ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

The start of the game is the hardest part for a lot of classes. Low stats, weak equipment, not many talents. One way of helping a little is to give 2 extra stat points on the 1st level. We already get more class/generic points than for a single level, so this wouldn't be inconsistent, and it would allow for more immediate specialisation of the character.

While getting 2 more stats at the beginning will surely help, I'm more concerned about some cases when character doesn't get stats at the beginning at all (or gets less than 3). I mean, these characters get 3 stats, but they're automatically distributed so that equipment requirements are met. This happens (well, at least it happened in the past and I don't think this issue was fixed) a lot with Summoners, not sure about other classes. Solving this problem will also help to improve survivability of some classes.

Summoners dont start with a weapon

Halfling rogues...

Reverend Bizarre wrote:While getting 2 more stats at the beginning will surely help, I'm more concerned about some cases when character doesn't get stats at the beginning at all (or gets less than 3). I mean, these characters get 3 stats, but they're automatically distributed so that equipment requirements are met. This happens (well, at least it happened in the past and I don't think this issue was fixed) a lot with Summoners, not sure about other classes. Solving this problem will also help to improve survivability of some classes.

Honestly, I wonder what the balance impact of giving them those stats for free would be? The truth is they're probably still at a disadvantage, if they're starting with a key stat that low. Having some extra stats doesn't help you so much when they're in the wrong place.

Another alternative would be to take off some of their racial bonuses to compensate, though I'm not sure how it would choose which to remove (each race could have a priority order, I guess. Or it could remove from the largest first, or smallest, and then follow a preset order for identical stats -- it should probably be deterministic and not random.)

Of course, a third way of looking at it is that some race/class combinations are supposed to be hard to start. As long as it's not unreasonable and is still fun, that's not necessarily a bad thing; ToME is, I recall, balanced around the assumption that not every race or class or race/class combination needs to be equally difficult, provided they're all fun and all offer a distinct gameplay experience.

(With that said, having fewer points to distribute is kinda less fun, yeah, since it slows down your specialization and such. Especially if you're playing the same basic start setup over and over, ToME does sometimes suffer from early levels feeling a bit same-y. Luckily most race/class combos can reach level 4 in 10 minutes or less, so it's not a huge deal.)

"key stat" and "stat to wear your starting gear" are not necessarily the same thing.

Please do not take this as weighing in on the rest of the topic.

True. Another, perhaps simpler option: If your starting stats aren't high enough to wear your starting gear, you start with it unequipped. You can then raise your stats and wear it if you want. Sometimes, you might not need it, after all.

It'd be pretty hilarious to start a yeek fighter off with nothing equipped at all, yes. It's either that or having nothing but the sword equipped, forget which it'd be. Fun times, though.

Personally, I say just leave it be. Some races are going to have certain classes be their challenge mode. That's fair

I really never got the impression that the early game was particularly hard compared to the mid- or endgame. If anything, the difficulty takes a big dive around level 10 or so and only shoots back up once you enter one of the "problem zones" in the second tier of dungeons.

I rather think that people splat so many low level goons because they haven't figured out how to play them optimally yet. Putting two extra stat points in there wouldn't really help those issues, it would just delay the start of the learning curve a bit.