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Re: Planned Societies

Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2020 1:52 pm
by Rias
P.S. If there are ideas for the unscrupulous physicker society that set them apart somehow from simply playing an individual physicker in that way, I'm all ears. I did sort of already plan to have some options along those lines as part of the Physicker class, though, with no Society required.

Re: Planned Societies

Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2020 1:53 pm
by Navi
I'd like to see a society dedicated to studying the various supernatural things in the world, possibly receiving funding or donations from the other societies for information on how to best deal with the more problematic creatures. By supernatural, I mean the infestation, nethrum, tainted individuals if that's a thing, and canim. Possibly any other conditions that pop up or are in the lost lands.

Re: Planned Societies

Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2020 2:02 pm
by Maina
This (studying supernatural things) was actually part of my ideas for said Physicker society, but I wasn't sure how expansive societies should be or whether the concept would be welcome. The idea they might experiment on the infested to try and discover a way to cure it, or even deliberately infest people to study the process. Likewise applying nether to people to study the wounds and the process of taint. Mechanically, I'm not entirely sure what this would provide other than an expanded list of interesting tasks involving finding subjects (afflicted or not) to experiment on. Perhaps ways to help provide advantages to fighting these things in groups? Or ways of giving people resistances to these things through elective, unnerving procedures? Though I'd always prefer more non-combat options.

I'm not sure if the idea of a group of physickers that are willing to do these horrible things (deliberately tainting/harming/infesting people with the various bad things present in these lands to study the effects) with the excuse of being necessary due to the desperate times we all live in helps set it apart or not.

I had also considered the classic Doctor Frankenstein as an example of the sort of experiments they might do, but I thought that might call forth an unintended focus on his monster, which is likely better accomplished by the Rook Parlour, but the idea of that kind of extreme experimentation without ethics was what I was thinking.

I'm just as happy to let the idea go if it doesn't fit or isn't interesting enough, but when Rias opened the floor to ideas, I thought I might elaborate further what I was thinking.

Re: Planned Societies

Posted: Fri Apr 24, 2020 2:40 pm
by Rias
I do like the general idea. I just didn't know how it would work (as I initially understood it) as a Society. Generally speaking, a Society offers things like tasks, facilities, and potentially a few abilities and special items to aid in the Society's particular purpose. It also requires a significant amount of setup, upkeep, and bandwidth on my part, since in addition to the original mechanics and content implementation, they're also supposed to be groups that NPCs are heavily involved in. So the more of them there are, the more stretched thin I get. That's why I always consider whether these types of things could work as a Company instead: so I can essentially offload a lot of the effort onto the players. Then you all can have more influence and control over the group you have in mind, and I can occasionally support when needed.

In regards to people figuring out how to deal with the more weird/supernatural issues in the Lost Lands like nethrim and infested, I do have some specialized Societies in mind already trying to handle them, one pointed at nether-corruption specifically, and one pointed at resen infestation. So I think a more generalist group that is studying and amassing data on all the supernatural monstrosities plaguing the Lost Lands would make a great player-run Company. Those wanting to dig in and work on stoping them could then join one of those Societies I mentioned earlier with a more focused purpose.

And to be clear, you can be in a Company, Guild, and Society all at the same time. So a character could be both a part of the more general-scope Company you're talking about, and then pick a Society to join based on which specific issue they feel they want to really go up against: The spreading nether corruption, or the resen infestation.

I do like the idea of these two Societies I've got planned being more than just warriors fighting the nether or the resen. Having a physicker join up with one to study the physiological effects and research possible countermeasures and cures would be really cool.

Re: Planned Societies

Posted: Sat Apr 25, 2020 2:10 pm
by Navi
Would a society based around astrology be something you're looking for? They could study the stars and have unique occult glyphs associated with them, or perhaps some sort of cosmic infusion into your choice of power.

Re: Planned Societies

Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2020 12:55 pm
by Rias
This isn't the first time someone has brought up the idea of some kind of occultism based on positions of celestial objects and whatnot. I think the concept is pretty spiffy, so maybe! It might also possibly serve as another Scholar class, or maybe an affinity for Arcanists.

Re: Planned Societies

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 10:23 am
by booorg
I'd be all for re-forming the Snowpine Lodge, since it fits my character perfectly. If you decide not to make it into a society, I'd definitely want to firm it or something like it as a player-run organization.

Re: Planned Societies

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 10:28 am
by Lexx416
booorg wrote: Thu Apr 29, 2021 10:23 am I'd be all for re-forming the Snowpine Lodge, since it fits my character perfectly. If you decide not to make it into a society, I'd definitely want to firm it or something like it as a player-run organization.
There's definitely code for play run organizations, if you didn't know! They're called companies. I haven't been active lately, but when I am my PC usually advertises their wilderness/bushcraft oriented company, the Seven League Scouts

Re: Planned Societies

Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2021 10:32 am
by booorg
Oh cool! Well, you've got someone new in game who'd jump at the opportunity to join it then!

Re: Planned Societies

Posted: Fri Aug 13, 2021 3:25 pm
by Haltover
I have a suggestion for a society that might be rather interesting, I think.

It would be something focused entirely on the mind and the ways that it can be used and abused for the benefits of its members, generally through the usage of meditation and self-hypnosis.

It could also be a good place to plant some of the more emotionally manipulative aspects of the mummers at, and leave the performance and storytelling as part of the adventurers guild.

Some things that they might be capable of:
1. Physical feats of mind over matter, such as ignoring morale penalties, functioning temporarily at full capacity in spite of wound penalties, and forcing themselves out of unwanted negative states (such as unconsciousness).
2. Slightly supernatural empathy, with the ability to pick up on and at higher levels perhaps even slightly manipulate the emotions of others.
3. Creation of mental constructs, the robustness of which would determine the strength of the person’s mental defenses, and perhaps provide a passive bonus to resisting moral drops. (Ex: Society member enters a command to meditate, and they are brought into a special ‘mind’ room in spirit, while their bodies lay where they left them. The room could then be edited and manipulated as the person saw fit to create a unique inner world.)

Some things the society might do:
1. Master themselves completely, throwing themselves at whatever challenges they need to to temper their minds and develop themselves.
2. Utilize their limited psychic power to hunt down anyone mistreating mental abilities, or any monsters who primarily mess with minds.
3. Provide care for those with crippling mental injuries or illnesses, either through accepting them as members of the order or by giving group meditation sessions regularly.
4. Take charge of the esp networks, maybe? Or perhaps just be a branch of the organization that handles those.

I’d love to hear people’s thoughts on this, as well as any mistakes I might have made from my inexperience with the current lore and game!