Development Info Project Eternity Update #36: Core Four Classes, Weapon Types, and More

[Crooked Bee]

Tags: J.E. Sawyer; Obsidian Entertainment; Project Eternity

Obsidian's Josh Sawyer has put up another update on the current progress of Project Eternity's development. It discusses a lot of miscellaneous things, including resolution and scaling, movement, UI, weapon types, and the design of the "four core classes" -- Fighter, Priest, Rogue and Wizard:

Core Four Class Design and Advancement - We want our classes to feel familiar but flexible, so we've designed our "core four" (fighter, priest, rogue, wizard) to reflect traditional D&D roles and allow you to build outside of them. In our current design, each of the classes starts with two active use or modal abilities and one passive bonus.

[...] Priest

• 1st Level Priest Spells - Priests gain access to all 1st level priest spells. Priests can cast a fixed number of 1st level spells before they must rest to recover their uses. They can cast any combination of different spells up to the per-rest limit. As priests gain levels, their 1st level spells will eventually become per-encounter resources.
• Recovery - The Recovery ability regenerates a modest amount of Stamina for allies (including the priest, if in range) in a Medium-sized area at Short range.
• Sacred Circle - All allies standing within a Small area around the priest gain Accuracy bonus. This bonus does not include the priest unless there are no conscious allies in range, in which case it applies to the priest.

[...] Wizard

• 1st Level Wizard Spells - Wizards can access all 1st level wizard spells immediately. Unlike other wizard spell levels, the wizard does not need to find scrolls or grimoires to use any 1st level spells. Wizards can cast a fixed number of 1st level spells before they must rest to recover their uses. They can cast any combination of different spells up to the per-rest limit. As wizards gain levels, their 1st level spells will eventually become per-encounter resources.
• Blast - When wizards use any implement (i.e. a wand, rod, or scepter), they generate a Blast on the target. The Blast does a modest amount of damage to all enemies in a Small area around the target (excluding the target).
• Familiar - All wizards can summon and dismiss familiars. Familiars are mobile "totems" for the wizard, providing defensive bonuses to allies near them and inflicting defensive penalties to enemies near them. Players can also access the master's spell list through the familiar, though casting a spell through the familiar still requires the master to physically cast it; it's simply targeted from the familiar. Familiars are weak and fragile. If a familiar is killed, the wizard takes damage and is unable to summon his or her familiar until he or she rests again.

As players advance their characters, they have the ability to choose class-specific abilities and more class-neutral talents (more like perks or feats) to customize their character capabilities. If you want to keep your fighters very low maintenance, there are a large number of passive fighter abilities and combat-oriented talents that you can buy. If you'd like to make a fighter that's much more "active-use" (more like a 4E fighter), you can choose to buy more modal and active abilities. Similarly, while all wizards gain additional spells, you can use talents to boost a wizard's damage with implement weapons and Blasts, making them more useful when you're not having them chain-cast a series of limited-use spells.​

To read the update in full, go here.

 

[Infinitron]

Might want to embed or link to the video

 

[evdk]

Sawyer seems to really like damage thresholds.

 

[Roguey]

So far, this works well on paper, scales well, and seems to hold up in the game, but it is very "mathy" and not necessarily intuitive because you can't always guess a target's Damage Threshold simply by looking at them (as opposed to armor types, which are usually visually apparent). We will continue to experiment with this to see how it feels in the long run. Our goals are to provide tactical challenges to the player and give them to feedback and tools to adapt and overcome when they're in a difficult spot.

Knights of the Chalice allowed you to right click any enemy to view all their statistics. This was a great feature that removed the trial-and-error guesswork from combat. Josh, I need this.

Inventory sounds like a great way of reducing tedious micromanagement while preserving strategic decisions. Class abilities seem fine so far, but I'm curious as to how the animations for Escape and Reversal are going to look; people are going to rage if it's over-the-top like Dragon Age 2 rogue animations.

 

[Irenaeus]

Sawyer seems to really like damage thresholds.

