Bandit Scalps

Solaghar · Post by **Solaghar** » Sun May 27, 2007 12:19 pm

Just a quick suggestion that it might be nice to have gate guards in several cities accept bandit scalps. No one likes bandits interfering with business along their roads, and they're everywhere in the game, not just in Waterdeep. Might be nice for those who avoid the city as a matter of necessity or principle.

Jaenoic · Post by **Jaenoic** » Sun May 27, 2007 1:00 pm

Heh, I remember when I was a newbie I gave my hard-earned scalp to a gate guard in Berdusk... Only to find a cold shoulder as my thanks. I think this is a great idea, even more evil cities like ZK and Westgate would want to be rid of bandits. Nobody likes their trade being disrupted and I feel that evil cities would be just as inclined as good cities to offer mercenary services like bandit hunting, as they have no qualms about paying to have someone killed.

Amalia · Post by **Amalia** » Sun May 27, 2007 4:38 pm

The only objection I could think of is that an evil city might just let the good city pay for the service if they could get away with it-- but I think there are enough characters in game who can't or won't visit Waterdeep that it's very feasible for an evil city to consider it worth their while to put out such a bounty.

Leohand · Post by **Leohand** » Sun May 27, 2007 5:43 pm

Amalia wrote:but I think there are enough characters in game who can't or won't visit Waterdeep that it's very feasible for an evil city to consider it worth their while to put out such a bounty.

Whoo hoo, guess my half drow should hold on to his scalps then, in case they take this advice, hehe.

Horace · Post by **Horace** » Sun May 27, 2007 5:59 pm

I always got the impression that Waterdeep was paying for bandit scalps as a favor to traders...as opposed to really showing a big benefit to themselves.

Without much law outside of cities, I'm not so certain the smaller towns would stick their necks out as proactive against bandits like Waterdeep does. Obviously most can see the risks involved with a policy on paying for the literal scalps of (now organized) bloodthirsty groups.

Zhentarim protects itself and pays factions within itself

Berdusk has a population of 20k (relatively small - harpers or not)

Westgate is the corrupt version of Ravensbluff and would probably work with the bandits to exempt the caravans leaving there

Baldur's Gate - 42k, still 1/6th of waterdeep itself and way smaller than what people consider to be within waterdeep's influence

Candlekeep - too neutral, not a place that involves itself with this sort of stuff

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I could see Shadowdale doing it - not because it's large by itself, but the dalelands have 600,000 people and are unusually organized as far as regions go. The dalelands also have a history of doing what is right even if it's going to cause them some grief down the road.

Generallly, I think it'd be strange to have smaller cities single out bandits like Waterdeep does. But I can certainly see the argument for Shadowdale doing so, as the representative of all the Dalelands.

Velsavius · Post by **Velsavius** » Mon May 28, 2007 10:33 am

Lets not forget the Orc camp the Shaman/witch doctor et al might want to pay to have human scalps line the walls of their tents/huts.
True they may not pay as much as the cities but they could pay something.

Kelemvor · Post by **Kelemvor** » Mon May 28, 2007 3:43 pm

Increasing the roleplay and money earning options for characters is never a bad thing. Bandit scalps may not work for all settlements, but it's generally only a matter of mob progs to make a target drop something that can be given to a guard, official or representative of a city in exchange for coin and/or exp.

Things like bandit scalps, hobgoblin ears, elf ears, goblin toes and orc teeth etc are all present. I'm sure builders with recently implememnted areas and new areas to come could add in the progs required given ideas and support here.

One thing I would add though, there is nothing to stop those races or alignments who {can not / should not / will not} enter Waterdeep from using a third party - knowingly or not - to collect the bounty for them.
Sometimes you guys need to make roleplay out of a lack of code as well as asking for it to be fixed or added to

Kregor · Post by **Kregor** » Mon May 28, 2007 11:14 pm

Velsavius wrote:Lets not forget the Orc camp the Shaman/witch doctor et al might want to pay to have human scalps line the walls of their tents/huts.
True they may not pay as much as the cities but they could pay something.

Brilliant minds think alike. A quest for orc village is in the works to allow orcs to make use of those bandit scalps like everyone else can.

Kregor · Post by **Kregor** » Mon May 28, 2007 11:27 pm

Horace wrote:Generallly, I think it'd be strange to have smaller cities single out bandits like Waterdeep does. But I can certainly see the argument for Shadowdale doing so, as the representative of all the Dalelands.

In the game Baldur's Gate, the small city of Beregost (or was it Nashkell, either one) had the local mercenaries offering a bounty for each bandit scalp delivered to them. Bandits were a trouble for villages and cities large and small, and the presence of them on the roads caused the greatest ill among caravans or traders that were smaller, and poorly armed, so I could see where smaller cities and towns would actually put more effort for getting aspiring young adventurers to rid the roads of them.

Dalvyn · Post by **Dalvyn** » Tue May 29, 2007 9:12 am

Kelemvor wrote:One thing I would add though, there is nothing to stop those races or alignments who {can not / should not / will not} enter Waterdeep from using a third party - knowingly or not - to collect the bounty for them.
Sometimes you guys need to make roleplay out of a lack of code as well as asking for it to be fixed or added to

Repeat this mantra at least 10 times.

