Wintersong

Numbers and attributes not being final, if you don't want to extend the duration of skills or buffs like those of food, I guess it's ok.

That leaves the Orlans and Aumauans with very few options just so players won't have to go on the internet and get the extra portraits. In the IE games importing your own portraits was very easy; I don't see why the new races should get such a raw deal. So should they remove all non Orlan, Godlike and Aumauans portraits just because you can find human, dwarves and elves in the internet? And create only for the new races? I'm exaggerating, of course. But as I said, a player shouldn't be demanded to depend on mods of any kind for basic gameplay. Then, if he really needs/wants to get something extra, give him the means to do so (like an in game portrait import tool). It sucks for new races? Well, tell Obsidian to remove them from game and use half-orcs and halflings instead. People will photoshop/gimp their way into new portraits. Deviant arts will do their job. The expansion pack can add even more portraits. But as far as PoE goes, no matter if you want an Ocean Folk, Pale Elf, Wild Orlan or Fire Godlike, you should get options without the need of importing portraits. If Obsidian can sneak some extra for the new races? Even better.

That assumption is correct in D&D where an Intelligence of 3 is the minumum for an intelligent being (that's why half-orcs can seriously dump that stat, as they cannot go below 3 anyways despite their -2 to Int). For PoE attributes, that's not necessarily the case. Attributes are like body skills. You get a starting point and from there you build your character's strenghts. The base attributes we get right now, could be the average of John Does in PoE. Not spending a single attribute point in character creation doesn't give you a weakling in the D&D sense, just a regular Doe in PoE sense. Your Intelect 3 Wizard is not an idiot, he simply hasn't sharpened his intelect, honed his mental attitudes toward durations&areas of his skills. Raistlin Majere in PoE would enjoy a regular health instead of a crippled one. Might in PoE is a different thing for Fighters and for WIzards. For FIghters it can be pure body muscle, for Wizards it can be aura strength. But instead of giving two attributes of which one will be ignored by the other class, you get an abstract one that works the same for both. A different story could be to have "Idiot speech" for characters of "Intelect X or less" but that doesn't seem to be in the game so to assume "Intelect 3 == Village Idiot" in PoE seems to be too focused in D&D. A whole different system. Vampire The Masquerade has regular attributes going from 1 to 5. 1 was broadly weak, 2 broadly average and 3 broadly human top of the line.

Every (sub)race should get at least one option per sex. Two per option would be even better. Even if it's a basic frame with a few details changed. Humans shouldn't get the shaft in the namr of Orlans or Aumaua though. A player shouldn't need mods of any kind to get some basic portraits coverage for all the game's offered options. There will be players that may still need more specific stuff but for basic stuff, no outside effort should be done by the player. Also, why does the female Moon Godlike use a hood when in game that cannot be the case?

That system is useless if the devs don't want to be -X stuff. The current system seems to be more of building competence in their attributes. Instead of munchkin your way up in an attribute (let's say Might) by gimping yourself in another (let's say Intelect), now you can munchkin your way up in an attribute by simply not being as competent in another. I consider quite different having a minor bonus than to have a penalty. I don't see why people gets confused by the system. Beyond "I'm expecting it to work like D&D", there shouldn't be reason for that. Add points, get bigger bonus. Simple. It's not like D&D: Int = 3 minimum for intelligent life and stuff like that.

My initial impression is that 5e is better. It pretty much has to be if they want their players back. Huh, okay, that would suck for my wallet though Basic edition of D&D 5 is free (pdf from Wizards) and will have more free stuff added as they release modules. Developers said that it should be enough to run campaigns without spending any money. You would miss extra races, classes and such but hey, it's free! And yeah, off topic powah.

