Parasites

[ShadowFish]

yah but from the sound of their description they sound mostly like scouts that will just look ahead.... i doubt a small thing could grow that big but it might grow big enough to wrap aroung a character or something....or it attaches to the back....but that would be cool if they offered you protection for stats or your protection...then you could attach it to your back and if something tries to attack  it will get stabbed by a needle or something on the symbiont or if you put it on the front it is like having two seperate weapon...but that does sound a lot like the familiars but i dont remember you having to offer them something in return....

list all the different abilities of them

we have
mana for stamina
stamina for mana
health for mana
mana for health
health for stamina
stamina for health
protection for mana
protection for protection
protection for health
protection for stamina

im not sure about the protection stuff though.... maybe if it wasnt an attack more like when something attacks it takes damage

[Wormtail_]

The symbiont will take damage if it is hit, of course, even if it doesn\'t want to protect you. In that case, the symbiont may want to attack the assailant by using some self-defense technique, such as squirting acid. But symbionts are mortal like any other creature, and can die.

Familiars offer you protection, you protect the familar. Familiars are your companions, to call upon in times of need. Symbionts are allies, not friends. You give in return for something else.

Back on the topic of symbionts, perhaps things they can offer you are resistances, as I said before. Resistance to poison, Ways of magic, etc. Also, perhaps they could alter your blood so that an enemy could take damage when your blood splashed onto them, or your blood could rust a weapon immediately. Disgusting, but just an idea.

[ShadowFish]

yah they could clean your blood for you to take out poison and what about the ones that would crawl into your skin....once again its disgusting but it has to be addressed....they would have to be blown up with magic and area magic or the enemy cant attack it at all...

[Wormtail_]

Or they could somehow sneak poison into the skin that would kill the symbiont... Disgusting indeed... The symbionts that destroy the poison would have to be killed with, as said before, magic. So lets see, symbionts that give blood special capabilties and cleans the blood.

Perhaps symbionts can also replace the hair/gives new hair to creatures (on the head, for Enrikudai), and another type that heals the character. The hair-replacer can either be just a fashion that gives and drains, or be a self-defense technique. And of course, slows the character down somewhat, as it is difficult walking around with a creature on your head. No, I am not speaking from experience, so I may be wrong.

Should a character be able to carry multiple symbionts, or just one? Or should the maximum be as many as he can support by giving?

[ShadowFish]

probably as many as they can while giveing at the same time... but like you said with the haired one, depending on their size they could weigh a person down

[Wormtail_]

And of course, as many as can hold on to the character without obstrucing movement entirely. Several symbionts on the arm would be inefficient for the character in terms of things using the arm, like combat with the martial arts.

1. Once the character dies, what happens to the symbiont? Does it die along with the character, or just detach and wander away?

2. Should two characters be able to form a mutual symbiotic relationship?

3. Are symbiotic creatures sentient beings, or non-sentient beings? If they were sentient, they could help the character when asked, but if non-sentient, just do their job. And retaliate when hit by anything, including the host.

[ShadowFish]

1. it probably wanders away to find another player unless it was killed in the  battle

3.i dont think they would understand unless they were trained to do something...like a dog er something....that or they will just do their job or attack when threatened

2. in what way?

[Wormtail_]

1. Indeed, or the symbiont, depending on the type, feeds off the corpse. An inner symbiont would die, as the host cannot sustain it anymore, but an exterior would do as you said, ShadowFish.

2. Two characters could, perhaps, form a magical bond that allows them to do the stamnia-for-mana exchange, and so on. Anything that deals with mana, health, or stamnia, basically, but no \'special\' characteristics, as the characters probably don\'t have the special capabitlities to improve, say, the blood, in return for something else.

3. Agreed.

[Xelex]

Well there are two types of parasites that should be added into this game.

A smart one and a dumb one.

A smart parasite feeds off of its host but does not hurt it enough to kill it. The parasite does not poison or spread deseases either. It does however give slower movement sight disfunction. Limits hp and limits damage capabilities as well as slows down the host.

Now a dumb parasite will feed off of its host until it kills it, although the hp losing rate will be slow.

Now of course parasites can be killed by freezing, burn, lightning, and potions.

Also once a host dies the parasite does not follow it. It will stay by the area until another host comes along. Of course if looting or theiving corpses is enabled at a point a looter will get the parasite on him. Sort of a tactic in pVp.
This is my idea of parasites.

[Wormtail_]

Unfortunately, poison can do the same thing... Poison can kill or simply weaken, and looters of corpses can face infection from rotting and the microorganisms involved with it.

By the way, should we create an entirely new thread based on symbionts? We were getting rather off-topic...

[Xelex]

Poison usually must be injected into the body through an opening in the skin. I don\'t think a person is going to put cuts or openings on a corpse. However parasites could find a way to latch at touch.
Now do you see the difference or are you still blind?

[ShadowFish]

if it is a corpse then there are already probably openings in it...i doubt anyone would let someone stick a needle in them for no reason....the best way would be to put poison on weapons or use spells...parasites would be too similiar

[Xelex]

Yes but parasites spread on contact unlike poison. And the reason somebody would catch a parasite is if they were looting the corpse or even just walking over it. Of course this might be a problem. Lets say a person who has a \"smart\" parasite on him was just attacked by something venemous like a snake and is poisoned. Now this fellow is walking through a crowded williage when he dies of poison. If somebody walks over that corpse they would get the parasite. So I would just make it a looting thing only.

[Wormtail_]

This has been discussed at the very beginning of the thread, before it digressed to a discussion of symbiotic creatures. The anti-parasite viewpoint asks what does it do for gameplay? How is it beneficial? The effects of parasites are too similar to poison. The only difference is the matter of acquistion - parasites by accidental terrain (say swamps/what you said, bodies) and poison on purpose. And poison can be \'inhaled\' on accident by noxious fumes anyway. Symbiotic creatures would actually benefit the players. As discussed earlier. I think.

[Xelex]

You are forgetting not all poison comes in the form of a gas.