:excl: So anyways I been thinking about this whole race specialization thing in the fact that Elfen, Viscanti, and Meridan are allowed to specialize more statwise depending on what class they pick, but I also notice these are supremely limited to specific citys only.. I.E. Elfen only change if they're in the Serenwilde communes. Interesting idea but in my opinion I think it limits the RP of things.. I mean afterall if you got the balls to do the RP of an Elfen Ur'Guard or a Viscanti Paladin and try to pull it off I think you deserve that specialization just as much as that Viscanti Ur'Guard or etc.


BUT


In order to distinguish easily the differences I think it would be interesting if instead of say an Elfen Ur'Guard becoming an Elfen Lord maybe they become a Blood Elfen or something like that, something that says Hey This Elf is Evil! Something like that.. I just hate limiting RP in anyway in my opinion and it was always my big beef with IRE games previously that you HAD to be in a guild and you HAD To kiss the GM's ass to get GR3 if you even wanted to BEGIN To consider going outside their guidelines.. that always ticked me off and when Lusternia made itself different in this fashion I came running to check it out.. but I also think it wouldn't be very fun to instead limit races instead. Because afterall like I said if you got the balls to RP an Elfen Ur'Guard or a Viscanti Paladin etc I think you deserve your specialization.

I can see what you're saying, but then the question is, why don't all races have a specialisation.
My guess is that the specialisations only for select races in select communities is only a population control device. It makes sense that Serenwilde be full of Elves and Celest full of Merian, etc.
If you want to be a Viscanti Paladin, go for it, there is nothing stopping you. But if you choose to do that, then it should be a little harder. RP is not something that is supposed to make your life easier, in fact, it often makes things harder and sometimes requires you to "sacrifice" some numbers.
If the three races got specialisations outside their city/commune, every city/commune would be a hodge podge of the three races which is not a good thing.

It seems less of a disadvantage for going outside the norm and being an Elf in Magnagora, and more of an incentive to keep the cities racially accurate in an RP sense. That's how it's worked out anyway.

Stereotypes are there for a reason... Most (or all) elves DO live in Serenwilde. If you decide to go against your racial culture, you're going to have a much harder time of it. Otherwise you'll end up like some nameless place where every vampire is the "good vampire"....

Oh yes, I imagine other races will get specializations with the introduction of new cities. It'd serve as a greater means to keep the populations historically accurate.

I kind of see what your saying but dont exactly agree.. I dont think every city is gonna be full of 3 races anymore than any one city is full of that ONE race now.. I just think if your willing to step across the bonds of RP and enter dangerous territory you shouldnt be totally robbed of the bonus of staying within the presets.. I think bold RP is all to often not rewarded in IRE games and it would be interesting to see it rewarded somehow...

Maybe if not full benefit give em half or most .. something.. just so its not like a penalty to be different.

In Magnagora, the city actually made a decision to penalize those of Merian and Elfen races. Making a hardcoded bonus that goes against the player-implemented politics would just bring about more problems. I think that if any dark-elf type race were implemented, it won't be until the Glomdoring forest is introduced as a Commune.

Politics biases and racial stats are entirely different things though.. this is the difference between IC and OOC.. stats are OOC.

Yes, but it gives incentive to bring ICly unwanted races to the city. Seeing as specializations are guild granted by attaining their skills, and the guild leaders make up the council of the city it wouldn't make much sense RPwise. It'd look like the city had a complete 180 on their position towards the two races for no reason at all, and actually prefered to have them.

Not really since theres no real reason to say an Viscanti Ur'Guard should be mightier than a Viscanti Paladin RPly. What it would say is Elfen/Viscanti/Meridan get a bonus regardless and however they're viewed RPly is still going to be up to the city and those around them. I still just think rewarding more for thinking inside the box and penalizing for thinking outside it is a bad RP policy.. I mean if you knew Magnagora was going to be biased against you JUST for being an Elfen/Meridan dont you think it wouldnt make you spring into being one.. but if you did and survived and RP'd it out, proved yourself etc I think you deserve same benefits of those who sit in their happy little box and dont take on the task of overcoming biases and pre-judgements.


It's like I said I think daring and innovative RP is all to often NOT rewarded.. and I think it should be because that is what RP is about isnt it? Wouldnt the world be frickin boring if every single person RP'd the exact same way and stayed in their designated city and followed everything down to the letter exactly? That'd SUCK if you ask me..

