Larian Studios Forums Divinity General Discussion What races are planned for Divinity and party size? Expecting more or less?

I'm curious what races will be in Divinity and how they will fit into the new Divinity. Larian have not demonstrated yet info on this so I realize it's just guesses.

I'd love to see some of the common fantasy types not really fleshed out (at least in OS 2) . I'd love to see the introduction of gnome and halfling to their Human, Dwarf, Elf, Lizard) as well as 1/2 varients of all plus orcs.
Though I love the open skills-based abilities and imagine they will keep that going, there could be some benefits to each race as well.

1. Stealth (Gnome and Halfling)
2. Speed (elves)
3. Strength (Orcs/Lizards)
4. Persuasion (humans, elves)
etc.
etc.

They may get some starting benefits, but skills can be trained by any race. This may be unpopular by some who think all races should be mirror images of each other, but I think it adds interesting capabilities that will encourage people to try multiple types in their parties. Otherwise, if there is no difference why have different races at all (other than origin stories which of course is a good reason if only relying on that).

Party Size
Please at least have 5 characters instead of 4. It will allow you to have a custom character + enjoy the banter and origin stories of 4 characters in your party.
Also allows you to have one different character that brings unique but less used skills because if you only have 4 most people will simply train up Tank, Ranged, Magic, Rogue. We might with 5 have some wiggle room to have non standard builds that add flavor.

Well... Going from Divinity lore:

The 7 Gods who made mortal races in their image provide the following:

- Eternals (The race of the Gods)
- Humans (Created by Rhalic)
- Dwarves (Created by Duna)
- Elves (Created by Tir-Cendelius)
- Lizards (Created by Zori-Stissa)
- Orcs (Created by Vrogir)
- Imps (Created by Xantezza)
- Wizards (Worshippers of Amadia)

Though, technically "Wizard" isn't a race, they are a group made up of other races that have magical powers as Amadia didn't want to create her own race.

Outside of these races, there is note of others within existing games:

- Dragons (And Dragon-Elves)
- Goblins
- Trolls
- Halflings
- Ranaar (Weird blue aliens from another planet)

So far, we see most of the main races represented in DOS2 and the current trailer (Which depicts Orcs). With only Imps not being very prominent given the discrimination against them and their ties to Demons.

Dragons, Trolls and Ranaar are unlikely to be playable races for obvious reasons. Dragons are ridiculously OP and also pretty sizable. Trolls are massive too (And ridiculously stupid). Ranaar don't make sense in most Rivellon based stories.

Goblins and Halflings could be a thing. Though Goblins tend to be used as low level enemy fodder more so than a proper race to be accepted by main factions (And while yes, they did let you play as an Eternal in DOS2 it was under the context of you supposed to use the Faceripper or a hood to hide your face so as to not be attacked). Halflings would require a lot of work to write into the lore, they've been mentioned to exist but there has been otherwise no information about them and having them suddenly pop up and no-one batting an eye would be jarring.

Dragon-elves could maybe be a thing too. Though again it would be reliant on writing them into the lore sufficiently to make sense.


Ugh... Please no.

At this point I'm tired of half-races. Especially when it's always "Half-human" and often meaning we get some crappy humanized version of a race instead of the actual unique race with their unique culture and physiology.

It also doesn't make much sense biologically. Literally, these races are created from compltely unique origins. There's absolutely 0 reason why cross-breeding would exist.


Appearances?
Dialogue options?
NPC interactions?

There's a lot more to racial diversity than shoehorning in statistical differences that only really serve to limit creativity by pushing certain builds onto certain races.

So say nothing about having fixed statistical differences makes a mockery of the very nature of individuality. Literally in real life, humans aren't just one single statistical group. You get some people who are smarter, some people who are more charismatic, some people who are stronger etc.

The very nature of diversity means that you will get variations. Which would preclude all races having equal stats, then you as a player decide how to distribute things based on your specific character. Meaning you're not stuck because you wanted to make an Elf who was naturally hardier than most other elves but less agile because some random designer decided that literally no elf can ever be anything but frail and agile...