Focusing a character in one skill is doable but seems bad idea. If you want your characters to keep going, you are going to need to spend some points there. Stealth? At first I thought that my Paladin would never need it. Wrong. If you want to avoid encounters or being able to better position yourself for an ambush, investing some points there helps a lot. Lore seems quite optional compared to the rest but if you invest in it, you get to need less creatures of each type to discover their bestiary stuff. Survival is one of those that can also be nice to have some ranks in it (those food buffs are nice!). The only skill that I don't know what to think about beyond MainCharacter/Rogue is Mechanic. Maybe we could use some more skills, but so far all of them are to a degree useful for any class. Revolve is not a dump stat per se. Getting stunlock cannot be good and Will Defense cannot be a bad thing. Perception could be considered unless you like to Interrupt other people (specially those who dumped Resolve?).

Random name generators can be hell. Offering suggestions and examples would be easier for sure.

I have no idea. I'm avoiding the Chanter for now due to being Total OP BBQ so I don't want to waste time with it. I haven't tried Monk because PoE version isn't... convincing? Tried Ranger a bit but buggy buggy. Every other class? All of them seem interesting/useful. Right now, I'd lean toward: - Fighter as tank. And knocking down enemies is fun! Most probably Mountain Dwarf for anti poison bonuses. - Priest as healer/buffer. Probably melee too. I really like Priests in this game. Maybe Moon Godlike for Siver Tide extra healing. - Paladin as secondary tank. Which comes with aura buffs and some extra healing when needed. Maybe Mountain Dwarf too. - From a starting skills point of view, Rogues and Ciphers are much the same. Rogues are more oriented to melee and go about criticals, while Ciphers are oriented more to ranged and go with spells. Right now I'd probably select Rogue because I'm still trying to figure out how to use the Cipher spells properly, but I may prefer a Cipher (plus it's Psi class!!!). Interrupting Orlan Rogues sound nice. For Cipher I would choose a Wood Elf for ranged attack and defense bonuses. - Wizard. Probably. A ranged weapon of some kind and some spells. Damage dealer (Might & Intelect?) or controller (Perception & Intelect?) would depend on me knowing better the spells in the game. For damage dealer maybe I would pick Human. For controller maybe Orlan. - Need some more edge for the team so a Barbarian could work. But Druid with its Altered Beast forms seems awesome too while offering some spells (including some later healing?). Right now, I would pick Barbarian. Aumaua race for Barbarian. No idea for Druid.

I want Attribute scores to make more of a difference, values pending on whatever Obsidian considers that fit their system and not based on number crunching of D&D (which is not the system used by PoE). So... yeah. Tweak the system as needed.

So if some players don't want quests, all of the quests should be optional. So you could grind until you get bored and then directly go to the end boss. Right? It's a game, not a tabletop session. So the developers must deploy rules that make it playable between certain parameters. There is no DM to improve or retcon as needed. Those parameters shouldn't be defined by some people on forums. They could be influenced, but in most cases, not defined. Bethesda does sandbox RPGs. BioWare does story ones. Should Bethesda change their ways to please the story camp? Should BioWare change their ways to please the sandbox camp? Or should the players shut up and play the games designed in a way that appeals to them?

Sorry for the off topic but... how so? We get the color boxes right there, you teasers! Dear designers: changing colors once in game is good. Not top priority but still good for those fashion-conscious.

It's useless because for all that matters, he may as well have a blank racial ability. A Fire Godlike that plays ranged of any kind and is never hit by melee, may as well have a blank. If the Death Godlike never hits someone with 15% or less of life... Yes, of course that those abilities are better than an ability tied to ranged combat. Most probably, everybody will be hit by elemental stuff at some point. And no matter how well you play, the ranged Fire Godlike may find himself hit a few times in melee during his career. I don't deny that and, as I said, I do think that the abilities are not balanced. But your melee wood elf can sport a bow as secondary weapon. If you finish the game without using it, it would be ok. But if at some point you had to use the bow with your wood elf fighter, you will enjoy the bonus. Which sounds much like your pale elf example. But unlike the pale elf who must wait to be hit by certain elements to use his racial ability, you can have your melee wood elf to start every encounter by shooting with a bow. Or a gun. I sure do that with my party. Still not the same feeling, I know. But secondary weapons are "just in case" too. The wood elf ability isn't the best thing ever. Not when you compare it with others. I can agree with you on that. It feels weird to a point. I'd guess that Obsidian will tweak/change the abilities. And a stat bonus is better than a racial ability by being a flat bonus always there. No matter if you are hit by elements, melee, if the enemy isn't at 155 or less of life, or if you use a bow/magic. That +1 MIght applies always.