What's wrong with damage thresholds? Sounds like a realistic enough concept for armors.

 

[Haba]

I don't think anyone said that there is something wrong with them. They even avoid the annoying feature of Fallout's by making some damage always occur no matter how high your DR is.

 

[LeStryfe79]

Really good update! It's beginning to look like multiclassing is out though...

 

[Infinitron]

Really good update! It's beginning to look like multiclassing is out though...

Yeah, I thought that was obvious. It's redundant with this system.

 

[Zakhad]

Sawyer seems to really like damage thresholds.

I'd really like him to damage MY threshold, if you know what I mean...





I'm sorry: I tried to resist making that pun, but I just wasn't strong enough.

 

[LeStryfe79]

Multiclassing is not redundant at all. Their system allows someone to make a paladin with lockpicking, but not a paladin with backstab or 1st level wizard spells.

 

[Infinitron]

It's not redundant at all. Their system allows someone to make a paladin with lockpicking, but not a paladin with backstab or 1st level wizard spells.

Those were just examples. There might be a way to get spellcasting, too. Like getting default feats of other classes in 3E.

 

[evdk]

Those were just examples. There might be a way to get spellcasting, too. Like getting default feats of other classes in 3E.

But this (baseless) speculation does not prove that multiclassing is in any way made obsolete by their character advancement system.

 

[Infinitron]

Those were just examples. There might be a way to get spellcasting, too. Like getting default feats of other classes in 3E.

But this (baseless) speculation does not prove that multiclassing is in any way made obsolete by their character advancement system.

Not obsolete, but...less necessary.

 

[evdk]

That's not the part of my post you should be concerned with.

 

[SCO]

As long as there are no fireball like spells, it looks ok - blast should do that job.

 

[LeStryfe79]

The biggest problem with no multiclassing is the inability to make fighter/mages. This is a problem since it's likely one of the most common character types people played in the IE games that Obsidian wishes to emulate. Oh well, I almost never multiclass anyway when I get to construct a whole party, but it's fun as hell for soloing.

A lock picking druid is starting to look pretty good, however.

 

[evdk]

As long as there are no fireball like spells, it looks ok - blast should do that job.

The blast is a modification of a known spell or an ability all by itself? What kind of damage does it do? I want to know!

 

[Scruffy]

The biggest problem with no multiclassing is the inability to make fighter/mages. This is a problem since it's likely one of the most common character types people played in the IE games that Obsidian wishes to emulate. Oh well, I almost never multiclass anyway when I get to construct a whole party, but it's fun as hell for soloing.

for me, it was fighter/cleric actually. but then again i'm a faggot powergamer. my favorite was certainly rogue/mage though.

 

[Zed]

I hope they change the names of skills to something more thematic. For instance, "Recovery" could be... Chant of... Something

 

[Jaesun]

This is the update that has me worried. A lot. Still cautiously fapping until I hear exact specifics.

 

[Scruffy]

This is the update that has me worried. A lot. Still cautiously fapping until I hear exact specifics.

why?
i think it was quite all right
i like the idea of a spellcaster becoming more adept with lower level spells as he becomes more expert. and basically everything else i read
what worried you?

 

[Jaesun]

This is the update that has me worried. A lot. Still cautiously fapping until I hear exact specifics.

why?
i think it was quite all right
i like the idea of a spellcaster becoming more adept with lower level spells as he becomes more expert. and basically everything else i read
what worried you?

meh not going to repeat myself. There is better discussion on this and concerns in the cRPG forum.

 

[Scruffy]

oh, saw it now, will answer there then

 

[LeStryfe79]

Pretty sure a tough melee priest will still be viable, but the fighter/mage/thief combos and whatnot are screwed when it comes to combat abilities. I really don't have a huge problem with it except they were fairly significant in BG and IWD. That said, I can think of a few better ways to do multiple class than the various methods used in D&D.

 

[Dorateen]

Sounds like a good update for purists.

The first level wizard/priests spells are like cantrips.