REALLY dont think this is possible, but the possibilties for added "realism" to the game would be nice, i think.
Program in a damage penalty to the basic class (caster / melee) abilities.
Say for melee'ers : Barely Injured, no Penalty.
Injured, -2 STR / -2 CON
Badly Wounded, -3 STR / -3 CON
Near Death, -5 STR / -4 CON
Which kina makes sense, if you're physicaly damaged, then you cant perform at your peak condition. (think injury to muscles for str penalty, blood loss for con penalty)
For Casters : Barely Injured, no penalty.
Injured, 20% chance of spell failure.
Badly Wounded, 50% chance of spell failure.
Near Death, 70% chance of spell failure.
For casters, the pain-distraction, blood loss and muscle dam could play havoc with their casting gestures and concentration needed to properly cast spells.
All of these effects would be instantly erased as you healed, but just as quickly put back as you were delt more damage. This way, if you happen to get a caster wounded before he manages to retreat to a reasonably safe distence, he wont be able to pull off a lvl 9 spell (which i assume would require some complicated gesturing / verbal lines / concentration) with a guranteed chance of sucess. And the same line of thinking with a melee fighter : interupted / reduced abilites until you can heal.
As i said, i REEAAAALLLYYY doubt this is possible from the dev side, much less the game makers. But just something i thought about while i was fighting ogres in da' mirk.
Pipe dream idea
I think that's a little too much negative effect to place on a character.
Remember, wizards have fantastical mental control and part of their training would be to ignore certain levels of physical damage. Similiar thing for fighters, who train and are used to getting the odd thump and chopped limb.
Speaking of chopped limbs.....now wouldn't that be a cool (crazy?) enhancement! Would take vorpal weapons to a new level! haha
Remember, wizards have fantastical mental control and part of their training would be to ignore certain levels of physical damage. Similiar thing for fighters, who train and are used to getting the odd thump and chopped limb.
Speaking of chopped limbs.....now wouldn't that be a cool (crazy?) enhancement! Would take vorpal weapons to a new level! haha
For starters, mundane melee characters really do not need any penalties.
As for spell failure from pain, thats what the concentration check when you get hit is for.
While these ideas would probably be pounced on by hardcore servers* I think for the more action oriented NS4 they would slow combat down without enhancing the fun factor.
* You know the type, where campfire, food, water, bedroll, toothbrush and teddy bear must be arranged neatly on the ground just so you can rest.
As for spell failure from pain, thats what the concentration check when you get hit is for.
While these ideas would probably be pounced on by hardcore servers* I think for the more action oriented NS4 they would slow combat down without enhancing the fun factor.
* You know the type, where campfire, food, water, bedroll, toothbrush and teddy bear must be arranged neatly on the ground just so you can rest.