GABYSOFT

Human beings by their very nature are "score keepers." By that I mean that we make mental note of errors, inconsistencies, discrepancies, and such and tend to keep track of how many and how often they pop up. Nobody wants to play a game that has "issues" for very long, unless they are motivated by being a beta tester or have some other reason to overlook the trouble spots. I have found many small things in the data, that cause me to scratch my head and say, "hmmm."

Game Balance

1) There are many consistency issues with items.

Mace +2 is 2 swings for 1-15 +1 THAC0
Battleheart's Mace +2 is 1 swing for 1-12 +2 THAC0
Onyxarm's mace +3 is 1 swing for 1-12, +3 THAC0.

Plate Mail +4 is 12 ac and 0 THAC0
Heroesblood Plate +4 is 12 ac and -2 THAC0.

Chain +3 is 7 ac and 0 THAC0.
Hawklight's Chain +3 is 7 ac and -1 THAC0


Now .. each of the named items is a unique item that does have an additional power. Nonetheless, it still should be as good as the non unique item of the same class. Why on earth would I swing Onyxarm's mace and give up 1 swing and 3 possible damage versus a lowly Mace +2?

In the same vein, Swords start out superior to maces and axes at the mundane level. But quickly fall in power when compared to the other weapons. +1 mace is only 1 swing for 1-10 (+1 THAC0) a +1 sword is 2 swings for 1-6 (-1 THAC0). By the time you reach +2, the mace is far superior to the sword. As far as cash value goes, the data is even more confusing. Short Sword is 80, Mace is 40. Sword +1 is 100 (!) and Mace +1 is 7000 (!!!) The same goes for Axes. Confusing and troubling.

2) There are very few real choices to make when equipping your character. The item data is pretty much cut and dried. You either have the best gear (and are wearing it) or you are still hunting for it. To have a better system, players must be forced to make tradeoffs and see the risk/reward of those choices. If a set of special chain was available for a class that otherwise was restricted to leather (say rangers) and if that set of armor had a penalty associated with it ( -THAC0 or negative spell ability/stats) -- then I would have a choice to make. Likewise, if I had to choose between a weapon that got 3 swings for less damage and a weapon that got 2 swings for more damage, I again would be making a choice. Special Chain for clerics could give a wisdom bonus or let them cast a otherwise mage only spell, but costs them some AC, or some THAC0, or some spells. The details aren't really that important, but the key is allowing/forcing players to make choices that effect the outcomes of the game.

3) Strengthen the weakest classes. Under the current game, there are some classes that possess so little benefit that they are borderline "eye candy." Paladin, Ninja, Hirebrand and to a lesser degree Thief fall into this category. Why on earth would I want to run a Paladin facing much higher exp parameters and a longer time at the roller, than say a cleric? Cleric's get their spells faster, and swing the same weapons (Mace, Kargen Hammer) that I am going to be using with the Paladin. Paladin's double blow is useless. The only benefit in favor of the Paladin is the touch to heal. If you went back and fixed the item data, so that fighter type swords were superior to maces, then that is a plus for the Paladin. Beef up double blow to where it does considerably more damage, and you have helped both Paladin's and Hirebrands. Give Paladins a bonus to retain their human companions so that they run away much less often than other classes. (I know another coding issue!) and give them some Paladin only items like Crusader's Blade, White Shield, Holy Plate, etc. If these items have significant bonuses over the more mundane items available from the same levels, you will have gone a long way towards making them more useful. Ninja is a much more difficult class. Their "benefit" is fighting. The deficit is lack of ac, which makes them almost useless as fighters. Ninja only armor and perhaps a ninja only shield as well, would address this issue, but would run the risk of overpowering the class vis a vis the harder to roll samurai. Perhaps the addition of an item casting a self only buff that was exclusive to the ninja class would help. It would need to be available at by dungeon level 3 or 4 and would need to give the ninja some speed ( ala fieal) some AC, and some extra killing power (like a double strength altatok.) This items would then need to be available in an improved state for level 7 or 8. And again most likely on level 10.

4) Strengthen the weakest races. By weakest here I am referring to those with little to warrant their use. As it stands now, I want all my char's to be Kobolds. Early on, I was building up a bunch of dwarves. I can see no reason to ever run an orc (for example) except hits, and quite frankly the 40 year age out is too low to consider. That problem could be mitigated by bumping his age up to 50 or so, but then you are cutting into the Gnoll's niche. Ultimately, the thing that dictates whether a race is useful or not is the exp parameter. I feel that there is so much spread between the lowest (Kobold) and the others, that the others are relegated to niche purposes -- if they even have one. Could the exp spread be tightened up some? probably. Could items be introduced (ala dwarven hammer) to try and help out the races with the least potential (Ogre, Gnoll, Human?) I dunno. It seems silly to have 8 races in the game, when everyone is running 2 or 3 at most.

