Tue Dec 31 19:07:13 2019

At 5 o'clock PM, Day of Thunder, 24th of the Month of the Frost Giant
on the Theran calendar Borwyndre perished, never to return.

Race:	svirfnebli
Class:	shapeshifter
Level:	44
Alignment:	Neutral
Ethos:	Neutral
Cabal:	None, None
Age:	149
Hours:	101

I'm not entirely sure what to write, this character suffered a large lapse in playtime right towards the end due to RL, holidays, travel and just general more RL needs. With my return to CF I've found myself playing a ton more conservatively and wanted to try to change that up by going a villager. A shapeshifter you ask? Well, my bucket list idea was like hey... they have the skill, why not never practice a spell, suffer through reaching level 28 and only learn the skill to change forms. I was never entirely sure it would be possible without somehow practicing the spell, but I was fortunate there. Which does lead me to a few annoyances:

The most... I just wish it could have been possible to somehow make it work (I know it was a huge long shot) because before I ultimately decided to try it, I tried to think if might be feasible due to balance alone. This is why I went Offense/Offense as opposed to Off/Def or Off/Air; I didn't want to be cheesy cause in my head it would be far less believable for balance-sake to allow a village airform. So balance wise, I was only one set of forms, I wasn't gonna have fly in any fashion, I assumed other than call resistance/truesight most any of the village skills wouldn't work in form anyway.

I also was forsaking any enlivens, so that counts towards end balance. And it's hard to get the most out of an Offense form without haste/stone skin/fly/controled trans/etc. Svirf was to make up for this a little bit and thank goodness... I at least had DI and an occassionally stone skin when I could hold it into a form.

Feel free to comment and say hi, especially if I managed to confuse you IC :-D Always enjoyed the initial reaction when someone realized I hated magic... and I was a shapeshifter.

My main goodbyes:

A fine leather hat - I'm hoping you'll reveal who you were. I can't tell you how much a difference you made with my character and enjoyment I got from it which was hard at times. When I lost you once (full looters gonna loot) I was so sad you poofed. It also lead to me really disliking Wotburd when he was only level 9 or so. Was happy to get you back... I was always hoping you might perk up again before I deleted, but I'll probably have to blame that on my vanishing due to RL crap.

Daph - Sorry to not make progress in your religion. I'm tempted to maybe revisit it in the future on a cookie-cutter character. Was hoping my out-of-the-box approach might be more of a hit, but don't think I hit the right notes. Doubt you'll ever get a mage that actually takes the edge to forsake aura/shield/barrier like I did :P

Panmorne - Fellow master of the staff. Thank you for giving me the time of day. Also a huge (and I'm often still in disbelief) thank you for waking me up from that nightmare in Hamsahi that took place during our first conversation. I've never had such a thing happen to me, so I will forever be grateful that you did and I hope you know I never took it for granted.

Wotburd, wotturd, something - Kinda lost drive especially when you came about to leadership position because of your dropping 20 fine leather hats in front of me instead of actually RPing with me in any way. This is why I actually hate villagers so much so often since most are never actually trying to interact with mages other than kill them. I don't think one has to be a goodie villager to have that angle, and thought my shifter village wannabe was gonna be a nice obstacle to villagers to get over that kill a mage cause here's a mage that actually isn't practicing spells, etc

Laeriellelelele - I'm thankful I got to run around with you and bugglin at the end and actually die fruitlessly to perma bard/assassin combos. Hopefully that bards ass won't be attached to a shadow in future fights, but seems like it always is. I digress, based on our interactions I was finally hopefully I might have more on my side of the court to vouch for my dedication so I hope I read that correctly. Too many mixed interactions with the imms though made me think I was crazy to keep pursuing the role I was trying to make work sadly.

