Intellect and Resolve

[fortuntek]

Given the following change announced to Resolve:

 

Resolve affects healing, spell damage, deflection and will.

from Josh's Twitter, it got me thinking...

 

Most cRPG systems use intelligence as the spell damage stat. In PoE it is still very important for AoE and length of effect durations and also leads to things like Int focused Barbarians, etc.

 

Would it not make more sense for these to be switched, given the change? Both stats affect will so that'd stay the same, but it means every high Res spellcaster wikl also pass charisma-like resolve checks in dialogue and high Int Barbarians who pass Intellect checks and are lecturing NPC's on matters of logic etc. Should these not be reversed? Or are the mechanical benefits worth keeping it this way?

[CENIC]

Strength (STR) - +3% Melee Weapon/Bow* Damage, +2 Fortitude

Constitution (CON) - +5% Health, +1 Deflection, +2 Fortitude

Dexterity (DEX) - +3% Action Speed, +2 Reflex

Perception (PER) - +1 Accuracy, +2 Reflex

Intellect (INT) - +3% Spell Damage/Magical Implement Weapon Damage/Healing, +2 Will

Resolve (RES) - +6% Area of Effect, +5% Inspiration Duration (Received/Cast), +5% Affliction Duration (Cast), -5% Affliction Duration (Received), +2 Will

 

*Firearms (+ crossbows/arbalests) will not be affected by Strength. Their base damage and penetration should be higher to compensate, but they take longer to fire/reload.

 

Dumping STR is OK if you are a pure magical damage dealer.

Dumping CON hurts - you lose health and deflection.

Dumping DEX hurts - you lose action speed.

Dumping PER hurts - you lose accuracy.

Dumping INT is OK if you are a pure weapons damage dealer.

Dumping RES hurts - afflictions affect you longer and your AoE is smaller.

 

EDIT: I do see the points about Resolve being similar to Willpower and thus a good fit for magic damage. This would be easier to implement too.

 

Strength (STR) - +3% Physical Weapon Damage, +2 Fortitude

Constitution (CON) - +5% Health, +1 Deflection, +2 Fortitude

Dexterity (DEX) - +3% Action Speed, +2 Reflex

Perception (PER) - +1 Accuracy, +2 Reflex

Intellect (INT) - +6% Area of Effect, +5% Duration, +2 Will

Resolve (RES) - +3% Spell Damage/Magical Weapon Damage/Healing, +2 Will

Edited November 30, 2017 by CENIC

[Lamppost in Winter]

Quoting what I previously said on the flavour subject

I find it hard to explain, but I think of damage as being raw "force" from a spell, and Resolve seems to me like willpower and force of personality, which matches that more than Intellect. Duration of effects feels to me like a more "subtle" effect than damage, and therefore more fitting to Intellect. Bit of a sidenote, really, since the stats seem to have verisimilitude as a secondary concern.

 

Your point about being able to have resolute Barbarians and intelligent Wizards being more the standard with your proposal is an interesting one. I think Intellect would have to be reworked more though, otherwise it's going to be even more of a dump stat for martial classes than Resolve was previously.

[KDubya]

Whichever stat controls buff duration, currently that is Intellect, is never going to be a dump stat as just about every class has some really cool self buffs that you'd not want to dump.

 

That said I'd much prefer switching Intellect and Resolve in the new proposed system. Then my melee guys who don't cast offensive spells can have a high resolve and be somewhat stupid rather than be borderline geniuses and Timid.