<Untitled IAQ Project>: Round 4: Characters, Status, Equipment, Specials, etc

[DjinnAndTonic]

Really like the drinking minigames over Faulheit having the same gimmick as Erastus.

Also, really dislike thresholds based off a stat

Oddly enough, we're in total agreement here. The threshholds thing was the first thing I was wanting to change.

The other thing I wanted to change was Katarine being the only one using Skill points. Since I like the mechanic, I'd rather lots of people use them. ...but I'm also okay with no one using them if we decide it's too hard to program.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Nah, I like skill points fairly well and it's actually easy enough to program. Need to curve them Suikostyle like we do Exp but that's easy enough. Hell, you could just give her skill points equal to her exp gained, boom, instantly balanced!

Isolde seems like a good fit to also use them, the description of how her clusters unlock is a bit vague and this takes care of things pretty nicely? Would be fine with changing a few others into this too, if you wanted a theme.

[Talaysen]

Jin: Mini-game-learning-esque. Tal proposed that he simply has to talk to other musicians throughout the world. Starts with most of his songs due to being a late-ish PC. I propose a DDR-like beatgame for each Song Tutor!

I did not suggest anything of the sort.

Anyway, I'm not really against having lots of skill learning styles.  It's not that difficult to program if you're already set up to HAVE the different skill learning styles.  It's when said styles start forcing coding exceptions for OTHER parts of the game for little gain is where the problem lies (e.g. quadruple MP growth).

That said, Eirwen getting items midbattle is another one of those issues.  Might be doable, will have to think.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Nah, I like skill points fairly well and it's actually easy enough to program. Need to curve them Suikostyle like we do Exp but that's easy enough. Hell, you could just give her skill points equal to her exp gained, boom, instantly balanced!

Isolde seems like a good fit to also use them, the description of how her clusters unlock is a bit vague and this takes care of things pretty nicely? Would be fine with changing a few others into this too, if you wanted a theme.

The description of Isolde's clusters is a bit vague because it's a fairly unique skill-learning idea. Probably the one true unique skill-learning idea we came up with... >.>;;

The closest analog I can come up with are skill-trees, but even that's kind of a stretch. I wouldn't mind letting Isolde keep her unique cluster thing. She -is- a main, after all.

Though if we decide to change it, yes, I'd vote Skill points over the other options (and make it so that Isolde, Kat, and Selena all used it. Possibly Faul, too, but the Drinking minigame is too fun~0

[Dark Holy Elf]

To be clear, I'm not suggesting getting rid of clusters. What I'm suggesting is that clusters are unlocked by skill points, since no method is listed for them otherwise (plot?).

[DjinnAndTonic]

Yeah, plot is the current method, though Skill Points could certainly work too, just need to think on how.

[074]

Opposed to Selena using skillpoints, personally.  Part of the reason she started with her full skillset was to avoid the all-too-often "I'm not a boss I suck now" that seems to be prevalent in the genre.

[EDIT] There is, possibly, one trick that I'm willing to give her that she doesn't start with.  This would also determine the nature of the upgrades she may get if she were moved to skillpoint learning/upgrading.  I'll cover this later once I have a proper time to propose such a subject.

[074]

A bit late, but what the hell.  Sigkeit's PC form.  (Boss form will come, but this is my initial proposal for the PC form)



Sigkeit Ochrany
Every generation calls out for a hero to rise among the ranks of the Imperial Military. This generation brings us Sigkeit, who unlike his predecessors happens to come complete with his very own streak of idealism. Which helps explain his taste in companions, and his switching of sides (Shamelessly ripped from Excal's mini-writeup)

HP:D+
MP:C
Strength:D+
Dexterity:C+
Vitality:D+
Intelligence:C+
Spirit:D
Speed:B

Accuracy:C
Evasion:B-
Magic Evasion:B-
Move:2

Weapon Groups:Light Swords, Shortspears, Rings
Armor Groups:Light
Accessory Groups:Light, Male, Caster

Resource Description: Three different resource types; Two 'levels' of MP for his spells (one as normal, the other at a fixed max of four which cannot be restored by normal MP restoration), cooldowns for physical skills.
Types of Moves/Specific Move Ideas:

*Subchanneling(1-turn cooldown):May select two non-movement non-defense actions this turn; the second must be a magic attack.  Cost is paid for both actions.

