Originally posted by Cirque

Quote

Originally posted by ShadowForm
And not all molecules are part of a crystal.

Your point?

You logic: Not all sapphires are blue, therefore the next stage of development can not be named \'sapphire blue\'.

I suppose in retrospect that my point didn\'t really refute this.

But then again, not all atoms are blue, nor are all molecules blue, nor are all crystals blue.

[Edit] I seem to have misread your original post.  \'Note: all sapphires are blue.\"
But this is also incorrect...

That\'s simple.
Instead of just tracking their liquid assets (cash), track total assets.  If they\'re wearing armor worth 600, a weapon worth 1000, and have 200 tria, you know something suspicious is happening if they suddenly gain 100,000 tria or a weapon worth 100,000 tria.
On the other hand if they have a 8,000 weapon and 5,000 armor, they sell a rare, 4,000 object for 10,000 it\'s not nearly so much of a change.
In another case, though, an intelligent cheater would just cheat small amounts of money or small gains over a longer period of time; maybe idling for several hours, then cheat to make his stats seem as though he had been leveling the whole time.

So, in order to prevent some cheating:
-Track the total wealth (items, equipment, etc) of characters rather than just cash
-Track stats

Originally posted by Under the moon
Not to rain on anybodies parade, but what if kran don\'t reproduce at all?  Bare with me on this, I like the ideas of kran reproduction (I kinda helped start this thread), but we also need to discuss all options.  

So, what if the kran created in the beginning are all that exist?  They don\'t die of old age and they don\'t reproduce.  If one dies from other causes, Talad resurrects them.

In other words, the kran that are living now are the same kran Talad made originally, and will be the same kran in the future.

Maybe all the kran could be hibernating in the soil to accommodate population fluctuations.  All kran would be in hibernation until a player \'created\' one.  He would then rise from the ground and begin his adventure.  
How\'s that for a unique race?

Nope.  The Planeshift guide clearly states that Kran reproduce.  Specifically, \"Also, the way in which they reproduce is incompatible with all other races: there are no half-breed Kran.\"

Somewhat related to reproduction and lightly touched on in this topic was the reproduction rate.  Something very important to look at.

Given their nature as thing made of rock, the stereotype would indicate that they may live extremely long lives.  Thought diverges in two directions here:
1) That they were, and always will be, magically created
2) That they are created with the ability to reproduce in some way.

The first option means that (given their lack of powerful magical ability) they are probably created mostly as servants, workers, etc by wizards of other races.  This would make them closer to \'golems\' or animate objects rather than actual life forms (and again, looking at stereotypes) more likely to be ageless (ie - they live until killed, destroyed, starvet, etc).  The fact that they eat does not diminish the odds of this path, since even inanimate things (cars, for instance) need some sort of fuel to survive.  Of course, I don\'t think that this is the way that people are leaning towards as far as the canon law.

The second method is the one everyone\'s been talking about.  If they reproduce the stereotype again leads to believe that they do die after time (several hundred years, maybe?  Possibly as low as forty, since they would be \'born\' fully developed).

The main thing to look at here is lifespan.  If they have a low reproduction rate and short lifespans, they would go extinct.  A high reproduction rate and a long lifespan, they would flood the country unless their death rate (through falls, war, etc) was extremely high.
If each individual Kran can reproduce every five years and live for even 50, that\'s 8-10 over the course of their life.
Compare this.  Humans (with weaker bodies and only minor medical access through magic) probably live 40-50, with each pair producing one child every 15 months or so.  Or, four children over five years.  Combine with a 15-year maturation period before being able to reproduce, need for a second to reproduce.  I did the math (ignoring inbreeding, assuming that numbers matched perfectly for male/female couples).  It got pretty complicated on the human side of the chart, but I think I got everything right.  Starting with two population each, at the end of fifty years of reproduction with no early deaths or miscarraiges on either side, there would be over 1,000 Kran and only 130 humans.  
Math: (time measured in five year increments, for the first fifty years of any set)
Kran - (Pop. x 2)
Human - Three empty spaces (maturation period)
((Pop. / 2) * 4) + Pop.
This assumes that, basically, every woman has a child almost every year from age 15 to 50, with no miscarraiges (resulting in 35 children).  If you go with natural death/miscarraige statistics, the population difference might be closer to 100 or even 75 to 1,000.

The point of this is that without a maturation period or need for a partner, Kran possess the potential for explosive growth even with a 1 per five years.  Of course this doesn\'t rule those numbers out; maybe they practice controlled growth to limit strain on resources, or simply have no drive to reproduce (somewhat of a possibility).  One interesting story line for the game would be a sort of witch-hunt / pogrom against Kran out of fear that they could quickly overpower any other kingdom.
Alternately, they need an extremely high mortality rate.  In the bit about them on the Settings page, it says they\'re somewhat susceptible to cracking, breaking, etc - is it possible that accidental falls limit their number significantly, that a lack of parental instincts greatly reduce the actual number of new Kran, or so forth.

Hmm...  I like Kran.  A lot, now that I think of it.

Coalescing several ideas from other threads on the board.

Every time you do something \'bad\' (Killing a city guard, killing a townsperson, possibly certain mission,s getting caught stealing even if you escape, etc), you get a certain \'Criminal Score\'.  If the score is low, Guards will attempt to \'Arrest\' you - fleeing adds a few points, attacking adds a bunch, and surrendering results in a fine or jail time or community service (Ie, complete-this-quest-and-you-can\'t-enter-the-city-until-you-do).  If your Criminal rating is higher, they attack you - higher still, and Guard patrols will actively seek you out in cities.  A third way to increase this would be trading illegal items (if implemented; see one of the other threads for the discussion on that).

