Changes to beta 4

[Adhin]

Guess its about time I announced this as I've been working on this for the past month or so. ill be pasting the news report from the site in a bit but, before that the poll up there is to see if you guys would mind a lvl cap of 40. It's easier on balance if i can do the normal DnD 20/40 split (like in NWN or IWD2). over-all level progression would be set to fit around how long the game is and such. Id just like to make it clear i would prefer the 20/40 (that being 21 is epic, lvl cap at 40). It's easier to balance around and will have less issues over-all. As of right now its set up to a 40/80 split where lvl 80 is max, but I really dislike it being there. Only reason I haven't just done the 20/40 is because i know alot of D2 guys are obsessed with high numbers in general (even if they don't help you at all). Anyways heres what I just posted on the website as its news update....


Well, scrapped all the skills. I had a little epiphany on how I could set it all up to mimic d20 even more and felt the old system was far to much like classic D2. So I basically scrapped all the player skills (well kept backup copy's). So I've basically started over on the whole skill thing to get in multi-class options. What this comes down to is as a player you'll have way more build options then before.

Every Character will have 5 base classes, 4 of these classes are shared and there, Fighter, Barbarian, Bard, and Monk. All of these 4 classes are available to all characters. Then there's 1 unique class per character which are, and ill be listing these in the order I'm implementing them.

(Character = Class)
Amazon = Paladin
Sorceress = Evoker
Necromancer = Necromancer
Paladin = Cleric
Barbarian = Ranger
Druid = Druid
Assassin = Warlock

These unique classes are the main classes with spells, and all have a specific "Caster Level" Progression (clvl). For instance a Fighter doesn't have a clvl progression, so he wont ever get access to spells if you just want to play that. Where as the unique class of say, Necromancer gets a clvl equal to its class level. Now the Bard class (on everyone) has a stunted clvl progression so, while you can go necromancer to get all of the spells on that character you could also play a bard for some extra abilities and still get access to some of the spells (about half by end game).

-edit-
Oh i should also mention the version you all can DL (if you get to the #blackened-mod channel on IRC) has the Zon, Sor, and Nec versions in and done. Which means im gearing up for getting the Pal (Cleric) in next. Once i have the spells/feats listed out it takes about a week for me to finish 1 class up to a testing point for people.

[Necrolis]

i think to would be interesting to have a level cap 40(d1 had a cap of 50, and no one ever had problems there), but would that mean that we now get stat points every level again? and does the amount of skill points per level change?

[Adhin]

No not really, atm you gain a stat point every 8 levels, which means you'd gain them every 4 levels (as is originally intended) and instead of a NORMAL feat every 6 levels, its every 3 levels (1, 3, 6, 9...). And 1 stat would still = 1 thing. I've decided just because of the sheer volume of things you'll potentially have to take on solo (and in DnD thats just never the case, unless there all 1/10th your lvl at least) it makes some sense to have stats have double the effect (in d20 12 str = 1 point, 14 = 2, where as for me a 14 would = 4).

Basically heres what it means, things are more tight nit. I don't have to try and figure out half-numbers or have to deal with things being slightly off, or having x4 HP totals when everything else is x2. If its 20/40 then the only major increase is from stats being a 1:1 ratio. and Spells doing half there effect they are NOW for obvious reasons (and in case there not so obvious its because currently its x2 normal dmg =P)

[Jethro]

level 40 sounds good, mainly because in D&D style games a 5 level difference can mean everything but there in no max level is you play the real D&D game but it gets very confusing after level 20 becasue of epic and god characters for example at level 20 you can become an epic character or a god character, or both but the gods feats and skills require very high stats to use forcing you to levle as epic for a bit but im ranting now. for a game like this 40 sounds very reasonable as long as you dont level too fast maybe beat all difficulties around 30-35

If you get this working on a good D20 system i will praise you as the greatest modmaker ever to exist. EVER.

[WhiteRhymes]

i have confidence in Adhin's abilities

[Fizgig]

Ops, that means I'm going to have to restart my Amazon j/k