Posts from Expedition: general discussions. Auto-translated

I personally prefer to use a completely opposite approach. After all, origin is primarily not about stats and abilities, but about role-playing. And when a certain origin actually forces you to choose a specific build, while cutting off many others, in my personal experience, this has a negative impact. Therefore, I prefer to create more universal bonuses, or at least offer several options to choose from, and let the player decide whether they want to wield a sword, a bow, or a spellbook.

Could you give everyone unique skills, like in the early expansions? It would prevent every player from being a tailor, a reaper, and a musician all at once. I personally liked that approach, especially since constantly learning something new (and then losing it) got quite tiring.

The features are directly related to role-playing. Everything is justified by the lore.

Priestesses are women selected from ordinary mortals, sometimes without their consent. Divine poison is infused into their veins, which greatly changes them. In the future, they can evolve into demons of Ceraria.

I was literally thinking about the racial aspect in my future expansion pack today. At the start, only humans are available, and an alternative race will be unlocked as the story progresses. I definitely don't want to introduce other races; the idea is that the world is, at first glance, as non-magical as possible, remember? So, I'm thinking of doing it like Revenant did in his expansions, or like Bethesda did in the Elder Scrolls – creating separate human races, distinguished by their specific appearance, not too extravagant, natural, but with a touch of originality. Initially, I wanted to base them only on real-world human races, but I thought about it more and decided that would be too boring. My favorite FMA is a good reference for this approach, again.

Damn, it's even hard for me to discuss ideas that will be in the expansion pack, so as not to spoil a bunch of key details and keep you in maximum suspense. The problem is that almost all the information about the setting that I have at the moment has already been spoiled.

Sometimes I couldn't resist or spoiled certain elements of my ideas in private messages, but I did it so long ago that no one remembers it anymore, haha! I understand your pain, actually. I have a similar problem with settings, by the way. On the one hand, I want to create all sorts of things. On the other hand, when I look at the NPCs I've planned, I realize that in the end, everything turns out too human and self-centered, and more exotic options remain unexplored.

Just take it and do it without thinking too much about which factions and everything else you want...

I decided to try making a sample character sheet. It ended up looking somewhat like Revan, but overall I like it. Oh, these just-for-fun character sheets.

Origin: Priestess of Ceraria (Immunity to any physical negative effects, except for damage, Passive ability: regeneration (restores 10% HP every round or restores all HP upon day change) Access to the Cerarian School of Poison Block of any other School of magic Relations with Cerarian loyalists: very high Relations with Cerarian opponents: very low +50 to Faith) Religion: Ceraria I (0/500) (+100 HP, +25% to crit. damage) Organizations: High Temple of Ceraria (0/100) Guardians of Selya-Mira (0/100) Professions: Singer (can receive bonuses from using singing during roleplay, bonus to relations with certain NPCs) Talents: Magic Staffs I (0/50) (+50% to Accuracy for ordinary attacks using magic staffs +10% to Accuracy for spells if the active weapon is a staff)

Level 1: (0/1000) Free attribute distribution points: 0 Actions per day: 2 Characteristics: HP: 200 Damage: 10 Accuracy: 50% Evasion: 5% Crit. chance: 15% Crit. damage: 75% Speed: 2 Initiative: 15 Faith: 60 Resistances and Immunities: Any negative physical effects, except for damage Spells: Cerarian School of Poison (first tier): Poisonous Bite: Source: divine Range: melee Damage: 150% Accuracy: +10% Cooldown: none Can be applied outside of combat Goddess's Mercy: Source: divine Range: self Healing: 25% Success chance: 90% Cooldown: 1 round Can be applied outside of combat Abilities: Regeneration Type: passive Effect: restores 10% HP every round or restores all HP upon day change Uncontrollable

Equipment: Weapon: Magic staff Accuracy: +5% Damage: 100% 33% base chance to apply Stun on physical attack Head: - Body (top): Priestess's robe (+5 to Initiative) Body (bottom): - Hands: Thin gloves (+5% to crit. chance) Legs: Poison stockings (50% base chance to apply Poison on physical attack) Feet: Elegant shoes (+5% to crit. chance) Accessory 1: - Accessory 2: - Accessory 3: - Accessory 4: - Consumables: Diluted Cerarian poison x1 (drinkable; for a Cerarian priestess it doubles all characteristics except Faith for 1 day; for others it has a 75% base chance to kill, checked against resistance to negative physical effects OR divine influence) Cookies in the shape of a cookie x20 (ordinary food) Inventory: - Active Effects: - Related Links: -

Have you gotten so used to creating new characters, and Revan won't let you, that now you're doing it for expeditions that don't even exist?