There's plenty of reason to say that. Viscanti would be giving up their Tainted ways, their original, "true" ways if you will. While Viscanti in the guilds of Magnagora are embracing their "true" ways, and the path they take lets them mutate to better serve their chosen needs.

Think outside the box all you want, just don't expect any help.



There is a gigantic conflict going on right now. Innovative RP, or any kind of RP, at this point in the game either points to new ways to help your city, or new ways to avoid conflict. Trying to whiddle away racial predispositions during heavy military action doesn't make sense. Try again when economic or philosophical growth is more the focus of the cities.

Yea but thats like saying because african americans are traditionally better athletes they somehow deserve a boost in the chances they get picked for the team or something like that.. I just think IRE has a real bump in their road in the fact they try to force things on you to much like they traditionally force you to join a guild and jump through any hoops they demand and kiss as much ass as is required to get anywhere.. Lusternia overcame this bump but added in a not as rough but still equally there kind of bump in the road in making it popular to crowd one race into one city in order to be a mightier race for your class.. thats same way it always kind of annoyed me Trolls and such were so dominating as Knights on Achaea and you faced huge pitfalls if you wanted to be say Siren for example.. stats play such a huge impact on IRE life which is ok sometimes and unavoidable in some cases but I just cant see why trailblazing RP shouldnt be rewarded because as most will tell you racial tension can be some of the worst to overcome.

Athletics isn't really a good parallel to a military conflict. Think of it this way. Race A who lives in Country A is naturally adapted to shooting bows. Race B in Country B is naturally adapted to hurling rocks. They get in a war. If someone from Race B came into Country A, no matter how well and good their conversion story was, they'd be considered the enemy. After this fact, they'd be less naturally skilled at shooting the bow anyway. They will never be as good as Race A in doing that.

As I speculated earlier, stat bonuses aren't so much to discourage other races in cities, but more to encourage the historically accurate balance.

Isn't good roleplaying supposed to be its own reward, anyway?

Edit: I love the concept of specializations, incidentally, and can't wait to eventually see how skills related to Gaudiguch and Hallifax affect their citizens. Heck, even more advanced specialization for the existing "advanced" races would be great (Nightmare Viscanti, anyone?)! Perhaps transcending the skill that initially transforms the race would accomplish this? Or would it just be ridiculous to alter stats any more than they already change?

Mary, that is like the single most naive comment I have ever heard in my life .

Ick! I would HATE the idea of races getting bonuses from other guilds. It would've totally destroyed the originality of my Viscanti Aquamancer!

Viscanti Aquamancer I bet that didnt last long;)

In IRE games, a race is usually limited to certain classes. For example, a troll will always be a knight or maybe a monk, but never a spellcaster. This means going from, for example, the Paladins to the Magi is not easy without changing races. The idea with the city-oriented races is if you have an idea that you want your character to be aligned with a city long term, you can move between the city's guilds easily without much loss. Of course, just as races in other IRE games are not great at switching classes, these city-oriented races are not so hot for changing cities.

Well, what i would liek to comment on, is how the drcnari breathe fire at level 50, the viscanti breathe gas at level 50. I want to see more of this kind of thing. Ive noticed that it's all level 50, which indicates a sense of maturity. So, i would suggest that perhaps tae'dae be able to do a maul command like the jaguar bond from other ire games, because the being's claws and teeth are big enough, not to mention their size, at that point in time to execute a maul. Or I'd like to see the faekin use their butterfly like-wings to spread spores which cause random afflictions. For the mugwump, maybe they can secrete a poison on their skin that let's them writhe out of bonds faster and deal poison damage when the coating is placed on weaponry. Or for dwarves, one of my favorite races, that they get a beserking ability where their health, mana, ego, willpower, and endurance dont decrease for a short amount of time while in battle, only to have them fall in an unavoidable sleep after it wears off. Or, also for the dwarves, they get special statt modifiers when their drunk or high. boost up strength and constituiton, but downgrade dexterity, charisma (the smell of booze isnt attractive, not to mention the behavior), and intelligence (since booze numbs the mind). Just a few suggestions. I could writ emore, but i need to think a bit through. I'll post a list of suggestions tomorrow, perhaps.

And I thought Mary came up with some bad ideas. The racial abilities are meant mainly as an RP device, nothing more. Doing that would so unbalance the game as to make it unplayable for a lot of PKers