merchant class

Something I just mentally diareahed on a piece of paper, discuss and critique

The Professional:

Race:All

Ethos: Lawful

Alignment: All

A Merchant Class (PK/Non-PK?) whose specialty or lack thereof is designated by a series of path choices.

Paths include:

+Engineer: tinkerer and expert in mechanical contraptions

+Blacksmith: armor/weapon repair and creation

+Wrangler: a beast trainer and stablemaster

+Librarian: Wordwrite, publisher and bookstore

+Apothecary: Magcraft potions pills staves wands etc

+Cook: Culinary master

Each profession has three levels of mastery: Novice, Master, Luminary

Path options are available every ten levels, offering several combination choices for the aspiring renaissance man or world renowned specialist.

Things to be created are given as 'recipes' or 'plans' by guildmasters once a path is chosen. Further recipes can be 'discovered' through experimentation and still more can be the result of quests for those special toys or rare drops from difficult mobs.

Class Specifics - these are the things specific to the Professional, others things can be added for balancing or whatever.

Level 1: Path Selection

Level 5: Haggle

Level 8: Scrap(1)

Level 10: Path Selection

Level 12: Craft Arrows

Level 15: Stall(2)

Level 17: Contacts(3)

Level 20: Path Selection

Level 23: Shop(4)

Level 24: Efficiency(5)

Level 25: Preserve, Buyoff(6)

Level 27: Packrat(7)

Level 30: Path Selection

Level 32: Sharpen, Apprentice (

Level 34: Depot(9)

Level 35: Department Store(10), Corporate Merger(11)

Level 38: Extort(12)

Level 40: Path Selection

Level 42: Wandering Salesman(13)

Level 45: Shopkeep(14)

Level 47: Mark of Mastery(15), Market(16)

Level 50: Path Selection

1-Scrap: Sacrificed items return scrap metal for sale and profit. Quality of scrap and other things are dependant upon the level and worth of the item sacrificed, as well as the users skill level.

2-Stall: Create a small stall in any non-store city area (subcities such as Falen Dara accepted).

3-Contacts: Through business contacts bank fines are reduced.

4-Shop: Create a shop with use of the 'list command' command. Can hold 5 items

5-Efficiency: Skill and experience have increased efficiency. You can produce goods for less.

6-Buyoff: The Professional can bribe certain creatures (humanoid?) to cease attacking. Charmies subject?

7-Packrat: The Professional, through labor has developed the ability to carry more items and heavier weight.

8-Apprentice: The Professional's renown nets him an indentured servant to hold his things and serve his every whim.

9-Depot: Your bank is capable of holding more items for an increased fee.

10-Department Store: Create a shop with the 'list' command, 10 items listed

11-Corporate Merger: Can create a merged shop with another Professional. Wage splits to be determined at creation.

12-Extort: Business is dirty. Buy things at criminally low prices.

13-Wandering Salesman: Shops can be created outside of city areas.

14-Shopkeep: Your apprentice is given permission to man the store in your absence. Profit is sent directly to the bank. If the Professional is killed, or logs off, the store is dismantled and the items returned to the Professionals bank.

15-Mark of Mastery: Can Signiture and Restring one piece of equipment for personal use (I admit, this is just because I thought it was a cool idea, it probably wont work unless its mean restricted)

16-Market: Create a shop with 'list' command and 15 items. Immune to skills such as 'haggle' and 'extort'

Basic Specialty 'Recipe's' may include but are not limited to:

+Engineer: tinkered items such as those found in the Sanctuary of Contraptions; a recorder which records one line of text from a mob or player to be replayed, a scout ball which can be controlled by the user with no harm to him, etc. Higher levels make nicer toys.

+Blacksmith: Creation and Repair of Weapons and armor. Higher masteries can add hit/dam, mana, move, etc.

+Wrangler: Can tame and sell pets or mounts. Higher masteries tame more impressive beasts with more impressive abilities (Ever wanted the chasm dragon as a mount?)

+Librarian: Can write and submit books, write notes, sell books and is a veritable walking library. Books to be published must still go through a vote process in the Herald Library. Not sure about this one...

+Apothecary: Can create various magical devices for player use. Higher masteries allow for more charges, higher level spells, etc.

+Cook: Can create various foods for sustenance. Higher masteries can allow for temporary stat boosts, and the addition of narcotics with a reduced chance of addiction.

That's all I got for now...

-red-

If they are lawfully aligned, how can they with sound mind sell to outlaws? Suppose that cuts us down from taking advantage of this.

I just put that with the supposition that its a must if they want to work out of cities

-shrug-

I think a merchant class will be a good breath of fresh air, I'd really like to see how they influence the game.

As for them not being able to sell to outlaws? What kind of nonsense is that. Just because you're lawful doesn't mean neccessarily you have a higher propensity to look down upon people that don't obey laws. It doesn't even neccessarily mean you yourself obey laws.

