By the way, about those 40 Attribute Points that the character in your (PhurieDae's) image has; if she spends them on Melee (which is the lowest at 8) or on Energy (which is the highest at 140) will they increase those attributes by the same number?
- So if spent on Melee does it turn from 8 to 48, and if spent on Energy it will turn from 140 to 180 (both rise with an equal amount)?
- Or is there a progressive system that makes getting an extra level in one of the higher attributes (Energy or Sorcery) cost more Attribute Points than getting an extra level in the lower attributes (Melee, Ranged, Focus and Archery)?
Some games use such a progressive system to make it less likely that someone will put their points in only one attribute (or very few) as this would create an imbalanced character that can be overpowering in some ways.
For example, a mage with very little health (which is provided by a melee attribute) and not a big mana pool as well (so long battles are not possible), but with tremendous spell power so that most of his/her spells cause instant death or something close to that.
Or a warrior that focuses solely on health and regeneration. The warrior can do little damage, but opponents can't kill her/him because (s)he regenerates faster than they can do damage. It's an incredibly effective tank. Human opponents will try to kill his/her allies first before trying to figure out how to kill the tank, but creatures probably aren't coded that way and will have no chance to win any battle as they will go after the invincible tank.
An example of a progressive attribute system:
Suppose a player gets 5 Attribute Points per level and (s)he can spend it in 6 different attributes.
For each attribute the cost to increase it by 1 step is:
- 1 point if it's between level 1-10,
- 2 points between 11-20,
- 3 points between 21-30,
- 4 points between 31-40, etc.
If a player is level 50 then (s)he will have gotten 250 Attribute Points and could have spend it in many ways. Three examples are:
- All in 1 attribute. That will get that attribute to 65 and the remaining to whatever the character starts with at the beginning. (250 Attribute Points in 1 Attribute = 10 points of the first 10 levels, 20 for the next 10, then 30, 40, 50 and 60, and the remaining 40 are used for 5 levels (5*7) for a total of 65 levels with 5 points left). The total attribute levels is 65 (and 5 points left).
- Evenly balanced between all attributes. That will get 5 attributes to 24 and 1 attribute to 23 (250 Attribute Points in 6 Attributes = 6 * 10 points for the first 10 levels and 6 * 20 points for the next 10 levels, the remaining 70 points will be used for 23 levels (3 * 23) so 5 Attributes get an 4 levels and 1 gets only 3, and there is 1 Attribute Point left). The total attribute levels is 5*24 + 23 = 143 (and 1 point left).
- Partly balanced with emphasis on 2 attributes (for example Sorcery and Energy). Those 2 attributes will go to 38 (which costs 2 * (10 + 20 + 30 + 8*4) = 184 points), 3 attributes will get to 13 and 1 attribute gets to 14 (66 points left; 4 * (10 + 3*2) = 64 points for the first 13 levels of all 4 attributes and 1 attribute gets an extra level from the remaining 2 points). The total attribute levels is 2*38 + 3*13 + 14 = 129 (and no points left).
People can still go for the 1 attribute character and get rewarded for it; level 65 is still a lot higher than anything else.
Very hybrid players might go for a fairly balanced character although it's unlikely they will treat the attributes completely equal. In the example above it's more likely they will have a character with 18 to 30 points in the attributes (as some attributes are just a bit more interesting for their hybrid than others).
A lot of players that focus on a certain area (melee, ranged, magic) will now probably spend a few of their points in attributes that don't completely match their area, but it can still be interesting to do so as they still give bonuses. A mage has some use for Health (but much less than a warrior), and with this system (s)he can choose to spend those 6 points on either getting an already strong attribute (spell power? mana pool?) from 57 to 58 (a bonus to something already strong) or getting the attribute that gives health from 1 to 7 (a big bonus to something that was weak).
The same goes for warriors/archers that have more use for strength and agility based attributes, but may choose for a bit of magical resistance if the price is right.
