Tsuga C

I'm in favor of unlimited standard ammo and limited non-standard ammo. The key question to me is whether or not archers will be able to stay in the rear of the formation next to the wizard and remain relatively unmolested. If they can't, then it'll be a case of firing off 3 or 4 shots at the beginning of each encounter and then switching to back-up melee weapons. Unlimited standard ammo would by and large be a moot point because you'd hardly ever run out. This set-up would disappoint me somewhat, but it wouldn't be the end of the world.

wizard warrior priest rogue ranger monk druid barbarian cipher paladin chanter This is a comprehensive list and I don't see the need for a bazillion variations on the themes offered via the Core Four. My vote was for "Other", the other being no further offerings. I might be able to see my way to having an assassin class if it has a truly functional assassination attack as did the AD&D version. Druids should be able to handle shapeshifting and the others could be done via concentration on certain skills/feats within an already existing class.

I've never cared for the martial art monks as a class. I remember playing one NWN1 module where my PC was paired up with a gold dragon companion and we were up against a shuffling old man who turned out to be the main bad guy (or one of them; it's been a while since I played that module). He was a monk and watching him punching and kicking at my gold dragon companion was absolutely preposterous. This only served to reinforce my dislike of the monk that I've held since AD&D. They just strain my sense of credulity too much. If this thread had a poll, I'd be voting against monks in the strongest terms possible.

An orc by any other name is still as foul. Whether they're called orcs or gobilns or something else, every medieval cRPG needs a low-to-mid-level, nasty enemy for sword fodder. I have no problem with calling these savages orcs. It's tradition, after all, and I've always been a Tolkien fan.

Immunities are powerful and potentially disruptive enough that they should be rare and confined to a limited number of opponents, almost all of them higer tier (e.g. fire elementals are immune to fire, undead immune to level/hit dice drain from negative energy). Resistances and damage reduction break the game far less often. Thinking back to NWN1, rogues dealing with undead (immune to critical hits) was a source of serious irritation that generally had me hacking the module and inserting a self-created magical weapon to even the odds. I could see cutting their sneak attack damage vs undead by 50% or even 66%, but the immunity thing really got on my nerves.

Hit us with every iota of information needed to ensure the verisimilitude of the world is both broad and deep via both written and spoken word. I rather enjoy reading and the written word is a much less expensive medium for conveying information to the player (quality voice acting = big $$$). This translates to more zots available for aspects of the game that cannot be covered adequately by blocks of text, be they flavor or otherwise.

I'm not all that concerned with viewing such moves or having the animations correspond unfailingly to the actual moves we're queueing up. As long as the results of the trip or disarming move are shown so that we can readily see whether or not our attempt at employing the secondary function was successful, I'll be happy. After all, we aren't really here for the painstakingly detailed eye-candy, are we? No, we're here for the story, gameplay, and character interactions of a retro-style game.

Familiars are a classic element of RPGs that I would hate to see omitted from P:E. As a DM I always preferred that the party had at least one familiar or companion animal along that I could co-opt as needed to relay in-game information to the party without having to break in on a meta-level and thus spoil the mood. D&D 3.X familars and companion animals (F/ACs) are a good starting point, but I'd like to see more natural animal abilities included. For example, if my F/AC has a good nose, then we ought to get some warning when a bunch of smelly ogres are approaching the party from upwind. Birds are natural aerial scouts, of course, and could be used in conjunction with a cool down period to do just that. This sort of thing, along with play and possible oddball or humerous observations, behaviors, and inter-species misunderstandings can really liven up intra-party interactions. Bottom line, I very much enjoy having F/ACs along in a party and my fingers are crossed that they'll be an option for us.

The backing hook of a halberd may be used to trip or forcibly dismount a mounted opponent; a spetum or ranseur is well suited to disarming an opponent; the beard of an axe may hook around the top of a shield and may be used to pull the opponent off balance or to expose their centerline to attack (lowers armor class). Will P:E allow us to take advantage of these and other secondary weapon functions? I certainly hope so as this will move combat beyond a very basic "hack 'n' slash" level.