[Tier 1 spells]
*Exceed Charge: Recovers one L2MP.  Can be used outside of battle.  Higher skill level reduces MP cost.
*Cold Snap:Deals moderate to moderate-low Ice-element damage to a hex (Range 4), and reduces target Speed and Dexterity by 15%(non-stacking).  Skill level increases damage; area becomes Radius-1 Hex Burst at maximum level.
*Torrent Scythe:Deals moderate Water-element damage to a hex (Range 4), hits twice if the hex is adjacent.  Skill level increases damage, at max level, hits twice at Range 1 or 2.
*Recovery:Heals a single target for a moderate amount of HP, but reduces VIT and SPR by 20% for one turn.  Skill level increases healing and
*Refractive Barrier:Increases mEVA by 50, grants immunity to Ice and Lightning, 50% resistance to Impact, Fire, and Light damage.  Skill level increases duration.

[Tier 2 spells]
*Overfreeze(1 L2MP): Deals high Ice-element damage to a single enemy (Range 4), and adds Freeze at a high rate.  Skill level increases damage and Freeze rate.
*Absolute Blade(1 L2MP): Range-2 conic AoE magic attack.  Deals moderate-high Water damage.  Damage increases with level.
*Resurrect(2 L2MP): Revives a single fallen ally, but lowers max HP by 25% of current value (stacks). Hit rate is based on target's max HP / target's base max HP, so it is initially 100% but gets worse if used repeatedly.  Skill level increases casting speed, cost drops to 1 at max level.
*Lightbrand(2 L2MP): Melee-range light-elemental magic attack.  Specific details to be determined

[Physical]
*Driving Kick(1-turn cooldown): Range-1 melee physical attack with ATK based off of STR, single hit.  Knocks the target back one hex and stuns momentarily
*Flash Strike(2-turn cooldown): As basic physical, only halving the amount of time until next turn.
*Wrenching Pierce(3-turn cooldown): Single-hit weapon attack at 1.5x damage, adds Delay and Bleeding.
*Flying Carve(3-turn cooldown): Hits all targets in an adjacent hex twice for first-hit damage.  Significant recovery time.


Method in Which They Learn Moves: Skillpoint usage to learn/upgrade magic, starts with all physicals.  (Guardian path only.  Starts with everything at max on Imperial path)
Just a general summary of the idea: Fighter/mage based on speed and some double-acting.  A bit on the frail side and lacking power compared to the more impressive Imperials, but the doubleacting makes up with quantity.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Good idea, but needs rebalancing badly enough that it's worth approaching right now instead of waiting for more in-depth analyses.

First of all, C+/B leads to a physical that does 528 damage (contrast Noemi who has a competent physical off a C-/B) which is fairly high-end; factoring in accuracy this loses only to the physical damage dealt by Isolde, Artur, Meilin, and Mirek, all of whom are very focussed in that direction. However, toss in that he can do that and anything else on his turn, every other turn, and you have a bit of a damage monster even before you factor in how versatile he can be (attack + heal? Spell + resurrection? etc.). Flash Strike makes this all much worse, Flash Strike + spell, Wrenching Pierce, Attack + spell, Flash Strike, etc... it adds up very quickly to something very nasty. Fine for a boss but as a PC, no. Especially off B speed. I get that he's designed to be a bit of a glass cannon (which eh, don't think glass cannon red mage makes much sense) but this is far too much.

Hm. His "general summary of the idea" notes his speed but says he lacks power, so I figure he should keep Flash Strike, and definitely subchannel (great idea), but really needs the power toned down a notch. Initial quick fix: D+ Strength and C+ Dexterity, which drops him into some less used tiers (I'm a shameless fan of this) and gives his base physical 307 damage. I'll save anything more in-depth for later, but suffice to say I am not currently worried his damage will be too low.

[074]

Keeping this in mind for boss form, but duly noted.  Applied the suggested statfixes

[EDIT] On second thought, mind if I ask someone to revise the skillset in my stead?  I'm admittedly running out of ideas myself for skill concepts (visually speaking), and clearly can't make a speed-based physical skillset to save my life?  As long as he's not "so average he sucks", it should be fine. [/EDIT]

[DjinnAndTonic]

Quoting stuff that I -really- like.

