Osvir

So only 1 character could get a maximum amount of rings in this case? (The others getting perhaps... 4-6 tops) Another idea: Different fingers giving different strengths? Kind of complex, sounds like it could be its own Class with its own Class/Build Mechanics in the way I'm thinking about it (I.E: Rings functioning like a Grimoire, but Rings instead). Might be something to mod in there :D

That's actually pretty neat. So basically 2 Rings+1 General Accessory Piece I still want a (singular) "Treasure Hunt!" Item Set where you have to find several items (in this case, 3). Maybe you first read about this item in a Book Chapter (or two), then you find one ring which has a chapter description (with perhaps a clue). Then you find the next piece (another ring), with a chapter description leading to a clue in a book. Then you find the third piece (an earring or neklace... a tattoo maybe).

I agree Stun. I voted for 4 rings, but I think 2 is really enough. But I am also challenging the thought of "more than the usual" or "new ways". Which is why I'm exploring variants and various differential values such as "10" rings with a "ring-mechanic" attached to it. This thread is no suggestion, but merely exploration of concepts and vivid and weird ideas. Feel free to explore freely as well :D what would 4 rings be like? 5? 6? 7? What's the downside to having many rings? Does magical trinkets suck on the soul? Maybe you become better focused in one aspect because you have many rings, but other aspects of your character becomes slightly "weakened"? Ring ideas? Stories? Lore? Back to the "Must-Have-3-Rings-To-Summon-Djinni" Idea and elaboration thereof (because I'm not talking about "upgrading" a Ring). The Lore could be attached to the complete set, and each Ring could have a "chapter" description. "Only when 3 become 1 will the Djinni beckon" or whatnot. Instead of having 1 Item with 1 Lore you'd have 3 Items with 1/3rd Lore each. Kind of like Book Hunting in the TES games, only when you have found all 5 Chapters of a History Series will you know the entire tale kind of thing~ - bbl

Aawww, that's true. Before I move on with the topic on Rings, I did find this as I was looking for "Hula Hoop Wizards": So Ring ideas: One Ring To Rule Them All - This concept I find interesting. What if there is a Ring in the game that's pretty good on it's own, but if you wear a second (or more) ring you lose some of it's effects? (Or it becomes a cursed ring! "The Envious Ring") - IF you can only wear one ring: It should be on the left hand because it's closer to the heart/soul~ corny I dunno but we have a pretty big artery going into our left armpit because of this. Power could flow stronger in the left arm? Traditional Two Ringfinger - Traditional traditional. One on the left and one on the right. Or? Too lazy to go through all 10 of em but... can something "unique" and/or "innovative" be done with Rings? Does some races benefit more from rings? Some benefit in other ways? Can rings change appearance like in the Goblins comic? (Ring of Undeath = Makes him look like a zombie) Cursed Rings? Virtuous Rings? Magic Rings that can shoot some minor spells? (I believe there is a "Ring of Energy Blast" in Baldur's Gate for instance) What sort of enchantments could trinkets have? And could they be crafted together with swords, staffs, grimoires etc. etc? Could I take a ring and engrave/forge it into the sword hilt of a crafted sword to give it benefits? Nose ring? Earring? Eyebrow ring? Under the skin Ring(s)? <- Ring (Fantasy-Medieval) Augmentation~ Whilst I'm on the subject.... Magical Tattoos and Seals? Dungeon Siege 1. Only game I ever played that let you wear more than 2. It let you wear 6. It wasn't silly. And it wasn't overpowered either. No, it suffered from a different problem. It made rings redundant and mundane, because in the dev's attempts to keep balance, Rings became nothing more than extensions of your armor. Literally. There were no truly cool ring enchantments, like Invisibility, or Djinni Summoning, or Wizardry or anything like that. Nope, instead you'd just find a bajillion vender-trash rings that all gave you +6 to your armor, or +10 to your health, or some other soulless, inimaginitive crap like that. But it had to be that way. Because your character can wear 6 of the damn things, after all. 6! Could you imagine being able to wear 6 rings of Elemental control? Or 6 rings of Wizardry? It would destroy every build. Depends on how delicate it is handled I believe. Simply giving you "+6 Armor" is boring in itself, but what if having 2 Rings had zero effect whatsoever, but when you find that 3rd ring you can summon a Djinni Summoning or gain Invisibility. A little bit more "treasure hunting" in that sense if you have to gather all 3 components before getting the effect. Whilst in Baldur's Gate you just find an unidentified ring and when you identify it "Oh, a ring of invisibility! Lucky~".

