rjshae

The problems with early firearms were the poor accuracy and low rate of fire. A skilled bowman with a longbow or composite bow could put up a much more effective rate of fire. Ref.: The Puzzling Evolution of Guns vs. Bows

Sleeping Souls In rare circumstances, a body may host more than one soul. In some cases these souls are cooperative, blending their natures to form a single, cohesive whole; in other, the souls are in conflict and one of them will usually become the dominant soul. In cases where one of the souls is exhausted of its energy or otherwise rendered incapacitated, another soul may briefly emerge. This awoken soul may have a completely different persona and nature; usually one that is less talented because it is unpracticed at being in control of the host, but can likewise be more innocent and trusting.

Hire good writers. Personally I'd like to leave the game with some sense of closure and a feel of having accomplished a meaningful task, but with a few lingering questions and uncertainties to be dealt with in a future sequel.

I'd imagine a PnP version may need some simplification of the mechanics. You can do a lot of background calculation in a CRPG to determine things like radii of effects or damage results, but it may be much fun for the GM to do that.

Nice artwork as always. Thanks.

Pretty much. If they were building a realistic, real-world, modern-day simulation then the advancement rate should probably be slower.

There are other ways to measure such things. Can that world heavyweight boxing champion simultaneously take on sixteen decently capable boxers, say, four at a time? He might take down half of them but eventually he's going to succumb to all the pounding.

I don't think so.. As an example: a 3.5e D&D fighter going from level 5 to level 6 gets a +1 BAB increase on top of their existing +5. That's roughly a +20% improvement in the combat department. The hit points increase by a comparable proportion; other capabilities perhaps not as much. I'm just saying why not use an exponential improvement scheme?

The Witcher did a nice job with some of the ambient stuff. Not sure this project has the budget for that type of miscellanea though. Maybe it's something the modders can add in later?

If your character's overall capabilities improved by an average of 15% every level, then you would double your capability every 5 levels. I'm guessing that's roughly the improvement rate in D&D when you take into account BAB, hit points, saves, skills, feats, special abilities, and equipment. Of course, magic is the exception to the formula.

It might be useful if I could set some filters on the type of loot that I want to collect. Good quality arrows = yes; masterwork daggers = yes; smelly goblin codpieces = no; ogre's arse wiping brush = no. As we go up in rank, dealing with rusty weapons will lose its appeal, so being able to tune that stuff out will be expedient. Perhaps have a loot filter dialogue with general loot categories (each slot, scroll/potion expendables, and treasure) and matching slider controls so we can set the quality of loot we want to pick (ranging from low quality unsellable crap to masterwork or better).

Frame 6 suggests that dynamic lighting of the characters has not been implemented for indoor areas yet--the character's shadow is pointing in the wrong direction. The outdoor camp scene looks correct though.

A big part of the problem with linearity is that it allows you to fine tune your actions following a reload. However, you can turn even a linear dungeon into a non-linear design by creating dungeons that (a) change over time and (b) respond to your actions. If the dungeon population and their activities vary based upon the time you move through it then it throws off your expectations. Likewise, if you leave a dungeon part way through, then enemy deployments should respond in kind. Those parts of the dungeon you cleared should not be guaranteed to be empty upon your return, and the intelligent enemy should respond to knowledge of your previous tactics.

A Kickstarter project is never late, nor is it early, it arrives precisely when it means to.

Seems like it has been constant mis-management of their license by the D&D owners. They had the opportunity to own the CRPG market and reap in significant rewards. Instead they've botched it, time after time. As a result, game developers have steered away and developed their own IP, which now repeatedly tromps the D&D CRPG market.

I remain puzzled by this viewpoint. Once you know what your characters look like, how much time do you spend staring at them? I'll bet almost none. The only time they are of interest is when you need to select one of them to perform an action. The small icons should be more than enough for that purpose. What I imagine will happen is that larger views of the portraits will be used during conversations and when looking at your character information.

As an aside, I'm enjoying the texture of the rock faces. I live near the mountains so i know what they are supposed to look like. If there's one area for improvement, I'd say that adding in some scree slopes would help. Clean cliffs with a bare base should be the exception, not the rule.

Non-linear elastic properties combined with collisions and realistic rendering of a semi-transluscent material makes the GPU a busy little boy.

Flask of Mutable Destiny This unusual ceramic flask is filled with an oily liquid that glows with a faint inner light and has a nutty, slightly rotten odor, although it should be kept closed to avoid losing its potency. The oil is highly receptive to whatever material comes into contact with it, and will therefore transform into a specific potion in the presence of certain materials. Thus, adding the damp eggs of a tree frog will cause the oil to transform into a highly slippery fluid that can render an area of floor virtually impassible. Likewise, the tail of a desert lizard can transform the liquid into a highly combustible material similar to greek fire. The range of potential forms for this oil remain uncertain, although a number of tried and true recipes are available... for a price. Once the oil has been transformed into its final form, the flask becomes inert.

Bell of the Unseen Servant When rung, this small brass bell summons an unseen servant of the air--a weak air elemental that will attempt to follow your instructions. The servant can lift objects that are low in weight, drag slightly heavier objects across the ground, activate simple mechanisms, or provide a distraction. In game terms it can be used to perform the following actions: Retrieve a small object from some distance away, even if the intervening space contains a chasm, river, or a trap. Remotely open an unlocked chest or door. Trigger a simple mechanism from across the room. Activate a basic trap that is sprung by mild pressure, such as a tripwire. Briefly reduce the attentiveness of a creature. The servant is invisible to most creatures and is only harmed by strong winds. It is unable to perform any action that requires a skill check.

In order to foster a sense of exploration, you can't have an encounter around every corner. I think you still need to leave a good chunk of an outdoor map free of threat in order to cultivate a sense of drama. Otherwise it just degenerates into an action game.

Suppose your character has recruited N companions, and, of those, you can take along up to 5 on a particular mission. The remaining N - 5 are presumably standing guard over your stash. It would be interesting if those N - 5 guards (plus your hirelings) occasionally had to fight off some brigands, bandits, or scavengers. Not frequently mind you, but at least some percentage of the time and then only when you're on your way back to the camp.

Yep. Apart from the Faith and Conviction benefit (which apparently shows that the game will have comparable saves to D&D), the Paladin benefits all appear to bestow leadership qualities on the Paladin. If you go where he goes and fight what he fights, then you get benefits. That doesn't seem like a support role to me. The horse archer was a very effective weapon in the middle ages, so it seems like a legitimate tactic to shoot and scoot. I'd say it depends on how much of a movement increase the Paladin provides and how much time it requires to get off a shot.

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