(http://i.imgur.com/qoQHoDD.png)
Many years hence, the Blood God lies close to bleeding out: the coffers of The Great Toady One have ceased to fill and are draining slowly, and all too soon he will become unable to continue his great work. And when that happens, the world as known will come to an end: all things shall perish and be forgotten.
But you cannot let this pass. Long ago, there were many mighty heroes, enduring characters, daring feats of engineering, and legendary stories, awesome testament to the scope of the great work. The power of these tales and figures drew people, showed them the great truth and worth of the endeavor, and so it was continually supported and renewed, legend begetting legend and greatness begetting greatness. Were another great saga to arise from the crumbling splendor of the work, surely its spark would be renewed and the dormant heart would once more pump blood for the blood god. But it would have to be the greatest saga of all time.
And that is your plan. You shall create the greatest hero of all time, an adventure to outshine them all. The only way you can think to do this is to travel to all the places of legend, and conquer them all, so that their fame passes to you.
You first set about to begin your hero through the usual process -it is only fitting, after all- but soon realize: should you fail, should you die early on as so many do, all hope will be lost. No. You will try again, persevere past even the ultimate obstacle, so that your hero shall truly be the most enduring, steadfast one of all - for that is the basis of all other greatness.
So, you try a combined method:
(http://i.imgur.com/iCh5HMH.png)
Who is your hero? What path shall you pursue? Choose wisely
Attributes - These mainly affect stats and equipment usage. For those familiar with this system, there are 2 minor tweaks: resistance is no longer useless and power is a unified stat for making magic stronger. They can be increased, 1 at a time, on level-up, but are capped at 15 in character creation.
Vitality increases your HP
Attunement increases how many slots you have for interactions. You need 10 for the first one
Endurance affects how much you can carry, and how quickly you get tired
Strength affects how hard you can hit, and what equipment you can use
Dexterity does, too
1 Stat may be increased per level up.
Skills - These will mainly determine your starting equipment but will also affect how certain actions turn out. They can be increased with practice. In character creation, it's 1 point per level, with level 1 being novice and 16 and up legendary, but you can only start them up to professional (10). After character creation, skills can only be increased through practice.
More mechanics will be explained as they become relevant. You should probably focus on background, appearance, race, gender and all that first.
(http://i.imgur.com/Wo9KTBc.png)
#1, Prologue (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=137861.msg5227008#msg5227008)
#2, Prologue (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=137861.msg5231730#msg5231730)
#3, BOSS (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=137861.msg5248063#msg5248063)
#4, BOSS (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=137861.msg5277610#msg5277610)
#5, BOSS (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=137861.msg5397245#msg5397245)
#6, BOSS (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=137861.msg5427662#msg5427662)
#7, Prologue (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=137861.msg5433874#msg5433874)
#8, Prologue (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=137861.msg5461963#msg5461963)
#9, End of Prologue (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=137861.msg5504701#msg5504701)
#10, Arrival (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=137861.msg5565973#msg5565973)
#11, Arrival (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=137861.msg5614127#msg5614127)
#12, Arrival (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=137861.msg5677692#msg5677692)
#13, Arrival (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=137861.msg5691986#msg5691986)
#14, Arrival (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=137861.msg5828164#msg5828164)
#15, Arrival (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=137861.msg6155424#msg6155424)
#16, Upper Path (http://www.bay12forums.com/smf/index.php?topic=137861.msg7268630#msg7268630)
So, generally it's more akin to DF's chunky salsa?
For looks:
(http://fc03.deviantart.net/fs12/i/2006/271/d/9/Dwarf_Lady_by_CommissarKinyaf.jpg)
For example: a character with decent ranged and melee options will lose, full stop, to a dedicated melee enemy or a dedicated range enemy, unless they can either kite the melee enemy or rapidly close with the range enemy. A range-focused character tends to be able to kill melee enemies before they can reach him, and can match range enemies at range. A melee focused character can beat melee enemies easily, and tends to be able to close rapidly with ranged enemies.
The main question is gonna be: how effective are ranged attacks? If they're Dwarf Fortress-style, making a primarily ranged character isn't gonna work, since it takes far too much investment to get decent accuracy. I have no experience with Dark Souls, unfortunately, but I assume ranged attacks are more effective there. In that case, a range character might be more effective.
This having been said, I feel that focusing primarily on vitality, endurance, strength and power is the best option. For skills, it all depends on which melee weapon we want to use (miner seems to be the one people are looking at, I guess?), dodge if it's as OP as it is in Adventure Mode, shield user, observer, and craftsman might not be a bad idea. The idea would be to start out with a fairly tanky melee build, with the option of going into magical forms of attack once we get some interactions for them. Skills-wise, we would start out with some decent defensive equipment, with the ability to upgrade it or make our own later on.
So, here is my proposed chargen breakdown:
Vitality: 14
Attunement: 10
Endurance: 10
Strength: 14
Dexterity: 5
Power: 14
Resistance: 5
Skilled Miner (5)
Skilled Dodge (5)
Skilled Shield User (5)
Skilled Observer (5)
Skilled Craftsman (5)
BTW, right-click and inspect element tells you where the original pic came from, a bit of searching on DeviantArt gets you the rest of the info.
(http://kepfeltoltes.hu/100430/lantern_shield_01_www.kepfeltoltes.hu_.jpg)
Traditional mining tool, can pierce armor as well as stone. Copper isn't the hardest metal, so the head degrades quickly, but it is heavy and sharp. The Dwarves are known to make great use of even the cheapest picks.
Damage:
-79 + 18
Scaling:
-Strength: A
Condition: 100/100
Round shield made from the hard wood of an ash tree. Basic, but serviceable and dependable.
