Shattered Kingdoms

Hi, It's me Conan, also known as Orac etc... I have recently begun playing a lightie again after a very long absence from team lightie. I'm having a great time but as I advance in level I find that I need more things to survive and I have taken to killing greybies to get them. It is common practice for lighties to do this but I am starting not to like it. Just killing someone because you need their stuff doesn't seem all to light to me, but I can't request off greybies and I can work out some cheap arpee excuses to do it.

I would like this better though. The buy command. It is exactly like the request command but it can be used by lighties on greybies to "buy" their things. You buy something from a greybie NPC just like requesting but instead of them saying if you convince me i'll give you this or that They say "If the price is right I'll give you this or that" and then you buy off them they take the amount of coins out of your inventor that the item costs when you identify it. So if you identify something as being worth 360 silver they take 3.6 gold off you or what ever.

It's just so much better then the same old 'The light has desperate need of what you posses please relinquish it to me or I shall have to challenge you for it ye selfish uncouth peasant.

2cents
Orac/Conan/Kyle

Not a bad idea, and I agree that lighties killing sentient, non-aggressive greybies is poor RP in general. Frankly, even greybies killing for stuff isn't good RP, so this would make sense for them as well. Nothing in any of the grey aura descriptions states that they're psycopaths. In fact, in "help unprincipled" you find that they are "kind and friendly" and they are willing to "overthrow a tyrant" albeit not at severe personal risk. Kind people do not kill other people for possessions. What's more, it says nothing about how they themselves will be tyrants, just that they're willing to overthrow tyrants. The point is that people who think greybies are the "Whatever, I do what I want" type aren't really playing them right. Wantonly killing people for stuff and being treacherous is evil. The only grey aura type that could possibly be justified doing this is anarchist, and even that is pushing it. They prioritize their pleasure over another's well being, but maybe not over another's life.

Really, the only alignment that can justify wanton and remorseless killing for any reason whatsoever is diabolic. Even miscreants "do not seek to hurt or kill others, except in cases of revenge." The light vs. dark paradigm allows some leeway in interpreting this stuff, but clearly grey aura characters and NPCs aren't party to this and an alternative would be nice.

That said, all of this stuff has had lax interpretation for who knows how long, and people have been killing greybie NPCs for loot all the while. Until such time as a buy/bargain/challenge/barter or similar command is implemented, there is always mode stun. You can RP it out that you have issued a challenge or even wagered something of your own in a contest if it makes you feel better about it.

Shouldn't dark aura characters be able to buy items just as easily as a lightie or a greybie? Is there a grey aura NPC wouldn't sell stuff to a darkie?

I imagine there would still be the, "ya right, I won't sell that to you!" Toggle for some NPCs.
What would keep people from going around and buying up all th good loot? I would put in a level requirement just like a request firstly. And because this NPC owns them, I would make it much more expensive than what your ID them says.

I love the idea, but has some quirks to iron out.