Karranthain

Aye, I remember that one too. It's also visible in this video : http://youtu.be/AUleDEFkUtE?t=2m16s. We should be safe on that front And yes, the warhammers are very cool. The whole hussar attire is quite nice, actually - I like the East meets West aesthetic. Koncerz (the Polish-Lithuanian hussar's variant of an Estoc) also looks rather nice, doesn't it?

In full agreement here. Luckily, it looks like the sabres are indeed in the game (the character using plate armor appears to have one) :

Basic black is timeless and elegant, but I wouldn't want to fight a summer campaign in the Mediterranean whist wearing such armor. Indeed. You'd probably wear something like that instead :

Now, I’ve noticed a tendency for this topic to get rather silly. Now for a complete change of mood. I present to you the blackened plate armour : Doesn't get more stylish than that.

I disagree about it being good wizard armour. To me, that very much looks like an armoured rogue, not wizard. The hat, the rapier, the practical, down-to-earth look of it all. Definitely a rogue. Fair enough - would perhaps work better for wizards if we'd lose the hat Look, it's an awesome battlemage with his splendid spellsword! That guy is a noob. This is what a proper battlemage (level 12) looks like :

I disagree about it being good wizard armour. To me, that very much looks like an armoured rogue, not wizard. The hat, the rapier, the practical, down-to-earth look of it all. Definitely a rogue. Fair enough - would perhaps work better for wizards if we'd lose the hat

Continuing the "armoured wizards" theme, here's another design I think would work well : Elegant, offering good protection and mobility.

Aye, that'd work well I reckon. E.g. imagine this wizard : -snipped picture- Wearing one of these : -snipped pictures- Yeah, that'd look really cool. I am looking forward to the character building possibilities, as well as the added tactical options, given to us by wizards in armour. Though I have to say that Wayne Reynolds, who I think is the illustrator of that wizard, really loves his belts and pouches a bit too much. Indeed, can't wait! I'd also add half armours to the list of suits suitable for wizards (at least for those who'd value protection over mobility, that is) : The gauntlets would probably be a bit too unwieldy, however. (And yeah, Reynolds does have a thing for belts

Glanfathans seem to be influenced by the Celtic culture; Vailians are most likely modeled after Italian city-states. Granted, we don't know that much about PE's cultures just yet.

Aye, that'd work well I reckon. E.g. imagine this wizard : Wearing one of these :

Speaking of which, how do you envision heavily-armoured wizards (which is something we might encounter in PE)? I've found an interesting design, which I feel would work quite well :

Just leaving it out here : http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/60122-stretch-goal-hire-justin-sweet-to-make-portraits/

Scabbards are unlikely, but I do hope that the two-handed weapons will be rested on the shoulder :

Seconded. I mean, Gandalf pulls it off pretty well, but that's kind of his splendor over-powering the crappiness of the hat design. I also hate Wizard bath robes. I don't care how many arcane symbols are on them if it looks like I just got out of the shower to answer a knock at the door, or escaped from a hospital bed. "I just draped something upon myself! Because I'm MAGIC!" I like more practical/utilitarian Wizard attire. I will say I'm a fan of the like... fingerless cloth (or even leather/other materials) gauntlet things. I don't know what they're officially called. They protect palms/forearms (even if just from the elements), yet leave fingers free for touch spells, and effects like from the Cloak of Arachnia (wall climbing a la Spiderman). In that respect, I think Aloth's attire's pretty good : This design (which I posted some pages back) would also work nicely for wizards, I reckon :

To recapitulate : It is my hope that Obsidian will employ a "show, don't tell" approach when it comes to cultures. While I do enjoy reading various lore snippets, whether they're scattered around the world in the form of books, written in a journal/codex or even delivered by a NPC (though that can be bit cumbersome at times - i.e. exposition dumps), I'd rather see it done more elegantly. E.g. Being well-travelled merchant people, the citizens of the Vailian city states value style over substance and like to let everyone know that they're wealthy. Their armies consist mainly of well-paid mercenaries, who tend to uphold the same values when it comes to fashion. Vailians are known to be strong individualists. Most regard them as scheming and duplicitous people. 1. When you fight them, you'll often face duellists, who fight with little regard for actual tactics. 2. Their architecture is quite bombastic and not very practical. 3. Vailian citizens often wear cloaks, concealing weapons underneath them (cloak & dagger). 4. Due to the reliance on slaves, their level of technological advancement is somewhat low. 5. The mercenaries employed by the Vailians use very elaborate clothing and armour. 6. Most citizens carry rapiers and pistols and have had at least rudimentary training in their use. 7. The Vailian fashion is a mixture of various cultural designs (some of them very exotic). Just the simplest examples of what stories could be told through the equipment, architecture, tactics etc.

I'd say that it's quite likely that the denizens of the world of PE would have access to lighter, more durable materials. Or perhaps they've learned to magically imbue suits of armour, making them less cumbersome.

I think this topic needs more plumes :

If you haven't already, you definitely should try the Realms of Arkania games. Creating a party can almost be considered a full-blown game by itself (it can take up to several hours). You even get to pick values for various character flaws (claustrophobia, acrophobia etc.) and there's loads of skill choices. But do avoid the remake.

Nice update. Love the dialogue UI! Though I can't say that I like the "Defiance Bay" name.

You beat me to replying to JFSOCC's post, heh. I'll go a tad farther, though, and propose that you get to PICK a cultural specialization (or none), very similar to D&D Wizards picking a magic school specialization, or going universal. You'd still have cultural factors that could not be swapped, but maybe you happened to train with another culture's equipment style. That seems a lot more like a preference thing. Like a modern Westerner preferring to study eastern swordplay, etc. Just a supplementary idea/possibility. I'm not at all trying to supplant your ideas, Jarmo. The getting hold of a significantly superior saber example is spot on, whether or not the cultural equipment affinity is fixed or selective. That could be interesting. Let's say that you chose the Aedyran cultural background, but you'd really rather use weapons popular in Dyrwood - I think that'd probably have to be a more expensive option. After all, you'd most likely have to train on your own etc. But that'd make for an interesting choice at the character creation, definitely.

That's a very interesting idea; electing to pick an old, experienced (in a manner of speaking) soul during character charaction could also be encumbered with some sort of a penalty (slower leveling etc.). If that were indeed the case, I could very well see some of the pieces of cultural equipment to be magically imbued.The remaining perks would've still been in place. Excellent post - such details really go a long way towards establishing believable cultures; not only that - you could tell a story with just items. Using your bill example, we'd known a lot about the society just by inspecting their soldiers' favoured weapons - i.e. they're mostly farmers. But cultural background could be expanded beyond just combat - some cultures, for example, would be expert hagglers or diplomats. That'd definitely add another layer to the character creation (and it'd also potentially make humans less mundane).

I'd be in favour of slight statistical boni tied to certain pieces of cultural equipment. Or perhaps even having a bonus applied to a character wearing a matched set; that's perhaps a somewhat gamey mechanic - but you could argue that it's due to rudimentary training the characters might have had.

Interesting post, Lephys; there's as many interpretations of a rogue archetype as people it would seem I think it'd be interesting if we'd all post our takes on various archetypes, along with inspirational images. Here's my take : I picture the rogue as more of a brigand, expert ambusher (but not necessarily very stealthy) and an excellent, lightly armoured, melee fighter, utilising pistols and various dirty tricks.