Has anyone tried a few actual role-play builds? ARPGs aren’t my thing but I have played a couple of them (Titan Quest, Diablo 2, Incredible Adventures of Van Helsing) a bit. I struggle to make my characters in these games resemble the actual fictional ones. For e.g., on Titan Quest, I had made a Saruman-esque character but never really got far enough to fully flesh that build out.
I’ve been playing Grim Dawn a bit and chose Shaman as my starting mastery. I’m level 28 right now and still haven’t picked a 2nd class yet. I kinda like to build my character with the archetype of fictional ones and thought, “Hmm… wouldn’t Van Helsing be possible to make?”. I mean, the armour has the look anyway (got the hat going) and as for weapons, we have Xbows, big rifles and also dual-blunderbusses. Can anyone get a build going for me, please? I know about the Grim tools but I’m very new the game and can’t wrap my head around some of the choices like for e.g., Van Helsing could use all of those weapons but the projectiles firing from them could be anything, right? Electricity, Fire, Ice… it doesn’t matter 'cause he uses them all.
Also, if you guys can come up with other character builds, feel free to post them. I know unarmed isn’t a thing in this game but could you imagine making a Capt. America-kinda character using a shield in the off-hand and delivering knuckle sandwiches with the main hand? Or the Flash? Green Lantern? The Tetragrammaton Cleric that Christain Bale acted as in the movie “Equilibrium”? Maybe even Deadpool?
About other builds I would recommend just play the game, read the lore and see the world of the game. You will have tons of ideas for your characters. Just play a little bit more.
I thought that was what I was doing. When I play a Trickster, I’m a Trickster. When I play a Conjurer, I’m a Conjurer. Isn’t that why they’re called “role playing games”?
I would make the difference between roleplaying and using an existing stereotype, like some comic hero.
One you make up personally, the other is more imitating a full fleshed out character.
I know it´s splitting hairs.
If you read the 2nd and 3rd paragraphs of my post, you’d have understood what I meant.
Anyway, the more I try for an archetype of a fictional character, the more I realize that to level up, I need to have a different build and then respec later on (at least at level 50?) to start my rp.
For e.g., last night I was working out a build in the GD Tools to resemble The Flash and the mastery as I chose as my first was Soldier ('cause of the Blitz skill) and other skills. Here’s a quick run-down at my effort…
Soldier-
Blitz (8) -> Blindside (max)
Counter Strike (max)
Field Command (6) -> Squad Tactics (max) (I assume that this works for yourself as well as your allies)
Decorated Soldier (max)
As for my second mastery, I was leaning towards Arcanist for the Lightning/Elemental conversions from Elemental Exchange -> Overload but Nightblade has Shadow Strike (1) -> Nightfall (max) to keep with the Flash’s theme of speed and carnage.
But those skills won’t shine until they’re able to be maxed almost instantly (correct me if I’m wrong), so for leveling, I’d have to play with different skills and then respec.
Maybe I should just make a mod and add the skills I want to a custom class or something like that.
I did read all your paragraphs and knew exactly what you meant. I just find it funny you’re asking for “role playing” builds for a role playing game. I think a few people have posted such builds here, but not sure how well the game lends itself to designing them.
Anyway, after going through the GD Tools and installing a few mods, I’ve yet to find masteries that’ll lend themselves into supporting the kind of builds that I want to make. Right now, the only alternative is for me to dig through the GD mod manager and make my own mod. Luckily, the weekend is just around the corner so I can spend some time making 2 masteries that can help me create the ultimate Flash build.
I think every rpg that have skills assigned to specific classes/masteries should have the option to allow the player to create a custom class with the skillset of their choice by default, like how Oblivion or Morrowind did. If GD had done that, then it’d have truly been unique among ARPGs. Crate missed a trick there I think.
Yeah, that’s kinda what my idea was when making The Flash. I chose both Blitz and Shadow Strike -> Nightfall for constant zip-boom-bash or some Arcanist skills to create the speed-force’s electric effects. But as I realized after working out this build in GD Tools, I’d have to play up until lv 50 or so with different skills and then respec. Not my idea of fun, tbh.
It would be a brutal nightmare to balance this. Like a physical Commando having access to Curse of Fraility, the skill that is pretty much the main reason why Commando and Witchblade even compete with each other for the choice of a Sword and Board physical build.
Everyone would literally just pick the best skills in the game to make the ultimate class for each weapon type, effectively making builds pointless. Skills being tied to masteries is what causes the player to make actual choices because it restricts what skills you can have at your disposable.
That is why it is an OPTION. “Do you want to break the game and create an absolute God character? Go right ahead. Do you want to have fun making weird builds? Go right ahead. Do you want to stick with the masteries that we’ve provided? Go right ahead”.
It’s not like GD is a competitive game online with tourneys and such.
But as Norzan said it can’t be an option really, balancing would screw up for everything. You simply can’t have all skills available to make an OP god-like toon while at the same time balancing the various masteries to make unorthodox builds or keep the masteries as they are.
If the player wants to create a custom mastery, then they can do so.
The game doesn’t need to worry about a custom mastery breaking “balance”. The player is choosing to go this route.
It’s an Option.
Anyway, just made the Flash mastery with a mix of Soldier, Arcanist and Nightblade. Just sticking with one mastery this playthrough. I’ll try to make new ones to adapt to whatever build I choose to make. Maybe after that, if I’ve learnt enough of the GD modding tools, I might try making the “Create Custom Mastery” option like in the Elder Scrolls series.
When I play a Trickster, I’m a Trickster. When I play a Conjurer, I’m a Conjurer. Isn’t that why they’re called “role playing games”?