Introduction
As you may know, there has been interest in doing an arena-style forum game in the past, and nivlac724 was the first to realize one (see here), but sadly he went inactive again at the end of the first round. So I worked on a new project, which will have its similarities and differences, but I need some feedback. So please, have a look at it, state your opinions, and hopefully we can get this up and running soon!
Tagging @Doombreed @Loop_Stratos @etg2002 as they also played in nivlac's game.
The prospective title of the forum game will be "The Armor Games: Battle Arena". It will be centered on the RPG Triad of Fighter, Mage and Thief, but allowing individual flexibility. Two players will fight against each other in an arena. Players can move around and attack the opponent if within reach. I don't want to limit the absolute size of the arena as this could be used to force mage and thief oriented characters into melee range, but I might limit maximum distance between opponents (e.g. range 5). Multiple duels can occur simultaneously. At first I will only do 1v1 duels; 2v2 and championships are possible ideas for the future.
Character Creation
There will be Attributes, Skills and Abilities. Attributes and skills are the same for everyone (their respective values will vary, though); abilities can be selected.
Attributes:
- Health Points
- Magicka Points (for spell-casting)
- Fatigue Points (for melee and ranged attacks)
Attributes are the overall stats. MPs and FPs regenerate by a certain amount each turn. Health, magicka and fatigue are governed by their respective skill:
Skills:
- Strength: Determines the base amount of HP, the melee damage dealt, and what armor type can be worn (light/medium/heavy).
- Intelligence: Determines your MP regeneration, the intensity/damage of your spells, and how many spells you can select (1-3).
- Agility: Determines your FP regeneration, your critical hit rate, and how many sidearms you can carry (1-3).
Each character has a base value of 5 for each skill and 20 skill points can be freely distributed. There are three tiers for each skill: Tier 1 at 10 points, Tier 2 at 15 points and Tier 3 at 20 points. Each tier will unlock new features as well as improve the governed attribute. I made an example of an empty and a filled-out character sheet at the end of this post to make this more clear.
Each turn, up to 2 actions can be made. Actions include: (1) Move one field; (2) use item(potion); (3) use ability. Using an ability immediately ends the turn. Moving a second field is possible, but requires AGI T2 and costs 15 FP
Abilities:
Abilities are the various actions that can be taken during a fight. Base abilities are the standard actions that can potentially be used by everyone. Passive abilities are small bonuses, while active abilities are, in a way, special moves (which typically cost more MP/FP or need certain specific requirements). Below, I propose a list of available abilities; I also propose that each player can only pick a certain amount, for example, 2 active and 1 passive abilities, for character creation.
Base abilities
- Attack. A regular attack, melee or ranged, which consumes FP. Ranged attacks require a ranged sidearm equipped and thus at least Tier 1 Agility unlocked.
- Cast Spell. This casts a spell and consumes MP. Requires a spell equipped and thus at least Tier 1 Intelligence unlocked.
- Strong Attack. Melee only, does more damage and consumes more FP. Doesn't affect sidearms.
- Concentrate. Use this turn to regenerate twice as many MP and FP and take only half damage next turn.
Active Abilities
- Holy Strike (deal melee damage at any range, always hits)
- Leap (walk one more field, take x1.2 dmg next attack)
- Rage (melee attack, twice as strong as regular attack)
- Wrath (5 spell bolts that do a little damage each)
- Blast Wave (regular magic attack with 50% chance of stunning the opponent for 1 turn)
- Targeted Attack (doubles chance of doing critical damage)
- Assassin (poisons opponent for 3 turns)
- Combo (6 consecutive attacks with dagger, each has 50% chance to hit)
- Turtle (block chance=50%, requires STR 10)
- Ward (take 50% dmg (melee/magic), requires INT 10)
- Ninja (evade=50%, requires AGI 10)
Passive Abilities
- Wall (increase chance to block with your shield)
- Witch Hunter (increases resistance to spells)
- Nimble (doubles chance to evade an attack)
- Tough Hide (increased armor rating)
- Protector (shield spell lasts 1 more turn)
- Healer (each casted spell heals 2HP)
Finally, we get to the equipment section, such as weapons, armor and spells.
Armor
There are five possible options: Unarmored, Mage Robes, Light Armor, Medium Armor, Heavy Armor. As mentioned before, light/medium/heavy armor is unlocked depending on the strength tier. Light armor has the lowest armor rating (% of physical damage absorbed) but offers a small bonus to FP regeneration. Heavy armor is the best protection, but comes with a small penalty in FP regeneration. Medium armor is, well, in the middle.
If you don't invest any point in strength, you are left with two options. Unarmored means you take full damage, but offers a larger bonus to FP regeneration. Mage Robes offer no physical protection, but a bonus to MP regeneration; you need tier 2 intelligence to use mage robes.
