Author Topic: Interactive Familiars and Companions - The real "Magic" in Caster Roleplay  (Read 6382 times)

Garland Blackmore

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I read the -entire- thread about the new changes regarding familiars. This thread has nothing to do with the combat system.

I would simply like to tell a story.

Once upon a time, for a somewhat short period in time, I played on a very different server. It was Planescape themed, and my PC was a Githzerai Zerth. For those of you who don't know hat that is, consider it a fighter/wizard.

This unnamed server had their own collection of familiars, one of them being an incredibly weak one called the Mimir.

In short, it's a floating skull that stores all information it gathers. A dungeon and dragons USB key, that my Githzerai could log onto any time he wished.

Anyways, i'll make the story short and simply say that my Mimir was awesome. He wasn't just a meatshield and rarely participated in combat. Rather, he was a roleplay device I could use whenever things grew stagnant. The simple ability to roleplay between my Gith and my Mimir added such an incredible depth to my roleplay that others noticed it too. Soon enough, i discovered other PCs implementing Arc the Mimir into their own roleplay, their own personal goals and even some considered the Mimir their friend. He became almost a second PC to me, being able to switch from Gith to Mimir at a hat's drop to encourage roleplay between other PCs. This allowed me to come up with player-driven plots, stir up conflicts between the uncanny duo. I recall a specific time where My Gith grew so angry at the Mimir he attempted to kill it. Other PCs took it upon themselves to defend the Mimir from the Gith and the show ended with the Gith being subdued and the Mimir triumphiig. I grew so fond of the interactions between them the two almost became two completely separate identities.

I'm writing this to suggest the incredibly deep roleplay potential  Familiars have. Unfortunately this potential is being nixed by current scripts. I desire to see these scripts changed, because frankly the command method is simply too tedious as it is. There is a huge tool here to be used in the way of player-driven quests, and I would like to see the ability to speak, emote and flutter about through transitions to my heart's content restored in full.

Thoughts, opinions?

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Knas

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A speak through command would be useful for familiars, agreed.

Emomina

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Don't we have one....   I think I have used @familiar before.  Its been a while though
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Knas

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Hm you might be right, seem to recall it being mentioned some time ago as a solution to popping back into your wizard body when someone spoke

HellsPanda

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yes, we have...


@familiar
@companion/animal not sure which one it is
@summon

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@animal it is.
http://www.facebook.com/CiaranII
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Knas

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Well in that case I don't see anything stopping the OP from doing his familiar Rp.

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(We should still try to fix that repoping back to your caster on possession when someone's near the caster and speaks!)

Knas

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(We should still try to fix that repoping back to your caster on possession when someone's near the caster and speaks!)

True, I think it's one of those bugs that just slipped through the cracks

HellsPanda

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Re: Interactive Familiars and Companions - The real "Magic" in Caster Roleplay
« Reply #10 on: January 02, 2012, 06:01:03 AM »
It also kinda makes sense, since it makes you go back into your char when there is activity around the caster.

Makes me think its more a feature, than a bug

Jay

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Re: Interactive Familiars and Companions - The real "Magic" in Caster Roleplay
« Reply #11 on: January 02, 2012, 06:04:14 AM »
Mmhmmm If a caster is going to put that much focus into his pet you'd think he'd start in a quiet place with a lot of solitude otherwise he's be too distracted.

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Re: Interactive Familiars and Companions - The real "Magic" in Caster Roleplay
« Reply #12 on: January 02, 2012, 08:21:35 AM »
Mmhmmm If a caster is going to put that much focus into his pet you'd think he'd start in a quiet place with a lot of solitude otherwise he's be too distracted.
A mouse could fart and knock you out of possession. :D

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Re: Interactive Familiars and Companions - The real "Magic" in Caster Roleplay
« Reply #13 on: January 02, 2012, 08:32:10 AM »
Mmhmmm If a caster is going to put that much focus into his pet you'd think he'd start in a quiet place with a lot of solitude otherwise he's be too distracted.
A mouse could fart and knock you out of possession. :D
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Re: Interactive Familiars and Companions - The real "Magic" in Caster Roleplay
« Reply #14 on: January 02, 2012, 09:50:43 AM »
yes, we have...


@familiar
@companion/animal not sure which one it is
@summon

@animal

but they cannot be posessed.
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Re: Interactive Familiars and Companions - The real "Magic" in Caster Roleplay
« Reply #15 on: January 02, 2012, 10:04:40 AM »
yes, we have...


@familiar
@companion/animal not sure which one it is
@summon

I find those commands so unwieldy that I cannot make any use of them. I don't type all that fast as it is without trying to use these. At best I can hotkey a few basic generic (and unsatisfying)  phrases/emotes to spice things up. There is no way I could play the familiar in as much depth as I would like with them.
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Nemien Callishan

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Re: Interactive Familiars and Companions - The real "Magic" in Caster Roleplay
« Reply #16 on: January 02, 2012, 10:08:24 AM »
(We should still try to fix that repoping back to your caster on possession when someone's near the caster and speaks!)

Really.

Really.

It's so much more intuitive that typing scripted commands. I'm pretty sure it's custom to this server because I've never had this problem anywhere else.

