Will warriors be able to cast spells?

[NoxNoctum]

Yep I like it when all classes have abilities. Autoattack is so boring.

 

TOME4 (roguelike RPG) has a really good system for this. Warriors have abilities that revolve around stuff like stunning an enemy, rushing to an enemy from a short distance away, spinning attacks to hit multiple foes etc

 

Rogues have stuff that lets them go invisible for short periods, absorb damage and reflect it to an enemy unit, magic shields etc.

Edited September 21, 2012 by NoxNoctum

[Nakia]

We know there will be classes. What they will be called we do not know. We know there will be magic users. We know there will be people who use ranged weapons. Various types of weapons have been mentioned have been mentioned so I think we can assume that there will be people who can use them. We are simply calling the Warriors, mages, thieves or similar names as a convince.

 

A warrior by any other name is still a warrior.

[alanschu]

I like all classes to have abilities available. I don't like it when the classes are split up into "spellcasters" and "auto-attack turrets".

 

This. I suspect they'll have abilities and whatnot (and maybe even a resource to consume), but I doubt it'll be innate "magic" powers.

[ohmygodsquad]

I'm honestly hoping that Obsidian finds a way to get around the problem of caster supremacy. I'm tired of having a fighter who has normal attacks and sometimes he can hit a button to do a bit more damage.

 

As opposed to a mage who can light someone on fire, freeze them, shock them, summon monsters, blind them, put them to sleep, poison them, make them fight their friends, unlock locks, read minds, become immune to types of damage, etc.

 

Not to mention generally mages skills are tied to intelligence or some equivalent in the stat system which tends to give them more leeway in dealing with social situations (Think Torment).

 

Honestly I'd like everyone in the party to have some sort of class based magic. Let everyone be interesting. Just think about KOTOR 2 where you could have an entire party of Jedi. They were all force users, but some were fighters while others buffed and threw lightning about.

[metiman]

If you try to make everyone interesting then no one is. For me the whole point of a melee class is simplicity. I dont always want to deal with the complexity of a magic using class. Before you say that I can just not use the warrior's magic abilities the warrior will no doubt be balanced based on the use of all of his abilities. Not just a subset. For those who think warriors are too boring (I don't) just go with a Paladin or Battlemage or dual class Warrior / Wizard etc. That's what hybrid classes are for.

[HungryHungryOuroboros]

I'm honestly hoping that Obsidian finds a way to get around the problem of caster supremacy. I'm tired of having a fighter who has normal attacks and sometimes he can hit a button to do a bit more damage.

Actualy, there are very easy ways within this lore to expand out. We're obviously throwing in a lot of Eastern religious ideas, and they've already talked about martial training. What about various types of Wuxia warriors? Wouldn't it be cool to see a culture of people whose powers seem defined largely by an understanding of souls that takes from Hong Kong action films?

 

It's a silly thought, but it's a fun thought experiment, I think.

[metiman]

What Eastern religious ideas?

[ohmygodsquad]

What Eastern religious ideas?

 

Focusing the energy of the body to enhance oneself or accomplish some task, not to mention the whole reincarnation deal with the souls and remembering past lives. Hoping they do some stuff similar to regaining memories in Torment for that sort of thing.

 

Honestly the way they describe it I'm picturing a spectrum of classes ranging from purely martial to purely magical with a lot of mixing in between. I'm sure you'll be able to have a pure fighter if you want but I imagine the soul system will offer him a few enhancements and buffs to damage and such. Specializing in something should make you way better at it though, so this guy should be a god of war killing machine by the end of the game.

 

But we can't really think of this in terms of old D&D conventions. We've already got mentions of mages suiting up in armor to protect themselves from guns. I hope obsidian finds some interesting ways to mix things up beyond the warrior, magic user, thief, and healer roles.

 

Can't wait to hear more about the class system though.

Edited September 21, 2012 by ohmygodsquad

[Jimmy T. Malice]

Judging by the comments on the strength of the soul being used to cast more powerful spells, presumably the strength of your soul will be a stat determined at character generation. So warriors might be able to cast minor spells like arcane shielding or whatever it's called.

[HungryHungryOuroboros]

What Eastern religious ideas?

The metaphysics of the world seem to be based on a mishmash of various religious concepts. The update about culture seems to imply that, though the source of all the powers is the same observable THING, philosophy differs enough to cause conflicts, so obviously we have people tapping into the energy in different ways.

 

You have Gods which have a very Greek-feeling nature to them, you have reincarnation, meditation, and a spiritual path defined by martial training. It's obvious that they're going to pull from as many religious sources as possible, so it would be a sorely missed opportunity if they did not look into various cultures' supernatural religious figures(and popular depictions thereof) and ripped some cool narrative and gameplay/power concepts from them.

[Umberlin]

The more I think about it, the more I don't see it. While certainly everyone, presumably, has a soul not all souls are equal in the game world's lore as noted, and it doesn't suggest that everyone can wield such energy as superhuman or magical power.

 

If you had a class that was this game world equivalent to a Eldritch-Knight or a Paladin, then sure, but a pure Warrior/Fighter type of idea? No. I don't see it for the very reason people tend to play a Warrior/Fighter type over another class. That they are mundane, that they aren't magical or supernatural or superhuman. The entire draw of the non-magical class that some people want to play is destroyed if they suddenly also use magic or wield superhuman/supernatural abilities.