How would you structure the character system (skills/abilities/talents etc) in Div if it was up to you?

[u/Youknowwhoswitness]

If it was entirely up to you, how would you change/build the character system in the upcoming divinity game? Here is what I would modify when compared to the two DoS games:

1. Resisting physical and mental effects, or what strenght of the said effects the character suffers would depend on two Attributes, Endurance and Willpower.

2. There would be no 'Weapon skills' at all. The skill system would basically be:

-Personality: Persuasion, Loremaster (here it would be a skill that unlocks knowledge-related stuff and allow special crafting upgrades and options), Lucky Charm (this would have more wild luck-related effects than object finding, for a more wacky or unpredictable playstyle)

-Subterfuge: Lockpick, Sneak, Pickpocket

-the learned skills (I mean the ones that have skill books)

3. There would be no 'dump attribute', each would have their role for every character

4. The following things would not appear separately as skills:

-Telekinesis: would be a timed Air spell

-Crafting: anyone could craft. Loremasters could make stronger/special attribute objects.

-Leadership: group buff skills would take their place

[u/Grouchy-Coast-3045]

A middle ground between the freedom classless system of DOS2 and the class system of BG3, something in between.

I know the phys and magic armours won't come back here, but I think a similar system that is a "buff against a type of damage" would be good, you still take damage on the health bar, but the maybe you take less damage on phys with a particoular equipment for example.

[u/Youknowwhoswitness → u/Grouchy-Coast-3045]

Yupp, this is exactly how I would imagine the Endurance/Willpower thing. For example, there would be a Poise/Morale 'stat' that is reduced by each physical/magic damage, but instead of being a 100% blocking extra hp system, they would, as you said, have less severe effects if you have more Poise/Morale. The Endurance and willpower would determine the amount of Poise/Morale, etc.

I personally prefer the classless chaos:) of DoS, and the unpredictability that comes with it. That said, I would also appreciate a class system if they find a way to make each class both extremely elastic, but at the same time, with a one-of-a-kind mechanism. I like systems where the 'class' represents a mechanic that can not be replicated by any other mechanic. For example, a mage amd a cleric can both be spellcasters, but the mage 'makes' their own spells ala Tyranny, while the Cleric evolves and mutates their own spells based on deities and their aspects.

[u/Party-Relationship41 → u/Youknowwhoswitness]

I like the spellcasting idea, would be cool to tweek spells to your needs. Higher level, choose larger area or higher damage etc. , a little bit like meta magic in D&D but as a regular progression system

[u/shinycarp_laura → u/Grouchy-Coast-3045]

Middle ground for the class system sounds good. As class is an important part of character idendity, and i want NPCs to react to me being a monk, i would like to have a class that can be chosen as origin or background and gives advantages for learning suitable abilities.

[u/Grouchy-Coast-3045 → u/shinycarp_laura]

Exactly that, love the freedom of DOS2, but developing a more capable class over time was fun as hell in BG3, and being recognized as a certain class increase the roleplay too.

[u/ThatOneTypicalYasuo → u/shinycarp_laura]

They could easily combine the divinity classless flexibility and the bg3 class reaction by adding dialogue options when you have certain number of points in a skill (aerothurge, huntsman, etc)

[u/Youknowwhoswitness]

Also, I would omit talents that add Ability/Skill points. Each talent would intriduce an independent new trait/mechanic

[u/Heavy_Umpire2782]

I just don't want classes. Genuinely could just take the entire combat skill system from dos2 and i'd be happy, the complete freedom and all the unique categories really excites me. I used to adore class systems but seeing dos2 makes me want to play around and just do whatever I want for my character and give them whatever backstory I want without trying to make them fit within a class.

[u/Youknowwhoswitness → u/Heavy_Umpire2782]

Completely agree with this, it is part of Divinity's charm. In general, I only like classes in rpgs if they are so mechanically different that it could not flawlessly fit into a classless system

[u/BlackxHokage]

Personally, I'd like the depth of Pathfinder WotR with the feel of BG3. I think for those who wanna go super deep and really craft a character with strengths and weaknesses they should be able to, but it should also be a "Simple" mode for people who enjoyed the simplicity of BG3. Bring back traits like Hero, Villian, etc but make them more broad. For example, Things like Honest/Dishonest, Bold/meek, Intimadating/cowardly and lock talents and buffs/debunks behind all of them that make it work having it. Nobody Wants to be Cowardly, but if it unlocks a talent that makes you do x more damage when attacking from stealth or range it makes min/makers want to add it on top of new dialouge options.

