TRX850

Sometimes the best romances are the ones that never happen. Take "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" for example. Maybe people would describe it as a martial arts movie. I like to think of it as a love story. *Two* love stories in fact. But it's the two main characters, Master Li Mu Bai and Yu Shu Lien, who are in love with one another, but due to a strong sense of tradition and circumstance, never fulfill that desire. It's heartbreaking to see it unfold because it's so near and yet so far. I would welcome something like this in P:E.

I swore I wasn't going to get sucked into this discussion, but hey. I think it comes down to what is a reasonable mechanic, regardless of the spectrum of play styles. A "reasonable mechanic" would be a simple mechanic. One that covers the majority of outcomes and still remains an elegant solution. Isn't it a reasonable mechanic if you gain XP for defeating an enemy? Most of the time this means a kill, but in some plot-specific cases, the narrative takes over before the actual kill, and is counted as a defeat, which may or may not award XP commensurate to the challenge. Same goes for solving puzzles, or picking locks, or disabling traps. You should get the XP because you "defeated" or overcame the task at hand, rather than a partial outcome. It's a reasonable mechanic. If you want to accept quests and not complete them, that's your choice. You could still get a fair bit of XP on the fly for defeating enemies and solving puzzles, then change your mind about the quest-giver and do something else. I don't think it's been stated here, but I get the sense that there's a certain amount of "jealousy" at the idea that a player on the other side of the world is somehow having more fun, or somehow exploiting their game experience, which ultimately has no effect on the game that you yourself are playing. It's great that we're discussing options for refining the mechanics, but if it aint broke, don't fix it. And to show that I think you're all still great, I baked you a cake.

There's no mention of feats on the Wiki yet. I'm hoping/guessing it's something that will be implemented in one form or another. In the meantime, let's discuss feats we'd like to see in Project Eternity. I'll start. (And I'm using 3E terms here). Thug - Add STR or INT bonus (whichever is highest) to all intimidate checks. - Bonus to crafting and deploying Thrown/Grenade-like/Splash weapons. Extortion [General Feat] - Prerequisite: Thug feat. - Like the pickpocket skill, but make an intimidate check against friendly or neutral commoners. - Success = A few GP or item. - Failure = Victim turns hostile (or alerts authorities). Automatic failure on second successful attempt. - Usage: Selected. 1/Day per 4 ranks of intimidate. Dutch Courage [General Feat] - Prerequisite: Thug feat. - Quaff an ale and gain a temporary +1 bonus vs fear, +1 Taunt, +1 damage. - Penalty: -1 AC, -1 Concentration, -1 Intelligence - Quaff wine or spirits for a +2 or +3 respective bonus (and -2 or -3 penalty). - Need to rename "Dutch" to something more game specific. - Multiple usage subject to intoxication. Summon War Dog [General Feat] - Prerequisite: Thug feat. - Summon savage dog that goes berserk in battle. - Stats scale with character level. - Usage: 1/Day What feats would YOU like to see in Project Eternity?

I can imagine a hobgoblin camp where they're sitting around playing drinking games, or rock-paper-scissors. (or maybe that should be rock-parchment-dagger?)

KOTOR2 and BG2 have shown us that, no, that's not a good sollution. Especially working in a team, where obviously some would have combat skills and some stealth, it wouldn't balance out, most would just get both. If you're an all-rounded team though, what's wrong with getting both? If you can do it all, you deserve it all. I've skipped through some of the discussion here, but I thought the question was along the lines of whether a solo player or group of sneaky types could bypass most or all of the combat encounters and still be rewarded somehow? So if they want to sneak past enemies all the time, have those areas full of traps, locked doors and containers, and even opportunities for pickpocketing.

Gladiator = Gladiatrix. <-- I just wanted to say that word.

Award XP for successful lockpicking and disabling traps. If you're the sneaky type, i.e. a rogue, you're likely to be excellent at lockpicking and traps. So instead of XP for arbitrarily sneaking, which seems way too complicated to accurately measure, just award XP for the types of other opportunities that sneaky little hobbitses are likely to encounter. Would that solve the problem? (You could include pickpocketing/sleight of hand in that example too)

There's always the Ammo Belt option from BG2:ToB. I think it held 2,000 units of any ammo combination. I don't think I ever succumbed to "Archery Stress" before, unless it was my low level characters missing all the time. Running out of ammo was rarely a problem in IE games, and I tend to have 3-4 capable ranged weapon characters in my party. I think the difference is how you view them. I always thought of archery as a kind of perk, i.e. being able to deliver damage from a distance, with minimal risk of melee engagement or return fire. And even then, even if I had a highly specialized archer, like Kivan in BG for example, that wasn't all he was good at. If he did indeed run out of arrows, he was also a capable fighter. And wizards and sorcerers who double up as crossbow bolters from the back are only doing so to "soften up" the enemy before deciding whether spells are needed. I think as long as the devs provide a range of options to alleviate unnecessary stress, then I can't really see it being an issue.

What about an "inventory overflow" UI option? For those times when you score major loot but your party are already at near or maximum carrying capacity, and it's a pain to move items around. Just quickly drag and drop all that (un-)identified loot into an overflow area (including some of your own stuff and your companions' gear if you want), then systematically sort through it, moving stuff around until your party is newly equipped again. And if there's still too much stuff, at least you have the option of dropping all the lesser items now. It's really just a single tidy, temporary area to pool your items, identify them, and earmark them for certain characters without having them all scattered on the ground and non-right-clickable/non-interactive.

