RPG Classes for My Future Game
Author
Hi,
I am planning to make an rpg in java with the experience I have learned. I have came up with a sub-tree-based system for my roles and professions. I won't go into how it really works, but I am coming up with names for the professions. As you progress in my system, the skills in the professions become more specialized. But the role you choose, will build the main framework for your character, such as his armor restraints and how the attributes vs. skill point progression is as well as max health, energy, ect. The elite classes are specialized classes that you only reach until level 50 and they contain "skill boxes" with abilities and attributes for your character for certain weapon types or powers(magic). Well there are 7 roles, 14 classes, and 28 elite classes. I'm not sure how many elite classes you can have, maybe 2. But you can ONLY have one role, and proabably one class, and maybe two elite. I haven't made the individual trees for each class yet, but I wonder if any kind of profession is missing. Yes, I will have crafting but thats a seperate branch of pts that does not take from combat. Your character can exceed in combat and craft since they are seperate skill pts. Btw, my game is a mix of sci-fi with older elements, such as swords and blasters. My games goes to level 100, but its really goes to 110. The 10 extra levels are unlocked and hard to obtain, they are special levels, and its gives you a special "powers" bar that you unlock, along with very useful skills based on your choice. I have not listed the names of the different "powers" classes. I do have powers as a normal profession, but its not really "true" magic like the one you unlock. The elite classes are most questionable and difficult to include, and im prety confident with the roles and their names, but the regular classes im not sure about.
7 Roles:
Sentinel //defensive
Champion //balanced
Enforcer //offensive
Tactician //tactical/buffer/heals
Adventurer //scout/movement bonuses
Rogue //skills/stealthy
Powers //magical powers
14 Classes:
Guardsman //ranged defensive
Marksman //ranged balanced
Mercenary //ranged offensive
Paladin //melee defensive
Knight //melee balanced
Warrior //melee offensive
Preserver //healer,group healer
Vanguard //group buffer,leader
Scout //movement enchancements, survial
Intelligencer //accurate,skills
Specialist //stealth,skills
Sorcerer //dark powers
Seer //light powers
Conjurer //elemental powers
28 Elite Classes:
Rifleman
Carbineer
Pistoleer
Sharpshooter //sniper
Martial Artist //fist
Fencer
Swordsman
Pikeman
Combat Medic //heals,debuffes opponent
Doctor //heals better then combat med, and buffs, but not offensive
Squad Leader //buffs group and enchances
Commando //uses heavy weapons, and overall strong
Demolitionist //explosives, high dmg, slow
Grenadier //explsives, and gernade tosser
Ranger //survior,movment enhancments
Tamer //pet trainer, can use it in combat
Assassin //stealth,accurate
Double Agent //stealth
Wielder //decent at melee weapons+powers
[empty]
//under debate...(magic classes)
Necromancer //can summon dead, dark
Chaos //offensive dark powers
Drainer //drains health of oppoent for self, dark
Dark Mage // dark powers
Light Mage //light powers
[empty]
Wizard // ?
Illusionist //slows oppoent, debuffs using magic, confuses opponent
All professions will have skills in their boxes of great use, you are
limited to using 8-10 skills equiped on your bars in combat, such as
defense enhancers, and bleeds, stacks, ect.
I am mainly looking for recomendations on name changes, and filling of the empty spots, i am serious this, even if it doesnt look it, but I am, but I dont have much time here to explain what is really going on :(.
Ty for help.
Needs more bard ;)
Seriously, it seems like your creating a fantasy based rpg, and alot of the names look like they came out of a FPS. A few that really stand out is "Demolitionist" and "Combat Medic". I would consider overhauling alot of the class names.
Seriously, it seems like your creating a fantasy based rpg, and alot of the names look like they came out of a FPS. A few that really stand out is "Demolitionist" and "Combat Medic". I would consider overhauling alot of the class names.
Wow, that sure is a lot of classes... Are you working on this alone?
Will you realistically be able to generate enough content to make them all interesting? World of Warcraft has an huge budget, and they stopped at nine.
If you limit the number of classes someone can play as, you limit the amount of content a player can see. Each player will only see a fraction of the effort you've put into it. Having less classes will enable you to make what classes you do have more varied and interesting.
Knight, Paladin, and Warrior could all be merged into the same class, for example. Then, the player could chose to focus on developing his defensive, offensive, or balanced skills. The player then gets to see three times the combat, but still have the specilisation you were aiming for when you designed the classes.
If you're having trouble even thinking of names for all your classes, how are you going to think of interesting gameplay mechanics for all of them? Think of what will be really interesting, and put your time into those ones. Quality > Quantity.
Will you realistically be able to generate enough content to make them all interesting? World of Warcraft has an huge budget, and they stopped at nine.
If you limit the number of classes someone can play as, you limit the amount of content a player can see. Each player will only see a fraction of the effort you've put into it. Having less classes will enable you to make what classes you do have more varied and interesting.
Knight, Paladin, and Warrior could all be merged into the same class, for example. Then, the player could chose to focus on developing his defensive, offensive, or balanced skills. The player then gets to see three times the combat, but still have the specilisation you were aiming for when you designed the classes.
