when he came up, so the enemy wound up Melee Engaging my wizard. I dogpiled the fighter but most of my attacks were either Deflection-based or were Reflex-based AoEs (and now I had multiple characters stuck to this dude). I was regularly Grazing him, but his Stamina was going down very slowly (especially since he had Constant Recovery). Eventually I tried to have my wizard make a run for it. He turned on Arcane Veil, took a step, got hit with a hard Disengagement Attack, and dropped capital-D Dead. We eventually beat him down, but it took a while. On another playthrough, I kept him at a respectable distance from my wizard, dropped my paladin and fighter on him, and then had the priest periodically cast Divine Mark, attacking his Psyche defense for targeted damage and lowering his Deflection for long enough to land some really solid hits. Grazes are a nice consolation prize and they help normalize damage output, but Hits are typically WAY better. We may still increase the effect of Crits, but currently I don't see Graze builds as being a viable strategy. If I wind up attacking into a defense that outclasses my attacks by 25 points or more, I usually wind up regretting it. In those circumstances, while it's true that 45% of your attacks are still Grazes, 30% of them are full Misses and 30% are Hits.

Because of how we have to flip tiles of the 2D image, it's difficult for us to position the elements in a way that feels fully natural. We recognize that elements like the theatre or individual buildings look strange when viewed from a high camera, but it's one of the trade-offs we've accepted for having a lot of upgrades within the stronghold.

Unfortunately, no. Swapping sections of the rendered 2D image is trickier than it may seem.

Yes. I was using the terms that the poster before me was using. The upgrade is actually called "Forum" in-game.

Actually, I'm sorry, that last part isn't correct. A Crit could still do less damage than a max damage Hit. On average, it will do more.

Yes, our damage ranges will be narrower than what you see on most base weapons in D&D, more comparable to what you see under the bell in multi-die spell damage. Without exception so far, minimum damage is more than 50% of maximum damage. A Graze will always do less damage, even on the best damage roll, than the worst damage roll for a Hit. A Crit will always do more damage, even on the worst damage roll, than the best damage roll on a Hit.

In the context of the stronghold, it's more like the common grounds/meeting place for visitors/travelers. It's small, but we didn't really want to devote a huge amount of open space for it.

Is it called Bob? It is, isn't it? That upgrade is actually called "Forum".

Yes. Pretty much everything you see changing (on a large scale) causes a mechanical change of some sort.

Amphitheatres were the round ones with sits on all sides, theatres were the ones with half circular benches. The first ones were used for family entertainment (lions, gladiators, etc.), while the second ones were used for more intellectual stuff (plays, stand-up philosophers, etc.). Modern usage is inconsistent, but if it's meant to provide intellectual bonus, please name it as it should be named. It's not actually called "amphitheatre" in-game.

The hedge maze and amphitheatre are both mechanical upgrades to the stronghold. They can provide bonuses to characters who rest at the stronghold: Stealth for the hedge maze and Intellect for the amphitheatre.

Graze isn't any longer half the minimum damage? So 10 instead of 12. Correct. It's now half "rolled" damage (or duration). Similarly, crits are now +50% "rolled" damage (or duration).

Spells work like any other type of attack.

A Graze halves incoming damage, before armor. Damage is almost always applied to Stamina, with Health damage being derived from Stamina damage at a (typically) 1:4 ratio. Let's say an attack (the source doesn't really matter) would do 20-28 points of damage on a capital-H Hit. The target has 6 points of Damage Threshold against this damage type. The attack hits and does 24 points of damage. Armor takes off 6 points, leaving 18 points of Stamina damage, which in turn means the target takes 4.5 points of Health damage (yes, we do track fractions). On a Graze, the same 24 points of damage is immediately reduced to 12 points of damage. 6 points come off, leaving 6 points of Stamina damage and 1.5 points of Health damage.

Some.

Confident Aim is one of their higher level abilities.

BTW, just to be clear, successful Disengagement Attacks always play a hit reaction (unless the target has temporary immunity to the reaction, like a Wild Sprinting barbarian). That's one of the main reasons they exist.

Other than interrupting spellcasting, that's actually very un-D&D-like (and un-RTS-like). In D&D, even "interrupt" actions don't truly delay or abort actions (including movement) unless the interrupting action explicitly changes the character's state/stance. If a barbarian tears through 8 squares threatened by over a dozen enemies and takes hits from half of them, he or she still gets to take his or her full movement.

Differences between accuracy and defense shift the entire scale point for point. 20 Accuracy vs. 20 Deflection = 5% Miss, 45% Graze, 45% Hit, 5% Crit 25 Accuracy vs. 20 Deflection = 0% Miss, 45% Graze, 45% Hit, 10% Crit 15 Accuracy vs. 20 Deflection = 10% Miss, 45% Graze, 45% Hit, 0% Crit 97 Accuracy vs. 52 Deflection = 0% Miss, 5% Graze, 45% Hit, 50% Crit No matter what the difference between accuracy and defense are, it's always possible for the attacker to Graze or Hit. However, through advantage or deficit, the attacker can eliminate the possibility of Miss and Crit. Certain classes have abilities that shift these bands. E.g. rogues have Dirty Fighting, which increases their Crit range. Fighters have Confident Aim, which increases their Graze range. They can also gain Critical Defense, which -- you guessed it -- makes it more difficult for enemies to score Crits against them.

You will find unique named weapons, but you will also be able to modify weapons with properties that you prefer. We no longer have a Crafting skill, but you can add special properties to weapons and armor through the crafting system.

Eternity's combat is very stat-driven and fairly zoomed-out, so it's rare that the characters play hit reactions, blocks, or parries.

We have never discussed controller support for PE, only mouse and keyboard. Controller functionality isn't something we're inherently opposed to, but I can't imagine it's something we would prioritize or spend time on during development. Sorry.