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rjshae

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Everything posted by rjshae

  1. rjshae
    Perhaps in a sequel...
  2. rjshae
    Bagpipes -- known to cause brief bouts of insanity and bleeding ear syndrome.
  3. 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?
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. rjshae
    Not every player likes that wonkish style though... and simplification can often be a good thing; see the programmer's KISS rule, for example. The ideal for me is a system that provides just enough distinctiveness to differentiate between the weapon and armor types, while avoiding a lot of little details that don't really add much to the game experience.
  7. rjshae
    Sure, recovery of magical ability could be linked to alpha waves in the brain. (It's the type of wave that forms when you are in a meditative condition or when you're sleeping.) The spells can then formed from this reserve when beta waves are active. Trying to recover magical ability during the day would require relaxation and a lack of distractions; something that is nearly impossible when your body is pumped up on adrenaline from combat. But a person who is well-practiced at such relaxation might be able to remain calm enough to enter this state even in the midst of battle.
  8. rjshae
    There are also some pretty good free modules you can get for NWN2. For example, there is a port of Icewind Dale, plus a remake of Baldur's Gate is in the works.
  9. rjshae
    ^^^^ I guess it boils down to a resource management issue. What hoops do the developers want to make us jump through to repair the collateral damage of battle? I suspect not a lot, since it is one of those mundane, uninteresting management issues like obtaining enough food or preparing a camp. But if they did want to, they could give every magic item an extra effect as a benefit for keeping it in good repair. The item would still work after taking damage and losing the effect, but not quite as well. Repairing the item might require a high skill level, which could possibly be offset by means of a special expenditure (like an expendable magic doohickey). In some respects this is comparable to the charged weapon approach in Oblivion.
  10. rjshae
    I'd imagine it'll take a fair bit of tweaking to turn it into a turn-based PnP game. Stuff that's easy for a computer can turn laborious in person.
  11. rjshae
    I hold this weird conjecture that we live in a universe of 2-dimensional time, while sliding down a bell-shaped curve of increasing entropy. It is the conscious decisions we make that guide our path down this slope, and in so doing we all steer our own destiny. Completely unprovable, of course, and getting way off topic.
  12. rjshae
    If magical gear never requires repair, should it be looked at as self-healing? Does if draw upon the soul of the wearer to patch over those dents and puncture marks? Maybe magical gear should have its own rest system?
  13. rjshae
    There's that bloody rouge again. They ought to lock up that cursed vagabond for painting the town red. Maybe they should put a Rouge character in the game as an inside joke?
  14. rjshae
    Wouldn't you rather see "god-like" concept sketches first? Hmm, I'd have to think about that one... okay, yes!!!!!
  15. rjshae
    Wasn't Friar Tuck essentially just an itinerant, glutinous Priest?
  16. rjshae
    I wouldn't mind seeing a different approach to meta-magic than is used in D&D 3e. A spell is, in a sense an effect applied with a set of properties. Why can't I fiddle with those properties and enhance it in some manner while diminishing it in another? If I want to cast it silently, I could reduce the casting level, increase the casting time, diminish the effectiveness, make it cost an extra spell slot, or adjust some other factor.
  17. rjshae
    I'm thinking of two uses for this ability: Point man to draw in the enemy Fire brigade
  18. rjshae
    You know what? Kind of the point of armor is to make it difficult for an enemy to hurt you. So tough luck for them.
  19. rjshae
    3 cm is about the size of lead figurines used in PnP games. Possibly you'll be able to zoom in closer, but I usually like to play with as wide a view as possible.
  20. rjshae
    This is something that needs to be done right, especially if people's screens continue to get bigger and the resolutions higher. When I watched the video the characters looked okay, but on a laptop or even a 20" screen it will be a bit hard to stand out for a character. P.S. Like 55 secs into the video somebody takes a snapshot of Josh, or are there will-o-wisps in the vicinity of OE's HQ? I played through BGEE recently; the wider view has resulted in the characters appearing proportionately much smaller. That's probably inevitable given the nature of the game and the trend in monitor resolutions. However, if you blow up Josh's sample viewing image to the dimensions of your display, I'll bet the figures will be large enough.
  21. rjshae
    Yes the BG2 spell list was large and varied, but didn't most of us end up just using about 20% of the spells? Changing spells was a time-consuming process, so it was usually better to pick the most useful ones and occasionally tweak situational-specific spells (like invisibility purge/see invisibility vs. the sirens). It might be interesting if the magic system had a counter-mechanic for overuse of specific spells. Say, if you cast magic missile all the time, then your magical link to that pattern grew worn and the spell became weakened. Another approach would be to have fewer magical patterns (spells) but many variants. You learn one of those variants to start with, then gradually expand your repertoire and learn to adjust it situationally. For example, your magic missiles could acquire knockback capability, delayed activation, elemental aspects, morale-lowering shrieking sounds, and so forth.
  22. rjshae
    I suppose you could have something like (L/M/H): slash -- good/bad/bad pierce -- good/good/bad crush -- good/good/good then have the typical weapon damage trend thus: slash > pierce > crush. That way you have two counter-balancing distributions.
  23. rjshae
    Cool update! Thanks for all the interesting details. One issue occurs to me: I'd expect the three weapon types (crush, slash, pierce) to trend from good to bad or from bad to good as the armor ranges from light to heavy. That leaves you with four possibilities for damage against light/medium/heavy armor: 1) bad/bad/good 2) bad/good/good 3) good/good/bad 4) good/bad/bad Whichever three you choose (for crush, slash, pierce), one (or two) forms of armor are going to be better against more weapon classes than the other form(s) of armor. I.e. it leaves you with a certain lack of symmetry. I guess you could pick 1/2/4 and stack it in favor of light armor, with the counterbalance being that light provides less overall protection.
  24. rjshae
    I could see ciphers having a limited form of mental invisibility: causing a target to completely ignore his presence. Another power could force the target to focus completely on their current task, making it more vulnerable to flank attacks. The cipher might be able to drain the mental capabilities of a dying creature, gaining temporary skill bonuses. Ciphers could have a mental attack capability against any thinking target; success lowers the willpower defenses against other cipher powers. The drawback is that the attack takes time to be successful, and trained beings may have learned mental defenses that make the task even more difficult.
  25. rjshae
    ^^^^ Yeah, journal annotations would be nice. Not sure how implementable that is though, given the way that journal entries change up as you finish tasks.
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