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)