Minor trait: Favoured enemy

Life has led you to favour a certain kind of enemy, granting you a 5% damage bonus against denizens of that type. This bonus does not apply to denizens loyal to a city, order, house, or adventurer.

The enemy type must be named when choosing the trait. For example, the syntax for spiders would be TRAIT SELECT FAVOURED ENEMY: SPIDER.

--

Possible choices:

Aeraithian
Animal
Arachnoi
Atavian
Bandit
Buckawn
Cyclops
Demon
Dragon
Dryad
Dwarf
Dyissan
Fairy
Giant
Goblin/Hobgoblin
Golem
Gnoll
Grook
Harpy
Horkval
Mermaid/Merman
Mhun
Minotaur
Orc/Ogre
Pirate
Rajamala
Sakuwat
Satyr
Siren
Spider
Spirit
Taryen
Treekin
Triton
Troll
Tsol'aa
Tsol'dasi
Tsol'teth
Undead
Ursu
Vertani
Xoran
Wyrm

While this list can't cover everything, it has the advantage of combining some groups (e.g. mermaid/merman, goblin/hobgoblin). Leaving it open-ended is a possibility, but:
  1. There would be no check against failed picks, like choosing "forestal" without that being a denizen type.
  2. Something like "human" would either be too wide or too unreliable.
  3. It might lead to newbies picking something useless like "imp" or "wildcat," thus wasting a trait slot.

I'm leaning toward a 5% bonus, but am open on specifics. Also, you can't take the trait again for another enemy (unless you respec traits, of course).
«1

Comments

  • I like it. Fun flavour and function.

    I'm a little concerned that "undead", for example, would make it too easy to explot UW as a bashing area, but that seems like a minor issue.

    Sentinels should get to select a new one every four levels.

    image
  • Undead would indeed be quite a bonus for those who regularly bash Azdun/UW/Morindar, but could be worked around if necessary by just using a few of the common undead types (zombie, ghoul, lich, etc). Whether it's a specific list, or open-ended, some sort of limiting would probably needed to prevent, for example, TRAIT SELECT FAVOURED ENEMY MAN.
  • I like it. Fun flavour, no ridiculous imbalancing.

  • edited June 2013
    While you could abuse it for the Underworld, you could really do that for any place you bash with regularity (Annwyn, Tir Murann, Arcadia). The smallness of the bonus was meant to offset that somewhat.
  • MelodieMelodie Port Saint Lucie, Florida
    It's going to be a really hard decision between undead, and orcs/ogres. :(

    Totally love this idea, though. Back when Tecton was doing a trait contest, I did submit something similar to this, and I'm glad to see it brought up again.
    And I love too                                                                          Be still, my indelible friend
    That love soon might end                                                         You are unbreaking
    And be known in its aching                                                      Though quaking
    Shown in this shaking                                                             Though crazy
    Lately of my wasteland, baby                                                 That's just wasteland, baby
  • Actually, I really like this a lot, and would not mind seeing a stronger version of it with the major traits. In fact, a few more major perks that benefits bashing only would be sort of neat. A few examples would be: extra experience gain (5%-10% or so), extra gold drops from mobs (5%-10% or so), damage resistances that only affects non-player damage (10% across the board). These numbers are obviously open to discussion, but I think they'd be worthwhile to consider for any future updates to the trait system.

    Anyone else have any opinions on the matter?
  • KyrraKyrra Australia
    Can see Xenomorph picking dragon and go hunting his glorified denizens.

    That would actually be a pretty nifty trait, especially for those with pretty established hunting grounds.
    (D.M.A.): Cooper says, "Kyrra is either the most innocent person in the world, or the girl who uses the most innuendo seemingly unintentionally but really on purpose."

  • Not more gold.

    Why is Dragon on that list? For that matter, a few things are weird. How many treekin are there for example?

    Animal might be too broad, despite being low level.

    I doubt I would get this, but I don't particularly care if other people do. It would encourage camping of areas though, which I don't really like.

    As wu-tang says, "Diversify your bonds..."
  • edited June 2013
    "Animal" isn't necessarily low-level. There are plenty of animals in the LHG, Annwyn, and Meropis that are very decent XP at 80+ levels.

    (But I guess these days even level 85 still counts as "low level" :()
  • I love the RP possibilities of this, but let's be brutally honest with ourselves and say that, much like current Traits, there are going to be choices that provide a far greater real-terms benefit than others and in general people will flock towards these. I'd also love to see a relatively expensive (i.e. not a full Trait reset expensive) way of changing it at some point if part of the argument for this Trait is that it could be an RP hook.

