Armor Classes and Damage Types
Posted: Sat Aug 26, 2017 9:52 pm
Kinda related to our weapon and armor discussion, but this topic is a little more about gameplay balance, not about technical implementation or particular designs. Just had these thoughts today and don't want them to get lost in the middle of a discussion, so I decided to branch out into another topic.
So, we have a huge variety of weapon types and armors. How to make them more unique? They need to have some distinct properties. Some weapons should have advantage over some types of armor and disadvantage over other types, at least to a certain extent.
What I propose, is to divide Physical Damage into three categories - Piercing, Slashing and Bludgeoning.
Armor types would be divided into three classes as well - Light Armor, Composite Armor and Plate Armor.
Kinda like in original game, we had Leather, Chain and Plate, but some armors will need to be shifted, so there is more variety in other categories.
In general, the idea is that certain weapons will deal more damage of certain type. For example, blades will mostly do slashing damage or piercing damage if you stab with them. Axes will also slash, but will do extra blunt damage due to their weight. Hammers will crush with bludgeoning damage.
Now armors will protect differently. There will be variety inside each class and some armors will be more versatile, have various special properties, but in general the idea will be:
Plate Armor - good against Piercing and Slashing, but not so much against Bludgeoning. It's still the best armor in the game and to negate that, it reduces player's speed, eats more stamina, and reduces magic effectiveness(raises spell cost).
Composite Armor - good against Slashing and somewhat reduces Bludgeoning damage, but weak against Piercing damage. It's a good armor overall and to balance it, slightly reduces player's speed, eats a little more stamina, and reduces magic effectiveness a little bit.
Light Armor - somewhat protects versus Bludgeoning and Slashing damage, especially weak against Piercing damage. It's not a good protection, though it doesn't affect player's speed, or stamina, but still reduces magic effectiveness a little bit.
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It's a very D'n'D system it seems, though I am not very familiar with the games to be fair. But it seems more or less logical to me. Tell me if I am wrong.
Slashing damage seems at the most disadvantage here, but that also makes sense. Instead, it will be highly effective against unarmored opponents and monsters, potentially we can even include bleed mechanic. And it should still damage even armored opponents, after all it's a game and armor isn't 100% protection.
This system is really versatile I think, as it can make even similar weapons, for example, maces and morning stars, distinct from one another. Plus, every weapon will have different reach, speed, durability, potentially even animations for some weapons. I think this is the direction we should take. At least more or less, maybe with some alterations down the road, if something doesn't work.
So, we have a huge variety of weapon types and armors. How to make them more unique? They need to have some distinct properties. Some weapons should have advantage over some types of armor and disadvantage over other types, at least to a certain extent.
What I propose, is to divide Physical Damage into three categories - Piercing, Slashing and Bludgeoning.
Armor types would be divided into three classes as well - Light Armor, Composite Armor and Plate Armor.
Kinda like in original game, we had Leather, Chain and Plate, but some armors will need to be shifted, so there is more variety in other categories.
In general, the idea is that certain weapons will deal more damage of certain type. For example, blades will mostly do slashing damage or piercing damage if you stab with them. Axes will also slash, but will do extra blunt damage due to their weight. Hammers will crush with bludgeoning damage.
Now armors will protect differently. There will be variety inside each class and some armors will be more versatile, have various special properties, but in general the idea will be:
Plate Armor - good against Piercing and Slashing, but not so much against Bludgeoning. It's still the best armor in the game and to negate that, it reduces player's speed, eats more stamina, and reduces magic effectiveness(raises spell cost).
Composite Armor - good against Slashing and somewhat reduces Bludgeoning damage, but weak against Piercing damage. It's a good armor overall and to balance it, slightly reduces player's speed, eats a little more stamina, and reduces magic effectiveness a little bit.
Light Armor - somewhat protects versus Bludgeoning and Slashing damage, especially weak against Piercing damage. It's not a good protection, though it doesn't affect player's speed, or stamina, but still reduces magic effectiveness a little bit.
-----
It's a very D'n'D system it seems, though I am not very familiar with the games to be fair. But it seems more or less logical to me. Tell me if I am wrong.
Slashing damage seems at the most disadvantage here, but that also makes sense. Instead, it will be highly effective against unarmored opponents and monsters, potentially we can even include bleed mechanic. And it should still damage even armored opponents, after all it's a game and armor isn't 100% protection.
This system is really versatile I think, as it can make even similar weapons, for example, maces and morning stars, distinct from one another. Plus, every weapon will have different reach, speed, durability, potentially even animations for some weapons. I think this is the direction we should take. At least more or less, maybe with some alterations down the road, if something doesn't work.