Jan 31 Update: More Skills

I've been polishing the new skills system and adding some new skills for Fighters.  Classes are now skills themselves that you can learn after creating your character.  Choosing a 'class' skill (Fighter, Cleric) futher unlocks a set of skills for that class.  Skills are now organized into a tree; selecting some skills will even preclude you from learning others.  For example, learning Fighter means you won't be able to learn Cleric or any of its dependent skills (for now.. multiclassing in the future?).

More new/original combat mechanics are in place: ToHit, Dodge, Damage, and Defense replace the old armor and damage.  ToHit is a straight percentage, which is offset by the defender's Dodge percentage.  Defense is a straight damage reduction; a Defense of 2 will reduce each successful hit on you by 2.  Damage is now a straightfoward range, ie 2-3 damage.

Fighters have three new skills: Constitution, Evasion, and Shove.  Constitution and Evasion increase the HP and Dodge bonuses given by each point of your primary Health and Agility abilities, respectively.  Shove is an action skill: use :shove to push other characters around!  Shoving also interrupts the target character's action in progress.  This skill is useful for escaping when surrounded, messing with spell casters, pushing enemies into traps, or generally being rude.  Check it out:

Cleric spells got rebalanced for the new mechanics; XP cost and reward, healing/damage amounts, and durations have all been adjusted for the new mechanics and better play.  Each spell becomes more powerful and longer lasting as the corresponding skill is leveled up.  The :spells screen shows the MP cost of spells you have learned/available.

Starting ability scores (Might, Agility, Magic, Mind, Health) are now fixed at 5 instead of being random.  In fact, there's no longer anything to customize when dead other than your :symbol and :color.  Per above, class is selected as a skill when you're alive.

The tutorial on the main site has been updated too.

Give it a try, I hope you like it.