For instance, at level 1, you start with 1 point to buy a skill. All abilities are technically available, but you can't afford any more than the skills that cost 1 point.
Each skill would have a "price" and at each level you earn more skill "points"
Highly effective, popular skills would cost more points, and less effective, less popular skills, would cost less. I think skill synergy would be key to making this system work.
Each level you would gain an increasingly higher number of points (1 at level 1, 3 at level 2, 9 at level 3, for example).
I think to encourage the use and purchase of low level abilities, you could have have tiers, and points spent in lower tiers would contribute to the points needed to level up higher tiers.
For example: If you were in the classic scorceress fire tree, and level one warmth cost 1 point, and level 1 fireball cost 20 points, spending that one point in firebolt made it so you only needed 19 more points (in either warmth or fireball) to learn level 1 fireball.
This would do 2 things: 1) It would allow you to freely spend points on lower tree skills (up to the point where the cost of increasing warmth would cost the same as simply learning level 1 fireball, at which point you would have to make a choice) and 2) Allow for very interesting and different builds, with less wasteful spending on skills you dont want - simply because there would be no point in doing so.
I hope this makes sense, but i can't explain any more because i have to go
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Perhaps it will be like a point-buy system.
For instance, at level 1, you start with 1 point to buy a skill. All abilities are technically available, but you can't afford any more than the skills that cost 1 point.
Each skill would have a "price" and at each level you earn more skill "points"
Highly effective, popular skills would cost more points, and less effective, less popular skills, would cost less. I think skill synergy would be key to making this system work.
Each level you would gain an increasingly higher number of points (1 at level 1, 3 at level 2, 9 at level 3, for example).
I think to encourage the use and purchase of low level abilities, you could have have tiers, and points spent in lower tiers would contribute to the points needed to level up higher tiers.
For example: If you were in the classic scorceress fire tree, and level one warmth cost 1 point, and level 1 fireball cost 20 points, spending that one point in firebolt made it so you only needed 19 more points (in either warmth or fireball) to learn level 1 fireball.
This would do 2 things: 1) It would allow you to freely spend points on lower tree skills (up to the point where the cost of increasing warmth would cost the same as simply learning level 1 fireball, at which point you would have to make a choice) and 2) Allow for very interesting and different builds, with less wasteful spending on skills you dont want - simply because there would be no point in doing so.
I hope this makes sense, but i can't explain any more because i have to go