Hormalakh

Might be nice to have it be more powerful with ciphers mind melded. These are rough sketch ideas. The point is for devs to see it and mold the ideas into something nice. I encourage everyone to add their own ideas. Just please keep the word count down, so they're quick to read. And a new post for each idea. Don't spit everything out all at once. It basically confirms that I any many others won't read it.

They've already talked about certain modal abilities disallowing other modal abilities. I wonder if this was in regards to spells or something else. I've listed each spell and marked if commonly used (1), sometimes used (2), used once (3), never used (4) in spoilers below. I've added a blank template at the bottom (see last spoiler) so others can copy paste and do the same. The convention is to put the number 1-4 in front of the spell. In case, this becomes interesting for someone to take all the data and put it in an excel sheet, it would be easy because it's the first character for each spell. e.g. Armor -> 1Armor (often used) Blindness -> 4Blindess (rarely used) To get the template, reply to my message, then click on the top left button (looks like a switch) to switch to code mode. Then scroll all the way down, You can delete this introductory stuff and then edit the last spoiler by adding your numbers in front. Arcane Spells Level 1 Arcane Spells Level 2 Arcane Spells Level 3 Arcane Spells Level 4 Arcane Spells Level 5 Arcane Spells Level 6 Arcane Spells Level 7 Arcane Spells Level 8 Arcane Spells Level 9 Arcane Spells Level 10

So now that we have some more information on barbarians: I thought I'd add that information here and we could think of some suggestions for barbarian abilities/talents.

Another ability, this one is modal: Mind meld: You and an ally/companion meld your minds to increase cipher damage/strength. This is an active modal ability. It makes cipher attacks more powerful. If either the companion or the cipher are knocked unconscious during the mind meld: both characters become unconscious. It takes a short amount of time to connect/disconnect from another companion's mind meld, so be careful when companions are close to being unconscious. Also mental bonuses (increased wisdom, clear-thinking, true seeing, etc) are shared between the two companions, but mental maluses are also shared.

So, really, it's just another "make gameplay onerous for folks who like to play wizards" proposal. No, thank you. If hitting too hard with a sword were equally likely to have the same effect I might be more receptive, but I really don't see how it would make the game more fun. You cannot into reading? Melee attacks would damage/break weapons and armor. This isn't an attack against "wizards." I usually play wizards the first time through anyway.

The whole world should be an exposition. It shouldn't be limited to "guard conversations" nor solely to "images you find on a wall." I was just trying to fit this exposition idea to the topic at hand: enemy activity.

I don't think we can really judge the visual feel of the game unless we see some game footage first. It's really difficult to decipher anything from that screenshot. Also, all the character models are the same, so I don't understand the complaint some people are having that "the characters all look too similar." That's because they are the same. I really wouldn't ask them to change anything at this point until I've seen some game footage at the correct resolution. A chapter from Naked Lunch inspired Scanners. Cronenberg also made Naked Lunch, but I haven't seen it. I hear it's quite the terrible movie.

You mentioned the movie Scanners as an inspiration for the ciphers. I'm wondering if any of you have read the book that inspired Scanners: William S. Burrough's novel Naked Lunch. If not, I recommend it. It's not about psychics (except for a chapter about "senders") but it's an interesting read nonetheless!

So, now we have a little more to work with! Based on the update from today this is what we have so far: I wanted to put in an idea that Somna and I thought of here. I also mentioned it in the update thread. "Ciphers: Geometric upscaling could be one "ability." Geometric downscaling could be another. Psionic Nexus: The more "sentient beings" within an area, the more powerful the attack. As beings go unconscious/die, the power of this ability/attack decreases. This encourages players to try to keep as many enemies alive, while reducing their stamina (of all enemies) equally. It is counter-intuitive since most players like destroying enemies one at a time and reducing the number of enemies attacking. It is sort of a balance question (should I kill off these enemies and start focusing down on single enemies or should I keep the minions alive to help power-up my ability?). You can further adjust this based on monster intellect/wisdom/charisma. Other adjustments could be made."

Ciphers: Geometric upscaling could be one "ability." Geometric downscaling could be another. Psionic Nexus: The more "sentient beings" within an area, the more powerful the attack. As beings go unconscious/die, the power of this ability/attack decreases. This encourages players to try to keep as many enemies alive, while reducing their stamina (of all enemies) equally. It is counter-intuitive since most players like destroying enemies one at a time and reducing the number of enemies attacking. It is sort of a balance question (should I kill off these enemies and start focusing down on single enemies or should I keep the minions alive to help power-up my ability?). You can further adjust this based on monster intellect/wisdom/charisma. Other adjustments could be made. The point is this attack goes from very strong to fairly weak over the combat duration.

