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[Creature 1]

Also does anyone here own horses?? I imagine there's some serious expense in keeping them fed while traveling, plus shoes and tack. Maybe wild horses can live on grass, but they spend most of their time eating, while when the party's traveling they'll cover maybe 30 miles a day without much grazing time.

[Sialater]

You would have to carry feed. Horses can't live on just grass. They'll get sick.

[TanithAeyrs]

Creature 1 wrote...

Also does anyone here own horses?? I imagine there's some serious expense in keeping them fed while traveling, plus shoes and tack. Maybe wild horses can live on grass, but they spend most of their time eating, while when the party's traveling they'll cover maybe 30 miles a day without much grazing time.

Have four horses now and I have had horses most of my life.  Just grass is fine if they aren't working, but to get serious use out of them they will have to supplement grain or the horses will loose weight and not have enough energy to keep going.  Thirty miles a day is reasonable if no one is wearing plate mail.  Heavy loads will slow things down considerably.  With a light load today's endurance horses can cover 100 miles in 10-12 hours, but they aren't going to be useful for much the next day.  My own horses can cover 20-30 miles a day in the mountains with a moderate load - rider, saddle, saddlebags or a pack saddle with approx 200 lbs - dead weight is much harder on them than a rider.  Grazing quality also varies depending on where you are at -  in the mountains in the northwestern US our grass is very rich and you don't have to carry too much feed to supplement (2-3 lbs/ horse per day).  In the southern US the nutrient quality of the grass is very poor so much more supplementation is needed. 

With heavy use shoes will need to be reset approximately every 4 weeks and presumably someone in the party is skilled enough to reset a lost shoe or the horse will not be rideable until a blacksmith is found.  Party members should be able to do basic tack repairs if they can repair their own armor but the initial purchase price might be considerable depending on what they buy.  hope this helps.

[DragonRacer13]

Ah, yes, game mechanics.

I try to stay true to the game, but also try and bend it to believability, too. For example, my rogue is going to get the ranger ability, but like someone mentioned earlier, it's not going to be where a wolf is magically summoned from nothingness. I'm actually thinking out a somewhat complex way to make it happen: since she's going to learn the ability from Lanaya's Dalish clan, my thought is that some wolves have been "domesticated" by the various Dalish tribes across Ferelden (sort of a play on how dogs were originally domesticated by man). She'll learn a special whistling call and, when performed, if there's a Dalish-"trained" wolf in the area, it will come assist in a fight. But it's a roll of the dice because she could very well do the whistle and nothing happens because there aren't any in the area.

I kind of like the challenge of making crazy in-game things kinda-sorta-maybe work in FF. Like how activating dirty fighting, in-game it looks like your rogue just waves a hand in front of the enemy's face. In FF, I have my rogue slam the butt of her fist and dagger pommel into the enemy's face... there, have some stun-worthy dirty fighting! lol

But there are some issues so confusing that I just don't bring them up. Like the horses deal. I'm also thinking of avoiding any mention of where people draw their weapons from. I mean, didn't you typically wear your sword in a scabbard on your hip and not levitating across your back?

[Maria13]

One of my rogues [female] pulled down her splint mail as a distraction technique.

[DragonRacer13]

Maria13 wrote...

One of my rogues [female] pulled down her splint mail as a distraction technique.

That's excellent!

[Creature 1]

DragonRacer13 wrote...
I'm also thinking of avoiding any mention of where people draw their weapons from. I mean, didn't you typically wear your sword in a scabbard on your hip and not levitating across your back?

But if you wear it levitating across your back it saves having to lug the heavy thing around everywhere!    Across the back is ok, but it would be in a baldric, not levitating.  But I think baldrics might have been more as a "lugging it around" solution instead of a "rapid-draw" solution, so YMMV.  

[Creature 1]

TanithAeyrs wrote...

Creature 1 wrote...

Also does anyone here own horses?? I imagine there's some serious expense in keeping them fed while traveling, plus shoes and tack. Maybe wild horses can live on grass, but they spend most of their time eating, while when the party's traveling they'll cover maybe 30 miles a day without much grazing time.

