swils

"Rrrghh! These spirits have got to go! Especially that damned wraith!" After attempting, again, to heal Ad-hoh, Thormanil switches to his Thundering Totem, and swings at Echo from the front row.

Honestly, I'd love to see you flesh out Pretzel to be that selfish. It would work for him. I think it would have some nasty repercussions not too far down the road in the form of community-wide disdain, but it also has the potential to spark a revolution among the underappreciated Support Classes Union! Rise up, take what is rightfully yours!

They just work so well together Luckily, mine's just a mask so Lycan can still claim to be the real deal, heh.

I'd think that an actual assassin would be more adept at dodging all-out brawls rather than engaging in them. The AC idea of an assassin would, in my mind, be the exception rather than the rule.

Thanks! I've been toying with it, but so far I haven't found a full-body shot of him that doesn't make his neck look like it's 10 feet long thanks to the way the hood refuses to sit snug over the armor. Let's see if I can't make it work before I crash for the night, heh. Edit: Holy heck, that was a tight fit. The hood actually popped up into the air when I went to remove it. But it worked, so that's what counts, heh. Updated in previous post.

*cough* For your hosting pleasure... Shiny!

Hey now, I like my Blood Ritual! It's come in very handy a few times so far, heh. Etherless heal, yes please! In other news, I finally got around to taking proper pictures and getting them uploaded. Well, almost proper. Curse you, Sandy, for making the Bright Armor come from the big castle set! Thormanil / Thormana / Were-Thorm (Weremanil?)

A silly rogue who gave up their ability to get rich in exchange for the burden perk of healing!

Eh, Cleric healing is more of a responsibility than a reward. It is because of their healing that they are in high demand for quests. A Cleric who routinely doesn't heal (or heal others) won't be near as popular as one who does. The demand is a derivative of their healing, not a separate perk. Plus, it's like saying that a Cleric who heals their party has the privilege of spending extra gold on tonics so that the squishy rogue can ignore their lower health pool without concern, because hey, they've got a healer to worry about that! I didn't mean to say that the classes' stats and abilities were designed unfairly. I do think that loot compensation is a separate beast from class stat&ability balance, though. It very much becomes a playstyle, rather than a black&white "This is your class" thing. Clerics and Rogues can both choose whether or not to share the benefit of their unique class abilities with their team. A Cleric would be perfectly within his/her/its rights to heal only themselves throughout a quest, saving ether and potion cost. As long as they weren't doing something foolish (ie, letting their team die in a fight they could have otherwise won), they have no responsibility to keep their team at peak fighting condition. Other classes could buy potions and keep themselves topped up, but that often falls to the cleric instead. And, in turn, the cost of refreshing the ether also falls to the cleric. A Cleric's class perk has become a class burden. A rogue is perfectly within his/her/its rights to keep any gold they get from mugging or similar to themselves, even beyond the amount they spent on consumables for the fight. The difference lies in the community perception and general assumptions: Clerics are supposed to support their team through healing; Rogues are allowed to hoard their gold. Where's all the chivalrous rogues, spreading their extra loot amongst their merry band of adventurers? Ad-hoh bought the 'Extra 100 gold per battle' bonus, but didn't stipulate that he was doing so only so that he could get that 100 gold each battle, rather, he's sharing it once his up front cost is paid off. He could have, and would have been in his right to, hoarded that extra gold, but he's sharing. Where do rogues get off being so greedy? This has all gotten me thinking about best ways to make money... And I think I've found a new winner. Raider Thormanil, incoming. Edit: Good lord, I really have come up with it. I'll need a complacent party and a solid quest... but don't worry, spoils for all!