It would be more believable to have unlimited sling stones, because you could pick them up from most overland areas. Arrows, on the other hand, need to be fletched and tipped properly, at least ideally. I'm all for adding abstract mechanics where it streamlines a trivial process, but unlimited arrows (or quarrels for that matter) seems a tad iffy. If an archer runs out of ammo, can't he/she resort to melee and/or magic/stealth if need be? They should really be managing their "tools of the trade" in the same way a wizard manages their spell pool. And as I mentioned earlier, if encounters are designed with this possible shortfall in mind, then ammo could be in continuous supply anyway. There is of course the option of finding (or crafting) a magic bow with unlimited ammo, which is a fairly standard RPG concept.

I found ammo quantities in all of the past IE games to be balanced fairly well. There were times when I had so many I couldn't carry them all, and other times not so many, which made me more frugal in using what I had. I actually preferred the fact that I had to plan certain areas so as not to run out too early. I think if the encounters in P:E are designed well enough, there could be a few enemy archers in key locations that you can loot ammo from (once they're dead), so probably no need to retrieve used ones from corpses. One thing I'd like to see standardized though is how and when STR bonuses are applied to ranged weapon damage, which seemed to deviate over the course of a few games. And also, what happens if you're firing into a melee where your own party members are in danger of being struck if you miss your intended target? Hopefully melee and ranged combat mechanics will be addressed in the next update. But overall, I really enjoyed IE archery and plan to use it a lot in P:E. Edit: I meant to say, if there's a danger of running low on (or running out of) ammo, it's the same adventuring stress/considerations when running low on healing potions, or spells. Half the challenge is knowing when to splurge and when to conserve.

- Yar - That is all.

XP for successfully picking locks and disabling traps. And while we're here, XP for other successful skill checks where the character averts some kind of non-trivial threat and/or benefits the party in some way. Bluff, Diplomacy, Appraise(?), Craft, Sleight of Hand, etc. Yeah, I know there are other threads discussing XP awards. I think BG2 had it right with XP for lock picking at least.

A purely evil tribe/community/race would probably burn itself out anyway. A chaotic/lawless community would find the same thing. Even a lawful evil example would mean everyone is out to foil everyone else. Pure evil is one of those concepts that fits a Hollywood B-movie where the good guy always wins, and the bad guy is really just a story device to allow the good guy to win. Nothing more.

How about a "Safety Dance" hotkey? You know you want one!

Actually, ^^^^ I came in here to say the option to set the level of detail when displaying "die rolls" and ability/skill checks. I'd like to know how difficult that lock or trap is that I've been unable to pick/disarm for the last two game sessions. Same with attack rolls, although not if it's going to be some huge equation, just the basics please. Some may argue that that's information you'd never really know, and this might be true, but they're simple game mechanics that give you a rough idea of what your characters might know or feel when they're attempting certain actions.

I vote for more pillow fights and outhouses. Yessir.

PrimeJunta and Valorian, are you sure you're not a married couple who are only doing this to each other to "spice" things up a little?

Agreed. Someone already started a thread on this very topic (sort-of). http://forums.obsidian.net/topic/63110-strength-and-dex-phenotypes/

NWN2 had a reasonably good balance with the power level of crafted items. It wasn't like you could create something that was way ahead of your currently equipped weapons that you'd looted/bought in the game. There was a very controlled distribution of rare gems and (to some extent) components, plus the magical attack bonus was dependent upon your caster level and magical feats. So it's not like a regular fighter could produce an "Excalibur" style sword from nowhere. The whole idea is that over time and from many quests, you'd just happen to gather up ingredients, and gain spellcasting levels, and feats, and distil components using a high enough alchemy skill, then find an appropriate workbench, and even then, there was no guarantee you'd be successful. So with that in mind, weapon crafting represents a whole lot of time and effort. It's just that it's spread out across the quest-filled patchwork of normal adventuring. If they made weapon crafting perfectly realistic, the time and effort would be totally beyond a reasonable-duration play session, and would likely defeat the purpose of having it in the first place.

Some examples from 4E zombies. The corruption corpse hurls a black glob of necrotic filth. Ranged attack, necrotic damage, and the target is weakened. When reduced to 0 hit points, the chillborn zombie explodes. Close burst, cold damage, and the target is slowed. The first time the zombie hulk drops to 0 hit points, make a new initiative check. On its next turn, the zombie hulk rises with X hit points. These would liven things up a bit.

There is of course the subject of multi-classing though. It may be that you actually want all of the bonuses that don't seem to provide a benefit at first, yet it allows you to very craftily create a character build where eventually everything falls into place. If you want to be an Elven Bladesinger with both longsword and spellcasting abilities, then that's when it would make sense. Same with an Aumauan Barbarian/Wizard combo. Or a Dwarven Sorcerer/Monk. <-- gah! Edit: I just realized Sorcerers aren't in P:E (yet?), so just substitute a non-archetypal class build in the above example.

More variation in the animations would go a long way. And sound effects too for that matter. In NWN2, zombies had DR 5/Slashing and could spread disease, and skeletons had DR 5/bludgeoning, which kinda made sense. So there are some tactics to consider when combating these enemies. I think a few more interesting (and downright nasty) abilities could (and should) really set them apart from earlier games though.

The option to order your known spells alphabetically, rather than the order in which you chose/scribed them. Have a simple column header that you can toggle between the two.

There's likely to be many features in the game that not everyone will utilize. If crafting unique items is available, then I'd like to see how far I can go with it. If players aren't too bothered by crafting, they don't have to do it.