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rjshae

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Everything posted by rjshae

  1. rjshae
    Evil deserves just what it gets.
  2. rjshae
    So that it too can be overanalyzed to death? Sure, someone has to point out the glaring flaws in the system, while others are too busy mashing the like button or pondering about important things like how many damage types should a flail have, hmmm. Ah, so that's why you can't wait. Shrug.
  3. rjshae
    I'm somewhere in the middle on this. Clearly there are circumstances where it makes sense to swap weapons, such as when you're facing skeletons and you're armed with an estoc, or when you're up against a boss monster and you need every advantage in order to win. But most of the time (~80%) I'd rather it be a secondary factor, compared to sound tactics. A muscular barbarian wielding a great axe should be able to hack down most foes, even when they are protected by the right armor vs. slashing weapons. I like Josh's overall thinking about the combat mechanics, but most of the time I want to be able to muddle through with decent weapons.
  4. rjshae
    So that it too can be overanalyzed to death?
  5. rjshae
    There's a lot of actions that can be performed with a TK ability. I once built an item (in NWN2) to summon an invisible servant, which then functioned like a TK power. It allowed you to: Retrieve a distant item; carrying 20 lbs. within 100 meters, or drag 100 lbs. within 20 meters. Open or close an unlocked door. Operate a placeable. If the placeable is trapped, this will trigger it. Try to trigger a trap that is activated by entry: 10 + 1d20 versus the Disarm DC of the trap. Distract a creature, thereby briefly lowering it's listen/spot skill by -2 for 1d4+1 rounds. Then, of course, there were the various Bigby hand spells for more potent TK effects. Intermediate TK effects could perhaps lower the Dex of a target, make a shield less effective at blocking, or a weapon less effective at hitting. It might also convey a hurled grenade to precisely the right spot.
  6. rjshae
    Telepathy/ESP would probably require a significant expansion of the conversation tree, so I'm not sure that would be expedient to implement.
  7. rjshae
    Hey, welcome to the hobby, redneckdevil! It's good to hear that you enjoyed the experience, and that new gamers are still joining PnP play. I had a blast back in the day when I played with a regular group. Hope it's just as fun for you!
  8. rjshae
    As long as the shapeshifted Druid doesn't start randomly sniffing people's backsides...
  9. rjshae
    Battle Roar-once per encounter, Activated mode While fighting one-on-one, the barbarian can attempt to awe his opponent. This is an aggresive performance that typically consist of an intimidating stance combined with an animalistic roar or challenge. On a success, the barbarian can perform an all-out attack against that foe without lowering his defense rating. However, the defensive penalty for an all-out attack is still applied if the barbarian is then attacked by another opponent.
  10. rjshae
    Cool, you guys have a stalker.
  11. rjshae
    To me there's very little to distinguish the historic roles of barbarian and ranger, other than their cultures. So I'd speculate that culture is where you want to find the key differentiator for this class. The barbarian often comes from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle, so he is inured to physical hardships and can push himself well past the limits of the softer civilized peoples. His gods are the nature gods; wind, mountain, river, and the beasts. He would commune with nature and may identify himself with a particular creature type. When he goes to war, it's more about physical courage, battle prowess, and native cunning, than about martial discipline and methodical tactics. He'll seek out a foe for a one-on-one battle, then try to overwhelm the opponent with power and speed.
  12. rjshae
    I suspect not. It sounded like they may not want skills to be the determining factor in what conversation options (plot branches) you can access. Languages would be almost entirely about limiting who you can converse with or what information you can obtain. Including language skills may actually be detrimental to the game.
  13. rjshae
    Looking at it from a tactical front line perspective, I'd want a tough center (Fighter/Paladin/Priest), mobile skirmishers on the flanks (Rogue/Barbarian/Monk), and artillery to focus on the point of attack (Ranger/Cipher/Wizard). I guess Druids can join the flankers thanks to their animal forms, or maybe function as infiltrators/disruptors thanks to their nature powers. That leaves the Chanters to hand out the cool-aid and towels.
  14. rjshae
    There was an interesting article posted on Gamasutra today regarding the different RPG Genres. It identifies Dragon Age as a narrative RPG and lists the qualities of that type. PE/IE sounds a bit more of a mix of the narrative style with the dungeon crawler. However, the author of the article regards mixing styles as a mistake. I'm not sure how much that is true, but it does make for a contemplative read.
