Pets, Hirelings, and all of that...

[DizzleCorinthos]

All of these ideas should be rolled into one.  How many you can control at one time should be based on your Charisma, (possibly coupled with Will or Intelligence).  I hope there will be no more than 3 \'pets\' per character.  Hopefully two will be the max.

Ideas for pets/hirelings/minions.  Post them up.

-Animal pets (low Charisma)
-Humanoid Hirelings (high Charisma)
-Very Minor Magical creatures (Mid charisma)
-Minor Magical creatures, (Very high Charisma)

Each potential pet would have a background \'Charsima required\' tied to it.  To get the pet, you would have to issue commands to get it to like you, (et feed the rabbit, compliment the healer).  After you do that, you seal the deal by giving a gift to the pet, (put collar on rabbit, give necklace to healer).  That seals the deal.

Minions I imagine would be different.  This implies more of an \'evil\' character, where control would be more likely.  (slap imp, chain healer)

Golems would be a different sort since they are crafted.

Ill stop for now, the floor is all yours!

Thanks!

[DizzleCorinthos]

I am really suprised people let this one slip by.  I thought pets were beginning to be very popular for these kind of games.

[Fallen Angel]

I think that hirelings/creatures/minions should be wild animals that can be tamed, but not all of them though (like some of them could be purchased from a illegal poacher/legal trainer etc). they should be able to perform many different tasks eg. bear-like animals could pull carts, fight, perform for spectators

But they should oppose enslavery, you should have to feed them, look after them, punish them etc. and you have to treat them in a way that will reflect on their abilities eg. punishing them will make them enraged and fight with more feriousity but also be harder to control, an being nice could make them easier to control and better at enduring other tasks.

You should also be able to buy them miscellaneous items that aid them in certain tasks or fighting.
Some examples could be:
-Buying a saddle to fly on a winged-creature, or a saddle to ride on a horse or donkey-type creature.
-Buying claws for a clawed-creature to fight.
-Collar to contol them.
-Armour for war beasts, like a mammoth-type.

This is a wide subject that is open to ideas. Please other people post your thoughts, I would really like to hear others ideas on this.
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[Skain]

http://forums.roempire.com/attachment.php?s=&postid=2951.jpg


I realy dont like the idea of hiring of npc, this is something i hated in nwn too, as u can see from the thread \'more players less npcs!!!\' i cant be alone in thinking this. However, pets, tamed beings, and magical creatures all sounds v.cool.

[Fallen Angel]

I HATE HATE HATE the idea of hiring a humanoid NPC...if you can than what sort of fantasy game is this...??

So offense to developers...AMAZING game so far

[DizzleCorinthos]

Pets could be animals or minor monsters.  I think hirelings should be humanoid.  Minions should be magical creatures and constructed creatures, (et Golems).

I honestly see nothing wrong with a minor NPC humanoid hireling.  

They cant start off strong at all.

They should be able to progress at say, 1/8 a normal characters speed.  

They should not be able to participate in combat, I know this seems odd, but it will make sense next.

They should be able to perform odd tasks.  A quartermaster would be like a mule.  He could loot items for you from creatures you (or group) killed, and stow them with his many backpacks and satchels, (2.0 multiplier to any storage space items).  A chanter could constantly chant for healing from his god in combat to bestow a small regeneration effect to a player or group, (non stack with other chanters).  A professor could be the intelligent advisor to the fighting party, advising them to weaknesses of the monsters, (constant addition to damage, also shout out things like, \"use silver or fire against zombies\")  You get the idea.

Also, they should constantly cost.  Every IRL week, you have to pay a fee to keep their services.

You can train and upgrade them with instruction from wiser NPCs hidden in obscure places. You can give them items to modify their skill.

Etc etc.  You could really do nice things with it if you really try.

[Darkanan]

Why hire them. Why not make a beastmaster skill, (also another profession) which allows you to train wild animals into fiercsome friends (spelt that wrong).

I understand that there is the importance of building friendships and having real partners and such but a pet would really help. they can help you run your shop, make crafts, or hunt. Its also really realistic.

The fact that now you can train with a pet and not have to sit aroudn and wait until a group of your friends actually sign on, meet up and go out will also save a lot of people time and make it much easier to play. It will prevent this from falling into the same problem that FF11 fell into in which they put such an emphasis on teamwork and player training that wihtout a group of people you cannot go and train at all so it literally takes aobut 2 hours just to get 40 xp. With a pet to aid you in battle it can alieviate some the need to train with others.

