Giving essences passives is a possibility, but what kinds of things could they be? If I have any ideas - or anyone, like yourself, suggests any! - then it's something worth considering!
My thinking behind giving Deugan a wand was that I'm imagining him as fairly nerdy, and more inclined to think his way out of problems rather than bashing them like a brute. I also liked that he'd think of it as something he has in common with Emeela, which means they're meant for each other in his eyes, and mechanically it means they could exchange weapons, giving some choice about who to equip a wand to if you find a new one.
I'm not actually sure though. I've thought more about the original Deugan's use of a greatsword, and how that wouldn't not fit here, but I'm also trying to stress the whole protector angle so he definitely needs a shield, which is incompatible with that. I considered just giving him a shield and no weapon, but it felt a bit naked.
Ha, one possibility is to give him a shield in each hand! I mean, why not??
2
MarninPL33~4Y
Hmm, suggestion you say. Maybe passive regen of body/mind, chance to gain a mood status every turn, additional affinity to some monster types (if that's even a thing, like goblin-type or something like that), increased damage from spells from certain element, additional body damage at the cost of mind per turn. Or maybe some more fun effects, like chance to drop an otherwise unobtainable items from mobs in a given area (that could be used for a questline, for example), chance to drop more currency, chance to stun, poison (that I believe should be in the game, as I'm certain that many monsters could use it. Of course, without that weird outside-battle part of it), etc. That's just some of the ideas.
When it comes to Deugan, in my eyes the concept of shield-blade was very interesing and fitting. Not only it is a really original concept, but also you would keep your vision of him being a protector - without him being too similar to Mardek, or too similar to Emeela.
3
Tobias 1102~4Y
There are definitely tons of different possibilities, but the difficult of the decision comes from it being early game and him being the protagonist. It feels like that means it should be something that, while active, wouldn't make battles run in a non-'vanilla' way, but it also feels like it should be something significant given his role! So it's tough finding a balance.
I might rethink and revisit the bladed shield thing, then! What would he have in his other hand slot though? Or would his shield have two skills, filling both slots?
1
MarninPL33~4Y
Hm, considering that characters will, probably, have two-handed weapons in the future (like staffs or something like that), you need to decide how two-hands will work. In my opinion they should either fill both slots... Or you could drop items (gems, maybe?) that you could only insert in two-hand weapons for additional skill. I dunno, the first option sounds more reasonable.
I'm glad that you decided to reconsider the shield for Deugan! I just really wanted to see how it would look to fight with something like that, and what other designs you can think of for this kind of weapon.
1
Ampersand68~4Y
I actually do think that a big two-handed sword would make sense in the context of Deugan being a "defender" kind of character. The zweihander was not just used for attack, but also to ward off blows and keep enemies back using big swinging motions. [LINK]
Building off of that, I think Deugan's passive could be a kind of "Active Defense" ability, where he has a chance to deflect an incoming attack if he has not attacked that turn- this would synergize well with his Taunt ability and his support skills.
My thinking behind giving Deugan a wand was that I'm imagining him as fairly nerdy, and more inclined to think his way out of problems rather than bashing them like a brute. I also liked that he'd think of it as something he has in common with Emeela, which means they're meant for each other in his eyes, and mechanically it means they could exchange weapons, giving some choice about who to equip a wand to if you find a new one.
I'm not actually sure though. I've thought more about the original Deugan's use of a greatsword, and how that wouldn't not fit here, but I'm also trying to stress the whole protector angle so he definitely needs a shield, which is incompatible with that. I considered just giving him a shield and no weapon, but it felt a bit naked.
Ha, one possibility is to give him a shield in each hand! I mean, why not??
When it comes to Deugan, in my eyes the concept of shield-blade was very interesing and fitting. Not only it is a really original concept, but also you would keep your vision of him being a protector - without him being too similar to Mardek, or too similar to Emeela.
I might rethink and revisit the bladed shield thing, then! What would he have in his other hand slot though? Or would his shield have two skills, filling both slots?
I'm glad that you decided to reconsider the shield for Deugan! I just really wanted to see how it would look to fight with something like that, and what other designs you can think of for this kind of weapon.
Building off of that, I think Deugan's passive could be a kind of "Active Defense" ability, where he has a chance to deflect an incoming attack if he has not attacked that turn- this would synergize well with his Taunt ability and his support skills.