New Survivor Skill -- Toughness

[funky arsenal]

Hello! My idea for a new survivor skill would be a toughness or hardiness skill. The basis of the skill is the adage, "what doesn't kill me, makes me tougher." I was thinking it would reward the player for taking chances like sleeping outside or taking his or her needs to the edge. As the survivor levels up in this skill (by sprinting, sleeping outside, and recovering from getting sick/hungry/injured), he or she would be better able to survive future hardships. I think it would also highlight that the survivor is becoming more adept as time goes on. For example, I think most people used to a soft bed would struggle sleeping outside for the first time, but as we "toughen up" we're better able to endure other things too.

Anyway, I love the game and I'm excited for story mode. Have a great day!

[Wastelander]

Welcome to the forums! Always good to have a new face around 

As for your idea, I like it! Especially in tandem with the upcoming wellbeing mechanic, a skill that lets us 'toughen up' would make a nice balancing addition.

[funky arsenal]

Thank you! I was thinking along the same lines with the wellbeing mechanic. I think a toughness skill will provide enough risk-reward for players and get people out of cabins and other safe places. I believe that's what the developer's wanted with "cabin-fever," but a skill would be a bit more of an incentive. It also mirrors reality in that some people can get through really tough situations because they've grown accustomed to them through other trials and tribulations.

[alone sniper]

1 hour ago, funky arsenal said:

Hello! My idea for a new survivor skill would be a toughness or hardiness skill. The basis of the skill is the adage, "what doesn't kill me, makes me tougher." I was thinking it would reward the player for taking chances like sleeping outside or taking his or her needs to the edge. As the survivor levels up in this skill (by sprinting, sleeping outside, and recovering from getting sick/hungry/injured), he or she would be better able to survive future hardships. I think it would also highlight that the survivor is becoming more adept as time goes on. For example, I think most people used to a soft bed would struggle sleeping outside for the first time, but as we "toughen up" we're better able to endure other things too.

Anyway, I love the game and I'm excited for story mode. Have a great day!

I like your idea !!!!!!!!! 

+1 !!! 

maybe our survivor can punch bear in face one day !!!!!!!  (kidding !!)

[Tbone555]

i love this idea, man! welcome to the forums!
also, id like to add.. walking distance!
the other night me and my brother walked around playing pokemon go. we walked ALL OVER the place, roughly 15 to 20 miles. we walked from 5 pm to 11 pm.
my feet still bear the scars, and my legs.. well, im not gonna be walking for the next few days, as bad as they hurt. i've actually been limping.
but the survivor seems to have concrete feet and legs of steel - which is fine for an olympic runner or someone who hikes 10 miles a day.
i propose a maximum walking distance per day, which steadily increases the more we walk. this skill will tie in to our toughness stat. no, its not something that once we walk too far we just completely stop. it'll be a slight debuff, like decreased speed or even a limp, due to our blistered feet and sore legs. maybe higher quality boots and socks would protect from leg pain and blisters a bit better. but as i said, the more you hike in real life, the tougher and more resilient your feet and legs will become, allowing you to walk further distances without trouble.

[Wastelander]

13 minutes ago, Tbone555 said:

i propose a maximum walking distance per day,

I think you might be onto something here. Like, seriously. this could solve a lot of problems.

[alone sniper]

26 minutes ago, Tbone555 said:

which is fine for an olympic runner

Marathon runners run 42 km in 2 hour !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[funky arsenal]

30 minutes ago, Tbone555 said:

i love this idea, man! welcome to the forums!
also, id like to add.. walking distance!
the other night me and my brother walked around playing pokemon go. we walked ALL OVER the place, roughly 15 to 20 miles. we walked from 5 pm to 11 pm.
my feet still bear the scars, and my legs.. well, im not gonna be walking for the next few days, as bad as they hurt. i've actually been limping.
but the survivor seems to have concrete feet and legs of steel - which is fine for an olympic runner or someone who hikes 10 miles a day.
i propose a maximum walking distance per day, which steadily increases the more we walk. this skill will tie in to our toughness stat. no, its not something that once we walk too far we just completely stop. it'll be a slight debuff, like decreased speed or even a limp, due to our blistered feet and sore legs. maybe higher quality boots and socks would protect from leg pain and blisters a bit better. but as i said, the more you hike in real life, the tougher and more resilient your feet and legs will become, allowing you to walk further distances without trouble.

That's a really good idea! Also, your anecdote is a better example than what I used. That's exactly what I'm envisioning for this skill. When we start this game, our survivor is an incredible marathon runner who seems unperturbed by endurance activities, injury, sickness, and other things that would make normal folks quit in just a few minutes. The toughness skill proposes to address this by slowly building up the character to these high standards.

