wild talents discussion

[Agent_137]

wild talents would be cool, guildchanging would not.

you all of a sudden can cast a fireball. Cool. that's all you get. You aren't a krathi. you're just another commoner who happens to be able to cast a fireball, but can't really develop any other abilities.

[Anonymous]

I think magick/psionics are pervasive enough in this game as it is.  I'd rather see people mailing the mud for the occasional freak who can fart lightning rather than some sort of automated system that takes the control away from the staff.

[bloodfromstone]

I love the idea of wild talents, assuming they're extremely uncommon. I seem to recall a staff member saying in a similar discussion that this sort of thing would never happen. I think that's a shame, myself, given the extremely interesting opportunities (both from a gameplay and roleplaying perspective) that this could open up.

I just imagine some hardass militia sergeant on his way home to his apartment just at sun down. He reaches into his cloak and pulls out a torch. Just as he's patting himself down to find his flint or whatever, the torch ignites on its own, and he's left with this sudden, terrible realization that he's the proud new owner of a tiny bit of magick. Things could go in so many directions from there. I could see him turning himself in instantly. Maybe, angered by his own curse, he becomes doubly hateful towards magickers, or maybe he softens towards them (or maybe just Krathis) a bit, his frequent harassings and finings towards the local gemmers slowing down suddenly.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems like it could be really interesting to deal with IC.

[Dakkon Black]

The reason I see this as being important is because right now, we teach that you shouldn't look at code for your ooc response.

But lets face it, if bob never swings a sword well, never fights well, you start to believe that bob, in fact, oocly, must be a magicker as a class (eg.)

Or, he's amazing at fighting, you know for damn certain now, that he's not a bloody vivaduan.

And yet, technically, couldn't anyone have the curse and not know about it until it hits later on in life?

I think random skills would be not only incredibly fun to rp out, but at the same time, take away a lot of our prejudice when we see someone try a backstab and instantly we know he's not (list classes that aren't assassin)

With a choice random skill, you could be a merchant with backstab, and now oocly, we can see someone use a skill and be like, shit, that doesn't mean crap, because maybe that's just random.

Leaving us to -rely- on our IC inspections of chars, and not our ooc ones.
.

[bloodfromstone]

That's a good point, Dakkon. That is one thing I've always wanted to see fixed up. It could be achieved through more expansive subguilds, as well, but random skills would certainly through the occasional monkey wrench into guild sniffing.

[Arabian Nights]

Don't care for it.

[Cuusardo]

Wild talents are NOT magick.  Wild talents are purely psionic abilities.

[Tamarin]

Wild talents are NOT magick.  Wild talents are purely psionic abilities.

Says who?  You?

[Yang]

say (looking around the trader's in as he holds a smoking spice pipe) Shiiiit....this isn't Tuluk....

[Demonaire]

I've been in some PK-oriented MUDs where they would allow character customization. Perhaps a new system for doing your character's abilities and such is in order? Give each major skill a grouping and such, allow only one of each group.. Just a thought off my head. What do you think?



- Demonaire -

[Cuusardo]

Wild talents are NOT magick.  Wild talents are purely psionic abilities.

Says who?  You?

Says the Dark Sun rulebook.

[Larrath]

Three words, and I mean them very seriously:
Screw wild talents.

[Tamarin]

Wild talents are NOT magick.  Wild talents are purely psionic abilities.

Says who?  You?

Says the Dark Sun rulebook.

Good thing this is armageddon, and not Dark Sun.

[Kennath]

Wild talents are NOT magick.  Wild talents are purely psionic abilities.

Says who?  You?

Says the Dark Sun rulebook.

Good thing this is armageddon, and not Dark Sun.

Aren't wild talents dark sun?

[Demonaire]

Wild talents are NOT magick.  Wild talents are purely psionic abilities.

Says who?  You?

Says the Dark Sun rulebook.

Good thing this is armageddon, and not Dark Sun.

What is with the prick attitude tonight man? Atleast, thats how you're coming off in my opinion. Is it just me?

[Tamarin]

It's not just you...

[Arabian Nights]

Three words, and I mean them very seriously:
Screw wild talents.

*applause*

[Sokotra]

Wild talents are NOT magick.  Wild talents are purely psionic abilities.

Heh, okay.. we understand that Dark Sun rules 'wild talents' as being only psionic.. but I think what some of us were trying to do is discuss 'wild talents' in a broader sense - as in any sort of random (wild) skill (talent) that one might perceivably somehow... have... or be better at than the average schmoe.  

And I'm going to have to defend Tamarin this time because I often see *cough* someone else snapping at people and being a smartass or just plain rude, like their crap don't stink... hence Tamarins snap in return, I would guess... but I'll at least admit that I could be wrong, unlike certain other people. *snicker*

[Nao]

hmm, I'd love to see this in game. First, you couldn't sort people per classes so easily any more. Second, it would fit into the world really well... people might discover magicks any time in their lives... It never really made sense to me that magickers had it as soemthing primary, and wouldn't do good in battle even if they had been a warrior until age 30. Also, just one skill wouldn't make them all too powerful in most cases, until you are lucky enough to get the random chance of getting this random thing AND are lucky enough to get something very powerful... Then again, this should'T be an isue anyway... This game isn't about balance, some characters are more powerful from the start, so it's tough luck if you're on the weaker side.
this would maybe add a little bit of power to a pc but it would also add a LOT of rp potential... Think about it, the random hunter that was suspeted of magicking earlier, then somehow he gets it and is like wtf!? Militia guy that was the opne pushing gems on random people, trying to sort out ungemmed mages, then suddenly he ends up being one of those. Or the house aide, or a bard... The possibilities are endless.

