Ask Arkanis

[Side]

Excellent post! Brings up the whole notion of in-character and out of character as part of game play. Rainbow Prism is definitely arguing for the side of "all in character all of the time." Is the Nexus the only area of the game to be out of character? Should DM staff ONLY interract with players there? I mean, a cloak change request is definitely not an in-character event; should we be porting players to the Nexus for these changes? DM shout channel too - should we be using it to give OOC information to the players in game or should that be solely reserved for the forums?

The debate is on!

I'd be more than happy to have the first crack at these questions!

Is the Nexus the only area of the game to be out of character?

Last time I checked it was the Nexus and both parts of the Fugue Plane that were OOC, everything else is considered IC.

Should DM staff ONLY interract with players there? I mean, a cloak change request is definitely not an in-character event; should we be porting players to the Nexus for these changes?

If there was a way for characters to port themselves to the Nexus and form a DM help waiting room I would say yes, but only for solving mechanical problems like cloak changes and application class feats.

DM shout channel too - should we be using it to give OOC information to the players in game or should that be solely reserved for the forums?

This one's tricky. I prefer to keep the shout channel turned on, so I can see when important things are said, but I turn it off whenever the DM talk hour shows up. If we had two shout channels, one for OOC fun and one for IC rumors, OOC rule reminders, and server related technical problem announcements all would be well and fine. The tricky part is not everyone visits the forum, and while it would be a far better place for OOC fun between DMs and players it would involve far fewer people. Not sure a clear answer can be given on this right now.

[Nomster]

Is the Nexus the only area of the game to be out of character?

Last time I checked it was the Nexus and both parts of the Fugue Plane that were OOC, everything else is considered IC.

I have never heard that the Fugue plane is OOC. Sure, if there is a big party wipe people tend to talk OOC in a sense of "What just happened?" as that is difficult to clear up in 1 vs 1 tells (and party chat is generally frowned on, especially for OOC talk). I know of people who have RPed in the Fugue but the important thing to remember is that the character has no memory of what occurred in the Fugue.

Basically, its an IC area but characters have no memory of being there.


Do correct me if I am wrong Arkanis...!

[DM Arkanis]

Not approving or disapproving just facilitating some conversation for those interested in venturing an opinion.

[ohboy007]

Nah, I'm not 10 years old so I can tell the difference between reality (i.e. IC) and OOC things. Do whatever you guys need to do to get the job done is what i would say. Also, I have this thing called an imagination and I don't have to take everything I see IG as literal. Someone is always more IC than someone else. Did your character rest for 8 hours or did you RP resting for 10 min and pretend it was hours? The 8 hour rp "rester" complains about the 10 min RP "rester" who then complains about the 6 sec "rester" (zzzz) and it leads down a lonely road of silliness.

I like to respect everyone's level of RP and understand the difficulty of portraying fantasy in a virtual reality setting. Not to mention some people are literally 10 years old so picking on them for not being up to your level of RP is being a bully in all reality.

Shouts are cool, they tell me where some action is happening. "Oh! Look here, seems there is an event going on over there on that part of the server and I'd like to participate. Hmm, oh right! My character does need to teleport over to that area for some....regweed perhaps? What a coincidence..."

I'm not sure what makes RP nazi's tick. Maybe it's some people who don't have fulfilling lives so when they log onto this server, that will be the best feeling they will ever get so when others don't comply with their level of RP it really does hurt them.

What I would like to see is the DM's interact more with guilds who are not cannon. I'd also like to see DM's get more groups interacting through events which does not happen enough in my opinion. Many of these DM events are, "here, I just spawned a huge mob of creatures so have at it." Don't get me wrong, I love killing boat loads of mobs, I consider it a pastime. But how about having some planned events? How about having perhaps weekly events where players could attend and plan for. and spreading the DM team around and not have them so focused on a few groups of people over and over again.

This is why I think DMogorgon, Foresight, Void (when hes active), and Nova are good in that area. Because they go around the server to try and get people involved into a larger plot than just, "here, kill this mob randomly mixed-alignment group of adventurers!" So far i don't see a lot of this from the other DM's sadly. Not so much concerned about the OOC shouts as I am about DM's not wanting to and/or avoiding interacting with players in general unless its to complain to them.

