Non-combat player skills?

[Silenity]

What kind of non-combat skills or talents do you like to give the player, if any at all?


A lot of modern day RPGs are using a a form of thieving, speech, and crafting.

 

[Henryetha]

hmm when I think about my first game.. it has


- Discount/Overcharge (passive to buy cheaper from NPCs/to sell more expensive to NPCs)


- Storage (opens the storage system)


- Item Shop (opens a shop)

 

[Wavelength]

I haven't worked with this too much, outside of some crafting and relationship-building related skills.


But I think that Star Ocean 2 is a really good model for a deep, well-developed (if somewhat imbalanced) set of non-combat skills in a JRPG.  There are more examples in WRPGs (where the gameplay per se tends to be less combat-focused).  The list of Specialties and Super Specialties in SO2 can be found here, although you'd have to look further to find what each one does in-game.

 

[cekobico]

Navigational skills on Map, then?


For example:


> When Actor X is in battle party, everyone is immune to floor damage.


> When Actor X is in battle party, allow party to read hidden clues written in ancient languages (which can be easily evented). 


> When Actor X is in battle party, rocks that obstruct passageways can be broken. 


> When Actor X is in battle party, ice blocks that obstruct passageways can be broken. 


> When Actor X is in battle party, allow opening of locked doors and highlight treasures hidden from sight. 


> When Actor X is in battle party, allow normal movement on slippery tiles.


> When Actor X is in battle party, allow people to dive underwater (which may reveal hidden passageways? )

 

[Anthony Xue]

Essentially, this depends on what elements the game has (and how much additional coding/eventing would be required). You could have skills for:


- Traveling: I mean large-scale traveling with this one, on world maps or even automated traveling. For instance, you could have Pathfinding skill that reveals additional places on the world map as you come along (secret cavern entrances etc.)


- Crafting: allowing for higher quality items to be crafted


- Dialogues: There's room for many skills here. You could allow the player to persuade other characters, intimidate them, tell if they are lying/hiding a secret, make them tell you additional information and so on. Maybe you cannot even talk to the elves at first because you simply don't speak their language. Those could even be used in automated dialogues, which would then branch off depending on the respective skills. Since I come from the western school of RPGs, which are often quite talkative, dialogue skills are some favorites of mine, even though they usually take a lot of work.


- Environment Interaction: This is where I would count most of cekobico's skills to. The opportunities are endless, but all of them require additional eventing. Some of my favorites:

• Languages: Not necessarily for "secret" hints, but I think it adds a lot of atmosphere if the heroes find an old book in the wizard's tower which actually requires knowledge of an old language to read. In this case, the player knows what is lacking and can come back later on with the required skills. (My Temple of Eternity, which is too huge anyway, has something like six additional language skills, although only one of them is required for the main campaign. But if you really want to open the entrance to the crypts of the ancient serpent wizards, you have to speak their language. Hissssss.)
  
• Pick Locks: For locked chests and doors.
  
• Detect / Disarm Traps: Obvious...
  
• Spot Secret Doors: Allows for either hidden treasure rooms or for alternate, less dangerous passages.
  
• Herbalism: Allows you to gain more herbs (usually for crafting) when picking some up from an event.
  

That's all I can think of right now. But in general, whenever there's a certain major game element, there's the potential for skills. A game with lots of unicorns could easily have skills which enable you to catch and ride unicorns. The one thing I have learned not to do is including skills which are not really relevant in the game, just because they sound cool to have.

 

[primeless]

What kind of non-combat skills or talents do you like to give the player, if any at all?


A lot of modern day RPGs are using a a form of thieving, speech, and crafting.

From "leadership" to add someone to your party to "invisibility" to avoid encounters. 


Barter, thief, robery are so classic that they are almost a must. 


Summon and add a brutal demon to your party for some time or for some price...


I really like out of combat skills, specially if they are creative. 


Laying, crying, seduce...


The list is endless. Just make sure to be somehow original