Report 1298

Report #1298
Skillset: Crow Skill: Totemcarve
 Org: Shadowdancers Status: Completed Oct 2013
Furies' Decision:
Solution 1.
Problem: Currently, totems serve multiple, essential services to members of the
Glomdoring and Serenwilde, at both an organizational and personal level. Totems
serve as the communes' version of runed statues when bonded by a user of Crow or
Stag. Bonding to a totem is one of the requirements for Crow and Stag users to
use a majority of their skills. Unfortunately, only DRUIDS who have chose the
Druidry specialization are able to carve totems (which leaves Wyrdenwood,
Wildewoode, and Totem Knights without a means of procuring the essential tools
of their skillsets). This report seeks to spread this burden from amongst one of
the most poorly represented portion of the population to a wider group of
individuals, as well as rectify the issue of codependency on Druidry Druids.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #1: Move the Totemcarve skill from 0% Master in
 Druidry(Stag) and Druidry(Crow) to 0% master in the
 Totems specializations Stag and Crow. This will allow
 knights who specialize in Stag or Crow and druids who
 specialize in Wildewood or Wyrdenwood to be able to
 carve the totems which they require for their
 abilities, as well as spreading the burden of commune
 maintenance amongst more people.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #2: In addition to Solution 1, add the Totemcarve skill
 to 0% Master in the Totems specializations Moon and
 Night, allowing wiccans to assist druids in carving
 totems. While this solution is desirable, it may not
 be deemed appropriate thematically.
[A: 0 R: 0] Solution #3: Add a new syntax to Crow / Stag Bond, which allows
 for the creation of little symbols (for some
 commodity cost, eg 20 meat and 1 shadowessence for 20
 crow-symbols). 2) A new skill in Nature that allows
 for affixing these symbols to a Totem. Every year,
 when the tree would revert, it instead consumes the
 symbol.
Player Comments:
---[Kio on 10/10 @ 01:07 writes]:
Totems are currently one of the most basic commune chores. Members of a commune
may perform the basic power quest (pixies or shadows of crow) to receive a nut
(one nut per ten pixies/shadows). After this nut it acquired, a Nature user may
plant it. After the course of planting five nuts in one room, trimming the
trees, waiting, trimming the trees again, and waiting some more, a user of
Druidry(Stag) or Druidry(Crow) can carve a fully grown tree into the totem,
allowing it to be bonded by a Stag or Crow user to be used with their skills.
After being carved, the tree cannot be chopped. However, totems revert back to
choppable trees on a specific timer. This creates a recurring task of combing
the entire forest and carving totems which can only be done by members of the
Hartstone or Blacktalon who have selected the melding specialization of their
guilds, as both Wildewood and Wyrdenwood lack the ability to carve totems. These
totems, however, will be used in the abilities of those Serenguard who select
Stag and Ebonguard who select Crow, as well as those druid who have selected the
*wood specializations. When these totems are bonded, they will also become the
forests' iteration of runed statues (which require far, far less commitment and
upkeep - especially considering that ANYONE can create a statue). The two druid
guilds have notoriously been low-population, further compounding the issue as
those few druids are are active and have chosen the melding specialization must
shoulder this burden alone. This report attempts to remove the burden from a
vast minority of the communes and spread it among more individuals.
---[Kio on 10/10 @ 01:36 writes]:
There are individuals who feel this skill should remain only within the Druidry
specialization of Nature, as being able to carve totems is the defining
characteristic of a druid. This is something to keep in mind, even though it is
not something with which I agree.
---[Enyalida on 10/10 @ 04:31 writes]:
Solution three should include giving real totemcarving to Wilde/Wyrdenwoods, as
a very last report, but I don't see any substantial reason to go against this
report. There are several ways to fix the obnoxious totem mechanics, this is one
of them that should help.
---[Wobou on 10/12 @ 17:51 writes]:
I support either solution.
---[Vadi on 10/13 @ 01:05 writes]:
Svorai has requested this comment: Totemcarving is a skill unique to druids, who
take the skillset of Druidry. The whole point of druids is that they use
'physical nature magic' (which involves tending to the forest), as opposed to
wiccans who use 'ethereal nature magic' (which involves the fae and spirits).
Both druids and wiccans take Nature, but that is where their similarities end.
Wiccans, and especially knights, should *not* have the ability to tend to the
forest in this unique way that druids do, as druids are the 'caretakers of the
forest'. This proposal would take away their purpose of being. Using Crow has
nothing to do with the Nature side of the guild's skills, as Crow comes from
Totems (totem *spirits*, mind, not making trees into totem poles). I don't
understand why knights are even being proposed to have an ability to carve.
Their tertiary has nothing to do with totems. I understand that some people find
carving a chore, and even moreso when the Wilde/Wyrdenwoods came along. The
premise of this report is a good one -- I agree that there should be a report on
it. There must be another solution, though, rather than handing a *very special*
skill to other archetypes simply to have a larger pool of people to do the task.
What about having totems last not one year, but two, or five? What about
changing the mechanic of the 'Moonhart' or 'Wyrden' skills for Wilde/Wyrdenwoods
so that they can slow the reversion of totems to elders by a factor of two, or
five? Allow Crow/Stag users to have a lesser 'bond' with a handful of totems
that prevents them from reverting, but can't have runes affixed to them?
Anything but giving away this ability, please.
---[Llandros on 10/14 @ 18:05 writes]:
Statues are easier to put up and upkeep but they do not generate power. Also,
they are never invulnerable. How much grind and exclusivity warrants the power
gain is debatable. I could see allowing this for crow and stag, possibly to a
lesser degree. Barring expanding the pool of people though you can always up the
incentive for people by mechanics or org. Might even recruit more druids who
want in on that sweet sweet carving racket.
---[Xenthos on 10/15 @ 13:07 writes]:
There's a new solution attached to this, Solution 3. I really like this as an
option because it requires the same amount of work (still need to comb the
forest on a yearly basis), but it enables both Wiccans and Warriors to help
share the burden a bit. Warriors can make the symbols and then provide them to
Wiccans, who attach them to the already-built-totems. Solution 3 also leaves it
so that if the tree does revert, it is still the province of the Druids to carve
them back (so that they retain their supreme bond to the physical forest). It
simply adds in something that helps keep the totem from reverting -if- the
effort is put forth- and it's something that can be done proactively instead of
reactively (another great thing imo).
---[Llandros on 10/15 @ 15:06 writes]:
Nooooo to solution 3 unless there is a very short window in which trees can be
given symbols. Otherwise you will just have both communes with perma
invulnerable trees that will never need to be re-carved.
---[Xenthos on 10/15 @ 23:21 writes]:
Er, it's not permanent- it requires consistent upkeep or it fails. That's a lot
of rooms, and very, -very- easy to miss some (or even a lot). It's not like
there is a suggestion to have them be in another state when they have a symbol
so that you can bond track to them or anything (which you -can- do with Elders).
It will just prevent large swathes of them from going all at once, and if a few
get deadified it's no longer as big a deal simply because there is no longer the
potential for 20+ to all be chopped at a time.
---[Talan on 10/16 @ 02:36 writes]:
Solution 1.
---[Shuyin on 10/16 @ 02:58 writes]:
Solution 1 is simplest
---[Vivet on 10/19 @ 23:35 writes]:
For solution 3, if I am not misreading it, does that mean the symbol just puts
off the reversion for an IC day, then? It doesn't make any explicit remark about
resetting the reversion timer as if it were carved, which would be a huge
benefit if such was intended. People may or may not be reading it that way.