Presumably. But as Silent Winter also said regarding this: the Ironman crowd (or those who intend to play on Ironman) can't reload. This feature is directed at a harder difficulty a higher challenge (as I usually direct many of my ideas). When PE comes out I'll see how the scripts work, maybe you can modify some existing values to become virtually permanent (Extending a "Weakening" Effect for 100000000000000000000 hours/in-game days etc. etc.), maybe you can even modify Critical Hit values. The idea is based with Player choice in mind, it shouldn't be something that is "tossed" in the Players face a la "You got injured. Deal with it 8)". A feature in a "Challenge Mod" might be more appropriate than in the original release.

@Leferd: Only... one...? EDIT: Tempted to ask to rename thread into "How many [Hula Hoops]?"

Ah, but what about ringmail?

Moar Goblins... Rings btw... ah! I didn't say that you should put them on your hand (though, not going to lie, I am implying on the fingers ofc). Would a pair of brass knuckles with ring slots work though? Let's just say 10 fingers means "on every finger"~~

Thesaurus has 2 functions. A) Thesaurus Search for a word, find synonyms, antonyms. Lots of words! One word can have many variations. B) Visual Thesaurus Has a Trial Thinkmap feature. Awesome stuff. Darkness takes me to Shadow and Shadow to Phantom, Presence, Trace and more... and Darkness (scroll down, "More words related with Darkness") also goes to Death (Deadly~), which connects with Last, Destruction, Killing, End etc. etc. I doubt Obsidian would be that cryptic but I think all these sounds somewhat "neat"... but also kind of revealing. - Trace of Eternity (ToE, TE) - Presence of Eternity (PoE, PE) - Phantom of Eternity (PoE, PE) - The Last Eternity (TLE) - Destroying Eternity (DE) - Killing Eternity (KE) - End of Eternity (EoE) Oh and try the thinkmap feature, it is awesome (albeit a trial feature). Otherwise, "Eternity" is kind of grown in, isn't it? Or is it just me? EDIT: "Eternity" could be the title is what I mean.

Surely you mean AI? Again, I forgot to think about the AI when I presented this idea. How would the AI know which shape is what? How much work would that require? How would the AI use the best shape and in what circumstance? Re-sizing AoE might be valid though, such as the [Cone]. If I move up with 2 or 3 melee based characters, the AI could sense that somehow and unleash a Cone in close proximity that hits all of them. Or a concentrated circle, shooting a fireball that deals less damage and only hits a single target but casts much faster.