John,

-- I completely agree that homogenizing the races and classes would be a terrible idea.

As far as the races go, I think what you are saying is that there is too little room to "massage" them, and still have them be distinct. I can see that. The minimal benefit derived would completely overwhelm the risks of making them all blend in together.

-- With the classes, I think the Paladin class is in definite need of some serious help. As a first step, I think if you balance the whole swords versus hammers and maces issue, that will provide some small assistance. That being said, a Paladin simply cannot fight well enough to justify a position in the front ranks. If you take him out of the front row, what is the need of a fighter/cleric instead of just a cleric? I am not advocating making Paladins fight as well as Samurai. I am advocating that you close the gap, so that if I CHOOSE to put my Paladin in the front row, he isn't quite so clearly overmatched. My logic for advocating the dbl blow and swords was so that Hirebrands would also derive a much needed boost. IMHO, these changes to the current system would increase the "distinctness" of the classes, not homogenize them. Currently, everyone swings a mace +2, until they find a Kargen Hammer. Except for Samurai and Ninja, everyone else fights pretty much the same, and so they don't fight after they make a few levels. Putting my Paladin in slot three helps (slightly I suppose) in case somebody gets controlled and falls to the back, but really that hasn't happened much since they reached level 7 or 8. I am quite sure that slot 3 could be occupied by a ranger or a cleric just as well.

As far as every class/item/race being useful goes -- I agree. The gaming system itself limits the usefulness of rangers. I understand. You have compensated for that by blowing their hits/level up thru the ceiling. It seems like a decent attempt to balance for their system derived weakness. Had you not done so, why on earth would anyone ever waste their time rolling and building a ranger? Even with the benefit of big hits, it is still illogical to build a ranger. But I choose to do so anyhow out of a sense of nostalgia and savoir faire. Making EVERY class useful would be counter productive. Giving some benefit to the classes that historically are powerful, that are hard to roll and build -- that idea has merit, IMHO.

John Gaby wrote:

I agree about the Paladin, it should be a better class than it is. Perhaps giving it some perks such as the ability to perform no-fail raises would be interesting.

Oh, I seriously disagree with that line of reasoning. If you do that, then you will have created a system where only one class that will ever be used to raise. No one will ever use a cleric/sage/ranger to raise. Everyone will build a Dink to level 11, (or wherever he gains access to lvl 6 spells) and park him at lignes in a glass case with a sign around his neck that says, "In Case of death, break glass."

A Paladin only spell/ability that functions like "P" did in the original game would be fantastic. The ability to "pray" to give himself a combat useful buff would be great. It would have to last the entire trip though. Something like:

Bless .............(lvl 9 Paladin-self only) +1 THAC0, +2 Damage
Annoint .........(lvl 18 paladin self only) +1 THAC0, +2 Damage [stacks with Bless]
Exalt ..............(lvl 27 Paladin self only) +1 THAC0, +2 damage [stacks with Bless]
Hallow ...........(lvl 36 Paladin self only) +2 THAC0, + 3 Damage [stacks with Bless]
.
so the grand total would be +5 THAC0 and +9 Damage.

These numbers are just off the top of my head -- they maybe to high and there maybe an easier way to implement them.

John Gaby wrote:

The Ranger might need improvement also, but being able to combine a fighter mage and priest into one character is pretty nice. The main reason I don't do rangers is that they are very hard to roll and I really don't have the patience. I also like to go with characters that level faster.

Yeah. You have succinctly pointed out the down sides. Although they really aren't much on the whole "fighter" aspect. " A sage that can wear leather armor" might be a more accurate description. In the original game, they could use shields. That might be a start. Give them a nice set of leather availale in the mid levels of the dungeon that is say leather +4, and has a casts one of the moderate attack spells or perhaps a new spell you create just for that purpose. Maybe a spell that summons dragon companions or something else that is both useful and has the cool aura to it.

That would be true if the Paladin had an infinite number of no-fail raises and I certainly would never do that. I was thinking something along the line of maybe getting 1 no-fail raise for each level over, say, 20. In this game, considering that you can always use portal gems to guarantee that ANY raise succeeds, that doesn't seem like too much of a perk.

To be honest though, I am not much inclined to put a lot more effort into this game. If I were to spend more time on Oubliette, I would much rather work to bring back a multi-player version, which, in my mind, was a much more interesting game. All of these suggestions might very well be useful for such a game, however.