Xienzi

The only way I could see a Sorcerer in Pillars is if their spells used a different kind of Soul Arts that destroyed fragments of their own soul instead of just drawing from it or the environment. I don't think that would work very well, though.

A fox would be nice.

For main story and sidequests, I'll probably use companions. For generic adventuring and crafting, I'll probably use custom created characters.

I want more natural caves to explore and loot. Also more wilderness areas, yeah. That would be nice. Companions can come later.

@firstarioach You're one helluva wide-eyed idealist. Good man. However, I have to say like so many others before me, that while a PS4 port isn't impossible, it most likely just won't happen.

I wonder if we'll be able to use flying-type companions to transport written messages to and from places.

Both are awful ideas.

Being able to catch and switch out animals would be kind of nice, but there are all kinds of problems with that. For one, how you would access your past friends. If you so choose to have the stronghold and have the animal's affection at a specific number, you could it stay around the keep while you go make more animal friends. If you don't have a stronghold, you could instead release them back into the wild and they'd return to the map you acquired the beast on. Then there is the problem of soul-bonding. Perhaps it is something that you can create and break at will, but at the same time a feature one would be hesistant to break so easily? I kind of imagine it being similar to wit-bonding in that sense. If this was used, then what kind of penalties would the Ranger suffer for changing companions?

Those drake bones seem quite devoid of any growth...

I would guess that you are correct. Hmmm. That looks fun.

I always make sure I pick up every single book I come across and take it with me. In that regard, I hope we can carry them in bookbags.

My only concern is if the optional adventures for idle members can also be group activities or if they'll be restricted to solo missions. Giving the option to send them out in small groups would, I imagine, increase the yield for any gathering missions or in the case of npc-related quests, increase the chances of a successful escort/rescue mission.

I personally would like it if the mechanic would be, say, you're in a town and you have a thief. You could take control of that character and go on heists using nothing but the environment(torches, lanterns, trees) and whatever tools you brought with you in your kit. So potentially you could get through a nobleman's mansion using stunguns, grappling hooks, lockpicks, and other things to get to the real treasure. ...But then you have to consider how many of these you can implement and whether or not it's worth the time and effort.

With a fully modded BG game, I ended up running around with several bookbags, gem bags, and potion bags all filled with their respective items.

Okay. I'll *move* on, *because* writing like *this* with *astericks* and *italics* obviously *doesn't* bother *anyone* here and *they* like this *type* of *format* in *their* games.. It's like you're constantly changing voice pitches between library-quiet-floor level and Elvis concert level.

I'd like to point out that if it weren't for italics, species nomenclature would be so much more complicated.

Well, the first thing I noticed is that the enemies are looking straight at the door. Were they performing a ceremony of some sort just before?

Yeah, romance should be one of the very last things to be worked on.

For V, I meant for the stronghold's army / security force to be a completely separate mechanic from the personal security. The stornghold forces would be upgraded in mass. Say you have archers, infantry and cavalry. You could equip each one through a simple, generic interface. Maybe like a tiered progression. For example, infantry start out with normal weapons and armour - say chainmail and a longsword. You could upgrade to +1, then +2, however bonuses work. And perhaps even take them from chainmail to splint mail, plate mail, full plate, etc. The only change you would see is maybe their color, and you would have a card that you could view which showed each type of troop's stats. As far as actual fighting goes, it would be like a RTS where the outcome is calculated and you see the results after. Bigger bonuses insure less casualties, and allow you to have more battles without much recovery time to rebuild the army. I pictured it being a fairly simplistic system so it doesn't require an impossible amount of resources to include in a game. It is essentially a meta game gold sink after all. The personal security force I envisioned being more customizable. Like a small group of npcs you could give left over items to, and which would use them in battle as the AI permits. How they get into and out of battle could be upgradable I suppose, where initially you have restricted access to them and later gain the ability for them to join instantly. I don't know specifics on either of these, either mechanic could work in a total different manner, all that matters is they function as a gold sink. I'm sure Obsidian will cook up something that satisfies, and I would wager it will be drastically different than anything I suggested. I'm looking forward to seeing what they came up with! Aha! Now I see what you mean. Yeah, that'd be neat.

But, like we could in Neverwinter, will be be able to run around with a mini-army if we wanted to through non-standard means? Well, that's an idea for when everything else is complete.

IV. So it would just be a mesh between Sim City and Warcraft/Starcraft? I'm fine with that. In fact, aside from that, I do think your idea's certainly making good use of the time-gating mechanic. The part about having quests only open up after a certain level of upgrading, I mean. Perhaps your stronghold could be a temporary home for refugees of some village while you go clear the area and make the land safe? Stuff like that would be neat. V. I dislike the idea of having a skill that summons a band of NPCs to fight with you, even more if they are generics. If you had the opportunity to create that personal squad of bodyguards with the Hall, though, that idea doesn't sound quite so bad. Also, I don't really like the idea of having them pop out of nowhere. Maybe the research into a portal stones could be a stronghold option that then unlocks the skill to call upon them? Other than those two issues, I like the idea. VI. I actually like the idea of training villagers and party members. If in addition to that and after returning from training that party member could act as your personal crafter that you can request jobs from, that would be super. Expanding on the idea of researching portal stones in V, jobs like researching those kinds of magical devices or weapons that can cleave the earth could act as EXP troves for the lower-leveled characters. Furthermore, that would actually give reason to make a character or use an existing npc for the sole purpose of crafting and would give added permanent gameplay bonuses to investing in leveling up a different character.

If, for example, I wanted to break the game by running around with a little army similar to NWN and NWN2, would the extra characters be put in the companion slot or just not have an icon in the UI? I'm left wondering. On that note, I really do think that should be one of the cheats available. In before people yell at me for wanting to have fun.

I'm curious. I know going bare-fisted will be more advantageous than the sword, but will the same principle apply to other weapons associated with monks? The Bo comes to mind. Speaking of which, I wonder if we'll be getting fist-type weapons.

That campfire makes me wonder if it'll be a bonus mechanic wherein you'll be less likely to be ambushed by mobs while resting near a source of light, like the aforementioned campfire or a street lamp.

I'd like if some of it (obviously not things like "highest damage dealt") was kinda worked into the game world, rather than just plastered on a stats screen. Like "toughest enemy killed." Maybe you can bring heads back or something, and you can check with bards/gleemen in taverns, or just listen to gossip in the market to hear what people have to say about the knowledge of what all you've killed (sort of ties into reputation). That sounds too troublesome.