Attacks of Opportunity spoiling RP?

Lerytha · Post by **Lerytha** » Tue Feb 28, 2006 9:00 pm

I was recently involved in an RP, in which I (a wizard) encountered an evil cleric. We eventually proceeded to a PK situation, in which I decided I would try and PK "death from above" (ie, trying to make use of the wizard intelligence and stay safe, whilst raining magic upon the enemy). The other RPer was supportive, and all proceeded well, until we came to a point when, the cleric, upon using "sound burst" was attacked by me codewise, with a couple of attacks.

Basically, "cause light" was then used, and the justification was that I had attacked her physically, which is reasonable enough.

But I always thought the whole point about attacks of opportunity (if that is what they are) was to give you the opportunity to attack a vulnerable opponent.

This also applies to when I was casting "magic missile", which resulted in physical attacks from her automatically in the code, which are not actually possible.

I was wondering two things:

a) Are they actually considered attacks of opportunity, or are they just a bug?

b) Regardless of what they are, can they be removed in this particular instance, because, without an understanding fellow RPer, I would not have been able to RP my wizard how I feel they should be RPed, as people who can quite easily blast apart a fighter without him getting close. Some people might claim this is an issue of balance as well, but I would disagree - wizards generally get trounced in PK, and I think removing this anomaly would enable them to RP knowing that if events get pushed to combat, they don't have to worry about them being chopped apart instantly.

Any thoughts/decisions?

Thanks in advance. I hope I made myself clear.

Zach · Post by **Zach** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 1:09 am

I believe it is coded (but don't quote me) that as soon as you start the attack... you are lowered. Just like you won't be attacked by a hill giant until you start the fight...

He would have to be in killmode spar for this to be able to happen. As you will have to be on Killmode spar as well

I believe this is what you wanted. But if not... let me know

Dalvyn · Post by **Dalvyn** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 1:27 pm

I agree with your IC observation that a (flying) wizard would be able to nuke a non-flying fighter without being attacked in return.

Yet, code-wise, there's no difference between a PC and a mob. So, if we made it possible, people could then (and would, believe me) just fly over Hartsvale and nuke all the giants there again and again. They would level up and skill-level up quickly with no danger. That's why land-based opponents attack you back when you cast spells on them, even when you are flying.

Paskry · Post by **Paskry** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 2:15 pm

Then perhaps we could add a code string where the mobs autimatically switch to a ranged attack if someone flys over them? You could have the ogres in Hartsvale have spears that return to their hand(ic they have a pile of them right next to them) and have the spears thrown at the wizzie who is nuking.

Paskry

Dalvyn · Post by **Dalvyn** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 2:58 pm

Not all mobs would have a ranged attacks.

Besides, that would require about a month of non-stop work to give a ranged attack to all the mobs who would have one. And to make them react clevery by taking refuge into buildings when they are attacked, and so on.

Lerytha · Post by **Lerytha** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 4:53 pm

Ah, that's fair enough.

Is it considered then, reasonable, to expect those attacks not to be IC during PK? Can we also insist on being able to "nuke" a non-flying character?

Could they be a mention of it/rule created for it in the PK policy/rules?

If we can't change the code, we can make it clear the RP that should go around it.

Kregor · Post by **Kregor** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 7:18 pm

Debates like this are exactly the reason that the term "limited Pkill" is so mired in a grey area.

Without code to take some things into consideration, a little common sense would be nice.

"Hm, this guy is flying, and I don't have a ranged/area spell or a ranged weapon... tough luck for me" Falling back on code limitations to get in a sucker punch may not be against the PKill rules, but it's a great indication of one's consideration of any other player besides themself.

You can't easily or practically enforce consdideration. Though it can determine who and who not I, personally, will decide to RP with in the future, and who I will walk away from.

I, personally, think some people's obsession for PvP is far beyond what it should be on an RP mud, and I have, in the past two weeks, witnessed three accounts of what I consider bad consideration in a PKill. Two of which were the same char, attacking someone with the only RP at all to even indicate there was going to be an attack, was a quick smote of charging with their weapon, and then hitting MURDER. Another being a cold, flatfooted backstab and kill of a lowbie by a thief... no smotes, no RP, just walk up and kill.

what I perceive in the bad pkill situations here is a courtesy deficiency. At least have the courtesy that the other player knows a pkill is imminent, at least have the courtesy to agree on a killmode, and use some common sense when it comes to facing another player, rather than using code limitations to an unfair advantage.

Lathander · Post by **Lathander** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 9:21 pm

Pkills that begin with a backstab and no rp, especially if it is newbie who is attacked in that manner, need to be reported to complaints@forgottenkingdoms.com