Mimic skill

[forest imp]

My character was out hunting the other day, and a thought occured to him (and me). Is there any way to mimic the calls of certain animals? Yes, I know.. who needs an animal call, when you have a ranged weapon, but I think it is a valid idea. I don't know if this has been brought up before, and would be interested in feedback. Pros/cons, code abuse issues, and the like.

I was personally thinking of a skill, perhaps a branch of hunt, that only would affect certain types of critters. This is not an opportunity for me to be able to twink calling auto-flee creatures, but an open discussion of an idea.

pros:
*It would be realistic to call creatures, if you have the skill, knowledge, and necessary items to create the calls.
*It would give the opportunity for less successful (read: can't afford ranged weapon) hunters to try taking down some types of animals.
*If the work was done to flesh out the code further along these lines, it would provide interesting RP opportunities, I think.

cons:
*Code abuse quickly comes to mind. If I can call one creature away from a group, it will be easier to deal with that one creature, than having to deal with all at once.
*I don't know the level of code work that would be involved, but I doubt it would be minor.
*Balance issues, as it would give another possible ability to ranger type characters.

[Malifaxis]

Capital idea.  Stellar.



G, you are the man.

[sjanimal]

Pardon me, but that idea is simply brilliant.

[Gilvar]

Would make a great addition to the ranger class.

[Bestatte]

Personally, I'd rather see it an addition to -coded- tribal PCs, either d'elf or human or (with special permission only) half-elves - regardless of their guild.

I don't think someone from the Labyrinth should have any particular ability to call wildlife critters simply because they happened to pick ranger as a guild.

And the same goes for people who might pick "nomad" just so they can get Bendune on their list, and claim they're tribal, yet live in the city and hook up with a city-base clan. It wouldn't make any sense at all for someone like that to have an affinity with wildlife.

But given that limitation, I agree with everyone else who's said it's an excellent idea.

[Ktavialt]

I remember this being brought up before and both the players and staff
seemed to like it. Figuring it may have gotten lost over time or folks
changed their minds.

[Larrath]

In general, I don't think this is a bad idea - though it should obviously be restricted to a small number of animals.

I find it a little hard to believe that every other ranger will have a throat developed enough to copy these sounds, though, so I propose that instead of making this a skill, creating some whistles that could be made available to those wealthy enough to afford them.

These whistles would have a chance of failure, and in some cases could actually make the creatures move away from the user.


If not, though, it could be a nice higher-end skill.  It should take a very rich experience in order to successfully mimic the cries of almost any given creature, so I don't think it's something a 4 day ranger should have.


EDITED to add:
I don't see why tribals should get it more than any other people should.  Do you really think a Jul Tavan stonecarver would know how to imitate the call of a raptor or tregil?

[jhunter]

I like this idea, with some sort of limitation like Bestatte said...although I don't see why human rangers who aren't city-based or with a tribe couldn't have it.

Not sure how'd you'd limit it properly...maybe a branch for higher end rangers, but tribals get it automatically as a skill?

[Bestatte]

Absolutely I think a Jul Tavan stonecarver would have an ability more than a city-based PC would have. Tribal PCs live in the wilderness, surrounded by local flora and fauna, with the freedom to come and go and explore and dwell among the wildlife as they see fit (or according to the mandates of their tribe).

I'm not saying rangers should -not- have this skill at all. I'm saying that tribals of ALL guilds should have the ability - including rangers, and city-based people should not have the ability.

And now that I think of it - maybe it could even be location-based. Like - the Arabet might only be able to mimic creatures that live in the red desert and the immediate surrounding areas...

Al Seik might only be able to mimic creatures that live in the environment from Luir's southward into the salt flats..

D'elves who show up in the Blackwing Outpost would be able to mimic Tablelands critters, Anyali and Akei ta'Var tribals could mimic grasslands critters...

Could make for some pretty interesting cross-tribal RP.

[Ktavialt]

Al Seik might only be able to mimic creatures that live in the environment from Luir's southward into the salt flats..

D'elves who show up in the Blackwing Outpost would be able to mimic Tablelands critters, Anyali and Akei ta'Var tribals could mimic grasslands critters...

Could make for some pretty interesting cross-tribal RP.

I like your slant on this idea. This contributes more to developing a less
class-based system of skills.

[sacac]

I would love it as a high end branched skill. Maybe from hunt and/or listen?
It would add a new skill, Call_making.
Kurac or kadius gets a few more piles of coin.
I love the idea.

[Solas]

In general, I don't think this is a bad idea - though it should obviously be restricted to a small number of animals.

I find it a little hard to believe that every other ranger will have a throat developed enough to copy these sounds, though, so I propose that instead of making this a skill, creating some whistles that could be made available to those wealthy enough to afford them.

These whistles would have a chance of failure, and in some cases could actually make the creatures move away from the user.


If not, though, it could be a nice higher-end skill.  It should take a very rich experience in order to successfully mimic the cries of almost any given creature, so I don't think it's something a 4 day ranger should have.


EDITED to add:
I don't see why tribals should get it more than any other people should.  Do you really think a Jul Tavan stonecarver would know how to imitate the call of a raptor or tregil?