Sayra - Always enjoyed complaining to you about Olin's lack of variety in his inventory. Glad the holidays brought some gingerbread and things. I'm spacing on that rangers name, but boy did I enjoy making him upset by just being present... there were a few moments I was gonna emote my lynx pissing on his leg, but I did not want to abuse the fact I was able to emote in form. (probably had it all typed out 3-4 times but always deleted it, hehe)

General Villagers - Most of you actually were pretty awesome. Think it was Morok I was frustrated with, but it was one of the better approaches to dealing with my weird character case. Most everyone was verbally supportive of what I was trying to do and I'm grateful for that - I wasn't exactly holding down allies anywhere else... I really wanted to find out what my final form was going to be, but at the end it just sucked. Way too many imperials so I wasn't about to group up with any of them... most all villagers weren't going to group with me no matter the circumstance, so I just ended up living at level 44 (trying to PvE with a no magic offensive form is not only hard, but really slow).

Chuta - You were such a crap Tribunal, so glad you left. It was the one time I wished I was able to be a fully functioning shifter cause I knew you would hop to follow me into the sewer but damn did that just scream horrible tribunal. Had I been able to keep you from the ol flee/sleep tactic, that would have been perfect but missing a trample and suffering 3 rounds lag (I really don't get why they make every main skill 3 rounds most the time). At the end of the day, hopefully it was just another nail in the coffin of you not being the type of caliber for Vindicator.

Necros - What can I say. cast sleep, die. It was always frustrating because on the one hand, this character was to mix it up, but there was absolutely nothing fun by fighting a necromancer. Always was just a matter of landing sleep.

I'm sure there's plenty I'm missing but let me offer my final arguments. If you're gonna say shapeshifting is all magic whether skill or not, then get rid of the damage done to breaking bones and all that jazz. I was really trying to play up the fact that creatures can metamorphosis in nature (albeit often a slower process), so even I never felt like it was a huge stretch. I also recommend reading the Dragonlance book Kisanth. It's about a Black Dragon who learns to shapeshift from two (I forget the creatures for sure) nymphs that teach her to do so without magic. The process was well written and about emulating the creature so fully you take on their motivations... when Kisanth is able to take a human form, she for the first time, was experiencing other emotions even as basic as a desire for food other than raw meat. So while I know I'm mixing realms and such, we still have CF where it's totally fine to breath under water by eating seaweed, but what... we can't fathom creatures able to master their body enough to shift without magic? Le sigh

PS. I reserve right to post more if I think I forgot something, venting or otherwise.

When I left you alone outside of Maethien (as Astina), I actually had to pk 3 mages in a week to remain a villager and I'd only managed 1 in days.

But I would have felt dirty if I'd treated you as a mage.

That said, induction into the village was unlikely to ever happen. We had that really good monk years ago, and he never got inducted either.

Also deathblow on a thirsting offense form would probably be op. ;)

I agree but I figured it would depend on the mechanics. Since it's been ages since I've done a villager I couldn't say for certain but I'm assuming it's a skill. So if I was in form, it wouldn't have fired - additionally, were the long shot ever to play out I was gonna try and just go defender. Would have fit my role better really.

Definitely appreciated Astina and didn't forget about that conversation. I hope you were successful especially without going after me!

and so did Hattie.

I think the biggest issue was your playtimes were so opposite to mine that I'd only get a chance to interact with you when I should've already been in bed. That also made it hard to watch your progress, but in general I was always glad to see you on the who list even if I couldn't dedicate time to making your login a little more fun.

Good luck in the new year!

If you were Hattie, just a huge double thanks. It means a ton to have that level of interaction and truly became the highlight of the character. Wish things like that could randomly happen with all characters cause sometimes it can feel like playing a DM'd D&D game with an absent DM (often through no fault of either party, just different schedules).

Super grateful I had such an awesome hat to keep my dented head company :D

Came across as a swell fella who was sincere and pretty damned pleasant to listen to and chat with. Liked you a plenty lot, otherwise I wouldn't have given you the hand I did.

My liking you don't make you any less of a mage, so there was no way you were making it into the Village as a shapeshifting shapeshifter. Now if you had tried to join another guild, that'd have been something I might've tried working with.

Same said, Borwyndre was a damned fine character to see! Glad you had some fun with me too!

I appreciate you chiming in and offering your words. One thing I liked too about Borwyndre was a few reasons to interact with several imms which normally for me it's just one, if one at all.

On a side note question, did anyone consider it at all a possibility or to investigate if it was remotely mechanically possible? In my head I figured I'd break the mud if anyone actually did try to induct me ;P

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