How to solve Genesis' (apparently) biggest issue (race mods)

[nils]

Simply remove all racial mods and replace with selective distribution.

Exemplified:
A human has 600 points distributed evenly on all stats.

Making it look like:

str dex con int wis dis
100 100 100 100 100 100

Now, I surely want to make a powerful human warrior with little interest in mentals, and hence I can distribute stats from a sum of 600.
I might have gone for:

str dex con int wis dis
150 150 150 50 50 50



A problem then arises, given the nature of genesis, when perhaps after a couple years of playing a warrior, you wish to be a caster. Suddenly you need a brain and obviously you need to to redistribute! How this issue is solved can ofcourse be discussed, but I see solutions varying from being able to redistribute at death to only able to distribute at extremely pacifistic with additional loss of recovery.

Anyone see a problem with this, other than we have to see those pesky numbers?

[Kvator]

thing I would love to see is some kind of int/wis/dis modifiers actually impacting combat...
like you use your 'skills' better with higher mentals (so sup guru with supreme intellect would work better than sup guru while being stupid)

[cotillion]

thing I would love to see is some kind of int/wis/dis modifiers actually impacting combat...
like you use your 'skills' better with higher mentals (so sup guru with supreme intellect would work better than sup guru while being stupid)

The 'panic' mechanic should be fixed to actually matter.

[Dread]

thing I would love to see is some kind of int/wis/dis modifiers actually impacting combat...
like you use your 'skills' better with higher mentals (so sup guru with supreme intellect would work better than sup guru while being stupid)

The 'panic' mechanic should be fixed to actually matter.

Could you define that a bit? I am not sure what you mean.

[nils]

I call hijack!

[gorboth]

Nils, if you take out the part about removing racial stat mods, how is what you describe with stat preference distribution different from what we already do now? Genesis is never going to involve typing numbers like 100, 150, etc, because that is against our thematic presentation style (e.g. instead we use words.)

G.

[Thalric]

I just think the % bonuses are too big.

Instead of it being perhaps 5-10-15 percent changes to stats, it ought to be only 0,5-1-2 percent.

In my eyes races should primarily be a way to play a different character, and not a way to gain power.

The way we set our stats ought to be what matters, not the race.

[nils]

Nils, if you take out the part about removing racial stat mods, how is what you describe with stat preference distribution different from what we already do now? Genesis is never going to involve typing numbers like 100, 150, etc, because that is against our thematic presentation style (e.g. instead we use words.)

G.

I guess that's kind of the point. Keep it within the known, yet remove the obvious goblin-favor for melee-oriented characters or elf for the magical ones. I'm not claiming it's perfect since it would enable hobbits to be as strong as goblins, but it will remove the need for everyone to be goblin in order to have a fighting chance.



Ah, the numbers.. Could of course be substituted with some kind of written levels.

"You've chosen to focus all/heavily/somewhat heavily on physicals"
or
"You've chosen to focus primarily on strength and secondary on dexterity and constitution"

Another option (yet more limiting) could be to make selectable class-like setups

Barbarian: Mostly strength, secondary dex/con
Warrior: Purely physicals
Knight: Mostly physicals, some mentals
Rogue: Mostly dex, some mentals
Caster: Purely mentals

choose warrior
"You've chosen to live the life of a warrior"


I don't know Gorbie, every system has its ups and downs. It's a suggestion. Take it, leave it, use some, leave some out or flip me the finger. I guess I'd like to see human fighters who can fight. No orc (elf soul) mages, or otherwise casters with pointy ears etc.

[gorboth]

I don't know Gorbie, every system has its ups and downs. It's a suggestion. Take it, leave it, use some, leave some out or flip me the finger.

I can perhaps flip you an elf finger from Stern's appetizer dish. My own finger, I will reserve.

G.

[Mumon]

I like that races have advantages and disadvantages in stats.

However imho it's quite poorly implemented in Genesis.

A more balanced approach would be to define the +/- as % of the unmodified statavg of the character and have them balance out so the modified statavg equals the unmodified statavg.

A hypothetical example race with hypotetical stats not related to Genesis:

Race lizardman
----------------------
dex +10%
con +10%
int -10%
wis -10%

Unmodified stats (statavg 200):
------------------------------------------
str 250
dex 250
con 250
int 150
wis 150
dis 150

Modified stats (also statavg 200):
--------------------------------------------
str 250
dex 250 + (10% * 200) = 270
con 250 + (10% * 200) = 270
int 150 - (10% * 200) = 130
wis 150 - (10% * 200) = 130
dis 150

Knowing how the mudlib that Genesis is built on I think race stat bonuses/penalites should stay in the range +/- 10% to keep it balanced.

/M