Re: [Adonthell-general] Proposed skills

[Kai Sterker]

On 4/28/06, Andrew Phillips <address@hidden> wrote:

Seems to be a good opportunity for a general discussion about the
current stat system. It's basically nice, but I think there are a few
flaws. Here's a quick summary:

* Attributes mostly determine the physical and mental fitness of a
character (via properties derived from them in a static manner). They
can be raised at will.
* Abilities mostly govern what items and powers a character can use
(but in themselves have no direct effect). They can be raised through
instruction from a Trainer.
* Skills influence how well a character does in the game environment
away from the batte field. They can be raised at will.

To raise any of those, Advancement Points (AP) are required, which are
given for leveling up. To level up, Experience points (XP) are
required, which are gained by killing creatures and by solving quests.

What I do not like about this:
* It is easily possible to raise a skill to its maximum, since each
rank of a skill costs 1 AP. (You get 5 AP per level). For one it makes
sense as there are a lot of skills, but OTOH, I think some skills
might greatly aid players and therefore disturb the balance of the
game.

I see two possible solutions:
1. Allow to raise a skill only once per level up
2. Make rank 1 cost 1 AP, rank 2 cost 2 AP, and so on ...

* Skills (and Attributes) can be raised just so, but Abilities need a
Trainer. Well, actually I like having a trainer for abilities, as this
avoids problems like the skill leveling and adds to the overall role
playing experience. So the question really is, should something
similar be done for skills and attributes?

Like:
1. Skills rise by actively using them
2. (or, at least) only skills that have been actively used are
available for raising on level up


But on to your suggestion:

> Bluff or Intimidate

Isn't that just the "dark" side of Diplomacy/Charm and Haggle? I would
think that this is already covered then, as the skill mainly describes
the effect and less the method to reach it (which would add too much
micro management, I think).

For example, Diplomacy, which will add additional choices in dialogue
might add intimidating options as well as charming or clever ones,
depending on the situation.

If you'd rather mean to intimidate another character to get him
off-balance during combat, I'd suggest to make a fighting-feat that
does that rather than have an extra skill

> Heal

Can you describe this a little more? What effect would it have? How
does the effect increase with rank? I'm a bit concerned that it might
be too powerful compared to other skills, but I simply don't know
enough to have any opinion yet. I wouldn't want it to become a sort of
"must-have"-skill. (Maybe it could also be integrated with Herb Lore,
although latter seems to cover finding or harvesting reagents more
than actually using them - after all, that's what alchemy is for.)

> Hide / Sneak

Seems to be pretty much the same to me. We could have a skill Stealth
instead that covers both. I like it though. Might allow to either hide
from other characters or to deal extra damage for "sneak attacks".

> Make/Set Trap

Hm ... sounds more like the application of an ability if it is related
to spells, runes or mechanics. Mind you, skills are mostly there to
determine how well a character can do certain things (haggle, talk,
jump, steal, ...). But a character can still do (or try) things
without any skill at all. But this seems to be more about placing
"trap" spells or runes or mechanical devices. So we shouldn't need any
special skill for that.

All in all, nice ideas :-). Having a larger list of skills to pick
from will allow more different styles of playing the game. We just
have to make sure to design stuff in a fashion that each skill has its
use at some point or other.

Kai