Hey, you'd have the ability to cure off those Domoth-mobs afflictions better than Ascendants. For a fraction of the essence.

Woo!

Or, maybe we can just properly fix cults (ie separate from Orders) and demigods (make it 1) viable to hold a crown for a bit and 2) viable to raise a demigod to VA).

Gregori has been Lisae since day 1. He was her main OH till he left, he designed the majority of the Order, he pretty much was Lisaera's right hand. Having to leave an Order to have a Cult is as bad an idea as having to be in an Order to have a cult, or having to have all your cult members in the Order to have a cult.

I also don't see a big deal with Ascendants as Avatars. It's not like Ascendancy is teaming with ohpea skills.

Well, the second can be done if 1) Ascendance is actually tweaked to be worthwhile (so the extra essence head start makes a difference) and 2) The power costs are diminished slightly. To the first, well... the Domoths themselves are still in a broken state as a whole.

Obviously this wouldn't be the only thing that needs to change, but if you want to give Cults more of an "oomph," I think the ability to be an Avatar is going to have to be sacrificed, balance-wise.

However, if they really want to prove me wrong, they can just go ahead and make Cults usable without limiting us in that regard.

They've talked about revamping Ascendancy "some day." It would be nice if that went hand-in-hand with this (assuming they do anything about it), but... I guess it can't really be hoped for.

The nice thing about some day is it means there is no deadline so it could be tomorrow or it could be 3 years from now.

Yay choke.

If you want a "What are cults supposed to be?" answer, the term "cult" is sometimes applied to a group of Catholics devoted to the veneration and imitation of a particular saint.

Problem is, that has no real place in Lusty. If you want to know the teachings of Lisaera, you send her a tell. If you want to get closer to perfection in the eyes of Terentia, you spend time doing the things that Terentia asks you to do. Gods are far too personal and personable to need a mortal role model. And the mechanics suck.

Cults separate from orders would at least allow a bit more RP flexibility. The average order member doesn't benefit greatly from order mechanics - it's a completely voluntary, and usually much cooler, org. The fact that there are mechanics and some sort of PvE tasks associated with them helps to cement them as something that matters.

You guys of course have a much better idea of coding resources and feasibility, but it seems like you could maintain a lot of the same cost mechanics while still giving Ascendants their own independent cults. You can have the Ascendant pay all of the upfront costs to create a cult and erect a single shrine-like object. The costs for cult powers can be paid jointly from offerings and personal essence. Give the cult one number for raw amount of offerings, then make the Ascendant pay an equal amount from personal essence to make the offering essence usable. If Shuyin has 400k worth of offered essence, he can spend up to 400k of his own essence to use up to 400k worth of cult powers. That way, you'd maintain the requirement for the group to invest in the powers they received. Of course, the mechanical benefits would still suck, but they aren't really gods, so hey, that's the price you pay. It would at least cement cults as something that matter in and of themselves. As they are, they're just the expensive trinket attached to an order.

We already went through all this, and the bottom line was a no, so I've pretty much given up all hopes, I had this awesome idea for Shuyin and his Cult of Death, but no, all my dreams and hopes are shattered.

Yeah, the admin said their concept for cults is strictly order-only, so it's basically not going to be fixed. Someone commented on an eventual ascendance fix in general but when that was brought up at a later date Estarra gave us the "I don't think this is a problem line" (and Morgfyre, who was the one originally receptive to improvement, has left) so I doubt any fixes to ascendants in general will be happening...at all.

Don't worry, Gregori, you can have the cult.

Sadly my whole concept for a cult has been ruined by stupid mechanical choices so while Gregori will still do all the offering for Lisaera that he said he would, he will probably never go through with forming a cult because it is a worthless concept from an RP standpoint (something that Estarra told us from the beginning was what Ascendant was going to be about)

wish i could worship Sojiro in his cult. hmph.

I can't really see ever wanting to join a cult. Bonuses or not.

Here's an idea:

FORGET ASCENDANCY

..Owait.

Is it possible to have a Cult devoted to a Souless? Such as the Cult of Illith?

No, or at least.. Not right now, since none of the Elder's would probably allow one of their Cults to be based around the Soulless.

Buy a clan?