Mortality & Souls & Death Counter

[Osvir]

So, some thoughts on mortality. I've never played DnD but I've read some stuff and played some stuff. Some slight research and understanding, got some friends who has played it too.

 

 

-10

 

That would be a really cool feature. Life is ticking away, you've been maimed. But instead of the Mortality being what is "going away", it could be the "Soul". When it hits 0, it obviously kills the character, and during this time you could heal your character. What I understand this is kind of a "Death" Counter, starting with 10 then, -9, -8, -7, -6 etc. etc.

 

Doesn't necessarily have to be 10, could be lesser. Maybe... -5?

 

-4

 

It could be part of difficulty, you get "less" or more "counters" depending on difficulty, giving you lesser time to "stabilize" the character. At "Stabilized" the character shouldn't be able to fight (maimed, starts at 0 stamina).

 

-3

 

Could you use some unique "Soul" abilities in this state at the cost of 1 death counter or more?

 

-2

 

Not anything powerful, of course, and no "Second Wind" abilities either (Like Borderlands) but more "chilled" (Maybe the soul of a maimed character can "heal stamina" at some weak rate or distract enemies somehow.

 

-1

 

*stabilizes* Sorry

 

"To Stabilize", what would be required? A shot of some powerful stuff, a potion? A hard beating on the chest to not stop the heart? Bandage? Magic? What would be required to become de-stabilized?

 

Thoughts?

[Exaryez]

What you're describing sounds frighteningly similar to the spirit eater mechanic in Mask of the Betrayer. Frighteningly so, because we all know how that turned out. As such, I am strongly against using this as an important gameplay and/or plot element.

[Inertia]

I'm just here to defend the spirit eater. I didn't think it was hard to deal with especially if u were repressing it.

Edited December 27, 2012 by Inertia

[Osvir]

Don't know how Mask of the Betrayer plays (never played it), which makes me wonder what is it that was bad about it? Or just because MotB did it bad, does that mean it is beyond redemption?

Edited December 27, 2012 by Osvir

[PrimeJunta]

What was wrong with the spirit eater? I loved the mechanic. Played through a few times, including one where I suppressed it as much as possible and another where I ate evvvvverything. That had me doing some truly disgustingly evil stuff. I still feel dirty thinking about it. Either way, I didn't find it hard to manage at all, on the contrary, I thought it added a lot to the game, not least a sense of urgency.

[Osvir]

Wait what... reading up on it quickly I am not speaking about a Spirit Eater mechanic (not devouring souls... well... Cipher?).

 

A death counter, that's what I'm going for.

Edited December 27, 2012 by Osvir

[Umberlin]

I'm not sure Osvir, I'm just not sure I see the point, or such a thing happening at all.

 

What you're describing sounds frighteningly similar to the spirit eater mechanic in Mask of the Betrayer. Frighteningly so, because we all know how that turned out. As such, I am strongly against using this as an important gameplay and/or plot element.

 

I don't remember disliking anything in Mask of the Betrayer to such an extent as you've suggested . . . are you from a parallel universe where good things are bad? o_0

Edited December 27, 2012 by Umberlin

[Osvir]

The point is that you get a chance to save your character whilst they are dying, or you fail/don't get there in time and they die.

 

EDIT: Edair gets stabbed in the chest but he isn't entirely dead, dying sure, but not dead. With the use of magic or whatever I can stabilize him, but he wouldn't be ready for combat right away (unless someone throws some "Stamina Health" potion at him or whatever) and the HP he has now should be low and take several days to recover all the health. When the battle is finished he starts to regain Stamina like the rest of the party.

 

It is also a question of being able to save the main character (if it is Game Over when he/she dies).

Edited December 27, 2012 by Osvir

[Exaryez]

It looks like I wrongly compared what Osvir meant through 'death counter' to the spirit eating mechanic, thus I apologize for the misunderstanding and for the harshness of my post.

[ogrezilla]

so something like Final Fantasy Tactics where after a character died, you only had a certain amount of time to revive him before the character was permanently dead. I think that's what you are going for. A short window of time to revive a fallen party member before premadeath/game over sets in.

[kjrubberducky]

It would be nice to have, especially for the PC, to give the rest of the party a chance to win the fight if the PC is "killed".

 

Also, I've seen that done, except the "countdown" is actually negative HP, so you start at 0 and when you get to -10 you die.

[Osvir]

^I think that sounds like a misconception.

 

The idea lies in the character struggling at the very end of his life. You've been stabbed in your chest and if you are given immediate treatment you'll survive otherwise you'll draw closer to death. It doesn't have to be "-10" either, simplify it to 3:

 

1: "All health gone, starting to loose life" * Maimed

2: "Time is running out, you need immediate assistamce"

3: "Final breaths"

 

During this time you get a chance to "resurrect" (i.e. stabilize) the character in a maimed state at 0 Stamina and low health. Failing to stabilize kills the character, a.k.a permadeath (if you play with "Mortality" On). What this means that in a tough fight one of your companions lose all health, so you are 1 guy short in the battle. You could probably take out the monster, but not before the companion dies, so you might need to grab one of your guys from the group to "stabilize" the dying guy, now 2 guys short in the rough fight. Basically that it could cause tactical situations where you get to decide. Is the companion fodder? Some random guy from the AH or some more important companion you've grown attached to? Etc. etc.

 

Lots of FPS games use this mechanic where you can resurrect your companions, so not so much ToEE only. Not really a D&D mechanic but it seems that the FPS genre adopted it more than modern RPG's do.

Edited December 28, 2012 by Osvir

[ogrezilla]

Isn't that a mechanic from ToEE? I think it's D&D stuff and Obsidian cannot use it.

there is no such thing as a game mechanic that can't be copied. Simply change the name or numbers and anything is fair game.

[ogrezilla]

Isn't that a mechanic from ToEE? I think it's D&D stuff and Obsidian cannot use it.

there is no such thing as a game mechanic that can't be copied. Simply change the name or numbers and anything is fair game.

 

Since Obsidian is an American company I would say that there is no such thing over which someone wouldn't sue if it's "to similar" to what they did.

the death countdown mechanic has been used too many times to possibly be claimed by one company. The same way they aren't going to get sued over using experience points, magic, gold or the same classes as D&D games.

Edited December 29, 2012 by ogrezilla