Ayrien

Building a bit on what Darthdraken mentioned above, having to actually have your armor fitted for your character might be another way to make life difficult for the player (I mean that in a good way mind you, hardship builds character). After blasing some poor fellow with a fireball and pelting him with arrows his armor and items are likely not in the best of condition, and you would have to be extrodinarily lucky that the armor he wore fits you like a glove. What I would propose is that you can wear the armor (I assume that most adventueres can do a bit of fitting on the fly) but until you take it to a smithy/tailor and get it fitted, your newly aquired armor has some minuses.

I suppose I'll just add mine and duck before the chair hits me - I would personally prefer if money was difficult to get hold of. Limited money supply at a given vendor seems more than reasonable. (Who would carry 5000 gp around? Really, you are just asking to be robbed!). That said I don't think that putting a hard cap on what could possibly be earned in a chapter (to use Baldurs Gate terms) is a good idea. So I fully support the idea that vendors would after a given time have restrocked their supplies and money. - A thing I particularly liked about Baldurs gate, and later games was that the loot they droped was the loot they used. I really hope that this is continued. I have always been slightly saddened to see fully geared enemies attack, and when I finally manage to beat them all they give is 15XP and a pocket full of gold. I don't expect "piles of loot" or magical treasures in abundance, but, giving us their gear is fair, I think. Thus, if magical weapons are rare then we will also rarely meet them and it will still not be decidedly 'unfair' (for the player, in combat against a given enemy). That said I am not saying I think magical weapons should be rare, I would lay that at the feet of the setting, but like some of the others here I would like my game to be a challenge. I may be stretching the goal of the thread by adding this but; When the difficulty is such that you will have to ally yourself with people you might not like or agree with is about the right difficulty for me. Assembling a group of proficient and like-minded individuals is a privilage not a given. - Don't tier gear. Please please please! I don't want to run around for two hours finding copper, then bronze and finally iron. Understand me right, I don't mind or care if there is copper, bronze and iron in the game and that these are inferior or superior to each other - what I don't like is constantly fighting thugs with only low-level gear because you (the player) was low-level. If the place you start is some dump in the middle of no-where and there are copper-mines in the area then fine, I'll buy it, but having a given tier drop just because of your character level is just wrong. I found (and still find) it in large part annoying and un-immersive to be ambushed by copperknife-wielding thugs at the city gates at level 1, and at level 10 in the same place the very same thugs (or their brothers) are attacking again, and behold, this time they raided the weaponcloset and took the Dragon-horn longbow and arrows of slaying. Those are my thoughts on the matter.

This may be a bit used, particularly considering that almost all of us would have played Baldur's Gate, but still: A god of murder. The god of murder who's position has been usurped and changed over the many years. As the story is told now, the former lord of murder saw his chance to rise to new heights but to achieve this he needed followers - particularly strong followers, someone that people would fear. Men and women who would force peasants and lords alike to fall to their knees at bedtime, praying to him that the god should not find them wanting. Growing in power and confidence the god granted some of his divine powers to the highest of his order, unknowingly thinning the border between god and man. These now semi-divine men and women struck fear into everyone. Many rose to challenge them, only to find a dagger in their back, poison in their drink or betrayal in their midst. These leaders of the cult became so feared in fact, that they too rose in power as the cult spread it's terror across the land. Slowly the god of murder saw a gaping hole in his plan. He was losing power. The people were no longer fearing him, but rather his highpriests. Outraged he set out to do what he did best, intending to murder the people who had once been his pride. The god died, but so did the cult. As one of his highpriests ascended to godhood she learned from history. Knowing that a too strong leadership might turn to worship. Without much regard she killed the oldest members of the order, striking fear into the heart of the cult itself, causing a divide like never before. This is how the cult remains today, scattered and diminished in power, but dare you forget the evening prayer and test the wrath of the new lady of murder?... supplicant.