Henchmen in PWs

Deider · Post by **Deider** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 9:41 am

I've heard from many sources that henchmen in PWs = bad. But I've never been clear on why exactly. Can someone point me to some quantitative info? Or if you've played on a PW that supports henchmen, could you relate your experience here? Were there any performance/exploitation issues? Thanks.

Alphonse · Post by **Alphonse** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 9:47 am

Not that I've ever played on a PW that does have henchmen, but looking at it purely from an implementation and RP standpoint.

You'd need to have enough henchmen implementated for every player to have one if they wanted to, which considering the amount of work to make them individual with personalities would alone seem to cancel them out.

The other thing henchman would damage is the RP on Avlis. Anything that detracts from PC to PC interaction is a bad thing. There are enough people who go hunting alone with their summons. To give the other option of basically being able to have two characters would seriously cut down on interaction.

(not trying to insult people here. just throwing my views into the hat)

Court Astrologer · Post by **Court Astrologer** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 9:57 am

Alphonse wrote:Not that I've ever played on a PW that does have henchmen, but looking at it purely from an implementation and RP standpoint.

You'd need to have enough henchmen implementated for every player to have one if they wanted to, which considering the amount of work to make them individual with personalities would alone seem to cancel them out.

The other thing henchman would damage is the RP on Avlis. Anything that detracts from PC to PC interaction is a bad thing. There are enough people who go hunting alone with their summons. To give the other option of basically being able to have two characters would seriously cut down on interaction.

(not trying to insult people here. just throwing my views into the hat)

WoW!!

It only took 900 posts but something that actually makes sense and is worth reading...what's more I agree with what you're saying.

This is indeed a RED letter day

Heh...only kidding mate.....

Fifty · Post by **Fifty** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 10:00 am

Well, you may have thought of this, but someone came up with some research once that to reduce lag you should stick to party sizes of 8 or less. That was including familiars and summons. Only a few people can really do summons, but everyone could have a henchman, and no-one would want to leave them home... hence lag hell when you land up with 12 instead of 8 in a party.

Significant Owl · Post by **Significant Owl** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 10:32 am

Going along with the thought of it being way to much work to give henchman an individual personality, why not create a mercenary guild that would hire out members as bodyguards or something the like? I know that there is a (if it still exists) a mercenary guild around now, made by PC's. Maybe something could be done with that? I don't know if this is viable, just throwing out ideas.

Arandil · Post by **Arandil** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 10:59 am

Mystra did it by having on or two henchmen hanging around at a certain place, first people to get to them could hire them ( and they were a godsend for low levels ). Then they became available for rehire once you logged off. If they died that was it till next server reset. Seemed to work ok to me.

Nightshade · Post by **Nightshade** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 12:23 pm

Yeah, I think that the way to implement this is to limit the number available per server, and make it for a short time. ie: You sign a contract such that your henchman works with you for 2-3 RL hours or something along that lines.

Garumn · Post by **Garumn** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 12:33 pm

that would be good idea especially for those who like solo

Pathos Street · Post by **Pathos Street** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 1:29 pm

The only way I could see something like that working is if there was an upper level limit (or even a static low level) to the henchmen. Any powerful character should be a PC, as any NPC that was powerful (say, >L8 or so) would be able to hire their own henchmen, start their own organizations, etc. and probably wouldn't be a merc.

As far as lag concerns, the AI for a henchman has a much larger number of checks than your average NPC, and can get a lot more expensive for your system. This is also why familiars/summons contribute to lag. Just the pathfinding involved in playing "follow the leader" is quite expensive, when you multiply it by 8-10 people in a party.

It would be kind of neat to be able to hire armies of cannon fodder for important events, if it's feasible.

Fire Monkey · Post by **Fire Monkey** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 1:32 pm

Garumn wrote:that would be good idea especially for those who like solo

I didn't think it was a goal to encourage soloing. Surely the presence of NPC henchman would defeat the point of the various adventuring/mercanry type guilds who you could go to IC and hire some extra help if needed.

Post by **Orleron** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 1:47 pm

But what if your henchman is a real cock?

inside joke

Red · Post by **Red** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 1:48 pm

*never mind*

Fire Monkey · Post by **Fire Monkey** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 2:33 pm

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

Is that opposed to someone who is a fake one? I guess you could call someone like that a real dildo

.

storminj · Post by **storminj** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 4:07 pm

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.

Curois · Post by **Curois** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 4:37 pm

I like the idea of being able to hire a Henchman for a limited time. (about 2-3 hours RL). And I think it would be cool if you could hire the henchman for more time by paying (a lot) more upfront. So if you want to hire the henchman for 8 hours RL, that would also be possible. IC that would be a week or so. This is also a nice way to get rid of all the excess in gold that is currently in the Avlis Economy.

CPU · Post by **CPU** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 4:56 pm

This is possible because they used to have a NPC in (WARNING: I'm gonna say the M-word) Mythos. It was Xena. Yes. The Warrior Princess.

(WARNING: I'm going to say the A-word) Athena the main DM, had a Xena fixation. Xena would join your party after a short scripted dialog, until she was either killed or you removed her from your party. There were two of these sorts of NPC's that would join your party if you approached them. They were usally snatched up quickly after a server reset.

Aside from it being the character of Xena, Warrior Princess, per se, I thought it was a neat idea. A limited number of hirable mercenaries sounds fun. However, I don't know if it would work so well on Avlis. I also think it would encourage people to hire a merc and go alone instead of going off with a real PC.

Maybe there could be some lowby area where Mercs could be available to help out a Newb do some monster mashing, but that the mercs can't leave that specific area? Depending on a limited number of hirelings, it could be a different class (assigned randmoly), maybe even a coward that runs from battle!

CPU · Post by **CPU** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 4:56 pm

*dupe post*

CPU · Post by **CPU** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 4:56 pm

*dupe post*

CPU · Post by **CPU** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 4:57 pm

*dupe post*

CPU · Post by **CPU** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 4:57 pm

*dupe post*

CPU · Post by **CPU** » Fri Feb 04, 2005 4:57 pm

*dupe post*

(eat your heart out Jadeia)

KinX · Post by **KinX** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 12:39 am

HOLY CRAP, CPU!

Beary666 · Post by **Beary666** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 12:44 am

CPU you spammer.....

Significant Owl · Post by **Significant Owl** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 12:45 am

Snow · Post by **Snow** » Sun Feb 06, 2005 1:50 am

Alphonse would be proud