Mod: Conceptual Balance Mod 1.6

[Burnsaber]

I find it rather odd why people just don't go behind Pebble Skin Suit. If you are seriously concerned that it would be the next best SC gear or something, just make cost it E4 (or E5 if you really want be concervative). That way you can climb up to the high level earth spells like in the blood stone years, but it will just cost you so much as to prevent spam. I mean seriuosly, how many Air Helmets have forged in a single game? How many would you have forged if it was cursed?

The str boost is neglible (+2! big difference!), regeneration is pretty useful I admit, but really not big of a deal since it's not really a SC item. The stoneskin will often just hinder you with the -50cr penalty associated with it and it will stay even if you cast invulnerability/iron skin. Getting turned into a troll might be awesome, if you are human mage, not much so if you are a tartarian.

[Fantomen]

I´m also behind the pebble skin suit rather than tome of gaia.

But honestly I don´t think Ulm or any other strong earth nation is weakened by the loss of a second earth booster.

I think of it this way: With no gem gens the only way to "generate gems" is to use dvarwen hammers. This favours earth nations, a lot. And without a second earth booster it will be even harder for non earth nations to forge enough hammers, increasing this advantage.

For Ulm this is even more significant with their innate forge bonus, Ulm is now the undisputed master of gem saving in a world where gems just became a lot more valuable.

It will be a little harder to cast the high end earth spells, but weren´t those a little too easy to cast before anyway?

[kianduatha]

Originally Posted by Burnsaber

The str boost is neglible (+2! big difference!), regeneration is pretty useful I admit, but really not big of a deal since it's not really a SC item. The stoneskin will often just hinder you with the -50cr penalty associated with it and it will stay even if you cast invulnerability/iron skin. Getting turned into a troll might be awesome, if you are human mage, not much so if you are a tartarian.

Yep. The pebbleskin suit just seems to be the least disruptive of the available options. Its drawbacks are numerous enough that I don't think you'll see them exactly mass produced, but they will be used whenever people really need that extra Earth level. I mean, Armor of Twisted Thorns is pretty awesome too, but nobody spams those.

Really, the best part about the Pebble Skin Suit is that it gives just enough protection to justify a round-one Rain of Stones from a guy wearing it and no other equipment(especially if you have the 35 hp from turning into a troll).

But really, the Pebble Skin Suit is just fine as a replacement for an earth booster. Non-blood nations will really have to think hard about whether or not they feel justified getting blood on their pretender or spending the resources to use scouts to bootstrap into blood for the thing. Don't underestimate either of those costs. There's no need to make it artificially expensive. Even keeping it E1B3 will not make these things common as flies, except perhaps on MA Abysia.