Lair Larrikin
Posts: 15
Joined: Wednesday, 30th May 2012, 11:27
Some notes on Races and Deities
Wall of Text warning, by the way. I'm a real typer.
First thing I notice is, with the removal of the Mountain Dwarves, there is only one dwarven race, and one orcish race, yet 3 elven races. All of these benefit from equipment that they can find in the dungeon that's been made by their race - which makes me feel that elves are a little overrepresented, or at least, orcs and dwarves are a little under-represented.
Secondly, there isn't a single race which is more apt in crossbows than any other ranged weapon as far as I can tell, only Kobolds exceed +1 (and their +2 aptitude is dwarfed by their throwing aptitude), and only Deep Dwarves offer it as their highest-aptitude ranged weapon (at +1). My suggestion here would be to add in a new Dwarven race to replace the good ol' mountain dwarves who balance a preference for heavier armours with good ranged capabilities - as all of the main choices for a ranged character (HE, Ha, Ko, Ce) are more heavily focused on dodging than armour use (much to the detriment of my HEFis)
Thirdly, the deities at the moment appear to be split up between Good, Evil, and Chaos - with the majority of gods representing Chaos, as perhaps a more 'neutral' ground. What's more, the only gods who don't mind you changing deity are the Good gods (Ely, Zin, TSO). Perhaps some of the Evil deities could be represented in the same way? (Although, 'evil' implies selfish, so it's more of a balancing mechanic and less of a fitting principle with the 'lore' of the game.) Also, there aren't many obvious choices for a ranged-focused character compared with a spellcaster(Sif, Veh, Kiku) or melee orientated fighter (Trog, Oka, TSO), and there's only one choice for a more 'cleric' orientated character, Ely, which is a little sparse. Perhaps, if that style of play was to be expanded on, then adding deities who add heavy restrictions on characters in return for powerful invocations (smite comes to mind, and Orc Priests) to create a more invocation-based playstyle. Could be argued that they would play too much like spellcasters who are limited by pleasing their god rather than MP, but it would help to vary playstyles a bit.
Like I said, it's just my two cents, just ideas. But some thoughts on them would be appreciated.