» Thu Aug 08, 2013 2:40 am I've been thinking for quite some time on a way to improve the game currently leveling system. Somehow, using a skill and gaining new perks with it didn't feel the most natural skill gaining arrangement. In fact, the leveling system had no role-playing function at all, other than the kind of battling method the player chose to develop. Furthermore, it’s relevant to notice that one of the most fundamental aspects of a role-playing game is the fact that you can interact with different characters and be rewarded or burdened by your decisions.
In this way I propose a new skill system which, hopefully, aims to bring more role-playing to the skill progress. The first part of this post will comment on the details of the system, while the latter will contextualize the experience in the world. Before giving up to continue reading this topic because of its extension, consider reading the “Objectives” and “The System” sessions only.
Also, I should mention that I considered posting this in the “Future TES Game” topic, but since this discuss a leveling system using Elder Scrolls lore, rather than actually considering using in the upcoming TES game I decided to create a new topic instead.
Objectives
The main goal is ultimately fun. Obviously.
The secondary objectives are:
- Quality role-playing through actual job classes;
- Better narrative;
- More immersion;
- Better integration of some old gameplay elements like reputation and faction hierarchy;
- Change the game focus where the player was previously just an errand boy that goes to caverns, ruins and mines to a relationship based experience and extensive knowledge pursue.
The System
Learn new skills
- The player have to be tutored to acquire new perks;
- Spells and some perks might be granted by reading books;
- Some perks are gained naturally over time. E.g.: Hit points based skills can be acquired without a teacher;
- Numerous perks (such as low level ones) can be gained with lots of different trainers, some exclusive high level skills may have only one proficient trainer in the land;
- The player may develop the ability to gain new perks without a trainer if he's proficient enough (aka. deeply skilled in the chosen focus).*
*I’m considering revising that.
Revamped Skill Tree
- Most perks are no longer path dependent in the traditional sense. The player have to find the trainer to learn and that's all. In addition, their quantity are greatly expanded compared to Skyrim. Exceptions: Skills that have sequential or progressive bonuses.
- Even though perks are not path dependent anymore some of them may require previous abilities in order to be learnt, thus making skill progression much more volatile. E.g. to learn how to use greatswords efficiently the player must be skilled in at least one of the many sword-weapons available such as short sword, classic sword, dagger, katana, scimitar, etc.
- Perks can be mastered in a traditional way, which will unlock higher and more powerful versions of its abilities.
- Perks will be hidden. So the only visible ones are those you already know, unless the player have reached the stage where he can acquire new perks by himself. In that case, the perk tree will be revealed.*
*I’m considering revising that.
Expanded focus
- While previous installments of Elder Scrolls had a strong emphasis in combat, a new branch should emerge. In this aspect, alongside with the combat, magic and stealth present in Skyrim, a new CIVIL focus (didn't think in a better name, but that's not important right now) would be created containing skills such as civilization lore, animal lore, haggle, persuasion, smiting, horse mounting, healing, farming, managing, etc.
- This focus expects to bring a more diverse and non-combat related experience and try to bring back important forgotten aspects of a role-playing game such as wisdom, represented by the lore skill, the charisma represented by persuasion and so on. Additionally, this skill branch aims to balance the recent trend in modern action-RPGs to solve quests only by combat.
Contextualization
While controversial at first glance, these skills open paths to different role-playing opportunities. Here's an attempt to show how would they function in the game world. So, to a better understanding try to remember the quest with Angi in Skyrim.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6WXV7aumrhk
In this quest, the player meet a woman in a lonely hut at the top of a mountain. In this sense, being friendly to her would improve relations until she decides to teach her bow skills to the adventurer. A different outcome than those unfamiliar with this quest might expected! 
This proposed skill system amplifies this quest and transform almost every skill gaining in a sort of a mini-quest. While not every single perk should be painful and/or force the player to go through a set of complex and time consuming journey, learning abilities is something which never comes too easily. That is not to say that that some skills doesn't come naturally over time, such as hit points improvements.
Concerning this, the best way to be a great swordsman, for example, is to join the Warriors Guild and learn with the companions by dueling with them in order to be coached. So, imagine that to be able to duel and be lectured by a specific companion the player must gain his trust, which could be gained by:
a) talking to him and befriending him;
b.) being famous enough;
c) saving him in a previous quest and thus making it a debt with you;
d) being in a higher hierarchy in the guild than him;
e) paying him.
