Some Questions.

[Guywise]

Hey all, brand new here. I logged in for a while and let me say WOW. I have seen alot of worlds. And can I say this is the best I've seen. Great job team. That said I got a few questions.

1.) What are the IG implications for the choices at the initial entry? Are you a traveller or citizen? Noble or peasent?
2.) Can some direct me to the rest and death policies?
3.) My char concept was wood elf worshipper of Shevarash. In my brieftime online I saw several drow. Now I know they will dm approved only chars but what is the overall view on them. For me to play my char correctly they would be pretty much KOS. Now I have no issue with CvC when it is needed. But I think it gets overdone and some hide behind RP as an excuse. I guess my ques. is should I rethink my concept? Or can people offer suggestions so it is is not a CvC fest.

Thanx
K

[Forlorn]

Hey all, brand new here. I logged in for a while and let me say WOW. I have seen alot of worlds. And can I say this is the best I've seen. Great job team. That said I got a few questions.

1.) What are the IG implications for the choices at the initial entry? Are you a traveller or citizen? Noble or peasent?
2.) Can some direct me to the rest and death policies?
3.) My char concept was wood elf worshipper of Shevarash. In my brieftime online I saw several drow. Now I know they will dm approved only chars but what is the overall view on them. For me to play my char correctly they would be pretty much KOS. Now I have no issue with CvC when it is needed. But I think it gets overdone and some hide behind RP as an excuse. I guess my ques. is should I rethink my concept? Or can people offer suggestions so it is is not a CvC fest.

Thanx
K

1) Not sure about this one, but I know that certain choices give you things like bedrolls and other options don't. Someone more knowledge-able would have to chime in here with the specific details.
2) Rest and death is simple. You can't rest in cities on the streets but you could rest freely in inns or in the wilderness if you have a bedroll. There is no rest timer you can basically rest anytime you want in resting areas. Death allows you to respawn in a temple and you lose a number of xp according to your level. You don't lose any gold.
3) They're pretty much not KOS here...the drow would most likely report you if you did. You could hate them thats fine, just don't initiate CvC without rp. If you rp it, and if the drow seems to consent to it, then fighting them would be allowed.

[GodBeastX]

However, rest being abused in dungeons (and events <_< >_>) will make us put a timer on it, which I don't want to do.

[Forlorn]

I definitely wouldn't want to see a rest timer...main reason is because resting is the only way of manually saving your character...if a timer is put in, it will be more work on the devs to have to make a new system to allow characters to save. I know I tend to rest alot but half those times its because I picked up a nice item or alot of gold or something else and I merely wanted to save my character.

[undeadsteak]

Click rest. Even if it doesnt work, it saves your char. ^_^, yay timers!

[Saulus]

I definitely wouldn't want to see a rest timer...main reason is because resting is the only way of manually saving your character...if a timer is put in, it will be more work on the devs to have to make a new system to allow characters to save. I know I tend to rest alot but half those times its because I picked up a nice item or alot of gold or something else and I merely wanted to save my character.

Actually the rest save will occur even if the rest fails due to not being in an inn, tavern, or not having a bedroll. So think of resting as a failproof, universal saving function.

[Forlorn]

On another server I used to play on when you click rest even if there are enemies or you can't rest, it still says in yellow: "character saved". This is the marker of how I know I just saved. But here on Sundren, if there are enemies near or if you're in a city, it doesn't say: "character saved", it just says not able to rest. So basically even though it doesn't say your character saved it still saves?

[GodBeastX]

Hmmm, probably a lower level check that comes in before our custom checks. I shall investigate this.

[Dark presence]

I would suggest that you consider the idea that just killing people without provocation is murder. Sure the drow haters would cheer you on, but I imagine most reasonable people aren't going to like anyone going around killing people just because you don't like them, especially if the drow in question aren't troublemakers. So I would think it comes down to your character and how smart they are. Do they care if the rest of society rejects them for being psycho killers, or do they take a careful and secretive approach to it?

[Scarlett]

I generally think that rest timers are somewhat needed, BUT the ability to keep going and RPing at the same time is one of the reasons I love this server. If a rest timer does go in, I hope it's not for a long time, or maybe can increase in time as levels are gained. Even a ''no rest timer until level 5'' or 4 or whatever seems fit could work too.