It might be interesting to have Grimoires act like a weapon. Then you switch between Grimoires or weapons and the animations could vary (from Grimore -> weapon: short animation duration. Weapon -> Grimoire: long animation. Grimoire -> Grimoire: long animation). Thus grimoires can limit how many weapons a character can carry (the more Grimoires you carry, the less likely you are able to carry a weapon) and the limit on Grimoires also stays. *Please wait while your i-Grim(oire) is loading...*

LOL: it didn't pass my notice Sounds like its possible afterall! Modders get your engines started. As for chanters: They remind me of the fridge-magnet poem words. Suggestive and innuendo chants coming soon to a PE near you.

I want to see the game as it plays!!! Can't you just zoom in a little more? Thanks for the deetz. I did have a few question: can you expand on what you meant about the Grimoires being inventory based? Would this be like switching between weapon sets (just with a lot longer animation?) reaching your top of pack or having to scrounge in your stash? Also I'm a little confused about energy attacks: Would a fire sword (normal damage 5-10 with an energy attack of +15%) have to clear a DT based on the armor for the normal attack and clear a different DT for the energy attack? That is to say would a Spirit Heavy Armor have a different effect than a Natural Heavy Armor (or its equivalent)? What will be the limiting factor when activating/deactivating modal abilities. Is a mana limit/timer on these?

Huh. So basically, unless it is Path of Iron, we can expect percentile chances to be out the window. Percentile chances of what? Nobody at Obsidian has remotely clearly defined any skills that will be present in P:E or how they will function mechanically. The example was Sawyer's explanation/retort as to why players of NV couldn't shoot locks or blow up doors rather than pick the lock or find a key. Do you have a link to this quote? I'm interested in seeing it. Thanks!

One game that did this particularly well was Thief. You got a lot of universe exposition from guards just talking to each other. Not all of it was game relevant, but it made the game so much more alive. "Hey, you going to the bear fights tomorrow?" It's a great way to give some exposition to players who are interested.

I've been reading some of the discipline powers available for psions in PathFinder and D&D 4e: a lot of them seem really difficult to implement in game. Does anyone else realize this too? Many of them are also just spells with a different name.

It would be interesting to have ciphers be the one class you couldn't "solo" as they are fairly weak alone. They could be balanced for a party of 6, and be fairly weak otherwise. If the party is less than 6, they would have to "leech" their strength from their enemies.

They can apparently use others' mental powers. So I wonder if the enemies', party members intelligence will affect how strong a cipher can be? Ciphers "leeching" power from the mental energies of those that surround them. They're really powerful in a gathering of professors, but are really weak in a gathering of trolls.

http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Psion Basically another "magic user" but without the magic. How are they going to play differently? Do they use "mana" to cast the known spells as often as they like? How many psionic disciplines will this game have? I'm assuming most of the damage will be based off the "mental/willpower" defense. Will ciphers be the "divinators" of this game?

Hi all. So of the various classes in PRoject Eternity, ciphers were one of the most highly anticipated, based on the rudimentary polling done in the General Discussion Forum. So I wanted to hear everyone's ideas for mechanics and where the devs should get their mechanics ideas from when it comes to ciphers. Also, feel free to ask any questions here that you guys would want answered from the devs. Maybe, we can hlp each other out and find quotes to answer some questions. I personally wonder if ciphers will have consumable resources like "wounds" for the monks. How are ciphers going to be different than the other classes?

Also: "What are your thoughts on loot placement ? A lot of rpgs have the problem where heavily guarded or hard to pick chests yield less than satisfying rewards while easy to access chests yield better results."

HI Josh. Do monks follow a particular god, as in are the inherently religious, or can they follow a concept/themselves/a religion? I know with priests, they will be religious, so will you have a list of the pantheon at character creation where they will be able to pick their god (like in IWD2)?

Self Applied Wounds You'll Eventually Recover -> S.A.W.Y.E.Rs. Damnit Sawyer, stop being so big headed!

"Stigmata are primarily associated with the Roman Catholic faith." -Wikipedia I like wounds. It's non-specific in its application to monks.

What a glorious hour that would be!