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suggestion: item balencing for role playing and setting thoughts.

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suggestion: item balencing for role playing and setting thoughts. Empty suggestion: item balencing for role playing and setting thoughts.

Post  Ulrek Mon Apr 19, 2010 10:25 pm

hey all,

this is not meant as a complaint, as more or less item balencing is lacking in enough areas that mages spells are the only thing that can make to big of a difference, as far as i can tell power wise.

anyway, the idea is this.

some server admins and devs have the problem of taking a look at their players and thinking "oh my lord, that guy is giving away +5 swords to homeless people?!" one they look at the weapons people carry around and use/give away to friends. and how it ruins their idea of a more "balenced" as far as powerful godly weapon to weak weapon rates.

the idea for this would be rather simple, rather than lower the power and amount of powerful weapons, bring the whole scale down, but don't just stop at the "floor" as it were, start digging.

such as, make the most common weapon a cheap iron weapon, or maybe even some metal like copper for a cheap stabbing weapon that takes a -1 to damaging powers or the like, this would bring down the number of "so you wanna be deity?" type characters that can come around, not be bringing down their power, but by dropping the scale, and the naming of weapons as well.

a steel sword can have a boost to a damaging power, but naming wise its just called a fine steel sword, thus meaning its just a normal sword thats shaprer than a iron one, but still does not count as a "magic" item more or less.

now, this is not to say i would not mind having +4 swords in this scale, but unless its a quest thing only my studie of gamers (limited as it may be) leads me to think that they'll farm for however long it takes to get enough stuff to beat every one else, its just the nature of gamers that like to have a shiny sword rather than a one character to rule them all in role play.

and, if you drop the whole system down a level or two, you end up with power gamers wielding +4 Hell Flame longswords, one they once wielded +8 swords, but you still keep your settings "look and feel" in place, due to the fact that these blades are also banned to be carried in your big city by the guards that can detect them if you wear them openly rather than hidden.

while the main of the level 5-15 groupd is wielding blades made from different areas and in different styles, which due to being different in the way they are forged could be sharper, lighter thus making them easier to stab quickly with, what have you, thus a cheap blade from a Dohral smith could easily be out matched by a blade forged by a dwarven smith, which would take the place of the system of +1 blade vs +3 blade, not to mention be more interesting to me i think.

this is not to make a "low magic" server out of anything, it is to rework the "look and feel" of things to make it feel less like a war of the gods in a PvP match, and more like to warriors battling it out, without making their weapons to much weaker.

now i know, myself, and Bah, and Hash/bob, and Drinin, we all like our epic weapons, but i myself would trade in all my flashy stuff, for slightly down graded and restyled versions, meaning i'd still have a blade made of some magic metal, but it would have less "magic" to it, and gain more power from the metal used to make it, over what a wizard cast on it after the fact.

thus, again like i said, making the items the same as they were before, or almost, might take away a bit making +8 weapons drop to +6 etc.
but the best weapons would be a mix of powerful parts used to make them, and the magic added later, rather than just taking a plain longsword and making it +5 in a single crafting action.

not to mention you could add a number of things to add detail, such as blades of one type would need some limited training to make, but also you would need to get the mix of metal types right, as well as do a quest or two to learn crafting styles for each the "style" of weapon, such as one type could make bladed spears and sharp swords, while the other could make better two handed swords and axes due to a more "Nordic" style with the metal working.

and finally, a simple system for naming could be in place, since fighters gain a +1 boost to their weapons, the line has already been crossed in that area, keep in mind this is just to give a idea, and not a real "system" that could be used right off the bat.

normal weapon = cheap weapon, or low quality with the metal used, or wood for bows.

+1 sword = iron weapon, but still made with some skill.

+2 sword = fine iron sword

+3 sword = cheap steel weapon

+4 sword = medium quality steel sword

+5 sword = fine steel sword

+6 sword = magic sword

+7 sword = improved magic sword

+8 sword = greater magic sword

once again keep in mind, this is a rough example of what the "name" scaling would do, you still have people with +8 swords, but they're not thought of as such, making them no less powerful, but rather the goal being to make them fit the setting more, and also, to allow NPCs and monsters to have them without it seeming weird, for example.

Q:"a goblin chief has a +4 sword in his inv wtf? how would a goblin get that?"
A :"he got it from his ogre mage over lord, and its not a +4 sword, its just a middle grade steel sword he could have claimed from another fallen hero"

rather than.

Q :"these spawns are to easy, you should give them better weapons to match our crafted ones DM"
2nd-Q :"they're goblins, they shouldnt have +2 swords each, how am i going to give them more stuff without making the place seem like some other plane that we're basing this whole event on where magic weapons are as common as in-grown as TV ads with overly good looking high price models? in them?"
A :"????"

well, also, there is another thing we can take in to account here.

if you make true "magic" weapons not get dull or break under normal stress from battle, than that is another thing that would set them apart from the rest of them, even though they still all have the same power system as before, some will break, some won't, and that makes a difference if the system is fully working and you're sword will break as you swing it down upon the skull of the last goblin out of 100 you've killed so far. also you could add a AB boost as well for magic weapons even if it is slight, and or make some creatures only kill-able from magic weapons.

and, last but not least, if you did use the system for plain to +8, you could keep most of the weapons stashed by PCs, so thats a plus.

now, to the last little bit here.. i know its a long post.

race/area based weapons, these would be blades made by some type of group or race which uses better metal working, and or just generally better tools and perhaps light magic in metal/wood working.

such as the dwarves, people would like them alot more if you could build a suit of armor better than a gnome could.

or even in areas, Dohral the city is but one area, and even if the other areas are not around yet, couldnt a blade made in another area find its way to the markets of Dohral?

such boosts could be a higher AB, or even if its a dueling dagger you could make it give some light AC, to make up for a lack of a shield, and that in the right hands they could defend you better than a light shield could.

also, as mentioned before it could be a good quest tool for a PC to have to learn to work metal in such and such away to make so and so sword, and only if he did a DM quest for some areas, such as ones that are not in the mod yet.

ahm.. anyway, cheers all, let me know what you think.

-Ulrek-
Ulrek
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Post  eve_of_disaster Tue Apr 20, 2010 2:19 am

+8 swords?? I've never even seen any, thank you very much. Smile

I'm just thinking that if you kill a dragon when wielding a rusted iron sword that's kind of silly, while if you manage to do it while wielding the whip called Wyrmspyne or something equally awesome, it fits the scene quite well.
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Post  Ulrek Tue Apr 20, 2010 7:52 am

rusted iron swords would be at a -1 to some stat, and ICly there should not be dragons around very often here, so its mostly us killing drow and for some, high guards with +7 and up, and yes, ask Bah to show you some of his toys next time you want to see what a really powerful sword looks like.

and heck.. if you run in to drinin ask him to show you his "metal" weapon of doom, make sure you add the metal" part in there, anyway.

cheers.

-Ulrek-
Ulrek
Ulrek
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Male Number of posts : 78
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Registration date : 2009-06-02

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