[Hoihe]

What exactly is true believer ICly?
What types of characters should take it or even have it mandatorily?
What type of character SHOULDN'T or even MUSTN'T take it?
Should a character with devout background take it if they wish to express that their choice of god is final, and that they won't stray from their god, even some supernatural a geas-like effect is trying to force them?

At last, I ask because I wonder if I should take it on Hoihe if he swore his choice on his "Dacino's duty" and also feels like he owes his god (Sehanine) and believes only with his God's help does he have any chance making Vukodlak's plot in one piece?

[LISA100595]

Actually when DM Mr. Rogers and DM Maecius were Head DM's .. the Fugue Plane was indeed IC. The OOC room is supposed to be for OOC.

[Deathgrowl]

I'm not sure what makes RP nazi's tick. Maybe it's some people who don't have fulfilling lives so when they log onto this server, that will be the best feeling they will ever get so when others don't comply with their level of RP it really does hurt them.

... Are you serious here? Assuming that people take RP seriously because they don't have fulfilling real lives? This is completely uncalled for, even if you're not specifically targeting anyone. Why did this even get approved?

What I would like to see is the DM's interact more with guilds who are not cannon. I'd also like to see DM's get more groups interacting through events which does not happen enough in my opinion. Many of these DM events are, "here, I just spawned a huge mob of creatures so have at it." Don't get me wrong, I love killing boat loads of mobs, I consider it a pastime. But how about having some planned events? How about having perhaps weekly events where players could attend and plan for. and spreading the DM team around and not have them so focused on a few groups of people over and over again.

To be honest, lore based guilds should have a higher priority than all the random non-canon guilds popping up and disappearing.

And DMs are already spreading out on guilds. The problem is just that there aren't enough DMs and some of those who are DMs are somewhat inactive (maybe RL issues?). Hence the new general call for DMs, I suppose!

[DM Arkanis]

What exactly is true believer ICly?
What types of characters should take it or even have it mandatorily?
What type of character SHOULDN'T or even MUSTN'T take it?
Should a character with devout background take it if they wish to express that their choice of god is final, and that they won't stray from their god, even some supernatural a geas-like effect is trying to force them?

At last, I ask because I wonder if I should take it on Hoihe if he swore his choice on his "Dacino's duty" and also feels like he owes his god (Sehanine) and believes only with his God's help does he have any chance making Vukodlak's plot in one piece?

Sorry I am late getting to this post I totally missed it.

OK I'll start with a disclaimer saying that I am just venturing an opinion here and if you make a decision to add this feat, no saying, "but Arkanis said so!" if you change your mind lol!

"True Believer
Your deity rewards your unquestioning faith and devotion.
Prerequisite
Must be within 1 step of that deities alignment, Must Choose a single deity to worship,
Benefit
Once per day when you are about to attempt a saving throw you can declare that you are using this feat to gain a +2 on the roll. This feat also allows you to use a relic of the diety you worship without sacrificing a spell slot."

1. In character this feat would mean that you as a character are loved/wanted/chosen/to-be-used by a god.
2. Due to the nature of our game I don't think anyone should be forced to take it - even Divine Champions still have some sort of free-will as characters. Those who could take it to augment their character/RP would be ones who had some sort of belief in their god and could RP that belief: the thief who prays to Tymora before picking a lock (and when running away from things) is as much entitled as the pally/cleric/priest.
3. The only characters I would say musn't take the deat would be people looking to powerbuild (ya, I know it is not a very powerful feat on its own) or look to exploit the relic part of it.
4. Unquestioning faith and devotion, awarde by a god (by taking this feat) would still be subject to powerful magic, saving throws, etc. My interpretation is not that the feat grants immunity or makes the character some sort of avatar of the god, but rather that the character truly, and utterly believes in their god and their god's purpuse/portfolio. A geas or some other kind of magical/divine compulsion would have to follow the game rules with respect to chance at working, even though your character had this feat. I cannot find anywhere that it confers any kind of immunities.