Lawfulness implies honor' date=' trustworthiness, obedience to authority, and reliability.[/b']

** as opposed to:**

** **

Chaotic implies freedom' date=' adaptability, and flexibility.[/b']

** I don't know where the all-too-present notion of, "You have an different alignment/ethos than me. I won't have anything to do with you except kill you," came from in the Pbase. I assume from giant lack of creativity. It's bland, completely unrealistic, and in my opinion, a sign of poor RP, unless you're Lawful Evil (or Lawful Good...but there's really no difference between the two. Same drawing, different colors.), or a follower of Purity.**

** Part of Lawful Evil's definition is someone that judges another not based on personal deeds or merit, but rather by their race/creed/religion/social caste...which seems to be how most of the relationships between characters are founded.**

** How do you react to the world around you? I'm sure you know and are probably friends with plenty of people of opposing ethos/alignment. Think outside the box already.**

** I digress, but it's an everpresent element of the FL pbase mindset that makes me want to vomit. Back to the merchant.**

** Yeah, sounds way kick ***. **

I am very much against a non-PK class of any sort. That is, if something like this were made, the ability would have to be there to be robbed/killed for whatever you are selling. With that in mind, I would like to see this class, but I would make a few changes.

I would give them some basic melee abilities like dirt, disarm, and some weapons. And then i would set it up based on preparation. Give them a 'bodyguard' pet and, when the shop is set up, maybe add some damage shields so long as he remains in the shop. These would be more along the lines of gadgets and gizmos in the shop that fire projectiles or whatever at the intruder. Beyond this, make hi smain strength come from the superior weapons he crafts - certain weapon/armor abilities he can craft that only he can wear.

Ultimately, it would be neat to make him strong in PK so long as he is in a shop taht he has set up. Caught outside, however - he better use his bodyguard to keep his attackers attention whil ehe dirts and flees.

In essence, they'd have to be non-pk. Or else they'd never be able to open a shop considering they'd be sitting still for an extended period of time.

Also, if they are non-pk then they wouldn't be able to hold on to rares unless they were created items because face it, no one wants people who aren't pk flagged to be wearing a full suit of rares that they can't lose.

Would it be unreasonable to compress their advancement, and put a level cap of 30 on them? Making them more like adventurers might make people more open to them, since its no longer as great of a leap...

There would be a pretty incredible turnover if you left it at thirty - advancement's too easy, too short, and whether you want to believe it or not there's a general disregard for anyone who isn't on the same 'level' as they are. Putting them at thirty would make them more of a quasi class, like adventurer, instead of something more solid.

As for rares, absolutely not, should they be nonpk. Your right, in that if they're nonpk they would be able to hoard rares with no possible reprocussions. Unless, you could give them maybe one rare and the others would be purged.

My idea for that was to prevent them from getting 'normal' rares, but to make item gathering more interesting you can give them class rares that would improve their creation skill. I mentioned 'rare' recipe drops from mobs as well. This can also extend to special suits they can create (as someone above mentioned) or can be found throughout the world. Heavy to code, though.

This way, they aren't all in mithril hoofing it up to gear for that atomic bomb blueprint.

Some basic melee abilities will be required for them to interact with the playerbase and go to various places - I didn't include them because I wanted to focus on their specific abilities. I think it would be fantastic for them to be useful in a group dynamic through their profession - whether its from feeding the hungry soldiers or standing in the bag with your laser pop gun.

However, I'm seeing them less and less as a pk class. Whether your against it or not, a nonpk class would indeed add a new level and flavor to the game. Their wares, once sold, could be stolen from a slain foe, just not stolen from the shop. How often are you able to kill a city vendor for their things?

I don't see how they can't be implemented in such a way that would make them worthy of just passing attention from the pk fiends and yet still provide for the game dynamic through their wares, if not their contribution to bloodletting.

One issue I'm a little stuck on is the problem of immortality. If the Professional was to be nonpk, with 60 lives he would last for ever. Perhaps the number of lives could be significantly reduced to half or less. However, even then, that's gunna be a looong living character.

I think a merchant class will be a good breath of fresh air, I'd really like to see how they influence the game.

As for them not being able to sell to outlaws? What kind of nonsense is that. Just because you're lawful doesn't mean neccessarily you have a higher propensity to look down upon people that don't obey laws. It doesn't even neccessarily mean you yourself obey laws.

as opposed to:

I don't know where the all-too-present notion of, "You have an different alignment/ethos than me. I won't have anything to do with you except kill you," came from in the Pbase. I assume from giant lack of creativity. It's bland, completely unrealistic, and in my opinion, a sign of poor RP, unless you're Lawful Evil (or Lawful Good...but there's really no difference between the two. Same drawing, different colors.), or a follower of Purity.

Part of Lawful Evil's definition is someone that judges another not based on personal deeds or merit, but rather by their race/creed/religion/social caste...which seems to be how most of the relationships between characters are founded.

How do you react to the world around you? I'm sure you know and are probably friends with plenty of people of opposing ethos/alignment. Think outside the box already.

