UncleBourbon

Sounds good to me. I'd like a combined mechanic though where you might be walking around with some companions, and stumble on to a hint that someone is after one of the other ones, and if you don't hurry back to their idle spot they disappear or somesuch - you know, some optional mechanic to try and get you to switch it out a bit. Nothing too forceful, but maybe if you don't go take care of them, they manage to free themselves, but are a bit less friendly with you as a result.

Just to be annoying: I can quite well imagine their deaths. But I do have a good bit of confidence that they'll be in the game.

In terms of bulk companions, maybe. But the number you could take with you at a time was comparably lower. Honestly, I wouldn't mind something like Storn of the Zehir - where you start with three companions, and can take a feat to increase that. I don't know that it should be charisma locked - maybe a combination of experience, charisma and some leader-like skills/quests.

I can't think of many in reality, but I can think of a few in fantasy. After all, magic and gods would likely make adventures and such more likely - and it IS a dual race empire in the setting. As an empire, it has probably incorporated some lesser settlements into itself and integrated some populations of the local populace. Porbably some imperial garrisons and locals, which over generations become blurred. That or a thieve's city wherein races is second to skills. Ankh-Morpork is something I'd consider both multi-cultural and not entirely equal.

Elf cipher, if possible, trying to talk his way out of and into things. Probably not much longevity, as I have a tendancy to fumble dialogues the first couple of play throughs anyway.

It is perfectly possible to implement a big city of multi-racial nature without it being such an unrealistic situation. Skyrim touched on it (poorly in my opinion) with the dark elf quarter in that one city. More likely, there is some hierarchy wheren elves and humans have dynasties or something similair - after all, the main empire is, iirc, an amalgam of an elvan kingdom and a human one. Dwarves and certain sub-races would likely get the short end of the stick - I just hope it is a bit less segregated than Dragon Age: Origins or Skyrim.

I think Baldur's Gate did pretty well with Imoen, Xan and Xzar. Sten in Dragon Age was pretty meh. Otherwise, yeah, most games seem to create a lure to each companion, and each of them is realatively desirable. My party was usually pretty ugly in Storm of Zehir, but that was more a result of not finding much in the customiser which appealed to me.

As Ieo wrote, highly unlikely. Unless it's a special case that has a story to it, like getting Khelgar to change to a monk in NWN2. Even if such a case existed in Project Eternity, it would be extremely unlikely that you would get to choose the new class. Yeah, I think it would be more likely that you could dual-class the companion somehow, and maybe persuade them to start building in a different direction.

I like this theory, maybe it was some godlike creature that Old Nua summoned in order to assist with his experiments, and now is trapped in the dungeon in a petrified state. What if the dungeon is a living creature that continues to expand and has a sense of sentience but in an alien way. Imagine discovering that the dungeon is not what it seems at all That would be cool, and also remind me a lot of Vampire Hunter D.

If they do go the route of everyone being rather attractive, I'll use the same headcanon that I did in the mass effect series - either a Khan-like uprising of the eugenically superior succeeded sometime in the past of the timeline, or the undesirables were simply exterminated. Makes it a bit more grimdark.

I'll probably play through the first time alone, and then some mix of player-made and pre-built party members. I think it'd add some flavor if they could give you the option of "AI packs" or personality packs for player-made NPCs that include some rudimentry banter and dialogue. Something like "devotee of [god of healing]" who responds to violence or something, or "Champion of [name of epic battle]" who is always shouting for death and carnage. That way, you'd have the eight really in-depth characters (admittedly, I'd like at least a couple more) and some more light hearted characters. Also, I'd like for certain comments in the Adventure's hall and from player made companions as a result of killing off or letting die a certain number of companions. Like one saying "I had hoped I wouldn't have been picked by charname." You know, red shirt syndrome.

I'm not a big fan of equipment degradation. Maybe enchantment burnout (so many rounds of combat duration per day for armor enchantments or so many hits with a weapon's enchantment). Or perhaps the "dulled" or "dented" attribute (not making the equipment useless, just somewhat less useful). I have decided it would be suitably awesome if you reach the bottom level of clearing out the dungeon and it is a giant stone golem that you trigger - a 15 story high stone golem - and you either fight or not.

I don't know Vargr, I think that dragon is awfully sexy.

