Randomly decided to check in after years and see talk of Doordie and Amel. Lots of fun memories! Arguably my first long time character, Narwyn, ended up closely aligned with Amel as his protege.
Doordie was one of the best RP's I ever played with. His stories, with his character Amel, were amazing. Rich, deep, complex. I hope Doordie is doing well! You have a really great Uncle!
ALL THE MANAS Registered Member #1022
Joined: 6:08:50 am GMT 04/10/07
Posts: 1265
Note: This thread is NOT about the following: NWN Classes, HIPS spamming, stealth, implosions, Han Solo's alignment, Good/Evil always being the winners, gold farming, World of Warcraft skills, the price of tea in China, Death Attack, Sorcerers, PvP, Wizards, Barbarian Rage, or if kids really are coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs. Please take those discussions elsewhere.
Should there be magic bags greater than what we already have on Thain? For those that do not know, the current bags are 20% and 40%. (I will not divulge where you can get 40% bags.) These bags could be anywhere from 41%, to 100% (which is a bag of holding.)
Naturally, for a server such as Thain, we are going to throw out the possibility of 100% weight reduction bags, and cap it at 80%.
My vote? Damn straight dawg. Being touted as a 'low magic' server, the only thing magic bags are used for anyway is... holding stuff. There is no real power associated with it, other than that. No adding to the DC of spells, no poison damage, no aspect of being used to insta-kill PC's, nothing. It merely holds stuff. That's it. To be honest, I am not fond of bags that have only slightly more value than a regular "Large Box".
Obviously, these bags would be and should be tougher to obtain than the wimpy 20% bags we have now. PC's should go through a great deal of pain and suffering before being able to obtain a bag of this caliber, perhaps even be required to be a certain level before being allowed to even pick up/open the bag.
In my past Persistent World experience, craftable bags were based on a dice roll, using the CNR (Craftable Natural Resource) system. A PC had to go out, hunt, kill, skin, tan, weave, enchant, and sow his own bags together, before they could even be used. And let me tell you, since I was playing a cleric of a crafting god, that was a pain in the arse...
Would the server/staff/players suffice with having access to these better pouches of carrying stuff? Or are they/you content?
Edited to add: Also, please explain your vote, if you vote yes or no.
[ Edited ][ Edited ]
Registered Member #1240
Joined: 6:48:34 pm GMT 01/20/08
Posts: 292
I think it's a good idea with some more powerful magic bags (although I didn't know about the 40% ones).
I think 60% should be the maximum available, though. Thain is, after all, a low-magic setting, and even though magic bags don't insta-kill or grant HiPS as a feat, I think it would be more in line with the rest of the envirorment. Also, as barakka said, having too powerful bags would take some of the fun out of finding a mule, or choosing what equipment to bring home, and what to leave behind.
Oh, and I voted "Yes, and they should be rewards as quests", so you would have to walk through fire, water and several other planes of existance to get them.
I was torn between "Yes, and they should be rewards as quests." and "Yes, and they should be available to all PC's with gold to spare." But I voted:
"Yes, and they should be rewards as quests."
I'd suggest that the best of them, like the 80% (or maybe even then 100%) could be a reward from a quest. Those below 80% could be found in stores. The reason for this, is that I find it sort of lame that a person can run around with 10 bag of holding, as they are (as I see it) very rare and very expensive. This way everyone got a chance to aquire one bag holding and the in some secret store you can buy 70% bags and lower.
Registered Member #34
Joined: 11:01:04 am GMT 02/26/04
Posts: 2778
The way I see it, just about every item in the game serves some purpose that makes you PC mechanically stronger. So enabling PCs to carry more should have the effect of increasing the overall power of PCs.
Anybody who has been here a while should know that consumables can dramatically effect the power of your PC. Healing potions and kits, scrolls, wands, rods, and all sorts of other items can really make a difference. Adding better bags will just allow people to carry more of these things.
The weight of loot is another issue, and I think the staff has taken carrying capacity into account when balancing the loot in many areas. There are some places where a lot of magical armors and heavy weapons drop, and it makes sense that the staff didn't intend for low-STR PCs (without mentioning any specific classes) to carry it all. Better bags would alter that situation as it exists now.
