We need some ideas for racial abilities for the other playable races. Clearly Human is the choice for most players due to their affinity for every skill. Still, other races need to be made better rather than removing human affinities.
One topic batted around was the idea of the Urdek to heal them selves but devouring a nearby shadow. On a three count they could heal 10, 20, or 30; depending on level. This was only proposed mind you and not approved by the rules council yet.
Aside from this one small racial ability, what else should other races get? An Angori with a repel effect isn't too outlandish if he's a barbarian, but what if every Angori could do it? Even a disciple or druid. Clearly the fear packet racial ability they have wasn't tempting enough compared to the costume requirement.
An Empyrean with a gaze attack, once again isn't too unheard of for a wizard. But a rogue or savage with a gaze attack? Why not? A gaze fumble or ruin isn't too strong for consideration.
I'm just shooting in the dark here, but I think I have given some ideas that will give my brother an ulcer. Racial abilities should be good but not so good that everyone chooses that one race above all others. As is the case with humans.
I for one want to hear your thoughts on this topic so I opened a thread. Let's just try to keep it within the lower level mind set for now and think about scalable abilities. We need to keep Thad's twitching down to a minimum so no single packet slays for elves because they are cool like Legolas.
Yeep, but as far as damaging is concerned this would not work well with packet-delivered attacks. Or rather, maybe it would work TOO well. Say I decided to turn my Shocking Burst into a radius attack...instead of having to actually hit my opponent with all three of my packets to deal 30 damage, which I may not manage to do, now I'm hitting EVERYBODY in the area including my friends, and I'm *automatically* hitting. That's a HUGE boost, especially for a fourth-level ability.
Or, heavens, what about a higher level spell, such as Shepherd's Call? (I think I need to change my pants just thinking about what that would do.) For that matter, if the spell you're boosting represents a multi-packet spell, and it's something that could potentially be countered by one of the affected entities, how do you manage the counter (do you only get one chance to counter it, or do you get to counter it as if it were delivered by three separate packets and hit you every time)? And remember if players get it, monsters can get it too...
Let's see, now I have to make a constructive counter-suggestion...I can see it working better as, for example, adding a static X per packet to the next healing or damaging spell cast. Or maybe even to just the first packet, if it's a multi-packet action. That way you don't have to try to calculate anything complicated like percentages (cause math is hard), but it still has the intended effect of representing an intense degree of focus on the part of the caster, and effect wise is not too different to work with than a fighter class ability to call extra damage for a few swings.
-C-
I reject your reality and substitute my own!
My original idea was it would turn status affecting spells like mending, aegis, freedom, adept's edge, and the ever game breaking fist of stone into a radius effect like the area heals. It would've helped out disciple more than wizard, so I didn't want a racial to favor a single class.
The extra packet for the spell would be a nice boost for any spell. I just want something besides letting people read/write 1 language for 10 minutes.
Actually if you are talking about Xenoglossy...that action is self-only. As is Clarity of Thought. Admittedly I am not scanning through all the races while I'm at work, but I don't recall seeing any existing racial actions that have an external effect.
-C-
I reject your reality and substitute my own!
How about bumping a weak affinity up to moderate for every other race except human? If that doesn't seem to balance it out after bumping one weak skill to moderate, add in a new weak affinity skill.
"There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die."
Skills do seem to be the answer, but we were attempting to use racial abilities as the balancing factor. Rather than giving moderate or even strong affinity to a race for a hand full of skills, we were going to go with abilities that people would want regardless of class.
What are some potions that are a must at other games. Like the fast carry ability, everyone thinks that is a good thing to have from time to time. I ask this not only for this racial actions thread but also for the item system that is an ongoing project.
For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
From what I can see right now, the main (and its huge) benefit from humans is skill affinities. Maybe some extra skill affinities for non-humans would be in order because it doesn't seem that racial actions are enough. Just as an example, Urdeks have 2 racial skill affinities, compared to the two dozen of humans, and they have two of the coolest racial actions in my opinion.
