Dytalorien's Interview

Okay, in truth I'm too lazy to sort these great questions out at the moment...... eep, I should not have said that... I should not have said that.

I'll sort 'em out soon... ish.

Question - So the attributes of a character will directly effect their ability to perform certain skills?

Ailashaar - Yes, especially in the beginning. But skills will be more important than attributes in the long run. Thus a skilled elven fighter who is rather weak but experienced, may outmatch a young and strong troll fighter.

Question - So you can't just train your attributes in order to better perform your skills?

Ailashaar - You can increase your attributes at character creation, but you cannot train them after that. There will be skills and items however that may affect your attributes.

Question - So you could not, for example, lift heavy objects to increase your strength?

Ailashaar - No, you could not.

Question - Will the race you chosen effect the skills you can acquire?

Ailashaar - Yes, in some cases. There are certain skills that are 'racial' skills. Like the trollish ability to sniff out smells. But you will not be lacking skills from a class by choosing the 'wrong' race.

Question - Will intelligence effect a character's learning ability?

Ailashaar - Yes, it will. Intelligent characters will learn more swiftly from their practicing.
Shailejron - Character attributes will also be affected by age.

Question - Will your learning ability be affected as well? For example, an old man will learn slower than a teenager would.

Ailashaar - Not by the means I think you mean.

Question - So you will start out with some class skills, will your character's background affect some of the skills they have as well?

Shailejron - Your characters background is something you fabricate and role-play as you move along. You will have a starting set of skills, some would i.e. be of aggressive and others of peaceful nature. Lets say you have clearly stated that you do not wish to indulge in combat. You only have a basic "understanding" of your basic set of skills. They are yet undeveloped. You have to start using them, to improve them. So you can just disregard those skills that do not apply to your background. By being a member of a class guild you will be given skills (more about that later), but you are not forced to continue using them.

Question - Could you possibly unlearn them? I've seen this done in some other games.

Shailejron - Hm. Can we return to that question? As you will see, that would have serious effects on your current guild level.

Question - Aside from your guild will there be alternative places you can learn skills?

Shailejron - Yes! More about that soon as well.

Question - Alright, just a clarification, you say worthy challenge. If you were practicing a skill such as 'woodcutting', what would be a worth challenge?

Ailashaar - There are different types of materials, as well as different types of things to craft. Both may increase the 'challenge'. Crafting a large delicate instrument from a fragile type of wood may be very hard.

Question - Alright, you mentioned relevant skills. If I were to develop unrelevant skills to the point of greatness, could I still be considered a novice?

Ailashaar - Relevant skills would be such skills that are considered to be of use in your class. A bard, for example, may have more benefit from languages than a fighter would.
Shailejron - In practice the fighters guild would not rate your language skills as high, but they would not entirely be excluded.
Ailashaar - So when the bards rank is determined her skill in languages are more worth, than the fighters would be.

Question - Will you be made aware of the profession limitations of your race beforehand?

Shailejron - Yes, these limitations will be available for your browsing at character creation.
Ailashaar - And in the upcoming racial descriptions.

Question - How will you be made aware of these societies and lodges?

Ailashaar - You need to explore the world, or talk to others who have.

Question - If you do not gain a specialization, will your skills stay at a standstill?

Ailashaar - No, you can keep practicing you profession skills, but you will not get a higher rank, or any new path skills.

Question - Will there be anything further you could do after completing your path? Say start a new one?

Ailashaar - No, you can only have one path. But as Shailejron will tell you in a while, it's far from over. There are many other things outside your path to be learned.

Question (b1uemchen) - For the shield example u gave.. is there any secured way to do this? Or must u trust the other person?

Ailashaar - Safe trade you mean? Well u must give the shield to someone else if he/she shall work with it.

Question (b1uemchen) - Can this person run away with it?

Ailashaar - Well, possibly yes. You could of course sell it to him to not risk losing any value.

Question (Dytalorien) - Will there be a limit to how many people can cooperate together?

Ailashaar - It depends on the action really. Say shamans chanting together it would be limited by how many can be grouped together.
Shailejron - Another pretty cool example with shamans is: one person summoning clouds, another praying for rain and a third praying for the rain cloud to move in the right direction. And of course if you want/need more power, you could have an group doing each part. Then you can have someone calling lightning to ignite a person, and another using the rain to put it out. Throw in a battle of winds and things can get interesting.
Ailashaar - It would not be required to be 12 shamans to do anything at all. But if you are many you could work against nature - providing rain in a desert. Or you could reach very powerful results in a more cooperative environment.

Question - So we could, in theory, have a group of people that could control the weather?

Ailashaar - Yes, in theory.

Question (b1uemchen) - Is there any max # of shamans that can work together?

Ailashaar - There can only be as many shamans chanting at the same prayer as there can be characters grouped. But there could be one group assigned to each prayer.

Question (Dytalorien) - What will happen to your skills if you acquire a new title? For example a swimmer buys a mining title, will his swimming skills disappear?

Shailejron - The title is simply a receipt, they do not affect your skills.

Question - So you could be proficient in all the skills or will there be a limit?

Shailejron - Yes, you could and that would be a problem if characters didn't eventually die of old age. You will be able to list all characters online. You could make a check to see what "Miner's were available. However if a character has toggled anonymous, he/she will not show on any listings. If you owned a smithy, it could be a good idea to acquire a "Blacksmith" title and so on. Some players may not be interested in the path system. They can choose to focus on common skills and acquire a trade title.

Question (b1uemchen) - Could you store your diplomas somewhere? Using it when you feel like you need it?

Shailejron - Yes. The diploma is a sheet of paper that can be stored. It is in some ways an "evidence" that you are as good as you say.

Question (Dytalorien) - Okay, will common skills be available from the onset or will you have to learn them from somewhere. i.e. Alternative places to learn skills. Along with that will there be alternative places to learn skills?

Shailejron - Some common skills can be learned in a path guild. An example would be Rangers and woodworking. Others could learn the skill from alternative places, like a carpenter school or a master. So the ranger would learn woodworking at his guild, while a magician would have to find it elsewhere.
Ailashaar - Most common skills would be accessible to everyone though, making them different from the path skills.

Question - Will characters have the ability to teach each other?

Shailejron - That is something that has been brought up from time to time...Atm there is nothing like that, because many skills require an effort from the player. Lets say we want a common skill to be very rare and hard to find. The balance would be distorted if it were merely passed around. Teaching skills to one another would have to be limited to skills that do not require a serious effort.

Shailejron - Alright, that's all the questions I have. A skill like heraldry will present the character with a list of symbols he/she knows how to create. This list will also differ between players depending on which they've learned. Other examples of this would be embroidery, furriery, and crafting in general. Two characters could both know how to craft, but they would have two different lists. Thus some skills "hide" many underlying quests. You could have mastered your path, but still not have found out how to craft that stool. So there is really "lots" to do and discover.