I strongly agree with the idea on certain whistles, and feel that's a better alternative than a coded skill.  :wink: . That would help stability with balance within codes and also allow more uses for whistles which, in my opinion, could have alot more uses. For example, it could be a means of quick communication between guards when a breech is made in the defenses. (I believe police in feudal Japan used such whistles to centralize the police force during times of trouble.) Not to mention such uses as drums (other than for its musical purposes) in tribal clans to relay certain messages.

These whistles would have a chance of failure, and in some cases could actually make the creatures move away from the user.

Or the whistle could be used -solely- as a means of protection.  :wink: . Kudos to Larrath for that idea. :lol:

Edited to add: Skill-wise, you could make Rangers more adept at using certain whistles than other guilds, more like the forage skill given to Rangers.

[jhunter]

I'd like to see both.

The whistles would just have a lower cap on how effective they would be.

Someone able to imitate the sounds should have the potential to do it much better and to imitate sounds that there aren't whistles for.

[RunningMountain]

I believe Egan was the first to bring it up on the old gdb.

[Forest Junkie]

http://www.zalanthas.org/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=220&highlight=

BLEH. I hate this idea  :wink:

[Solas]

I'm sure sounds similar to bugs can be made with certain instruments, and if not, just gear the sounds toward noninsects.  :wink: .

[Bogre]

If a call skill is added, and you mimic a duskhorn call, I'd like to see the nearby horde of duskhorn-wanting halflings to decide to looksee too

[Agent_137]

i like this idea. Original poster, please idea it in game so more immortals see it.

[Ktavialt]

If a call skill is added, and you mimic a duskhorn call, I'd like to see the nearby horde of duskhorn-wanting halflings to decide to looksee too

Yeah totally here's a couple things:

1) Rangers should be able to make the noises;
2) The animals themselves, should be able to make the noises (Think
about it - hear a quirri mating call - ranger rick can go over and do
a documentary of quirri mating activities );
3) Rangers should be able to hear other Ranger's noises (including
-halfling- rangers; and
4) Regular people should hear -some sort- of noise. What would be cool
is if you had a bahamet and a duskhorn making a similar kind of noise
that only rangers could differentiate between the two =).

PS: Although this is kinda unrelated I've been seeing quite a bit of that
SimDesert thing - that's awesome. Animals making noises could be
incorporated into that as well.

- Ktavialt

[Bestatte]

I still don't like the idea of rangers getting this skill automatically just because they picked the ranger class.

There are lots of people who are roleplayed as being city-based, born and raised in the city, with little or no practical experience living outside the city. Why in the world should THEY have some natural ability to mimic animals that they have probably never even heard of, let alone seen in their entire lives?

You can practice sparring inside the city walls and branch almost every possible skill branchable on the ranger skills list without ever once leaving town. So even having it as a high-end branchable won't explain it.

I would really much prefer it be limited to tribals of all types - no matter what guild they pick, because these animals are native to the tribal PC's natural habitat so they would have grown up exposed to the sounds on a regular basis.

[Ktavialt]

You can practice sparring inside the city walls and branch almost every possible skill branchable on the ranger skills list without ever once leaving town. So even having it as a high-end branchable won't explain it.

Yeah that doesn't make too much sense, but I'm not so thrilled about
the idea that -only- tribals get it. Difficulty of code-work aside, if there
could be several animal call skills available to rangers - one for each
region's type of creature (ie. bahamet/duskhorn/erdlu as one, carru/
skeet/gurth/gortok as another, raptor/tarantula/scrab/big-ass beetle as a
third and so forth) then every time the ranger heard the animal's call
he would have a chance of his skill in that region of animal call being
raised, and eventually he'll be able to mimic them.

That, providing the coding resources were available, I would think would
be the best setup.

- Ktavialt

[jhunter]

Yeah that doesn't make too much sense, but I'm not so thrilled about
the idea that -only- tribals get it.

Me either.

[Tamarin]

good idea from both you foresty people.  It should go to:

a) rangers
b) nomads
c) desert elves

You should also probably be able to buy a call whistle (for example: a wooden duskhorn call whistle), then "es whistle", then "use whistle", if you don't have the skill, although having the skill would significantly boost your ability to do this.

This is so good, I think it should be bumped up higher than the "temporary mdesc addition code" thing, if the staff are even considering either of these seriously.

[EvilRoeSlade]

There are lots of people who are roleplayed as being city-based, born and raised in the city, with little or no practical experience living outside the city.

And there are loads of tribals who pick the nomad subclass and then never leave the city.

[forest imp]

I love the idea of being able to listen to animal calls in the wilds, and learn the calls. I don't know if skills branch from two skills having both reach a certain skill level(I don't see why this couldn't be the case), but I do think it makes sense to have both listen and hunt skills at certain levels in order to branch a call skill.

There are certain creatures I don't think this skill would apply to, as well. But that's really just a minor point, in the grand scheme of the skill. I do agree there should be limitations on who would have access to this skill. Perhaps, by tying learning the skill to actually taking the time to listen to creature calls in the wild, it would partially solve the issue of city-based rangers learning this skill. I do agree, it should be difficult for someone not familiar with wildlife to learn to utilize tools to mimic creature calls. Plus, it would give an added incentive for folk to NOT overhunt an area. It''d be very difficult to raise this skill, if you can't find creatures to listen to and watch.

I think, in order to use the skill, tools should be utilized. Whistles, scrape boxes, etc.  Maybe even make some of these craftable items, although I don't know what craft skill would be applicable.  Perhaps the tool_making skill?