Tuoni Devlog #1 - Class & Skill Systems

It's time for a new Tuoni update, and it's about classes and buildcrafting in Tuoni.

At the start of the last devlog, I celebrated reaching almost 1.5k Wishlists. Well, two weeks later, and we are at a whopping 2.5k wishlists already! Thank you for all the support!

This is an extra-interesting devlog for me, as Tuoni started as a hobby project where I explored how to make interesting buildcrafting experiences. My goal was to provide an experience where character-building is how I find it best: wild, free, and at best, chaotic, without too much handholding or mapped-out paths. I love it when players find synergies and even broken combinations all by themselves (as long as they are not too easy to find). I hope to capture some of that theorycrafting and freedom of builds in Tuoni!

All of this means that I want each class to be:

• Unique in how they interact with game systems (classes are not just flavors of warriors, but different types of warriors with different stat/mechanic utilization)

• Offer different ways for players to deal with tough situations

• Offer some synergy that other class/classes can latch on to.

• Act as a guidance post, not as a restrictive pasture (Mixing classes is a core design pillar, not the "nice and extra exception")

Each class will be intended to be mixed & matched with other classes. I hope that players will discover weird synergies and powerful combinations, while still finding decent paths inside a single class to get up to speed. I have always adored games that do not give you a class fantasy directly: It is more satisfying to create Mage Assassin by your own choices and creativity, than simply click through a ready-made tree. Naturally, this is just my vision, so go ahead and drop your opinions below!

For starters, a quick & very basic introduction to Stat-system:

Constitution: Health points and natural physical armor.

Might: How well the character utilizes physical damage (weapons, melee damage, physical skills).

Mysticism: How well the character utilizes magical damage (spells, elemental damage)

Wisdom: Natural magical armor, slight boost to magical damage & some off-combat benefits.

Alongside stats, the game features a bunch of weapon skills that develop as you use said weapon: Blades: Can inflict bleed-stacks on hits.

Axes: Can pierce armor on hit, effectively ignoring it.

Hammers: Have a chance to cripple the enemy, reducing their effective damage to half.

Staves: When hitting an enemy, occasionally deal additional melee hit with 50% damage, proccing all on-hit effects.

Stat's window.

That being said, let's dive into the classes!

Classes Planned for the Demo

For Demo, I tried to include a good slice of classes so that a couple of different playstyles and some interesting synergies can be found! Each class scales from different stat/stats, and offers unique tools for surviving in the wilds! You can also see a couple of different elemental damage types here and there - those are useful against different types of enemies!

Note: As development is still heavily ongoing, everything is subject to change.

Warrior

The standard, good-old warrior. Scales from Might and is focused on hitting creatures with various weapons.

Vanguard

Big and bulky. Unlike normal Warriors, they utilize Constitution to deliver damage while withstanding heavy blows with defensive skills.

Ravager

Focuses on dealing bleed-stacks to enemies. Said stacks can then be consumed to deal heavy single-target damage. Utilizes mainly Might.

Rat demonstrates bleeding damage, which is even handier with bigger enemies - it does always 5% of max HP as damage!

Arms Master

Utilizes and enhances weapon-specific skills. Very usable side-class for many melee classes!

Warlock

Another bleed-stack enjoyer, but this time in Shadow-damage & caster-form. Spells scale from Mysticism.

Kalma's Bolt obliterates Rock Gnome with potent Shadow Damage.

Lakeborn

Finland is a country of "thousands of lakes", so naturally, mages use that as their advantage. Spells that deal Fen-damage (fancy name for water) and offer sustenance in the form of healing/buffing. Utilizes Mysticism & Wisdom.

Frostborn

Northern wilds have very potent frost-magic that deals frost damage and offer elements of control, such as ice-wall or AOE-stuns in the form of ice-quekes. Utilizes Mysticism & Wisdom.

Frostborn masters AOE-stuns. Also note "Shatterable armor", which both enemies have - it blocks damage completely on first hit, but is still vulnerable to stuns.

Mindpiercer

Who said fighters need to be dumb? Mind meets the blade! Wisdom-scaling melee skills, which also benefit from Meditation utility (see below).

Shaman

Forest-dweller who utilizes Mysticism and deals a heavy amount of Verdant damage with their spells and enchants. Offers also meditation skills, where the player enters a Meditative state, gaining buffs while sacrificing some of their defences.

So, for the upcoming Demo, this is the planned palette of classes. The full version of the game will feature a wider array of classes (and even one more elemental damage category), but more on those later. I gladly hear all feedback, ideas, and first thoughts from the community! Thanks for reading, and remember to wishlist if you have not yet! See you in the next Devlog! - Old Dog