Player Suggestion: Legendary Rank Skills

[Muzna]

======== Proposed Skill Progression Change: Legendary Rank Skills=========

As the few become the elite, and the elite become the select, there is one mechanic of promotion that quickly loses all meaning or significance: Skill Points.
In the course of reaching level 20, a character can easily have achieved mastery in every skill that they have any interest or dealing with, as well as a smattering of many others. Skill ranks routinely go unused and unassigned, simply because there is nothing much to do with them.
At the same time, if high-level characters are mastering crafts they will never ply or even acknowledge, it reduces the significance of the few dedicated craftspeople in Belariath- The artisans, the laymen, and the entertainers, or even the other classes that have an interest that they're devoting their time to.
But skills should be interesting! Outside of the calculus of battle, there's no stronger measure of what a person can *do* with the world around them.

So, just as spellcasters can specialize in one sphere of magic to the exclusion of others, so should high-rank characters be able to choose to achieve Legendary skill to the exclusion of pursuing any other.
===Legendary Rank====

When a character is promoted to any rank above (15? 20?), she has the option to advance a single skill from Master to Legendary rank. She gains the benefit of the appropriate Legendary Skill as described below. On this and all future promotions, the character does not gain further skill points, since all effort they might have put into learning others is consumed in maintaining such superhuman levels of skill through rigorous practice and study in a narrow field.
Upon promotion A character with a Legendary rank may choose to abandon their legendary skill if they wish to again gain skill ranks in other skills. If they so choose, they instantly lose the effect of the legendary rank, and are unable to ever achieve Legendary in the same skill again.
A character who has previously abandoned a Legendary Rank must achieve five promotions before she is eligible to achieve Legendary Rank in another skill.


Here are a couple of ideas for legendary skills.

=====Legendary: Mithril Smith=======
Your understanding of the Queen of all Metals is the envy even of dwarven masters. In your hands, you can attune shield and armour you craft to the vibrations of your own soul.
+Effects- You may craft mithril armour (Or spend a week of concentrated work to adapt existing armor) such that when worn by you personally, it provides extra protection. (Actual bonus to be determined. Maybe scales with character level.)

=====Legendary: Tailor=======
Colour in all its many forms is your plaything.

+Effects- When creating a non-enchanted garment, you may add one of the following effects to it:
+Conditional Hue- The garment or cloth changes from its base colour to the colour of your choosing under a set condition (Some examples- When wet. When touching the blood of ogres. In moonlight. When torn.)
+Scintillation- The garment, after exposure for one hour to light equivalent to a candle, will afterwards glow with a faint luminescence for up to twelve hours.
+Scentillation- The garment appears to those creatures with enhanced scent to smell like anything you choose, and will never reek of spillage of any kind.
+Chameleon- The garment will tend to shift its colour to match the general colour of its surroundings. Radical changes in the surrounding take longer to adapt to (up to ten minutes for a strong contrast)

=====Legendary: Architect========
Structures designed by you contain breathaking strokes of geometrical genius. You do more with less, and achieve the impossible with compass and straight edge.

+Effects- Structures built to your design are so efficient, that their cost of construction is reduced by 20%. They are also incredibly hardy against natural and unnatural disasters of all kinds, and take 40% less damage from siege weaponry.

=====Legendary: Navigator========
Salt water runs in your veins, and even merfolk are in awe of your mastery of the seas and rivers.

+Effects- Any vessel you pilot ignores the effects of hostile water magic that does not deal direct damage to the hull. The crew of a ship you pilot will always hold fast, and never be swept overboard, except if grasped bodily by another creature.

=====Legendary: Scribe===========
Your mastery of the written word cuts to the very heart of meaning.

+Effects- Books or writing scribed by you are immune to the Erase spell, and will never fade with time or be defaced short of the destruction of whatever medium it was written upon. If you choose, and by spending twice as long at the task, you may make any writing you scribe intelligible to those who do not speak the language it is written in, and even to the illiterate.

=====Legendary: Tending/Etiquette======
You are the consummate hostess. Never ruffled, always composed, even when hung over or dosed with LP9. Your tea, Madam.
+Effects-
+When at work tending a shop or fulfilling the duties of your position, you are immune to any magical or alchemical effect that would impact your emotions or state of mind.
+Any thief attempting to steal from a shop you are working at has the following penalty (INSERT PENALTY HERE)

=======Legendary: Butcher===============
You laugh as other butchers, presented with a pig, waste the squeal.
+Effects-
+Any meat prepared and jointed by you sustains its condition as if stored in a cool dry place, no matter what conditions it is stored under.
+You produce 50% more useable meat from carcasses. No one knows how you get three drumsticks out a single chicken. No one dares ask.
+You can recover good meat from carcasses that are partially rotten, or soured through damage to the organs. You recover 50% of the normal meat this way.
================================
These are just some examples of the type of achievement a Legend in a skill could achieve. By limiting a character to a single one of these, I hope to make those who devote themselves to a specific craft stand out among their factotum peers. New Warlords will clamour for the services of a Legendary Architect to design their strongholds- Legendary Navigators will be sought out for dangerous missions across hostile waters, and Legendary craftspeople of all kinds can create works that bring awe to the populace, and prestige to their customers.

