The starting categories of squire, hunter, merchant and novice priest don't have any effect on the game. I think a simple way to add more flavor to the game world would be to use these so they do make a difference.
I was just playing a new character, a hunter and I had got a scale armor as part of the loot for killing some deserters. I considered using it instead of my rawhide coat but decided to stay in character so I didn't. A young hunter just turned amateur adventurer wouldn't pick up and wear the first plate armor he happened to find. Neither would a priest just out of the monastery start swinging a bastard sword. That gave me my first idea. Limit the quality of armor, weapons and also skills depending on your level, your status and your fame.
At the start different classes would be limited to pretty limited selection of items. A hunter could have a rawhide coat and similar armors, at the most a khergit armor. He'd also be limited to simple weapons (axes, spears, clubs) with a chipped nordic or broad sword at best. Bows would be pretty much unlimited. Hunting skills (pathfinding, tracking) would be unlimited, but non-hunter skills (leadership, surgery, trade) would be limited. A priest would be limited to different kinds of staffs and the priest's robes. His skills would be unlimited in healing skills, but limited in combat skills (power strike, power draw). The merchant would have good quality leather armors at the maximum, good horses, basic swords but no maces, lances, khergit bows. He'd have unlimited trade but be limited in tracking, pathfinding, healing skills... etc.
Eventually your choice of items could go up in one of two ways.
The first idea is that it's dependent on your level. A hunter going up to level 10 would get access to better swords and squire type starting armors. A squire could by the level learn how to use a khergit bow or a long bow.
The second system which I prefer is that it's dependent on events in the game like completing quests. If you join any army (Vaegir or Swadian) you become a soldier so obviously you get access to basic soldier weaponry whatever your class.
Other quests could be created for non-squire characters to become nobles. They would be difficult quests or a series of quests. Once you completed it you would get access to all the squire weapons - a courser (though the merchant would have access to it before), maces, two-handed swords, and things like that. You could have several levels of nobility (squire, noble, lord, baron) which each give you access to better weapons.
Or the other way around a squire, merchant or priest could meet a hunter type NPC mentor in the woods somewhere. He would offer to teach you the ways of the woods. After completing the quest you would become a hunter, with the use of advanced bows and other special hunter skills/items. Obviously a squire becoming a hunter would lose his noble status and the noble weapons and items - you only have one class at a time.
This isn't very well thought out I know but it is an idea. If any of you likes the idea and wants to develop it or has suggestions you're more than welcome.
The problem that has stopped me from doing it myself is that I don't know where the player starting class is coded. It might not actually mean anything in the game. Anybody know about this?
I was just playing a new character, a hunter and I had got a scale armor as part of the loot for killing some deserters. I considered using it instead of my rawhide coat but decided to stay in character so I didn't. A young hunter just turned amateur adventurer wouldn't pick up and wear the first plate armor he happened to find. Neither would a priest just out of the monastery start swinging a bastard sword. That gave me my first idea. Limit the quality of armor, weapons and also skills depending on your level, your status and your fame.
At the start different classes would be limited to pretty limited selection of items. A hunter could have a rawhide coat and similar armors, at the most a khergit armor. He'd also be limited to simple weapons (axes, spears, clubs) with a chipped nordic or broad sword at best. Bows would be pretty much unlimited. Hunting skills (pathfinding, tracking) would be unlimited, but non-hunter skills (leadership, surgery, trade) would be limited. A priest would be limited to different kinds of staffs and the priest's robes. His skills would be unlimited in healing skills, but limited in combat skills (power strike, power draw). The merchant would have good quality leather armors at the maximum, good horses, basic swords but no maces, lances, khergit bows. He'd have unlimited trade but be limited in tracking, pathfinding, healing skills... etc.
Eventually your choice of items could go up in one of two ways.
The first idea is that it's dependent on your level. A hunter going up to level 10 would get access to better swords and squire type starting armors. A squire could by the level learn how to use a khergit bow or a long bow.
The second system which I prefer is that it's dependent on events in the game like completing quests. If you join any army (Vaegir or Swadian) you become a soldier so obviously you get access to basic soldier weaponry whatever your class.
Other quests could be created for non-squire characters to become nobles. They would be difficult quests or a series of quests. Once you completed it you would get access to all the squire weapons - a courser (though the merchant would have access to it before), maces, two-handed swords, and things like that. You could have several levels of nobility (squire, noble, lord, baron) which each give you access to better weapons.
Or the other way around a squire, merchant or priest could meet a hunter type NPC mentor in the woods somewhere. He would offer to teach you the ways of the woods. After completing the quest you would become a hunter, with the use of advanced bows and other special hunter skills/items. Obviously a squire becoming a hunter would lose his noble status and the noble weapons and items - you only have one class at a time.
This isn't very well thought out I know but it is an idea. If any of you likes the idea and wants to develop it or has suggestions you're more than welcome.
The problem that has stopped me from doing it myself is that I don't know where the player starting class is coded. It might not actually mean anything in the game. Anybody know about this?