The problem with this system is, in order to do it right, it must be implemented in a way that it does not force the player to go through various boring tasks within the game just to learn the desired perk. It is not a secret that a good game must be, above all other things, fun. And that's why there are so many paths to acquire skills, for those moments when the player have no patience to go to a tavern and speak indefinitely or go to an extensive quest just to learn a new technique and just want to pay the NPC for the damn skill!
It’s interesting to notice that reputation will now be something which affects the gameplay. The player, if well known, might have access to an extensive number of available training sets just because of his fame.
Groups Contextualization
The mages guild in the series is known to be the classical arcane scholars (those who have only played Skyrim may recognize this as the College of Winterhold). In order to advance in the hierarchy the player must attend classes or private lectures on the designated skills. Certain abilities are specific to grandmasters. So, spells that cause mass havocs can be gained only through these grand trainers. Besides that, individual spells may also get stronger and cost less magicka the more the player uses them.
Apart from spells, different skills may also give bonuses to spell casting such as a perk that let the player cast them with reduced magicka cost, or a perk that let you cast them faster, or another one that let the player deal more damage in destruction magic, etc. In this way, grand wizards teach only their most brilliant students, while great trainers teach skilled ones and general trainers teach any student, and so on.
PS: I remember how lessons were taught in Oblivion. Imagine if participating in those classes would grant, at the end of the session, a perk. In this way different classes would grant different perks.
PPS: I miss different elements like water, air and earth. Actually, I have other ideas concerning the magic system, but I guess I'll leave it for another topic.
Classical Group Contextualization: Warriors Guild
The warriors guild is the home of melee combat. Narratives that involve learning combat skills through discipline and dueling are the source of the different perks that can be learned. In the same situation as the mages guild, only skilled warriors are trained by the best tutors, while unskilled ones are trained by novices teachers. As stated before, dueling can be a perfect way to learn from your fellow companions. Group classes are another good way to involve the player in a skill achievement, if some of you are familiar with martial arts classes, you know what I'm talking about.
PS: I've been thinking about an ability to acquire skills while watching and defeating foes with different techniques that would be dependent on general wisdom and intelligence of the player. Perhaps this is something that should be left behind.
Classical Group Contextualization: Thieves Guild
The thieves guild could function socially in a different way as seen at the mages and warriors guild. Instead of hierarchy, fame among thieves should dictate the leadership. In this way, various looting opportunities with different levels of difficulty could be present already at the beginning of the questline. It's up to the player whether he'll pick the hardest or the easiest ones first. Each successful heist raises reputation within the guild. The main questline must be dependent to these heists and reputation could be the prime factor in order to learn new stealth abilities.
PS: For those who played Fable, you must remember the boasting system, in which the player could set objectives that would make each tasks even harder such as leave your mark, fight unarmed, with no armor, without killing anyone, etc. What I propose is to use the same system in the thieves guild as a form to gather even more respect from the guild.
New Group Contextualization: Monks Guild
To understand how the leveling system may alter the both narrative and the gameplay for the better imagine a guild formed exclusively by monks. The path, in this quest is to become a master monk. What RPG monks traditionally do? Fight with bare hands, meditate and study. So, at higher levels of skill, the player should be presented with perks that no other characters or guild possess. Regarding this, the passive skill meditation may be lectured upon the player resulting in some benefits. As the questline evolves, the meditation skill can be deepened with better teachers up to a point where it reaches its maximum status giving higher bonuses. The same applies to other perks specific to this class such as fighting techniques – e.g.: ability to detect life within 15ft - and lore knowledge – e.g.: know weak spots of some beasts.
What's interesting about this job class is the distinguishing inward orientation. Usually, when it comes to monks it's all about themselves. So a story with little contact with exterior world would require great storyline involving, inner demons, breaking rocks with bare hands, meditating and all the skills that would come associated with it. If you ever played Super Nintendo’s “Live a Live”, than you might be familiar to this.
Miscellaneous Contextualizations
#1: Racing Competition
It is a racing day at the town and whoever wins the race may earn the prize in gold. If the player succeeds at the race, a NPC approaches and after some dialogue, this character teaches the player how to hold his breath longer. The new perk grants the ability to sprint faster.
The objective of this story is to use the athletics abilities (removed in Skyrim) to reward the player in a skill related to the quest.
#2: Hunt Competition
There is a hunt competition in town. The first competitor who brings a deer head, a rabbit and a raven win the prize. Upon successful completion of the hunt, the player wins mercantile lessons and discount in all food related items in the city.