Have four horses now and I have had horses most of my life.  Just grass is fine if they aren't working, but to get serious use out of them they will have to supplement grain or the horses will loose weight and not have enough energy to keep going.  Thirty miles a day is reasonable if no one is wearing plate mail.  Heavy loads will slow things down considerably.  With a light load today's endurance horses can cover 100 miles in 10-12 hours, but they aren't going to be useful for much the next day.  My own horses can cover 20-30 miles a day in the mountains with a moderate load - rider, saddle, saddlebags or a pack saddle with approx 200 lbs - dead weight is much harder on them than a rider.  Grazing quality also varies depending on where you are at -  in the mountains in the northwestern US our grass is very rich and you don't have to carry too much feed to supplement (2-3 lbs/ horse per day).  In the southern US the nutrient quality of the grass is very poor so much more supplementation is needed. 

With heavy use shoes will need to be reset approximately every 4 weeks and presumably someone in the party is skilled enough to reset a lost shoe or the horse will not be rideable until a blacksmith is found.  Party members should be able to do basic tack repairs if they can repair their own armor but the initial purchase price might be considerable depending on what they buy.  hope this helps.

Thank you, that's very helpful.  I guess they'll be mostly without horses then.  And if I'm going to make Alistair walk everywhere I think he'll need lighter armor!   I never really thought of the practicality of hiking in plate armor before.  

[nos_astra]

Am I the only one who decided to toss the distinction rogue/warrior out of the window?
I also got rid of most of the armour and found out that longswords were commonly held with both hands, so the Warden Commander armour is only a cuirass in my story, worn over a hauberk when riding into battle and Starfang is a two-hander.

*shrug* I also "fixed" the mages powers a bit by adding lyrium poisoning to the mix (which makes blood mages more powerful than regular mages). I also made healing a bit more complicated, my mages now need some knowledge in anatomy.

Modifié par klarabella, 11 octobre 2010 - 05:03 .

[FutileSine]

 @Tanith - Haha, I was wondering if you were going to answer that question...Thanks so much for typing that up!  That information will definitely be useful later on.   Oh...and umm...any word on when a new chapter is going to be up?  
@Creature.  Wow.  I had no idea such a thing as a "baldric "  existed.  Interesting....and definitely filing that away.

[jackkel dragon]

DragonRacer13 wrote...

I kind of like the challenge of making crazy in-game things kinda-sorta-maybe work in FF. Like how activating dirty fighting, in-game it looks like your rogue just waves a hand in front of the enemy's face. In FF, I have my rogue slam the butt of her fist and dagger pommel into the enemy's face... there, have some stun-worthy dirty fighting! lol

I actually have Dirty Fighting in my FF too (1-2 times.) One time was flinging mud into someone's face, but the other was stolen right from the game: magically conjuring sand to throw into someone's eyes. (Kind of like the sand throw ability in AC2. Except that stuns up to five enemies.)

[Sialater]

klarabella wrote...

Am I the only one who decided to toss the distinction rogue/warrior out of the window?
I also got rid of most of the armour and found out that longswords were commonly held with both hands, so the Warden Commander armour is only a cuirass in my story, worn over a hauberk when riding into battle and Starfang is a two-hander.

*shrug* I also "fixed" the mages powers a bit by adding lyrium poisoning to the mix (which makes blood mages more powerful than regular mages). I also made healing a bit more complicated, my mages now need some knowledge in anatomy.

I stole from another RPG and had my mage bargain with spirits in the Fade to bring Zev back from near death.  (Deadlands, if you're curious.)

Dirty fighting is usually also a hit below the belt.

Modifié par Sialater, 11 octobre 2010 - 05:17 .

[TanithAeyrs]

@Futile - I'm about half done with the next chapter, but this month has been a bit crazy - I came up with tickets to WEG (world equestrian games) at the last minute so I was in Kentucky the first weekend of the month, came back and went on call, I'm leaving tomorrow for a veterinary conference and will be gone a week, then home and back on call again. I hope to work on the new chapter some more today, but I have to pack too (and catch up on about 10 pages of Zev thread that I've missed).