Emomina

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Re: Interactive Familiars and Companions - The real "Magic" in Caster Roleplay
« Reply #17 on: January 02, 2012, 10:11:49 AM »
Protip: What I use is to type the "@familiar" into notepad then copy it or similar and ctrl+v at the beginning of everything I have the pet do.
then you just roleplay it normally as you would your character with just the two button combo at the beginning of the familiar actions/rp

I actually do that with languages too, I will put "[Rokuma]" instead and ctrl+v it before everything Reiko says if its a long native tongue conversation.
I recommend it at least, if either of those instances are applicable to any of your characters.
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Re: Interactive Familiars and Companions - The real "Magic" in Caster Roleplay
« Reply #18 on: January 02, 2012, 10:17:05 AM »
Protip: What I use is to type the "@familiar" into notepad then copy it or similar and ctrl+v at the beginning of everything I have the pet do.
then you just roleplay it normally as you would your character with just the two button combo at the beginning of the familiar actions/rp

Yeah I tried that, did not work for me. Also I like to use body language, actually turning to look around or to look at the person speaking. Can't do that with the current setup
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Re: Interactive Familiars and Companions - The real "Magic" in Caster Roleplay
« Reply #19 on: January 02, 2012, 01:28:02 PM »
Protip: What I use is to type the "@familiar" into notepad then copy it or similar and ctrl+v at the beginning of everything I have the pet do.
then you just roleplay it normally as you would your character with just the two button combo at the beginning of the familiar actions/rp

Yeah I tried that, did not work for me. Also I like to use body language, actually turning to look around or to look at the person speaking. Can't do that with the current setup


Combine that trick with one I've used which is putting your "Posses Familiar" Command on a quickslot, next to the Summon Familiar, and then whenever you want to do your "body Language" Pop into Possession, turn, then pop back.   

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Re: Interactive Familiars and Companions - The real "Magic" in Caster Roleplay
« Reply #20 on: January 02, 2012, 02:31:05 PM »
Protip: What I use is to type the "@familiar" into notepad then copy it or similar and ctrl+v at the beginning of everything I have the pet do.
then you just roleplay it normally as you would your character with just the two button combo at the beginning of the familiar actions/rp

Yeah I tried that, did not work for me. Also I like to use body language, actually turning to look around or to look at the person speaking. Can't do that with the current setup


Combine that trick with one I've used which is putting your "Posses Familiar" Command on a quickslot, next to the Summon Familiar, and then whenever you want to do your "body Language" Pop into Possession, turn, then pop back.   

I'm nowhere quick enough to pull that off, I've tried. Also the sudden orientation change between character and Familiar and back again is so disorienting as to make me sick.
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Nemien Callishan

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Re: Interactive Familiars and Companions - The real "Magic" in Caster Roleplay
« Reply #21 on: January 02, 2012, 06:14:07 PM »
Combine that trick with one I've used which is putting your "Posses Familiar" Command on a quickslot, next to the Summon Familiar, and then whenever you want to do your "body Language" Pop into Possession, turn, then pop back.   

And unfortunately if you try to emote something that in any way involves text it pops you straight back out again so pretty limmited if the other players aren't paying much attention :(.

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Re: Interactive Familiars and Companions - The real "Magic" in Caster Roleplay
« Reply #22 on: January 02, 2012, 06:17:26 PM »
There's no reason that the jumping around happens other than some peculiar glitch in the NWN engine. The difficulty is tracing it down though, and see if we can work around it. As is right now, everything about it seems quite unprovoked. I suspect it's somehow related to the emoting or roleplay XP system, but beyond that, my guess is about as good as yours.

What you could do to help out is to make more elaborate bug reports on the issue. Like, what are the exact circumstances that triggers it? Does it happen every time or in any way at random? Is it only when the familiar and the owner can hear each other? Does it happen only when the familiar speaks or whenever anyone speaks in the presence of the owner? Does it happen no matter what you say? Or do emotes factor? Do tells trigger it too?

Often, bug reports are so vague that the amount of time it would need to properly locate it would take more time than to fix it. If you want to give a hand and speed up the process, help putting the bugs to a test - investigate them, track them down, and pass all you gather on.

Elfric

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Re: Interactive Familiars and Companions - The real "Magic" in Caster Roleplay
« Reply #23 on: January 02, 2012, 06:26:48 PM »
  • It happen every time
  • It only happens when the owner hears something
  • Whenever anyone speaks in the presence of the owner
  • No matter what you say
  • Tells don't trigger it
« Last Edit: January 02, 2012, 06:29:05 PM by Elfric »

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Nemien Callishan

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Re: Interactive Familiars and Companions - The real "Magic" in Caster Roleplay
« Reply #24 on: January 02, 2012, 07:07:41 PM »
There's no reason that the jumping around happens other than some peculiar glitch in the NWN engine.

This would be a peculiar glitch that did not exist  a few years ago and I have only ever experienced on this particular server. This was not an issue on other servers a few years back. And yes, that was after HOTU (the last expansion pack) came out.
« Last Edit: January 02, 2012, 07:10:47 PM by Nemien Callishan »