Ni Karma This is a roll bonus system , that is also zero - sum ( i . e . , points leave the system at about the same rate they enter ) . " Karma " can be thought of as " favor of the loot gods " , where it skews loot towards those with the most favor . You get this favor by attending raids , and lose it when winning items . Specifically the term " DKP " is avoided because karma does not really act as currency . But for those that love the idea of DKP , they can hoard points and then it DOES act as currency . . . but items can become quite expensive in this case . Design goals . Ni Karma ( or NKS ) was designed to solve the following issues well : Detailed description . Name . The system is officially called the Ni Karma System ( or NKS ) , to distinguish it from DKP , zero - sum DKP , and other loot distribution systems . ( Karma can be thought as " favor of the loot gods " as the more you have , the more it skews loot towards you . It should not be equated to currency or DKP . ) New members . New raiders start with 0 karma . Karma scores can never drop below zero ( but this is configurable ) . If a penalty or enforced expenditure ( by the minimum cost rule below ) would bring a score below 0 , it is set to zero instead . Earning Karma . The following is a list of possible ways to earn karma . This list should be understood as an example , each raid using this system is encouraged to tweak it any way they like . one simple and elegant alternative would be It is possible for raid leaders to hand out bonuses to the entire raid , if a raid spends significant time to progress / learn how to defeat a new boss . Karma may also be individually granted to those filling in empty slots to help the raid succeed . As with all standard DKP systems , guild leaders need to pay attention on how much karma enters the system . If too few points enter the system , veteran raiders will be at a disadvantage , if too many points are awarded , veterans gain too much of a lead . For speed and to smooth out the extremely lucky rolls , rollers have to be within 50 points of the highest karma use . The leader should consider how many more raids / hours / commitment one person needs in order to completely lock out a new player on a loot drop , by having over 50 more points . A good starting factor would be 2 - 3 raids , which equates to about 10 hours . This means that people who have done 10 hours of raiding more than someone else , do not have to roll against them because they will have at least 50 more karma . Therefore , the karma entering should be approximately 5 points per hour , or about 20 karma per raid . This is a good value for fairness ' sake . Spikes , such as special awards for new boss kills , won ' t harm the system , but continuously awarding too much karma will have a detrimental effect . Distributing Loot . When an item drops , the master looter first announces which classes and / or builds are eligible to compete for the item . Eligible raid members have now three choices : pass , roll without bonus , or roll with bonus . If nobody with a karma score of 50 or more is willing to use their bonus , the loot master may open the item to other classes / off - specs at his discretion . If nobody is willing to use a bonus of 50 or more , in the end all raid members able to use the item are allowed to participate in the roll . Members choosing to add their karma bonus to their rolls must use it fully - - no partial amounts . If the item is won by someone using their bonus , their karma cost is [ half their karma rounded up to the nearest multiple of 5 ] . < br > ( eg . Karma = 82 . Cost is 82 / 2 = 41 - - ( rounded up ) - > 45 . Final Karma = 82 - 45 = 37 . ) There is no karma loss if none was used by the winner ( except for class items - see next ) . Class set items always cost at least 25 karma , and at most 100 karma . There is no such min / max loss cap on multi - class items . This is configurable , but imposing a maximum cost will affect the zero - sum property . After announcing the usage of bonus , those people whose used bonus is 50 points below the highest used bonus are excluded from the roll . If the highest karma used is 50 or lower , anyone eligible may roll with or without karma . Multi - class items are distributed first , then class items for consistency . ( Any BOE ' s picked up on the way will also be distributed after boss loot . ) Ties are decided by a straight / roll with no bonuses . If only one person was interested in the item at all , they get it as though they declared " no bonus " , even if they did declare " with bonus " . Karma is kept separately for each character and cannot be transferred ( except when you are requested to bring an alt character , you may apply that karma to your main character ) . Losses for wins are immediate . Karma is added at the end of the night , or after loot distribution of each boss kill , if feasible . There exists a UI mod to track karma