Marked for Death: Voluntary Character Mortality

[Geronus]

Title: Marked for Death: Voluntary Character Mortality

Summary:

Give players a new option on either the character or family page that allows them to voluntarily make a character vulnerable to death under a variety of circumstances.

Details:

The idea is to add a check-box option for all characters that marks them for death. The original idea sprang from a desire to have a more interesting way to end the career of an older character that is intertwined with IG events. Once selected, the box cannot be unchecked, but other players cannot see whether a particular character is marked or not.

The effects of checking the box would be to add a risk of character death. The following circumstances have all been suggested as things that could lead to the death of a marked character:

- being wounded in a battle (just like a hero)
- being successfully assaulted by an infiltrator
- losing an ordinary duel (increased chance of death)
- being tortured
- spending time in a dungeon
- being attacked by bandits
- any other circumstance that could normally lead to a character being wounded

For the sake of simplicity, any circumstance that would lead to a serious wound, up to and including having a lesser wound get worse (people did often die of infection resulting from a relatively minor wound, after all) should be able to cause the death of the marked character.

Benefits:

This option would create a way to see your characters end their lives as the result of an actual and potentially random game event rather than simply as the result of a calculated decision to finally delete the character. It has greater depth than the option already provided by the Hero subclass as it does not require a class change and adds additional circumstances outside of battle that can still lead to the death of a character. This adds richness to character deaths, as the variety of circumstances that can lead to a death makes for interesting storylines. See the following thread for more discussion:

http://forum.battlemaster.org/index.php/topic,2751.0.html

Possible Exploits:

None that I can think of since the option does not provide any benefits to a character and the decision to check the box cannot be reversed.

[egamma]

+1.

[Uzamaki]

+1. I hate the stupid 'and he just died' stuff. C'mon! We need something more exciting then that.

[JPierreD]

Also the way you act when you really have the chance to die changes. People don't get as macho and reckless as they would otherwise. Love it.

[Solari]

+1

[Indirik]

The one-way nature of the option is definitely important. Otherwise it would be possible to check the box only in certain situations, such as when in an enemy prison, or going into a duel, hoping that one specific person kills you, then unchecking it after the event is over (assuming you survive).

I like it.

[Perth]

The one-way nature of the option is definitely important.

With one or two big bolded "ARE YOU SURE? ARE YOU REALLY SURE? YOU COULD DIE!" screens.

[Penchant]

With one or two big bolded "ARE YOU SURE? ARE YOU REALLY SURE? YOU COULD DIE!" screens.

I would say only one but I completely agree with this. What if its a misclick and they are then stuck with it? Thats most the purpose of those things, IMO.

[Duvaille]

Geronus,

I think you summed up the idea quite wonderfully. Thank you, looks great.

It would be interesting to then gather some statistics about the usage of the feature. Some of us, myself included, have been yearning for a feel of more danger and excitement, and a way to increase character rotation. How many of us would actually click that button? I believe a surprisingly high number would.

Though I would like to make one suggestion still. Should it be so that older character have significantly increased chances for death? This way I could click the mortality button right at the beginning and have higher chances of him actually impacting the world, with the acceptance that as he grows older, his life is going to get riskier.

[egamma]

Geronus,

I think you summed up the idea quite wonderfully. Thank you, looks great.

It would be interesting to then gather some statistics about the usage of the feature. Some of us, myself included, have been yearning for a feel of more danger and excitement, and a way to increase character rotation. How many of us would actually click that button? I believe a surprisingly high number would.

Though I would like to make one suggestion still. Should it be so that older character have significantly increased chances for death? This way I could click the mortality button right at the beginning and have higher chances of him actually impacting the world, with the acceptance that as he grows older, his life is going to get riskier.

Perhaps a secondary option to make it possible to die of wounds. That would affect older characters more, since they stay wounded longer.

[Geronus]

Geronus,

I think you summed up the idea quite wonderfully. Thank you, looks great.

It would be interesting to then gather some statistics about the usage of the feature. Some of us, myself included, have been yearning for a feel of more danger and excitement, and a way to increase character rotation. How many of us would actually click that button? I believe a surprisingly high number would.

Though I would like to make one suggestion still. Should it be so that older character have significantly increased chances for death? This way I could click the mortality button right at the beginning and have higher chances of him actually impacting the world, with the acceptance that as he grows older, his life is going to get riskier.

I believe this is covered by the blanket statement that anything that could lead to serious wound should be able to kill the character. I'm not sure about the chance of being seriously wounded in the first place, but at the very least the chance of a wound getting worse is increased with age.

[Duvaille]

So, does this get any love from Tom? Ready for the bugtracker?

[Foundation]

So this would essentially work the same way as Mortality worked on BT during the 4th invasion?

[egamma]

So this would essentially work the same way as Mortality worked on BT during the 4th invasion?

Maybe like it worked AFTER the tweaks.

[Foundation]

What tweaks are you referring to?