With that logic, why not a party of 6 so you can have 5 origin stories? Why not 100 so you can have 99 origin stories?

Personally, I'd err towards a lower limit. Like 3-4. As it opens up more balance oportunities for more options. Whereby going solo is more feasible or only taking 1 companion.

The higher the upper limit, the more the game balance revolves around having this large party and the less of an option it is to go with just 1-2 companions you really like - At least, without game warpingly OP perks like DOS2's Lone Wolf.

Also, a lower limit means more replayability. Since instead of just taking all however many Origin companions along with you all the time, you instead are limited so you have to play through multiple runs to see all their stories play out.

I'm generally not a big fan of the whole Pokemon-esk "Gotta Catch 'em All" approach to companions, where you just bring everyone along all the time, so that everyone has their impact watered down because they're only a fraction of the party.

I'd much rather have fewer party members, but each person has more impact on the game and story. More unique interactions with NPC's, more scenes where they take the spotlight, more specific inter-personal relations (Not just a few lines of banter here and there, but actual interactions like scenes where companions interact with each other, changes in how companions interact over time, effects of decisions they make in how other companions see them etc.)


I mean... That depends a whole lot on how the mechanics will play out.

DOS2 had a more freeform approach to roles. Mostly due to the shallowness of individual skill lines... Like even if you went "Tank" or "Ranged" or "Rogue" you'd max out your Warfare/Huntsman/Scoundrel lines pretty quickly and would end up picking up some magic skills for support (As well as access some split skill abilities)

To say nothing about how in BG3 the concept of "Roles" is largely irrelevant. Any party can function just fine. You don't need a "Tank" or a "Ranged" or a "Magic" or a "Rogue" and you'll rarely ever even notice if you lack any of them (Really the only thing I can recall off the top of my head is the Avatar of Myrkul fight, where having a tank to sit on the platform and get attacked by the bosses melee attacks can be preferable to him spamming his ranged AoE skills)

If combat isn't designed around having a specific set-up then there's no pressure on players to build for it outside them WANTING to do that.

There are halflings in Divinity lore? I hope, we can play as one. And wouldn't it be a great opportunity to give us the promised, but scratched from BG3 halfling companion, Larian?

The playable races should depend on the story. Some races may not make sense then. I don't know how an Imp would fit into it for example. If the trailer has a meaning and the uncommon concord of the races shown (Orcs were only enemies in earlier Divinity titles) does play a role in the story, all these races should be playable. Personally I need one playable race, Humans (although in DOS 2 I played as an Elf), but others might have much higher expectations.

It may be an unpopular sight, but I prefer a group of 4. It is more difficult to balance combat with bigger groups and it is for me, as single-player-only player, of course easier to learn and play 4 classes/roles than 5 or 6. In BG 3 I was not able despite several trials to get a satisfying gameplay with more than 4 chars in the party. It always felt too difficult or (mostly) too easy. In the end I played with 4 with the difficulty mods installed to justify 5 party members.

Theoretically, there's always the potential to use Origins as a way to enable some different races.

It would take a lot of work, basically making a new storyline for each race (At least initially, there might be a converging mid-point where all storylines merge).

But you could technically, create Origin characters that are customizable, but locked to a specific race. Thus they can enter the story in a way that makes sense. Having like a unique Prologue and Act 1 that sets them up.

Not too unlike Dragon Age: Origins prologues, which were unique based on race (Dwarves had their own pair of prologues) and class (Mages had their own prologue)

The more work put into such Origins and thus how much they diverge from the Blank Slate start will determine how unique the race will feel in the story.

Of course, the caveat is that you might upset Blank Slate enjoyers that want to play a certain race and headcanon something completely antithetical to the actual story, universe and overall lore...

But honestly, having a unique Origin story for many (If not all) races would be ideal, in order to provide more depth to characters. But I'm apparently strange in my like of characters that have ties to the world given Larian's constant use of the Blankest of Blank Slates for their games (With even their "Origin" characters going through the most generic possible starts because they all need to end up in your party 0.2 femtoseconds after the game begins)