Reincarnation

[Dezidryk]

I think if someone is willing to do something so drastic as to do reincarnation, they should come back with their equipment at the least, I swear as a drow it's impossible to find anyone on to help and lloth is almost worthless. I've reincarnated twice now and I had no problem losing that con, sure it's gone FOREVER but hey, that's a decision I made, then it just annoyed me when I realized I have to fight my way back naked to even have a shot at my gear. Now I understand it's supposed to be hard and I should evaluate every battle that will/could lead to my death and maybe i'm just venting but at least look at it heh.

On a side note, is it possible to make mobs not autoaggro the instant you walk in? I've played other muds that they go off of round engage or something so you have a chance to escape, but here if you're being blocked, you're getting auto dmg. Kind of sucks.

[Kallias]

I think reincarnation should have a different penalty - like removing a significant portion of XP, ten levels worth instead of permanent con drain. And free below level 10.

[Jaenoic]

Reincarnation is free below L10. If you die below L10, you are automatically reincarnated.

As for reincarnation returning you with your equipment... I'm mixed. For one, it does benefit those who play in settings(Mithral Hall, Underdark, etc) or times with few or no players. However, if you died in that area, would you have to fight the same mobs that killed you. Equipment or no, would it make a difference? I also like the roleplay that comes from helping a recently returned person to retrieve their body and belongings. So... Like I said I'm mixed on this.

[Nysan]

As a player of a dwarf, a goblin, and past player of drow (not to mention a habbit of playing late into the night) I would be lying if I said I did not like the idea of Reincarnation returning the character with equipment. It is nearly impossible for deaths in the Underdark and Mithril Halls to recover. The odds of other dwarves/drow being online are worse than a Las Vegas slot machine.

I would support this change for one reason: It is nearly impossible to be abused. The other penalty currently attached to Reincarnate, Con loss, makes it a last resort in the eyes of just about everyone I know. No one would be spamming reincarnate every death, especially since these days you cannot gain stat points with glory. Once its gone, its gone. So yes, I would support body return with supplicated reincarnation. Still has penalties attached to it, but allows hope for time/location restricted characters.

[Lathlain]

The problem with a change like this is that it will make the reincarnate command into a viable alternative to the other current forms of resurrection, given that nothing else exists to restore your equipment.

It has been stressed before and it will be stressed again. Reincarnation is a last ditch command, only to be used under the direst of circumstances. I would personally rather see it removed altogether than left in its current inexplicable form, but the last thing I want to see is people with options contemplating a reincarnation instead of a resurrection on the grounds that it means their equipment will be safeguarded.

[Sei]

I hate to be that person... The one who brings up realism in a fantasy setting... but that just doesn't seem realistic at all. It seems more like an easy way out for players who knowingly chose a harder character to play and don't want the challenge that they signed up for, than a reincarnation. I do however feel that a character should return in full health, as I don't see the realism, and again I'm sorry, in coming back an inch from death when you reincarnate. I'm aware that there are balance issues, but some things just don't make any sense, to me at least.

[Kallias]

I'd say the best argument for keeping equipment is that d&d is written to be a party game, no one really plays 1 person / 1 dm campaigns. When someone dies, you have your party there to keep your stuff, if your party dies the campaign is over or the dm writes a way for it to continue.

In FK, at least 50% of all adventuring is done solo. Whether it be due to not knowing anyone online, isolated area, feeling like playing alone, or players you were grouped with having to leave. This leaves a good portion of time where in death you may not have any viable options and the pressure of losing all the items you worked so hard to get can be awfully worrisome.

I'm not particularly for or against equipment coming back - I just want to point out that there is a significant difference between PC dynamics in FK and table top for how the spells are written.

[Nysan]

I wish there was a different version of this command just for areas like Mithral Hall and the Underdark. Surface players have options, even if it is just that one guy you met once in the market place, you have a chance of someone helping you. That chance doesn't exist if you died in the lower MH tunnels or the western tunnel near Menzo. Unless an imm is around, you are just fubar.

I understand the difficulty argument. Heck, they are hard RP areas. Place your bets and take your chances. For alot of aspects, I agree 100%. Few people to interact with, hard to make coin, strict rules on how to RP the race properly, ect. These I back the "it has a warning for a reason" argument. They are not for the faint of RP heart.

