Geldridge

I has assumed (from the Sawyer interview on RPG Codex) that the 8 "hirelings" were characters you could recruit to help in the Stronghold. In that way you have - 8 Obsidian NPCs that travel with you - 8 hirelings (maybe with personalities and quests) that live in your Stronghold but can't adventure with you - Unlimited characters you can create yourself in the Hall of Heroes (although only a maximum of 5 in your party at any one time). /quote The party size can never be larger than six standard characters, but some quests may have NPCs who come along with the party or arrive at a location when the party does. Additionally, the stronghold design currently features hirelings that help protect the stronghold and offer additional benefits, but they do not accompany the party out in the wild. /quote - Josh Sawyer http://www.rpgcodex.net/content.php?id=9059

What about the pet/familiar being the soul of some other person that can get transferred to and from other animal bodies? That way you get some quests, a relationship with your pet and can do the mmo tame-and-claim thing to upgrade the physical body of your soul pet...

...surely it doesn't matter whether the Fixed or Bought system is used if I have access to ctrl+8??

Or... what if the Stamina system is designed to protect a really small number of hit points? A realistic system (or, at least, mirroring what might happen IRL) where instead of having 60 stamina and 80 hp you have 80 stamina and like 6 hp. Normal fighting could use stamina as you jostle for position, block, parry and generally get worn out, and then a lucky/critical strike with the sword could do 3hp damage (lowering your health by 50%). I always thought it was strange that in RPGs that the chief bad guy can take 1000hp damage rather than my rogue being able to assassinate him with one well-placed stealth arrow... ...and it would make mobs super dangerous as you have to protect your flanks to avoid being 1-hitted by an attack of opportunity by intelligent opponents.

I agree - if you're not there, you shouldn't get any of the spoils!

Hey guys, I paid my dues to join the Order a few threads back, but my name's still not on the list - - have I forgotten something? I was seeking to knight my <charname> as 'Aerthus, Standard-Bearer of the Obsidian Order'

Hello All, I've just added the magic $8 to my pledge and I'd like to use the name of my standard <charname> if I can? Aerthus, Standard-Bearer of the Obsidian Order

I guess for me, I kinda like the flavour that can be given to an NPC by giving them access to forbidden talents or stats (Minsc's beserker rage was a nice but of fluff that made sense for his character, even though it was forbidden by the rules). And I can still remember how cool I thought it was in PS:T when I could recruit a flying skull (complete with biting attack!!) and a floating, burning man! Admittedly, that was a different universe setting, but still pretty cool... I think so long as the alterations that break the game rules are done for legitimate story reasons, they add to the depth of the world and make it a bit more interesting... although I guess they have to be balanced by others who conform to the standard rules )

...by which I mean 'unique' in that they cannot be replicated by a player in character creation. I'm thinking of NPCs like Mort and Dak'kon in PS:T who were a different race / class / lifeform to anything we could create. This could mean unique equipment slots, race / sub-race, class combinations or kit, attributes, feats or skills that we could never recreate for [charname]. Or it could be something as simple as (for example) giving Minsc Beserker Rage even though he's a ranger, Kivan getting a DEX score he could never have rolled or making Viconia a Drow when that racial sub-type wasn't available to players. What do you think?

I was actually a fan of the 'Epithet' system in NWN2, where things were attributed to your character after having completed a certain story quest. They were a good way of giving me a reminder of what people thought about me, and if expanded could be a really cool addition to the game. Say something like 'Conquerer of the Marsh Lands' after using force to subdue a region into following your banner. Everyone in the Marsh Lands would know your name and recognise who you were because of what you did, and that epithet could create different dialogue choices and interactions within the region in which it was gained. Likewise a 'Prince of the Marshlands' epithet could be used if, instead of using force, you decided to marry into the royal family and gathered an army that way. It could be expanded into a regional thing, where different factions know of you in different ways. Say, for example, that every faction in the game starts out with you being 'unknown' and then from there as you complete quest-lines and things, you can gain other epithets that effect how those factions view you. They could even be the same epithet that results in different things - - eg the Thieves Guild facion may see your epithet as 'Sergeant of the Town Watch' (- to dialogue, + to prices from fences) and the ordinary townsfolk of the region may see the same epithet 'Sergeant of the Town Watch (+ to dialogue, increased chance of quests, - to prices from merchants). ... at least until the Thieves turn you and your epithet with them changes to 'Corrupted Sergeant of the Town Watch' and you get bonuses from each for as long as you remain undiscovered. In PS:T they worked out something similar, although instead of 'epithets' TNO could upgrade his tattoos based on having completed certain sections of the game, but I don't think there was as much regional reaction to the tattoos as there could potentially be from a system like this. I'm all for game mechanics that provide additional levels of depth and also let people roleplay the way they want - - with a system like this, that can check for certain epithets and alter the flavour of dialogue to suit, I think the replay value of the game increases. What do you guys think??