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Malifax · 05-24-2007, 09:13 AM

No. A vampire's physical size and most of his physical appearance doesn't change from the size and appearance of his former race. Vampires don't even age. Look at Claudia from Interview With The Vampire. She was a 200 year-old vampire but she looked like an eight-year old girl. A giant or an elf would be no different.

Oh, without a doubt. The RM system is absolutely my favorite tabletop combat mechanics. It's what made Gemstone III. RM classes still limit the skills you can choose, though, both through cost-setting and outright preclusion. It's cost prohibitive for a "ranger" to learn to use a two-handed sword and his magic choices are limited to the "ranger" list and open channeling. As I say, I love the RM system. I played GS III for many years. I'd just rather see skills limited by my choice of activities than by the artificial barriers presented by classes.

What if they are? To me they're still racial abilities and I want them separated from "regular" skills like spellcraft, one-handed weapons and lockpicking. As long as all races have attractive innate abilities that balance out, it's all good.

I agree, to a point. But I think there's definitely a place for stats and other racial attributes that differentiate character abilities with different skills. I like it to differ character to character too, as well as race to race. I'm right with you on race to skill optimization. I absolutely HATE that. The way I deal with that is, in the case of weapos, for example, each weapon uses a different combination of stats. A mace requires brute strength, a longsword needs the guidance of an agile hand and a battleaxe needs a little of both. Or whatever.

Yep. But I'd rather abilities and skills be emergent than just allocated according to race. Like, you can learn the "power attack" if you are strong enough and have the correct body density to make it happen. Instead of saying, "Ok, dwarves get this ability," say, "Characters with these attributes get this ability and dwarves have these attributes."

Shadow: You and I are on exactly the same page when it comes to skills and flexibility. The design I'm drawing up is all about aptitude and choice. You can learn anything you want to by practicing it. How fast you learn and how good at it you can become depends on your innate aptitude.

05-24-2007, 09:13 AM	#29
Malifax Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 108	No. A vampire's physical size and most of his physical appearance doesn't change from the size and appearance of his former race. Vampires don't even age. Look at Claudia from Interview With The Vampire. She was a 200 year-old vampire but she looked like an eight-year old girl. A giant or an elf would be no different. Oh, without a doubt. The RM system is absolutely my favorite tabletop combat mechanics. It's what made Gemstone III. RM classes still limit the skills you can choose, though, both through cost-setting and outright preclusion. It's cost prohibitive for a "ranger" to learn to use a two-handed sword and his magic choices are limited to the "ranger" list and open channeling. As I say, I love the RM system. I played GS III for many years. I'd just rather see skills limited by my choice of activities than by the artificial barriers presented by classes. What if they are? To me they're still racial abilities and I want them separated from "regular" skills like spellcraft, one-handed weapons and lockpicking. As long as all races have attractive innate abilities that balance out, it's all good. I agree, to a point. But I think there's definitely a place for stats and other racial attributes that differentiate character abilities with different skills. I like it to differ character to character too, as well as race to race. I'm right with you on race to skill optimization. I absolutely HATE that. The way I deal with that is, in the case of weapos, for example, each weapon uses a different combination of stats. A mace requires brute strength, a longsword needs the guidance of an agile hand and a battleaxe needs a little of both. Or whatever. Yep. But I'd rather abilities and skills be emergent than just allocated according to race. Like, you can learn the "power attack" if you are strong enough and have the correct body density to make it happen. Instead of saying, "Ok, dwarves get this ability," say, "Characters with these attributes get this ability and dwarves have these attributes." Shadow: You and I are on exactly the same page when it comes to skills and flexibility. The design I'm drawing up is all about aptitude and choice. You can learn anything you want to by practicing it. How fast you learn and how good at it you can become depends on your innate aptitude.