There is reason to believe appearence would bias an individual in various ways. Physical beuty correlates strongly with success, both in being accepted for jobs and rising in position - as well as greater opportunity for optimal mate selection. Also, statistics indicate there may be a bias in teachers, professors and authority figures around aesthetically pleasing individuals - meaning they might be helped more after class, or protected more from bullying, or being given more warnings before arrest. That said, there are plenty who bias against them for being of superior appearance. The point is, physical beuty DOES likely correlate with opportunities for advancement and profit. In this new setting, we're not sure how much of an importance is placed on aesthetics. As such, being pleasing to the eye might mean either greater respect and chance of being accepted as an apprentice, or for some a chance to become a consort or marry into higher status. Or, it could have much less, or greater impact. Of course, as stated, there should be a good few skilled, able warriors/mages/priests who are not terribly pleasing to the eye, if only because beuty is a cultural concept, and only a society with EXTREMELY low genetic diversity would have similair enough appearence to have everyone fall into those bounds. Such an inbred group might actually have the mental defencies required to consider the whole of society beutiful, but with a slew of other issues. The introduction of godlike individuals would likely increase the tendency toward physically appealing adventurers, I imagine. In a highly military society, the well-toned, able bodiedness of the warrior women might indeed be considered more sexy or desirable than even a naturally very pretty priestess.

I'd like at least a couple of levels remeniscient of Hordes of the Underdark. Killing/talking to the important bosses on the floor to gather items to solve a puzzle with and all. That, and an intelligent longsword to taunt you. Puzzles would be a plus, but I think I'd prefer more tomb traps like those in pyramids, only with a well-guarded way to disarm passed down from the builders.

For an expansion, I'd like the dragon age awakening format, wherein you can either take your previous character and gain some perks, or start anew for a bit of a twist. That said, I woukd FAR fewer inconsistancies than in Awakening, and a bit longer of a story... And a bit more significance of the previous choices.

You also have to remember that beuty is largely a cultural thing, and that some individuals will value appearence over other dynamics. I would quite like it if they had multiple skill checks that a character could attempt but never succeed, simply because the NPC won't be convinced that way (like these two hermits my paladin could NEVER reason out of wanting to kill each other over a chicken). Of course, talking to them or doing some research should hint at this...

The last pen and paper campaign I played in had a paladin running around with a lucerne hammer from level 1 crushing just about everything we ran in to before it could reach us. That said, I would drastically love to see the bastard sword and hand-and-a-half weapons return/be present, with the option to wield in one or both hands. For fun, I'd like them to implement what Ragnarok Online had with Sages - akin to ciphers, from what I can tell. Their weapons were tomes (or could be. Each gave certain bonuses to skills/spells). The caveat was that even the highest level tomes did meager damage (fairly high speed, though). Later, they introduced a skill line to specialize in book combat, increasing the damage to that of a basic sword - still weak compared to others of the same level, but some self-defense. The major joy was duel-wielding tomes and just listening to the thwacking as you bludgeoned slimes to death.

D&D Charisma scores combine aesthetic beuty and confidence - the two are generally correlated. So maybe a women is super fine, or maybe she is just a shrewd diplomat. In a character sheet, they might have equal bonus to Charisma - though you would hope they way in which the DM handles them would reflect this (seduction versus debate, etc.). The old World of Darkness handled this with an assortment of stats - Appearance, subterfuge, charisma, manipulation, intimidation. Any two combine to equal a feat, but the ratio characterises the methodology. Ex: Seduction is made up of appearance and subterfuge, which means either your character is a sweet talker or a hottie, or some combination. Persuasion is made up of scholarship and charisma - confidence and understanding of psychology, basically. Now maybe everyone has taken time to develope one direction of these things, but I think most games serve to the players - why make everyone look ugly, when it just means someone is going to go mod in a bunch of tall, unrealistically proportioned amazons (I'm just citing a Fallout 3 mod here). That said, I think a good portion of the populace should look plan - not necessarily ugly, but you know. Oblivion was alright, except it took it to the extreme of no one being particularly attractive. One's appearance is largely a result of genetics. You take what you're given with those, and work with them. So yeah, the majority might have so-so genes, but only so many will spend the time working it out to the most pleasing appearence - others might instead invest time and energy in learning how to read people's body language and attitude to know what they need (scholarship) and be confidant enough in that to try and talk them into things, or perhaps they'll be confidant enough in their other abilities to simply make do (charisma as confidence). Or, maybe, they'll just get really buff and make everyone afraid to call them anything but beutiful (or disobey them).

Playing Vampire the Masquerade: Bloodlines, and Arcanum, introduced me to the options of ugly, socially stunted characters. I played them often enough in pen and paper, but it is different in a single player game where it can make it much more difficult to find cooperative NPCs. I don't mind it, per se, but I think the attractiveness and such would depend on the health and fitness of people as a whole (I liked how Drakensang handled average NPC appearance). Combined with that, however, is the scientific understanding of nutrition/health, and the potential for magical beuty enhancement. If an enchanted necklace can make to seem a bit softer on the eyes, and isn't hard to find, I imagine many of those who could, would wear it. It does create a bit of an issue - and I don't think we will know for a while what would be realistic levels of beuty and cosmetics in the setting.

