Create a cleric alt to help identify all the items you find on your journeys if you find that you can't figure out what's trash and what's treasure. - Locqui
Races - Behind the Scenes (Aka Malaclypse Can Typing!)
Currently there is a wealth of options available that factor race into the equation. This includes obvious things like basic stats (as displayed in score) along with specific racials (like dragon breath etc). In addition to these most players will be at least somewhat familiar with racial modifications which are obscured yet are still very real (damage modifier / casting modifiers and the like).
Race is also factored into certain item benefits already - for instance there are items which provide additional damage against certain races or protection from certain races. There are over 80 races for which all this information is tracked. All these races are also broadly categorised into 7 racial groupings (eg faerie/scaled/demonic) which can have the same damage/protection benefits added to items.
A fairly common request relating to races in general has been for race specific gear. While this is obviously thematic and makes a lot of sense, it also has the potential to create quite a few headaches. At the moment a sprite can wear the same piece of armour that a dragon can. Quirky ... yes ... but easy to implement. The coding team has always been reluctant to implement this sort of change as it would create a huge burden on the building team if they were forced to duplicate all sorts of items across all the different level ranges for something which (while cool) would largely be cosmetic/thematic. However ... I've just started work on something of a compromise (based on an idea I stole from Pulse).
The general idea will remain as it has always been. Most items will magically adapt to fit the anatomy of the wearer. This will be the default behaviour for all existing items however builders will be given the option to flag items as having certain racial characteristics. All races will be assigned racial characteristics (eg bipedal / quadrupedal / winged etc) . I.e. while there will be no new equipment slots for different races it will be possible that (for instance) a piece of equipment usually worn on body (eg chestplate) could additionally be flagged as requiring the wearer to be bipedal. An in game scenario could be a quest to kill Sir Fancy-Pants and his magical stallion Twinkletoes. You loot the pairs matching chestplate (requires bipedal) and barding (requires quadrupedal) armour and give the barding to the group's centaur while the group's elf takes the chestplate.
My preference for these racially restricted item types would be for them to be used at higher tiers (hero+) to avoid saddling (quadruped!) newer players with something else to worry about while providing more diverse gear options to experienced players and getting out from some of the cookie cutter builds we currently have.
Neyneon July 08 2014 13:15:01
We've been waiting for racial shoes for years!
Number: 191 Board: immortal
From: Snikt
To: all
Date: Sat Mar 31 13:31:15 2007
Subject: Racial gear
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To make things more diverse, a character's race will now influence what
gear they are able to wear. We have decided to start with footwear.
For thematic reasons which should be obvious, the following races will
no longer be able to wear items in the <worn on feet> slot.
Draconians,Dragons,Ents,Firedrakes,Griffons,Halflings,Kzinti,Lizardmen,
Slugs and Troglodytes
Centaurs will be to restricted to wear only horseshoes in this slot.
Existing horseshoe items will be modified to be wearable on this slot,
if they are not already.
The shopkeeper code will be modified so that a character's race will
determine price when footwear items are purchased.
Very large races like Giants, Ogres and Trolls will pay extra as they need
larger sized footwear and more materials are needed in the construction.
Similiarly, very small races such Sprites will pay extra as even though less
materials are used,the delicate nature of the work required to make such
small items takes additional time.
As a character moves from tier to tier, they will have to upgrade to that
that tier's range of footwear. This is to reflect the maturation process
that each character goes through as they level and grow in power.
Footwear items will have a limited duration because the soles will wear out
over time. Characters will either need to get them repaired or replace them.
For thematic reasons, Gnomes. Deep Gnomes, Dwarves, Duergar and Elves will
receive a new racial, Racial-Cobbler, to allow the repair of footwear items.
A helpfile explaining this will be added when the new code is implemented.
Centaurs will need to visit blacksmith mobs to get their horseshoes replaced.
We are considering modifying the existing Smithing code to allow races like
Dwarves to smith horseshoe items.
Malaclypseon July 08 2014 13:44:05
Lol, I remember that (and people wishing it wasn't just an April fool).