About game mechanics, well, I try to include them where they seem logical and rational but I try to find a real world explaination for why they work (e.g. dirty fighting - dirt in opponents eyes or a quick kick in a delicate area). I do use ranger ablities as kind of a natural gift with animals combined with a compelling mental call to a creature (but the critter has to be close enough to come- even in game I don't summon creatures in the deep roads). I treat the assassin abilities as the result of a blood magic ritual and I don't use scattershot in my fic (or very often in game). I do use lyrium addiction as a limiter on mage abilites and I require some real world healing/ physical therapy if a mage is unable to mend and injury imediately (also healing causes fatigue in the person being healed as well as the mage - seems logical - the cellular resources still have to come from somewhere). I do blur the line a bit between class skills - a mage can learn to be stealthy - they will just never be as skilled a rogue who can invest more time into developing the skill. My characters use baldrics for their weapons and for quick draw my rogues each have a stiletto hidden in a wrist sheath. My characters do use horses when appropriate but they do have some problems with them - not all horses are well broke and easy to deal with, nor are all of them appropriate to long distance travel.



I guess I like to have resonable explainations for things, not just - "well it's magic." And I have put a lot of time into developing the rules of magic for a fantasy world that I made up for my own writing - doing that has made me think alot about believablity and logical consequences.

[LupusYondergirl]

Horses: I gave them some in the postgame, but they had come into a chunk of cash by then. Up until that point only Maggie had a horse, and that was only because Alistair gave it to her.

Game mechanics: I tend to follow book mechanics for mage combat more than the game, since (believe it or not) the game mages are gimped compared to book mages who can bust a hole straight through a man in armor with one lightning bolt.
I added lyrium addiction and also that lyrium would have an alcohol-like effect in large quantities, which is why just chugging gallons in battle is Bad.

Most of the arcane warrior mages wear leathers in my fic since going from cloth robes to plate was a bit much for most of them, and I think the mindset of 'soft squishy mage on the back lines' would translate easier to rogue style fighting than front lines tank.

I have ditched most of the skills that seem a bit too magicy for non-mages.

I've also changed healing quite a bit, but it seemed a bit too "world without consequences" to me. So I've made it that healers can't correct blood loss (since if they could magic up blood why would blood mages use their own to begin with).
A ****ty healer, like Maggie, might be able to handle minor injuries. But she would end up causing scarring at best, but someone would actually need to be a good healer to fix something like massive combat trauma, and even then it might be a few days to recover. (which, again, fits more with book-lore than game mechanics). The whole "one spell for everything" seemed too simple.
I also figured healers would have training beyond spells, in anatomy, medical conditions, things like that. So more of "magic doctor" than anything.

I made the templars much more powerful than they are in game. In game a holy smite drains mana and gives spirit damage equal to mana lost. But it wears off, like, immediately. It seems like that wouldn't be very useful when trying to take down an apostate who could just keep running until they could cast spells again. So it's much more debilitating and long lasting in my fics.

And I also made it so anti-magic wards (like you see in the circle tower by the door to the phylactary chamber) are used by templars to subdue mages in their custody.

Hm... I think that's the majority of it.

Modifié par LupusYondergirl, 11 octobre 2010 - 06:49 .

[Sandtigress]

My take on healing with mages - most fantasy settings suggest that healing is draining not only on the mage but also on the person being healed. In some cases it takes bodily resources to power the healing, essentially normal healing but sped up.

We know from a few statements by Anders at least that some people can be beyond healing - Mhairi's friend in the Vigil who dies before you confront the Disciple at the beginning comes directly to mind. We also know from the books that Fiona was capable of healing a lot of injuries, some very serious, but all of it pretty immediately.



So my thoughts are something like it depends on how much strength the person in question and the mage have - a mage is capable of healing very serious injuries shortly after they happen, or minor ones much longer after they happen but as the patient weakens so also do the chances of being able to heal them. Too much healing and the process could possibly even kill the patient by pulling too much of their remaining energy from them, or just render the process ineffectual as there is no more energy to draw on from that person, even with the mage powering some of the healing process him or herself.

I haven't actually written it yet so it will probably require some fine-tuning in practice, but that's the gist of how it works in my head.

[LupusYondergirl]

You're right about Fiona. I was thinking about Maric in the first book more, when he had his shoulder and chest healed but was still off his feet for a few days.

'sup inconsistencies!

[Sandtigress]

Lupus - see, that's why I invoke patient condition into the mix. Maric was injured for a time while they got him to the healer, right? So as his condition weakens, the healer is able to do less for him, leaving him incapacitated longer. Fiona did most of her healing very shortly after the wounds were received (usually immediately) so her magic was more effective. Or so I tell myself. The healer's own talent and power probably make a difference as well - maybe they can contribute more to the healing process than a weaker mage who relies more on the energies of the person they're healing.