I agree with those things said already - consistancy being a big MUST. I think companions should be involved - at least more than in NWN. That said, I like unintended consequences and the "no good choice" scenario. I recall DA:O's point where you basically decide who the next dwarf king is, but neither is really a good king - insomuch as ethics as simply good for the future of dwarfkind, the world, or their society.

Reincarnation is indeed part of the lore. I was thinking about this earlier, and it quite appeals to me. I'm a big fan of jRPGs, and New Game + is a frequent feature. That said, I want most of the focus of the development on content, not mechanic changes between play throughs or something. Maybe a head start on certain skills, or a special ability. Ideally, I would like an ending like Dragon Age: Origins, where you walk around at a celebration, or perhaps at your stronghold, with whatever companions you brought along, and some happy NPCs. In fact, I wouldn't be adverse to a gathering of such NPCs, speaking various things to you to subtley decide some last minute directional choices your character makes for his/her future, and then have a series of cutscenes describing the future of the world, taking into account those intents outlined by your character and the many things you did throughout the game. If they enabled a sort of re-incarnation new game + or somesuch, I think this could work with a post-custscene room where you're a disembodied spirit roaming about, speaking to some deity-like beings, or perhaps reflecting on life and such, and then an option presents itself to try again - maybe in another timeline, or a chance to do it again, only this time, better!. Of course, a caveat would have to be that most of your memories and abilities would be lost, possibly regained in through the game as you leveled up/completed certain events. On that note, the idea that "in this timeline, the challenge was conquerable, but in another it is far stronger" as a reason to reincarnate in a sort of parallel dimension would lend itself to a harder setting for a new game +.

I'd like this a good bit as well. Although the mechanics would likely be a pain, I think some sort of possibly hidden meter for equipment familairity which fill as you use it - killing things with weapons, armor wouldn't be as clear - which, in addition to having it identified, would reveal to the player the specifics of the enchantment. Add to this a way for adventuring experience/skills to either speed up the process or eliminate it completely, and it becomes something to enjoy at early stages, and then not to be bothered by later on. Or perhaps make only magical characters able to see the full extent of the equipment's abilities.

I'd like the meag-dungeon to have the option to assemble a sort of expedition to follow a couple floors behind you to go into it, and you would try to convince people from all over (some recommending/helping others, some less popular) and that they couldn't really trade for you, but maybe help heal/break up the hack and slash. But I also think most of members would demand a portion of the treasure and such. I think this would also play into the difficulty aspect - make it so each additional NPC of the expedition takes a share of the rewards, and that this increases by each member of the trek. Maybe there is an NPC who knows how to activated/create some manner of teleporter to take you back through the dungeon, but s/he is hard/expensive to recruit, or maybe only recruitable if you do something - and even then, it only works so many floors in, or perhaps they can only build or activate one of them on the way down, making you decide which floor to place it on. I think these NPCs should have very limited trading ability - mostly barter or something for a fixed stock of goods that is being depleted. Perhaps there are certain chests or holdings of goods only made apparent once you beat the final boss of the dungeon or something, and it is that reward which the expeditioneers take a part of. This means a greater chance for the best loot if you go through and clear it yourself, and then later hire NPCs to dig and secure it, but also much harder. Basically, this means a temporary camp, with limited goods and possibly some mini-quests a couple floors above you at all times. Maybe randomly occuring waves of enemies appearing if you rest for too long, or something. The supply chain for this expedition would assumedly be carried down with the individuals. Clearly, I favor the idea of an extended journey into this dungeon - I'm a fan of dungeon crawls. In most of the pen and paper crawls I've been part of, if we get to a stopping point/end of session, the DM is reasonable and basically allows us to clear a room, set up watch, maybe barricade/bar a door, and get some uncomfortable rest.

One of my favorite companions in New Vegas was Raul, especially with the impact you could have on his life after the game through chatting and in-game choices. I've found companions I can't really work with in a party - often rogue like characters, as I tend toward them myself - but who I love to party with because of their backstory/banter/choices. Sand and Sten are examples of a different dynamic: I liked their respective skills and abilities, saw them as minor antagonists in the story, but all the same really liked taking them with me. I enjoyed having the option to choose between Sand and Qara, and I think an important quality to companions is a reaction to certain character traits or histories. Rose of Sharon Cassidy and the Cherchez La Femme perk come to mind.