Yet another : Skill Categories

[Peter]

Imagine that it was possible to build training dummies. Presumably, one would be able to attack them and gain LP to spend on combat skills. Now, think about this... If they give you a nice level of LP, then why bother with any other craft when you can just go bash a dummy while AFK until you can buy steelmaking? If they instead gave you very few points, then it would be far easier to learn how to swordfight by building houses.

You see the problem.
Now, look in other fields in the game- such as farming and mining, or woodcutting and fishing. It's evident that some kind of economy wants to be developed, but how can it be done is each player can pretty quickly get themselves everything they need?

Here's my solution to the specialization issue:

Break Learning Points into several classes, potentially Earth/Fire/Water/Air (though I've just taken those for example, and many different classes could work), or some other set. Have each skill require a certain kind of skill class (or even some points from several classes), and have each task earn similar returns.

Consider if mining was an Earth task; each time you mined you would get 10 Earth skill points. If you want to learn Stoneworking, that might cost 200 earth points. Farming, on the other hand, would cost 200 water points. If you just mined and worked metal, you might be able to get a great many earth and fire points, but not get any water and air and so not be able to learn Farming, brewing, and so on, without starting at the very bottom levels of finding herbs or picking apples.

If we call Melee fighting and such fire skills, then doing such tasks as crafting and growing plants will give you points but be worthless to help you learn combat, while fighting a dummy would be perfect!

[Jfloyd]

I actually like this.
Fighting Points could be used for skills.
Then In the Skill list would be a fancy little box with the totals of all your points.
Some skills could require a combination of two types as well.

[Yolan]

Yeah, when I was describing H&H to a friend of mine he thought that a generic LP which could be used to 'buy' any skill was not so interesting.

[hitoshirenu]

We could always go the "Fable" was of getting points-- Combat, Marksman, and Magic were Fable's big EXP pools, along with a General pool that can be used for any practice. We could do something like that, except make it Melee, Marksman, Trade Skills, and General. Since we have nothing reminiscent of Magic as of yet, that would be a closed LP pool.

Here's how I see it:

Melee LP Gains
The following actions would net you Melee LP gain.
Kill/K.O. a target with:
* Blade Weapons (Sword, Dagger, etc.)
* Blunt Weapons (Axe, Hammer, etc.)
* Fist Weapons (Barehanded, Knuckles, etc.)

The "color" numbers for Melee Learning Points would be Red.

Marksman LP Gains
The following actions would net you Marksman LP gain.
Kill/K.O. an enemy with:
* Bow Weapons (Bow, Ranger's Bow, Crossbow, etc.)
Successfully use the "hide" skill (Assuming we ever get one; Stealth and Exploration would fall under the Marksman LP category)
Track a scent to the source

The "color" numbers for Marksman Learning Points would be orange/yellow.

Trade Skill LP Gains
The following skills, when performed, would net you Trade Skill LP gain.
Building/Crafting anything
Morphing Terrain (Plowing, Digging for Clay, Laying Stone, Planting Grass, etc.)

The "color" numbers for Trade Skill LP gains would be green, blue, or purple.

For general LP gain, you would gain LP worth 1/4 or 1/5 any LP gain from skills.
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So, whatcha think? Sure, it's more complicated that way, but it'd be better than just grinding anything and putting your points anywhere.

[Peter]

One key element would that there would be separate categories for different trade skills, so that, for instance, blacksmithing and farming are considered separate trades and thus would encourage specialization and from there would encourage trade.

But yes, that's the basic idea.

[hitoshirenu]

I also like that idea, but I'd take it a step further and make it to where your skill in it affects your success rate in certain actions. Like if you have a 10 in Farming, you'll have less of a chance to harvest 3 seeds than someone with a 25. In terms of relative skill levels, I'd say it would affect the rate by 0.1% per level. So, a level 10 farmer would get a +1% to get 3 seeds, whereas a level 100 farmer would have a +10% chance. Also, tools that would increase the quality/chance would be nice. A shoddy scythe would give like... +2%, whereas a masterwork scythe would give +10%. >_>

[Cejer]

Distinctions in the type of LP earned is part of my (eventually to come) recommendations on changing the combat system. I endorse the idea.

[Yolan]

I would break it down thusly...

(Industry Points - IPs)

(Nature Points - NPs)

(Combat Points - CPs)

Make all skills belong to 'combat' 'nature' or 'industry', with the relevant point types needed to buy them.

So yeah, you couldn't get access to better fighting skills by weaving baskets.

[niltrias]

I would break it down thusly...

(Industry Points - IPs)

(Nature Points - NPs)

(Combat Points - CPs)

Make all skills belong to 'combat' 'nature' or 'industry', with the relevant point types needed to buy them.

So yeah, you couldn't get access to better fighting skills by weaving baskets.

Meh. I was planning to write this exact post. Oh, well. I agree with Yolan completely, except only that a general skill pool that could be spent on anything would also be cool. Or, down the line, some skills could require general skill points. That would make for an interesting dynamic as well.