If you're having trouble even thinking of names for all your classes, how are you going to think of interesting gameplay mechanics for all of them? Think of what will be really interesting, and put your time into those ones. Quality > Quantity.
I agree with limiting the number of classes in most situations. As a player, I would normally want them down to 6 to 8.
However, there are situations where I think that this number of classes will work. Mainly situations where players are not as stuck on them like monorails. Instead of forcing players to choose a class, why not have them define their class with action? Players who constantly snipe become snipers. Sneaky players who always take enemies out before they have a chance to fight back are assassins. Fight-heavy characters who focus on evil monsters are paladins.
It's possible to make many rewarding classes hard to reach. So that players with a lot of diversity in action fall into less interesting classes. You could also add upgrades to these classes, having some classes evolve into more specific classes. IE, Warrior -> Fighter -> Paladin. Soldier -> Gunslinger -> Sniper. Each evolved class being more picky than it's hierarchal parents. Becoming a warrior is easy; you just have to fight often. But the fighter class is reached only by very honorable and respectful warriors. Kicking people on the ground or attacking them before they're prepared would work against that class. Paladin would only be reached when honorable fighters dedicate themselves soley to stopping evil. Hurting non-evil characters would have negative marks against the paladin class.
In this way, you're not confusing the player with the number of choices. But are instead giving them a lot of areas to explore with their character's growth.
However, there are situations where I think that this number of classes will work. Mainly situations where players are not as stuck on them like monorails. Instead of forcing players to choose a class, why not have them define their class with action? Players who constantly snipe become snipers. Sneaky players who always take enemies out before they have a chance to fight back are assassins. Fight-heavy characters who focus on evil monsters are paladins.
It's possible to make many rewarding classes hard to reach. So that players with a lot of diversity in action fall into less interesting classes. You could also add upgrades to these classes, having some classes evolve into more specific classes. IE, Warrior -> Fighter -> Paladin. Soldier -> Gunslinger -> Sniper. Each evolved class being more picky than it's hierarchal parents. Becoming a warrior is easy; you just have to fight often. But the fighter class is reached only by very honorable and respectful warriors. Kicking people on the ground or attacking them before they're prepared would work against that class. Paladin would only be reached when honorable fighters dedicate themselves soley to stopping evil. Hurting non-evil characters would have negative marks against the paladin class.
In this way, you're not confusing the player with the number of choices. But are instead giving them a lot of areas to explore with their character's growth.
A large number of classes doesn't need to be any more confusing than a large number of other kinds of stats. If you choose a role at first, then later choose a class, and then even later an elite class, you'll probably have played the game long enough to have an idea what choices suit you by the time you have to make them, and there'll most likely be several classes that needn't even be considered due to the previous choices. If you also make sure that the player don't have to plan character development too far ahead to get the kind of character he'll want, there shouldn't be much of a problem (eg. not making it so that this one elite class is pretty much unatainable if the player didn't train just that one skill 30 levels ago).
That said, you do have about a kazillion different role/class/elite class(es) combos. That's a lot of different choices right there, so you might not want as many other choices to be made during character development as would want in a similar system with fewer classes. When the class is that specific, there's a lot of choices that doesn't need to be made by the player (eg. if your rifleman want to train the "Shooting at stuff" skill or the "Punching stuff" skill -- making that choice every level doesn't add any customization, it's just a chance to screw up your character by making the "wrong" choice).
You could transform all the good builds in WoW into new classes and have lots of classes, using the same content. In that case it'd just be the matter of whether or not you specialize by picking a class or by picking talents. In the end, whether or not there are too many classes depends on lots of other things, that noone but DarkMortar knows about ;)
That said, you do have about a kazillion different role/class/elite class(es) combos. That's a lot of different choices right there, so you might not want as many other choices to be made during character development as would want in a similar system with fewer classes. When the class is that specific, there's a lot of choices that doesn't need to be made by the player (eg. if your rifleman want to train the "Shooting at stuff" skill or the "Punching stuff" skill -- making that choice every level doesn't add any customization, it's just a chance to screw up your character by making the "wrong" choice).
Quote:Will you realistically be able to generate enough content to make them all interesting? World of Warcraft has an huge budget, and they stopped at nine.
You could transform all the good builds in WoW into new classes and have lots of classes, using the same content. In that case it'd just be the matter of whether or not you specialize by picking a class or by picking talents. In the end, whether or not there are too many classes depends on lots of other things, that noone but DarkMortar knows about ;)
Have you ever played Final Fantasy Tactics Advanced (for the gameboy so I know that if you are an adult the chances of having played it are slim)?
If you havn't here is how the class system works:
You have 5 different races, each with a certain amount of starting classed - for example humans have archers, black mages, white mages, soldiers and some others.
The greatest thing though is you can change your characters class (you control a clan of up to 24 (I think) people). For example your player starts off a soldier but if you want can change to an archer.
As you level up your characters gain stats based on their class (for example a soldier will gain points in speed, attack and defense whilst a mage would gain points in magic attack and magic defense). This means that if you had a guy who had been the mage for the past three levels you could easily change him into a soldier, but he'd be pretty useless.