So I voted for the "No" option. The carrying capacity exists as a way to limit our characters... or else why have it? Some characters can carry a lot, but have other weaknesses. Low-STR characters can't carry much, but make up for it in other ways. If there was some shortage of low-STR PCs on the server, I might have a different opinion, but I think they are currently well-represented.
Registered Member #157
Joined: 5:18:57 pm GMT 06/25/04
Posts: 15510
I voted for option one, since my PC would benefit and love such a thing (I am at the moment in mid purge of my stocks of items to make my packs as efficiently stacked as they can be ), and like Ritz I cannot see a huge trouble with more powerful bags though I likely could have voted in various sections I wouldn't necessarily care how much more powerful they got, but any increase would make me smile Having them for sale is by far the easiest way of adding them and allowing of the widest variety of players to gain them despite play times, builder zots and coverage of DM's
I would also, for instance, be as happy with them being added quest rewards (but know the effort and time to implement a quest, just buying them would be easier hehe).
Another amicable solution to getting some more effective bags would be to have PC's crafting (my PC already RP's fastening his with webbing to try and make them more efficient so I can sympathise with this path), but also it would require a certain amount of build-work .. but more effective than the quests, as it might be more efficient and extending of RP surrounding the making of the bags. As static quests couldn't hope to compete with the flexibility of each crafter and buyer RPing to make the specific bag RP special or different.
And actually I could have voted that I could survive with the bags we have (can't see things really changing) and so could have said the bags we have are good enough, since I really appreciated the addition of a -40% one as a quest reward .. and was lucky enough to IC get hold of some of the more hard to get hold of bags in the mod too so I'm probably better off than many folk
.. and I /did/ want to see the results after all
The only one I'd be less excited about (although not against likely, since any increase in bag-power in niche markets might lead to an increase in the wider markets perhaps too), would be adding them to necessarily seedy stores, since that would reduce who might gain the use of them. While that would be one solution (and the one taken in the mod as is), I could also see such more effective bags being sold among the more affluent places too, not only thieves after all need better bags (although there are good reasons for them perhaps wanting them and being able to afford them )
BUT , although I have said all that, and it's how I feel I can understand why the levels of bags might well remain as they will in Thain. The words "low magic item" can mean different things to different people, and I can see why many think that what we have is powerful enough. I can also see that some people might say "add more to STR if you would like to carry more" and that carrying more can be an advantage on loot trips that should be garnered by use of existing mechanics and stat spending .. pretty much what Niv said above really (I'd not actually thought about the carrying of mass consumables, but that makes sense .. plenty of people gather such supplies it's just that I never seem to have as much room for that hehe).
I suppose any deliberations on this could also depend upon how you see you pack working .. is it an adventurers pack that carries what you need, or is it the total sum of all your worldly possessions you have gathered through the years and might have safeguarded in places about the isle. Also what sort of person you are .. a packrat, or not a packrat I have a feeling considering the amount of bags and the storage I have that no matter how much space I have I might just manage to fill it with stuff I make myself believe Willow /has/ to carry
Yuienith wrote ... I think I've seen bags higher than 40% dropped in DM quests already. Yoh might have had one, unfortunately he's an honest sort and gave it away.
Infrequently this occurs, but it's very, very, very, very, very rare [ Edited 10:04:51 PM 10/01/08 ]
TPK Insurance Specialist, call now for our low, low rates! 1-800-U KILL ME Registered Member #552
Joined: 4:34:52 am GMT 06/13/05
Posts: 2608
I voted no, for largely the reasons that Niv stated.
Yes, I would dearly, dearly love more effective bags for a number of my characters because they are constantly hovering just below the encumberance zone, mainly because of carrying stuff for RP reasons. Well... not Gorav. He's just stacked with loot.
But they only have difficulties because I've directed their build in different directions. I think it's a payoff that works.
I'm certainly not against better bags being issued as DM rewards (I know of a Bag of Holding that was recently given out, though it did have restrictions placed on it), but I think that having them available in the mod would ether be unbalancing (in stores) or not worth the zots (as a quest reward).
[ The Island of Thain ]
[poll] Magical Bags to hold stuff (With Poll!)
Or making those decisions on what loot is worth carrying.
), and like Ritz I cannot see a huge trouble with more powerful bags 
so I'm probably better off than many folk 