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Valg · 12-17-2005, 10:43 AM

1) Briefly, orcs lack the finesse of our warriors, even those who have chosen various options to make them as barbaric and strength-intensive as possible. choose from a pool of 50-ish skills (standard-issue, though additional skills are available as roleplay rewards, etc.) dealing with dedication to learning the finer points of specific styles. Highly skilled warriors can explore a system of styles known as the , which were passed down to the guild from a now-believed-extinct order of monks. All of this conflicts with our core conception of orcs as undisciplined, bestial creatures. In a sense, berserkers are what comes out when an orc tries to be a warrior.

2) Assassins are out of the picture largely because our guild is based on precision, elegance, and dexterity. Orcs are below average in terms of dexterity (see above commentary about defense), and not particularly concerned with the former two. For a more concrete example, read our helpfile for a skill like and try to imagine one of our orcs executing it. (In contrast, orcs are frequently unable to stop themselves from attacking high elves and wood elves at any opportunity, and will be forced to attack if they're pumped up for combat.)

3) While a Mundunugu is the most shaman-ish of orcs (at least for player characters... the village does have one NPC shaman who refuses to teach his secrets to other orcs), the dividing line is our concept of divine empowerment. Our priests earn their supplications (spell-like divine powers) through roleplay, evaluated by staff oversight and IC encounters. They seek out shrines, get sent on tasks, etc., and are expected to maintain devotion to their empowering Sphere and deity, lest their supplications vanish. It creates a nice personal touch between a deity and their flock, even if it (intentionally) keeps priests slightly rare.

A Mundunugu has a few basic rituals, but they lurk on the edge of magical, divine, and natural. None are 'cast' or 'communed'... their syntax is akin to a physical skill. Also, all require material components (burning things, blood, fresh corpses, etc.), suggesting that the power is not entirely within the orc's grasp. They are not subject to the rules of Empowerment, because they don't gain the diversity and power of a full shaman. On the other hand, they retain all of the physical savagery of a 'normal' berserker. In short, they play like a berserker with a few spell-like powers, whereas a shaman plays nothing like that. (Most effective shamans win by attrition-- they slowly erode your strength through malediction while using their self-only healing and enhancement supplications to keep you from wearing them out. Most successful berserkers have to employ some form of a 'blitz' strategy due to their general ignorance of defense.)

12-17-2005, 10:43 AM	#4
Valg Senior Member Join Date: Apr 2002 Home MUD: Carrion Fields Posts: 643	1) Briefly, orcs lack the finesse of our warriors, even those who have chosen various options to make them as barbaric and strength-intensive as possible. choose from a pool of 50-ish skills (standard-issue, though additional skills are available as roleplay rewards, etc.) dealing with dedication to learning the finer points of specific styles. Highly skilled warriors can explore a system of styles known as the , which were passed down to the guild from a now-believed-extinct order of monks. All of this conflicts with our core conception of orcs as undisciplined, bestial creatures. In a sense, berserkers are what comes out when an orc tries to be a warrior. 2) Assassins are out of the picture largely because our guild is based on precision, elegance, and dexterity. Orcs are below average in terms of dexterity (see above commentary about defense), and not particularly concerned with the former two. For a more concrete example, read our helpfile for a skill like and try to imagine one of our orcs executing it. (In contrast, orcs are frequently unable to stop themselves from attacking high elves and wood elves at any opportunity, and will be forced to attack if they're pumped up for combat.) 3) While a Mundunugu is the most shaman-ish of orcs (at least for player characters... the village does have one NPC shaman who refuses to teach his secrets to other orcs), the dividing line is our concept of divine empowerment. Our priests earn their supplications (spell-like divine powers) through roleplay, evaluated by staff oversight and IC encounters. They seek out shrines, get sent on tasks, etc., and are expected to maintain devotion to their empowering Sphere and deity, lest their supplications vanish. It creates a nice personal touch between a deity and their flock, even if it (intentionally) keeps priests slightly rare. A Mundunugu has a few basic rituals, but they lurk on the edge of magical, divine, and natural. None are 'cast' or 'communed'... their syntax is akin to a physical skill. Also, all require material components (burning things, blood, fresh corpses, etc.), suggesting that the power is not entirely within the orc's grasp. They are not subject to the rules of Empowerment, because they don't gain the diversity and power of a full shaman. On the other hand, they retain all of the physical savagery of a 'normal' berserker. In short, they play like a berserker with a few spell-like powers, whereas a shaman plays nothing like that. (Most effective shamans win by attrition-- they slowly erode your strength through malediction while using their self-only healing and enhancement supplications to keep you from wearing them out. Most successful berserkers have to employ some form of a 'blitz' strategy due to their general ignorance of defense.)