[DiasEesha]

Two words.

Do it.

[CallieO]

I like this. Maybe you can include Legendary: Chef? (Asking for a friend. Who is me.)

[kissa]

This seems like a really cool idea to me!

[Dante_Ambrogio]

At first glance; this looks okay but then I actually took a better look through it and I kind of came to the realization that this isn't exactly a fair system at all.

The first reason for this is actually included in your write-up; "Legendary Mithril Smith" what happens if that player decides they want to become a Valecite smith?? They can't because they have made their Mithril Smithing Legendary and no longer receive skill points at all.

The second reason is in a similar thread. What makes two characters unique from each other is the way that a player chooses to utilize skills; two Magi, two Mages, two bards, etc... can be exactly the same until you look at what skills they have and see how the two players chose to "flavor" their characters.

I don't see a need for someone to be able to become a Legend in a skill to be honest either; not saying that it doesn't sound cool, not saying that perhaps it doesn't have a niche that it can fill. Just that as it is currently written it removes more from the game than it adds because it removes skill points from level-ups from the point you choose to make a skill Legendary til the time you get sick of the character and I think that will ultimately detract from great RP within Belariath.

[Muzna]

I like this. Maybe you can include Legendary: Chef? (Asking for a friend. Who is me.)

Heya Callie- The intent is for every ranked skill to have a Legendary rank, but It wouldn't make sense to fill out every entry before the dev/op crew have a chance to think about the idea. If there's some interest Callie will be the first to know.

At first glance; this looks okay but then I actually took a better look through it and I kind of came to the realization that this isn't exactly a fair system at all.

The first reason for this is actually included in your write-up; "Legendary Mithril Smith" what happens if that player decides they want to become a Valecite smith?? They can't because they have made their Mithril Smithing Legendary and no longer receive skill points at all.

The second reason is in a similar thread. What makes two characters unique from each other is the way that a player chooses to utilize skills; two Magi, two Mages, two bards, etc... can be exactly the same until you look at what skills they have and see how the two players chose to "flavor" their characters.

I don't see a need for someone to be able to become a Legend in a skill to be honest either; not saying that it doesn't sound cool, not saying that perhaps it doesn't have a niche that it can fill. Just that as it is currently written it removes more from the game than it adds because it removes skill points from level-ups from the point you choose to make a skill Legendary til the time you get sick of the character and I think that will ultimately detract from great RP within Belariath.

Heya Dante, thanks for the reply! Achieving Legendary Rank mithril smith is a conscious decision a character makes when they've developed the interests they care about, and want to really focus on a single thing. I'll give my thoughts on each of your three points below:
1. What happens if that player decides they want to become a Valecite smith??
I make the assumption that anyone contemplating "Legend: Mithril Smithing" has already taken what ranks that interest them in other skills by the time they've reached the necessary Level. If not, they will put off taking Legendary until they've done that! No rush, right? It's meant to be a weighty decision that costs to go back on.
2. (Paraphrased) Does this decrease the uniqueness between two characters who might have other things in common, e.g. class/race?
As above, achieving legendary rank is optional- someone who wants to master a dozen skills can still do that, and they have more flexibility as their reward if they do. But if you look at two Warlords, say- one of whom is a Legendary Mithril Smith, and the other who can build Legendary ships- their experience with skills will be very different. The first has obsessively built themselves for defense in battle; the second will be courted and in demand by any naval power, and have the prestige that comes with it.
3. I don't see the need for anyone to be able to become a Legend in a skill.
The purpose of Legendary ranks is threefold:
1. To address the waste of skill points as a reward for promotion, for specifically high-rank characters.
2. To incentivize the specialization in skills, and increase the value of Mastery in ranked skills by making Mastery more rare, especially for esoteric skills
3. So that craftspeople who make a dedication to their one craft can produce a good or a service that surpass the mundane goods in shops, and create some incentive to seek out the services of a craftsperson instead of buying these crafts off the shelf. In short- to create RP opportunities around crafting.

[Dante_Ambrogio]

Well stated and replied; With your further explanations my points and concerns, while still valid are sufficiently answered and I then have only one or two further.

1: Would Legendary Skills Stack with things like say the Dwarven Arch-Master at this point (should of course the player choose to make a skill that Arch-Master applies to also Legendary) with the way you envision it working?

2: Since this would apply to every skills then I presume too that you would want this to also apply to skills that get added to/reworked to more properly fit so that Artisan characters have a more full potential of being a worthwhile class to play. Say for example my Scrimshaw Writeup https://belariath.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=45&t=23901

[Muzna]

Hello Dante,
1. Ionno. At this stage of the proposal I don't think it makes sense to work out the edge cases- maybe when the dev/op team weighs in.
2. Every ranked skill, sure. If new ranked skills were accepted, then it would follow that they too would have a legendary Rank under this system, which I guess would need to be part of their proposal going forwards.