Humanoid Pretenders are too expensive

[Kristoffer O]

Originally posted by SelfishGene:
... as would a 50' tall naked woman with breasts the size of cars.

Are you sure you are playing Dominions ?

[Kristoffer O]

Originally posted by PDF:

But mainly, gameplay-wise, they should be meant to allow players to have a CHEAP pretender and spend points on dominion, scales and castle.

They are meant to:
- Have low inpact on the people of their lands (low dominion).
- Less magical power than mythological beings attuned to one or two paths.
- Have great magical versatility.
- Be good researchers.

The latter two comes from cheap paths.

The usefulness of magical versatility is perhaps reduced by the low opportunity cost of site searching spells.

Additional powers are always fun. However, if made too powerful they tend to result in less variety.

Originally posted by Kristoffer O:
They are meant to:
- Have low inpact on the people of their lands (low dominion).
- Less magical power than mythological beings attuned to one or two paths.
- Have great magical versatility.
- Be good researchers.

The latter two comes from cheap paths.

The usefulness of magical versatility is perhaps reduced by the low opportunity cost of site searching spells.

Additional powers are always fun. However, if made too powerful they tend to result in less variety.

Perhaps an easy solution would be to have either A.) Human pretenders give a total nationwide research bonus. B.) A Provincial Research Bonus or C.) Always count as researching even when doing other activities.

I don't see it inconcievable for mages of the highest order are constantly studying even while on the road or forging.

[SelfishGene]

Originally posted by Kristoffer O:

quote:

---

Originally posted by SelfishGene:
... as would a 50' tall naked woman with breasts the size of cars.

Are you sure you are playing Dominions ?

---

Seen the Great Mother lately?

Basically imo just cut 25 points off the cost of every human pretender; i.e., the Crone should be 0. I think that would be a fine start, and other adjustments could always be made later.

[ May 05, 2004, 01:55: Message edited by: SelfishGene ]

[PDF]

Originally posted by Kristoffer O:

quote:

---

Originally posted by PDF:

But mainly, gameplay-wise, they should be meant to allow players to have a CHEAP pretender and spend points on dominion, scales and castle.

They are meant to:
- Have low inpact on the people of their lands (low dominion).
- Less magical power than mythological beings attuned to one or two paths.
- Have great magical versatility.
- Be good researchers.

The latter two comes from cheap paths.

The usefulness of magical versatility is perhaps reduced by the low opportunity cost of site searching spells.

Additional powers are always fun. However, if made too powerful they tend to result in less variety.

---

No problem with your design choices (you're the Boss !), so let the mages have low dominion and easy path access, as they are now.
BUT as they are now, their cost for their magical versatility is *seriously* excessive compared to the advantages you get from it : see the point cost comparison with other pretenders (and see how noone plays them in competitive MP except by "house rules").
So let's keep them mostly as they are with their weak powers BUT make them cheap(er) : base cost 0-20, 2-3 paths-1 at start. And I really think Immortality would make them more popular, because the death penalty is really a killer on RBs, and in addition they get killed so easily..
Then they will be a resonable choice for a player wanting to have a cheap pretender/high scales.

For the moment only the immobiles are OK for that(heck, with 31 points you get a quite useful Astral-5 Oracle or Blood-5 FoB with dom-5 - that's not even the base cost of a no-magic dom-1 mage !!)

[Jack Simth]

Here's a thought, probably too much work to implement, but a thought:

Suppose, instead of selecting a ready-made chasis, you bought individual pretender traits using design points: stats, size, advantages, disadvantages, multi-path penalty level, etcetera; then select a picture. Thus, if you wanted a VQ, you would buy posion immunity, a lifedrain attack, etherialness, immunity to cold, the undead disadvantage, flight, et cetera - all seperatly - then selected the VQ's picture from a list of available pictures (based on size?) and typed in a description for her. Special abilities (e.g., prince of death's auto skeleton summoning, VQ's auto vampire thrall summoning, extra supply, random good events, et cetera) could be included in the list of advantages. That way, rather than needing to balance packages, you only need to balance individual advantages and disadvantages by changing their price.

[PvK]

Originally posted by Jack Simth:
Here's a thought, probably too much work to implement, but a thought:

Suppose, instead of selecting a ready-made chasis, you bought individual pretender traits using design points...

That would be a way to redesign the game, but such systems aren't necessarily easy to balance, since combinations can be worth more than adding the points together. The enormous number of permutations would have to be considered for balance, rather than just a limited list. Not only that, but their combinations with the various nations would need to be considered too. Also, by only offering limited choices, specific dilemmas and thematic and balanced limitations can be imposed.

PvK