Shattered Kingdoms

I don't see any reason why there needs to be any coded way to "mark" a player thusly. Titles, greeting, etc. should be sufficient for most. A group whose members are largely followers of Thuban certainly wouldn't appreciate the Adventurer's Guild "outing" them in a coded way, or being charmed into typing 'bond' by some weaksauce twink's character. For those characters whose cohorts are RPed more as being a militia of sorts [like the followers fighters attracted beginning at level 9 in AD&D 2e], we as builders can continue to provide tools like the 'custom shields' shop in Teron for you.

Again, though, I'd rather we stay away from code that implicitly points to more than a vaguely-structured relationship, or implies anything unnecessary about the NATURE of that relationship. That's the job of the players, and part of the fun, IMO.

Other than that, I'm a supporter of this idea.

Yes! More custom items!

These sort of things are what I generally do not like. The more RP stuff that you can 'prove' with in-game props, the less important RP actually becomes.

If someone wants to lie and say they're the apprentice of Mehlindi, they can very well do so. The problems for them start when mehlindi catches wind of it, and energy drains the poor sod into forgetting his own name. :p

As for the item being responsible for your bonus, that just seems weird. I don't think the connection should be item-related at all.


A few other ideas/thoughts on this:

*Exemplar/cohort private channel similar to group tell.

*Bonus to the cohort's XP depending on the mentor's charisma, when mentor/cohort are both in the realm.

*(this one can get a little overpowered perhaps, its just an idea anyway) Cohort earns a low level skill/spell from the master's spell/skill list, depending on the master's class. (the master should be able to chose which. Again, this might just be no good for SK, but the way I see it, if everyone starts having one of these, it won't much matter after a point)

*Master gains 'significant' combat benefits when fighting his cohort. He's basicly the one who's taught him most he knows, or if not, he's been with him in all his training. This means he can pretty much handle him in a fight , even when he gets to grand master. The master knows all of the student's secrets. This would stop cohorts from abandoning their master at gm, running away as if they owe him nothing

*Master/cohort gain combat bonuses when fighting in the same group. They know how to fight together.

*Cohorts may only recruit their own cohorts when their master approves them as 'ready'. Much similar to the faith system, the cohort system could have 3 levels:
lv1: you are X's cohort. He can abandon you if you fail him.
lv2: You are X's cohort, you can stand on your own two feet and he may depend on you in difficult situations. He has invested too much time in you now, and abandoning you would cost him dearly (level loss?)
lv 3: You are your own master. You still owe X most you know, but you an he can stand as equals. (at this point benefits from cohortship to the cohort are lost)
Masters should be limited to how many ppl they can have as cohorts at any one given time, but not limited to how many people they have taken to lv 3.

As for what these 'masters' could gain from all this
uh.. Mentor points maybe? :p

I wasn't too keen on most of your suggestions, Erevan, but this:

VERY EENTERESTING.

I actually think that'd be kind of interesting, and would REALLY spice up things. A priest that has learned from watching their exemplar some basic sword play? A mercenary that's picked up some basic herbalism knowledge? I like that idea a LOT.

As for the significant bonus, definitely not. They (exemplars)don't teach them (cohorts) everything they know, just much of it - and they (cohorts) should have the capability to develop their own quirks and personalities.

The general idea was to throw out anything in my head and see what sticks. Of course, you generally suck so, of course you wouldn't be keen on many of my elite ideas :p

Erevan, even if I don't agree with everything you say, I'm glad you are out here giving feedback. Especially when it comes to parts of the system that I don't feel strongly about, the feedback I'm getting now is very important.


Opinion noted. Maybe the item idea wasn't the best.


Isn't that just 'tell'?


I'm against bonuses that make people level faster. I want there to be value in playing at low levels, not just make a shortcut to GM.


Seems like a bad path for a couple of reasons. It's harder to balance the game when everyone can have an ability from any other class. Also, twinks will no longer pick their cohort/exemplar bond based on the RP relationship, but just because of which class/class combo is best.


Ehh... I can't argue with your reasoning. But I was planning on having the system forget who your old cohort was once he becomes able to exemplar himself. And that was going to be determined just by level.


It's worth noting that this idea doesn't interfere with the current mentoring system at all. There's no reason that an exemplar can't get mentor points through their relationship by doing the same things that mentor's have been doing all along. But now you have even more incentive to interact with newbies when they appear.

If there is a strong bond, what about adding something that alerts the exemplar/cohort when someone dies. It doesn't have to tell them where exactly, just that it happens. "A sudden pressure builds and releases in your head as you sense X fall." Not a great example, but I'm not feeling particularly creative at the moment.

True, but I thought to my self 'flavor'. Though, maybe introducing new 'psionic' powers (cause thats what I always saw tells like. No other visible explanation why anyone can do it since day 1) will sort of deter Sk's general feeling.

As for the master to apprentice 'bonus' to damage, with a system similar to the faith idea it might be doable.
I'm not a fan of my own idea about damage bonuses after a second thought, but someone might come up with a better idea of what the ex-mentor ex-cohort relationship could be.

I like the "lvl 3 cohort" idea. It makes sense, no?

I dislike the idea that you can't rethink or change your examplar. Even older characters go missing for long stretches and choosing one early only to have that examplar fail to log on for long periods of time (or never again) is a problem.

I think that regular reaffirmations of the cohort/exemplar relationship should be required with a face to face meeting and a hard-coded command to reaffirm the link (perhaps once per in game year or maybe 2 years). And, if you don't meet, or choose not to meet, then after another in game year passes, the cohort may choose another exemplar.

Roleplay should be fluid, constant, and ever progressing. Locking into an exemplar who fails to show up again is just a roadblock towards RP.

As far as public knowledge, why not make it a tatoo that can be bought from a shop in a city. If you want people to know, then you buy a tattoo. The shopkeeper should 'sell' the ability to remove the tattoo should you change your exemplar or find you don't need it anymore. It would fade upon reaching mentor status.

I think regen bonuses are a wonderful way to repay a cohort for their affiliation, and I think that combat/spell bonuses plus the regen bonuses are a great way to keep the exemplars interested.

Otherwise kudos on considering such an intricate and worthwhile program.