rjshae

Okay. Well for an example of a non-oriental monk, how about a theistic order known as the "watchers of the eternal flame"? These monks have served as guardians of this flame for untold generations, maintaining these sacred fires in their simple domed temples and defending the flame against all threats. The flame must be preserved at all costs, and, if it ever goes out, the fire may only be relit by transporting the flame from another temple. In order to survive the fickle whims of history, the guardians have foresworn political ambition, territorial conquest, and the accoutrements of the military. This has kept them safe from the nobility, strongmen, and would-be conquerors, since the guardians are not perceived as a threat to the political control of the land. Likewise, their mystique has spread so far and wide that nobody risks endangering their temples. The aestetic of the order requires them to live simply with a minimum of possessions and gear. Contemplation of the eternal flame, which is descended from the divine fire of their patron god, has revealed secrets to the order that are closely held by the brotherhood of monks, and allows them to perform exceptional feats of physical and mental prowess. Over the centuries, the order have mastered mystical techniques for defending their flames under all conditions, day and night, using only their bodies or simple weapons. The unparalleled martial skills of these monks are said to have no equal outside the order, although an occasional rival school has sprung up under the tutelage of ambitious defectors. A few monks choose to take leave of the order so as to pursue their personal agendas. These itinerant monks often continue to live according to the same aesthetic principles as the order, although they lose those additional mystical powers bestowed by the aura of the eternal flame.

For total immersion in a medieval setting? Hmm... wouldn't you just look at the position of the Sun in the sky? Maybe there's a magical clock of some type?

Humans during the medieval period were not even close to seriously taxing the environment. It's a non-issue.

I like it when they reflect the health status outside of combat via injured character animation. Within combat your party should be able to assess the health of your opponents visually, so health bars may make sense in that circumstance.

Poor Forton and his magic nipster clamps. I wonder if he is near sighted?

Perhaps a legendary ruined site that has absolutely nothing of interest, but is so wrapped up in the lore of the land that multitudes have attempted to delve into the secrets of the place. After many attempts, the place has a reputation of utmost foolishness and even has its own an epitaph: Delver's Folly. Despite this, the occasional charlatan still uses the site for another profiteering scam. Newcomers to the region are a favorite target for this rigged game, with fake treasures being left where they are easy to find.

There's no need to attack the poster. If you don't like the question, just walk away.

Why is this a problem? Surely you don't complain about games that have nothing but humans.

Along those lines, there are potentially other creatures besides horses that can supply heavy labor. Picture the trolls that opened and shut the gates to Mordor in the LotR movies. Wizards should certainly be able to summon and perhaps bind elemental creatures that can perform actions not possible with human laborers. There may be an entire industry centered around the capture and breeding of enchanted creatures for use in alchemical processes.

I agree that magic can have a significant socio-economic impact on a society. But there's a big difference between being able to cast a spell and being able to enchant an item. If the latter is difficult, then the economic impact may be greatly diminished. The magical ability to create permanent items is not a given either; conjured items may fall apart or vanish after a period of time (or disappear based on certain "tests" such as contact with cold iron). Hence, you'll still need people to craft physical items, even if you can use magic to heat the forge or spin the lathe. But it could increase the economic output of cottage industries quite a bit.

A donut chart would be more fun, because then we can debate the appropriate size for the hole in the middle.

Most people have an alternative time source available, so I don't see this happening. But I think there are apps you can get that will overlay the clock in full screen mode.

It may depend on what is tolerated in the society, and how willing parents are to raise such a child. The list could be endless: Non-human flesh: either an unusual skin tone or an animal-like or alien hide. Transparent, opaque, or glowing. Unusual hair: crystal, feathers, plasma, wavy tendrils, hazy mist. Extra appendages: tail, wings, horns, antennae, fangs, extra arms, extra eyes, tubes, or throbbing buboes. Different bodily proportions: unusually tall, lean, or bulky. Odd joints. I suspect they will need to whittle down the list to a fixed set for budget reasons.

As long as it is avoidable, I'm okay with this type of scut work quest because it's humbling; somebody has to clear the rats out of the cellar so it might as well be us lowly adventurers. Having nothing but high importance quests is unrealistic, unless the game is written in such a way that you're already starting out with a high-importance character.

It would be an interesting advantage for Rangers to be able to partially bypass enemy terrain concealment advantages. Rangers are likely to be more used to firing bows in dense foliage, or around terrain obstacles, so that advantage would make a certain amount of sense.

It's perhaps possible they could address the uncanny valley by applying postprocessing techniques like converting a 3D image to simulated watercolor, or applying a frosted glass or gaussian blur effect to the image so the features are less clear. The modified emotive face could then be used as a backdrop to the text. But that's just speculation on my part.

It probably depends on how much of that expansion can be done in parallel, and how much of it has just added more bottlenecks. I suspect that features like the adventurer's hall can probably be done in parallel, for example, as can the endless paths and the stronghold.

I'm not sure how practical it would be, but having a set of cultural modifiers to interpersonal skills might be an interesting way to reflect both language difficulties and regional distrust. If a party-based communication dialog is used, these modifiers could make different characters useful under varying circumstances. For example, that boorish half-orc barbarian with the unpleasant body odor may actually be useful when interfacing with goblinoid races. Likewise, you might not want the charming dwarf bard speaking up during negotiations with a race of dwarf-hating giants.

Shenanigans. Faith is so 13th century. Not really; just lots of practical experience in a business environment. Having people with no practical experience in this matter try to micromanage every aspect of the game's development is folly. Let the experts do their job.

It always seems a little other-worldly to me when somebody goes on about how great PST was; I just didn't find it that interesting. Yes the characters and the setting were novel, but the story didn't grab me as it did others. For some reason I just preferred the more grounded setting and characters of the BG series. They made the unique elements of the plot stand out more.

Yeah, I like that idea as well, particularly for the crafting that requires master level skills. The player can supply the need for an expanded laboratory with assistants, plus the acquisition of rare items and formulae, while the master crafter supplies the skills and experience. I've never liked the option of spending precious skill points on crafting.

Didn't we contribute because we thought these guys know what they're doing? Let them.

I'm reminded a little of some of the older cRPGs where the facial icons could express sickness, pain, and so forth. But I'm starting to agree with some of the posters above that it might not work well with this style of game. Well-written text can communicate emotions quite effectively, as can colors and sounds to some degree.

Besides the types of enemies you face, combat can be made interesting through the tactical situation. Variations in the terrain types, opportunistic cover, deception and surprise maneuvers, unusual environments, party handicaps, and even negotiations can all make a fight unique and memorable. Yeah, yeah, I know... these are all obvious. Yet they rarely seem to be employed in cRPGs to liven things up. Another feature I'd like to see more frequently is the opportunity for the party to plan out an attack in advance, whether through scouting or from information obtained by an informant. Battle planning can be a fun element of the tabletop experience, but in a cRPG it often ends up being done after the first play through. Why not let us do it beforehand?

Which bespeaks another issue: placing modern sensibilities in a medieval setting. Why would they have a bathroom without plumbing? But yeah, a variety of kids and some pregnant women would be good, as would repercussions for breaking into somebody's home just to look around. In fact I'd like to see a door greeting system in place: rather than just opening a door and walking inside, the player should knock and be greeted at the door.