[Guywise]

The issue is I worship Shevarash. For those unfamiliar.

Shevarash

(The Black Archer, the Night Hunter, the Arrow Bringer)

Shevarash, who embodies the hatred the Fair Folk hold for the drow, is the elven god of vengeance and military crusades. He is venerated by elves and half-elves who have suffered the loss of loved ones through violence, particularly those who burn with revenge against the drow, and by those who have sworn to destroy the Spider Queen and the other evil gods of the dark elves. Some elven theologians speculate that Shevarash serves to gather in the bitterness and hatred that has riven the elven race since the Crown Wars, thus keeping the contagious evil of the Spider Queen from spreading to the elven population at large.
Nearly 6,000 years ago, circa -4400 DR, on Midwinter night--the longest, darkest night of the year--an army of dueregar and drow poured forth from the Underdark and overran both the dwarven realm of Sarphil on the southern shore of the Moonsea and the Elven Court at the heart of the great forest of Arcorar. The Dark Court Slaughter claimed the lives of countless elves and dwarves, including most of the assembled leaders of the Fair Folk and the Stout Folk who had come to the Elven Court to reestablish their long-standing alliance. Among the fallen was the family of the archer-guard Shevarash, once a carefree hunter of the Elven Court. In an anger-tinged prayer to Corellon, Shevarash vowed to become the Seldarine's hand against the drow to extract revenge for the loss of his family. The grief-stricken warrior swore a grim oath neither to laugh nor smile until the drow goddess Lolth and her foul followers were destroyed. It was a tall order, but for the remainder of his life, Shevarash became the deadliest nemesis of the drow, raiding their underground cities, slaying their priests, and destroying shrines to their foul gods. Shevarash was finally slain by a horde of myrlochar (soul spiders) after killing the high priestess Darthiir'elgg Aleanrahel and six of her consorts, circa -4070 DR. Upon his death and with the assistance of Fenmarel Mestarine, Shevarash the Black Archer underwent apotheosis to become the Night Hunter and the Arrow Bringer.
When the Sy-Tel'Quessir settled the Yuirwood, the Seldarine merged with the ancient gods of the Yuir, transforming them into aspects of the various powers of the elven pantheon. Of the Seldarine, Shevarash absorbed the aspect of Elikarashae, the youngest of the Yuir gods, as Elikarashae had only recently undergone apotheosis. The Sy-Tel'Quessir settlers of the Yuirwood incorporated the legends of Elikarashae into their own myths of Shevarash, and in the folklore of the elves of the Yuirwood, the god's aspects as Elikarashae became a mighty elven warrior who bore three great weapons: the spear Shama, which could speak to elf warriors of pure heart and noble mind; the sling Ukava, which never missed; and the club Maelat, which could only be weilded in the defense of the Yuir. Elikarashae was credited with defeating many of the Yuir's enemies, particularly the mountain trolls and drow, for which the great warrior had been lifted up to Arvandor and made a god, or so the myths held.
Shevarash maintains no permanent realm in the Outer Planes, although he visits both Arvandor and fennimar frequently. The Black Archer is closely allied with the Seldarine, particularly the more militant powers, although none of the elven gods are as consumed with hatred and vengeance as he is. Although Shevarash considers Fenmarel his superior, the Lone Wolf and the Black Archer share little in common aside from their mutual hatred of the drow. Of the rest of the Seldarine, Shevarash works closely with Corellon and Solonor in particular, but the other two powers are more concerned with defending the elven realms than bringing war into the tunnels of the drow, much to the Black Arsher's frustration. As consumed by his hatred of the dark elven powers now as he was during the night of the Dark Court Slaughter, the Black Archer now hunts Lolth, Ghaunadaur, Vhaeraun and the other dark gods of the drow directly, often venturing into the Abyss to do so. Shevarash has moderated his hatred toward Eilistraee and the good-aligned drow who worship the Dark Maiden. He does not kill them out of hand, but he still dislikes them thoroughly. In life, the Black Archer's extended forays into the Underdark nurtured his antipathy for the other evil denizens of the Night Below, and as a god he battles their divine patrons as well. Shevarash's all-consuming crusade is such that the only long-standing divine allies he has garnered since his apotheosis are those such as Callarduran Smoothhands and Psilofyr who share his hatred of the drow and their pantheon of dark gods. As humanity has begun to venture even deeper into the Underdark, Shevarash has begun to work more with human gods such as Shaundakul and Hoar. To the great distress of the other members of the Seldarine, the Black Archer's bitterness is such that he has recently begun to find solace in the soothing embrace of Shar.
Shevarash is taciturn, violent, and consumed by thoughts of bitterness and revenge. He never displays any emotion aside from anger and a brief exultation of triumph after each victory. The Black Archer has no patience for those who do not share his zeal for vengeance, and he has no interest in moderating his crusade in the interests of peace. The Black Archer dispatches his avatar in anticipation of an attack by drow on a relatively undefended elven settlement, or if he appears too late to prevent a repeat of the slaughter that still haunts him, Shevarash pursues the dark elves back into the Underdark and hunts them down until all are dead.

