DF: Racial lenses mandatory; standardized

[NorphTehDwarf]

Imagine, if you will, that every race available to players is as a lens that they must apply as their template. This takes out some of the old That Other Game feel (I hated ECL, though), but would allow starting players to be any one of the panoply of fantasy races. Let's say we're working with a 50-point budget:

Human [50]
Human delvers are paragons of their species, and so are mightier, quicker, brighter, or tougher than their peers. They're more well-rounded, too.

Advantages: 40 points spent on +1 or +2 to ST or HT [10 or 20], or +1 or +2 to DX or IQ [20 or 40]
Skills: 10 points in mundane skills not covered by their class template.

Dwarf [50]
They delve. By hammer and pickaxe they dig, dig to places they maybe shouldn't.

Advantages: ST +1 [10], IQ +1 [20], Deep Expertise 1 [5]*, and 60 points in further advantages chosen from Eidetic Memory, Absolute Direction, and so forth.
Disadvantages: -15 points chosen from Social Stigma (Minority), Intolerance (Big'uns), Greed, and Alcoholic.
Skills: 5 points worth of dorfy skills.


*an as-yet undescribed Dorf talent relating to finding metal, smelting it, and surviving in the Deeps. Think there's one in DF3 (which I intend to buy when I've got the money)


I'm tired, but you kind of get what I'm going for, right? Think it'd pretty neat.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by NorphTehDwarf

I'm tired, but you kind of get what I'm going for, right? Think it'd pretty neat.

I don't understand. Are you saying get a 250 point profession + a 0-75 point racial template + a 50 point racial lens? Or that you need to use the tricks given in DF3 for buying a racial template with the 250 points to also somehow afford this 50 point lens too?

[vierasmarius]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

I don't understand. Are you saying get a 250 point profession + a 0-75 point racial template + a 50 point racial lens? Or that you need to use the tricks given in DF3 for buying a racial template with the 250 points to also somehow afford this 50 point lens too?

I think the point is that, for adventurers at least, the 50 point racial template replaces the normal 0-75 point one. Another way to look at this would be to use the racial templates in DF3, but add mandatory lenses that bring the costs to exactly 50 points. Presumably, all delvers would be built on 300 points instead of the usual 250.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by vierasmarius

I think the point is that, for adventurers at least, the 50 point racial template replaces the normal 0-75 point one. Another way to look at this would be to use the racial templates in DF3, but add mandatory lenses that bring the costs to exactly 50 points. Presumably, all delvers would be built on 300 points instead of the usual 250.

I don't understand what the Dwarf lens is for then. Shouldn't some of those points be the Dwarf racial template?

[Lia Valenth]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

I don't understand what the Dwarf lens is for then. Shouldn't some of those points be the Dwarf racial template?

If I understand it, he is removing the racial templates, then creating new ones that cost exactly 50 points. He does not like calling them Racial Templates, so he is calling them Racial Lenses instead.

EDIT: NVM, I see what you are saying. Ya, they should be. (IMO:) Worse, some Lenses would have to be negative to get to exactly 50 points.

Back on topic;
While I do like the idea of making all races the same point cost, I suspect this will wind up causing more difficulty than it is worth.

[NorphTehDwarf]

Originally Posted by vierasmarius

I think the point is that, for adventurers at least, the 50 point racial template replaces the normal 0-75 point one. Another way to look at this would be to use the racial templates in DF3, but add mandatory lenses that bring the costs to exactly 50 points. Presumably, all delvers would be built on 300 points instead of the usual 250.

This is exactly what I was going for. Sorry that the reasoning was a little unclear.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by NorphTehDwarf

This is exactly what I was going for. Sorry that the reasoning was a little unclear.

I don't understand what the Dwarf lens is for then.

[The Benj]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

I don't understand what the Dwarf lens is for then.

It sounds to me like the idea is to just make all racial templates cost 50 points, for ease of accounting.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by The Benj

It sounds to me like the idea is to just make all racial templates cost 50 points, for ease of accounting.

Yes, I get that, but shouldn't it include, you know, being a Dwarf.

[The Benj]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Yes, I get that, but shouldn't it include, you know, being a Dwarf.

It IS being a Dwarf.