Ok, here's an idea: just as there are agressive creatures that attack you for no reason (such as those on astral), why not have sentient mobiles that engage in influencing battles for no reason?

For example, an Elfen walking through Acknor (who isn't enemied):

2085h, 3214m, 3590e, 10p ex-
Acknor Road (road).
An orc warrior stands here watching you closely.
You see exits leading northeast and southwest.
2085h, 3214m, 3590e, 10p ex-
An orc warrior eyes you suspiciously.
An orc warrior grunts, "Oi! Whaddya doin' in my village?"
Your ego drains as you consider your response.
2085h, 3214m, 3050e, 10p ex-
An orc warrior demands of you, "So what do you want?"
Your ego drains as you consider your response.
2085h, 3214m, 2404e, 10p ex-

Maybe a random chance that any villager will attack opposing races/guilds/citizens? If you lose, you not only lose the experience, but are enemied to the village. They wouldn't attack anyone from the city they are allied with.

Also, I think it would be best if this was a special battle in which the first influence attack you use in response sets the mindset of the villager. Also, on winning/losing, the villagers mindset would not change from laidback like normal influencing, but analyzing them would show 'He is (some mentality) and is laidback. He has reconciled his suspicion of strangers.' That is, engaging in normal influence battles would still work, but he won't randomly attack anyone again for a while.

I like it, though I'm not sure about the enemying if you lose.

Well, its not too hard to avoid the battle if you don't want it... maybe make the enemying temporary, like a few months?

I like the idea, but skip the enemying. It'd be interesting to have denizens that engage in an ego battle, just like some denizens attack you.

I love it, but you have to consider the fact that this allows triple exp gain. Influence, influence, kill. I don't think you should be able to influence twice, to keep it in line with other aggro mobs.

The point of influencing was the ability to get to gain experience and not having to worry about killing and being enemied right?

Also wouldn't it be a little harsh for an entire village to want to kill you on site because you lost an ego battle?

Ok, no enemying then. That and the fact they could be normally influenced afterwards was just so that the villagers could still be city-influenced during a revolt, making things more heavily reliant on influence than combat. But you're right, has a few problems.

Enemying does make rp sense though... you're basically being grilled by someone suspicious you're a danger to the village, trying to convince them you're just an innocent wanderer. If you can't, they'll treat you as an enemy.

Don't forget though that being killed by a hostile creature makes you drop everything, and visit the portal of fates for further exp loss. Influence death is a quick hit of experience, nothing more.

Edit: Additionally, aggressive creatures can do any one of hundreds of non-damaging attacks that can trip up the unwary... while influencing is basically entirely damage-only. To escape an aggressive creature, you have to hope they don't afflict, so you can flee. To escape an influence battle, you just keep walking.

My biggest problem with agro influence mobs would be one, what if you don't have enough influence to engage in that type of battle? This would mean that those mobs would always have to ask you for begging.

Second, the commands for influence are too long and complicated to not do it with premeditation, maybe if you could do IBEG mob instead of influence MOB with Begging, it would be nicer.

Otherwise, I very much like the idea.

Going where you can't influence would be similar to going where you can't survive bashing now. And you can easily get a lot of different types, so it's not that big a deal.

except, that you CAN influence villagers with begging, if you do it with forethought and such. But imagine your begging the people you can, even larged Named people because your high level, and some child comes up to you and starts having an insult ego battle. But since you don't have insult yet, you can't respond.

You actually bring up a good point, Daganev, which is why I thought maybe it would be easiest to have the villager engage in a non-specific battle (ie, just hitting you for ego) until you start a focused battle of your choice yourself. That way, everyone can engage in begging at least.

Also, while all villagers would have a chance to interrogate a suspicious stranger, the chance would be very small. Visiting a village your city owns would be completely safe. Visiting a village your city doesn't own but makes sense for people of your race/guild/city to visit will be almost completely safe (maybe a 0.1% of a villager being too enamoured of their overlords). Visiting a village your city doesn't own but doesn't really affect your race/guild/city will be mostly safe (maybe a 2% chance of being stopped by a villager). Visiting a village your city doesn't own and that dislikes/hates your race/guild/city would be rather dangerous. (maybe a 20% chance of a villager stopping you).

Perhaps the villager could also have a certain chance of preventing you from leaving the room? That way, at least there is some danger. Otherwise, there's not a lot of point having aggressive mobiles if you can just walk straight past them.

For example, the Faeling from before:

2085h, 3214m, 3590e, 10p ex-sw
Acknor Road (road).
An orc warrior stands here watching you closely.
You see exits leading northeast and southwest.
2085h, 3214m, 3590e, 10p ex-
An orc warrior eyes you suspiciously.
An orc warrior grunts, "Oi! Whaddya doin' in my village?"
Your ego drains as you consider your response.
2085h, 3214m, 3050e, 10p ex-
An orc warrior demands of you, "So what do you want?"
Your ego drains as you consider your response.
2085h, 3214m, 2404e, 10p ex-ne
An orc warrior growls and moves to stand menacingly in your way.
You are blocked from moving in that direction.
2085h, 3214m, 2404e, 10p e-
An orc warrior demands of you, "What are you saying?"
Your ego drains as you consider your response.
2085h, 3214m, 1973e, 10p e-
You have recovered balance on all limbs.
(try more times)
2085h, 3214m, 1973e, 10p ex-ne
An orc warrior growls and moves to stand menacingly in your way.
You deftly slip past him and flee from his accusations.
Acknor Road (road).
You see exits leading northeast and southwest.
2085h, 3214m, 1973e, 10p ex-
An orc warrior yells, "That be right, you butterflies ain't welcome here, Elryn!!"

I like the idea alot. But ya, the enemy thing needs to go.

Just adding to the basic idea (and maybe going a bit too far), what if the amount that a village will interrogate strangers is determined by their patrons?

For instance, an unowned or recently acquired village would not have their people attacking anyone (unless there is a race/city/class that is absolutely hated by the inhabitants). However, the Ambassador has the choice of going in and using a couple of new powers.

CITY/COMMUNE VILLAGE STATUS
- Shows you the current warnings you have issued to a village under your control.
- You must be standing with the leader of the village

CITY/COMMUNE VILLAGE WARNING INCREASE (organization)
- Costs your city 200 power
- You can increase the level of suspicion with which your loyal villagers should treat strangers
- Note that the more warnings a village is given, the less safe they will find your rule.
- You must be standing with the leader of the village.

CITY/COMMUNE VILLAGE WARNING DECREASE (organization)
- Costs your city 200 power
- You can decrease the level of suspicion with which your loyal villagers treat strangers.
- You must be standing with the leader of the village.

There would be, say, five levels of suspicion for any organization you choose to name, and along with each the chance of a villager ego-attacking someone from that organization will increase. This way, you don't necessarily have to enemy every individual of an organization to hinder them from entering your villages. If you have multiple high-level warnings on different organizations, the length the village will stay under your control will also decrease slightly, since you're telling them that half the basin is out to get them.

Too much?

I am shamelessly bumping this, but I think it really would work.

I think it's a really good idea too. Perhaps there could be another inept skill in Influence that you'd use, though, seeing as convincing people that you're innocent sounds pretty different to any of the influence skills I've seen. And you could get a couple more as you go up the skillranks that would be more effective. I have no idea what they could be called, though...

Actually, that sounds like a good idea. Lies, Subterfuge, and Deceit, maybe?