But then why would you leave it untreated? (other than for the extra challenge, as you said - that's what challenge modes are for after all - but from an in-game/rp perspective, I couldn't see it - [python]'It's just a flesh-wound' ... "Flesh-wound? I cut your arm off"[/python]) Or is it a case of 'you might be able to treat it in time IF you can make it to the rest spot' ? Depends on how the rest mechanic is handled really, because there needs to be (in my opinion) a risk factor the other way around as well. Do you press on forward and take the injury as a consequence, or do you turn back to the rest spot and suffer whatever consequence that might bring? Is there any consequence at all when you go to the rest spot? Can you spam the Camp Site and rest as much as you like (i.e. can you sleep 356 days of the year?)? It's a question of preparation as well and adding incentive for more preparation. You don't want to lose an arm right? Right. So you bring with you tools to prevent that in case your character would suffer the risk of losing an arm. And, you could use the same resources for something else as well (bandages, for instance, let's say they are stackable by 3 so you can't carry too many, but might heal 1 HP or close wounds if you have "Bleed" effect or something). Or herbs that you can chew to get rid of nasty poison, or mix into a potion. It's kind of like the Hardcore mode in Fallout: New Vegas, you got to drink water and eat food or else you'll starve or dehydrate. Or better yet, as an example, the game "Don't Starve". If you don't treat your character right you'll suffer dire consequences. If there is no risk of losing an arm, then you don't have to worry about that as you engage in combat (but the combat itself might be riskful in itself ofc). All I'm saying is that I believe the mindset would be different if you go into combat, knowing that you might lose an arm in doing so. A tactical element to consider. Of course, getting an injury in combat would also be difficult to deal with, as it'd make your character weaker during combat. Suddenly you might need to wrap up the battle much faster than you previously thought, otherwise you might be an arm shorter.

(TDG) The Dyrwood Grove

^ This. And if it was based on luck, that would = a RNG form of calculation, yes? So I probably wouldn't like it in that case, if the effects of such injuries were permanent, because there's no way, by skills, to be able to avoid it, even if you're superman in combat. RNG's in games are notoriously terrible. If the injuries were a timed penalty, then maybe. eg, break an arm, -1 to strength or agility (or whatever) for 2 weeks of in-game days. Bandages or kits to fix and such are fine. I just wouldn't want unavoidably permanent, and based on something as iffy as Luck. Well, in my defense and to the ideas defense, I did provide a concept in the OP of getting an injury that you can treat, to elaborate on that: Untreated temporary injuries transforming into permanent injuries~ that's kind of what I'm going for. That might've been a better thread title hrm. Anyways, this is probably an idea I'll play with when I try to mod the game. This is ofc related to harder difficulties. I find- and imagine it being somewhat a charm getting to the end of the game, all battered and worn, you got one eye, one arm, a broken knee cap etc. etc. and doing your best to succeed at a disadvantage. This idea is not "I want more realism", this is purely "I want challenging mechanics". Underline = Hello

Hmm, I didn't think about realism really... then we have the question "Does Aumaua have 10 fingers, Orlan?" etc. etc. This is what I thought about: http://www.goblinscomic.org/01132012/ Panel 6 to 8 "Dammit, the rings don't fit!" I agree with possible tedious ring management (10 rings) but still curious about it. Not for realism in any way, but I can't think of any game that has tried it. 2 rings are typical and traditional. Which means that anything but 2 rings would most likely call for "innovative" ring mechanics. EDIT: Also want to direct some shameless attention to this post: Permanent Injuries losing a Finger could be something fairly common. Again, not advocating for 10 Rings. I am simply exploring, what I think is, an innovative idea.

This was a thought a long time ago that I posted somewhere that I don't remember and there was a short discussion about it. Now, finally, I am making a thread about it. This is most likely a difficult thing to create, but still want to discuss it more in depth. Basically, being able to "shape" an AoE into different forms. I am also going to put in another thought into this thread but that's for later. Let's take a Grease spell for instance, and being able to draw it in a "circle" around the party or around the enemy team or whatnot, then lighting it on fire to create a "Fire Wall". Or making the Grease in a line to some TnT barrels to create a "fuse" and then lighting it on fire to create a "BOOM!". These are two are different suggestions, what kind of AoE GUI do you "expect" and or would like to see?: - Dynamic "Paint-AoE" - Shaped AoE (Geometry: Triangles, Circles, Squares, Crosses etc. etc.) Second thought: "Wild Magic" AoE consequences/effects. Wild Magic is a very interesting concept and I liked it a lot in the IE games, and a thought I got from a fairly recent topic (again I don't remember which one) is a chaotic element of Wild Magic. Concept: You direct your magic and place the AoE circle somewhere, but with a risk of the magic (because it is "Wild") to extend further than the AoE or only affect a "cake slice" of the circle or perhaps even misdirecting completely and shooting way off target. Thoughts?

