Heyo!

I've got a question for you guys, and I'd like some honest opinions. Most of you have probably encountered the Gnome armor sold by Tisk. It's nice, light stuff, but not as protective as the armor for bigger people.

My questions is simply this:

Would you prefer to see more armor like this sold in the Gnome Village, or would you prefer to have "real" armor with Gnome-inspired descriptions?

By "real" armor, I mean armor of a more standard weight, with corresponding better protection.


- GM Dartenian

"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson

LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/

I'd say both too, but if I had to choose between the 2, myself I'd rather go with what Tisk wagon has though I doubt most other gnomes would since forged armor can be made lighter.


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Gnomes Rule!

Well I have a lot of reasons behide saying both. I wasn't arround a longtime before the wagon disappeared. I would love to see small gnomish light armor for the wee moonmages, traders. Sadly when progressing in game and combat guilds good armor becomes a must to survive. I'd like to see something offered. Not asking for perfect reinforced leathers, or capped chain armor at lower weights but something in the ball park. Yet for my little empath I'd love to have the tiny armor!


The Dragon priest hisses, "We'd have won, too, if it weren't for thossse meddling kidsss."
>

If gnomes are tinkers, alchemists and inventors. How about a potion of somesort that can only be found, mixed and used by gnomes only, to do one or the other. ;)A potion that can be rubbed on the armor of our choice. So we can buy the lighter armor, and strengthen it, or the stronger armor and lighten it :) hee...oh okay..Both. :|

I'm always confused as to why weight must equal protection. It should be more of a direct corrolation of size to weight. I understand that the thicker the metal, the better the protection and the greater the weight, but using a steel plate that is .5 inches thick and 14x14 inches in area would protect the same but weigh more than the same steel pounded to .5 inches, but only 6x6 in area.

I guess what I'm saying is, why can't there be suits of plate that protect as well, but weigh less than similar suits that are three times as big?

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-Fuquois-

Milgrym asks, "How does 666 coins strike you?"

> Because then a gnome gets an unfair racial advantage, in having to train less strength to carry the same 'load' of armor as a human and/or Tog.


This really isn't quite correct. Gnomes have a lower base encumbrance than other races. Translation: They have to train MORE strength to carry the same load as a Human or Tog. All Togs have is basically a TDP penalty to Intelligence. Gnomes have a TDP penalty to strength, plus an added reduction in the effectiveness of strength where encumbrance is concerned. A double penalty, if you will.

There are three basic problems with doing armor that has full protection but reduced weight. The first is simply "da rules". Armor and weapons in normal 24/7 shops need to follow specific guidelines. While I do have permission to include Tisk-like armor, I don't have clearance to make armor that is essentially as good as everyone else but a lot lighter. The second is that as the poster I quoted stated, the encumbrance penalty to Gnomes is intended to be a penalty, and it's silly to put in a penalty, and then promptly just work right around it. Now whether that penalty should be there or not is another issue entirely, since there's not anything to balance it, but that still doesn't mean we can just sidestep it willy-nilly. That leads us to the last reason, which is relate dto the sidestep one. At some point, we need to re-evulate whether Gnomes should still be penalized, or see about putting something on the opposite side of the scale to balance the penalty out. If we allow a weight-reduction workaround to normal armor, and then at some point remove the penalty or put something on the other side to balance against it, we now have a brand new balance problem. That make any sense?

Anyway, having both normal and reduced armor is a possibility, and probably the route I'll take in the end. Thanks for the input!


- GM Dartenian

"You ain't seen nothin' yet!" - Al Jolson

LiveJournal: http://www.livejournal.com/users/dartenian/

Dartenian is great, gnomes are lucky.

THANKS!


The Dragon priest hisses, "We'd have won, too, if it weren't for thossse meddling kidsss."
>

So, raise your hand if you feel like a dork! ::raises hand::

I misspoke on my last post. I had been under the impression that the bonus/penalty was removed with respect to encumberance, but I have since been corrected. Looking at the post from the original change, is see where I got confused. Sorry for any confusion based on my misinterpritation. :-)

~GameMaster Aurdun Smashfoot
http://gmaurdun.livejournal.com/

I have been coming and going to Dragonrealms for a long time. It's a very immersive, fun game. However, everytime I come back after taking a few months, or even years off, I still see the same problems that were around before I left. Some of them are simple messaging errors, some of them are combat errors that look like a simple fix, but I would assume they are much more complicated otherwise they would be fixed, (like chopping off the same body parts over and over while in combat with critters like rock trolls).

I think we need to fix the double penalty that gnomes get, instead of working around it. Every time we work around it, we make it harder and harder to fix the original problem, as you mention when you say "we now have a brand new balance problem.". While it may create quite a bit of work with all the new balance issues, I think it would be worthwhile to fix the root of the problems, rather then band-aiding them.

It seems as though Simu is very careful about not releasing new features or fixes until they have been thoroughly tested and balanced, yet how did the double penalty come around to begin with if that is the case? At one time I was thinking that we got a "hidden" bonus, like a bonus to dodging critters or mechanical lore, kinda like how gor'tog get an extra restance to poisons. (I think that was the case, it's been awhile since I been playing). I think giving us a "hidden" bonus to dodging attacks would nicely balance our double penalty problem, then we can keep the encumbrance/armor/stamina/strength thing exactly how it is. I am not sure how that would effect the overall balance of the game however. We would have to have no encumbrance to gain our dodging bonus, which generally as a gnome can be tough to get too, especially if your picking up boxes and skins and such as your hunting.

I see a gnome village in the works, which gets me excited and something to look forward too, but at the same time I have conflicted feelings and feel like saying "Screw the village, just fix our double penalty, THEN work on the village.". Not that I don't appreciate all the work your putting into it.

When the back room to Tisk wagon near Arthe Dale is open you can get some decent light chain armor in there, but I don't think the back room has been open for a long time. Your best bet for something that's not pricey I think is armor for short folk (gnomes, halfling, dwarfs) that is sold in armor shop in Shard.

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Gnomes Rule!