As previews go, this won’t be much, but I wanted to show at least *some* kind of progress.
Up to this point, I’ve been working on the base system for generating random Brands. Happily, that system is now working enough where I can show you some of the Brands it is generating.
I should stress: I have only made a VERY limited number of possible boons, banes, conditions, and requirements up to this point. It’s generally a bad idea to go making a lot of content for a system until the system’s complete and has been tested: otherwise, you risk finding out you need to change something about how you made your content, and now you have a ton of content to redo instead of a little.
Also: No numbers are shown on these because Brands, like characters, have levels: the actual numerical values would be based on the level (and, in the case of the Boons, how many and which Banes, Requirements, and Conditions were present, since each of these strengthens Boons.)
But, even with only that very limited number, you can start to see some at least slightly interesting results.
This first set has four brands, from top to bottom:
1st: Requires Agility, then boosts Agility and Magic if the requirement is met.
2nd: Just raises Agility and Magic straight up. Notably, the bonuses would be less than the 1st since there’s no Agility requirement.
3rd: Only a Magic boost here. It would be more of a Magic boost than the 2nd however, since it isn’t also boosting Agility.
4th: Only an Agility Boost. Like the 3rd, it’d be a better boost than the 2nd since it’s just the one stat.
Four in this set (the fifth is incomplete in this screenshot) too:
1st: Requires Magic, but boosts Agility and Vitality. Good defensive boost for your magic users.
2nd: Simple increase to Vitality and Magic.
3rd: Simple increase to Agility and Magic.
4th: Simple increase to Strength and Agility. It’s worth noting that Banes, Conditions, and Restrictions are, at least currently, somewhat rarer than Boons, but that could very easily change before release.
Last set of 3 (ignore the topmost one, it was in the 2nd set), and it’s here the RNG decided to make things a bit more interesting.
1st: Increases Strength and Vitality, but decreases Cunning. Could be a good defensive or melee boost for any character not planning to use status effects.
2nd: Now we have a tricky one: Requires Strength, and only functions when HP = MaxHP, but increases Strength and Magic. The bonuses to Strength and Magic granted however, would be considerable due to the present of both a requirement and a condition. A little unfortunate it is Strength + Magic as the bonus pair, since that usually requires melee to take full advantage of, an obvious problem with HP = MaxHP as a condition… but the size of the bonuses might be worth trying to find a way to make it work.
3rd: Another tricky one: When HP = MaxHP, it raises Agility and Cunning while decreasing Strength. As with the 2nd Brand, the bonuses will be considerable since both a bane and dondition are present. Seems ideal for a character who uses ranged attacks to inflict status conditions and isn’t quite as concerned with the damage.
I should stress again: this is nowhere near the complete set of modifiers I plan on supporting in the release, just a test set that is enough to run the system through its first paces with. That said, I think even with this incredibly limited set there are some interesting results coming up. I can’t wait to see what sort of things pop out once I’m further along.
Looking good so far. What are approximate numbers on those boons? Do they level up? Would be good to have a relic upgrade that allowed you to level up your brands.
HP=maxHP – does it mean you have to be at full hp or full max hp? If former, then boon has to be pretty frigging huge.
Not much data on approximate numbers yet… the best I can give you there would be that my starting point for testing will be a basic single stat Boon brand would give a 5+(Level/2) bonus. Whether that holds up or not in testing is another matter, as is how much of a benefit you get from a given Bane, Condition, or Requirement.
PerfectHealth requires your HP to be equal to your MaxHP: it doesn’t care what your MaxHP is or if it has been modified or not. It will probably be a decent sized bonus. Maybe not outlandishly crazy high though: while HP = MaxHP is difficult for melee characters and a bit tricky for projectile users who need a line of fire (and thus always offer one to enemies), it can be somewhat easier to keep for healers/status appliers who don’t need to get very close or have a line of fire. It also can potentially be easy to keep for any character using life-drain attacks or with high enough defenses to discourarge AI attacks… though the AI will probably be aware of PerfectHealth brands and may act accordingly.
Granted, any nonsense like Mind Scream and the like will always knock you out of it no matter what… but if it wasn’t a problem sometimes it wouldn’t be worth giving a bonus for.
Oops, forgot to answer about leveling up:
Brands do not, ordinarily, level up. I also have thought about an upgrade that allows you to “refresh” one to your current level; undecided if I’ll do it or not or any details about cost/cooldown/etc. though. Somewhat similar to why demons eventually slow down in leveling as they get far from their starting level, I’m not sure I want one awesome Brand find on Tower:2 to be all you need to carry you through the entire game.