Henchmen in PWs

Deider · Post by **Deider** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 3:02 am

Thanks for all of the feedback. I'm sorry, I should have been more clear. I truly appreciate the analysis of how henchmen could affect a "party up" world like Avlis, and the various ideas for using henchmen to fun effect. But I'm really more interested in the OOC aspects, such as lag. Also, henchmen allow a bunch of features that summons don't - for example, you can access their inventory, which means you can do some really cool things (like dressing them up and outfitting them with your spare gear - imagine Aaron Gend in a dominatrix outfit with a whip, or a pimp outfit and a staff), but you can also do some really cheesy things (load them up with all that ore you just mined, since they never slow down).

I'd go into more detail about what this is for, but I wouldn't want to feed you a cock'n'bull story.

Fuzz · Post by **Fuzz** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 3:14 am

Think they'd be fine if they were costly as all hell.

Actually, the crazy implementation that Nob, Chasman, Krator and I cooked up for the Fief War design for Kurathene actually incorporated some of the henchman aspects for Fief Lords/Fief Officers to have Fief soldiers following them around and such.

I'd say from the OOC exploitation and possible cheese issues (people hiring an NPC henchman, then posting as them on the boards under the logic that they've been hired out) they shouldn't be available to everyone, but could be really cool in the right venues.

For example, for a Holy Warrior PC to be able to head to his/her church and hire a Cleric/Holy Warrior of their faith to follow them on a quest or a war PC with a high rank in the PC army (NOT the scripted ranks) could command a sergeant/woodmaster to follow them into battle or something like that.

Basically, they should go in, but the venues they're available in should be pretty limited and quite specific as to their purpose and who can access them. Make the NPC henchmen something to earn through RP and membership to some sort of PC guild, not a matter of having lots of gold.

mortzestus · Post by **mortzestus** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 3:14 am

Deider wrote:but you can also do some really cheesy things (load them up with all that ore you just mined, since they never slow down).

Hey, they actually slow down. Deekin said he had bad back and the fekker was absolutely right.

Jhevon · Post by **Jhevon** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 4:11 am

Slightly off topic, but am I the only person playing a character who is a the "henchman" (although I prefer the terms "Liege/Vassal"

) of another PC?

It's turning out to be a fun twist on the usual guild/allegiance role, and provides good IC justification for accepting IG assistance/donations from a higher level character?

Jhevon

Jeddia · Post by **Jeddia** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 5:48 am

For the dev team, alot of it would likely boil down to : how badly do they want to risk more lag for the sake of some extra coolness.

IMO, it would be a bad idea at present. Seems they have their hands full with influx of people from Bioware's advertisement/plug of Avlis. And one thing that has been a solid piece of advice since NWN's release is to avoid over-use of scripted NPC's, particularly as henchman/summons. And with the amount of people on Avlis and the neighboring worlds, you'd have to make henchman availability relatively high for it to be worth the trouble (otherwise people would just constantly bitch about not being able to find one available).

Although, i can think of about 900 chairs and commoners who could probably go away without most folks complaining that the "feel" of the world has diminished. Though I realize alot of that is what makes Avlis what it is.

choraldances · Post by **choraldances** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 6:26 pm

Orleron wrote:But what if your henchman is a real cock?

What about if it's a chicken?

Nitro18 · Post by **Nitro18** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 6:33 pm

Henchmen = really cool idea in theory, although I'm not sure how much I like the idea of being able to access their inventory. Not too many people you just hire on for a day or two in RL are going to say, "Ok, here's my gear, why don't you just pick through it all you'd like and then tell me exactly what to do?"

Avlis-wise though, I'm inclined to concur with the previously presented problems: lag and potential for abuse, with lag being the more critical concern as abuse can always be handled by the team.

Krator · Post by **Krator** » Mon Feb 07, 2005 6:40 pm

storminj wrote:In PnP there is a feat called leadership that allows you to get followers and stuff. What if it was implemented as a feat? If it worked like a summons you could send your henchman home like a mage and his familiar. I think this way it cost you somthing to get it, it is limited by your level on power, can be scripted or perhaps DM hand out only, and you can let them go when you are involved ina party bigger than two.

If they were implemented like familiars with a way to control them it would be interesting. This would be great for evil character that are not outwardly evil too. The could posses their unknown henchmen to do evil deeds and not get caught there fore not limiting it to mages and their familiars.

Yay! Neat! Yay! More nice things to do with CHA