Well, I've been thinking about a couple of things, and thought I'd throw them up here for comment (and since the Summits will be happening, never know what might happen ) None of them are combat-related.

First is an addition to the CAMPFIRE ability.

Syntax: ROAST
I've always thought it was sort of silly that Hunter's couldn't feed themselves. I mean, that has got to be a major point of 'hunting', in all reality. This would create "bits of roasted " which could be eaten. You'd get more chunks based on the essence value of the corpse (which is, I believe, how Necromancers eat corpses). With an obvious cap, so you don't get hundreds of bits of food. They'd decay at the end of the current month, but would allow the hunter to feed himself and those who are hunting with him. It will still cost them the wood though, so it wouldn't really be abused to put cooks out of buisness across the board or anything.

An example would be, you kill a moose. You roast it, and get three "bit of roasted moose" in your inventory.

Next is a new BOND ability for Trackers

HERDING
Syntax: BOND HERD
This works similarly to Rustle, but rather than using a rope, you're using your Hound, and you can also herd sheep as well as cows. The added advantage is that if a cow/sheep panics and bolts, the hound will follow and herd it back to you, rather than making you chase after it yourself. This ability can also be used from a distance-the hound will herd the animal and bring it back to you, but only within local area.

This, again, isn't a huge advantage, but its something to give them a bit of an edge, especially since they rely so heavily on commodities.

Third, is a boost to PRINTS upon choosing Tracking.
Currently, Prints will show you what's in the area, but it doesn't give you any idea of where. This doesn't really make sense, as a tracker should be able to tell which direction the prints are headed. So, upon taking Tracking, Prints also gives a general direction to things of particular interest-ie, players.

A usual Prints readout shows like this:

QUOTE

You squat down and study the prints on the ground, determining that there are at
least 4 rabbits, 3 bucks, 4 squirrels, 3 frogs, 3 does, 11 native faelings, 11
native elfens, a native furrikin, a platypus, a salamander, 2 native igashos, 3
furrikins, an elfen, a lucidian, and a mugwump living in this area.

It would change to look like this:

QUOTE

You squat down and study the prints on the ground, determining that there are at
least 4 rabbits, 3 bucks, 4 squirrels, 3 frogs, 3 does, 11 native faelings, 11
native elfens, a native furrikin, a platypus, a salamander, 2 native igashos.
Of special interest:
a furrikin and mugwump are to the west.
2 furrikin are to the north.
an elfen and a lucidian are to the southeast.

Its still no match for Wolf Scent, but Trackers really could use something to help them actually..you know track people. And by the way.. where are there native igashos in Southern Serenwilde?

Lastly, and while this one may slightly affect combat, if Alarm comes back, it won't.

Pretty much a trap like any other, its a simple trip wire. The difference between this and all other traps is that it isn't aggressive, and so you do not have to declare or have them enemied. This will effect everyone except personal allies. All it does is act as an alarm, so you know when people pass a certain location.

the thing that made me think of it is that Hunter's tents have no doors, so you have no clue if someone shrouded comes in. That just seemed wrong to me, considering it says the tent has a door, but anyone can slip in un-noticed. So a possible use of this trap would be so that you know when someone approaches outside of your tent, so that you aren't completely caught off guard.

Oh, and speaking of tents.. would it be possible to increase the customizable bits? Cause as far as I know, you can change the exterior description, but not the interior.. which defies all logic, really.

Good additions, except prints. Prints is supposed to indicate about how many creatures are in the area, not where they are.

Though, if you created another skill, to follow a scent, or a set of tracks...

Oh, and there should be a neutral kennel.

The problem with this is that.. generally, if you can detect a print, you can also tell which direction it was headed. Toes point forward, usually

Also, Trackers can already Track to a person using their hound, but that requires them to have stunk at some point, and also that doesn't help you know where people are around you. Knowing that you've got enemies in various directions can help with trap placement, which is majorly important for a tracker.

Eh, those are great idea. It'd be nice to see them implemented.

or, at least, I'd like them.

I'm still not quite sure on the theory behind the Hunting skillset, its really wierd.

Unless there are plans for weaponless Warriors, Hunting makes almost no sense.

I'm still sore over the whole mercenaries thing.

Oooooh! There could be a new kind of shoe, or maybe an addition to a shoe, which you wear normally, but it has footprint-shaped stamps on it that point backwards! Then toes wouldn't point forwards and it would be a defence against being tracked like that!!!

I love brainwaves...

I've always wished for tracking to actually have skills for the player to be able to track by footprints and such, like being able to detect the footprints of people you have enemied and allied, and then be able to recognize that person with Fallens suggested Prints, and another skill to be able to automatically follow the tracks at a decent pace, as long as they're still in the area.

Funny I had this exact same idea and I could have sworn I message'd it to the one of the Envoys on my warrior character.

Whatever the case I have to say I love the herding ability, I would have never thought of that and I love the RP flavor it has.

I was watching Brokeback Mountain when I started thinking seriously about the Herding and Roasting thing, heh.