The herbalist could gain a little variety by introducing sickness to the game. If a hearthling gets ill, they are bedridden for the duration of the illness. There is also a risk of death. The duration and risk can be lessened by having a herbalist.
Hearthlings with a low body stat should be more susceptible to getting ill. Also hearthlings that remain out in the dangerous thunderstorm could have a higher chance of getting ill, although this would remain unlikely for strong hearthlings.
Illnesses could be expanded even further later on to have different illnesses, perhaps named ones that could be diagnosed by the herbalist, and would require different treatments. There could be airborne plague illnesses, illnesses that remain dormant for a while and are transferred to hearthlings that talk to patient zero before they get sick, and more. There could even be illnesses created by curses, that can only be cured by completing a quest.
Yup, have mentioned in the past a system like Townsmen has would be nice where folks get sick and if theyāre not treated it could spread. Sickness and Disease have been kicked around for while.
I see what you mean with this science vers. religion and it makes me want to ask you, if you thought about the ancient ways of healing?
What we know as witches, shamans or other tribal setups, where a single person has the responability for both science and religion? Mixing it up to heal amongst other things.
I know that the world of hearth is set in a ātimeperiodā that is a bit more modern and that could be the reason to why it dont fit well?
There, just had to say how it could be possible.
On the topic of the thread, i really like that suggestion and it could add some interesting gameplayā¦ +1
I then went into more detail in another post. Just sharing old thoughts.
Let me share a more modern way to look at it. Your Herbalist is a Nurse which then upgrades to a Cleric which is your Field Medic. At least, this is how I see it.
I wouldnāt go so far as to say armor and mace, but I did make a post a while back about slipping some patterns to the weaver to give the poor guys some better protection than a metal headband. If that could be implemented in the vanilla game, Iād be ecstatic.
Time to bring up another relevant thread, I guess. A ton of ideas had been shared over there, including some recurring ones, such as illnesses.
My personal favorite from that thread was the one where ānegative buffsā would stay for very long with the hearthlings, and only herbalists could remove them. As well as the suggestion to make potions be carried by fighters into battle for emergency use.
The primary problem, as had been pointed out many times in the past, is that clerics and herbalists share the exact same purpose, but clerics do it 1000 times better.
I do agree with the suggestion of splitting their paths. Then, clerics would remain the field-medics, while herbalists would be more of a āmad alchemist personā sort of thing, making weird stuff from random plants.
Iād also recommend curses being curable by Clerics; perhaps in the form of a ritual which requires altars, equipment and resources provided by various crafters.
I view clerics as the warriors you see when typing āclericā into google search (try it!). They are a kind of pious warrior geared towards healing and turning the undead, often seen wielding a blunt weapon. In my opinion the healer it is currently should become the āpriest.ā Perhaps they could hold a sunday sermon.
Just a bit of āchange my mindā spiel for you. Youāre free to view clerics however you like.
I played AD&D for years, so I know exactly what youāre thinking about, no Google necessary.
Context must be thought about in this situation. The promotion talisman for these guys is a book, meaning their main purpose is healing. Kicking the crap out of the baddies is the job of the footman, archer, and knight. These guys are a combat support class.
In order to keep some kind of balance on the mechanics of the game, if they developed stronger combat skills then they would have to sacrifice some of their healing. Otherwise, people wouldnāt bother with the footman, archer, or knight because itād be simpler to have parties made up entirely of combat clergy.
I hope that makes some sense. Iām freshly awake and havenāt had my morning caffeine yet.
About the clerics. I also think it would be better if it was not mainly focused on healing, but in combat with buffs, like the current muscle buff, but also other things like speed, courage or defense increases, or poison healing, maybe even bonus attack against undead.
While footman has high attack and low defense and knight has high defense and low attack, the cleric could have both low but still be important to a group for its buffs, even though he would be seem holding a mace and a shield.
About the talismans, donāt think about it as the tool, but just as a personal lucky amulet (maybe like a pocket item or a badge). It does not need to reflect its main tool (although in vanilla all classes have both matching). E.g. In the archipelago mod, the fisher talisman is a bucket while his tool is a fishing rod.
Buffs, yes. I could certainly see that. Weaponry and heavy armor, not really. Iām looking at these guys more like white mages. Physical attacks done by them should be almost nothing as opposed to their magic strength. Rather than weapons and armor, Iād rather see them get more supportive debuffs. Like crowd control against larger mobs or groups. I can make plenty of fighters to take down mobs. But I love me some debuffs against hostiles.
Thatās how I see em, more like white mages. In fact I think they should take away their melee ability with the books and instead give them a short/mid range spell cast for those moments when theyāre not spamming heals.
I agree. @Logo, have you perchance played an MMO called TERA? The priests in that game are not a class one would want to trifle with. They have little to no physical combat ability, since theyāre meant to be a support class, but they can tear mobs up with some vicious magic. Even their point-blank range attack is absolutely brutal (and one of my faves). They take their staff, spin it around, and then jam it into the ground to create a magical shock-wave in their immediate area. My absolute favorite of their ranged attacks is a triple hit magic missile type attack. The ability of the priest in that game is uncommon in many MMOs because you can actually solo with the guy. No, youāre not taking down bosses alone, but no oneās supposed to solo bosses.
What Iām saying here is that the cleric doesnāt have to be armed and armored. He just needs the right magic. Iād rather he be more magic based as opposed to physical.
How a cleric looks versus how they play are two different things. I just want my clerics to look like classical clerics, wielding a blunt object and armour. Perhaps the mace does no real damage but instead applies debuffs, or is effective against undead. In their other hand, they hold a book that does healing and buffs. Thereās no need to narrow oneās vision.
Oh, so you want a cosmetic look. Thereās no point in having a weapon if it doesnāt do anything. Itās window dressing and thatās it. Iād rather the cleric run around with the book then if thatās the case. That way Iām reminded that he canāt do jack for damage and he doesnāt look like the other guys Iām sending off into the fray.
Because sometimes, I pause the game intermittently during battles to maintain a semblance of control against the heavier enemies. Faking it like a turn-based RPG, essentially.
I would rather my cleric look different so Iām not having to try to figure out which-which-is-which in a nasty fight. The current build of the clerics doesnāt do crap against undead. Letās also set aside the extra mineral resources it would take to arm and armor the guy. Setting up the knights and footmen is costly enough as it is.
Itās broader in the sense Iām trying to compromise with you. I really donāt think youāre going to mistake a cleric for doing little damage more than once. If anything, at least change the name. Itās such a tease to be able to have a cleric class that looks so fragile.
