Character development ideas, or How Many Parts Make a Hero?

And we've seen a Barbarian. I think it's just a nice looking picture at the moment.

 

Looks like three versions of Warrior and a Wizard (the paladin-looking guy is labeled Human Warrior in the shot at the top of the Gallery). Are they all Human except the obvioius Dwarf? They could be final or nearly-final versions; at least, I think they are types that have been part of the development for a while. We've seen the same characters, as well as Kobold Miner and Crimson Dragon, in other preview shots. Goblin Spearman made a guest appearance in the dev diary as Jon explained the old reaction system.

 

Given the previous statements about getting the game to work right, and then making the art look good, I do have to think that these images are going to be used for something--they look too nice to just be scrapped. Still, if the shield guy is a human warrior, and the obvious barbarian is the human barbarian, I can't exactly figure where the two-handed sword guy falls into place... But he's the one so prominently on the front page...

 

I wonder if the characters/monsters are going to stay as firmly in the "Classic D&D" mold they are now?
Not that I wouldn't mind seeing a Beholder...

 

There's an Elf Rouge kicking about in the Gallery too.

 

That's a fiver you owe me, Bear.

 

Fair use! Fair use!

Heh, I originally had it formatted as a quote, but it looked really distracting. The circle of copyrights continue!

 

Alright, I tried to read through everything here (I skimmed it all at the very least), and so far I agree with the pie chart concept, but maybe you're thinking about the specialization too literally.

What if, instead of there being a paladin, barbarian, cleric, wizard, etc., class, that there are only, in fact, a few classes. Let's call these Warrior, Wizard, Rogue. Or even more generally: Strength, Dexterity, and Intelligence.

So MAYBE instead of picking a class, you pick one of these. Then from here you would be able to specialize further with your items.

For example, I have a strength character. I want someone tanky. I give him a shield and a sword and metric ton of armor. All this makes him a tank. Now, in the same instance, the next fight I may need someone more agile and need more damage output. In this case I give him a 2-hander and take out some of the armor and the shield. I've then switched from tank ---> Beserker based solely on my items. And who's to say that a "warrior" wouldn't know how to do both if he was equipped well enough?

This is all just an idea of what they're doing with it, so don't take any of this as anything more than my take on what could be happening with specialization.

Now, this lends itself to an easier means of preparing your decks/party for different encounters. It also makes it so that you won't be stuck WITHOUT something you might need.

What I mean by this is that if you want a lot of damage, you'd have to pick 3 damage classes. Well, that may be fine and dandy for most encounters, but you'd be screwed as soon as you needed a healer, or a tank, or a traps person, yadda yadda yadda.

What my thought boils down to is that instead of your "class" being set in stone, perhaps it's more interchangeable. On top of this, there could also be rules regarding items that place restrictions on what goes with what and which base class can use what.

For example, you have a warrior. If you give that warrior plate armor, then it wouldn't make sense that he could use boots that give him as much movement as a rogue wearing leather. Plate is heavier. On another note, a rogue with a 2-handed weapon probably wouldn't be so effective sneaking around and getting through armor creases. Basically, some items may only be able to be used with other items.

So, in that matter: Boots of Running Super fast + 150 pound plate armor = Doesn't work.
And why should it? that doesn't make sense.
So, what it should be would be more like: Super heavy armor + Clanky boots of loudness with a gentle pace = sounds like a tank
The restriction may be fuzzy in some cases, but could be simplified to: Heavy Armor items can't be used at the same time as Agility items.

Each of these items would still be class specific, but warrior agility items couldn't be used with warrior heavy armor items.

This would make the classes a little more flexible and the deck building a little more concrete and strategic. Do you sacrifice armor for speed? Damage for protection? Tactics for Mobility? There are tons of choices, but you have to pick your own mix.