  15. rjshae
    The Greek pantheon is more compact than the Faerunian one, and has a better mix of deities with a smaller proportion of evil gods. The Faerunian pantheon contains several redundancies, and a number of deities that shouldn't really have a significant following. I suppose the difference can be explained in part by the large and more diverse geography of Faerun, but I do think the Faerunian pantheon could have been greatly improved.
  16. rjshae
    Gradually powering up abilities => shades of Goku in Dragon Ball Z...
  17. rjshae
    What color are you thinking of for non-hostile NPCs? Blue/Red is straight from ToEE I understand, I'll deal with it if that's the final decision. Customization of such a trivial thing is probably a low priority. If it ends up being not a hard thing to implement for the options menu it would be nice Yep, the ToEE colors seemed fine. I wonder if we'll have a different color to mark broken morale, as we did in BG?
  18. rjshae
    I could imagine that magic items of Ciphers involve some manner of runic symbolism, which triggers a unique mental state while concentrating upon their form. The triggered powers may then be tuned, focused, and amplified via a brainwave resonance effect using an assembly of one or more flawless power crystals. Thus you may have a disk or tablet engraved with the runic symbols of invocation, and a crystal at the center or top for transmitting the effect from the mind of the wielder to the target. Cipheric devices carry risks, however: failure to properly focus this device can result in a mental backlash, ranging from a stun effect to a temporary catatonic state. Each such magical implement requires a careful balance between the runes and the crystals. Since no two crystals are exactly alike, cipheric implements may vary significantly in power and capability. It requires both master craftsmanship and a deep knowledge of cipher magic to successfully assemble such a device.
  19. rjshae
    Tim and I, who are both color blind, would prefer to not use green/red for allied/enemy colors. Maybe you could give us the option to choose the colors. I understand why you want to avoid these colors, but red is natural for enemies.Using a color combination that is awkward for those who can see the whole color spectrum could be avoided if the game offers the choice, green/red for those who want it, ?/? for the others. Anyway, is not a serious matter but it would be nice you could do it Had a color-blind physics professor (EM Theory) back in college. His viewfoils were something to behold! Excellent instructor though. Yes it would be nice if the colors were set in an init file somewhere so we could tweak it. But perhaps they have another approach in mind?
  20. rjshae
    Just no ebonese or inner city slang please. That patois has it's place in simulated cultural environments; but it's not in a medieval setting.
  21. rjshae
    Perhaps in a sequel...
  22. rjshae
    Bagpipes -- known to cause brief bouts of insanity and bleeding ear syndrome.
  23. rjshae
    Not only critical hits. 50% Damage Penalty means: 0.5*Attack-DT=Damage whereas 100% additional DT means Attack-2*DT=2*(0.5*Attack-DT)=2*Damage. I agree that this would be better if we left the old system. However, I think It might be better to use the old one with labelled indicators how good weapons are, as others are suggesting. The other issue I have with this 50% damage penalty is that it might not scale realistically in cases where there is a lot of power behind the attack. Once your weapon has broken through the armor, there isn't much left to stop it. So why does it still take a 50% penalty? It may be more realistic to scale the armor DT based on the weapon type. But perhaps I'm misunderstanding the physics of the impact?
  24. rjshae
    Relationships for ciphers are unusual; being able to get inside the head of your romantic beau isn't always a pretty thing. Instead, a disproportionate number of ciphers end up mating with a fellow cipher; the shared ability to shield their thoughts from each other adds a little mystery spice to the courting process, and the end result yields an integrated mind experience that is both the ultimate in intimacy and a sweet, mind-blowing reward. Of course, thereafter neither spouse is able to cheat on the other, which can either lead to a greater level of personal trust or deep, burning resentment. A cipher who has lost his mate often becomes a tormented loner, being unable to withstand the mundaneness of the average soul. Such ciphers may prefer living in the wilds, with only the primitive rawness of wild creatures to disturb their thoughts. Others may become obsessed with dominating their surroundings, allowing only those they can control into their presence. The remainder often turn to chemical addiction, using mushrooms and illicit drugs to kill their depression and desires.
  25. rjshae
    Hi Josh, I have a quick question: regarding the 50% damage penalty for certain weapon/armor combos, might it not make more sense to double the DT instead? That way critical hits can still remain relatively effective.
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