It sounds like what you really want is some help surviving There isn't one feat on the list that will be the trump-card and save you on its merits alone. I think, that if you had sufficient back-story and RP around why you are a true-believer that a DM should take that into consideration when role playing an event with you. This does not guarentee the outcome, and the DM may have valid RP and game reasons why it would be of no avail for you to have the feat - depends on the situation and the DM; sometimes you are just screwed.

All of the research I have done seemes to indicate that as a feat it pretty much sucks unless you are going to create items and sanctify them and I am not even sure that we can do that in-game... My advice? RP chasing after your god in terms of praying/invoking their name and take another feat. If having the feat is required by a DM in order for you to really be a true believer, your only real, in game bonus, is the 2/day, +2 to saves - the rest is all RP.

My two cents.

Ark

[Servin]

True believer sounds like a suicide feat if you worship Lolth, wouldn't you say?

[Hoihe]

The part about the god "recognising" the worshipper seems to spawn more questions on my side, since Hoihe is a human and is worshipping an elven god[Sehanine]. Would the feat still be valid if he indeed found his true faith in the god, and expresses it to her?

[Nomster]

If having the feat is required by a DM in order for you to really be a true believer, your only real, in game bonus, is the 2/day, +2 to saves - the rest is all RP.

This feat offers no bonuses IG. I still think it should... as at the moment it is a feat which offers nothing at all, except showing how devout your character is. Just wanted to clarify that.

[DM Arkanis]

True believer sounds like a suicide feat if you worship Lolth, wouldn't you say?

Any chaotic neutral or evil god by nature can have a "devil may care" attitude with respect to worshipers/followers and being noticed or a true believer of one of these gods does not guarentee a long life that is for sure. Think of the true believer of Tempus... you'd get to lead all the charges into battle no matter how hopeless. Yep, suicidal for sure.

[DM Arkanis]

The part about the god "recognising" the worshipper seems to spawn more questions on my side, since Hoihe is a human and is worshipping an elven god[Sehanine]. Would the feat still be valid if he indeed found his true faith in the god, and expresses it to her?

Based on the sliver of information I can find about the feat other than blogs where people speculate, I would say that we have to be clear about the IC and OOC discussions not getting mixed up. As a player you choose this feat to augment RP/stats and by doing so you are RPing that, "your deity rewards your unquestioning faith and devotion." A human worshipping an elven god is not so unusual and in fact in your case strengthens your RP reasoning if you go choose True Believer; the god made a point to show you that they really exist and they want you as a follower. This is how I interpret, "Your deity rewards your unquestioning faith and devotion." The statement assumes you already have a faith/belief in her and she has chosen to confirm your faith in her.

[DM Arkanis]

If having the feat is required by a DM in order for you to really be a true believer, your only real, in game bonus, is the 2/day, +2 to saves - the rest is all RP.

This feat offers no bonuses IG. I still think it should... as at the moment it is a feat which offers nothing at all, except showing how devout your character is. Just wanted to clarify that.

OK there you go - I wasn't sure if it did or did not offer any bonuses, thanks. So then, the feat is for RP purposes only. I hear the question coming... "do I have to take it in order to be considered a True Believer?" My answer would be, yes. You can always RP that you have a firm belief in your god. Using a feat slot that grants no other bonuses proves it.

[Deathgrowl]

If having the feat is required by a DM in order for you to really be a true believer, your only real, in game bonus, is the 2/day, +2 to saves - the rest is all RP.

This feat offers no bonuses IG. I still think it should... as at the moment it is a feat which offers nothing at all, except showing how devout your character is. Just wanted to clarify that.

OK there you go - I wasn't sure if it did or did not offer any bonuses, thanks. So then, the feat is for RP purposes only. I hear the question coming... "do I have to take it in order to be considered a True Believer?" My answer would be, yes. You can always RP that you have a firm belief in your god. Using a feat slot that grants no other bonuses proves it.

I think this is a bit inaccurate, if you consider clerics, paladins and favoured souls. Maybe even druids and rangers.

Clerics pray to their god and is granted magic for it. I'd say that is rewarding devotion. This also applies to paladins, rangers and druids. They must all pray for magic, as such are given reward through devotion. This should be just as much a proof as the feat.

Favoured Souls are almost "created" by their gods - their destinies somewhat predetermined upon birth. They rarely have a choice. They are born as true believers.