Supposing you could completely ignore the issue of min/maxing

Which fantasy staples would you always go for, and which would you always abandon?

For me, listed roughly in order of awesomest to lamest:

Usable physical weapons
Swords - Hell yes!
Lances - Acceptable
Bow and arrow - Meh
Daggers - as long as they don't do that ridiculously dumb backhand thing the Shadow does*
Unarmed - everybody was kung fu fightin

Unusable physical weapons
Axes - yuck
Staves - what, like Sunwukongc or Bruce Lee?
Sceptres - ew
Maces - no
Clubs - oh hell no
Blow darts - they blow

I don't feel as strongly about magic categories, but still, here they are:

Usable magical spells
Light/holy - neat!
Dark/evil - wicked!
Lightning - shiny!
Ice - cool!
Fire - eh
Summoning - ok
Water - meh

Unusable magical spells
Poison - lame
Necromancy - more like suckromancy

*To be completely honest - and yes, you can make fun of me for this - I would have been really hyped for The Force Unleashed, but because they do the stupid backhand thing, I nearly always forget about it as soon as I look it up. Disgusting.

Let me know if there are any categories I missed! And of course, share your own preferences. I'm a little curious too.

Games without min/maxing cease to be games and transition over to just fiction.

If this is about style issues, individual preferences are gonna be the rule of the day. Of course, the limits of the animations will also factor in; flexible/chain weapons could be very cool, with their own, unique mechanics, but would be very complex to render.

Regarding effectiveness, I have yet to see a fantasy game which accurately depicted what the differences between weapon types could be like. Axes are useful as a (perhaps inelegant) weapon due to characteristics not shared with swords, for example. An axe concentrates the mass and impact area of a strike in ways which a sword cannot (which also explains why people use axes to chop wood, rather than swords). A sword, on other other hand, enjoys reach and leverage which an axe may not. Both axe and sword are inferior to a mace against plate armor, which is designed to counter cutting weapons.

That example is a gross oversimplification, but helps to explain the plethora of weapon types and their myriad variations across all cultures.

For my part (on style, alone), I like swords, staves, spears (thrust and thrown), unarmed (depending on the style), bows (not so much crossbows), and parrying weapons (like the triple daggers introduced in 2.0). Magic just depends, though don't count out water; to be able to drown your opponent could be pretty cool. =^[.]^=

But given an option to choose my magical powers...

A constant communion with a god whom exalts power, cooperation, and truth. Granting me unlimited psychic power and infinite perfect knowledge. I would know exactly what to say to convert anyone. Know precisely every possible threat and the most efficient way to avoid it. And hell, the secrets of immortality itself.

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Raycheetah wrote:

If this is about style issues, individual preferences are gonna be the rule of the day.

And I want to hear as many individual preferences as I can! All in good fun, which is why this is in Off Topic.

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SkyCore wrote:

But given an option to choose my magical powers...

A constant communion with a god whom exalts power, cooperation, and truth. Granting me unlimited psychic power and infinite perfect knowledge. I would know exactly what to say to convert anyone. Know precisely every possible threat and the most efficient way to avoid it. And hell, the secrets of immortality itself.

I like this answer. Reminds me a little bit of Dominic Deegan. For godly powers, somehow, visually, I've always been partial to space-related and time-related powers, in roughly that order. Teleporting a sword into someone - soooooooo awesomeeeeeeeeeeeee. Being able to blink/teleport everywhere just feels really useful, even if it isn't in practice. And what is more elegant than being able to destroy an enemy before the fight even begins? Also, clocks are pretty cool-looking too.

There is no doubt in my mind: a giant marauder with badass cosmetics and a huge fucking Excuisite Blade, because Freud and reasons.

I actually intend to create such a character at some point and min-max the hell out of him :D

In any RPG, if available, i always go for

1) Katanas or Curved swords like scimitars
2) Dual Weild
3) Very fast and agile character, with little to no defenses, relying on dodges(if possible).
4) DPS>>>> Defenses
5) ALWAYS melee.

Then comes min maxing and try to sacrifise as little as possible frm preference list. Points 5 and 4 always persist though. The fact that PoE did not allow me to really build the way i want was a contributing factor in leavin it a year+ ago.

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Poutsos wrote:

In any RPG, if available, i always go for

1) Katanas or Curved swords like scimitars
2) Dual Weild
3) Very fast and agile character, with little to no defenses, relying on dodges(if possible).
4) DPS>>>> Defenses
5) ALWAYS melee.

Then comes min maxing and try to sacrifise as little as possible frm preference list. Points 5 and 4 always persist though. The fact that PoE did not allow me to really build the way i want was a contributing factor in leavin it a year+ ago.

Drizzt Do'Urden called; he wants his build back. =^[.]~=