[DizzleCorinthos]

Darkanan,

Training animal pets would be a great idea to implement.  You would have to \'hire\' humanoid pets.  What other realistic motivation could their be?  Besides, getting a pet for free means that anyone can run around with one.  Im one to believe that it should be earned.

You\'re right.  Pets allow for a lot of meaningless tasks be assigned to an automated NPC.  Why sit and run a shop when a pet can do that and you can gain more materials to craft with?

A lot of MMORPGs are really going too much into group oriented gameplay.  Some people come on at really odd hours where there are not many people playing.  Some people like the challenge of doing their character development all by themselves.  Some just dont like other people.  Whatever the case may be, the game should be built for group quests and solo quests.  All hunting ground should be adaptable so a solo person can take a monster, while a group will have a tougher time due to hp or attribute boosts, but will get more experience from that monster.

Or just make solo areas and group areas.  Open fields and such make great grouping areas.  Sewers and tunnels are usually set for singles or pairs.

All I can suggest is this, dont force someone to be in a group to get where they want to go.

[Xandria]

As far as pets go, we know that in Planeshift we will at least have familiars, obtained via the empathy skill.  We\'re still not exactly sure how this will work, but it will be some form of creature that will follow you around, and learn from what you do.  In time, with enough experience, they can participate in combat, cast spells, etc. of their own free will.  There may even be a way to \'possess\' your familiar for a short length of time, to do things such as get to areas you couldn\'t fit in, or if you had a flying familiar you could go fly someplace.

I would assume that with the trainer skill (can\'t remember exactly what it\'s called) you could capture/persuade wild animals and then take them someplace to train them.  Obviously, some animals would be better suited to learn certain taks over others.  Heh, I\'d love to train a raccoon to walk around with me and pick up loose little items lost on the ground   .

Of course, you\'d have to feed them and keep them happy, or else they\'ll try to either run away or possibly attack you.  So if you were going on a vacation in RL you\'d want someone to come feed your animals  

And that\'s about all I\'ve got

[Vengeance]

I\'m hoping to have a dog...  not to fight but just to have hang around me.  We\'ll see if I can get it working once I have monsters working right.

[DizzleCorinthos]

I would absolutely LOVE to have a pet dog.  Preferrably a doberman.  That would be excellent!  Could there be 3 or 4 different breed selections if this is implemented?  Maybe this could be based on moral actions taken in quests ala Black and White?  Just ideas folks.

Edit:

Also, if you wanted to be really cruel hearted, you could have dog fights implemented.

[hook]

Originally posted by Vengeance
I\'m hoping to have a dog...  not to fight but just to have hang around me.  We\'ll see if I can get it working once I have monsters working right.

doggie!!!! (preferably a dachs-hound)
...maybe even a small-breed dragon?

no dog fighting (...at least not legally)

[rainmaker]

I played Lineage for about a month as a mage and I admit one of the most satisfying aspects of the game was the ability to own dogs. It was based on your charisma with a max of 3 if i renember correctly (however having such a high char was unusual). Frankly I wouldn\'t have gotten nearly as far if I hadn\'t had the dog, this ofcourse has to do with how that game was weighted though (mages had a rough time starting out).

The way of obtaining a pet was a combination of hurting the untaimed dog (til it was almost dead) and feeding it. This was rather difficult untill your character was relatively well developed with a good deal of health. These \"taimers\" could then sell the dog as they pleased, which is how i got mine. Once you had a dog it had to feed every couple hours or it would run off, and when leaving the game it would go to a kennel where they would keep it for you til you logged on next time.

Anyways I\'m open to all kinds of pets/familiars/golems and such as they make the game a lot more enjoyable especialy for loners and weaker starting characters.

[DizzleCorinthos]

In that game, the implementation could have been better.  I like the idea of the pet being able to run off because of neglect, but not after a few hours.  A pet would let you know one way or another if it is hungry or needs attention.  The same should hold true in a game.

I think only 1 or 2 pets should be allowed, any more is overkill.

I like the concept of training and breeding for others.  If I was able to be an animal breeder, I would jump on that in a second.  Very specialized tradeskill, I think those are great.

[Nadius]

Originally posted by Fallen Angel
I HATE HATE HATE the idea of hiring a humanoid NPC...if you can than what sort of fantasy game is this...??

So offense to developers...AMAZING game so far

I AGREE WITH THIS 100%

and as far as an animal pet id like to see animal having to be mostly trained by there owner and a mage could get a familliar

like animal trainer A sells a semi-trained woulf pup to player B ... semi trained meaning it wont attack you but it still dosent always want to do as its told ...
i see a big future in the animal training profession
i just hope they dont kill it by making everyone able to have a perfectly trained pet..