Playing the devil's advocate here, but.. Would they really be getting shorted? At early levels, rogues won't be shelling out for Nostrum/Mead/Smelling Salts for every battle, so they will have a lower potential income, but also much lower expenses. Additionally, there's more chance that they'll eat a few 5 or 6 rolls, and have to be healed. Assuming their party has a healer, then every heal they get is gold they don't have to spend on a Potion (but that the healer will eventually have to spend on a Tonic). At later levels, Nostrums & Smelling Salts are useful for both a rogue and the party's healer or other support (say, a mage trying to use a scroll that will benefit the rogue or the party as a whole), so consumable-wise, for any battle lasting <5 turns, Mages/Clerics will have about equal expenses to those of a rogue (in longer battles, the wallet-padding scale tips further and further in the rogue's favor). A rogue with M/N/SS will be doing their job, damage, as well as recouping their losses from the consumables. A cleric healing, or mage casting, will be doing their job as well, but will be expending ether twice as quickly, further adding to their expenses. If anything, it is the support classes who are getting shorted! Want me to heal you? Sure, but that'll be 3 gold. Oh, you want me to spend 5 ether to use this fancy scroll? 15 gold, please! I don't actually advocate mages or clerics or their hybrids demanding recompense for ether expended. I do, though, think it would be nice if 'Tipping your healer' happened to come into style. What? Biased? Nonsense!

So, I started writing up a big analysis on 'fair' division of loot and expenses-by-class and what not, but decided to trim it down. A lot. So: If you're the party leader, how do you see fit to distribute the shiny coins and such? Do you just split it evenly? Or perhaps you consider the cost of any items consumed and skew distribution accordingly? If you're going to do that, are you also going to give more to the guy with a hard-hitting weapon who obviously spent a lot of gold getting it to that point so that he could help the party tackle Big Bad Enemy? What about that wily lass who robbed the enemies blind before they dropped, does she get to see a dime of the dropped loot, or should she be happy with her small fortune? Should she be expected to spread that around with the party? Sure, it's her ability, but then, would she have survived those few special damage rolls if the friendly neighborhood cleric hadn't used their own abilities to heal her? I hope I never get stuck as party leader, I know I'll end up leaving someone feeling like I've sleighted them

Need to spark up some interclass race-rivalries. Archery Tournament reboot?

Nah, they could definitely pull it off... they'd just have to expend 5-10 ether to do any fancy acrobatics.

Because Legolas! Edit: I don't actually think they should have limited ammo, I was just building off of JMB trying to have an etherless mage cast another spell. With no appreciation (from his class) for limited ammo, he simply overlooked that little detail

Think? No, just hoping... Precisely!

Arrows, Bolts, Pellets and other assorted forms of ammunition, 5 units for 1 gold. Give those stupid rangers an upkeep cost!

Sighing, Thormanil corrects Elgar, "Ad-hoh's fresh outta ether, he can't repeat his attack. Gorramn rangers and their bottomless quivers.." After healing Ad-hoh, Thormanil consumes a Grand Tonic.

Heal Bravo, as long as Bravo is laid to rest, Heal Alpha. Otherwise, heal Bravo again.

Thormanil uses a Phoenix Essence to bring Elgar back to his senses, then attemps to heal the unlife straight out of Bravo.

I was hoping to have the pictures ready, but then I got into cleaning & organizing my room... After taking a deep whiff of some Smelling Salts, Thormanil heals Arasmyth from the back row.

"Arasmyth, talkin's a free action. If anything, this here's the perfect time for talkin!"

"Oh boy, ghoulies. Just what I was hopin' we'd run into. I miss the slugs!" Drinking a Nostrum, Thormanil heals Orc Spirit Bravo from the back row.

Attack Elven Cleric from the front row. "Special I: Wisdom - Increases random enemy member’s level by one at the cost of 5 ether. (The wording here is unclear but it's meant to boost level of her a teammate. I did not account for her being hexed and using this special O_o)" Is that a permanent thing, or just for the duration of the battle? If permanent... I'm jealous. Haha

Attack Dwarven Cleric from the front row.

Attack Cleric (Dwarf) from the front row.