Simple poll. Don't know about you, but this is something I tend to ask myself in RPG's: "Why can I only have 2 rings?" I know it makes sense from a mechanical perspective, having 10 Rings in many RPG's would be waaaay overpowered because many Rings do grant pretty hefty bonuses later in the game. It would also take up a LOT of space in the inventory screen (unless a sort of scroll bar of some sort). But what if Rings only gave small bonuses and/or had "Ring Set"-functions (3 of the same Rings gives a bigger bonus when worn together)? Nevertheless, I am not advocating for 10 Rings, but more or less just challenging a thought. I voted for for.... ;P

Yo! So, this is an idea I've been thinking about and have posted in several of the "Healing" and "Injuries" threads that has come and gone. I think it is a fairly basic idea that could be simple to execute. If you know my sort of thread of thought, you should know I enjoy a good challenge, which this idea caters fully too. There are several methods I have in mind, so let me get on with it. The first 2 examples are an "easy" injury to implement. Scenario 1: The "Chaotic" Version (Based on Luck) 1. You are in a fight, the enemy scores that Critical Hit (that one which you learn to "hate") 2. Your character loses an eye, and is penalized with -1 Accuracy for the rest of the game. Scenario 2: The "Treatable" Version (Still based on Luck but can be treated) 1. You are in a fight, the enemy scores that Critical Hit 2. Your character is on the verge of losing and eye unless treated. 3. You have a potion, bandages or whatnot, close to a Camp Site, and can rest and your character does not lose an eye (thus no penalty) How would this be presented? Would the character model change? No, not at all. The simplest method I can think of would be a text line in the "Records" tab: See "Free Action" and "Haste"? Replace that with "Injury: Eye-loss" or something. The more difficult version I can think of... it would be "Arm-loss". Because that would affect the Inventory screen as well. Take this picture below, it would nullify one arm (let's say the "Right" arm). I haven't photoshoped the picture but I think you get the picture I am conveying, basically putting an "X" or greying out the Arm if affected by a Permanent Injury. Again, the character model (paperdoll) wouldn't need to change (the character model and paperdoll would still have 2 arms but can only equip items to one), because I believe we, the majority of gamers/humans, fill in the blanks with our imagination. Thoughts?

I really like the style of that armor, but what I was going to comment on wasn't what I thought it was... I thought the rod was a Mace and that the end was designed as a Fist *facepalm* regardless.... I still kinda like the idea of a "Fist Mace" or "Fist Hammer".... so I sloppily cut out the concept I saw

Here are some pictures I googled, then copied and pasted into photoshop for various elements to get different effects on the portraits. Hurt: http://jmount43.files.wordpress.com/2012/11/blondes-women-flowers-blood-fantasy-art-vampire-hd-wallpapers.jpg (blood from mouth) Weak: -broken link- (1 copied bat and mouth) Asleep: http://salespot.com.au/assets/productimages/large/Sleeping-Beauty.jpg (the sleep eye mask) Stunned: http://images.clipartof.com/small/1090499-Clipart-Knocked-Out-Emoticon-Face-Seeing-Stars-Royalty-Free-Vector-Illustration.jpg (inspiration) Paralyzed: http://207.56.179.67/flowcasting/images/fear.jpg (Hands and Eyes) Poisoned: http://krazykillers.files.wordpress.com/2011/09/arsenic-poisoning-32.jpg (Palm) Cursed: http://irishgothichorrorjournal.homestead.com/cursed_mountain-all-all-screenshot002.jpg (Mouth and Forehead) And a lot of Lasso Tool, Cut/Copy+Paste in combination with CTRL+U (Hue), some simple "touch-up" and this is the effect. All of them are modified [NORMAL]: That's 21 custom portraits now. That would've been 3 characters. EDIT: Which, again, I am not suggesting. Obsidian does not need to spend any artistic resources on it, take a closer look at my suggestion. All the Portraits are the same except for "Dead". The mock-ups that I am making is not what I am suggesting Obsidian do, but it is merely something I and others could do if there is a model or method like this.

