Dungeons & Dragons Online Designer Diary #2

[GameBanshee News]

GameSpot has published their second designer diary for Dungeons & Dragons Online: Stormreach, in which Turbine's David Eckelberry tells us about his typical day as a lead systems designer. Here we go:

11 a.m.: I'm working on some new action points today--action points are basically reward points you'll earn in between experience levels. I'm always on the lookout for new ideas, and my project of the day is the cleric class. Not, of course, that the cleric desperately needs more raw power. (To review: clerics have a reasonable base attack bonus, can wear the best armor, are great spellcasters, and yet, the class is somehow pitied.) Clerics still need the ability to customize themselves with their action points. Action point choices like "defenders of the faith" and "complete divine" give as good an answer as I can conjecture. I was always a pretty big fan of letting clerics find new ways to "channel positive energy"--like, using their ability "turn undead" (that is, banish undead creatures like zombies and skeletons) to do something else. You know, having clerics use this ability to give a boost to their saving throws (dice rolls used to determine if a character can avoid an unfavorable effect), or maybe grant some kind of limited health regeneration...or maybe just cause damage directly to undead creatures. Things like that.