On Thu, 10 Jun 1999, Wayne Sheppard wrote:
> >
> >I have one thing to say.. roleplay.. it is what you want
> >to make (ie. 'roleplay'). If you are a wizard (or a bard
> >in this case), you would generally not wear items such
> >as platemail as it's weight and restrictivness in movement
> >would hinder the caster's ability; however, it doesn't mean
> >that they couldn't equip/wear the item, it just would
> >introduce a possibilty of penalties (ie. more difficult
> >to cast successfully through lower dex and lower agility).
>
> Should Clerics, Paladins, Shadowknights and Rangers also
> suffer this same penalty when casting in Plate, or are you
> recommending a Bard-only penalty?
This is one of the problems with a class-based system -
internal justification for the way things work.
The way it *should* work is that heavier armor induces
spellcasting penalties. Thus rangers are weaker spellcasters
than druids because of the heavier armor they wear (and
possibly lack of complete training).
Unfortunately, the game(s) that have tried this system (e.g.
UO) have not done a very good job of balancing it, resulting
in one optimal point (usually tank-mage) and everyone
clamoring to get their characters to that point. A well
balanced skill based system would make the pure mage overall
as effective as a pure warrior as effective as any combination
in between. Achieving this balance though is extraordinarily
difficult because of the multitude of capabilities and degrees
of freedom in tweaking skills.
A class based system simply avoids this balancing problem by
enforcing armor and weapon restrictions based on class. i.e.
In a skill based system you are a pure wizard because you wear
no armor. In a class based system you wear no armor because
you are a wizard. What roleplaying justification can you come
up with for druids not wearing armor while other spellcasters
tossing around the same spells can? Their guild requires it?
Why? These "arbitrary" (using in-character logic)
restrictions are simply the artifical support joints of the
class based system showing through like poorly fitted
floorboards through a carpet.
Since this is a class-based system, the designers have chosen
to make it so the bard is balanced wearing plate. The
effectiveness of our songs assumes the restrictions imposed by
wearing plate. Yes, they could scale the effectiveness based
on armor, but then you're moving away from a class based
system and towards a skill based system. The designers have
for reasons of simplicity in balance chosen to go with
classes, which makes these types of skill restrictions
redundant, and lot of programming work for minor gain. You do
not have to wear plate, but please do not denigrate those of
us who do - the game designers are on the side of bards
wearing plate.
And for the record, I consider well-implemented skill-based
systems to be vastly superior to class based systems. I think
a system where spellcasting and song-weaving effectiveness
were inversely proportional to armor weight (among other
things) would rock.
--
John H. Kim
kim@...