This is just a thought I and some of my fellow gamers have had about race skills, we were thinking that the race skills should be skills that only that race could get. the race skills now are actions that you could learn= the dwarf gets slay at lev 10 but so does any lev 10 fighter and wizard also, everything you are about to read is just a thought if it is impossible or stupid please disregard.
Durability= +50 body can be bought 3 times but that does not increase the hit points. first time bought = 50 body per adventure. second time per encounter. third time the +50 becomes part of the adventures stats.
Single thought =+100 body but you only attack one enemy. for story the single thought is this guy is going down and im the one to do it.
Killing Rage= you pick a ability 2 levels lower than your current level that you are able to do for 3 swings, then you do nothing but that ability for the encounter.
intelligence = you can learn a spell 1 level higher that your current level. you must be taught this spell by a higher level adventurer and you may cast it once per adventure.
Magic Dominance = you can learn any spell 2 levels lower that your current level. you must be taught by someone who knows the spell.
Stubbornness = can resist any metabolic or mind effect spell or poison once per time bought.
Shmoo = upon death you burst heal. The amount of the heal goes up per level and time bought until burst resurrect.
Shatter = can drain or destroy any magic item as long as the adventurer is holding the item. the race of choice for the skill would be goblins or goblin kin.
Safety First = when your hit points get to 0 you do not die but you run away and do not come back. at zero you get 5 hit points if you take more damage while running away you then might die. this is also for the goblin adventures.
Safe Passage = you can move over any surface with out harm. water, tar, ice. first time bought 10 ft, second time bought 20 ft. this is for the Ixafar adventures.
Natures Ally = animals do not see you as a threat.
Please if anyone can think of more add to this list. Please remember we are looking for new skills, not actions that are already in the game. Nick Thad if you do not want this as part of the game then that is Kool I was just saying....
I've had some time to consider your suggestions, and here's my take.
From a game design standpoint, a character's race was always intended to be a secondary, if flavorful, consideration. The fact that your character may be an elf, dwarf, etc. grants you a few neat racial abilities and factors into the sort of classes you're likely to pick. On the contrary, a character's class was always meant to be the primary factor in determining his or her abilities. Thus, as a matter of game design, race plays a secondary role to class when it comes to what your character can do.
Another consideration here is scalability. Creating a new racial ability within the existing action system is relatively simple compared to manufacturing an entirely new rule system or effect to handle each and every racial ability. Constraining racial abilities to this framework, then, allows us to better balance them against one another and makes the process simple enough that we can potentially create new races without a great deal of effort. Consider that a few months ago, we didn't have gnomes or ixifar. That sort of growth and development is something the system needs to accomodate gracefully.
Now, those are my primary concerns. Beyond that, a lot of these abilities are pretty overpowered. I can pick up a rank in Fortitude to get five extra health, or learn Durability and get 50. Likewise, I can pick up a Specialty Action to call an extra Ruin per fight, or pick up Killing Rage and call nothing but Ruins for an entire fight. Read as written, most of these abilities are just too good.
That being said, Nick and I have discussed further improvements to racial abilities, and our current plan is to make the low-level ability for each race scalable. For example, a dwarf would be able to progressively improve the Guard effect from Unyielding Defense by purchasing additional ranks at higher levels. Elves could do the same thing for the Pierce damage from Elven Precision, Urdeks could do the same thing with the Drain damage from Umbral Touch, etc. Each rank would improve the base action so that it continued to grow along with the character.
Beyond that, a character's race is supposed to be gravy, not the main course. For the bulk of your actions, look to your class. As for scaling racial abilities, look for that in coming months (whenever I get the time to program it).
I think this could be addressed in the downtime section pretty well; so as to not overpoweer in game actions as much, and to add more "gravy". For example to make dwarven characters have added perks to becoming a smith etc. Maybe adding a ritual to complement certain weapons or armor or the overall quality of a weapon. The same could be said for other races, but I'm pretty much a dwarf kind of a guy, so that is what I think of on these aspects. After all it says in the races section that dwarves are renowned for their skill with steel, but there is nothing in the game to reflect this. The way that the system is now, a dwarf is just as good a smith as any other race. Once again I am not sure what to do for the other races, but I think the aforementioned secret doors idea could be implemented somewhere as well. These are things that will make races a little more of the decision making process, but I can see how some of the ideas could overpower a character as well.
Another thought that may make it easier game mechanics wise would be to open up "prestige classes" that are race dependent, but that is way above my pay grade, even if a Master-smithy doesnt sound pretty good to these ole dwarven ears.
I agree!
Race skills should be something unique to that race.
Example: Can detect a secret passage simply by passing within 10'.
That short of thing.
"Fat, drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life".
Dean Vernon Wormer