[Dirmagnos]

Im not sure about whole toughness skill. We already have it "spread" across other skills. Doubling up might cause problems with balancing.

Plus, its a rather vague description. What exactly would that skill encompass and how ? Example:

+5% to max of all primary stats per level(hunger, thirst, etc). As player is able to push further, harder and longer.

lvl1 - +10% carry weight; wolves deal 10% less damage

lvl2 - negative conditions require 20% less time to recover 

lvl3 - +10% carry weight; all scavenging actions take 20% less time(searching and breaking down stuff)

lvl4 - halve chance of hypothermia

lvl5 - +10% carry weight; player moves 10% faster(walk and run)

But id still prefer specific skills like Medicine to deal with things like that.

[Vinceofpyrenees]

3 hours ago, Dirmagnos said:

Im not sure about whole toughness skill. We already have it "spread" across other skills. Doubling up might cause problems with balancing.

Plus, its a rather vague description. What exactly would that skill encompass and how ? Example:

+5% to max of all primary stats per level(hunger, thirst, etc). As player is able to push further, harder and longer.

lvl1 - +10% carry weight; wolves deal 10% less damage

lvl2 - negative conditions require 20% less time to recover 

lvl3 - +10% carry weight; all scavenging actions take 20% less time(searching and breaking down stuff)

lvl4 - halve chance of hypothermia

lvl5 - +10% carry weight; player moves 10% faster(walk and run)

But id still prefer specific skills like Medicine to deal with things like that.

Really good.

[danicusrex]

On 9/5/2016 at 1:26 PM, Tbone555 said:

i love this idea, man! welcome to the forums!
also, id like to add.. walking distance!
the other night me and my brother walked around playing pokemon go. we walked ALL OVER the place, roughly 15 to 20 miles. we walked from 5 pm to 11 pm.
my feet still bear the scars, and my legs.. well, im not gonna be walking for the next few days, as bad as they hurt. i've actually been limping.
but the survivor seems to have concrete feet and legs of steel - which is fine for an olympic runner or someone who hikes 10 miles a day.
i propose a maximum walking distance per day, which steadily increases the more we walk. this skill will tie in to our toughness stat. no, its not something that once we walk too far we just completely stop. it'll be a slight debuff, like decreased speed or even a limp, due to our blistered feet and sore legs. maybe higher quality boots and socks would protect from leg pain and blisters a bit better. but as i said, the more you hike in real life, the tougher and more resilient your feet and legs will become, allowing you to walk further distances without trouble.

I love the idea of limited (but growing) walking ability. +1

[Patrick Carlson]

Interesting topic! Four of the current Feat badges currently address character qualities that are in the general realm of "toughness." I was curious how you would contrast those persistent boosts in character ability with a new Skill. Is it just that you might be interested in having "hardiness" Skill perks to be discrete to a particular game save, rather than persistent across your other games as well?

[funky arsenal]

 

3 hours ago, Patrick Carlson said:

Interesting topic! Four of the current Feat badges currently address character qualities that are in the general realm of "toughness." I was curious how you would contrast those persistent boosts in character ability with a new Skill. Is it just that you might be interested in having "hardiness" Skill perks to be discrete to a particular game save, rather than persistent across your other games as well?

Thank you for the discussion! Yes, I was thinking and evaluating the role of feats in my original post, but I didn't want to bog down the first post I had. I like the concept of progression, and tend to refer to each of my characters as individuals. While I like the idea of having something to show for all my "work" in the game, I think I value particular game save progression over total persistence. Not that feats should go away!

The hardiness skill was more of a realization of the tough people you see who survive incredible circumstances or who have earned their abilities. Few people are "good" at sleeping on the ground the first time. Similarly, most people struggle with a heavy rucksack at first, but after a while they just get used to it and they can do more than they first could. Finally, some people can endure a great deal of pain because they are just tough. I don't think I personally would just start walking away after my first wolf attack....

The progression I was thinking was more along the lines of pack weight limit, pain tolerance (how quickly you heal or how many pain pills you need after an attack), efficiency of rest when not in a bed, and now sprinting distance after earlier discussions. But I really like all the other points and ideas! What I think I'm after is a slow progression to awesomeness for each character. I want my day 200 survivor to feel markedly different than my day 1 survivor. I hope that makes sense!

[nicko]

I think most bonus / perks should only be added per game save, otherwise starting a new game would not be the same. though less tedious I guess.

Though I like how we get a few global perks like the sprinting fatigue, fire lighting etc. but I wouldn't  go adding to many global perks unless we really need them.