=== Summary ===
This page is a summary/proposal for the races and classes within crossfire.
The information below presumes following changes are made, which have a significant effect on classes and races, but by themselves are somewhat separate.
* Learning new skills becomes much more difficult than currently. One likely possibility is only way to learn new skills is via quests, remove skill scrolls from game, and/or limit number of skills a character can learn (eg, one skill every 10 levels)
* There are different quality of skills that do the same thing. For example, both wizards and fighters can use some weapons, but the fighters gain exp in them faster. May also be level caps on skills
* Skills impart special abilities at certain levels (stat bonuses, spell like abilities, resistances, etc)
* Change gain rate/bonus effect for hp/sp/grace, so that all levels are more relevant - currently, it is the first 10 levels (only levels which bonus is applied) which will be the bulk of the hp/sp/grace for a character even if they have level 50 in the skill.
* Addition of various new skills (limited weapon selection)/limitation on what armor characters can wear (not all or nothing)
Note that some of those changes are more important than others.
=== Attributes/Statistics ===
Following are some idea on changes for attributes (Str, Dex, Con, etc). This should not be seen as a final proposal, just a recording a different ideas.
Some of the general idea behind this: Let players focus on the key stat for their class. If the max stat is 30, and the character starts at 26 because of racial/class adjustments, they will reach that maximum pretty quickly, so will then start increasing other stats (increase either by potion or items). If the max stat is 100, the character with a 26 stat has lots of room for growth in that stat.
The other idea here is with higher stats, we still provide some mechanism to increase the stats, but make it harder. Thus, under normal play, a character will reach maximum level/experience before reaching maximum stats. If the character wants to go through and grind quests or dungeons to maximize all stats, we let them - their choice, but with a linear progression of stats, doing so gets a minimal reward. If one were to use a simple system like ever 2 stat points above 10 is a bonus point, it means a 100 vs 98 stat is a bonus of 44 vs 45 - not all the significant. In percentage terms, that is around 2%. Interesting to note that the increases at lower level, while still a single point, are a larger percentage (28 vs 30 is 9 vs 10 bonus points, or 11% increase)
* Make bonuses linear, so a 26 stat is a bit better than 24, not 50% better as can be now
* Make penalties for low stats progress faster than the bonus, so putting a 1 in a stat gets a lot more penalties.
* Addition of minimum attribute requirements for certain items (15 str to wear some armor).
* Increase the max stat value (maybe from 30 to 100). This means a character can pile as much stuff on to increase class stats. Under current system, some class/race combos can be very close to maximum stat value at first level.
* Make stat potions much rarer, and/or add limitations on use (one every X levels, different versions based on number of increases done).
* Make stat potions not increase a specific stat, but rather gives the character a stat point to spend. In this way, character has complete control of their final stats, and not based on what potions they happened to find.
* Related to above, remove max character stats and instead limit them by number of improvements. Not uncommon for a class to start with their key stats maxed out relative to racial limits - by removing those racial limits, they can keep improving their class attributes.
* Possible add special abilities if characters get heroic stats (eg, at Con 50, you get +1 regeneration, and Pow 50, you get +1 sp regen, etc)
* Add more meaning for Cha - NPC interaction based on Cha value (information they give based on Cha), add more skills or perhaps special abilities that key off of Cha.
* Not directly related, but have monsters use the same stat tables/meanings as it does for characters. Right now, what Int means for a monster is completely different than what it means for a player.
=== RACES ===
Table below lists the races, attribute adjustments, and anything else that is special. Note that under the revised system, most of a characters skills will come from their class - if one was allowed to play a race with no class, they would have very few skills. This is basically what most of the commoners are. The basic idea if one of these races is ideal for some class, they still need to choose that class to get the skills instead of it being given to them - otherwise, it is too easy to just choose one race and a completely different class to get all skills.
One thing I tried to do here is give each race some skill related to item identification/creation to add some more variety. Many lost class skills.
A races hp+sp+grace == 90, but the actual division here is also not equal, which is a change.
