Blackbeard

I think adding fertile mixed races would definitely overcomplicate things. And if they are included, having them as a playable option just worsens this. At most only 50% mixtures should be found with such explanations as sterility as you explained, and the fact that most groups could be highly endogamous.

you know who was self taught? cavemen...they didn't do things too well for a looooong time. even Batman had a half dozen of the best teachers... and chances are we won't start out as a billionaire genius with an obsession for justice. How do you know your mage didn't study for years alone studying books for reference? It's a bit different to a cro-magnon smashing rocks together in an attempt to create a spark, and even then it's doubtful that it wasn't a part of learned culture as shown in existing chimpanzees. A lot of people teach themselves things, like learning a new language or playing an instrument. It's just about using the resources you have available at the time, as opposed to hiding in a cave and trying to figure the whole thing out yourself. hey man, I'm not arguing FOR my specific approach per se...I'm simply arguing against having a class that has specialized skills with no reason whatsoever. I want there to be a damn good reason why i'm such a good lockpick, healer or swordsman... Then come up with your own roleplay background for the character, it's what people have been doing for years.

you know who was self taught? cavemen...they didn't do things too well for a looooong time. even Batman had a half dozen of the best teachers... and chances are we won't start out as a billionaire genius with an obsession for justice. How do you know your mage didn't study for years alone studying books for reference? It's a bit different to a cro-magnon smashing rocks together in an attempt to create a spark, and even then it's doubtful that it wasn't a part of learned culture as shown in existing chimpanzees. A lot of people teach themselves things, like learning a new language or playing an instrument. It's just about using the resources you have available at the time, as opposed to hiding in a cave and trying to figure the whole thing out yourself.

I agree that there should be no karma system in the game, but the choice to be an obviously "bad person" should exist. When it comes to grey morality I think it's much more important to apply it to the various factions in the game as opposed to just limiting the player's options to "this shade of grey vs. this one". No relationship to 50 shades of fail intended. I'm not saying those options would be a bad thing either, I just don't think that should be all we have. It definitely shouldn't be spelled out for the player either with "GOOD", "EVIL", "NEUTRAL" and "SOMEWHAT MURKY" tacked onto the dialogue options, but then this isn't likely to be an issue if there is no karma system.

When I think of evil done poorly, Fallout 3 springs to mind very quickly. This is to the point where you either do the "acceptable" thing most people would do, or you choose the random schizophrenic option and you're suddenly committing genocide in completely nonsensical circumstances (and the opportunity to do so appears at least twice). This is exactly the kind of "good vs. bad" dichotomy that PE should be avoiding, the choice to be sane or to act as if half of your brain exploded five minutes ago.