Shattered Kingdoms

So is this a dumb idea or not? None of the posts seem to actually hit on this topic, though that's probably my fault for having a long opening and not putting the idea right in the title.

Recap:
-Warpaint skill, similar in usage to disguise, gives minor buff to barb
-Pigment Preparation by Shaman allows better warpaint for barb, kind of like enchant armor just for barbs
-Scout herbs can be added to pigments to give buffs to barbs
-If healing herbs would be too difficult, shamans can make healing spirit dolls for barbs
-Toughness(slightly buffed) and Warpaint scale with armor type per body part: Heavy armor=absolutely no effect --> No armor at all = highest effect

This, I believe would give MR barbs a fighting chance, but would still have the drawback that their enchants and buffs need to be constantly applied than constantly worn. It would also give barbs a reason to choose a variety of armor types, not just heavy, but without mandating that barbs had to be light armor.

It sounds like a lot of work from a coding and from a balancing perspective.

I'm not a real big fan of the "let's tightly-couple barbarians and shaman together despite how much that will throw game balance out of whack" idea.

I don't think it would tightly couple them, as for one, this would only really be of much benefit to MR barbs, and barbs would still have the option of going the traditional route. I don't really see how this would tie barbs to shamans any more than say mercs to priests and sorcs. Scouts would be thrown in the mix as well, since without scout herbs, there'd be no buffs. If you could explain how this'll throw balance way out of whack, I really don't get that part.
The main problem I see, is what Baldric said, and that this could take a lot of effort. I have a number of other MR-aiding ideas, but this one's probably my favorite, though the most time consuming.

My issue on a balance perspective is that I don't see a point for a specific class build to complement another specific class build too much, because that allows people who roll characters with their OOC friends the ability to have an advantage over other players that is more than just their own skill level. I'm not saying that rolling characters with your friends is bad: On the contrary, it's a great thing. However, in my mind I don't think the the MUD should reward friends who roll characters together at the cost of ostracizing people who play without OOC contacts. You may say, "but sorcerers and mercs already go well together," and you'd be right, but sorcs go well with lots of people: There's no special buffing spell for sorcs that can only be used to benefit a merc, just like there's no shaman spell that can only benefit MR barbarians: And that's a good thing.

Let me put it this way: If a game mechanic seems to be something that would over 90% of the time only be taken advantage of by friends who rolled characters together, then I say it's a bad mechanic, and even moreso the more powerful said combination might be. Allowing MR barbs the ability to take advantage of some specific skill wouldn't help the poor newbie who trained MR without knowing what he was getting into, and said newbie may become even more disenchanted with the game if he sees another MR barb that always happens to be followed around by his conjoined twin shaman.

I see your point, but I don't see this being abused anymore than any other OOC relationships. Since the barb would be doing his own warpaint supplied by the shaman, to me this would be no different than going to any brewer/scribe/enchanter and getting what they need and then going on their way.

I suppose if you really wanted, anybody could use warpaint, but it'd still be a pretty dumb idea for anybody without toughness, as I'd see even clothing noticeably hampering the paint's effect, and with light armor the effects would barely be there at all.

I don't really know where to start. I don't agree with the premise that MR barbs need to be made easier to play, as MR is so powerful that it should have huge drawbacks. As designed in your post, it also appears to be a half baked (at best) idea that isn't ready for implementation. So I'll just say "I voted no" and pfc.

As it stands right now, if you choose MR either as a stat train and/or eq, you are doomed even worse in pvp/pve

Maybe my grasp of mechanics isn't good enough, but I would think that this does have some major drawbacks. You would basically be relying on the disguise skill to house all your enchantments and buffs. Get attacked with them on? Have them rub off in the middle of a fight? Sucks to be you, since you're not wearing armor and can't have any enchantments or buffs until your adreline stops racing. And I've never paid enough attention to the ins and outs of disguise, but since this skill is relying on paint to provide the bonuses, there are at least two classes that I would think should be able to basically remove the barbs enchants/buffs.