User talk:Diablerie

Notes on Game Balance

One of the issues I ran into while working on the Claws + Monk Gear mod was game balance. Powerful weapons are cool, but making something too powerful, too early in the game just isn't fun.

Fortunately (in a sense), hand-to-hand combat was already underpowered in Oblivion. Adding on-strike damage to gauntlets and claw weapons would bring it up to par with weapon combat. Then, to avoid having the player "lose" a slot, I could add additional properties to the item.

My rule of thumb is not to make items more powerful than anything that already exists in the game. Trancendent Sigil Stones are useful guidelines for this. For example, the best sigils can do 25 points of elemental damage, increase stats by 12, give 35% elemental resistance, or 20 points of shield.

Gauntlets use the hand slot, so doing damage and adding a "replacement" gauntlet ability would make it a fair item. Claws use the ring slot, and it's possible to equip two, so claws should only do half damage. I intentionally made on-strike claws and gauntlets not equippable at the same time.

Price works as a balancing factor only at low levels, where money is limited. By the time the player reaches level 15+, he can buy pretty much anything in the game. I think the best way to make items specifically for a higher level character is to make a level-limited quest.

-- Diablerie 11:25, 10 June 2006 (EDT)

Discussion

Comments are welcome! Please don't edit the table below, though. -- Diablerie 11:25, 10 June 2006 (EDT)

Claws + Monk Gear Item Plan

Item	Item Type	How to Get	Abilities	Notes
Stonefist Bracers	bracers	merchant	Health damage 3; Block 6
Bracers of the Sun	bracers	merchant	Fire damage 10; Light 30; Resist fire 15
Elemental Bands	bracers	hidden merchant	Fire, Frost, Shock damage 5; Hand to hand 10
Fists of Flame	leather gauntlets	merchant	Fire damage 5
Hands of Oblivion	daedric gauntlets	hidden merchant	Fire damage 15; Strength 10
Touch of Rime	fur gauntlets	merchant	Frost damage 5
Frostbite	blades gauntlets	merchant	Frost damage 10; Damage speed 5
Arctic Grip	glass gauntlets	hidden merchant	Frost damage 15; Frost shield 10	Boost frost shield?
Gloves of Lightning	steel gauntlets	merchant	Shock damage 5
Stormtouch	orcish gauntlets	merchant	Shock damage 10; Fortify speed 8
Thunderfist	elvish gauntlets	hidden merchant	Shock damage 15; Weakness to shock 50 (on strike)
Fist of the Brawler	knuckles?	merchant	Health damage 2; Hand to hand 4	weak set
Fist of Might	knuckles?	merchant	Health damage 2; Strength 4	"
Claw of the Bear	claws?	merchant	? damage 5; ?	medium-powered set
Claw of the Tiger	claws?	merchant	? damage 5; ?	"
Silent Death	katar?	hidden merchant? quest?	Poison damage 8; Shield 16; Sneak 10; Light, Heavy armor -100	strong set (unarmored)
Swift Retribution	katar?	hidden merchant? quest?	Poison damage 8; Shield 16; Athletics 10; Light, Heavy armor -100	"
?	folding katar?	quest	? damage 11; ?	ultimate set
?	folding katar?	quest	? damage 11; ?	"
Blade of Final Rest	claws?	guild merchant	Health damage ?; ?	Dark Brotherhood set
Blade of Pestilence	claws?	guild merchant	Poison damage ?; ?	"
Hand of Justice	knuckles?	guild merchant	Frost damage ?; ?	Fighters Guild set
Hand of Valor	knuckles?	guild merchant	Shock damage ?; ?	"

Should there be a set of claws for each guild, or just some of them?

Create new quests or tie in to existing quests?

What kind of set bonuses for the claws?

One possibility is to have some sort of "critical strike" ability for claws. If matching claws are equipped, have a chance of doing extra damage on each hit. -- Diablerie 08:56, 11 June 2006 (EDT)