Shattered Kingdoms

This thread is based upon another thread, located here: http://www.shatteredkingdoms.org/forums/viewtopic.php?t=19833. Hiding behind your pet seems to be unheroic and thematically inappropriate for many classes. I would like to propose a number of steps that would change the nature of the game to allow pets a more natural and realistic role.

Step 1: You cannot position anyone behind your pet.
Step 2: Pets cannot initiate combat under any circumstance.
Step 3: Mounted pets always take 25% of all melee damage you would normally take.
Step 4: Once you are defeated in battle, your pet will flee to an adjacent location.

The third step is the most important one, since it addresses many minor issues. It increases the ability of classes to tank on the front row during a battle which many classes with Heavy Armor have trouble doing. It ensures that the pets role in combat is more organic since a real combat would involve the mount and the rider taking damage in a battle. It allows solo spell casters to feel safer against wandering monsters they might encounter in the world, while offering almost no advantage to them if they are casting from the back row of a group.

I happen to like pets, and don't see why a great hero can't have a heroic pet. Plus playing a caster, pets are pretty damn important for staying alive. I don't think your ideas are completely horrible, just stating my oppinion. Pets are fine as is.

You really didn't think that out, did you? Personally, I'd be fine with it. ^_^ I happen to have access to a certain mount with, well, more HP than I have.

The first part of your opinion is completely valid. There are many stories of characters with heroic pets, and even situations where a caster might stand back and let his pets battle on his behalf. The second part of your opinion only exists because of the way SK makes you play. Sorcerers, Warlocks, and Necromancers all have ways of gaining minions that are capable of tanking, and I do not include them in my definition of pets.

I thought about it for an hour.

The point of making your mount take 25% of your melee damage is not to kill off your pet more easily, the point is to offer a buff to tanking characters, and solo characters, so they have an easier time on the front row while making sure that your enemy does not have to murder your pet just because you are hiding on the second row.

Unlike some other sorc players, I really don't care much to waste energy holding a charm to stand in front of me, and wouldn't want to have to grab a charm and give it flight just to walk safely in the wilds. Even holding a charm and making a gate or two can wear you down pretty quick. Anyway, I stated my opinion and will stick to it.

I know it's not to kill off the pet. You're not going to kill the pet before you kill me. The thing is, if you give melee classes 25% damage reduction, you will get BROKEN tanking. Have you seen how ridiculous mood defensive is already? A mounted merc would be unstoppable.

I really don't like it when people propose changes that massively alter game balance simply for the sake of realism.

No, I haven't seen anything like that. What I've seen is a number of people complaining about how most heavy armor classes are not able to effectively tank in the front rows, and a larger number of people agreeing with them. If there is actually no problem, and heavy armor classes can all effectively tank in the front rows, then that makes up half my motivation for proposing such a change and I will gladly retract my suggestion.

Realism is not the basis of my suggestion, simply a comfortable by-product. The first half of my motivation was listed in the post I made above. The second half of my motivation is based upon the idea that standing behind your mount to get the most efficient method of attack violates my suspension of disbelief for a fantasy world.