In v4.0, I already decided to take away the damage bonus that I had added to the high-morale Streaming version of Dak'kon's blade. I'm now considering removing -all- changes to the blades, and just leaving them as they were coded. Here's my thinking as to why (beyond the fact that this change was unpopular among a minority of players, and that it really is a balance issue rather than a straightforward fix):
For the purposes of this discussion, I'm referring to the highest level versions of the blades.
The biggest thing that bothered me about the way the blades were coded is that the AC on the mid-morale Chained version was 3 AC -better- than the AC on the high morale Streaming Blade. The chained blade gave -6 AC, and the Streaming Blade gave -3 AC and one additional 3rd level spell. So, doing the circle with Dak'kon seemed like a massive nerf with the blade change enabled (I still think anyone who would prefer a single 3rd level spell slot over a permanent -3 AC is smoking crack).
But upon review, perhaps the designers were taking Dak'kon's personal stat changes into account for balance reasons. Going through the circle also gives Dak'kon +1 STR, +2 DEX and +2 CON. That +2 DEX effectively neutralizes 2 of the 3 AC penalty that you get from the sword change.
If you consider the changes to Dak'kon himself and to his sword as a single event, then going through the Circle with him changes him in the following ways:
+1 STR
+1 AC (penalty)
+2 CON
+1 3rd level spell slot.
*Overall*, I'd have to say it's not a really bad idea to take him through the Circle, which is the idea that was really bothering me. The sword gets nerfed to hell, but combined with the stats upgrade I think most people would consider it still worth doing. The overall 1 AC penalty still sucks and is pretty much unjustified IMO, but the other 3 benefits do outweigh it, IMO.
So, if we look at it in this way, what do you guys think? Reverse the changes to Dak'kon's blade, and leave them the way they were coded (meaning, Dak'kon personally gets better and his sword gets worse, which seems to contradict the lore but might've been done for balance reasons?) or keep the balance changes I previously made?
The other thing I'm considering is, since it's possible that scient will get the strength progression fixes in for this version, to beef up the +1 STR he gets for going through the circle. In the vanilla game, when you first take Dak'kon through the Circle, he gets the +1 STR mentioned above, which takes him from 17 to 18. A plain old 18. Which as a fighter, Dak'kon really shouldn't be able to have, he should get some percentile as a fighter. Then, at the very end of the game if you do things perfectly right, he gets yet another +1 STR which, because it's a buggy dialogue bonus, takes you straight to 19.
What I'm thinking is, first time through the Circle, give Dak'kon +3 strength, which through the progression will set his strength to 18/60. This gives him the percentile strength bonus that he's really due as a fighter. Then, on the second upgrade at the end of the game, give him +4 strength which will take him to 19, same as what he would've wound up at in the vanilla game. (If those seem like huge boosts, he also gets to 21 DEX and 21 CON in that final upgrade, so it's consistent).
Whatcha guys think? And yes, do consider these two together. By doing this, I'm slightly improving the benefits of going through the Circle for Dak'kon, giving him 18/60 instead of just 18 strength... which could be considered a 2nd-edition-rules-legitimate way to balance the odd penalty you get for upgrading his sword without making changes to the sword itself.
Qwinn
Edited by Qwinn, 01 January 2010 - 12:16 PM.
