rjshae

Does this world have a printing press? I don't believe so. Have they mastered surveying techniques? Probably not. You're talking hand drawn maps created by a scholar collecting various traveler's tales and adding various creative embellishments. You'll be lucky if a map is even close to accurate. The best maps will probably be of coastlines; not of interior trails and dirt roads.

The base AC for chain mail is 5, while banded mail is 4--hence the reason the AC is the same for the magic chain.

That's the creepiest picture I've seen all year...

It may just be that they don't have a volunteer Portuguese translator yet. The initial release was planned to have English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, and Polish translations. I suspect that other languages will follow once they have made arrangements.

Yes, that would be as good place as any to start honing your game-making creativity and put out a product. For example: the top five RPG Maker Games and RPGMaker games on STEAM.

A thought occurred: allow NPC summoners to be recruited to your stronghold and employ them in creating a binding scroll that can summon powerful critters at a time of great need. You may assist them in this goal by retrieving ancient lore and potent artifacts. You might even assume some risk in taking this path, as the summoners may fail to control the critters, who run amuck in your stronghold, requiring you to return and clean up the mess.

There were stronghold options in BG2, but they had virtually no impact on the ending. It was essentially a side quest, but an interesting one.

To me it seems more suitable for an NPC class. Requiring 2-3 party members devoted to casting a lengthy ritual means that the remainder of the party spend their time trying to prevent the event from being disrupted. Presumably the summoned creature will be more powerful than the 2-3 party members combined could be, so this is mostly useful against boss monsters. Thus you have 3-4 party members devoted to holding off the strongest encounters for a significant period, when normally you'd need all six. What's with all the off-topic religious discussion? It belongs in another thread.

I like the general way you're heading with this. But a more significant way to differentiate summoning is by the amount of control the summoner exercises over the summoned creature. A chanter's ability to string together sequences should provide an innate means of summoning and controlling a creature. Likewise, a druid's link with nature should make the summoned creature a natural ally. However, in the case of a wizard, the summoned creature should begin with no control--all of the soul-based energy is being used just to drawn the creature hither. Instead, the wizard needs to find a means, whether by another spell or through a talent, to exert control. Otherwise, the summoned creature should just do whatever it would normally be inclined to do. Note that this can still be useful since the creature could be summoned behind the enemy ranks; it just wouldn't be inclined to serve as a meat shield.

From what I've seen thus far (at least in terms of the skills system), there's a lot riding on the selection of Talents in ToE as a means to differentiate your characters. It's unfortunate that we don't get to see the full set of talents until release. Hopefully the Talents will allow for a variety of different tactical combinations in combat, and will provide some unique abilities out of combat. I agree it's not the best design. I mean, why be creative with your tactics when a few high level fireballs will win 90% of your battles? It's more enjoyable in the long term to use the flexible combined arms approach of having each class be more beneficial in certain ranges of situations, and to combine the different advantages in creative ways.

The reverse--skills-based talents--would be more interesting, I think.

Yes, the tactical combat system was definitely the highlight of this series. The closest we've come to it since then was ToEE.

It might be that in this setting, Wizards in particular can only summon existing beings; not some random cookie-cutter creature from the plane of infinite summoning. That would imply that wizard summonings require a certain amount of unique paraphrenalia and knowledge. For example, you would need to build a ritual circle of summoning, acquire the knowledge of the true name of the creature being summoned, and purchase the necessary accoutrements and materials. You may need to acquire the summoning knowledge through exploration and research, then build a chamber of summoning in your stronghold. In that case, the summoned creature would be of more specialized and limited use, although it could be employed in the safeguarding of your keep or to attack a rival.

I did try a replay of PoR a few years back--what I found was that my characters maxed out their levels well before the game ending. I'll be curious to see if you have the same experience. The game wasn't anywhere near as interesting as back when it first came out, which suggests I've been heavily spoiled by the gorgeous graphical developments since that time period.

If he's a space piglet, maybe he's kinda glowy? In which case, he could be a... shining bacon of hope for the people of the land. 6_u You're such a ham, Lephys...

I'd suggest expanding this proposal to include locks and other mechanical devices.

If I had to guess, I'd think the game will have an optional introductory stage and ease you into the details. That's usually the way these types of games function. Beyond that, the game should be plenty long with much time and opportunity to learn the refinements. But if it doesn't prove appealing to you... well no game can be expected to find favor with everybody.

Yes, steampunk getups can be pretty fetching...

APoD: worth following regularly IMO... http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap141128.html If nothing else, they provide awesome desktop pics.

Well the AD&D wizards needed toning down a bit: they were way too powerful at high levels. But I agree that diversity in their capability would be quite appropriate to the archetype. As described, those sound primarily like battle mages.

Not a cat... but interested in thread.

Does your equipped inventory carry weight have any impact on combat speed (beyond just the type of armor being worn or weapon being wielded)?

Thanks for the update. Does this mean that every class is now going to receive four starting abilities? Or will some of the existing abilities be modified to be per encounter? (I'm not a beta tester so all I know about the game comes from the updates.)

Cosplay...