I digress, but it's an everpresent element of the FL pbase mindset that makes me want to vomit. Back to the merchant.

Yeah, sounds way kick ***.

Read the helps on ethos in FL.

Read the helps on ethos in FL.

Thanks Raar

I'm sorry, but I can't agree with having a non-PK class. We have those - they are adventurers, and they were designed more as a help to newbies than with any RP background.

To begin adding more non-PK classes would be, imho, against the very foundation of what FL is. Some people aren't fit to be able to defend themselves - for example, the citizens walking around the cities. In the FL world, they are as real as your char. However, I like the merchant class idea, and would love to see more skills/classes that are RP oriented, rather than PK oriented.

So with that in mind, I have two ideas, both centered around making them very effective when defending, but ONLY when defending.

The first is to have the shop itself give some sort of buffs/abilities/damage shields/etc. so that if the eprson is attacked while they are in their shop - hehe. Good LUCK trying to kill him. Make it EXTREMELY difficult. However, once they leave that vicinity - all th ebuffs drop and they are more like a sitting duck. So, if they want to sell, they are fairly effective doing that. I would also think about giving them th eability to tinker with their armor to give themselves some extensive defensive abilities. For example, attach little wings to their boots so they can fly, and maybe something akin to protective shield. Just so that if they get jumped while sitting ducks, they have the relative ability to run. This idea is my favorite, because if it is strong enough, nobody will be ridiculous enough to attack them in the shop. The player has the ability to flee to his shop if he gets attacked, so he is - in essence - no PK. However, there is still that chance to die, so it meets the ideals of the FL world.

The other is to give them some skillsets that make them EXTREMELY viable in PK, only they are not ALLOWED to be aggressive. Much like healers. Then they have an anti-violent RP (just bad business, after all), but can protect their hard earned stock.

Perhaps they could have a series of spells/skills akin to Necromancers, where they hire bodyguards of increasing effectiveness as they progress through the ranks. Every 10 levels or so, they gain a stronger bodyguard, and can have only one of each kind, to a maximum of three.

Coupled with store bought pets (would be interesting, though maybe unbalancing for tamers), that alone might make them viable with a half-melee or mage level combat abilities.

I like Kinicky's idea of making them near-invincible in the shop but easily slamlocked outside of it.

'Or, as I previously stated in some other post, make each of these ideas into a subclass that you can pick at detailed character creation and just cut down on the number of skills they have.

No offense, but this would be a waste of time for coders and would be very boring. I can see how only people who HATES PK will roll (and train?!?) one. And if ever we do get one, we're only gonna see 2-3 at most in a year. Otherwise, FL would be so boring!!!

Lots of other "better" classes/races that could be implemented out there.

You can just roll a character and RP a merchant without needing the perks. Or the coders might as well just create more equipment and shops/merchant mobs.

Or maybe make it an RP-based qclass for people who do just that?

To begin adding more non-PK classes would be' date=' imho, against the very foundation of what FL is. [/quote']

Which is why one of its most brilliant IMPs was hellbent on putting a trio of them into the game before he left. I really, really love the idea of non-PK classes because it opens up the game to MORE players. They won't always play a non-PK class, people, but the allure of non-PK might be enough to draw in more players.

I think that Adventurers could easily be set to "covert" at 30 like Healers and move forwards as various non-PK classes, or we could go for the original intent of having them roll-able. In the spirit of Crypticant, I think they should be Blacksmiths, Alchemists, and Miners. They can all be made very, very fun and I have seen them implemented and loved them. We won't lack for PK characters, because they will always be there, but this gives us a good venue for those who want solely RP.

They can't hold Rares, they are watched very closely, they could join Clans, but not Cabals and could be allowed to pick a class at 50 to remort to (not sure on that, but it gives characters more longevity). The old shops could be opened up to player goods too!

I think they should be buff in defenses, but weak in the offense area. They have no need to kill stuff really, so just make them worth having in a group as tanks or what have you (although Alchemists could have some nasty abilities). They would all need to be able to survive, because the good stuff (ore for Miners, metals for Smiths, and herbs/roots for Alchemists) would be in the harder areas of the game (and maybe be on tough Mobs). This encourages interaction with PK characters outside of just peddling.

I think FL needs this, though I have no idea how long it would take to code these. Much of the ideas had been laid out before and I admire the spirit of the original poster and his ideas, but I stick by Crypt's old wishes for what non-PK classes would be.

Oh lets make another old bard class so it can be a malform and whatever else fodder...

I like naive people making suggestions about RP classes... that idea would be perfect for the "ideal" mud. Our mud is not the case tho. 99% of the playerbase would still prefer to play the nice power combo and the other 1% would even create a good RP behind it.

99% of the playerbase would still prefer to play the nice power combo and the other 1% would even create a good RP behind it.

This is not a fair statement. I've seen a good deal of solid RP lately.

Okay, make it 90%.