[Larrath]

Don't kid yourself, there is balance in the game.  That's first of all.  This is why magicker guilds aren't selected as subguilds which would have been the logical route, and are main guilds instead.  This is why they suck at combat - give the skills of a 20-day warrior to a 40-day Rukkian and that character would be such a disgustingly powerful monster people would stop playing.

Random wild talents, whether psionic, magickal or mundane, just don't really sit well with me.  I just don't see what they will add to the game.

[Nao]

Don't kid yourself, there is balance in the game.  That's first of all.  This is why magicker guilds aren't selected as subguilds which would have been the logical route, and are main guilds instead.  This is why they suck at combat - give the skills of a 20-day warrior to a 40-day Rukkian and that character would be such a disgustingly powerful monster people would stop playing.

Not the entrire rukkian class. Just one skill/spell. I have no experience with magickers whatsoever, but I could imagine that a mul or whatever would still beat them.

So where's the balance when a three day warrior could beat most other classes, and a mul again would smash them with one hand?
Then again, merchants don't even get a weapon skill, so at least when it comes to battle, this game is definitely not balanced.

[Sokotra]

As far as balance goes... I think things are attempted to be kept balanced, but obviously every type of character and race are not going to always be equally matched.  

As I said in the discussion about the psionic listen idea...

'wild talents' could be given without making them extremely powerful... or at least the more powerful ones that you might have the chance of getting would not be extremely common. It's all about balance.. and I think these sorts of things would make the game much more interesting if they were done properly. There's always people going nuts saying "OMG NO WAY, I DONT WANT SOME RANGER COMING AFTER ME WITH A POISONED FIREBALL BOLT OF ACID ARROW FROM HIS VIBRATING GREATBOW OF STEALTH" ... come on... nobody is saying to change things that drastically and create some sort of massive unabalance in the game. There are ways to make things like 'wild talents' work without going overboard... just as an example, you could even throw your basic 'skills' into the mix so that there might be a chance that you could get either a wild psionic talent or a random skill... just as in real life, there are certain things that make each of us individual and set us apart from everyone else... those little things that you are just good at or better at than everyone else. Again.. done in moderation and being perhaps somewhat rare to get anything powerful, or have the skill 'top-off' at a certain level of effectiveness, or things such as that... would keep things balanced and still much more interesting.

Read above... I think balance is what most people are worried about.  If psionic talents just don't fit into the gameworld then I think maybe making them extremely rare or using random skill talents instead, might work just as well... it's all about making things more interesting.

I remember playing a certain game on the old Commodore PC years and years ago... can't remember what it was called now, but I always remember that game because there was such a huge variety in the types of magic items you could find.  Everything from a "+1 mace of sleep" to a "vorpal dagger of venom" or whatever.. some would increase certain skills or give you special abilities...  Anyway, this has nothing to do with Arm but the point is that the possibilities were just endless, and that sort of excitement over the variety of characters and skills in Armageddon would be nice.  As I said, nobody is saying to go nuts and make things extremely unbalanced... but a few little random things here and there might be nice.  And I guess they already are there to a certain extent, as far as special apps and karma characters and junk like that. So I appreciate the gameworld as it is, but what I'm talking about is a little different.  Giving each player a random chance of having at least a little something special... a little more than what is currently given.  Just a few thoughts...

[Delirium]

My thoughts can be summed up as:

magic/psionic wild talents = no
mundane wild talents = yes

[Gaare]

I think Dark Sun setting has those wild abilities because the setting is mostly based on hack&slash style. They only make PCs more powerful and fun tabletop gaming combat with combos, lightning bolts...

Also, I believe there is enough supernatural very powerful momba jambo around. Gemmers, templars, psionists, elven tribes full of magickers, etc..
I think there is no need any more to lower the standarts of those powerful abilities.

[Arabian Nights]

Don't kid yourself, there is balance in the game.  That's first of all.  This is why magicker guilds aren't selected as subguilds which would have been the logical route, and are main guilds instead.  This is why they suck at combat - give the skills of a 20-day warrior to a 40-day Rukkian and that character would be such a disgustingly powerful monster people would stop playing.

Not the entrire rukkian class. Just one skill/spell. I have no experience with magickers whatsoever, but I could imagine that a mul or whatever would still beat them.

So where's the balance when a three day warrior could beat most other classes, and a mul again would smash them with one hand?
Then again, merchants don't even get a weapon skill, so at least when it comes to battle, this game is definitely not balanced.

Balance doesn't necessarily mean that all guilds can compare to each other in melee combat. In fact in this case it doesn't at all.
Balance in this case means that each guild does what it does best and nothing else.
Also muls, while burly, are not that all powerful as some people seem to believe. I believe the reason that they are so high on the karma scale is the rp of their race is rather difficult and different from the others.

A half-giant right out of the box is the most deadly IMO, if you are talking in terms of melee combat power.

A mul warrior could beat a mage in melee combat sure, if the mage wasn't protected by spells and such and that's how it's supposed to be. If the mage is prepared for the encounter and wishes it so, that mul is probably going to die.