History VideoGame / Barony

** The Merchant claim to fame is a high appraisal skill. This doesn't sound very useful, but their appraisal starts at 50, meaning they can easily and quickly identify everything they pick up (except gems) in the mines, and they'll quickly snowball to 100 appraisal just by identifying everything they come across. Being able to see what items are useful and what items are not is surprisingly powerful, though they'll become less useful as they go deeper (where every class will start to have high appraisal by necessity).

* AwesomeButImpractical: Dominating a Cockatrice. Sure, it's a beefy follower with a strong attack (especially in Hardcore), a [[TheParalyzer Paralysis attack]] and can fly, but it cannot sleep to boost its health regeneration, cannot eat to heal a bit, cannot wear anything to boost its AC and usually makes you waste a Life Saving amulet ([[TakeAThirdOption unless you choose to whittle down its health first]]), so whether or not it's worth it to dominate the Cockatrice is dependant on the player's situation.

** The HauntedCastle, a suspiciously-deserted castle full of loot with [[BlatantLies absolutely no strings attached whatsoever!]] The Oracle's Treads, boots of the Artifact Set, lie here. They [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial can be taken at will without any risk whatsoever.]]

* ProperlyParanoid: There's a human NPC in Hamlet named "The Conspiracy Theorist," who insists that the Mage's Guild is hiding something, that the Archmagisters were in cahoots with Baron Herx, and that the Hunter's Guild is hiding a dark secret. [[spoiler:He's right about all three counts; Herx was indeed collaborating with the Archmagisters, and the founder of the Hunter's Guild, Bram Kindly, has become a Vampire Lord who can be fought as a BonusBoss]].

[[http://www.baronygame.com Barony]] is a rogue-like [[FirstPersonPerspective first-person]] [[ActionRPG RPG]] inspired by [[VideoGame/UltimaUnderworld Ultima Underworld]], [[VideoGame/SystemShock System Shock]], and [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIDaggerfall TES II: Daggerfall]]. The goal of the game is to descend to the bottom of a dark dungeon known as the [[DungeonCrawling Devil's Bastion]] and destroy an undead lich named [[EvilSorcerer Baron Herx]], who terrorized the peaceful town of Hamlet in life and is now harboring a curse against the land from [[TheUndead beyond the grave]]. To aid you in your quest are [[JoinedYourParty friendly humans]] who have been eeking out a rough life within the dungeon for generations, as well as any friends you can bring with you in [[CoOpMultiplayer real life]]: Barony is the first of its kind as a first-person roguelike in that it fully supports cooperative multiplayer for up to [[FourManBand four players]].

* AntiFrustrationFeatures: Despite being [[HarderThanHard a fairly straight-laced Roguelike]], and thus very unforgiving, ''Barony'' features a few things that alleviate some of the more gamey aspects of its' pedigree.

* TimedMission: Some floors will have a Minotaur Warning - a flashing purple bull icon in the bottom left corner, along with Baron Herx helpfully noting that you'd better skedaddle before it gets there. If you don't vacate the level quickly enough, the Minotaur will show up and [[ThatOneBoss proceed to ruin your day]] [[InstantDeathRadius if it gets its' hands on you.]] This hazard [[StalkedByTheBell becomes increasingly likely to show up if you take too long completing a regular floor]], although the Minotaur Warning won't activate until the next floor you enter.

* BearTrap: Appear as pickups and buyable items laying around the dungeon. They are particularly useful for setting up traps (or trolling), but degrade upon successive uses. Decepit ones often have a chance of not working.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Dominating a Cockatrice. Sure, it's a beefy follower with a strong attack (especially in Hardcore), a [[TheParalyzer Paralysis attack]] and can fly, but it cannot sleep to boost its health regeneration, cannot eat to heal a bit, cannot wear anything to boost its AC and usually makes you waste a Life Saving amulet, so whether or not it's worth it to dominate the Cockatrice is dependant on the player's situation.

* TheUndead: Vampires, Skeletons and Ghouls all make appearances. Herx is a Lich, and the most dangerous thing in the game [[spoiler:short of his master]].

* ArmorOfInvincibility: The Artifact Set is the best suit of armor in the whole game. The defense bonus matches Crystal Armor, but each piece gives additional effects, such as permanent levitation, permanent enemy awareness, and so on; they're also all unbreakable. The downside is that obtaining the full set will require you to complete nearly every single BonusLevel the game has to offer, as that's the only place you're going to find the gear.

%%* GameLobby: Now with Steam integration!

* LevelEditor: Barony does include a level editing utility.

* LinearWarriorsQuadraticWizards: Played fully straight, as [[{{Main/Roguelike}} you would expect from the genre]]. Warriors focus primarily on smashing and slashing their way through the obstacles before them without much gameplay variation, but they're hard to kill. Wizards are about as durable as a paper boat, but they have [[GlassCannon great damage output]], and by later levels of the game, they'll have a spell for just about every situation. This allows them the kind of tactical flexibility Warriors can only dream of.