Shields are worn together with a one-handed weapon and replace the base evade chance with a substantially larger chance to fully block an attack. There are two shield types: Shield and Tower Shield. The Tower Shield is twice as likely to block an attack and is more effective against 2h weapons, but comes with a small penalty in FP regeneration. Blocking a strong attack reduces some of the defender's FP.
Weapons
Here again I propose five options: Sword, Axe, Mace, Polearm and Staff. The first three are the conventional melee weapons; they come in two variations, one-handed and two-handed (i.e. Greatsword, Battleaxe, War Hammer). One-handed weapons come with a shield (except if you carry sidearms), while two-handed weapons deal double damage. Axes deal slightly more damage than swords and use one more FP, maces deal slightly more damage than axes and use two more FP compared to a sword.
Polearms are always two-handed, deal 1.5 times the regular damage, but can reach opponents not only within melee range but also 1 field away.
The staff is the mage's best friend as far as weapons go. It deals a bit less damage than a sword, but offers its wielder increased spell damage (passive bonus). As with the robes it requires tier 2 intelligence to wield.
Base melee damage will be partly based on your strength level. Here is the formula I intend to use: Damage = 10 * (0.5 + STR/20). So it will range from min. 7.5 to max. 15.
Sidearms
Sidearms are unlocked with agility tiers. The dagger is the only melee sidearm, deals a bit more than half damage and can be wielded together with a one-handed weapon; in this case, both will contribute to damage. There are three ranged sidearms: Throwing Weapons (e.g. stars, darts), Crossbow, and Longbow. All ranged weapons require at least one free field between opponents (range 2 and higher). Throwing weapons and crossbows can be worn together with a one-handed weapon, but not used simultaneously. Instead, you can either use melee or ranged attacks. Longbows require both hands. You can switch configuration during a fight; you can move while switching or remain standing, in both cases it uses up a turn. Throwing weapons are the only weapons that can also be used while moving (ranged attack), but this comes with a penalty in accuracy. Longbows are best at long range (max damage at range 4 and more), the crossbow is best at intermediate range (max damage at range 3), and throwing weapons are best at short range (max damage at range 2). Since range is of the essence for an agility-based character, tier 3 agility allows to move 2 fields at once.
Spells
Spells work at any range and require MP to be cast, also at least tier 1 intelligence. This is my list of spells to be chosen from:
- Fire spell: deals regular magicka damage plus a small amount of additional burning damage
- Frost spell: deals regular magicka damage plus some additional damage to the opponent's FP
- Shock spell: deals regular magicka damage plus some additional damage to the opponent's MP
- Shield: casts a magical shield around the player, reducing physical and magical damage taken for 3 turns
- Summon Familiar: summons a familiar that deals melee damage to the opponent. Comes in three levels, depending on the player's intelligence tier (if cast away from opponent, will have to move within melee range first)
- Teleport: instantly teleports caster to range 3 (when in melee range)
Spell damage is equal to your intelligence level. For example, a base fire spell with 20 intelligence will deal 20 damage (plus burning damage).
Customization
You will be able to customize your character's equipment without influencing the stats; for example, if you choose the sword and shield, you can name them 'Saber' and 'Targe' for example as long as the type (here 'Sword' and 'Shield') are put in brackets next to the name. Same goes for armor and sidearms.
Races
You can choose a race you want to play as. Racial bonuses might be added; for now they are purely cosmetic.
Potions
Every duelist starts with 6 potions in the inventory: 2 Health potions, 2 Mana potions and 2 Recovery potions. A potion regenerates 20 points of health, magicka or fatigue, respectively.
Now, I think this is all there is to say so far. So please, have a look at it and tell me if you'd want to play this, and don't hold back on questions or feedback!
Examples
Empty character sheet:
Name
Race(?)
HP=100
MP=100 + 10/turn
FP=100 + 10/turn
STR: 5/20
INT: 5/20
AGI: 5/20
Armor: -
Weapon: -
Spells: -
Sidearms: -
Abilities:
- Attack (melee)
- Attack (ranged)
- Cast Spell
- Strong Attack
- Concentrate
Inventory:
- Health potion (2)
- Mana potion (2)
- Recovery potion (2)
Example of a finished sheet:
Sir Testalot
Human
HP=130
MP=100 + 12/turn
FP=100 + 10/turn
STR: 20/20
INT: 10/20
AGI: 5/20
Armor: Heavy
Weapon: Excalibur(Sword), Shield
Spells: Summon T1 Familiar
Sidearms: -
Abilities:
- Attack (melee)
- Cast Spell
- Strong Attack
- Concentrate
- Wall
- Holy Strike
- Rage
Inventory:
- Health potion (2)
- Mana potion (2)
- Recovery potion (2)
