Permanent Injuries

[Osvir]

I'd say this is okay as long as there is a way to fix it.

If the setting has healing magic or bio-regrowth-technology. Similar to how, if your character is dead, you can just cast "Raise Dead"  on them if you need them back and don't want to go through the hassle of reloading.

OR if you can change body parts, like cybernetic limbs, or geting a golem arm, or something, to make up for it. If there's various Eyes of Vecna floating around you can conveniently pop back in.

 

No futuristic technology in Eternity (it's taking place in the equivalence of... mid 1600's? Something like that IIRC). Neither does it have any Healing magics (there is no Resurrection magic either, so if one of your characters dies they get maimed on lower difficulties and outright die on harder difficulties. It's an optional On/Off thing). Dead means "point of no return" in Eternity.

 

In a futuristic sci-fi setting, developers might be able to incorporate a damage system by means of cybernetic implants, such as Luke Skywalker's hand in the Star Wars series. If they were to incorporate a magitech equivalent and you were playing hard core mode, then getting a permanent injury fixed would be a question of cost and availability of the replacement part. For realism*, the replacement could provide a minor skills adjustment, such as (for an artificial arm) a penalty to Dex-based skills but a bonus to melee damage. That might make it interesting to implement.

 

Edit: oops, sorry, I missed the latest discussion.

* Just wanted to emphasize that I don't care much about the "realistic" aspects, but rather I enjoy the "challenging" aspects (not denying that more realism is usually hand in hand with more challenge). Sounds like a neat little balancing idea you've got there though   I like it.

EDIT TIME RAN OUT AGAIN (frrrrr!): Furthermore, if you aren't playing Hardcore mode, then your idea would still be a viable option for lower difficulty modes as well (such as your "Sacrifice Dexterity for a bonus in Melee Damage" example for instance). Maybe you want an extra damage output for melee and you are willing to sacrifice some Dexterity (focused minmaxing or whatever)

 

Except on lower difficulty play it'd be more Player Controlled as in "Go to the prosthetic store and chop off your old arm and buy a new arm" whilst on Hardcore mode it could be "Go to the prosthetic store and buy a new arm because you lost your old one".

Edited September 25, 2013 by Osvir

[moridin84]

You lose an arm because of some unlucky critical? That will just be super annoying.

 

You can avoid companion deaths (this is in Eternity right?) just by being careful with them. You can't really do anything to defend against an unlucky roll so it would just be frustrating if it happens.

Edited September 25, 2013 by moridin84

[Osvir]

You lose an arm because of some unlucky critical? That will just be super annoying.

 

You can avoid companion deaths (this is in Eternity right?) just by being careful with them. You can't really do anything to defend against an unlucky roll so it would just be frustrating if it happens.

Unless there are ways for you to put the rolls more into your favor to avoid it as well as post-battle measures (getting a prosthetic for instance).

[Dawn Quixotic]

 

I'd say this is okay as long as there is a way to fix it.

If the setting has healing magic or bio-regrowth-technology. Similar to how, if your character is dead, you can just cast "Raise Dead"  on them if you need them back and don't want to go through the hassle of reloading.

OR if you can change body parts, like cybernetic limbs, or geting a golem arm, or something, to make up for it. If there's various Eyes of Vecna floating around you can conveniently pop back in.

 

No futuristic technology in Eternity (it's taking place in the equivalence of... mid 1600's? Something like that IIRC). Neither does it have any Healing magics (there is no Resurrection magic either, so if one of your characters dies they get maimed on lower difficulties and outright die on harder difficulties. It's an optional On/Off thing). Dead means "point of no return" in Eternity.

 

 

 

Right. That was more in reference to other games it could be implemented in.

[JFSOCC]

Nnyyyarrrgh daaaaaaaamn yoooooooou baaaackspaaace!!!!!

ctrl+z works, it undoes the backspace. next time you don't have to redo an entire post

Edit: you may have inspired a faction idea.

Edited September 26, 2013 by JFSOCC

[Osvir]

 

Nnyyyarrrgh daaaaaaaamn yoooooooou baaaackspaaace!!!!!

ctrl+z works, it undoes the backspace. next time you don't have to redo an entire post

Edit: you may have inspired a faction idea.

It was a backspace that took me back a browser page and the "Last auto saved" function hadn't saved anything. Does ctrl+z work on that too? ^^

[TrashMan]

I'd rather have long-lasting injuries rather than permanent.

 

For example, a broken bone that cannot be instantly fixed with magic. So it takes a in-game week for it to fully heal. So you're never truly crippled, but injuries still have impact since they can't be dismissed easily.

[motorizer]

I'd rather have long-lasting injuries rather than permanent.

 

For example, a broken bone that cannot be instantly fixed with magic. So it takes a in-game week for it to fully heal. So you're never truly crippled, but injuries still have impact since they can't be dismissed easily.

Yeah, I can get behind this, a serious injury that cripples you (or a companion) but will fully heal in time.

[Lephys]

I would also just want the risk of injury to be a big factor, supported by gameplay and design. I think the injury thing sucks if they're just an extra bit of crap to deal with all the time, no matter what. You should be able to (and have reason to) be more cautious in some situations, and less cautious and more reckless in others.

 

Even simple stuff, like "This person has Advanced Dodge, so they're pretty much going to avoid injuries from anyone but the most precise/speedy opponents," etc. So that you've got a matter of "if I want to avoid injuries, I'll make sure this person fights THAT person, but, otherwise, I may need to use them to better offensive effect to fight a different target, and risk the injuries." Etc.

 

Honestly, I think a lot of the debuffing mechanics could pretty much be replaced with an injury system. Then Constitution could factor into healing time, etc. Plus salves, and a healing skill. You could still abstract it all. I mean, I wouldn't want to see some party member be out of commission for 7 weeks because they got 17 broken bones and cannot move, when that's pretty much unavoidable throughout the whole game (i.e. attacks non-abstractly inevitably result in serious injuries that put your people out of commission for weeks on end, and being attacked is unavoidable as well as frequent.)

 

That's the only thing. I'd favor abstraction in the interest of softening the extent of the realistic nature and duration of injuries.

 

That being said, if a MEGA serious injury was pretty rare (and quite avoidable with effort), it might be kind of neat if that party member simply had to sit out for a bit at the stronghold, and you had to use someone else or go without a party member for a brief duration. Of course... what happens when it's your main character? 8P

 

Injuries are interesting stuff, though. I definitely think they're MUCH too avoided, because of some arbitrary "that's 'too' complex/simulationist" stigma that I don't feel they deserve.