Larian Studios Forums Divinity: Original Sin 2 Divinity - Original Sin 2 - General Weapon Differentiation - attack patterns/bonuses

I don't really like the idea of weapons dealing "magic damage" and vice versa.

This is where it gets kind of weird having weapons that deal elemental damage. If I cast a magic fireball, I assume the damage is magical. If my sword deals fire damage, is that magic damage? What if I throw a napalm grenade? What if I walk into a fire?

How is physical vs magical defined?

The game defines magic damage as the elemental: Fire, Earth, Water, air, and I believe Poison (poison is the odd one in this. Then again "Earth damage" is odd as its own damage type anyhow).

Physical damage is Raw and I believe Bleeding damage (but that might be an assumption. Bleeding that is).

So basically anything of the Five Elements (Fire, Earth, Water, Air, Poison) is magic. Everything else is physical.

The idea I had was to develop more the tactical aspect of the game through weapons choice. More emphasis on placement.

Reading the spear description fits my idea. Swords and Axe description, yeah maybe.

The shield should activate a radius around the wielder of the shield which allow him to try to block incoming projectiles that cross the radius. This enchances the "tanking" aspect of the game, which was lackluster in DOS1. Similar to opportunity who gives you only one free attack per turn, you have only one successful block per turn.

As for daggers, I think they should simply have a very close range, and have the opportunist talent built into them (remove opportunist talent). Only when opportunist procs do you get a free critical (opportunist hits hard, which makes you think twice about fleeing a dagger wielding enemy). The rest of the time, daggers do similar damage. I'd get rid of the rogue/warrior dichotomy, I don't think it works well. Dagger is just a style, and its damage is similar to other weapons per default.

"The rest of the time, daggers do similar damage."

Then they are better than ordinary weapons, outright :P

Perhaps daggers primary usefulness should be in finding gaps in between armour. In so doing dealing crippling blows to your opponents to slow them down rather than a high damage output.

No ^^

Spears can pierce through an enemy and hurt another behind, when it happens, it does bonus damage (15 degree cone, twice the range, or 1.5x).
Swords can hit an enemy in a 90 degree cone in front, and do bonus damage to an enemy nearby too, like the spear (but not hitting behind).
Axes do have more critical chances.
Staffes can hit an additional in a 180 degree cone.
Two handed weapons do more damage and have more range, but require more strength or slow your movement down a little. Similar bonuses than one handed weapons for 2H swords and axes.
Daggers have opportunist.

Other than the bonus, weapons do similar damage (but two handed more). One handed weapons can be dualwielded (similar damage than two handed, lesser range but lower requirement and doesn't slow your movement). Or you can equip a shield to get 30%-50% block chance (max 1 successful block per turn, plus one if you weren't the target: intercept).

One handed specialization brings damage close to two handed natural if not dualwielding nor shield.
Two handed specialization gives crit damage bonus.
Dualwielding removes the penalty from dualwielding (natural penalty on both hands or perhaps just the "secondary" hand), so you get similar boost than 2H specialty.
Shield specialization raises your block chance, and if shields slow you down, it removes the slow penalty.

No, I'm not taking this personally. I just happen to have some concerns that I feel are legitimate about how the changes to AP and Attributes have affected the basic role of the Rogue in D:OS 2. D:OS 1 Rogues used a combination of Speed and Dexterity to get in many attacks per turn which were relatively weaker, but added up.

That role is gone now that everyone gets the same amount of AP and uses the same amount. Speed is gone now, so the mobility of Rogues is now different. Will there be mobility buffs to daggers and penalties to heavier weapons? It was discussed, but the forums didn't like that idea because mobility is king. So Rogues probably won't be able to move much farther than other weapon-types.

No speed does mean Rogues no longer have to spend their attribute points onto that, so they can spend elsewhere, so that’s a buff of sorts. Even if it might end up just usually being a FIN/WIT spread for the critical hit bonus.

***

Mages do also have other changes which are of a concern, but that’s a separate issue, and can be discussed separately from Rogues. It’s not a zero-sum thing where a buff to a Rogue means a nerf to a Mage.



Because you didn't suggest mages should suffer from damage reduction while magic armor is up and you did suggest daggers could be "pitiful in taking down Armor HP" for the Rogue. The mage will do the same damage to the magic armor as they do to the HP once its gone, hence 100% effective.

Ahh ok I am glad. Just making sure, you never know on the internet where a argument is heated.

I'll respond later, I didn't get any sleep since my last post and I am kind of fried.

I think the basic idea in the OP is very interesting. It should make the decision about weapon choice for each battle more complex, assuming that action points for changing weapon make a significant dent in total AP for a round.

Here are a few additional/alternative ideas, though they have not been thought through with respect to balance or practicality within the game engine.

Spears and similar long pointed weapons present a problem for attackers with swords, even two-handers. You have to get past the point safely before you can do any damage. So there could be a check which the attacker must pass in order to make a successful attack. Unsuccessful attackers cannot attack until the next round.

Spears can be grounded in the earth. An attacker using a charge ability who fails the check would take significant damage and possibly be held up on the next round as well.

For these, it might be more appropriate to consider the Wits value rather than strength.

Crossbows do not need to fire directly, but at the ranges in a typical DOS battle it would be necessary to fire at an angle greater than 45 degrees, reducing accuracy.

Ordinary bows gain by being easier to aim at close range. Heavy crossbows take longer to load and aim, but can do a lot of damage to armour.

On a slightly different tack, perhaps a high memory value should allow characters to "learn" magic or physical attack actions which are used against them. I rather like the idea of making as many attributes as possible relevant across more classes.

Enough from me for now, I think.