Darkpriest

In DnD you had such classes, they were called Paladin and Ranger

Double...

TBH it's pointless to discuss a mechanic that's hardly beneficial to a game play and may require a use of resources better spent elsewhere... Whenever you suggest something, ask yourself a question. Will it really enhance the gaming experience in comparison to already established mechanics, that it's worth spending additional (VERY LIMITED) resources... If it was a game with a developed MP and DM client like the NWN was, then the answer would be "yes, for the on-line MP gameplay". As it is, it's pointless to discuss a feature that adds little and consumes limited resources... TL DR - NO! There are already other non-combat mechanics

Roleplaying was always about adventure. So giving this RP part of RPG more attention for once is just what made Torment so unique and awesome. Apart from the interface - kinda early iteration of NWN wheel - Torment combat system was exaclty the same as it were in previous (BG) and later (IWD, BG2) titles. The differences are not on part of the combat system but game design overall - there were noticeably less encounters and your characters were relatively stronger, so that combat was less tedious and didn't get in way of the story. And rightly so, the more storytelling the better RPG gets. Planescape was unique, because the setting was unique... and The Nameless One - Immortal being was also very unique. Don't tell me that you want to get an NPC tank with 75% resistance to damage right of the bat? It kind of kills the adventuring mood. Easy mode will be enough if monsters will be lower end of spawns and they will do to you 50% of their regular damage. Make sure to invest in non-combat skills and stats, to avoid major encounters, so you can "talk through" them.

Planescape wasn't combat oriented, but still had tons of it. You won't tell me that there was no combat, because the first thing you do in the game is killing a zombie. Now we also need to remember that PC couldn't die (aside of a few specific places) and your NPC allies had more passive benefits than most of the monsters that you encountered as foes in BG series... Seriously. have you ever seen a better tank than Morte? A caster with a ton of immunities? A gith with the best sword in the game? Should I comment more? You could have skipped big confrontations with dialog, but still other encounters you had to fight... (my best playthrough was as a mage with ultra high int, very high wis and relatively high cha, but used "Friends " spell to get over that short coming)

I wish to raise a substantive point. If the developers do include a difficulty mode that is indeed derived in spirit from Icewind Dale's Heart of Fury, then the player ought to be allowed to assemble a squad of crack commando teammates who would be up to the challenge. I don't want to be saddled with "Optional Male Romance Guy" or "Comic Relief Witty Bard" as companions for such encounters. Harumph! That would take away story elements but in all seriousness... you wold have to get the best out of the companions (and your tactics) in order to get through the challenges... What I would want to see is that your formation matters, not that it breaks after the first round of gameplay, because melees beeline to your casters with you having no way to intercept them and stop with your own melee/tanks, etc. (that's why I'd prefer to see a turn based combat, but RTWP is ok too)

kevlar vests, cause they need to be bulletproof a cuirass seems to be ok, or some other forms of breastplates - something that will be able to safeguard the torso, while still giving a lot of freedom for hand movements, etc. some enhanced versions of leathers might be good too There is not much that can save you from a bullet shot to the head, even a musket bulletshot, so I see helmets redundant in the case of mages. Think of the armor as light as possible but at the same time giving enough stopping power to protect from a musket shot. For other things they have magic.

Well if you do not want much combat, turn on easy mode, and have a walkthrough with a PC that has high charisma/diplomacy/speech skills. Do not go to dangerous dungeons, where combat is inevitable, but possibly not all of that will have to be explored and perhaps even optional. If you pick a fighter and expect to have 'no combat' playhtrhough, then there is something wrong with the logic here...

Try to wear a full plate and move your arms, palms, fingers at max speed in all possible directions... now repeat the exercise with no armor on you at all... see the difference? you won't tumble or make a salto/flip in a full plate armor.. that's just not really possible, is it? Depends how you build the mechanics around the "to-hit". For weapons it is more difficult to make a good "trade-off" mechanism with str/dex limitation only, because there is more technique involved in combat styles. I'd say that 2ed AD&D had a good solution to weapons, if there were no class restrictions... each class should be able to equip any weapon, but some good be barely able to wield weapon good enough, to not harm themselves in the combat (so very basic training - 1 star), while others could become true artists with the weapon (5 stars). Without that basic proficiency you would get penalties to your offense and damage. Armor can be put into the "trade-off" mechanic better if you have str requirements and dex penalties. but you can also work with proficiency points as you suggested. One thing true to both scenarios. There should be a trade-off mechanism, so we will avoid clerics/druids of 3.5 ed DnD...

Just a STR requirement? To use effectively, armor would require training (skill/feat). After all, it takes traingin to learn how to most efficiently move in armor, how to position yourslf for best protection/deflection. Also to build up stamina and get accustomed to wearing it. Of course, anyone can equip armor if strong enough, but wihout proper training, it's not as effective. Without training you'd get less protection, bigger armor check penalty and bigger fatigue drain. if it's a point buy system the str requirements and weight limits with encumbrance will be enough, given that encumbrance effect will give negatives to "to-hit", "defense", "spell-casting", "movement speed". In 3.5 ed DnD cRPG you did not have a min. str requirement, but you had weight limits and feats that sort of were doing the similar role as the min. str requirement. I'd say that if heavy armor gives penalty to dex based skills and requires you to have very high str, it does not really need more mechanics to make it a "trade-offs" game in a point buy system.