^Race ^ Str ^ Dex ^ Con ^ Pow ^ Int ^ Wis ^ Cha ^ HP ^ SP ^ Grace ^ Starting Skills ^ Special ^ Notes ^
^ Dwarf ^ +3 ^ -2 ^ +3 ^ -1 ^ -2 ^ 0 ^ -1 ^ 40 ^ 20 ^ 30 ^ Smithery ^ See in Dark ^ Good fighter, ok priest ^
^ Elf ^ -2 ^ +3 ^ -2 ^ +2 ^ +2 ^ -3 ^ +3 ^ 30 ^ 40 ^ 20 ^ Bowyer ^ See in Dark, slow hp regen, fast sp regen, slow food consumption ^ Ok fighter, good wizard ^
^Fenx ^ -2 ^ +4 ^ 0 ^ -4 ^ +2 ^ -2 ^ +2 ^ 30 ^ 30 ^ 30 ^ Jumping, Singing ^ See in Dark, slow hp regen, fast sp regen, slow food consumption ^ Thief only ^
^ Fireborn ^ -5 ^ +2 ^ 0 ^ +5 ^ +2 ^ +1 ^ -2 ^ 20 ^ 35 ^ 35 ^ Levitation, flame touch ^ glows, cold -30, ghosthit -50, immune fire & poison, 4 rings, no weapons & armor, fast sp regen ^ good for cleric & mage ^
^ Gnome ^ -1 ^ -3 ^ -2 ^ +3 ^ 0 ^ +3 ^ 0 ^ 30 ^ 20 ^ 40 ^ Jeweler ^ See in dark, lucky ^ Good Cleric ^
^ Halfling ^-4 ^ +3 ^ +4 ^ 0 ^ 0 ^ -3 ^ 0 ^ 40 ^ 30 ^ 20 ^ Stealing, Hiding ^ Lucky, drain +30 ^ Another thief type class - could make OK wizard ^
^ Human ^ 0 ^ 0 ^ 0 ^ 0 ^ 0 ^ 0 ^ 0 ^ 30 ^ 30 ^ 30 ^ bargaining, detect magic & curse ^ Nothing ^ OK at anything - only really useful trying to do a fighter + wizard + cleric ^
^ Northman ^ +1 ^ +1 ^ +2 ^ -1 ^ -2 ^ -1 ^ -1 ^ 40 ^ 25 ^ 25 ^ None ^ cold +30, repelled fire ^ OK fighter ^
^ Dragon ^ +5 ^ 0 ^ +4 ^ +2 ^ 0 ^ -8 ^ -3 ^ 40 ^ 30 ^ 20 ^ clawing, levitate, woodsman ^ can not use weapons & armor, natural armor improves ^ Good fighter, ok wizard ^
^ Half Orc ^ +2 ^ +1 ^ +2 ^ -1 ^ -2 ^ -2 ^ -3 ^ 40 ^ 25 ^ 25 ^ Stealing ^ poison +30, see in dark, repelled turning ^ good fighter, mediocre spell caster ^
^ Quetzalcoatl ^ +5 ^ +3 ^ +4 ^ +4 ^ -6 ^ -6 ^ -3 ^ 50 ^ 20 ^ 20 ^ Levitation, clawing ^ immune fire, cold -30, can not use most armor ^ Good fighter, not much else ^
^ Serpentman ^ +2 ^ +2 ^ +4 ^ 0 ^ -2 ^ -2 ^ -4 ^ 40 ^ 25 ^ 25 ^ Clawing, Jumping ^ +30 to most elemental damage, -30 cold, +5 physical, no helmets or boots, +1 ring^ Good fighter, mediocre spell caster ^
^ Troll ^ +5 ^ -1 ^ +5 ^ -2 ^ -5 ^ -2 ^ -4 ^ 50 ^ 20 ^ 20 ^ None ^ cold +30, fire -30, fast hp regen, slow sp regen ^ Good fighter ^
^ Wraith ^ -3 ^ +4 ^ -3 ^ +3 ^ +2 ^ -3 ^ -4 ^ 30 ^ 40 ^ 20 ^ Wraith Feed ^ fire -25, cold +30, immune poison, ghosthit, draining, disease, attuned cold, denied fire, can see in dark ^ Good Wizard ^
Changes from current setup (minor stat adjustments are not listed) and other thoughts:
* Elves lose some of their starting equipment, woodsman skill, and ability to use missile weapons.
* Fenx lose woodman, missile weapon. I have it crossed out because as is, I don't think it is a very playable race - it is good for thieves, but thieves (as of now) don't play well in crossfire. While it has a bonus to int, the penalty to pow will make it not good for wizards, the penalty in wis & pow is not good for clerics, penalty in strength is not good for fighters. So IMO, until it is redone or thieves are playable, it should get removed.
* Fireborn lose praying and pyromancy - class skills so they need to choose appropriate class.
* Gnome picks up jeweler skill, loses praying
* Halfling has no changes, but as is, not a good race for some reason as Fenx. If you are going to play a wizard, might as well do something like an elf that at least gets bonuses. Wis penalty makes it hard to be a cleric, and strength makes it hard to be a fighter
* Human get bargaining, detect magic & curse. Idea being they are main folks doing business in the world and would have some skills. Plus I think that generally speaking having no bonuses is **worse** than other races, because people are going to choose a race that matches their character, so one that gets appropriate bonuses and no penalties. Thought is to give humans +1 in all stats - many of the other races already have a net bonus in stats, and a +1 might make them a bit more interesting.
* Northman get removed - way back in time when all the races were more normal, a northman may be been different enough, but now it isn't. If you are playing a fighter, better choices in race. If you want to do multiclass type thing, probably still better choices. +30 cold resistance just isn't compelling enough.
* Dragon lose evocation - also pow bonus is reduce, int penalty reduced (IMO, dragons should be somewhat smart), and some other bonuses reduced (Before they had a net +5 on stats, and since they had a -8 wis penalty, if you didn't care about Wis, that overall was a really good bonus)
* Half orcs need some starting item crafting skill - not sure what makes sense
* Quetzalcoatl have some reduced bonus, and picked up penalty to Cha
* Serpentman is unchanged - I think overall the bonus to resistances and additional ring more than make up for loss of boots & helmets, but probably not too far out of balance
* Troll is another really good fighter race.
* Wraith not bad - somewhat different, but still humanoid.
Giving a break down by class:
* Fighter races: Dwarf, dragon, half orc, Quetzal, serpentman, troll
* Cleric races: Gnome & fireborn, human & dwarf can be OK at it
* Wizard races: Elf, fireborn, wraith, dragon would be OK
* Thief races: Fenx, halfling