Mercy On Creatures

[Twilight]

What do people think about the idea that some creatures might have mercy on?  What I am thinking is that while something like a tembo or other meat eater is probably going to always be trying to kill you, would the cuddly little tregil really go in for the kill?

I just see some herbavore's that would possibly leave you alive, but in a not a threat condition, having no real interest in eating you.  I suppose given the nature of Zalanthas this would not apply to a great number of beasties, but it might apply to some of them.  Ideas?

[Bestatte]

I think in a "fight or flight" situation, any creature would kill you if they concluded that the only other option was to die. Whether it ate you or not is irrelevant, they're not killing you for their supper. They're killing you to keep you from killing them.

[spawnloser]

I can see that, Bestatte...but for some creatures, it just doesn't make a whole lot of sense...like for tregils and such...the little stuff.  I can see a carru killing, as it is an aggressive as hell herbivore...but a tregil?  I would like to see mercy on some critters...they knock you out or down and then flee.

[Bestatte]

Hm. Maybe a tregil. Possibly a goudra too. I wouldn't know about southern critters. Are there any herbivore types down that way that aren't aggressively protective of their herds when someone threatens them?

[Larrath]

As someone who was nearly killed by a vestric once, I'd like to vote yay for the idea.  As long as it's added logically, of course.

[Anonymous]

Well, several people in our world have survived bear attacks by playing dead after getting mauled.  Normally it involves keeping your fingers over your neck and acting as limp as possible.

I don't imagine that a herbivore would be checking your pulse.  More than likely when you were either knocked out or mortally wounded, you would no longer be a threat and the creature would move on.  Duskhorn, gizhat, things like that I could imagine.

Not sure if this would be a good change or not, though.

[flurry]

This might already be in place for some things.   I had one experience with a previous character that made me think so, but maybe not.

[Carnage]

I'd definitely like to see herbivores knock you out, then wander away most of the time. They have no need for your meat, so it's not likely that they'll be picking at your flesh and definitely finishing you off. A tembo and everything else, however, should finish you off.

[jhunter]

Yeah, some thing once your down and no longer movnig shouldn't bother with attacking again to finish you off...just the things that intend to eat you.

[John]

I'd like the option of some beasties bashing you, hitting you a few times then having the CHANCE of running away. Although the one thing I'd add is, once a beastie has you unconscious, it runs away like hell. Is it realistic? Maybe, maybe not. But it's a playability issue. What could happen was, you rest, while it stands there injured in the same room, you get up and then kill it.

Having a run away script would help stop that Also. Can animals rest?

[The7DeadlyVenomz]

Can animals rest?

Yes, I believe so. To add my own two bits to this discussion, I think a simple, all-encompassing script should be put in place for all NPCs. To put it simply, kill the auto regeneration that occurs currently for NPCs, and put in a script which has the animal sleep if it is hurt badly, and rest if it is hurt moderately. Have the same script check for MP, and once the creature drops below 50% MP, have it rest, like we must, to regain them. This will make the auto-tracking-across-the-world beasts obsolete, as well as making it much more realistic in terms of hunting.

[Carnage]

put in a script which has the animal sleep if it is hurt badly,

This is already in some places.

It's especially odd when you see it happen in the Rinth.

[sacac]

I like it, for jozhals..
(I admit) I was killed by one with one of my PC's. (Turns out I couldn't fight well, Heh.)
jozhals, and other auto-flee animals should do that, in my opinion, because there already damned jumpy as is, why would they stay to kill you if they would run when they see you?

(Jozhal's mind)
You fall, You look dead, I don't want to eat your meat.
I am getting out of here, and I hope a beetle comes and eats you, you stupid bastard of a hunter.

[Cuusardo]

When you attack a non aggressive creature, the creature and yourself are both fighting for your lives.  I don't see any reason why an herbivore would not kill a person that attacked it, for the simple reason that it is trying to eliminate the threat to its life.  Pretty much all creatures have a survival instinct.

[Callisto]

Venomz has it right.

It would be great if you could wound a creature with arrows or weapons, causing it to flee - with mild intelligence, none of this running east, then west, then east again - so PCs can track it down by the blood trail, or lose the creature completely.

I would like to see more of a hunting element in, well, hunting.

Also, jozhals are scavangers, they eat meat and plants alike, if I recall. I'm pretty sure the same goes for tregils and such - they might not actively hunt down other animals, but they'll scavange from a corpse if its handy, meaning odds are if you were mortally wounded, they'd start eating you while you're still alive.