Bash damage:
50
Damage resistance:
85% physical
30% fire
Condition: 200/200
Boiled leather cap with fur lining. Doesn't offer much protection, but more than a bare head, and keeps the head warm. Dwarven travelers often wear such caps, as they help with the weather and the dangers of the road.
Your kin made this for your journey, with love.
Protection:
-9 physical
-10 Fire
-23 Cold
-5 supernatural
Condition: 400/400
A leather apron over a thick pig-tail fiber shirt. The apron protects blacksmiths from hot metal, cinders, and sharp edges, and complements the weather-resistant dwarven shirt. Simple yet durable.
Protection:
-23 physical
-30 fire
-28 cold
-1 supernatural
Condition: 400/400
Thick leather for the feet and pig tail trousers. Sturdy dwarven clothing. Dwarves believe a hardy pair of boots brings good luck, especially if filled with woolen socks.
Protection:
-14 physical
-18 fire
-19 cold
-6 supernatural
Condition: 400/400
As is traditional for a dwarf on new lands, you symbolically strike the earth. It leaves a dark gauge in the wet beach sand, but the sand will probably smooth itself out soon enough. Having done that, you retrace your steps back to your boat to see if there's anything from it you might need.
(http://i.imgur.com/2GCxcgx.png)
Wooden oar. Built for rowing rather than fighting, it has enough weight and hardness for a good smack, but the length makes it slightly awkward and it may break easily if struck.
Damage:
-Physical 65 + 3
Scaling:
-Strength: D
-Dexterity: D
Condition:80/80
You decide to take a walk around the island. At first you walk cautiously, as the place is rather eerie with all the fog around, but by the time you walk back around to your starting point, you haven't seen anything.
(http://i.imgur.com/21ylhDE.png)
It's completely barren. Nothing strewn around, not so much as a piece of driftwood. Not a sign of life. You suspect that no one has ever been here before.
With nothing much outside, you head towards the cave. As you step towards the entrance, you feel it again. The calling. What you've been journeying towards must surely lie inside.
(http://i.imgur.com/7Vd0otf.png)
You enter a narrow passage, stone walls with a deep sandy floor. It turns right and slopes down, but not into complete darkness; there is a faint, flickering glow ahead. At the bottom of the slope two strange sights greet your eyes.
(http://i.imgur.com/fnDpVjh.png?1)
The passage emerges into a small chamber, ankle deep water around the sides but dry in the middle, where rests a ring of campfires, the source of the light. They cannot have been burning long, but aside from them there are no signs of recent activity. You'd expect to see the imprint where someone had been resting, as travelers often make rings of fire around themselves to protect themselves from the night, out in the open, but the sand is untrodden. Strange.
Looks like about enough votes are in. I'll start drawing the update soon.
here lies Dwarf mcDwarf, Boss wanted dat -Skull- Boss got dat -Skull- .
oh yeah fun tip about boss knight if you can find a way to make him more awesome you could just exploit that to bypass him.
(http://i.imgur.com/w3OUevi.gif)
(http://i1185.photobucket.com/albums/z344/Georgethegunner/Girl.jpg) (http://s1185.photobucket.com/user/Georgethegunner/media/Girl.jpg.html)
(http://i.imgur.com/LLqBj6D.png)
You definitely feel better. Let the end of the world come, then. You survived being stabbed in the gut. You can take whatever is thrown at you!
Having seen the power of this curious box with your oars, you decide to see how far it will go, as you figure you should grab everything you can from this world if it's going to end soon. You head back into the other room, past the strange figure, and try to pick up the Chandelier. Unfortunately, it seems almost too heavy to lift easily, as you can't get your fingers under it. You try instead pressing the open box against it, but it just doesn't seem to fit. Finally, you try putting the chain through, and it falls in. With a little help from you, it pulls the chandelier upright, and wedges lengthwise against the open box. Somehow, with a great strain, the entire thing disappears into the box.
(http://i.imgur.com/Nwmp85F.png)
A tremendously heavy steel chandelier. Could severely crush in the right circumstances A very strange thing to wield, and one would need extraordinary strength to do so. Its open center would make it a poor shield against smaller opponents. One wonders what technique would even be used to wield it.
Bash damage:
80+9
Damage resistance:
95% physical
100% fire
Scaling:
-Strength:C
-Dexterity: D
Requires 30 STR, 10 DEX
Condition: 293/300
That strange business done, you walk around the edges of the room, searching for any more potential goodies to disappear into the weird box that could potentially be useful wherever you're headed. Sadly, there's not so much as a loose rock to be found, so you return to the apparition.
"I'm ready now, I think."
(http://i.imgur.com/ACL28Ks.png)
"Good. Now jump into Hell."
"Good, you've arived. Now, there are-"
(http://i.imgur.com/jACa5to.png)
(http://i.imgur.com/BHXRo2l.gif)
You've heard enough from this person for a while. You don't care if she's telling the truth. She just dumped a boatload of weird on your head, and you need a minute to deal with it yourself. First things first, you'll have a look around this place. On your own. You head towards the cliff and notice this place is a bit large for somewhere you fell into from a cave.
(http://i.imgur.com/IZBmV87.png)
Mountains... honest to gods mountains. It's been months since you've seen any. Well, you just landed on one, but seeing them sweep before you... pretty. Makes you feel like a real dwarf. That huge tunnel into the cliff behind you is sounding pretty appealing right now. Except that you somehow feel black-cloak would want you to go that way first, so you decide to take a look down the path to your right. You take a quick breather in the fire circle and head over.
(http://i.imgur.com/fDfZDE5.png)
"Hey. I wouldn't go that way."
(http://i.imgur.com/wgLWKWh.png)
"Not without a light, anyway. Or a friend. Or both, preferably."