Weapon Groups:Light Swords, Shortspears, Rings

Resource Description: Three different resource types; Two 'levels' of MP for his spells (one as normal, the other at a fixed max of four which cannot be restored by normal MP restoration), cooldowns for physical skills.

*Subchanneling(1-turn cooldown):May select two non-movement non-defense actions this turn; the second must be a magic attack.  Cost is paid for both actions.

[Tier 1 spells]
*Exceed Charge: Recovers one L2MP.  Can be used outside of battle.  Higher skill level reduces MP cost.

*Refractive Barrier:Increases mEVA by 50, grants immunity to Ice and Lightning, 50% resistance to Impact, Fire, and Light damage.  Skill level increases duration.

[Tier 2 spells]
*Overfreeze(1 L2MP): Deals high Ice-element damage to a single enemy (Range 4), and adds Freeze at a high rate.  Skill level increases damage and Freeze rate.

[Physical]
*Driving Kick(1-turn cooldown): Range-1 melee physical attack with ATK based off of STR, single hit.  Knocks the target back one hex and stuns momentarily

Method in Which They Learn Moves: Skillpoint usage to learn/upgrade magic, starts with all physicals.  (Guardian path only.  Starts with everything at max on Imperial path)

I think these are the keystone skills that make the build work (and I just like that Driving Kick makes sense that a kick wouldn't include his Weapon's ATK power). Other stuff is all negotiable, but this stuff ties him together pretty well.

Like NEB said, his physical probably needs to come down to compensate for his awesometastic Subchanneling ability, but otherwise, it looks good on the whole.

[074]

Resubmission of stats and skillset.  Opted for a DEF-over-HP route this time for stats while simultaneously trying to slightly address NEB's complaint about making him too frail (Silly as it looks, that set makes him a bit more durable than before).

Rass Sigkeit [Still incomplete]
Every generation calls out for a hero to rise among the ranks of the Imperial Military. This generation brings us Rass, who unlike his predecessors happens to come complete with his very own streak of idealism. Which helps explain his taste in companions, and his switching of sides.  Nevertheless, he is still quite effective with his blood-based magic...

HP:F+
MP:C
Strength:D+
Dexterity:C+
Vitality:B-
Intelligence:C+
Spirit:B-
Speed:B

Accuracy:C
Evasion:B-
Magic Evasion:B-
Move:3

Weapon Groups:Light Swords, Shortspears, Rings
Armor Groups:Medium
Accessory Groups:Medium, Male, Caster (Note: Starts with one accessory that is locked.  This functionally gives him two slots, not three)

Resource Description: Two different resource types; MP for his spells, cooldowns for physical skills.
Types of Moves/Specific Move Ideas:

*Subchanneling(1-turn cooldown):May select two non-movement non-defense actions this turn; the second must be a magic attack.  Cost is paid for both actions.

[Spells]
*Rupture: Inflicts 40% cHP damage (ignores defensive stats) and may inflict Bleeding to a target
*Blood Slicer: Inflicts damage to a hex.  Number of hits depends on closeness to Sigkeit.  Deals backlash damage as part of casting.
*Coagulation: Stiffens the target's bloodflow, reducing DEX and EVA.
*Crimson Snare: Explodes the target's blood outward in a tense, solidified weblike mass.  Deals damage to the primary target and immobilizes them.  If this hits, attacks all adjacent hexes for the same effect.
*Detonator: Hyperpressurizes the target's blood, inflicting Fragile on a single target.
*Renewal: Heals the target as well as curing Poison and Bleeding.  Inflicts Delay on the target.
*Red Gale: Inflicts damage over a conic area.  Number of hits depends on closeness to Sigkeit.  Deals backlash damage as part of casting.
*Asphyxiation: Reduces bloodflow and oxygen transfer through the target's brain, reducing target's INT and ACC.
*Overpulse: Uses magic to control his own blood directly in synchronization, increasing STR, SPD, DEX, and EVA significantly--but heavily reduces VIT, disables spellcasting and Subchannel, and consumes MP each turn until either out of MP, the battle ends, Sigkeit is unconscious, or the ability is deactivated.  Self-only.

