Monte Carlo

I am not even remotely concerned. I think the people who are so generous should be rewarded. lavishly. And no, I'm not one of them.

Metiman, I'm genuinely not trolling but I am beginning to find your Rainman-like gaming persona genuinely amusing. Maybe we need a truce, like Tommies and Fritz playing football in no-man's land on Christmas Day. And, obviously, I am looking forward to brutally pwning the Codex adventuring party... can you share some of your ideas behind the composition of said group?

Tep, I think the Codex runs a controversial facility where dual-identity-gamers can be made 'natural' again. The techniques are... unusual, and some don't make it through. But if you do, apart from the large scar across your forehead, nobody will ever knew that you had The Treatment.

Metiman... I have a confession. Tears are pricking my eyes, the flush of shame on my cheeks. You see I *liked* parts of the first Dragon Age game. No, not the omnisexual diaper-sex or Ren Fayre dialogue. No, after many years of barren nothingness I just sought solace in the arms of the first party-based CRPG that walked into the room. I guess this means that the Thirty years of tabletop gaming and hundreds of hours of lovingly spent IE gaming counts for nothing. Heck, I even played Fallout. So, Metiman, I have confessed. Can you find it in your flinty heart to forgive me?

Harder to please? You mean impossible to please. You're as bad as "The Biowarian" romance fundies. If you get one concession, you want another. And how dare you call people out on how much they pledged? The fact is people have different economic situations. I think the Codex needs to do a Kickstarter if you are all so desperately passionate and make your own game.

Jesus H Christ. I hate romances. I loather Bioware games. I'm old-skool, just not a head-banging, fundamentalist like you.

^ Dude, Like me you're just in the 95% this guy isn't referencing.

Ha ha ha Turn-based, right? You're the guy who tells others they must despise the IE games if they don't agree with your analysis, yet you want a mechanic that wasn't actually in the IE games. You must despise the IE games. QED. Why not kidnap one of the Dev team member's cats and hold it hostage? Y'know, send ransom notes along the lines of "tUrn-BaSEd Or KitTy GEts It!!!"

Wow. Either / Or generalisations. Strawmen. Smug superiority. Wilful misrepresentation. I take my hat off to you, but would ask what about the 95% of people here who fall inbetween your two not-very-accurate extremes?

My idea was inspired by looking at the musket-toting chick in the new wallpaper. Sawyer said that she was also (usually) armed with a military hammer, but there was no sign of it in the illustration. And, TBH, having a one-shot musket when facing a legion of zombies is about as much use as an ashtray on a motorbike. _____________________ Enchanted Brawler's Musket (Magic Weapon) Even the most skilled musket-shot knows that after one enemy has been felled, there are others to fight. Many warriors are forced to drop their precious black-powder weapons and draw their blades, risking the loss of, or damage to, their firearm. Warrior-Wizards considered the problem at length, the result being the ensorcelled Musket, often known as a Brawler's Musket or a Marksman's Maul. The weapon looks like a standard wheel-lock musket, but the working parts are cleverly protected by a semi-circular bracket of enchanted metal plate. The barrel has a reinforced grip and the stock is equipped with a long, curved hook fashioned from soul-forged steel. Once the weapon is discharged, the user may reverse it and use it as a savage melee weapon, akin to a billhook or staff. Other muskets are equipped with long, barbed magical daggers that slide into a bracket under the muzzle. This device, sometimes known as a bayonet, allows the piece to be used as a short but effective spear. Lastly it is whispered that, in the deepest magical-armouries of the most advanced cultures, that extraordinary enchantments are possible: muskets that fire two or even three balls at once from multiple barrels. War-forged ammunition filled with magical fire. Weapons that have charges designed to mimic an arcane veil...

TBH there isn't anything particularly hardcore about replaying with a custom party --- it's more about fun / trying stuff out / challenges. Completing BG2 with a party of six custom-built thieves and bards, led by a cleric / thief, was a lot of fun. And a challenge. Am pretty hyped that I might be able to do that with this game too.

Obz said that a berserk type powa was a feature of the class.

As long as they ain't Mel Gibson FRREEEEEEDDDOOMMMMM style elves.

As others have said, I don't want 'chaotic stoopid' I want sly, manipulative mo-fo. I want to do Really Bad Stuff and blame it on goody-goody characters. I want to besmirch reputations, poison wells, overthrow governments by sedition and guile. I want to avoid paying taxes, steal, cheat and lie to start pointless wars. I want to, at the zenith of my power, topple faiths and have nations put to the sword on a false premise. And, I want to do all these things while the idiot general populace think I'm good. Basically I want a Politician character class.

My awesome homebrew RPG, Fighting in Tunnels, has an engineer character called 'The Sapper.' The Sapper is a tunnel-fighter, engineer, trickster, combat medic and McGuyver-style skill monkey. I would love to see something akin to your idea as a stretch goal.

Paladins should be exemplars of their faith, be they 'good' or 'evil.' In my D&D campaign (3E) all lawful characters could become paladins. Let us assume that the P:E campaign world might not suit the class. Let me reiterate, I quite like the paladin as a class (although I'd go hardcore and implement the 1E AD&D style limits on material possessions a paladin is allowed to own).

^ That's hideous.

I know we won't get it, but I always wanted a bandit / outlaw class that was like a combat heavy thief with some outdoor survival skillz.

This is my idea of the perfect combat encounter.

Yup. A paladin is basically a warrior or knight that can cast a few divine spells and also has auras, etc. They are quite different. A Paladin is a very good fighter too. Clerics/priests are not. Hey! A yo momma D&D class / combat powa comparison. A 3E Fighter / Cleric trumps a paladin of an equivalent level every time.

Paladins are somewhat superseded by combat-capable priests, and anyhow there's no alignment in this game. So I can live without them (although I'm OK with them as a class). Bards.. hmmm. Maybe it's the way I play but the Ultimate Support Guy isn't how I like to play heroic fantasy personally. If they made the bard more of a combat capable character then perhaps. But not "stand about at the back singing" dude.

Is it another 500 for a new dungeon level?

I am already planning a vile, overweight, splenetic Priest called Cartman.

I try an alternative method when pulling a gaming all-nighter and drink heavily in the real-world instead.

I've been a lich for the past five hundred years. It's OK, I like watching the passage of time and being hilariously OP, but TBH it's overrated. Bits of me fall off nowadays, and the villagers tend to cringe when I go to the shop for some glue to put my fingers back on. And the relentless sucking out of souls / general nastiness has got more like work than a hobby. Prozac and booze simply doesn't work on my cadaverous exoskeleton so I have to take solace in souls / blood / suffering. It gets to you after a while. Hey, give it a go if you want, I'm all for choice, just don't build your lair / crypt whatever anyplace near mine. The last thing I need right now is competition or another lich war *sighs*