But the special circumstances, i.e. "Poisoned" is already going to be an effect that's part of the game. To add it onto that, it will probably be accompanied by a small [icon]. The code will already be there, unless Obsidian has some other way to show "Status Effects" in the GUI or on the character models themselves. In the simplest psuedo-code terms: IF Poisoned = Show Icon Then I'm sure there's an easy and simple code sequence you can do for a "priority list" that you could ask the program to run through before showing a portrait. "IF Poisoned = Check List then Show Icon/Portrait" Also, because I spoke about the joke mockup, I couldn't resist xD I agree that that's a lot of portraits to modify but I don't see a problem with it <3 <3 <3 there's a lot of textures, items, props, triggers, code etc. etc. as well. Should those modding opportunities be reduced as well? Because that's what I am seeing here, an exciting opportunity. Damn, should've made his beard stick out to all sides on [sTUNNED] xD EDIT: Look, which section gets most love? 1. Dragon Age Nexus (Hair & Face, 491) 2. Skyrim Nexus (Armor tops the list at 3000~, Hair & Face has 255, Clothing has 870~ish) 3. Oblivion Nexus (Gamplay at 2700, Armor at 2100, Hair & Face has 306, Clothing 1025) The point I'm making is that the "Avatar" is important, vanity is big.

I agree and I disagree. Because it'd be up to the Player what they'd want. Let me repeat the idea again and go a bit more into detail. I agree that 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% is a simpler method. I 50-50 disagree, with my own belief, that it is complicated (see question at bottom) This is what I am suggesting for vanilla/release, note that ALL of these Portraits are [NORMAL] except the [DEAD] one: In other words, Obsidian wouldn't need to spend resources or even make what you see below mandatory, because all Portraits are "Normal" until modified by you or any other Player/Fan/Hobbyist/Artist. In other words, if you'd get Poisoned you'd see the "Normal" portrait just like Baldur's Gate but with a small Poison icon (Minsc has Poison in the upper right corner) on the Portrait. ------- Because this^ allows me as both a fan and an amateur/hobbyist artist (and anyone else) to modify it into this, or something else~ I could put joke pictures into each and every one of them as well. Maybe photoshop in some stars when [sTUNNED], maybe just find a picture of a Knee and photoshop in an Arrow on [HURT] etc. etc: Then it is up to whoever to either do some customization themselves or download a pack that someone else has done. The 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100% method is simpler of course, but added with Status Effects it is more interesting in my opinion. And I also provide what I think is a simple method. One does not exclude the other either. Maybe there could be a 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100% in the same manner in "What Obsidian Could Do" and Status Effects. The point I am trying to make is that it would all be 100% Optional. Maybe you only want the 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100% Portraits and no Status Effect Portraits, then you could and should be able to pick out those specifically. Furthermore, IF (big one) Obsidian would consider doing a 0%, 25%, 50%, 75%, 100% method, then they already would have a sort of "Prioritize Code" in-effect in-game regardless. I think this is a very exciting concept and idea, and logically I believe and analyze it as something fairly simple to implement :D @the Devs w/ experience: Is it possibly simple or am I naive? EDIT: I also found this when I was looking for the Baldur's Gate picture, which I think is awesome as well:

