ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

To start, I have no idea how well balanced this would be and whether or not it'd be a good thing. It might ruin a bunch of good choices, make builds impossible, and generally be restrictive and not fun. However, it might not be, so I'll suggest away.

Most race's stat bonuses are relatively unimportant in the early game, and almost entirely irrelevant by level 20, let alone the end game. So my idea is make racial stat modifiers work like category mastery-each race has modifiers to how much a stat point is worth. Cornac, for instance, would have no modifiers, so one stat point is worth one actual point in the stat. Yeeks, though, would have .9 Strength and Dexterity, .8 Constitution, 1.2 Willpower, 1.1 Cunning, and 1 magic. So dropping five points into Willpower will net you six actual points.

This would make race a much, much larger choice when playing the game. Now it's not just a matter of racials that you can just not invest in if you choose not to and Life Rating, it will have a major impact on every stat in the game. This would require tweaking-Higher, for instance, could not simply have higher stats than Cornac. A %15 XP penalty is not worth what could easily add up to be twenty or thirty stat points by level 50.

Thoughts about how this could work? How it could be balanced? Whether this is a good idea at all?

Probably require a lot of balancing but I actually like this idea. Very nice.

Problem with that approach is that it makes race+class combinations choice more fixed.

For example, currently yeek melee classes have a hard start but later yeek Berserker is not worse than any other.

In same time natural combos like Skeleton\Archer or Yeek\Solipsists become noticeably stronger....
_________________

That's a strong point you made there.
(Sorry.)

Yeah, that's what I was thinking when I mentioned that it could be horridly, horridly unbalanced. I don't want to restrict choices, but it seemed like an idea worth discussing, at the very least.

Though what if classes also had the same stat mastery? Or just classes?

Though what if classes also had the same stat mastery? Or just classes?

Main attributes will be even more preferred to secondary, weird builds like... lets say high magic brawler will become less viable

Good point.

Welp, looks like this idea is a bust. Can't say I'm too shocked about it.

Idea wise this is excellent, though the bonus would have to be small, nearly cosmetic, to not break the balance.
Maybe a favored stat for each race, maybe even a disfavored one, giving like one extra point per 10 points spent and also increase the maximum for a stat by let's say 10.

Dwarves for example would have Con as favored stat while their disfavored would be Dex. 60 points spent on Con would make it 66 for Dwarves while their max could be 70. For Dec this would be 66 points to get 60, but I don't think disfavored needs lowered maximum. Maybe having a disfavored stat is a bit harsh after all.

Then what about instead of the bonus for 10 points spent there would be an extra benefit for going past 60 in natural non buffed stat. For Con maybe added HP regen for each point past 60, for Str some extra armor pen and encumbrance or something. Only races with favored stat could reach the bonuses, since for others the stats are maxed at 60.

This would of course encourage favored race/combos but is it a biggie in single player game? Cornac Cursed is one anyways but I still look up to the players doing a Doomelf Cursed. There are many ways to take the easy road in this game and there is nothing wrong with it so why not allow favored stat in some form?

Strength-All Damage +.5% per point, 5% total

Dexterity-Crit Chance +.5% per point, 5% total; Crit Multiplier +2% per point, +20% total

Constitution-Health Regen +1 per point, +10 total; Stamina Regen +.4 per point, +4 total

Willpower-Confusion, Stunning, and Dazing Immunity +1% per point, +10% total

Magic-Casting Speed +1% per point, +10% total

Cunning-Defense +1 per point, +10 total; All Saves +.5 per point, +5 total

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Cornac-Can pick any two favored stats, each one only has a +5 cap

Higher-Magic at +10, can pick any other at +5

Shalore-Magic or Willpower

Thalore-Strength or Dexterity

Doomelf-Magic or Willpower

Halfling-Dexterity or Cunning

Dwarf-Strength or Constitution

Ghoul-Strength or Constitution

Skeleton-Strength or Dexterity

Yeek-Willpower or Cunning

Red wrote:Strength-All Damage +.5% per point, 5% total

This seems more appropriate for Cunning. Extra all damage should be viable for every class in my opinion, not just warrior types.

Red wrote:Dexterity-Crit Chance +.5% per point, 5% total; Crit Multiplier +2% per point, +20% total

This one as well, would make more sense if it were affected by Cunning. Once again i'll be subjective and say that crit multiplier shouldn't be a bonus. I think it would make more sense to be related to weapons, maybe armors, only. Feel free to disagree, and/or correct me.

Red wrote:Constitution-Health Regen +1 per point, +10 total; Stamina Regen +.4 per point, +4 total

Seems alright.

Red wrote:Willpower-Confusion, Stunning, and Dazing Immunity +1% per point, +10% total

Makes allot of sense. I approve. b

Red wrote:Magic-Casting Speed +1% per point, +10% total

I don't play as a mage most of the times, but I agree.

Red wrote:Cunning-Defense +1 per point, +10 total; All Saves +.5 per point, +5 total

These bonuses would make much more sense for Dexterity, if you ask me. +5 all saves seems really weak even for early game, I would suggest +25 total. Same with Defense, I think around 20 would be better.

May I suggest that strength should decrease some fatigue, and add more hitpoints, like 1.5 or 2 or something like that.

What do you think?

I was trying to make the bonuses not the exact same thing as the stat. It's not just a more powerful stat, it's an extra buff you usually can't get out of the stat. But thank you for the input.

So, amended stats:

Strength-All Damage +.5% per point, +5% total; -1% fatigue per point, -10% total

Dexterity-Crit Chance +.5% per point, +5% total; Physical Crit Multiplier +2% per point, +20% total

Cunning-Defense and all Saves +2 per point, +20 total

Strength has the fatigue portion added, Dexterity has had Crit Multiplier changed to be only physical (Crit Chance is retained for mixed classes like Arcane Blade and the occassional Alchemist who really, really wanted Crafty Hands), and Cunning just had numbers go up a lot.

Any thoughts on the changes or on the race choices?