Just a thought.
Should all racial abilities (or most of them) be class-independent? As much as I like the spell-bump idea, it would be totally useless for an Empyrean that wasn't a caster. Not sure if the abilities should be dependent on the player choosing to play a different class.
-C-
I reject your reality and substitute my own!
It doesn't have to be a spell only bump, what about a swing bump too? EX: a single +10 strike becomes a two swing +10 strike. once per adventure. This would also work with packets.
For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson
Not to hijack the thread away from empyreans, but I was looking at angori and wondering why they have no moderate affinities for any weapon or armor skills and why they don't have warrior as a class affinity despite being hardcore brawlers by heritage? The repel racial if attainable at a lower level sounds decent.
I'll go ahead and let you guys know right now that multiplier effects, like bumping something by 25% or 50%, are right out. You'll note the absence of multiplication in nearly every other aspect of the system. I've told Nick as such on several occassions, and only allowed them in moderation within monstrous conditions (double health on elite monsters, for instance). Sorry, but it's a founding principle of the design, so there's really no room for debate on this one.
Likewise, meta-action skills are also right out. The system would get needlessly complex very quickly. There's no such thing as a Sudden Silent, Sudden Melee Radius, or Sudden Extra Packet. They sound neat, and they have a place, but that place is built into the specific action.
The way to make racial abilities useful at all levels is to use effects that any character would find handy in the right situation, not to make them become more powerful later on for the same price.
Likewise, the way to balance the usefulness of a racial ability is to consider what would be useful for any character in the right situation, but to focus on what would be particularly useful for characters of the appropriate class. My favorite example so far is Shadow Step for Urdeks. There's no way a rogue would get Teleport, but it's great for them to have. On top of that, it's still pretty good for characters of any other class, even wizards, since it's an instant Teleport.
Now, I'm not totally against external effects on racial actions, within reason. We've already added Acidic Blood to the Homunculus, which is a Retort 20 Tox.
I'm also not totally against moderate racial affinities, in addition to the planned expansion of non-human weak affinities. As it stands now, no approved PC race has more than a weak affinity because I wanted the character's race to be relevant in determining skill cost, but class to be the main factor.
I'll weigh in more later on, but I thought I'd steer you guys back on the path toward ideas that I'd approve. No reason to dream up multiplier effects that have no chance of making it into play. ;)
"You are technically correct. The best kind of correct!"
- Bureaucrat 1.0, Futurama
Just so everyone is aware, I spent some time brainstorming racial actions last night. Here's what I've got so far:
Angori - Ram (Single Weapon Strike, "Repel 10")
Elf - Elven Blade Magic (Touch, "Hone Two") and Dodge (Self, "Evade")
Empyrean - Music of the Spheres (Single Packet, "Soothe", One Encounter) and Astral Form (Self, "Discarnate", One Encounter)
Faerie - Glow (Self, "Light") and Invisibility (Self, "Vanish", One Encounter)
Urdek - Steal Shadow (Single Weapon Strike, "10 Drain") and Hide (Self, "Blend", One Encounter)
Aside from these, I still need higher-level actions (level 7 to 10) for dwarves and homunculi. And yes, I plan to expand non-human skill affinities.
The days of all-human games will soon be at an end. Race change, anyone? ;)
"You are technically correct. The best kind of correct!"
- Bureaucrat 1.0, Futurama
I tried suggesting a racial skill through the submit form, but it glitched up for some reason. Anyway, for Empyreans, Xenoglossy isn't something I plan on picking up soon. The level 5 is an ok bonus for breaking provoke effects and the like. I'd suggest something like:
Empowered Bloodline
1/Adventure, level 4, 6 skill points
Turns the next spell into a 10 ft. radius effect spell. Healing spells under this effect are increased by 25-50%. Damaging spells receive a 10-25% bonus. All rounded up.
It scales with the character and with the adventure refresh rate, can't be abusively cast. Empyreans are natural casters, so it might make sense that they have occassional moments of clarity in spellcasting and receive a little boost.