Oh no, he figured out that I want to impress Revan with my ideas and earn the 4th slot for a character! What am I going to do now...?

Here are the rough drafts of the system, as promised. Much of it is still in its early stages, but I think it should give you a good idea of the system. What's missing in the draft:
— weapon parameters (tentatively planned so that one-handed swords and longbows will have 4 damage, and two-handed weapons will have 6)
— origin bonuses (but this will likely only be included if I decide to make the game open-ended)
— a backstory bonus system (I'm not sure if I'll even implement this)
— a list of negative effects (it's not certain that this will be included at all)

I'm still not sure if I should scrap the ideals system altogether. Criticism is welcome, but advice along the lines of "more abilities that provide bonuses to stats" will be ignored. I'm more interested in when a character gains new functionality from skills, rather than just having more hit points. I'd also like to include more aura abilities, but I don't want anyone to feel left out. And I haven't quite figured out how to give all six factions the same number of unique abilities yet.

I like the ideals system, I'll say that right away. And also the fact that sanity/mana is used as a second health pool. I had something similar in the Praxos expansion; there, characters could cast spells by connecting corresponding devices to their nervous system, and too many spells physically exhausted the nerves, or so it was explained.
I also like it when a character gains cool functionality from a skill. I slightly regret taking the stat bonus profession for Beate. It looked very appealing at the start, but now I could easily compensate for the difference, while something like an artist or psychologist would always be relevant.

Regarding magic, in the future setting, I plan not to create specific spells and magical skills at all, but only to define the directions in which magic can be developed (I currently plan to have four of them) and make it dependent on mana; the more mana you spend, the more you heal or deal damage, or the stronger the buff/debuff, etc., and also some unique things that fit the style. We'll see. For fun, I sometimes come up with all sorts of crossover multiverses, for which I have to try to combine different magical systems. As a result, in my own worlds, magic is simply energy, thanks to which you can do anything you can imagine, with enough knowledge and willpower. In Salidere, there are spells because not everyone levels up to become powerful mages; some find it easier to memorize a few ready-made formulas and enjoy it, while others don't want to reinvent the wheel. And in the expansion setting, I'm not yet sure if there are magic schools at all, and if a player receives magic at the start thanks to one of the fate cards, then they are definitely self-taught because magic, as such, doesn't exist, and there's nowhere for them to learn.

I read it as "system of idols" twice.

Keep the Rinzeite!

Also, the fact that sanity/mana is used as a second health pool. I had something like that in the Praxos expansion; there, characters could cast spells by connecting appropriate devices to their nervous system, and too many spells physically exhausted the nerves, or so it was explained.

I borrowed this idea from Lovecraftian games, although I also really like it. It immediately eliminates questions about why mages are a little bit crazy, while also emphasizing that such abilities must be used responsibly. Otherwise, you won't last long.

I slightly regret that I took the same profession for Beate, giving her a bonus to stats. At the start, it looked very appealing, but now I would have balanced out the difference, while some artist or psychologist would always be relevant.

Technically, the blacksmith also had no functional benefits listed. So, maybe we can come up with something for the acrobat as well. But I also regretted, at the time, that I took the cook. It wasn't really used until Margel. Now, however, I don't regret it at all, as it provided new opportunities to develop the character.

Added 2 minutes later

I read it twice as "system of idols."

In another system, based on the same core, where magic is closer to the "classic version" (elemental, spirit, and body), I had a skill where a character could channel buffs more cheaply through singing. There, however, the concept was different, but...

Yeah, I remember there were even quests for circus performers in Calcite. The problem is that I'm not very athletic myself, and it's hard for me to think in those terms. It's easier for me to focus on more obviously creative things.