Hardcore Mode Options

[Volourn]

Since hardcore mode is basically gonna be officially within a day, let's list some options that could be included as options in said mode...

 

 

1. Limited rest (once every 24 hours of game time)

 

2. Limited ammo

 

3. Limited inventory which doesn't allow you to carry more than a handful of weapons, otr a million potions.

 

4. Weighted coinage

 

5. Permenant death (including unressecturable - if it exists in the world - death ala BGs)

 

 

 

List any that I may have missed....

[Volourn]

Thought of another....

 

6. Spell components for major spells - ie. a clear (expensive) beautiful crystal for a 'sight seeing' spell (that lets you see an entire map).

[norolim]

Let me quote myself from an old topic:

 

I always wanted to play an RPG that would be characterised by hardcore realism:

• hunger and thirst mechanics: it's necessary to eat & drink to survive (recenty done in Eschalon series very well); of course the game would have to provide ways of acquiring food, e.g. hunting; also cooking mechanics (more below);
  
• sleep/rest mechanics: every hero has to rest and sleep, they are not machines (unless they are); therefore, sleeping every X hours should be obligatory -> staying in action for too long without sleep would result in significantly reduced effectivness (negative modifiers); again the game would have to provide suitable funcionalities, like the ability to set up camps; it would also need to make resting less of a drag; there are many ways to make it interesting...you just need to be inventive (I have lots of ideas, but it would take to much space to describe them all );
  
• setting up camps: this is associated with the above; it would allow the party to rest, eat and also cook their food over fire for additional bonuses; in camp characters could repair equipment/make simple equipment (e.g. arrows), heal wounds, gather herbs for alchemical mixtures etc;
  
• wounds don't heal themselves; magical healing potions are a rarity and are extremely expensive and/or can only help up to a certain degree; healing would be done by using special non-combat abilities, healing kits and spells when camping; healing serious wounds would take a reasonable amount of time; you could also go to a specialist to be healed quicker for a price; minor wounds would heal quickly, as usual;
  
• the party should consist of more characters than the maximum allowed in combat; if e.g. your PC walks around with a maximum of 5 characters, the whole party should have 10 members, so that if some of them are too seriously injured (and remember: healing takes time), you can substitute them with others (the old X-Com games anyone?);
  
• combat less frequent but more substantial; short skirmishes with weaker opponents, just for the fun of it, could be more frequent;
  
• day-night cycle and dynamic weather affecting NPCs' behaviour: at night they sleep, shops are closed; when raining they seek shelter and complain etc. (recently done very well in The Witcher games)
  
• weather affecting combat and characters: rain makes fire spells less effective and lightning spells more risky; wind makes ranged weapon more difficult to use; plus characters have to mind weather conditions: if they travel in snowy mountains, where temperatures are rather low, a shirt and a chain mail is not enough to protect them; wearing a full plate on a desert might not be a great idea either; if they don't have suitable equipment they suffer penalties, perhaps wounds as well;
  
• I've got more ideas, but I don't want to make this post too long...
  

[Volourn]

Most of those are very good.

 

Don't care for the party idea as if someone is in the party they should be invovled in any fights.

 

I don't mind limited potions but I think magic - if existing - should be able to heal you - at the very least as good if not better than non magical healing or , imo, it defeats the purpose of being 'magical.

 

Can't believe I forgot about the food/water thing. That's a duh moment since as an option that is a must.

 

Also, light sources not being infinite. ie. need to buy torches, lanterns, and the like.

[norolim]

I don't mind limited potions but I think magic - if existing - should be able to heal you - at the very least as good if not better than non magical healing or , imo, it defeats the purpose of being 'magical.

The difference between magic and traditional healing is that magic heals instantly while traditional over a longer period of time. The drawback of using magic is that it can only heal to an extent. Wouldn't make much sense, if we wanted to build a realistic system were you can just use a strong enough healing spell to heal completely in a second.

Edited October 4, 2012 by norolim

[Volourn]

Magic, by defintion, isn't 'realistic'. I think it's a mistake to mix up hardcore and realism. The GB games had hardcore system and they used the D&D cure spells just fine. As did other games. A high fantasy game like PE should have real magic spells. It doesn't make sense to make magic healing weaker than traditional 'realistic' healing methods.

 

Why would healing magic be limited in that way? Why in a world where magic exist that allows you teleport (presumably), create fire out of air, summon creatures, and do all sorts of things somehow be handicapped healing wise?

 

There is no game play reaosn for it to be like that and unless Obsidian has some 'world/setting' reasoning for it it just doesn't seem to work.

 

But, then again, this is about optional ahrdcore settings so I guess they could be make it an option for those who wnat their magic decidedly non magical.

 

We should have a fireball that is weaker than a natural fire pit.

Edited October 4, 2012 by Volourn

[norolim]

Magic, by defintion, isn't 'realistic'.

Now, I think, you are mistaking realistic with real. Magic is perfectly realistic in a fantasy world, as long as the world is believable. We should not be using the real life definitions to talk about magic in a fantasy setting.

 

You are right though. Magic that can resurrect should be able to heal completely. In that case stron healing spells should be high level and could for example require additional sacrifice from the caster, like XP.

Edited October 4, 2012 by norolim

[Volourn]

I could live with that. Or perhaps the caster needs to sacrifice some current health to heal another. ie. For every 10hp (or pick any number like 5 just an exmaple); they would drain a hp of their own to power the spell (that could be the component of the spell). Ressurection would need xp to power it or even a permenant loss of hit points so it wouldn't be overused to ilustrate the powerful nature bending of the magic being worked.