Yep. Back when Glom and allies controlled all villages, I influenced all the village mobs more or less constantly. There are plenty of other things to influence other than village mobs though, of course.

Sure. Influencing is a passive skillset (meaning that you won't die if you get defeated) that allows you to "influence" random mobs and debate with other players. Every mob (save for animals, which can only be influenced by people who have learned Ecology) has a certain mindset. These range from Charity influences, which can grant you an item or gold if you're lucky from a mob, to Paranoia, which will "break" a mob if they're able to give items to people for a quest or something (I've seen Serenwilde use it on Maeve back when she used to give a large amount of gold when you used a Charity influencing on her).

Empower influencing literally empowers a mob, making them hit harder and, I think, gives them more health as well. If you stand at any nexus (Pool of Stars, Megalithe, Ravenwood Tree, Moonhart Tree), you've seen people using this type of influencing.

You can also Weaken and Seduce a mob. By weakening it, it will hit with less damage and, I think, have less health as well. Seduction is just that; you turn into a suave heart throb and seduce the mob to love you and only you. This, in turn, will make the mob attack your personal enemies if they enter the same room that the mob is in.

There are 3 phases for each influencing type, ranging from a weak influencing attack (Begging, Teasing, Compliments, Flattery, and Rumours) to High Damage ones (Beguiling, Praise, Derision, Conspiracies, and Wheedling).

There are items and abilities that can boost your influencing strength, such as natural oils (Vanilla, Jasmine, Dragonsblood, etc) that you apply to yourself and your BardicPresence ability.

If you lose at influencing, you do lose experience. It is the same as being killed but not so harsh as knowing you just got, as my students put it, "owned" or however they put it. Also, you have the skillset of Dramatics, which will help you a great deal by giving you ATTITUDES and PRESENCES that will affect just how hard you hit as well.

Below, you will find a reference table for the mindsets (what you will see upon using the Influencing ability known as Analyze), what influencing type works best for these mindsets and which one you should not use unless you want to start group therapy.

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|| Disposition || Easily influenced with || Immune to ||
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|| Friendly || Charity || Paranoia ||
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|| Greedy || Weaken || Charity ||
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|| Brave || Empower || Weaken ||
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|| Sensuous || Seduction || Empower ||
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|| Intimidating || Paranoia || Seduction ||
====================================

FYI: I got all of this information from our Lusternia Wiki under Influencing

Thanks for all the replies guys.

I've decided that I'm gonna go Harbinger. I realy like the idea of influencing and stuff, and bards can be useful even when I'm still a cute little young'in. Hope to see you all in the Basin!

Woot! ^^ Glad to have you! *rubs her hands together wickedly* We've pushed another to the dark side; next step, dark side cookies...

A COLD WINTERY DEATH TO YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN'S CHILDREN (your children are fine as long as they keep giving us a healthy supply of children's children).

Well, Dylara's grandchildren seem to be often Seren, so oh well! Lost cause anyways.

Great choice! I'd be sure to pick the Faeling race since they have the best CHA plus perks in being in that guild.

Best of luck to you, Daus.

Hey guys,

Gotta say I'm impressed. Lusternia is beyond anything I ever imagined, and I think I'm here to stay. Glomdoring is teh awesome with all the shadows, spiders, and that rude guy Brennan. Kudos to the guild and collegium on taking the time to answer my questions and pointing me in the right direction. Also the best part, I have not been pounced on even once!!!

Cheers,

Where is the crown?!

Crow, Glorious Crow!
Crow, Glorious Crow!
Crow, Glorious Crow!
Crow, Glorious Crow!
Crow, Glorious Crow!
Crow, Glorious Crow!

....don't remind me. You would think Brennan would get more creative after saying it for how many centuries now? At least some sparklies, maybe even a self-expressive dance. Anything but, "Where is the crown?"

I propose a Dr. Seuss style poem

"The crown, The crown!" he said with a frown, "And then the child from the town! With flesh so soft and eyes so brown, his blood will call the spirit down!"

Where's the +1 button for posts?

I can say I might start liking him more if he did that. I like him when he's snarky, but he's so rarely so.

I can at least explain this.

Originally, there was only one crow cloak, gotten via a quest. When the Drums played, Brennan wanted the crown so that he could complete the rite for Night/Rowena and the prophecy.

The problem is, there's a check like 'if person is crow cloaked then' - which was fine then, but now, since everyone has a crow cloak....

...You get the picture!

I once considered changing it so that there was less spam, but decided to let Glomdoring suffer for all the atrocities they committed during the Vernal Wars.

Someone already changed it, he doesn't do it every time now.