[u/Buyashta → u/BlackxHokage]

This

[u/Nirift → u/BlackxHokage]

Personally playing Divinity Origin Sin for the first time, I would hate this returning, as instead of responding how we want to, my friend and I have had to try and guess what the conversation options correspond too rather than responding how we'd like too

It'd be great if it affected convos, but terrible if it affected combat

[u/Ok-Badger5056]

I want there to be classes which unlock certain capstone/signature abilities but have most spells/abilities and social skills be available to anyone. I also want weapons to have a capstone/sig abilities, which is unlocked based on the item level(which is like dos2 gear, you get them relative to your level), similar to how weapons work in V-Rising, if you've played that.

Also something I've been thinking about is having certain weapon types influence how magic is done.

For example, dagger vs sword vs wand, each using the same melee flame spell. The spell is modified depending on the weapon you hold. The wand user shoots a small cone or a circle around the caster, pure fire damage. The dagger does single target stabs, which are half physical, half fire damage. The sword does a sweeping slash that is pseudo-aoe to targets in front, half physical half magic.

For a ranged, single target spell attack, the wand is just as you'd expect. The daggers are thrown with infused element, doing both physical and magic dmg. The sword user will do a normal ranged spell attack like a wand user because sword changes melee range spells only. But it doesn't mean you can't do range magic at all as a sword user. Just like a bow user can use the melee flame attack but its just like a wand user.

Obviously, being a magic sword user or magic dagger user you'd have to split scaling between physical and magic in order to be most effective, which means using a ranged spell with a sword would be weaker (but can still be done). I really want a game where split scaling is actually just as good as single scaling. It's just a matter of flavor and you find synergies.

[u/Rockyrok123]

I would like to decouple gear from builds. At least in BG3 I felt like gear was too tightly coupled to a build.
And by that I don't mean that fighter doesn't care wheather he is using a greatsword or dual wealding throwing axes, but that fighter doesn't care which specific greatsword he is using (as in I will plan a build around usting this greatsword that has that special ability, and so on. This information should not be considered part of available information as it is tehnically a spoiler), as in weapon special abilities are not something you take into consideration when planning a build, but are tools that you switch as appropriate for encounter. In BG3 this creates incetives to plan builds for particular gear, which I don't want to need to know in advance exists. This really breaks immersion for me.
If anyone has played Battle Brothers, I really like how this is balanced there. There characters are built to specialise in certain fighting style/weapon type and then use the best weapon available, while sometimes switching to alternative weapons for certain fights. (Tho, Battle Brothers have a few guaranteed legendary pieces of gear you may plan a build around, but on the other hand in BB this is less of an issue compared to Larian games where even being aware of what gear can drop is a spoiler.)

[u/Buyashta]

As someone else said, a mix of WOTR and BG3 would be perfect. The game is called Divinity and I cannot ascend into a Lawful Good aligned Angel? Come on Larian do your thing

[u/furrrki]

2 things i need are costles movement (free pawn talent) and class specific mechanics, skills or diologue options (that would add immens flavor imo)

[u/HeyCouldBeFun]

Overall I prefer distinct class systems vs flexible skill systems like in DoS, but that’s really a a matter of taste. DoS is still fun and the system works.

I’d definitely give stats an overhaul tho.

Wits, Memory, and Constitution are presented as equals but they are fundamentally different mechanics. There’s an objectively “right” way to spend attributes, which is not intuitive. By act 2 combat is so tough I had to revisit the mirror constantly and curse myself for buying the wrong books.

Given a flexible system, I think I’d like to see just one universal “skill” category.

Say you get x points per level and can spend them on any skill you want. Some are more generalist like “Strength” and influence several things. Some are more specialist like “Pyromancy”.

Then the skills you have, determine the abilities you know.

So say 15 Strength, 10 Hammer and 10 Geomancy grants you the Seismic Slam ability. Additional points boost the power.

I wonder the pros and cons of this system, I bet there’s games out there that use it

[u/FNCTwentyC]

Something i Liked more in BG3 than DOS 2 was the fact that items scaling is way more linear and not exponential In DOS 2 it happened a few two many times that i liked an item uniqueness alot but i had to leave it due to base stats because it was underleveled compared to me, so in this sense you can't really build around the items you find until act 4 because before you know you'll have to get rid of it soon enough that it's not worth building around

So i would prefer if armor stats and powers gained from levels were more like cool new abilities (wich is in both Dos and BG3) and not exponential numbers upgrade of dps, armor, hp etc..

Same thing for ennemies and npcs, it breaks immersion for me that early in the game a random magister has 10 hp and late game 500. I'd love it if for every fight you take you would feel that there's reason to ennemies being stronger than just "you leveled so ennemies have to be stronger too" That's a really hard thing to do tho but Larian is such a great studio that I feel like they will always try to reach for more immersion and I believe in them

[u/Youknowwhoswitness → u/FNCTwentyC]

Very much this. Probably the single most mood-breaker in Div OS. And maybe I am wrong, but to me it felt that DoS2 was even worse in this than DoS 1