Not sure if to mention this. Most probably known? You can start the game with a ranger without getting her animal companion. 1) Start new game 2) Select any non ranger class (like Fighter) and continue with other character creation steps (like character attributes for example). 3) Click on the class option and then select Ranger (so now instead of being a Fighter, you would be a Ranger). 4) Once selected Ranger, don't click next but your last character creation step (in my example, the character attributes). 5) Finish character creation and start the game. 6) Ranger has no animal companion (and if he gets one by default, I surely don't know which is the "summon" key for it). And I say Ranger but you can do the same with Wizards, for example. And not just your character, but also the adventurers that you can hire. I haven't tried yet to level up one of this characters to see if they get to select the missing stuff on level up but it doesn't change the fact that: --> You shouldn't be able to start the game (or hire an adventurer) if any of the class features (companion, spells...) is not selected by the player. (Being able to start the game without spending any attribute point sounds crazy too but maybe someone could find a challenge to play Gimpy McGimp)

I'd say that it encourages you to be ranged. Probably I'd prefer a more generic ability but from a tactical point of view, it's not a bad idea to have everybody with melee and ranged weapons anyways. The good thing is that races get a stat bonus, which for many will be more important that the racial ability bonus. It doesn't just encourage, it literally says wood elf are ranged (whether weapons or spells) characters. Want to play melee then no bonus for you! Tough to say if the stat boost is more important. Stat boost might bring an 18 to a 19 or 20 which is nice but the racial ability is unique and may provide an even better boost. It is hard to know exactly without numbers. Is the wood elf ranged accuracy bonus +1 or +4? Even if it is +1 They are basically an extra +1 dex then ... but only if you play the way the designers want you too. That's BS. If the bonus is even higher then you are seriously screwing yourself if not using your racial ability. In comparison Death godlike kill anything faster once it is down to 15% stamina whether they be melee ranged or spelled. Can we duplicate that with stats? Maybe Might but how much might? Without the numbers we can't be sure. However with some races it is clearly incorrect to say the stat boosts matter more because the racial ability can offer truly unique abilities. Moon goodlike autoheal at 3 different damage thresholds! Duplicate that with stats! There aren't even spells that duplicate that! That beats a +1 stat boost in my book. I get it but the thing is that the other kind of elf doesn't get a bonus ability to melee either so: does that mean that if you want to play melee, you shouldn't pick elves at all? I don't think that racial bonus abilties are quite balanced but in any case, I think that they encourage certain archtypes... if you want to follow them. If you are trying to min-max, with no doubt there will be a clash of interests.

Exactly what we paid for. In which alternate universe? In the one where their punt on the kickstarter page https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/obsidian/project-eternity Instead i've paid for Sawyer private RPG who loooks like doesn't share nothing with those games. And again I have to ask: In which alternate universe? I mean no offense but I think that you just extrapolated information that fits your liking from what you read. "intense combat" and "Combat uses a tactical real-time with pause system - positioning your party and coordinating attacks and abilities is one of the keys to success". That is main Kickstarter page and all the combat stuff mentioned in it. Extrapolating that homage to IE games automatically meant D&D-like system may be considered an understandable mistake, but mistake nonetheless. Not being a D&D-like game (or d20 if you just prefer to stick to OGL) has been known for ages too. I like d20 but it was never promised. So I ask again: In which alternate universe?

