Single Character Rpg Combat ROLES

DKnight

I am a big fan of single character rpgs like Fallout 1 and 2, Eschalon Book 1 and 2, The Quest and Geneforge 1-5, Divine Divinity, Neverwinter Nights SOU. My question is seeing as I like to see what is different because mostly turnbased, what roles do characters play in single character rpgs?

Im talking tank, damage dealer, scout/rogue, disabler, etc.

I wasn't sure whether this can be done as it is usually only done in party based rpgs.

SionIV

Most of the time you'll end up a hybrid in one way or the other.

Awong124

Usually mostly damage dealer with some thief mixed in to deal with traps and locks.

Mrpenfold666

mage first and foremost if at all possible, if not im a melee damage dealer with lots of HP so i can sponge aswell

DKnight

I always thought of at least for Eschalon and Fallout-Fighters that focus on strength/endurance are tanks that use other skills like lockpicking and utility skills. When the fighters rely on speed/agility and luck or what not, they are more useful at dodging more and getting through enemy lines unscathed to take enemies out with melee strikes.

The difference when you have strength and what not is that they are good at dealing damage but less so at evading. In fallout you get evasion and high agility for high armor class. For eschalon speed is good at dealing damage and evading it too.

They are both good no matter what, that is just how I look at it.

The Quest takes matters a step further. Unlike fallout where ranged is powerful moreso than melee, Quest has ranged weapons excellent at far range and melee PERFECT at close range. All you need is resistance spell/scroll cast and then you can bum rush mages and melee for more damage than ranged weapons.

Block skill is more towards a finesse/tank build and can remove most melee/ranged damage. Thus you can get into melee range from afar with high skill in this.

On the other hand, a dualwielder is the most powerful damagedealer with damage. However, no defense compared to block.

Awong124

For Fallout games I focus on perception, agility, and small guns for combat, and pretty much ignore melee. I still get strength up to a certain level to be able to carry stuff around.

DKnight

Awong124 said:

Usually mostly damage dealer with some thief mixed in to deal with traps and locks.

My favorites are Fighter/lockpicker or thief, and Fighter/healer. Fighter/healer is especially deadly because when your fighter is powerful enough, gaining full health is like an enormous amount of damage you are doing before you get to low health again. I only use fighter stuff with healing because gaining strength and what not is useful but full health means more damage still.

Unless you need to kill the enemy group fast.

Awong124

In Skyrim I had my character level up in Restoration magic, but it largely became useless after I got armor that regenerated my health pretty much instantly.

Mrpenfold666

Awong124 said:

In Skyrim I had my character level up in Restoration magic, but it largely became useless after I got armor that regenerated my health pretty much instantly.

which is why i prefered oblivion better mages could do everything all the other classes could, where as now mages cant do everything which kind of sucks, it makes sense for a spellcaster to know / study/ make spells to help him where he is weakest *cough* buff spells *cough* open lock spells *cough* AHEM...sorry.... for fallout i cant really say much as i hated fallout but the few times i did play it i went for a more run in, shot gun, run away guy

Corvino

A lot of single character RPGs allow you a lot of scope to Zelda yourself up, effectively becoming a magical ranged melee-fighter all in 1 tidy package. Action RPGs especially tend to be this way - Fable is great fun, but it hardly forces you to choose between the different strength/speed/magic categories. You just have to decide which you want first.

If you pump up your Intelligence in Fallout 1 & 2 and take the right perks you get a boatload of skill points to toy with. Combined with judicious use of skill books you can master a lot of varied skills. With Elder Scrolls games you can literally master every skill in the game and end up with godlike stats with more or less no downside. Fallout 3 is in the same boat.

Neverwinter Nights did force you to play more of a role, but it isn't really one game. It's a game engine and editor with a couple of single player campaigns bolted on. It's also easy enough for a mid-level adventurer and a henchman to take down a dragon easily in the vanilla single-player. I think I spent 2-3 times as long designing modules that never got finished, writing dialogue and messing with weapon/gear combinations in the editor as I did playing the actual game.

Kaltzor

I kind of dislike the RPGs with only one character since it forces you to be all of the roles at the same time...