[Gilvar]

I don't know if its a coded feature but I've had creatures knock me out in battle (0 hp) but not kill me. I've also seen various creatures in the wild, when fought by other creatures, sometimes left without being finished off.

Not sure if that helps.

[Cenghiz]

Mercy is AFAIK withholding the killing blow.. Right? They already go away if you knock out, but why should they stop the last claw thinking that that would kill you? They won't.. Are they that intelligent and humanist in ARM??

Let's think it...

A man has arrived from the west.
You dodge a man's slash.
>think Damn.. Again another hunter.
.....
.....
(The creature beats the man to 5 HP.)
....
....

You withhold the killing blow.
>think I don't want to kill that hunter. (God damn WHY??)

..... If you want this to be added, I'll want another thing to be added.

(The jozhal knocks the man out at last)
>think Hmm... He'll understand his mistake, but first let him not get eaten by a beetle.
>guard man

(Or maybe sunduing him, then taking him to Vivadu's temple.)


.... So please don't be funny. They just fight.. No creature fights just to stun you. So they won't mercy, if you're lucky, the last hit will only knock you out. That's my two steel coins.

[Anonymous]

Cenghiz...you are totally off on the reasoning here.  It has nothing to do with a duskhorn deciding to let you live out of the goodness of its heart.

A creature is going to fight for one of two reasons.  It views you as a threat or it views you as a meal.  If it's the latter, you are screwed after you hit negative hitpoints since it'll start chowing down.  If it's the former, though, once you fall to the ground and stop moving there's a good chance it'll leave you be because you appear to be dead.  Threat removed, the animal goes about its way.

[Louten]

But he is right, putting the mercy flag on them might withold even a blow that would put you beneath 0 hit points, and therefore leave you a still present threat to them. I do understand the sentiment in this thread, but it would be achieved more likely via script than the mercy flag.

But he is right, putting the mercy flag on them might withold even a blow that would put you beneath 0 hit points, and therefore leave you a still present threat to them. I do understand the sentiment in this thread, but it would be achieved more likely via script than the mercy flag.

Perhaps the suggested idea of implementation is wrong. But the idea is good, great even. Also like the mobs resting etc. But if someone is chasing them they should have a timer that decides if it is 'safe' to rest yet or when someone enters the room they stand up and run away.

[Cenghiz]

If it's the former, though, once you fall to the ground and stop moving there's a good chance it'll leave you be because you appear to be dead. Threat removed, the animal goes about its way.

And I'm saying that they already don't.. If it's a beetle or a raptor, OK.. It'll eat you.. But if you hit 0 or negative against a jozhal or such a creature, it already stops hitting you. Because the coded battle's over.
That happened to me a few times. You die if it can make a good deal of damage lowering your hp below -10.
Making mercy on would only cause them not to hit you if they have the chance to kill you, giving you one or few rounds more according to their skill, also no possibility to die. I'm against this. It IS possible to die against even a horse. A horse doesn't eat you, it also isn't that agreessive, but it may crack your skull with one hit and does not mercy if angered.
Still, it looks funny to me.

[Angela Christine]

Some NPCs already do something like this.  I once saw two unarmed NPCs fighting.  One would pass out, and the battle would end.  Eventually the sleeper would wake and the fight would start again, untill one of them passed out.  This on-again off-again battle went on for a long, long time.



I think what you are looking for might be a persistant non-aggressive state.

Already when fighting if someone is knocked out, stunned, or critically injured without being killed then the battle ends.  As a PC you have to type "kill <target>" again to land the killing blow, I assume NPCs do something similar.  

Many non-agressive NPCs become agressive once they have been attacked.  If you flee and return to the room they will attack you,  if they see you in an adjacent room they will move to attack you, and some will even track you down like the rabid dog you are if you flee the area.  Since they are agressive towards you, they will attack you if the battle ends with you being knocked out.  These NPCs hold a grudge.

A persistantly non-aggressive NPC would stay non-aggressive even when provoked.  You could attack it, flee, walk up to it again, and it would treat you like any other unfamiliar humanoid.  It would not "remember" that you are the particular humanoid that pissed it off.  Since it is not agressive, it would go back to its normal routine when the battle ended without checking to make sure that you were really dead.  

It might even flee the area once you were down, because it is hurt and its instincts and experience would tell it that the commotion and smell of blood will attract more predators and scavengers.  On a related note, some creatures that bash defensively might flee after a successfull bash or trample.  Their goal is to incapacitate the attacker so they can escape.  

There are real world self-defense courses that teach the knock 'em down and run away stratagy, so I assume it would also be "realistic" for some NPCs.


AC