Possible alternative to PD

[Zefjoque]

I'm curious. Please chime in with an opinion on the following idea.

Chimera-death. As an alternative to perma-death.

Your character dies. You now have to select another Class when you next level up. Your choice.

If you die again before leveling, the choice is limited to a random roll. 1d8 for Bard, Cleric, Fighter, Rogue, Ranger, Wizard, Paladin, Sorcerer. (For the classic D&D characters, 1dwhatever if you choose to include any or all classes). The random roll is dependent on if you already have that class or if it is incompatible [Bard-Paladin], in which case you roll again.

If you die a third time before leveling - re-roll as in perma-death.

You stay on the new class, leveling up, until you die again. Then - same as before. Choose another class or random roll or re-roll character.

When you have three classes - deaths bounce from one class to the next. With 1 death, you choose which class. With two, you roll [1d2 or 1d6 odds or evens you get the idea]. Three deaths - reroll.

Pros
You get to keep your original character much longer. You have a better chance of seeing levels past 12 (maybe), you don't lose XP level parity with your mates. If you are someone who hates multi-classing, it will serve to keep you playing careful. Definitely serves the purpose of a death penalty for them. If you like multi-classing the random element will serve to make you play careful just as much as a pure player, because most multi's are planned and oops random makes for a hard slog.

Depending on your viewpoint, multi-classing also makes for a more versatile character at the expense of power, so in effect makes the game more challenging as time goes on. YMMV.

Cons
It can make for some truly gimped characters. Also many people do not like, really do not like at all, multi-classing. Plus there is the re-roll factor, making it like PD - only more delayed. Last resort sort of thing.

I'm sort of taking a poll, seeing what others think about this idea. It is a cross between the G.I.M.P project of a few years back and the THACO playstyle.

As a devout multi-classer I'm a bit biased toward it and would like to have feedback - pros and cons.

[remember1]

Its an idea, personnaly I dont like it

though I wouldnt call it an alternative to PD

[Magiker]

The above build-penalty will really scare end-gamers, but others might not mind it too much.

Thinking about the things to which a death penalty can attach:
1. toon's existence (if you die, delete and start over from level 1)
2. XP (if you die, you must immediately release from dungeon)
3. build (if you die, something like suggested above happens to your build)
4. items (if you die, sacrifice x magic items)
5. playtime (if you die, then your soulstone stays where it fell until the quest is over)

How about something like this?
1. first death (within any given level) = #5.
2. second death (within any given level) = player chooses between options #2, #3, #4.
3. third death (within any given level) = #1.
And when you gain a new level, you go back to the top of this list.

Giving the player a choice will level out the impact amongst players that have different expectations of the game (i.e. end-gamer vs. RP vs. challenge vs. etc.)

[Zefjoque]

Interesting...hmmmm.

Not so scary as enforced Chimera's mutli-class, but more flexible than PD. This way one can pick and choose, to a degree, the manner in which a death penalty is administered, and not have it impact other players who would not care for that particular method. Yet there is still a ?quantifiable? method of penalizing death and thus making play challenging and exciting.

Which is what I think most people who play restrictive styles [i.e PD or D&D or GIMP] are after.

I hope others chime in. I'm interested in more thoughts on the subject.

[Spyder1228]

I enjoy this concept. I love building off the wall builds, even if they are gimped. I find building the same builds over and over or the same ones as everyone is boring. If you are serious about this pm me sometime (my main is Lionier on Sarlona) or on this name, beware though i don't log on unless i see a good post to comment on