Solution 1:
- Get to find someone who can cash in your scalps
- Interact with him/her (i.e., trick him/her, or make a deal with him/her, ...)
- Establish a base for future roleplay, a new connection between two characters, who can then develop into various things

Solution 2:
- Wait till there are other mobs where you can cash in your scalps

Solution 3:
- Go give your scalps to the guards in Waterdeep even though it's not IC for you to do it

What solution do you think might be better for the mud?

Leohand · Post by **Leohand** » Tue May 29, 2007 3:49 pm

Solution 4:

Set up a mob at Smugglers run that buys scalps, for say, 1 electrum, and have him leave at certain times to go cash in his own scalps, like when he gets a hundred or somesuch. Or at a certain time throughout each day. In this manner would monstrous characters have an in-character and reasonable way of turning in scalps, though for half the coin they'd normally get, and what rogue wouldn't enjoy doubling his profit? There's a recommendation, at least.

Dalvyn · Post by **Dalvyn** » Tue May 29, 2007 4:32 pm

Leohand, you failed to see the main point of my post.

This is a good opportunity for a character to establish a roleplay of "smuggling" bandit scalps for monstrous characters. Setting up a mob who does it is a cheap solution.

Selveem · Post by **Selveem** » Tue May 29, 2007 5:04 pm

....And then those 'goodie' characters are warned by their God that they should not associate with those type of people? There is a High Priestess who was once turned into a spider just for spending time amongst evils during her travels. I, myself, have a Chaotic Neutral character who was basically punished for the same.

I don't see that this is a good idea for RP unless goodies can begin RPing with evils for an extended length of time without fear of invoking the wrath of their Gods.

Laitaine · Post by **Laitaine** » Tue May 29, 2007 5:05 pm

There are plenty of non-good characters who are able to freely enter and trade in Waterdeep.

Selveem · Post by **Selveem** » Tue May 29, 2007 5:12 pm

Laitaine wrote:There are plenty of non-good characters who are able to freely enter and trade in Waterdeep.

Please see just below the mention of the priestess. ;P

Laitaine · Post by **Laitaine** » Tue May 29, 2007 5:42 pm

Alright - there are plenty of evil characters who can and do trade freely in Waterdeep. If you have a race that can't or shouldn't get in to the city, try looking one up

Solaghar · Post by **Solaghar** » Tue May 29, 2007 5:47 pm

I should mention that most monstrous characters are immediately kicked away from the gate by the guards and would have no way of IC'ly knowing that they even accept money for bandit scalps unless someone takes it upon themselves to tell them.

Leohand · Post by **Leohand** » Tue May 29, 2007 6:35 pm

Solaghar wrote:I should mention that most monstrous characters are immediately kicked away from the gate by the guards

My bugbear has wandered in as far as the first gateguard before, just once, and didn't get kicked out. I've also tried sneaking around with my half-drow, but always get expelled from the city, lol, it's tough to navigateWaterdeep with such a character. I once made it outside of the temple of Selune from Smugglers Run before getting caught, hehe. I never journey into the city more then once though at a time. If I'm caught I leave and come back later, that way no one is looking for me, lol.

Dalvyn · Post by **Dalvyn** » Tue May 29, 2007 10:11 pm

Selveem wrote:....And then those 'goodie' characters are warned by their God that they should not associate with those type of people? There is a High Priestess who was once turned into a spider just for spending time amongst evils during her travels. I, myself, have a Chaotic Neutral character who was basically punished for the same.

I don't see that this is a good idea for RP unless goodies can begin RPing with evils for an extended length of time without fear of invoking the wrath of their Gods.

I don't remember the High Priestess incident you are alluding to, so I won't comment on it.

The only characters who would be ICly/divinely "punished" because they associate with evil would be followers of gods like Tyr, and that is all IC. Neutral characters, or even good characters who do not have such restrictions could very well take the role described above, without fear of divine punishment. Followers of Waukeen might actually get rewarded for it (though that's just my point of view - I'm not very knowledgeable about Waukeen's ethos).

As for your CN character, he was not "punished because he associated with evil". He lost favour from his god big time because he allied with people who use dirty tricks and treacherous tactics instead of fighting honourably, "head to head". Slaughtering villages of noncombattants is opposed to Tempus's ways. Using poisons, lies, blackmail, ... is opposed to Tempus's ways. Living by the rule that "treachery and backstabbing is all fine as long as you are not found doing it" is opposed to Tempus's way. From the beginning, it was made clear that this was why Tempus's favour was dwindling away - even though you kept focused on your vision of "I am punished because I am with evil."

And, to get back on tracks, a "smuggler" roleplay who would get goods out of cities like Waterdeep/Silverymoon for people who cannot enter them would be perfectly fine with characters who would ICly do that. And that would actually be more interesting than simply having a mob take in bandit scalps. Solaghar's initial idea is good, that will also help low level non-Waterdhavian characters get some cash. I just think it would be better implemented with a PC rather than with mobs.

Lathander · Post by **Lathander** » Tue May 29, 2007 11:23 pm

In the interest of getting the facts straight....

The HP that was turned into a spider was Lathander's HP. She wasn't made into that form for associating wtih evil, although Lathander doesn't look at all kindly on his HP doing such things. She was turned into a spider for raising an evil drow and allowing that PC access to the surface world. The player, at least as was told to me directly at the time, actually enjoyed the spider rp.