The difficulty should be its own reward. I would not mind increased xp multiplier. Since you will face more and more powerful monsters, the more frequent appearance of some magic item is inherently given. I would not mind an achievement as well. What I would dislike is that some items that can affect gameplay and world lore/story are available only when you've toggled that mode... (like some legendary artifacts, etc.). Same goes for endings and any other elements of the story. (well unless different ending would just give you a line of text at the end.. "Man you ARE a god" )

I don't think you understand what I mean. by making armor have a str requirement doesn't fix anything or help anything. I'm not asking to take a "mage" and put him in armor. I'm asking for a melee based fighter that uses magic, has skills buitl around this (rather then mage skills that are usually range based). Make the class use str as their mage abilities also instead of the normal "wis/int" that mages use so he isn't penalized for having to get both str + wis/int." I disagree with a concept of a fighter, who casts spells on equal level as a mage, but is more combat/buff oriented. It will be more broken than a cleric from 3.5 ed DnD... I also do not see how building up a body mass would help you learn new spells? Fighting - physical attributes Casting spells - non-physical attributes Wizards will have enough array of spells for you to freely chose from. So if you want to have a fighter using spells, just pick a wizard, pick combat perks, distribute evenly between str/con/dex and whatever mental stats are there. Wear armor of your choice, as long as you are strong enough to wear it, and cast whatever spells you like for this particular swordmage type. The game will have limited number of classes, and designing some archetypes should be a priority. The archetypes themselves will practically fill the list of available classes. Should you want to make a fighting mage or a casting fighter, just mutliclass or balance out your stats accordingly... The idea you gave (all abilities of fighter + magic deriven from str) is just an invitation to a min/max build that can break the balance of a game. In each game, where there is some tactical level of play, there should be trade-offs. Brawl vs magic is one of them.

if you have it under steam or with any other cloud service that's a backup, that should safeguard you against crashes or corruption. Test of Iron is different than forcing oneself to one save only: 1) because even though you try to keep yourself to one save, there are always temptation to reload if something goes wrong. 2) If you get wiped, that's it, game over, bye bye, auf wiedersehen, au revoir, addio, etc... No starting from a pre wipe situation. Go back to the beginning... Some people like the challenge and do not fear of being punished by the game.. That's why people like "Ironman" modes in games. Overcoming challenges is one of many "fun" factors.

This is what I would approve... if there are ever some cinematic expositions and narrative, those should be voiced as well

@Stiller Add minimum str requirements for armor and we are good to go.. you can dress up all the classes as you see fit, as long as they have enough str to actually be able to wear the thing.

in 3,5 ed you had a guy called Eldrich Knight, and you could have also used still spell feat. There has to be a trade-off... you cannot be good at fighting in full armor and casting magic... A good thing here would be simply str restrictions on armors... if you want to wear it, you need to have high enough str... if you commit str to your wizard, then go ahead and wear that full plate armor.

I would say that robes are ok, if you are going to stay within the halls of mage guild... There might be some versions of traveling robes, but for adventuring, dungeon crawling and combat, such designs are simply not practical... imagine, if you need to climb, jump, etc. in such an outfit... unless you know the flight spell, such an outfit is very impractical For combat they would probably wear some very light chainshirts, some steel cap, all that made lightweight by magic, to enable them freedom of movement. Traveling stuff and scholary stuff are very different thing

I'm always in favor of realism in RPGs, so a definite yest from me. The weather on Jupiter is so different from what we have on Earth not because Jupiter is distant and exotic, but because of the composition of the planet and it's atmosphere, the size and distance from the Sun and many other factors. If the charcters of Project Eternity breathe the same air as we do and life over there is based on the same chemicals as on Earth, it's safe to assume that the surface gravity, atmospheric pressure and atmosphere composition will have to be pretty similar. Therefore, I wouldn't expect any exotic weather. Unless it turns out that the characters are building-size, carbon based, slow moving turtles or jellyfish-like animals floating in the Jupiter-like atmosphere... well in areas of wild magic / high magic / cursed, etc. there could be magically enhanced weather effects...

Well there could be two viable mechanics IMO, without need of the senseless chase across the map. One which makes them panic and run for a distance (equivalent of 2 rounds) and then vanish, but you get XP for them or the text displays they surrender (falls on knees, etc.) and it lasts until the end of battle, after which you can decide their fate...

That you will get by setting combat to easy mode... then you can enjoy the story, etc.

@Justin, So when can we expect another sample of your talent? Perhaps a challenge? (30 sec piece?) What would you have in mind for a moment of tragedy and loss? Note: I am not a sound designer or musician or composer so I can't say how long the process would take. If it would take you for more than you have time available, just refer to some other piece that is close to your image of that part.

Definitely no to seasons... unless for some reason the game time would span for 4-5 years, where investment in seasons would make sense. Otherwise it's a waste of resources. Yes to different weather types.

In PnP I fully agree with this approach to encounters.. It's rather hard to design encounters in a cRPG where AI and environment features are a bit limited. The cRPG is usually also aimed at a bit broader audience than the hardcore PnP DMs/Players I'll leave the encounter designs in hands of the Obsidian team. (Unless of course I would fork out 5-10k USD, which is not going to happen )

This... I do not want to chase fleeing enemies in RLWP combat system...

Well this is also a good idea, but I really do not want to see mass crafting of items for all my party members with items that can rival ultra rare legendary items... Medium power of the craft should be pinnacle... If you want to get something extra good, go and explore the world for pieces of legendary artifacts to be reforged, or for the whole artifacts.