As you gain skills for a certain class you can unlock better classes - for example learning two soldier skills will earn you the ability to become a fighter or a paladin, if you want (skills are taught in a wierd way, not like in most games).
Another great thing is you can use the skills you gained from one class whilst being another class, you could train a guy to use white magic, then make him a soldier thus giving you a self sustaining tank! But you need to bear things in mind (for example giving a soldier archer abilities would be stupid, because soldiers use sword and therefore couldn't use ranged attacks.
Well with any luck that should have given you a bit of inspiration for your classes. Also if you are looking for names FFTA has about 40 different classes so if you search it on google you'll probably find a good amount of names.
If you havn't here is how the class system works:
You have 5 different races, each with a certain amount of starting classed - for example humans have archers, black mages, white mages, soldiers and some others.
The greatest thing though is you can change your characters class (you control a clan of up to 24 (I think) people). For example your player starts off a soldier but if you want can change to an archer.
As you level up your characters gain stats based on their class (for example a soldier will gain points in speed, attack and defense whilst a mage would gain points in magic attack and magic defense). This means that if you had a guy who had been the mage for the past three levels you could easily change him into a soldier, but he'd be pretty useless.
As you gain skills for a certain class you can unlock better classes - for example learning two soldier skills will earn you the ability to become a fighter or a paladin, if you want (skills are taught in a wierd way, not like in most games).
Another great thing is you can use the skills you gained from one class whilst being another class, you could train a guy to use white magic, then make him a soldier thus giving you a self sustaining tank! But you need to bear things in mind (for example giving a soldier archer abilities would be stupid, because soldiers use sword and therefore couldn't use ranged attacks.
Well with any luck that should have given you a bit of inspiration for your classes. Also if you are looking for names FFTA has about 40 different classes so if you search it on google you'll probably find a good amount of names.
Quote:Original post by Peter Conn
As you level up your characters gain stats based on their class (for example a soldier will gain points in speed, attack and defense whilst a mage would gain points in magic attack and magic defense).
An RPG that grants experience in skills as they are used could still implement this as well, by just giving a bonus in skills that relate to the class. So adapting a class would be sort of like focusing your character's attention.
I'm making a game FFTAesque and it has 3 tiers of classes. It starts with 2 and then 4 and finally 13. Each time it gets slightly more specialized. I feel the 13 is a number that is do-able. Each class has different Bonus stats and weapon sets they can equip. Also to make them even more special they will each get a unique ability ranging from MP discounts to Health regen. For extra customization stat boosts will come from items (I know its an odd concept but it was in like Adventure quest 64 I think). This means if you wanted to make a tank you could take the most Defense specialized class (armored kinght) and then load stat points into Def. I'm also adding races which will allow for more customization. (Even though you start with 2 classes there is 4 races so that gives 8 beginning options). NO classes are not restricted by race but cetain classes/races synergize better. Elf mage, dwarf tank
Lets do a little math. I'm making a whole lot of assumptions here, but I think they're fairly reasonable.
He is saying the player ONLY gets one role, one class, and two elites. The player is going to be playing 100 levels with these characters, so they are probably going to want at least 16 skills to play around with. That comes to about 4 skills per catagory.
I'm going to make a pretty big generalisation and say that it could take two hours per unique skill you program. It could take much more to do a summoning spell where you have to code the creature, it could take a little less if it's a variation on an existing spell with different damage, range, or what have you. Two hours is about how long it takes me to add a new move or item to a fighting game without graphics or sounds.
So. 49 catagories * 4 skills * 2 hours = 392 hours. If you are an extremely dedicated hobbyist and put in 3 hours a day, that's 130 days toil to code your skills alone. And that's a fairly conservative estimate. If you factor in graphics, days off, sound effects, or more skills per class...it could easily take a year to try and code that many skills.
And you have to code an engine, write a story, make the levels and quests...
Try to write one catagory with four skills first. Create a simple quest for that character to partake. Then, once you have an idea for the work involved, start on your epic vision.
He is saying the player ONLY gets one role, one class, and two elites. The player is going to be playing 100 levels with these characters, so they are probably going to want at least 16 skills to play around with. That comes to about 4 skills per catagory.
I'm going to make a pretty big generalisation and say that it could take two hours per unique skill you program. It could take much more to do a summoning spell where you have to code the creature, it could take a little less if it's a variation on an existing spell with different damage, range, or what have you. Two hours is about how long it takes me to add a new move or item to a fighting game without graphics or sounds.
So. 49 catagories * 4 skills * 2 hours = 392 hours. If you are an extremely dedicated hobbyist and put in 3 hours a day, that's 130 days toil to code your skills alone. And that's a fairly conservative estimate. If you factor in graphics, days off, sound effects, or more skills per class...it could easily take a year to try and code that many skills.
And you have to code an engine, write a story, make the levels and quests...
Try to write one catagory with four skills first. Create a simple quest for that character to partake. Then, once you have an idea for the work involved, start on your epic vision.
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