On the other hand, this is a game. We are here to have fun, aren't we? I have played drow that have lost everything they own in the tunnels because they died and could not get help. Old Gilain had to start from scratch quite a few times in the early days of MH (oh, the memories). These are devastating and frankly demoralizing setbacks. It is one of my top 5 reasons for no longer playing drow characters. I love challenging RP... I merely think "naked, no money, and no one around" crosses the line between fun RP and punishment. *shrug*

[Atraos]

Hi

Just thought id drop my thoughts on this as a fairly new player. I have just managed to get myself enough kismet to start a drow. And am thoroughly enjoying playing it. It is a downside that when i die, which has happened a few times exploring the underdark areas, i can find no-one to recover my corpse.
I must say however that i have took this on the chin, so to speak, as an expected downside to playing a "Harder" character.
Yes it's a downside but one that i have accepted.

Just my input anyway!

[Atraos]

Ok, scrap my last post. Died again down in the depths and finding it very frustrating knowing how hard it is now to gain coin/equipment.

Perhaps something could be changed to allow a raise with other penalties if body cannot be retrieved by friends etc.

I myself am often playing when no-one else is around. So corpse retrieval is limited.

Hmmm, not sure what to suggest however.

[Gwain]

If a special allowance can be made for drow, it probably won't be abused. Drow are much rarer online and cost a great deal of kismet.

I'd suggest doing the following:

-Make drow corpses last twice as long if not longer than other race's corpses
- create a corpse conservatory in Menzo for drow below lv 25 so that they can recover they're corpses at a faster rate without fear of rotting in case no one is around to raise them right away.

[Atraos]

Gwain,

That sounds like a good plan. It at least gives players time to find someone to recover the corpse. As you have said they are few and far between.
I would imagine this would be easier to implement rather than rewriting/changing the existing "raise" code.

[Nysan]

Would be nice to see corpse conservatories in the restricted access areas like Menzo, Skullport, and MH. Yeah, MH is a minor example compared to drow zones but its justified.

On a similar note, we have mobs that wander certain areas, picking up stuff on the ground. Is it possible to code a wandering NPC, maybe on a set patrol route, that picks up only character bodies and takes them to the conservatory? Every time I mine in MH and see a certain wandering priest NPC, I always ask myself "Why couldn't this mob pick up dead folks?" Its a rough idea, but combined with corpse conservatories it would really cut back on the "naked, broken, no options" restart periods for Underdark or MH characters. Thoughts?

[Aveline]

I've been thinking on this a few days, (I know.. scary) and I had a thought similar on the lines to Gwain's and Nysan's. I would like to see a conservatory area added to the towns where it would be appropriate. And then I was thinking that when low level characters die, their bodies could automatically be sent to the conservatory. Characters die so much in these levels, especially characters of new players. No matter what race you are. I was thinking from levels 1-10 you get automatic resurrection and your body gets automatically moved to the conservatory of your hometown. If you are from one of those places where it wouldn't be appropriate for a conservatory then maybe those towns can just have one room designated as a body drop zone. But then maybe for five more levels, when you die your body still gets moved to the conservatory. No more automatic resurrection, but the body hunt still is not so bad, and you aren't in a panic over it. I know that seems to make things very easy on people that die, but there are still levels 16-50 where you won't get any automatic help. And I know myself, it takes me a few levels out of the temple just to figure my new characters out. And many times when you are still that low of a level, what friends you have managed to make are around a similar level so if you ask them to help you out, whatever kicked your butt is very likely to kick theirs as well. If Gesine dies, it would take 30 minutes max to find someone to help her out. Even if I'm playing in the wee hours of the morning. She just knows a lot of people. But if I were to die on my newest character like I did just the other night... I was just sitting there idling in the realms of the dead for hours. And then once I did find someone to help it took them a while to find the puny little body, and I was pretty worried about it going poof and dumping my stuff. Even if we don't add the extra 5 levels to this, I think the automatic body move for those levels would be a good thing. And I don't see any harm in it at all. I hate doing the naked run to collect my body. Especially in the times that when I finally get there I am just killed again so then I have to do the naked run to deal with two of my bodies.