Stats should affect character appearance & animation

This would be a really great feature of the game.

How it would work,

STRENGTH
This would be the most obvious. Low strength would make one appear more flaccid/scrawny, while high strength would make one appear more muscular.

DEXTERITY
Physical appearance wouldn't be the appropriate target here. High dexterity would change some of the player animations. The idle fidget animations, for instance, both out of combat and in combat. Low dexterity would lead to more clumsy/brutish animations, while high dexterity would give the appearance that the player is more handy/nimble. Flipping daggers, etc.

INTELLIGENCE.
A combination of physical appearance and animation changes could work here. In terms of physical appearance, it could mean more intelligent players have more of a glint in their eyes, while less intelligent players can have duller eyes. Very high intelligence players could have white streaks on their hair and beard. In terms of animation, intelligence could include different eyebrow poses and movements to make the character look more wizened in disposition, more wiley, and less of a brutish appearance of clenching the jaw that one currently gets when in a combat stance.

 

I don't think the models are detailed enough to notice such changes. Even if they could, I'd rather them just roll into the character creation so we can make our characters look the way we want, rather than arbitrary stat accumulation forcing our hand.

 

Dude.. we're still working on getting some decent options to our char looks.. not to mention we still have vendors that ALL look exactly the same...I mean seriously.. No female options.. just some tired old dude (one race only) with a scraggly beard

 

While I can certainly not seeing this be high priority, it would be neat if your stats did unlock various things - you'd need to do it without equipment modifiers and such though, but say once you get your 'train strength' skill to a certain level you could unlock a /strong emote or for dexterity an 'acrobat' type emote, for int a 'thinking' emote ....or even some titles...that'd be cool. I think changing the actual model would be awkward from a technical perspective, and honestly, I wouldn't like my character to look all muscular and stuff...

 

Hmm I don't agree. I support a great deal of character customization so we can make characters look unique, but I don't really think people with low strength should look muscular.

To me its the same principle as characters wearing plate armor not being able to skin the plate to like a cloth robe. For me, SotA is about role-play. Basic thing is I think this will mean that we're participating in a real world, which would generally make the reality of things reflected in their appearances. There are concrete examples in gameplay where this does matter a lot (PvP) but I think matters more generally by principle. I don't really agree with the approach that would say it doesn't matter and treats character appearance more as cosplay.

What you're describing anyway, I think, is having your character look strong despite not being strong, and the process of accumulating your strength as an arbitrary way to look strong. Completely disagree... Its not arbitrary in any way. I'd agree that one or two of the ideas I listed are arguable -- like the streak of white in the hair -- but I think most are pretty appropriate reflections of stats.

I also find the models are plenty enough detailed to show the differences. Our character models all look buffed up. Mages in the game are buffed up mages Fidget animations would be noticeable. Some of the facial stuff I mentioned for intelligence maybe less noticeable, but personally I notice my combat scowl all the time I go into combat.

 

+1000

 

WYSIWYG?

Well, loosing an eye in battle could provide an eye patch
Loosing a leg - could provide crutches ... ?
Loosing a hand - may be a crook ... ?
Good to know, that we're living in a magic world. Nothing is lost forever!

There are some interesting things mentioned in this thread, making a players look more unique

If a "HE-MAN" title for a 100+ Str person would be interesting?
May be "SUPER-MAN" for a 200+ Str?
"Red flash" for a 100+ Dex character?

More realistic?
I think "Darth" could be a great title for a Chaos GM ...
And providing an eye patch for a pirate could be made sooner ...

But as Solazur said, I also think a vendor (not wonder!) woman would be the first choice,
before she receives the "best seller" title for being the best selling vendor of novia

 

I think trying to visually represent "intelligence" is a slippery slope, but otherwise, I think this is a good idea in general.