He is a bit extreme, can ya see where a worshipper of his may be just as extreme. And as I said don't want a CvC fest. Thats why I asked

[Dark presence]

I see what you're saying, but a couple things. First, your character does not have to act just like their god, even as a fanatic or a cleric.
Shevarash is a god afterall and he doesn't have to deal with the opinions of the little mortals running about. You might have to be more crafty and sneaky to do Shevarash's work. Politics and all that. Also note, of course, that not all drow are drow Shevarash would kill, Eilistraeen drow of course.
Second, all right, maybe your character concept does not care, and will go out and kill every drow they see. But like you're already understanding, some compromises have to be made considering the nature of persistant worlds, and the campaign. The drow you would be hunting are most likely going to be 90% PCs. And it means either they can't play their characters because they are always getting killed every time they walk out of the gates, or you can't play yours, because they have friends who either kill you first or simply ostracize you leaving you on your own more often than not, which isn't particularly fun, especially when the DMs are going to be spending hours focusing on other people. They can't just focus on you and have your character off doing separate things all the time. Those are largely OOC reasons but that doesn't make them less important, because they will come up and will be an issue.
Basically, what I've learned from playing NWN 1 PWs for years is that if you don't make a character that can get along with player characters, you're going to end up alone, and probably bored.
I guess this just goes back to the whole drow issue again. Here they are running around in the open, in the light, and that in itself should tell characters that they are not the "classic drow threat", because they aren't raiding the surface killing and slaughtering with their brothers and sisters. They aren't acting like the ones you were told stories about, the ones you hate so much, and that should cause a stop to think about it.

[Saulus]

Guys both of you... please... Use paragraphs. You can't expect people to read that.

[Ithildur]

I'm guessing Darkpresence is not familiar with Sheverash.

As far as the rest timer issue,

In my experience, combining rest timer along with slowing down the timescale on the server goes a long way towards slowing down the pace of the game and grinding, and allowing for more RP even while in a dungeon or quest.

two things happen when you do this; one, because of rest timers, everyone has to slow down their grinding because they can't recoup all their HP every few minutes as well as recharging spells constantly, then getting back up and continuing to pound away.

Believe me, you can do some amazing powergaming with a druid casting call lightning if you can rest constantly and refresh a spell like this that will fry everything around you without harming yourself or your companion.

Secondly, and this ideally goes hand in hand with rest timer and balances things out - buffs that are supposed to last a while last longer with slower time. PCs will not feel as pressured to run around and get as much killing done as possible before the buffs run out making them vulnerable; people can buff up, and take their time, even RP and dialogue with each other and NPCs during DM sessions without being terrified of unexpected combat/respawn hitting them while their buffs are down.

It's annoying when you're dialoging/RPing during say a DM quest and the following happens: you type out what would be 5 minutes of realtime dialogue/banter followed by possible combat, but due to players and DMs not always being speed typers, the dialoguing takes 20 -30 minutes, and the buffs start to fade one by one - meanwhile rest might not be possible due to any number of reasons (not good RP form/unrealistic, or rest timer hasn't run it's cycle, or in an area marked 'no rest allowed', or hostiles are nearby, etc etc) and then combat starts..

[GodBeastX]

The reason I'm reluctant to put in Rest timers isn't because of IC/RP reasons, it's because of mistakes. I played a wizard, I select a wrong spell accidentally my last rest because of misclick or something, and I'm forced to wait for X time to pass to rest, I find myself -very- annoyed with the rest system.