Er... don't race already have racial abilities in addition to stat bonuses? Like Moon Godlike having healing weaves as they reach certain Stamina thresholds? And Fire ones doing heat damage on being hit once getting 50% or less Stamina? I read the thread and everybody seems to talk just about stats. The culture stat bonus seems quite a generalization about each area. The background of each character would seem a better place to place an extra stat bonus. In another thread I complained about the stupid wood elf bonus forcing you to be ranged only with them. I'd say that it encourages you to be ranged. Probably I'd prefer a more generic ability but from a tactical point of view, it's not a bad idea to have everybody with melee and ranged weapons anyways. The good thing is that races get a stat bonus, which for many will be more important that the racial ability bonus.

BG games used AD&D and this game doesn't use anything similar!! How could the experience be similar if we don't use a retro-clone???? And don't get me started on the lack of dual classing for humans. Or multiclassing for non-humans!!!! You can still go to explore without xp on kills. Fun factor is subjective though. Be it killing stuff, reading the world's flavor texts, dealing with the companions,... so to each his own. But if there is no "ethereal reward" for killing stuff, it's obvious that you need a robust system as alternative. Things like killing the ogre first should be acounted for, so the quest system can actually be a real alternative. Dropping some rewards for reaching certain points isn't bad per se. But xp on killing is only one of the many ways that you can use to reward players so they level up. Main issue is that a game is a scripted non-dynamic enviroment so whatever system you use, it must be rock solid.

Exactly what we paid for. In which alternate universe?

Er... don't race already have racial abilities in addition to stat bonuses? Like Moon Godlike having healing weaves as they reach certain Stamina thresholds? And Fire ones doing heat damage on being hit once getting 50% or less Stamina? I read the thread and everybody seems to talk just about stats. The culture stat bonus seems quite a generalization about each area. The background of each character would seem a better place to place an extra stat bonus.

So what will powerplayers do? They will complete every possible sidequest, fed'exing stuff around the world and always being a good boyscout, no matter if it goes against their party ethics or such. If the scope was to reward questing instead of grinding or powerplaying, it won't prevent people to find ways to maximize the experience gained. Not to mention that combat will become only a mere annoyance. This, coupled with the 'no bad build approach' will make this game very, very tedious. Remember people attacking Bioware for the 'awesome button'? Here we have an entire gameplay designed for the 'something awesome always happens'. Oh, and wave after wave of filler combat too. I fail to see how PoE resembles DA2 in any way like you describe. Not sure how something awesome always happens is related to no xp for combat. Or how dropping enemies on the combat area (and MMORPG like bosses, I guess) is related to regular monster map population like in old IE games. Powerplayers can go play something else. Or play this. Or whatever.

Of course. But my stats in other areas are bigger. Would be unreasonalbe a wizard specialized in big areas and interruption/ailments? Maybe in the highest dificulty settings the superspecialization is a must (the enemies hit harder so you need to kill them faster?). As I never play those, I don't know if that's the case.

I don't feel that my non maxed Might characters are gimped at all.

Wouldn't killing for crafting be like killing trees for wood? Or animals for food? It's not "random killing for XP". It serves a purpose. The same that killing a bunch of xvarts because your character must cleanse the world from xvarts is not the same as killing them just for XP. Roleplaying a character cannot be degenerate behaviour in an RPG game. That would be nuts. Hey! Those scumbags have feelings too. And stuff. http://thenoobcomic.com/index.php?pos=24 http://thenoobcomic.com/index.php?pos=25

But isn't minmaxing a conscious choice by the player? Only a barbarian I made had max Might, Constitution and Dexterity. all the otehr "fighters" that I have created have been quite varied in stats and still work fine. They are not as efficient in combat maybe, but they do the job. While I do agree that the system needs tweaks, I do also think that any stat system will fall to minmaxing of some kind. Specialists are considered more efficient than generalists after all.