So you need 10 Tapinela for one persistent point of lighning-resist?
Correct, though being the gameplay/mechanic junkie that I am, trying to see if this can be diversified a bit, e.g. every herbal dose would randomly grant 1 or 2 points instead of just 1. This also ties in with authenticity, since from a roleplaying standpoint not all the herbs you collect are of the same "quality", and thus this should be reflected in the potency of the brew/salve
Also, there are herbs for HP & PP, and +1 of either for 10 units just doesn't feel right (although that's more the domain of game balance, of which I am equally obsessed with).
Is this affected by the Herbal skill? Higher skill level --> better results/less resources used. Or is it simply digital? You have the skill/you don't have the skill.
'Knowledge of Herbs' serves to improve how many units of herbs you manage to collect each time you interact with them. Herbs are basically collectibles you find in the environment, sometimes they are more concealed or difficult to reach, other times they can be acquired by defeating flora-type creatures, such as the ancient treants known as "Odendro". On a rare occasion, if exceptionally skilled, an Explorer can discover Herbs that would've remained hidden otherwise.
So, example of the skill's core function (actual numbers are lower). At Knowledge of Herbs Lvl. One, you collect 1 unit from Herbs in the environment. With Lvl. Two, every unit you collect is multipled to 1.33 unit(s). This means that, as soon as you collect three Tapinela, you would then gain an additional Tapinela for a total of four. Lvl. Three is x1.66, Lvl. Four is x2, so on. This might seem a bit convoluted, but in reality skills in Lords of Xulima always work in the player's favor in a fairly intuitive manner. If 2 party members level Knowledge of Herbs separately, both skill totals will be computed to reward the player for investing those precious skill points. Same with other skills like Perception, Lockpicking and Mercantilism.
How is it balanced? Eg. Is the amount of herbs you can find or your max resistance capped?
The former. Everything is more or less finite in Lords of Xulima, which is really important to preserving meaningful exploration (and steering clear of certain typical design pitfalls). That does mean there is an insane amount of balancing to do for a 60+ hour non-linear game, but my 2 cents is that it is entirely worth it.
Will there be any backdraws of using this (eg Gold for alchemical equipment, loss of time etc.)
None planned, but I like where this is going, tons of possibilities there. While I know not everyone might agree with the following statement, this is more or less what Early Access is for. Adding and expanding on all these fun details/features which can bring a cool RPG to memorable status, thus giving the devs a chance to show that they do very much care about player experience.
I like the extensive tool-tips, though an in-game codex would also be cool. You need to be careful with tool-tips to make sure all information is shown no matter the resolution and no matter where the tool-tipped item is on-screen.
At the very least, you'll be able to alt-tab to the digital Game Guide or Bestiary & Mythology book, at one point or another (much sooner if you backed/pre-ordered or know someone who did). Tooltip display will hopefully remain accurate, however we're always grateful to receive feedback from players experiencing any compatibility issues. A lot of the software tools used to develop LoX are custom, which makes for edgy & efficient game development but also tends to require a lot of testing & QA.
Oh boy oh boy oh boy
