Gearing up for the monthly drop

Just the testing on Linux outstanding. Probably quite important seeing as we're playing .ogg now.

Actually I'm posting this to write down some things that I'm planning to tackle in the short to medium term.

Refactor Damage Resistance

I'm planning to split the single "Resist Damage" modifier into three: "Resist Bludgeoning Damage", "Resist Piercing Damage" and "Resist Slashing Damage". I got the idea from Frayed Knights, but it's been brewing a while anyway. This will make regular melee combat a bit spicier, and give a much needed chance to implement foes like skeleton warriors. Different weapon attack modes would deal different types of damage; bludgeoning for bash, piercing for thrust, and so on. Some niceties will be required, like a default damage type for a weapon (applicable for things like thrown weapons and backstab/snipe attacks).

Music

I was never really big on the Music thing in the Wizardry series. Having had a few years to think about it, I think it's time to get it in there. The Music modifier will be one of those under the Magic heading. I have some ideas about how to bend the feature more to my liking, like more interesting backfire effects from an unskilled user. We will see.

Engineering

Ditto on not being a fan of the Wiz8 Gadgeteer. The time has probably come to add such a feature. I'm undecided whether the Engineering modifier will be a Stealth or Magic modifier, how to make the functioning gadgets more interesting to me than Wiz8, and what to do about the Omnigun.

Other

A laundry list of other things to go with this:

• Adding an Alchemist class, now that craft recipes are starting to go in. Perhaps a magic focused class with zero or limited spell casting but much craft skill and various special abilities that enable him to rock with potions, powders, bombs and the like.
• Adding a Gadgeteer class, once there is Engineering. Probably a stealth class with zero backstab/snipe, but with much engineering and something cool like the Omnigun.
• Character personalities, like Wiz8, implemented without voice acting as in Frayed Knights. I'm starting to see this as a replacement for the character class knowledge.
• Scouting. Time to add a similar detect-secrets ability to characters.