See the edit. It should be priority. In case of [CURSED] & [WEAKENED], [CURSED] should show, [WEAKENED] could be a Small Icon in the Portrait & if you Pause and check the Records/Biography Tab in the UI. Then when you remove [CURSED], you see the [WEAKENED]. Just some top-of-my-head thoughts on priority order: 1. Dead precedes everything. If you are Dead, that portrait is prioritized. 0% Health. 2. Hurt. 25%~35% Health or something. 3. Paralyzed 4. Stunned 5. Asleep 6. Cursed 7. Poisoned 8. Weak (I am assuming that "Weak" in this context is a status effect, that your character is fatigued and/or isn't generally as strong as usual, [Tired] or low on Stamina). If "Damaged", i.e; 50%~ Health or something, then maybe prioritize higher up. 9. Normal So if I am Poisoned, I know I am poisoned because it shows on the portrait for starters, then I get stunned -> Stunned Portrait takes over and the Poisoned Portrait becomes a small icon on the portrait. And when it is removed, I get the Poisoned Portrait back. If I am Cursed, however, and then I get "Weakened", the Cursed picture should still stick in place, and the Weakened effect is an icon. If I remove the "Cursed" effect, the "Weakened" takes over. EDIT: And if I want to do it super advanced, I could paint all of them in a theme so it goes from one portrait to another fairly "seemlessly". Instead of getting "Yellow" from Paralyze, maybe he just opens his mouth a little bit and his eyes widen etc. etc.

Because it is a currently fond topic of mine :D Considering Status Effect Portraits or a variant of it?

Wanted to go a lil bit further with this, here's an example. This is the only thing Obsidian would need to do. All portraits are "Normal" except for "Dead". This is what I did, the only thing I used was the Normal portrait and did my own take on it, nothing overly advanced really, I could've worked more on "WEAK" for instance, tried to make him look "Tired": EDIT: Adding in a couple of more status effects (not drawing them, just ideas): Negative Effects: - Addicted - Petrified (Cus it's not the same thing as Paralyzed) - Blinded - Silenced - Charmed - [sUPER IMPORTANT EDIT] Polymorphed Positive Effects: - Berserk - [insert Attribute Buff] = Juiced (From Spell or Potion) - Hurrdidurr I can't come up with more. I realize that the Portraits would require some sort of "Priority" in the code as well. Would it just "tick" cycle through the portraits if you are [POISONED] and you are [HURT]? Or would the game prioritize one before the other?

As long as it involves an underground lair with an ancient machine with an eerie pink and purple glow that will suck out your soul and replace it with another... mwuhahaha... Or, better yet (in my opinion) something that simply sucks out your currently accumulated Soul but slowly "regenerates" as you tread along (triggered). Kind of like Arthas in the Frozen Throne but the other way around (I.E: Arthas starts at Level 10, but he loses 1 Level every mission or when triggered). - You are Level 5-6 when you encounter this point in an underground lair. - You sell your soul, get back to Level 1 [insert Class]. - As you move along the underground lair towards the exit, you get 1 or 2 Levels every now and then when triggered. Expect to be challenged. - Serves the A narrative rather than only acting as a "re-specialize game button". - Make it a choice/Add flavor: A) Sacrifice your Wizard Soul so you can fill it with a Fighter Soul (or whatever~). Component for a "later" Summoning Ritual* Gets a bad (necromancy) reputation. B) Use the "Machine" to call back a lost companion's Soul. Breaks the "Machine" and summons a powerful side-boss enemy. C) Destroy the "Machine". Gain good reputation, finish a Quest and some gear reward. D) Leave it alone. Late game consequence (the powerful side-boss enemy appears during some fight~ maybe an intelligent and calculative mid-boss calls it to his/her aid). * You could always sacrifice your Wizard Soul and "respec" into Wizard again if you enjoy the Class, right? Reputation/Quest~ Examples examples: A) Does not finish Quest for one Faction and gets bad rep because Necromancy. B) Finishes Quest but gets bad rep because Necromancy. C) Finish Quest Optimally as "Ordered". D) Does not Finish Quest, neutral rep.