[Creature 1]

 I haven't sorted out my healing completely.  I think Spirit Healers get a boost in being able to heal with less effort and more thoroughness (less scarring), and able to heal more severe injuries.  I don't make knowledge of anatomy necessary, the magic does that itself by just aiming for as close to "normal" as possible.  I figure the Maker was nice enough to make a metaphysical blueprint for each creature that the healing spell refers to.    I don't allow healing of disease (do not get gangrene) or poisoning, at least not without assistance from beyond the Veil that isn't normally available even to Spirit Healers (your spiritual ally better be really good at this).  

Modifié par Creature 1, 11 octobre 2010 - 07:21 .

[LupusYondergirl]

I've made it more specific than that. Like, say someone had a punctured lung, the healer would need to make sure they fixed the internal damage first before healing the damage to skin and muscle, or the patient would keep bleeding internally. But I figured healers would be used for things where magic isn't really part of the process, or can't do much- like assisting with childbirth. At least a basic anatomical knowledge would help there.

But I also made it so being a healer is extremely draining and difficult, as well as being high in demand (among, say, nobles and the wealthy who would pay the Circle to have a healer assigned to their household), which is why not every mage just picks up a few spells to supplement whatever their normal specialty is.

So, in my fic, while Maggie as a primal mage might be able to literally level a small town by herself, Anders is actually just as powerful as her, if not more, since his specialty is so much more draining. Although making healing more difficult and energy intensive than primal was really just to bring Maggie down a few pegs, since she's such a human tornado.

I also made it so mages all have a sort of innate affinity for one school over another and are encouraged to go in that direction once the senior enchanters determine where their natural abilities fall.

But, they all usually have one primal spell that they would default to if too angry/scared/panicked/distracted/etc to properly conjure a decent spell. Usually whatever spell it was they cast by accident as a child to out themselves as a mage, and the same spell they would fall to if they go off by mistake.

...Although no one catches that in my fic. It's got such an intense anti-Circle/Chantry slant since it's all in 1st person POV and the main character has that slant. So I made it that these people freaking GO OFF BY MISTAKE ON OCCASION, just to balance that and add an element of "hm, that does seem really, really dangerous to have someone like that wandering around." Not like, pass the coffee, boom your hair is on fire. More like I'm really angry at you/don't sneak up on me jerkass!/holy maker this is the best sex ever could lead to boom your hair is on fire. Oops.

Modifié par LupusYondergirl, 11 octobre 2010 - 07:49 .

[jackkel dragon]

LupusYondergirl wrote...
holy maker this is the best sex ever could lead to boom your hair is on fire.

Just what I needed as I start to write an essay on the European Witch Hunts....

[Miri1984]

I've got it so that most mages give off a kind of background hum - from their connection to the fade - that only other mages and Templars can sense. BUT there are ways of repressing it - it just takes a lot of discipline so most mages don't bother. Apostates and Malificarum have to learn how to suppress their magic and stop accidental "firings" but circle mages and wardens don't have to bother.

[LupusYondergirl]

Yes! I have something like that too. I've never been so specific, just that somehow mages can sense other mages (see: Wynne or Morrigan in party when you meet the hermit in the forest on the Dalish quest), and Templars can sense mages as well (Anders "The big 'I'm a Mage' sign comment.")

I like the connection to the fade aspect as explanation, though.

[Sarah1281]

So, question: People have to know that Katriel existed as she was hanging around Maric for quite some time and gave them the bad information that led to a massacre. Do we know what Loghain and Maric told people about why she was suddenly out of the picture? Do we just assume that they said that she died somewhere?

[Maria13]

I too, run with the basic distinction between healers and destructo mages, and yes, the training is different. That is not to say that there is not a small overlap, destructo mages can perform minor healing spells and healers minor offensive spells (more of the entropy kind rather than flash bang). I guess there are mages who are equally adept but like true ambidexterous swordfighters they are going to be few and far between...

[Maria13]

In my FF Alistair knows his dad killed Katriel (and despises him for it) so I guess in my universe it was "she was a traitor so we executed her..."