Some General Questions Regarding the Beta

[Faltru]

I had a few questions about the upcoming beta which I wanted to put out there for anyone else who was wondering about it.

1. The first being; how long is this beta expected to last? I really want to take part in it as much as possible but I expect to be out of town often over the next few weeks and I don't want to miss out on the experience.
2. Also; will our beta characters carry onto the final release of Sundren or should we expect to have them wiped once all the bugs are worked out?
3. And finally; will there be a specific part of the forum where we should post our comments and criticisms about the beta or should be just post them in the Bugs/Suggestions forum?

Thanks, and if you don't have answers to these questions yet, no worries.

[Saulus]

Just post your comments in the bugs/suggestions forum. Also, the beta will not close... it will remain open as we update the server. The beta is a polite way of saying this is not done, and needs testing.

There is a small but possible chance characters may be wiped... I say this now just so in the unlikely event that it does happen, I don't have an angry forum.

[Grigori]

I had a question come up while at work... How useful will diplomacy be in the game? Intimidation? Charisma period? I've always found these to be underused skills in PWs and wondered how they would be addressed here.
Thank you.

[VFoxcraft]

I will be handling them the same way the player's handbook does. They will affect disposition towards your character. However, while they can convince someone to do something they cannot be used to force another PC into -any- action unless the player of said PC consents to the rp. Also, please use and back the skills up with actual roleplay. It will affect the DC of success against my NPCs for better or worse.

[GodBeastX]

I think what VFoxCraft wished to say is, they will be taken into account when applicable. Do not expect a happy DM if you try to Bluff your way out of a situation and have 8 Charisma and no points in Bluff.

I for one have found social skills to be very important on PW's.

[GodBeastX]

Also, player whipes only occur if mistakes are made in character progression.

An example mechanically would be if everyone hits level 20 too quickly and we accidentally unbalanced loot drops and things of this nature. Basically, your character became a legend in a week and we meant it to take awhile... that I believe would be the only reason to whipe mechanically.

Technically would be if we had to make a huge change that characters but it was not compatible with previous characters. This I don't forsee occurring.

[VFoxcraft]

Not exactly what I meant, GodBeast. What I meant was I don't want you strolling up to someone and saying "give me money" and rolling a bluff check. You better lead into it, give reasons, be convincing in the case of diplomacy or fake a sob story, etc. when it comes to Bluff. Use of social skills without corresponding RP is not something I largely appreciate.

[Silverstaff]

A great solution to the problem mentioned above by GodBeast and VFox would be to implement a device to roll skill checks and other checks that stimulate rp and make it valid. If the PC has a charisma of 8, he'd probably have a low bluff modifier, and if he uses the widget to roll a bluff check, his score will be determined by the roll plus modifier, while the other PC rolls maybe a counter Bluff...the one with the higher score wins and the rp will be lead in that direction. This saves alot of nonsense rp scenarios where players don't roleplay their stats accordingly. I'm not sure if we are going to implement such a device by open beta, but in the mean time I'll search around for something of this nature anyway and will get back to you guys on it.

[VFoxcraft]

I'm fairly sure there will be a custom dicebag, so to speak, and the modifiers will be based off of the base score. However, as with real D&D there are many miscellaneous modifiers, such as if you're drow and suspicious you'd get a +2-5 DC on the bluff check depending on who you're trying to fool.

[Saulus]

Dicebag comes with DMFI. There's a 90% chance it will be in the open beta.

[GodBeastX]

Not exactly what I meant, GodBeast. What I meant was I don't want you strolling up to someone and saying "give me money" and rolling a bluff check. You better lead into it, give reasons, be convincing in the case of diplomacy or fake a sob story, etc. when it comes to Bluff. Use of social skills without corresponding RP is not something I largely appreciate.

Sorry, my reply was more for the original poster who asked if Social Skills would be used. I was basically saying "Yes, they will" to him. Not trying to change your message meaning And I agree, going "*Bluffs*" as your replies isn't good. I thought that was a given though

[Sarya]

I didn't quite get this. So does the fact that there might not be a character wipe-out mean that we can play the intented character, or is it better just to try out some other characters or builds?

[Saulus]

It means there is a very small chance you will have to start your character over from the beta if we do a wipe. It's a small chance but still a chance.