Fallen
09-11-2010, 10:27 AM
>>The problem as I viewed it with monks was yet again sloth. Sloth in the short term, which will eventually be paid for in the long term. I understand making a whole circle of spells is likely an EXTREMELY difficult undertaking, and I don't envy the people who have been responsible for programming the impending MnM circle. I can understand why the decision was made, but that doesn't make it something I can agree with just the same. So now there is no Monk circle, and the "monk" circle becomes "shared" with the MnM circle.
You can rest assured that the semi -> square decision for Monks was one of superior design and not sloth. After a long period of designing spells for Monks, we noticed most of the spells were physical effects rather than magical ones. Since the majority of unique aspects we wanted to add to Monks would be from a physical perspective and not as much magical, we only needed a very small amount of magical attunement for the class. There are only a few spells in the MnM list that I would say are "must haves" for Monks (Iron Skin, Dragonclaw, Mind over Body and Brace). We have a significant amount of Combat Maneuver development for Monks, though. This is also a benefit, since this is a far more elegant system than a spell circle, as it provides choices like order of selection (you can't pick 903 before 901, but you can take Internal Power before Flurry of Blows) opportunity cost (do I want to max out this CM or that one?), and a more appropriate flavor than magic causing physical attacks. Additionally, the status quo has only two physical character classes compared to seven (eight with Savants) magical classes. Physical classes need a stronger representation as there are a number of players who prefer this type of class to magical classes. Finally, we strongly wanted Monks to have a spiritual side to the class, made known by their access to the Minor Spiritual spell circle. All of these reasons contributed to the design change, and I'm glad for it. A semi Monk would have been clunky and much farther removed from the vision of the class that is standard in the fantasy genre.
>>In the short term, monks will see their release and now only have access to one new spell circle, this circle in particular is meant to be "their" circle though. The spells (while very interesting and cool) contained in the MnM circle will have direct applications for aspects of combat related to being a square. Spells to create armor-like substitutes, UAC augmenting spells (I forget what else), to name a couple. These spells will be wonderful for Monks I am sure. In the short term, this is all good and dandy.
>>Fast forward a few years to when Savants eventually find their way in to Gemstone (don't laugh, I've always had faith and hope it would happen despite my own RSN jokes). Assuming of course that the savant class finds itself released as a pure still (which I wouldn't be surprised to learn it becomes a semi instead), they will have access to MnM. Now what? They have access to these spells that monks use to make themselves be awesome with the impending UAC system. The same thing is going to happen. People are going to find a way to make savants that fully utilize these spells and take advantage of them. You'll have to make the training costs for savants in the relevant skills absurdly prohibitive, and even then I'm sure people will still find a way.
>>So now we're in the same boat. Savants are doing something they aren't intended to, and why? Poor planing and sloth on the part of the Dev teams.
Iron Skin and Mind over Body are what one could describe as "Monk" spells yet they are extremely valuable to Savants. Beyond that we only have Dragonclaw and Brace that are useful almost exclusively for UAC users. It isn't without precedent that spells assist certain builds more than others. Elemental Blade (411) is far from useful to everyone with that minor circle. The fact that they're useful to "half" the people with the circle is much better than a spell being useful to almost no one, like Weapon Deflection (412), except for creatures. Also, these are just two spells amongst about 70 that Savants will have. We have designed their circles. They are not lacking in original and useful spells. I would not cry "woe for the Savants" because two spells are UAC focused.
GameMaster Oscuro
Rogue Team
Cleric/Empath Team
*
In the Monk folder.
You can rest assured that the semi -> square decision for Monks was one of superior design and not sloth. After a long period of designing spells for Monks, we noticed most of the spells were physical effects rather than magical ones. Since the majority of unique aspects we wanted to add to Monks would be from a physical perspective and not as much magical, we only needed a very small amount of magical attunement for the class. There are only a few spells in the MnM list that I would say are "must haves" for Monks (Iron Skin, Dragonclaw, Mind over Body and Brace). We have a significant amount of Combat Maneuver development for Monks, though. This is also a benefit, since this is a far more elegant system than a spell circle, as it provides choices like order of selection (you can't pick 903 before 901, but you can take Internal Power before Flurry of Blows) opportunity cost (do I want to max out this CM or that one?), and a more appropriate flavor than magic causing physical attacks. Additionally, the status quo has only two physical character classes compared to seven (eight with Savants) magical classes. Physical classes need a stronger representation as there are a number of players who prefer this type of class to magical classes. Finally, we strongly wanted Monks to have a spiritual side to the class, made known by their access to the Minor Spiritual spell circle. All of these reasons contributed to the design change, and I'm glad for it. A semi Monk would have been clunky and much farther removed from the vision of the class that is standard in the fantasy genre.
>>In the short term, monks will see their release and now only have access to one new spell circle, this circle in particular is meant to be "their" circle though. The spells (while very interesting and cool) contained in the MnM circle will have direct applications for aspects of combat related to being a square. Spells to create armor-like substitutes, UAC augmenting spells (I forget what else), to name a couple. These spells will be wonderful for Monks I am sure. In the short term, this is all good and dandy.
>>Fast forward a few years to when Savants eventually find their way in to Gemstone (don't laugh, I've always had faith and hope it would happen despite my own RSN jokes). Assuming of course that the savant class finds itself released as a pure still (which I wouldn't be surprised to learn it becomes a semi instead), they will have access to MnM. Now what? They have access to these spells that monks use to make themselves be awesome with the impending UAC system. The same thing is going to happen. People are going to find a way to make savants that fully utilize these spells and take advantage of them. You'll have to make the training costs for savants in the relevant skills absurdly prohibitive, and even then I'm sure people will still find a way.
>>So now we're in the same boat. Savants are doing something they aren't intended to, and why? Poor planing and sloth on the part of the Dev teams.
Iron Skin and Mind over Body are what one could describe as "Monk" spells yet they are extremely valuable to Savants. Beyond that we only have Dragonclaw and Brace that are useful almost exclusively for UAC users. It isn't without precedent that spells assist certain builds more than others. Elemental Blade (411) is far from useful to everyone with that minor circle. The fact that they're useful to "half" the people with the circle is much better than a spell being useful to almost no one, like Weapon Deflection (412), except for creatures. Also, these are just two spells amongst about 70 that Savants will have. We have designed their circles. They are not lacking in original and useful spells. I would not cry "woe for the Savants" because two spells are UAC focused.
GameMaster Oscuro
Rogue Team
Cleric/Empath Team
*
In the Monk folder.