    Even having said that, I think it's a cool idea.
    Tvistor: If that was a troll, it was masterful.
    I take my hat off to you.
  • Would it be possible to take multiple copies of the favoured enemy, thereby having more than one hated foe?

  • Would be torn between the Tsol'dasi I love to hunt, and the stupid grabby fairy wenches for RP reasons. Katz slaughters pretty much indiscriminately, but those fairy bitches get on her nerves!


                   Honourable, knight eternal,

                                            Darkly evil, cruel infernal.

                                                                     Necromanctic to the core,

                                                                                             Dance with death forever more.



  • This is honestly a really, really cool idea.  The amount it would affect things is small enough to not be unbalancing.  +5% damage against a denizen would very, very rarely have an effect on how many hits it takes to kill something, but it would be an interesting RP avenue. 

    It would be nice if it has some kind of aesthetic associated with it as well though, so that it's actually apparent when someone is killing their favoured enemy versus any other enemy.  Maybe something like "Penwize has slain a diminuitive fairy, retrieving the corpse with a disdainful glare."  Wording would be tricky to pick, but would be interesting I think.
  • Oh, when I first read the OP, I read it as 5% experience bonus. 5% damage bonus doesn't seem troublesome balance-wise.
  • KyrraKyrra Australia
    @Sylvance, I have every crafting trait because none of the others interest me or I have a use for. Something like this would be awesome and would be far better than just randomly select minor traits so I can pick up my next major.
    (D.M.A.): Cooper says, "Kyrra is either the most innocent person in the world, or the girl who uses the most innuendo seemingly unintentionally but really on purpose."

  • I like this. When are we getting traits at 100, 110, 120, etc?


    image
  • Kyrra said:
    @Sylvance, I have every crafting trait because none of the others interest me or I have a use for. Something like this would be awesome and would be far better than just randomly select minor traits so I can pick up my next major.

    Totally not shooting it down. It's a good idea.
    Tvistor: If that was a troll, it was masterful.
    I take my hat off to you.
  • edited June 2013
    Undead would be OP.

    Edit: So would mhun, Tsol'dasi, and animal.

    image

  • man/woman/child/undead/<race>/animal
    basically what people have mentioned, but beyond that sure. 

    Should have an xp bonus vs a certain type too, make that a trait... cause I'm facing a predicament as a Guardian of Moghedu, in that I need to avoid racial homes, and therefore need a hunting bonus elsewhere to compensate, given how limiting that can be.
    lack of xp is a detriment caused by the rp. sorta stinks
    I like my steak like I like my Magic cards: mythic rare.
  • This idea seems kind of pointless to me because 5% damage doesn't do a whole lot for you (less damage increase than +1 con or +1 int for most people), but at the same time it's a minor trait and adds something to the game, so I approve.

  • How has 'with extreme prejudice' not been suggested yet?
  • Naisar said:
    How has 'with extreme prejudice' not been suggested yet?
    Suggested for what?
  • The flavour line
  • Flavor line strikes me as the most important part of this, who cares about the 5% bonus. If you have to, make it a 2% bonus for certain things like mhun or undead. Minor traits are supposed to flesh out a character, flavor lines upon killing a denizen in group bashing is exactly the kind of thing that leads to conversations about past grievances, etc.

    You should give people several options for the flavor lines, depending on what they think suits their character best:

    CRUEL: With a cruel smirk, Talonia viciously obliterates a mhun warrior.
    SAD: Wearing a dolorous expression, Talonia slays a mhun warrior.
    ANGRY: Righteous anger flaring up in her eyes, Talonia sends a mhun warrior to Thoth's halls.

    Potential option - killing certain named or "boss" denizens in an area would appear on deathsight for these people. So Mhunna, Vukub, Ugrach (?), etc. 


  • It's an okay idea, but we already have Aim to Kill and Lucky. I don't think the damage increase is enough to where I would take up a slot on it either

  • Zuko said:
    It's an okay idea, but we already have Aim to Kill and Lucky. I don't think the damage increase is enough to where I would take up a slot on it either
    Those are both major traits, which are meant to be much more mechanically significant. This is being suggested as a minor trait, mostly for flavor.
  • TarausTaraus The Gypsy Wind
    Like this idea.

    Also, would totally want to see 'Knight' on that list.

  • KresslackKresslack Florida, United States
    I don't hate it.


  • I approve, so long as the words 'snake', 'serpent', 'Naga', or 'bastard' do not become approved targets.

This discussion has been closed.