This quest tries to deliver a sense of unpredictability, leaving uncertainty as to when a developed ability may become useful.
#3: Archery Contest
It's time for an archery contest. The best archer in the event will win the right to enter the castle and speak to the lords. In the castle, after befriending the king's counselor, the player may learn skills that raises his persuasion.
This quest aims to show how different abilities may generate different outcomes. In this way, one would expect that the reward to participate in the contest could be an archer related perk, instead, it gives the player a speechcraft perk which would be, otherwise unattainable from the king’s counselor without some marksman skill.
#4: The Games
The player, if famous enough, may be invited to participate in Cavalry Dueling Games. By succeeding in the event, the player earns the right to become a knight and protect his lord, but first he must participate in some training sessions to learn new perks that are expected from a knight.
This storyline presents an opportunity to advance both in the social spectrum and in the character advancement through skills related to horse mounting, spear use and civilization lore knowledge.
It's also relevant to note that the learning process is not a simple dialogue where the NPC says one thing and the skill is immediately gained. It's really important to make skill progress feel like a part of something bigger and/or organic. The notification where the player finally achieved the perk should only come after taking part in real lessons. For example, meditation skill should be achieved after a meeting between the monk and the player, where both of them are in a sacred room in meditating stance while having a conversation to find inner strength, peace, etc.
Proposed Perks
Melee Combat
- Weapon Finesse - Short Sword: Deal more damage with a short sword.
- Weapon Finesse - Sword: Deal more damage with a traditional sword.
- Weapon Finesse - Scimitar: Deal more damage with a scimitar.
- Weapon Finesse - Axe: Deal more damage with an axe.
- Dual Wielding Proficiency – Dual wielding deals 30% more damage with both weapons.
- Combat efficiency: Absorb incoming blow and deliver it back to the opponent to a more deadly attack.
- Breath efficiency: Reduces stamina spending with each blow.
- Containment: Reduces stamina spending with each successful hit.
- Shield control: Reduces stamina spending with each blocked hit with a shield.
- Combat prowess: Reduces stamina spending with each received hit.
- Footwork: Reduces stamina spending while running.
- Critical move: Makes possible to deliver a critical blow.
- Evasion: Makes possible to dodge incoming blows.
- Martial Arts Initiation: Deal more damage with unarmed.
Health and Magicka
- Toughening: Improves hit points.
- Natural Armor: Improves hit points further.
- Steel hide: Greatly improves hit points.
- Dragon skin: Improves hit points dramatically.
- Breath control: Increases stamina.
- Regular runner: Increases stamina further.
- Veteran runner: Greatly increases stamina.
- Marathoner: Increases stamina dramatically.
- Arcane adept: Increases magicka points.
- Arcane journeyman: Increases magicka points further.
- Arcane expert: Greatly increases magicka points.
- Arcane Master: Increases magicka points dramatically.
- Meditation Stance: Increases stamina, health and magicka by 5%.
- Meditation Strength: Increases stamina, health and magicka by 15%.
- Meditation Focus: Increases stamina, health and magicka by 30%.
- Destruction Adept: Destruction magic become magicka cost become 10% cheaper.
General Perks
- Conducting: Horses become 30% faster.
- Mercantile Sense: Prices become 10% better.
- Rhetoric: Persuasion increases by 25%.
- Smiting [material]: Allows [material] smiting.
- Smiting Proficiency – [material]: Confers 20% bonus to [material] smiting.
FAQ
Will I still be able to level up?
Leveling up in the classic sense? No. This system, however, does maintain progression through skills.
Can perks some be improved without addition of other perks?
Yes. The last answer hinted this. Weapon finesses skills or spells, for example, should be granted to the players in a weaker version. Through continuous usage of them, they become stronger. Also, some of these perks, might even start with you at the beginning of the game.
The spells system sounds confusing, would you care to explain a bit?
You learn spells by reading books or by being taught by wizards. The spell you learn is not the most powerful version of itself.
I don’t get it. If I learn a spell, I’m not gonna get the mastered version?
No, you won’t. You will have to use the spell to master it.
Won’t it prevent me from obtaining more powerful versions of that spell?
No, that’s not going to limit your access to stronger versions.
Can you post a photo of a conceptual design of this system?
Sure! http://postimg.org/image/ywla276sl/
I did it on Paint, I’m not even close to what might be called a renaissance artist, please, be gentle on me!
[The FAQ questions will increase over time]
