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rjshae

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Everything posted by rjshae

  1. How about: Soul Shield - the cipher surrounds his form with a field of parasitic energy. Whenever he is struck by a melee weapon, the field wraps itself around the weapon, drawing Focus from the soul of the attacker.It's a bit monk-like in that it would allow you to generate Focus by being struck, so some might find that objectionable. But it would be a means to regenerate Focus against a powerful opponent (assuming you survive).
  2. I had something of a ghastly thought regarding this class: an evil-natured cipher may keep a stock of imprisoned victims handy from which he can readily draw energy for his Focus. He might establish a supposed "sanitarium for the insane", which he uses to power up his fiendish experiments. Each victim he cracks becomes another insane resident, maintaining the powers of the cipher as the older residents are burned through.
  3. I have to wonder whether rogues are a better damage dealing class than fighters. The high damage from rogues sounds like it is based on special attacks, rather than being relatively consistent like a fighter. On average then, fighters may be the better overall damage dealing class, whereas rogues may be better in brief encounters such as an ambush. It's hard to tell though until we actually get the game.
  4. To agree with Zeno would be splitting hairs...
  5. It does. To me that does make a huge difference. Plus you have the fact that the Monk powers up by being hit, while the cipher powers up by doing the hitting: these call for quite different battlefield tactics. For example, you could send the cipher after wimpy opponents with poor deflection bonuses or use reach/ranged weapons, whereas you probably want the monk to mix it up in close combat with enemies who can dish it out.
  6. A mage and a fighter walk into a fisherman's bar. The discussion turns to rods and reels...
  7. Well hopefully their powers will work with a reach weapon, so they can poke from the second rank then weaken or damage the opponent with their soul powers. IIRC, 'adra' was an artificial material created by the progenitor race, and that is the look created in the scene: unnatural stones. Like the kind you'd put in an aquarium.
  8. For their time period, there were a lot of things to enjoy about the BG series: The sense of being to creatively control tactics at the squad level. The mood music and atmospheric sounds were almost consistently good. Some of the creative quips spoken by the NPCs helped maintain immersion. The fog of war effect provided a strong sense of exploration. The cut scenes held the plot together and provided a story for your character. A few of the things I didn't like: The cookie-cutter feel of many of the NPCs and creatures. A few of the tunes grew repetitive, such as in the taverns and inns. Poor walk-pathing in constricted areas. The unnecessary clutter of items in your inventory, such as potions and notes. The enemy A.I. can be pretty stupid at times.
  9. I like the current approach of providing talents (feats) to create some degree of class focus, without being enough to overly blur the distinctiveness of each class. I.e. you can build a fighter character that is 15% mage, or a mage character that is 15% fighter, but neither will be fully up to the job of the other and you'll lose some alternative benefits in the process. Hence, I'm fine with not including the prestige class cludginess of D&D.
  10. Interesting stuff. Love the extra-creepy Vithrack concept art! I would think that Ciphers, with their bent for soul invading and psyche scrunching powers, would have devised some type of defenses against those same powers. No doubt they have a higher than normal psyche defense rating, but perhaps something akin to active psychic defenses that can be raised during a Cipher to Cipher battle? Anyway, great update and I'm looking forward to trying the cipher character in the game. Thanks!
  11. I just finished another reply of BGEE. An interesting element for me was to compare the behavior of the non-hostile NPCs in the game to those of more recent systems such as Oblivion, and see how the art has progressed. In other respects, the game has stood the test of time quite well, even if the AD&D class system kind of blows.
  12. Here's the description from update #36: In terms of the defensive penalties and bonuses described, perhaps the type is determined by the familiar chosen? I.e. a cat could provide a Reflex bonus/penalty while an owl could modify Pysche. It's unfortunate that gamer biases get formed in this manner, when this is actually a completely different type of game. The lack of mounts for non-party members in the IE/NWN games was a misrepresentation of the medieval culture. I'm fine with party members not needing mounts, but they should definitely be available to road patrols and enemy forces.
  13. Arch Soul: the Eternal Redemption
  14. Am I crazy, or does JES misinterpret the question? It seems that they are asking about the length of time, on a fresh round, to cast / activate an ability. The answer seems to mingle durations (first sentence) and casting time (third sentence), and is not clear. No, I think he tried to answer the question. It's mildly confusing because he says 'ability use' rather than 'ability activation'. But the clue is in the E.g., where he compares 'ability use' to 'casting time'.
  15. That's... determination.
  16. What if it is an actual opera in space? Then nobody will hear the fat lady sing before she explodes like a potato in the microwave...
  17. To me a reasonable course would be to have a deity that wreaks torturous vengeance upon wanton child slayers. Go ahead and let the children be slain in the game, then have an appropriate nastiness visited upon the player's PC at a later stage. As long as there is a clear connection between the two, then it can fit within the framework of the game and will make clear the abhorrent nature of the act inside the pantheon's morale structure.
  18. Being able to assign a nickname to each of your companions. This nickname would then show up during interactive conversations whenever you are addressing the character, possibly with amusing effect.
  19. Sure, something gritty and Lensman-series like, with space pirates, inertia-less hyperspace drives, psi corps, blasters, force fields, pleasure droids, anti-gravity systems, weird alien psycho-active drugs, progenitor relics, mind control devices, huge space battles, and galactic empires. If it was done well and had squad-level combat, I'd snap it up.
  20. The scrolls in the IE games seemed a little too vanilla to me, so I would like to see a little more variety. As an example, I propose, having three grades for each type of magic scroll: Adept scroll -- this is the spell in its basic form, cast at the minimum possible level. Master scroll -- the scroll spell is cast at four class levels above the minimum needed, providing all the benefits thereof. Arch-mage scroll - the scroll spell is cast at eight class levels above the minimum needed. The scrolls are priced accordingly and the player must make a decision whether to consume a scroll to learn a spell or use one of the better versions during a key moment. Naturally, enemies will have the same option.
  21. In a futuristic sci-fi setting, developers might be able to incorporate a damage system by means of cybernetic implants, such as Luke Skywalker's hand in the Star Wars series. If they were to incorporate a magitech equivalent and you were playing hard core mode, then getting a permanent injury fixed would be a question of cost and availability of the replacement part. For realism, the replacement could provide a minor skills adjustment, such as (for an artificial arm) a penalty to Dex-based skills but a bonus to melee damage. That might make it interesting to implement. Edit: oops, sorry, I missed the latest discussion.
  22. Ketchikan -- Salmon Capitol of the World.
  23. I'd be okay with a permanent injury if it was specifically written into the story. Otherwise no. If you want to play a crippled character, then just stick with the crummiest equipment you can find.
  24. Tales of Terrene: Book One -- It's described as an ARPG inspired by Baldur's Gate 2 and Diablo, set on the fantasy world of Terrene. The Kickstarter is currently at $1,316 with a goal of $20,000 and 26 days to go. It's being run as an indie effort by a two man team.
  25. I'm okay with just two ring slots: rings are way cool items, but having just two slots helps distribute the rare finds among the group. It'd be nice to have just one extra slot that accept any item from a list of oddball accessories--a nose ring, thumb piece, earring, undershirt, cod piece, garter, eye piece, wig, ankle bracelet, toe ring, or what have you. Such an accessory slot could perhaps also be used for a spare ring.
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