Class Lore suggestion

[Diwans]

Hi there, folks,

For such a lore heavy game as Grim Dawn, I feel like there’s one important piece missing - a proper justification for the classes available to the player. It seems that you just… hit level 1, and become this or that class, and at 10 get to add another one - very little, if any reason or rhyme behind it. I know that this is somewhat due to the fact that you don’t start with pre-selected classes like in Diablo, but I think there are ways to work around that.

I feel like there should be some explanation as to why all of a sudden you get access to all this power and skills.

My suggestion would be:

Right at the start of the game, you get a quest to talk to the spirit guide, who hands you your diary, which contains hints about your past. The diary, however, is missing pages and the remaining text is incomplete.

The diary is full of clues about your past life - including your profession or craft, which you must have had when you were possessed - but due to the aetherial entering your mind, you memory is cloudy.

You only get to make full sense of your past and choose your first class once you’ve done some killing and gained enough experience, which brings back the memories of your past life and your profession.

So essentially, you get to become a necromancer at level one, because you were a necromancer originally. The aetherial possession has scrambled your mind, and it will take some practice before you become as skilled in your craft as you were before - which would justify having to level up before gaining access to upper level skills.

A random text could pop up once you reach level one, something on the lines of: “Dealing with these monstrosities, you feel like you’ve done this before. The scent of blood, the rush of adrenaline and arcane power are nothing new to you. Bit by bit, the past, contained within your diary starts making sense, and the missing pieces are filled with every new encounter. Your past comes back you, and you remember who you are.”

As for level 10 second class choosing, my suggestion would be to introduce a speculation that the aetherial which possessed you had possessed others before, and, despite the fact that it was exorcised, an imprint of its past vessel still remains in your mind.

Possession has damaged your skill in your original profession, but has given you access to another one, by exposing you to the minds (or one powerful mind) that the aetherial had possessed before picking you as a vessel.

This could as well be revealed to you by the spirit guide. For example, by introducing an additional dialogue option once you hit level 10, something on the lines of you having nightmares and bad dreams recently. The dreams reveal a life completely alien and unknown to you. The guide then offers to perform a hypnotic ritual to find out the reasons behind this - maybe after you complete a certain quest to get an item necessary for the ritual - and gives you the answer: possession has exposed your mind to the aetherial’s past, and has given you access to a different power.

It could be reversed, so that you get you choose your first class because of possession, and remember your original one as you progress further.

I know this is would be a minor addition, but I feel like it would help make the lore and the story feel more complete, and your powers more justified and story driven.

Let me know what you guys think

[medea_fleecestealer]

Would have been a nice idea back at the beginning of development. Now, a lot of work - not a little since this would have to be written for all the masteries and class combos - to add to something that’s been complete for over 2 years now.

[mamba]

First of all, that would mean I am rediscovering powers I once had (at least for the first mastery) rather than me gaining power, which is not what is happening. I never was a famous, almost mythical ‘warrior’ before, I am becoming one now however.

Second, I am a stranger in this area, the spirit guide or anyone should not have knowledge of who I was in the past, let alone my diary (if you stick with that approach, I should have that diary on me but forgotten about it, just like about anything else).

Finally, this is just kicking the can further down the road. How does me killing zombies bring back my memories / powers or have me gain new powers from my second mastery ?

I don’t really see this being better explained in eg Diablo either. Just because you start with a class does not explain this any better, it is just a premise you accept in any RPG.

[Diwans]

Would have been a nice idea back at the beginning of development. Now, a lot of work - not a little since this would have to be written for all the masteries and class combos - to add to something that’s been complete for over 2 years now.

I didn’t mean a complete justification and full lore for every single class, just a general mini story, which replaces a word here or there depending on your chosen class. The story would be the same for every class and every combo.

We already have a class-sensitive game area when picking Kymon’s Chosen or Death’s Vigil, this would be much more minor I think.

First of all, that would mean I am rediscovering powers I once had (at least for the first mastery) rather than me gaining power, which is not what is happening. I never was a famous, almost mythical ‘warrior’ before, I am becoming one now however.

Second, I am a stranger in this area, the spirit guide or anyone should not have knowledge of who I was in the past, let alone my diary (if you stick with that approach, I should have that diary on me but forgotten about it, just like about anything else).

Finally, this is just kicking the can further down the road. How does me killing zombies bring back my memories / powers or have me gain new powers from my second mastery ?

I don’t really see this being better explained in eg Diablo either. Just because you start with a class does not explain this any better, it is just a premise you accept in any RPG.

I didn’t mean that you were a world-famous mythical warrior and you are simply doing a complete re-run. You could have been an ordinary soldier that gets to put his craft to the limit due to Grim Dawn and, as you said, become a true hero. You could have been one of the Death’s vigil, an initiate sent on a mission that went south. My suggestion was to simply explain why you have access to these rudimentary skills in the first place. Otherwise, you get to become a mythical superhero with access to supernatural powers because… well, you’ve reached level 1/10.

The guide could have your diary, because you were about to be executed, and she was the one who saved you form the aetherial. She could just be handing back your things that were taken from a “person” being sentenced to death. Since you’re not dead, she hands you back your stuff.

I think Diablo does give you at least some justification as to why you have the powers you have: the nephilim stuff and the individual stories behind each class.

Thanks for the feedback

[malawiglenn]

I didn’t mean a complete justification and full lore for every single class, just a general mini story, which replaces a word here or there depending on your chosen class. The story would be the same for every class and every combo.

We already have a class-sensitive game area when picking Kymon’s Chosen or Death’s Vigil, this would be much more minor I think.

I didn’t mean that you were a world-famous mythical warrior and you are simply doing a complete re-run. You could have been an ordinary soldier that gets to put his craft to the limit due to Grim Dawn and, as you said, become a true hero. You could have been one of the Death’s vigil, an initiate sent on a mission that went south. My suggestion was to simply explain why you have access to these rudimentary skills in the first place. Otherwise, you get to become a mythical superhero with access to supernatural powers because… well, you’ve reached level 1/10.

The guide could have your diary, because you were about to be executed, and she was the one who saved you form the aetherial. She could just be handing back your things that were taken from a “person” being sentenced to death. Since you’re not dead, she hands you back your stuff.

I think Diablo does give you at least some justification as to why you have the powers you have: the nephilim stuff and the individual stories behind each class.

Thanks for the feedback

For some reason, I always invented my own lore around my Diablo chars, like why is the Paladin dark-color? Was he old slave from the crusades that learned the combat masteries of the templar knights? and so on