[Physical]
*Driving Kick(1-turn cooldown, shared with Inevitable Flurry): Range-1 melee physical attack with ATK based off of STR, single hit.  Knocks the target back one hex and stuns momentarily
*Inevitable Flurry(1-turn cooldown, shared with Driving Kick): As a basic physical, but ITE.
*Flash Strike(3-turn cooldown, shared with Riot Buster): As basic physical, only halving the amount of time until next turn.
*Riot Buster(3-turn cooldown, shared with Flash Strike):  As a physical attack, but in addition to bonus hits based on DEX, add bonus hits based on SPD to the same attack, applying the weapon's multiplier as normal.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Editing Andy's starting stat sheet with the weapon table

We really need to get this up on the wiki somehow.

[Excal]

Because this is likliest the best place to discuss character power focuses.

<Nama-MourningForCat> Hey Djinn, silly decision time.  Pestilence/Poison, Gravity, or Blood?
<@Excal> Gravy?
<@Excal> Someone has a Gravy focus to their Dissonance?
<@Excal> That is the awesomest chara...  oh.
<@Excal> Gravity.
<@Excal> Never mind.
<Nama-MourningForCat> lrn2read
<PamelaIbis> Shoulda been gravy.
* Nama-MourningForCat stabs Tal
* @Excal rewrites Eirwen to have a gravy focus for her resonance.
<Elecman> Gravy roast the master in the fire of Hades and bring our vengeance to fruition.
<Nama-MourningForCat> ...dunno where this 'focus' bit came in to begin with.  Hell, I remember originally imagining Isolde with a 'destruction' focus of sorts (thus the non-elemental everything)
<SoppyLives> She's not losing the pie focus
<SoppyLives> "I still love you, little pie..."
<PamelaIbis> Pie with gravy.  Clearly.
<@Excal> So a Chicken Pot Pie focus.
<@Excal> She is the eternal nemesis of the Disquieted Chicken
<Nama-MourningForCat> You mean the Disquieted Chicken that shows up for the first fight and gets killed off there?
<SoppyLives> Yes
<SoppyLives> You don't think it's the ONLY ONE, do you?
<@Excal> Dude, it's a Chicken, that got corrupted by the Disquiet.  Chickens are not uncommon, nor are they terribly bright.
* Tonic (d2acc533@ircip1.mibbit.com) has joined #DLIAQ
<Tonic> Hey, anything happen while I was being a diligent spriter?
<SoppyLives> We learned there is a whole army of militant, Disquieted Chickens that are only held at bay by their mortal enemy, Eirwen
<Tonic> Man, I'm loving this new plot twist
<Tonic> That's quality HardMode material there.
<Tonic> Eirwen, of course, uses Disquieted Chickens as the secret ingrediant of her restaurant's specialty.
<SoppyLives> Noemi calls it a boss fight
<SoppyLives> Eirwen calls it a shopping list

[Hunter Sopko]

There was more!

<Excal> Hmm, obviously this new Eirwen plot is going into the bonus dungeon.
<SoppyLives> Obviously
<SoppyLives> DLC material
<SoppyLives> "Eirwen's Shopping List"
<Tonic> Well, after you save the world, going back to simple restaurant work is kind of difficult.
<SoppyLives> Not true
<Tonic> Clearly Disquieted Fried Chicken will be the latest fad and will help Eirwen transition back into a normal life.
<SoppyLives> The hero is the one that wants to finish his drink and go home
<SoppyLives> DFC franchises everywhere
<Tonic> Colonel Eirwen's Chicken~
<SoppyLives> It's not inhumane either
<SoppyLives> The chickens don't even have heads to cut off
<Tonic> Eirwen is providing a service for all parties involved.
<SoppyLives> Indeed
<Tonic> And if we make sequel, clearly Eirwen will essentially be running the entire business world. DFC is the standard healing item in all Col.E's Chicken shoppes.
<Tonic> \^_^/
<SoppyLives> It's gotta be DFC
<SoppyLives> The Colonel is the mascot. He's never been in the name. It's always been Kentucky Fried Chicken.
<Tonic> Eirwen is a much prettier Mascot
<SoppyLives> Agreed

[074]

Okay, since I was frustrated and ready to give up, I decided to try and construct sample movesets (or in two cases, samples from potential movesets) for Sigkeit.  Djinn encouraged this to get an idea of what the hell I was thinking of when going for said focuses.

Anyway, here goes nothing.  Keeping them to eight for...eh, dunno why.  Numbers can obviously vary upward or downward.

