A:EftP - Stuff from Avadon that is worth keeping

[DrPraetorious2]

If you're redoing the games from scratch, I assume you're going to reuse some of the innovations from Avadon?

 

Did anyone else play Titan Quest?

 

So my suggestion would be this:

each character gets two "skill menus" (which are equivalent to the 2/3 of a skill set in Avadon, more or less) to begin with. Suggest:

 

[table]

[row]Skill Menu[col]Contains[col]Secondary Skills

[row]Warrior[col]Shields, 1H Weapons, Parry/Riposte[col]Leadership

[row]Knight[col]Polearms, Heavy Armor[col]Leadership

[row]Archer[col]Bows[col]Mechanics

[row]Thief[col]Poison,Backstab[col]Mechanics

[col]Prayers of Light[col]Protect, Zap Undead, Zap Demons, Unshackle Mind[col]Arcane Lore

[col]Prayers of Strength[col]Heal, Buff[col]Nature Lore

[col]Nature Magic*[col]Summon Animals, Heal, Poison/Unpoison[col]Nature Lore

[col]Arcane Magic*[col]Elemental Blasts, Elemental Buffs, Force Effects[col]Arcane Lore

[col]Shadow Magic*[col]Mental Buffs/Debuffs, Illusionary Monsters[col]Mechanics?

[/table]

 

Instead of having passive/non-combat skills at all (as Lockpicking in Avadon, or Mechanics/Leadership/Arcane Lore etc.) you just add up the levels and the secondary skills for the party. So a mostly-fighter party will meet the level cutoff for various quests (requiring Leadership) sooner, for example.

 

Various combinations give bonus special moves, although this might be a lot of work. Archer/Arcanists can fire arrows as spell delivery vehicles, just for starters.

 

* These are "magic" skills so the Anama don't like them, also you can't use them in hvy armor unless you double with Warrior.

 

During the game, each of your four characters can acquire one of the following (no more than 1/character) as a bonus, third skill set:

[table]

[row]Prayers of Darkness[col]Summon Shades, Debuff[col]Arcane Lore

[row]Prayers of Purity[col](from Anama) Anti-magic[col]Arcane Lore

[row]High Magic*[col]Magic Passive Bonuses, Time Buffs/Debuffs[col]Arcane Lore

[row]Infernal Magic*[col]Summon Demons, Magic Passive Bonuses[col]Arcane Lore

[row]Elder Magic*[col]Vahnatai Crystal Stuff[col]Arcane Lore

[row]Barbarian[col]Non-magic combat buffs[col]Leadership

[row]Assassin[col][col]Mechanics

[/table]

 

You get the idea, several of these are mutually-exclusive quests.

 

Also, there should be both training in shops (for up to +2 to each skill, for $), and training from books/quest rewards (for however many + to each skill you can find in books) as well as training with your skill points? Or do you want to keep the system where people actually spend money on equipment (novel concept from Avadon.)

[Death Knight]

I took a close look at the battle disciplines and i already have them all pretty down (at least in my head). Melee, poles, bows, and thrown are easy enough to figure out. But then it occured to me-You are going to have 3 things to put points into (well 2, but 3 every 2 levels). Skills are one, attributes are another and perks are the 3rd every second level. So now heres where i worry, what about the battle disciplines? They look to be like avadon's which makes me worry as if that is true then there will be 4 things to put points into. Are the battle disciplines like avernum 4-6 where you get them with enough points in melee, etc. like i am hoping or is this going to be like avadon where we will be getting points to put into battle disciplines. I hope that is not the case but i am just wondering.

[Ceiling Durkheim]

According to Jeff:

Quote:

The skills match very closely with the skills in Avernum 6. For example, the top row combat skills are Riposte, Dual Wielding, Lethal Blow, Sniper.

 

None of these are battle disciplines in the sense we've been using the term (i.e. command skills/"spells" that fighters use). Nor are the bottom row entries, so chances are none of them are. I can't remember if Jeff has commented on the issue directly, but it seems pretty clear that battle disciplines will unlock based on points in general combat skills, rather than the more direct method in Avadon.

 

What interests me more is whether battle disciplines open up based on all types of combat skills (like talents in WoW) or only core weapon skills (as was the case in A5/6).

[Zummi]

The non-grid movement? I know Avadon didn't pioneer this but it's there and the title said Avadon, so yeah man, whatever. Extra graphics for when one wields a shield or dual-wields swords is nice but isn't really from Avadon.

[Slawbug]

Originally Posted By: DrPraetorious2

...innovations...

Did anyone else play Titan Quest?

Those "innovations" date back at least to Final Fantasy 5 in 1992, and frankly I imagine skillset swatches go back further than that. Maybe not though.