Changing how the starter character works.

[Sh4dowBlad3]

I get that some people struggle with what the devs are trying to convey with their funky translations regarding how they envisioned the starting character integrates into the lore of the game so I though I'd explain and suggest a solution for everyone who wants to "keep" their starter character relevant.

Basically your "MC"(main character) is the mask. It's not your starting character....but I think the main problem for everyone is the disconnect they feel when their starter character effectively gets left behind in the game as a husk once you find skilled tribesmen for your roles in the game. It sucks creating a character with a specific appearance and then being forced to be stuck with the way the character looks for whichever tribesman you choose to inhabit currently. As such I would recommend the following:

Instead of your consciousness leaving your body and effectively leaving a vegetable husk behind until you choose to re inhabit it... rather let the mask change the tribesman's appearance you are currently controlling to match your initial character's appearance whenever you switch bodies. The mask basically allows you to displace the identity of the currently controlled tribesmen with your own. Also don't leave a useless body behind. Rather let the bio material of your original body be the fuel the mask uses to effect the appearance change and enhance the currently controlled body. This way your tribesmen is like different 'suits' of stats you inhabit to raise your basic level capacity. Instead of having any proficiencycap at all you rather "wear" the tribesman with the proficiencycap levels you currently want.

You could also add a core mask function where you build a minimum level of skill proficiency that carries over to any body you inhabit. For instance in the current setup your starterbody has a proficiencycap of 50 right? Rather than make that a limiting factor, change it into an advantage you can keep when switching bodies. So if you level logging proficiency to 50 you will always have that bare minimum level no matter what body you wear. The bodies you "wear" will have their natural proficiencycap that specialises each "flesh suit" for the function you recruited them to the tribe for in the first place. This allows the building of a basic character who has basic proficiency in all the skills while wearing the body they want to raise the proficiencycap for the specific skills they need for their current task. Meaning when you leave that body its skill proficiency drops back to the level it was before you took control as it is a function of the mask... But if the body was already levelled to a higher proficiency for that specific skill than the minimum level transference allows for, it wouldn't matter for that skill. But it would still influence the other skills.

In conclusion your mask stays your MC. You get to keep your initial characters appearance which you might feel attached to and you avoid the whole feeling of leaving your created character behind. The central theme of being an average Joe who got lucky to be bonded to the mask and then using it to build a civilisation stays the same. The core mechanic for an MC stays the same. Essentially you just create a more permanent tie to your initial identity. I would love a dev input on this idea. So please award this thread so we can get attention to this idea.

[Onikage]

I think you make a good point about the skills. Combat skills can be argued to be tied to muscle-memory so when you possess someone, possessing their Physical Skills make some sense.
I have had an issue with the Mental Skills also changing tho, like Alchemy and whatnot. You would think that if it's the same consciousness, they'd have the same Memory and Knowledge for skills based moreso on them than physical ability/training

[Rhapsody]

Originally posted by Sh4dowBlad3:

Basically your "MC"(main character) is the mask. It's not your starting character...

Please read.

But after narrowly escaping sacrifice, fleeing, and then obtaining the mask, "your" Soul and awareness merged with the mysterious Mask, granting true immortality—hence the name Soulmask.

Way to go soulsplaining over the dev post.

[Rockpaw]

You bring up some great ideas. Honestly its nice seeing some more unique ways they can buff the custom character instead of just increase the characters levels

[Sh4dowBlad3]

Originally posted by Rhapsody:

Originally posted by Sh4dowBlad3:

Basically your "MC"(main character) is the mask. It's not your starting character...

Please read.

But after narrowly escaping sacrifice, fleeing, and then obtaining the mask, "your" Soul and awareness merged with the mysterious Mask, granting true immortality—hence the name Soulmask.

Way to go soulsplaining over the dev post.

Bro the devs post argues from the lore's standpoint alone. I'm talking from a player standpoint. For any person a character they create will not only be the MC to the lore for them but also the MC to THEIR game. People are so used to that being the same thing that when they split it up here by leaving behind a husk when you transfer consciousness it creates the sense that you are essentially abandoning the MC of the game when in reality the mechanics totally disregard the character you created from the very start an focus only on the mask transference part. So my solution aims to keep the lore intact yet slightly change the mechanic so that you keep the created character as part of the MC role. Not just the mask.

[Sh4dowBlad3]

Originally posted by Onikage:

I think you make a good point about the skills. Combat skills can be argued to be tied to muscle-memory so when you possess someone, possessing their Physical Skills make some sense.
I have had an issue with the Mental Skills also changing tho, like Alchemy and whatnot. You would think that if it's the same consciousness, they'd have the same Memory and Knowledge for skills based more so on them than physical ability/training

I think from a immersion perspective you could argue that you gain access to the memories and experiences of the possessed tribesman while simply suppressing their personality or consciousness to an inactive state. So you would be adding your own bodies memories, muscle memory and experience on top of the repository of information of your host body. However each host body comes with unique cognitive processing abilities and natural talent that's rooted in brain development and their DNA. Your host is simply augmented by your awareness in the mask gaining access to the mind and controlling it. You also need to remember that your own cognitive processing function actually happens in the mask. The host's brain simply receives orders via the possession. This would further explain the loss of the extra skill rooted in the mask if they would adopt my suggested mechanic. Add in the bio matter for temporary physical modification and you get the superhuman ability to bring out the maximum potential of a host body in a much shorter time span. This is all just to tie into the lore of course. The actual aim of all this is still to avoid a disconnect from your created character for the player.