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Insectoids should have four arms!

Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 3:29 pm
by Bargeral
Given LOG's unique need for open hand slots I thought a fun mechanic for race might be if one of them had extra slots, but was otherwise unremarkable. I think it's too late to patch it into LOG, or at least not as a change to the existing insectoid race. But if we get an expansion, content patch or mod support it might be fun to play with.

Re: Insectoids should have four arms!

Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 3:38 pm
by Brodie301
Good call on the insectoid! IMHO would be hard to implement into UI due to it being extra slots on only one race, but a neat idea for future.

Re: Insectoids should have four arms!

Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 3:42 pm
by lowzei
Six, if they can fly.

Re: Insectoids should have four arms!

Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 4:47 pm
by Darklord
That would be funky, winded if someone could mod it in?

Daniel.

Re: Insectoids should have four arms!

Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 5:05 pm
by Encephalon
I remember an old AD&D game, Dark Sun, wich had in an insectoid race in it that did have four arms; the thri-kreen which looked something like a mantis. And they were sereously powerfull in combat, having a natural exoskeleton armor, insanely high dexterity and up to 5 attacks in the same time a human could attack once.

Re: Insectoids should have four arms!

Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 6:28 pm
by Bargeral
I didn't think of it until your post, but I played Dark Suns and that may very well be where I got the idea. I just looked at the insectoid and was like, Four Arms!!!

Re: Insectoids should have four arms!

Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 12:58 am
by Jaelus
Also like the Thomgog from Lands of Lore.

Re: Insectoids should have four arms!

Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 6:56 pm
by BobT36
Yup this would be quite cool, and give the race a nice bit of uniqueness.

Also maybe for dual wielding, the ability to right-click on each hand to attack each for a "Turn"? As in seperate cooldowns for each hand, even for normal chars.

That would mean fast double (quad for Insectoids) attacks for dual wielders (But slightly reduced damage), and a single, stronger attack for two-handers. Would be amusing to have the ability to use two different types of magic at once on a caster (but with long cooldowns ofc), or magic + sword.

Then for the insectoids, they get double that for everyone else, with the ability to have any combination of weapons, (two two-handers, quad wield, a two hander, one hander, and spell, or quad spells hehe). Would make things quite interesting if it worked that way, just of course it would have to be rebalanced a bit, but it would give a lot more flexibility to the ways you can fight, especially with insectoids.

Re: Insectoids should have four arms!

Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 7:11 pm
by Encephalon
BobT36 wrote:Yup this would be quite cool, and give the race a nice bit of uniqueness.

Also maybe for dual wielding, the ability to right-click on each hand to attack each for a "Turn"? As in seperate cooldowns for each hand, even for normal chars.

That would mean fast double (quad for Insectoids) attacks for dual wielders (But slightly reduced damage), and a single, stronger attack for two-handers. Would be amusing to have the ability to use two different types of magic at once on a caster (but with long cooldowns ofc), or magic + sword.

Then for the insectoids, they get double that for everyone else, with the ability to have any combination of weapons, (two two-handers, quad wield, a two hander, one hander, and spell, or quad spells hehe). Would make things quite interesting if it worked that way, just of course it would have to be rebalanced a bit, but it would give a lot more flexibility to the ways you can fight, especially with insectoids.
Although it may seem cool they may have become too powerfull compared to the other races. Suddenly each party would consist of four insectoids, and the human, minotaur and lizardman is obsolete. Unless they came with some severe penalties to counter their huge advantages.

I was a Dungeon Master with pen & paper AD&D. When the thri-kreen (an insectoid race) became a playable race I said a firm "No." to those who wanted to have one as their character. In my opinion they were too powerfull, and (fortunatley) they also didn't fit into my campaign. One of the disadvantages with the three-kreens were that they could not wear armor or any other clothing (except for a cloak) as they were not similar in body build to what humanoids are.

Re: Insectoids should have four arms!

Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 7:49 pm
by BobT36
Exactly why it would need to be balanced. Can't just throw in extra limbs / attacks with no other penalties.

Less armour for one as you mentioned, less ability to carry weight, (holding four weapons at once is heavy), inability to use heavier weapons / shields, massively weakened attacks / spells, so if you use the quad wield, (or dual two-handers) its a LOT weaker than say a human would swing / shoot. However you have that extra utility of being able to do many different things at once, or finish something off (or kill small enemies) with many weaker attacks, just leaves you lacking when you need some strong-damaging ones in there, which is what you use the other races for. They'd be great for keeping the pressure on, but would need backup from something stronger to get stuff down.

If it was like that I'd be the complete opposite, I'd probably always make sure I had ONE insectoid for that utility, but certainly not a party full. Similar to why in most games I keep a flamethrower (or something fast / weak) handy for swarms of horrible tiny, crawly enemies, but then prefer other weapons for doing actual damage.

I think they'd make an excellent rogue / caster with 4 arms, but be VERY weak at anything mid-battle, and especially not able to take much damage. Would be a nice bit of unique difference.