Okay, with the new cities, I -really- think a skill needs to be placed into high-level influence to affect the undead.

2 of the villages are biased towards 2 of the orgs, one of which is basically impossible. without a means to do so.

Be friends with a Crow user and have him make you cloaks!

Seriously, though, I'd rather not have high Influence enable you to influence undead. Maybe add in a quest that allows you to do such (which is basically what Glomdoring has to do to be able to influence undead.)

Or a quest in Angkrag (And the other village I'm not sure of) that temporarily makes the ur'dead in there not-as-ur'dead. I'd add the suggestion that something similar be added to TBC to de-T it, but I'd rather not derail this thread before it gets started.

Or rent a cacophony.

Yes, because all of these are viable during a village influence

Let's not prod the TBC can of worms, shall we?

I guess the two villages are Angkrag (all undead) and Paavik (has ghosts, count as 'undead'). The quest should not change the undead themselves (as the Aerotan suggestion says), rather, it should affect the influencer - Glomdoring members, for example, have to wear a crow cloak to be able to influence undead.

EDIT: Have the quest effect last for a few RL days. Crow cloaks have a 10-month(day) decay.

What's the point of making it a quest? Influence is what it relates to, so make it an influence skill.

We make it into a quest because it's more fun that way. Also, I think the administration wants to keep the roleplay of having Magnagora the only natural undead influencers.

which, as they become a smaller minority in the city, becomes an issue of actual fairness. In the beginning, the duality of "tainty" and "not tainty" meant that Seren and celest could conceivably compete for shanthmark, and the dwarven kingdoms, while the gloms and mags could go for paavik and angkrag. now, it's a matter of 1/3 of the orgs having no means to influence these denizens, and adding a quest makes it a matter of upkeep, which neither of the "natural" orgs have to go through

Wait, you're worrying about undead influence as a matter of org balance? There are way bigger differences out there, which I'd like to see changed first! Even TBC is a minor issue compared to some of them!

EDIT: And I believe the village feelings mechanic was originally intended to address this by giving other orgs advantages in other villages. I seem to remember it flopped by encouraging unchallengeable village blocs or some such, though. Been a while!

Glomdoring has to 'upkeep' its ability to influence undead (unless you're a viscanti).


EDIT: Not viscanti. I assumed they would get undead influence naturally, since, well, they're Tainted.

Why viscanti? Viscanti don't get natural influence with the undead. It's a lich thing - so Mag kinda has to upkeep it too. No graced influencing Angkrag for us!

Sure, there are plenty of things that can cause organization imbalances, but I agree with Doman that everyone should at least have a decent shot at influencing the undead. Make it harder for those who aren't liches or wearing a crow cloak, but don't make it impossible. And, making it a quest is not fun when you're talking about village influencing, as that would likely still severely limit who can complete the quest and gain this advantage.

Hell, I'd be okay with making it an influence rune

That wouldn't make it any better, really. You'd have a couple of people in your organization who bought the rune and could actually influence, while the rest can only try and fight off the attackers.

It'd be better than todays situation where there are no people at all that can influence.

But yes, I agree it's not a final solution.

Yes, but they you'd have the situation where if you ever tried to improve it so more people could influence without the rune, it would be denied on the basis that it would devaule the rune.

Just add it to charismatic aura or something

I think it should just be something you get as a passive ability mid-to-high Influence. Those who are undead themselves and/or wearing a crow cloak get a bonus.

that'd work too