Naturally, people with high ratings might find it hard shopping finding legal rooms and shopping in legal stores - after all, who wants to be associated with a known murderer?  Similarly, certain groups (like a Thieve\'s Guild) might not trust someone with a sterling reputation.  A street thug might be more willing to talk to another tough (through respect, professional courtesy, or fear) than someone whose already completed a quest clean the streets of scum.

No idea if this has been suggested already, so be gentle.

1) Surrender -
  When certain monsters get close to dying, they may \'surrender\' if you have a high enough charisma/persuasion/etc.  They turn neutral, let you loot them (as if they had died), and start to follow you.  You can either attack them again and kill them, take them to a prison/war camp for a bounty, possibly a quest, possibly to gain a title in the area (ie, bring in enough monsters and you\'ve made the area safer, so you get the title \'Squire\' or some such).  Alternately if your charisma/persuasion/etc is high enough (note: higher than what it would take to just get them to surrender), you could turn them into a hireling.
  For those of you who have played MechWarrior 3, I would imagine a system somewhat similair to that (not identical, of course...  just a simple set target/order attack/defense/move here/etc) would be perfect for interacting with any NPCs following you.

2) Training -
  99.9% of all wild animals can NOT be tamed.  They must be raised from birth - perhaps a spawn point for wolf pups or eggs.  Guarded by parents who will fight significantly harder to protect their young than other animals would, of course.  If you have a high enough Animal Training skill, you can tame the animal.  This means it follows you, attacks what you attack, and attacks what attacks you.  Depending on the monster it could attack certain other creatures as well (Ie, a wolf automatically chasing rabbits).  At higher skill levels, you can add extra abilities.  Expanding on the idea:
 -Take animal to a \'Training Yard\' or similar facility.  Animal Training window pops up on-screen, showing requirements and special training.
 -Each part of special training (not automatically chasing rabbits, for example) \'costs\' more skill.  The only restriction here being that the cost of training the animal does not exceed your skill in training animals.
(Ex)
Wolf
Basic Training (15 Skill): Follows your character, defends character, attacks with character, chases rabbits
Attack Training (+5 Skill): Can order Wolf to attack creatures
Guard Training (+10 Skill): Can order Wolf to stay in a certain area and defend it from hostile creatures.  (+20 skill): Wolf is better at determining which creatures are hostile.  (+30 skill): Wolf is able to detect magically hidden creatures.
Control Training (+5 Skill): No longer chases after rabbits automatically.
Domestication (+10 Skill): Combat abilities decrease, but value when sold as a pet increases
Hunt Training (+5 Skill): \'Hunt\' command makes the wolf search for, then chase the nearest \'prey\' animal and attack it, if it\'s within a certain distance.  (+15 Skill): Increases the distance the \'Hunt\' command works through.  (+25 Skill): Increases the speed with which the wolf can find a prey animal.
Combat Training (+10 Skill): Similar to \'Hunt\', but targets enemies rather than prey animals.  (+20 Skill) Larger distance (+30 Skill) Faster finding
Seek Training (+10 Skill): Similar to \'Hunt\', but instead lets the animal seek out a type of resources (Plants, some Minerals if they have smell, fallen objects, items, etc).  (+20 Skill): Increases item variety that can be found (more difficult to detect/rarer items) and distance they can be detected from.
Ex:
You find a wolf pup, and take it to a training yard.  You have 40 Skill in animal training, so you decide aside from the required basic training (15 pts), you want it to be a hunting animal.  Attack Training (5 pts), Control Training (5 pts), and Hunting (lv2, 15 pts).  This adds up to 40 (15 + 5 + 5 + 15 = 40), you train it, and then head out with your Wolf following you to find some good hunting grounds.

3) Evolution/Promotion/Experience
  After a hireling gains a certain number of kills/experience, they may level up.  For enemy races that surrendered and then \'swore to serve you\', this could mean something like a different name (Ie, \'Bandit\' becomes \'Raider\').  Animals gain maturity (\'Wolf\' becomes \'Tough Wolf\' or \'Alpha Wolf\' or something like that), and so forth.  Animals would have a life measured in months, while a good hireling/henchman would last for upwards of a year depending on the race.
  Naturally, wild creatures would gain stats like this as well.  Perhaps even from fighting each other (Ie, a wild Wolf becomes a Tough Wolf after killing a few deer).
NOTE: I saw an argument against this elsewhere on the boards stating that it could cause newbie-death in areas where monsters can actually win against newbies.  This could be solved by having monsters \'migrate\' once they reach a certain level - for example, Bandits that turn into Raiders leave for a larger and more dangerous city, for bigger rewards on their own part.

4) Familiars -
  Forgive me if you mean something else by this, but my thought on Familiars is that they are magically called/created/summoned beings.  An idea would be a sort of \'evolution game\' - you call one of a handful of creatures.  Example: Lesser Water Elemental, Small Clay Golem, and Lesser Imp.  They gain experience like a henchman/trained animal, and evolve normally (Lesser Imp>Imp>Strong Imp>Great Imp), at which point they become \'upgraded\'.  They change completely to one of a few choices (Greater Water Elemental can become Lesser Acid Spirit or Lesser Ice Elemental, maybe Large Clay Golem can become Small Stone Golem or Weak Clay Warrior, and Great Imp becomes either Minor Fiendling or Weak Malice Spirit, maybe even Minor Lawyer).  This continues for a long time, and if a character keeps the same Familiar through their entire adventuring career, they could end up with something like a Massive Mithril Golem or Greater Doom Spirit (smartass comment: or Enron Executive) following them around.
Depending on the level of player/game interaction, if a character gets their Familiar to a certain point it might even qualify as a \'Unique\', get it\'s own name and a few special powers.