[I found myself unable to actually think of anything for Affliction)

Consumption:

*Cold Snap:Consumes heat over a wide area, dealing cold damage over a hex and reducing target's SPD and DEX.
*Vitriolic Bolt:Deals water damage to a single target and reduces target DEF.
*Consume Essence:Single-target parasitic healing spell.
*Consume Power:Single-target spell that drains MP and Focus from the target, restoring Sigkeit's MP.
*Overfreeze:Consumes a large amount of heat from a concentrated area, dealing heavy ice damage to a single target with a high chance of inflicting Freeze.
*Caustic Scatter:Range 3 Conic AoE.  Deals water damage over a number of hits varying on proximity (Adjacent take 6 light hits and one heavy, one hex away takes 4 light and one heavy, and those at the far end take 2 light and 1 heavy).  Deals half the large hit's damage again as fixed damage next round.
*Death Fog: Creates a 'cloud' within a Radius 1 Hex Burst that remains for five turns.  Anyone who starts their turn in this cloud takes Water damage, and has a chance of suffering both Blindness and reduced ATK.
*Soma Harvest: Full-field discriminatory parasitic healing spell.

Gravity:

*Graviton Well: Exerts considerable gravity over a radius-1 hex burst area.  Everyone in this area has their movement reduced to 1, in addition to suffering penalties on accuracy and evasion.
*Blasting Column: Line-target crushing damage to enemies.  Pushes hex occupants further down the line.  Hits DEF/VIT, not MDEF/SPR
*Ejection: Removes the target from battle; does not award EXP, money, or items.
*Hyper Crush: Heavy Impact damage to a single target.  May have other side effects.
*?
*?
*?
*?

Blood:

*Rupture: Inflicts 40% cHP damage (ignores defensive stats) and may inflict Bleeding to a target
*Blood Slicer: Inflicts damage to a hex.  Number of hits depends on closeness to Sigkeit.
*Coagulation: Stiffens the target's bloodflow, reducing DEX and EVA.
*Crimson Snare: Explodes the target's blood outward in a tense, solidified weblike mass.  Deals damage to the primary target and immobilizes them.  If this hits, attacks all adjacent hexes for the same effect.
*Detonator: Hyperpressurizes the target's blood, inflicting Fragile on a single target.
*?
*?
*?

[Dark Holy Elf]

Consumption: I'm not really a fan of this one. As far as a theme goes it's really relying on multiple definitions of an English word and it feels a bit awkward and disjointed as a result.

Gravity: Gravity is certainly a cool enough theme to work with. My main concern is that my understanding was you were looking for a theme that kind of subverted the "traditional RPG hero" mold Siggy was supposed to represent, and gravity does nothing of the sort. It does however have no shortage of neat attack ideas you can make for it (some that you haven't yet touched on include a "gathering" type spell which clusters enemies so they can be HTed, and something which spoils flying enemies if we have them).

Blood: I was kinda meh to blood at first, but I liked the ideas for moves here, and there's certainly some potential for more (blood-themed healing for instance). A few spells could use more subtle descriptions (something that "explodes" blood should do ridiculous damage, simply pulling out a fine thread and turning that into a web seems a lot more along the lines of what you're trying to have the move do). Regardless, I think it fits nicely as a theme, since yeah, definitely subverts the traditional hero idea. Probably my favourite, though if we're jettisoning the subversion idea I'd be just as happy with gravity.

[074]

RE: Subversion of the whole 'hero' thing.  That was meant to originally be subverted by the fact that he's an antagonist despite his trappings (and again, was originally not intended to be a PC).  Dunno where subversion through skillset came into the equation, honestly.  The real reason why I chose these alternate 'themes' for a Disquiet focus was partially because I wanted something other than a basic element(ala Erastus(Fire) and Selena(Light)), and I was running out of widely-applicable forces/'materials' (Isolde's was intended to be destruction before majority vote switched her to combination Ice/Earth.  Gier's is metal, Reinhild's is magnetism.  Noemi's is clearly the Stealing of Precious Things, and it's notable that a good number of the magic-oriented PCs (Kasia, Faulheit, Katarine, Shao, Faron) have no clear 'focus'.  That tangent aside..).  Add that to the fact that he's still got a boss position and it would become obvious that I'd have to reach for the unusual and esoteric stuff a bit...