The Mana World Forums

Since we are working off of a system plan that doesn't include character levels, the question is bound to come up sooner or later: "What if a new player can just strap on the ultimate armor and kill monsters 5 times his level with ease?" I think I have a solution to this:

Each equipment item would have a list of bonuses, each with a condition attached. See the following example:
Vampire Cape
|- (No condition) Defense + 12
|- (Dark Magic Skill 50+) Absorb Dark Magic
|- (Vitality Skill 30+) HP drain 20% effect on attacks
|- (Vitality Skill 30+) Halt skill growth - Vitality

So equipping the vampire cape would give any player +12 defense. Also, if his dark magic skill is high, it allows him to absorb dark magic. If he has a high enough HP, he is able to drain HP with attacks, however, his HP skill cannot increase as long as he wears the cape. In this way, we can reserve powerful equipment effects for experienced players, or at least only for players with certain specialties.

Also, there could be training gear which boosts skill growth as long as skills are below a certain level.

Just a thought...

This sounds quite interesting. I think it would be cool. There should also, though, be limits on who can use what. As a quick example, the "convict stone" mace weapon that I described in another thread; it's just a really big rock on a leather strap. As such, characters weaker than a certain limit point simply shouldn't be able to use it (they wouldn't be able to carry it) until they rise above that point. I don't think every item should have limits like this, but heavier items (including full armor sets), items that it takes a good deal of skill to use at all (magic skill or otherwise), and so on need to be unusable to those who really wouldn't be able to use them.

I like the idea that there are not only limits on wether you can equip things at all, but also on individual properties that only count when certain requirements are met.

Similarly, items could have calculated attributes based on level (*cough*D&Dcasterlevel*cough*) such as "adds 30 times your level in HP".

Kyokai's suggestion is really close to what I was going to suggest so thumbs up for it.