That was probably related to the devs also wanting different damage and armour types to play against each other. Now, I'm down for more varied play styles but this is a tricky one, because there's way too many factors involved. That means there's just as many ways to try and balance it and make it work, but also just as many ways to break the game play.

r_k has some good ideas, but what that won't fix is the fact that the shields that currently spawn aren't worth it. Wooden shields are too flimsy and metal ones are too heavy and inaccurate. You can find decent weapons but if you want a decent shield you have to make one, and most would probably prefer to use scrolls on weapons and armour instead. I have some ideas for improving that but I'm not sure how well it'd work.

First is a deflection mechanic. Right now, the fact that weapons can both block and attack weighs the scale heavily in the weapon's favour. Give shields a deflection mechanic which weapons won't have, by which damage is negated entirely without putting the shield at risk of breaking. This would tie in to a shield's accuracy and gives wooden shields a much needed edge.

Second sort of ties in with r_k's idea for heavy shields; letting you tank longer fights. Shields could have a weak armour value that applies across the whole body like cloaks do. Most wooden ones would end up with 0 AV but the metal ones would have a few points that would defend your whole body. This would make heavy metal shields worth more, especially right at the start in UT when you're still scrambling for armour.

I'm also down for the shield bash. Even if it doesn't do any damage, that extra breathing space would give shields a functionality that weapons don't. That one's been in discussion for a long time, and I don't think it'd mess with the balance too much.

Unarmed is a whole other ball game, also with way too many factors. Probably worth its own thread. I won't touch on it here.

There was this thread on blocking and this discussion on shields.

That gives me an idea for an optional dungeon actually.

Very short, little loot. Full of invisible ghosts who won't immediately attack you, but if you happen to run into one it immediately turns hostile. At the end is an item that lets you see ghosts (perhaps just an amulet of ESP), or maybe a way to turn ghosts off for the rest of the game. Why? There's ghost versions of half the monsters in the game, gives other things a change to spawn.

According to google definitions moratorium means a temporary prohibition of an activity? Were we making changes to the original story to begin with?

Anyway, I'm with you on the chatting r_k. See if you can include engraving in it, like goblins occasionally scratching tribal markings here and there or something. That'd also add flavour.

If it's necro-anything it'd be more along the lines of necrophallic, but no, I was thinking that it may be the souls of the damned that the Iter Vehemens ad Necem has claimed.

I dunno man, at this point I'm not sure it's necromantic, I suspect something deeper.

Zombies, spiders, snakes and kobolds...

Of all the corpses to eat, what made you pick those?

You can't tin food, but whatever is in them will last indefinitely, so save them for last. Loaves will last longer than any fresh fruit or meat, try regular animal corpses.

Welcome to the forums!

The forums have been undead for years, some suspect centuries.

Worry not, development takes place elsewhere!

I can see the value in the tin helmet actually. When your head goes critical you lose INT, perfect time to be ESP-invisible as you heal up without the need to worry about magical bombardment.

I didn't say it would be harmful, when I said it wasn't a viable direction I meant as a major mechanic. We've got literally hundreds of materials, we don't want to start adding special properties to each and every one of them, especially when it wouldn't make a big difference to the core gameplay (unless that's what you're aiming for). For it to become so we'd have to make some major changes.