continually . If you are told not to compete for an item by an officer , you may not roll . This may be invoked in cases of multiple defaulted / free items being won by one person who then tries to roll on other things , or other situations that seem highly " unfair " . Members are expected to not be greedy , but they are also expected to not collude . Members should generally spend karma on every item they actually want . Examples and comments . One thing no system can solve is the issue of vastly unlucky class drops . The loss cap of 100 points and the minimum of 25 points fixes much of this , however . The sliding tier window eliminates the extremely - lucky person from competing with someone who has a much higher bonus - - but only if that person uses his bonus . Ex : Person A has a high bonus of 150 and persons B , C , D have relatively low bonuses ( 70 , 40 , and 30 ) . If Person A wanted to use her karma , she would win it outright since nobody else is within 50 points ( and thus , ineligible to roll ) . If ' A ' declines to use her bonus then the choice goes to ' B ' . If ' B ' uses his bonus , everyone with 20 + karma may roll with bonus ( and A may not roll , since her bonus is zero by choice ) . If B passes too , the option will go to C . Since C is less - than - or - equal to 50 points , everyone may roll with their declared bonus , including A and B ( with a 0 bonus ) . If Person C used bonus of 40 , he ' d have far more chance of winning against those not using bonus . This demonstrates how those that save bonus will generally be the last to receive items but get the first pick at new items . The sliding tier eliminates some of the annoying disappointment if both A and B wanted the item . . . A has way more karma than B , but could potentially lose without the sliding tier . Remember that there ' s still a minimum 25 point loss on all class items , whether bonus was used or not , and a maximum loss of 100 points . That means it ' s the players best interests to roll with bonus on class items if their bonus is 50 or lower , because they ' re going to lose 25 points when winning no matter what . The plugin actually forces a 50 - point " bonus " roll on class items if they have the karma , due to the 25 point minimum cost for class items . Each person needs to decide how they want to use their points . . . saving them gives first pick and is much like purchasing the items , but items tend to cost more and will reduce the number of items won . Players following this strategy will get items either very early ( when using karma ) , or late ( without using karma ) . Spending karma quickly , on the other hand , gives more items cheaper , but only if the others don ' t want them . It ' s more random , and will never result in winning a high - end , top - of - the - line drop . Many times , you won ' t even get to roll on something you want , but many times you ' ll get very cheap items . This duality is a big strength , where karma is more like currency ( dkp ) when saving , and more like a roll bonus ( karma ) if not . But the objective a loot system is to be " fair " , so loot masters should use sound judgement when people are rolling on items for many different roles . One rule used by the Knights who say Ni , which is not directly related to the system : For each instance , new members need to attend at least one previous run where at least one boss was killed in that instance , before they get to roll on any items from that instance . The only exception is if they are the only person that can use the item . The plugin is highly configurable . The Knights have recently added a 10 point minimum cost to help prevent people fishing for items for no karma , and only if nobody wants it for 10 , drop the cost to zero . We normally allow people to pass to the next highest person , but if an item goes for free , it ' s only to prevent sharding . . . thus no passing to the next - highest roll is allowed in that cast . Also unrelated directly to the system : The Knight who say Ni allow members to move karma between alts , with some restrictions . For instance , people may move Molten Core karma over 200 to BWL karma at a rate of 20 % . Ex : Someone has 325 molten core karma . He can move 125 of it and get credited 25 points of BWL karma . This is some incentive for experienced players to help out in MC , since it will give them karma in BWL . It ' s not meant to replace going to BWL , but merely an incentive to continue attending MC . Acknowledgments : Qed was a co - designer of this system and did a lot of the number crunching and theory . He is a fan of zero - sum and proved how this system " tended towards zero - sum " ( although it is not strictly so ) . I ' d like to thank the officers of the Knights who say Ni on Icecrown for their input , including a lot of work coming up with other possible systems , and the entire Ni guild for being so patient as we worked out the kinks