Messages

Well, he could talk about the importance of talking.

Faisal

My paper is complete as requested, and I am glad to write that I have made the requisite connections you search for. Please attach instruction as to the delivery of this important scroll, as its contents can not be trusted to open post.

Yours in service,
Harold Gowan

Sandstone College
Archaeology Department

Addiction and control should not be used in the same sentence. Getting cravings regardless of when you last used a drug is normal for anyone who has dealt with addiction. The only scale that exists is between want it-need it.

Mirror images are annoying enough as is.

The vagueness of your question merits a vague response.

Records exist.

The Scribes of the Sublime Garden

In most of EFU's history, there have been significant catastrophes that have caused every new PC to have effectively hit rock bottom before they arrive in the campaign.

A 300 year old Elf wizard might have done great and powerful things in his time as Grand Poobah of Londinium, but waking up in a dirty swamp of a city, the Ringfall, and being lost in the great ash desert have destroyed his spellbook down to a few scraps of parchment. Perhaps the only reason he remembers how to cast blur and endure elements is because of this struggle for survival.

An ancient sorcerer or monk would have been battered and weakened by the elements, perhaps their control of blood and body are the only reason they survived this long, scraping themselves back from the brink of death.

An alchemist lost their notes, same as a wizard. How much does even a proficient  real world chemist truly remember without notes, libraries, peer reviewed publications?  A smith, builder, painter, or tailor is slowly piecing together their tools and materials. Maybe the dwarf knows a lot about smithing mithril, but working with common and improvised materials and tools he makes a lot of mistakes. Maybe the only reason he can jury rig anything at all is because of this wealth of prior tangential experience? The painter only worked with oil paints, now all they have are water colors and they  must learn to control the new medium. If you always used pencils to draw, and you are now forced to only draw with a pen, there is some learning curve when you realize you cant erase. Mistakes happen.

For martial classes, this is even easier. It doesn't matter how much you have trained in the past, you are battered, broken, and weak. The jump from 2-6 is just the time it takes to hydrate and recuperate.

If you ABSOLUTELY NEED to start as a godmode 800 year old know-it-all who doesnt have to work for anything, Then all I can say is that sounds dreadfully boring and I don't know how to help.

The Watchers were able to initiate pvp in EFUR within specific boundaries (no looting, no killing, no long detainment, articulable cause) and it never was a problem. So here is my solution.

BLACKJACKS!

Allow the Blackjacks to initiate peacekeeping pvp. It will give them something to do other than just puff their chest, allow them to impose themselves on the population, and because of the nature of their gear they will do so at a real disadvantage.

So when I compare the Houses to the factions of the past, there seems to be a bit of a bottleneck now that I can't quite put my finger on. First feeling is because with the houses a lot of Peerage intermural RP revolves around a churning tit for tat, that you can theoretically become a Retainer on day 1 of making your character, or that it is pushed by NPCs rather than an intangible ideal. But here we go with my brainspew.

Spellguard/Watch/Society - The holy trinity in my eyes. Each faction had a "cadet" branch available for non-app players, but the application side of the faction really opened things up and put the faction in perspective. Even simply the appearance carried social weight that doesn't feel the same with the Houses, maybe only touched on by veteran retainers. The faction conflict was real, it wasn't as deadly but  it had eyes far beyond (or deliberately within) the hub. You might have taken orders from NPCs, but in all 3 you FOUGHT for an idea.

Aberdenn/Caermyn/Order/Conclave - Aberdenn and Caermyn didn't need an app and had much of the Hatfield/McCoy vibe that the Houses have, but maybe the duality allowed it to be more concentrated. The Order and Conclave were marked by a cause more than a grudge, and had a really imposing appearance because of it. This set up created a balance, where if you wanted to non-app grudge match you could, or you could apply to be part of the larger than life organizations. I didn't play EFUM as much as the others, but I also have few gripes about it.

Stygian/Sons/Conclave/Order - Back in the day when all factions required applications and kids got yelled at for playing stick ball on the lawn. Each of these had a cause, and an impressive swagger of their own. Not only did you need to pass your application but you really had to work to earn it IG as well. If you wanted a non-app faction you had to find one or make it up yourself. This era really pushed personal projects that weren't as dependent on DM oversight, and you worked around the major factions, not under them. EFUA in my eyes truly had the most dynamic player factions.

As it should be. The quest is easy and throws money at you. Hurry up you lazy adventurers!

The lack of magic eaters (or similar) in this version makes wizards much less socially stigmatized than previously. Which is seems contrary to the increased social pressure they are supposed to face. Nobody really gets mad at a wizard for giving them seamsick points like people would to a spellcaster who didn't have nightshade.

Planar sickness is an irritant, but doesn't seem to do more than act as a limiter to nonstop quest crushing. Don't get me wrong, I think that is great, but it could do with something more.

Putting an ambiguous gray area in a very rigid and dogmatic class is counterproductive to me. Evil is evil, the only gray area is how evil (murderers vs bandits). There is nothing stopping you from trying to redeem a bad guy, but imo a Paladin should not be doing anything to HELP that evil person (gold, xp, etc.) until they are redeemed, whats to stop them from just paying lip service and going back to their old ways? There is nothing stopping you from interacting with the evil person or putting them on a path to goodness, but a path to redemption is something that someone needs to travel on their own. I am sure the DMs would be willing to alignment shift someone with documentation and actions, I have personally had a LE character turned LN due entirely to in game, other player driven, actions.

Paladins have exceptional powers and their LG and dogma has always been a way of balancing their mechanical bonuses with roleplay requirements. Those requirements are not a penalty, and they can be used to great effect to flavor your character.

Good aligned Clerics and Fighters exist to work around the exact issues you mentioned.

If the Praxian chronicles show up ig I might lose my shit.

I have a general laissez-faire  outlook when it comes to losing pvp. I dont win much, and when I do I don't take much. But also I don't care if I get dry looted or killed. If its bad enough I'll  just roll another character.

What really frustrates me is when there is no roleplay or reason for the pvp. Petty banditry a perfectly good reason, but there is a supreme difference between running into some dudes in the commons who say "We're the Dirty Shoes gang, give us your groats or we'll give you a beating!" and the last time I was attacked which went exactly like this. I (with see invis) see someone walking near me invisible. I say "Hello?", they say "Hello" and 2 people turn red and attack me. Thats it, and even though I drove them off the experience was simply unfun. Was it a legit pvp? Yes. Was it lame? Yes.

What is the solution? Be excellent to each other. A good story is better than good loot, and those stories are the reason I play.

The uniforms upstairs at webbers are unpurchasable. When you click on them, they just turn towards you.

+2