It seems like there are, well, tons of duergar these days. It's not uncommon for
15-20% of the people online to be duergar. That's three times what there would be
if it was a balanced racial distribution. I know it's not supposed to be balanced
exactly among the races as far as population, but are there supposed to be so many
duergar? Sure they have plenty of drawbacks to them, but they're very popular for a
reason. In addition with so many duergar around, it can get pretty tough for thieves
and assassins to compete sometimes. Thieves and Assassins are heavily reliant on hide
(well, thieves moreso than assassins) and with so many duergar their ability to be
stealthy is largely undercut. Now this might be exactly what the Immstaff intended in
which case ok. But really, there are a lot of people that can see hidden, did you mean
it to be undercut by this much? But if it isn't by design and it's just how things
have ended up, I'd like to ask if you'd consider reviewing the situation. Here are
some ideas that I have come up with that could help either even out the duergar
population or help out the hiders by adding a bit of stealth love back to the thieves
and assassins of the world.

1 - Give duergar some new vulnerability, or lower their max stats, or lower their max
rollable status. I don't think this is the best option because their solid str/dex offsets
their low int/wrath vuln pretty nicely now. This might help to lower the population though.

2 - Tweak duergar detect hidden. Duergar can see hidden because they have good eyes from
being underground. When they leave their underground homes their eyes adjust and aren't
quite as good as they used to be. Ideas for possible tweaks, one or many or mix them up
as appropriate for balance..

- Duergar can detect hidden only indoors
- Duergar can detect hidden but not on where or who, only in the same room or when scanning
- Duergar detect hidden is made to be like wood-elf camouflage

Just some ideas, I'm sure you guys can come up with other interesting options etc and figure
out what is most appropriate if any. Thanks for considering, any thoughts or comments
would be appreciated.

The duergar population, like anything else on the MUD, waxes and wanes as combinations based on it come in and out of vogue.

If there's a lot of duergar running around, that means it's an excellent time to play any number of things that are well-equipped to tool on an equally-skilled-player's duergar in a bad way.

I eat duergars for breakfast... and right now I'm very hungry!

(Bonus points if you know what should replace 'duergar' in that phrase. Extra bonus points if you know what should immediately preceed said phrase.)

You scared ####er? Well you should be because this green beret is going to kick your big ass.

Remember when I said I'd kill you last? I lied.

Although, Alyssa Milano is in this paticular movie.

Hot.


-G

valguarnera@carrionfields.com

Just for the sake of argument...

Wouldn't it depend on the duergar's class, spec, etc? I'm not sure there's one class that absolutely owns duergar (as an entire race) in the same way that, say, a hero shaman should own a shield paladin.

Paladin? Druid? Warrior (with particular weapons in mind)?

when i play thieves/assassins i seldom see the duergar in my pk as a threat and more like a prey and i usually turn their inherent ability to detect hidden to an advantage of mine instead of the oposite, i think hide would become overpowered if there wasn't a race that could detect it, and you do know that duergar detect hidden allready has limitations, don't you?

You should only worry about duergar if they can summon. Otherwise, I think you are making a mountain out of a molehill.

I'm guessing your thief doesn't oppose the Empire. Here are a few things to think about.

- Consider trying to roleplay a thief as a "scout" either for maybe Battle or the Fortress. Nearly half of the Empire can see you. Bleh.

-As a thief you are supposed to be stealthy. It's not very stealthy when so many people can spot you.

- What does you should only worry about mean? When you see a gang of
two or three warriors trying to kill you and they are all duergar, um.... yeah. Even if there is only one duergar in the group, it makes a huge difference, and it happens quite a lot. Can you always just run away, well I guess. But that's not all that much fun is it?

- As for what you said, there are quite a number of duergar summoners around these days these days.

- Is your thief a city ties thief that doesn't pk much? Are you involved in cabal wars at all? do you fight a lot of duergar? Particularly in gangs?

>I'm guessing your thief doesn't oppose the Empire. Here are a
>few things to think about.

I was a Scion thief with Hamsah membership.

>- Consider trying to roleplay a thief as a "scout" either for
>maybe Battle or the Fortress. Nearly half of the Empire can
>see you. Bleh.

See above. I opposed Battle, Empire, Fortress, Tribunal and all of the Galadon thieves.

>-As a thief you are supposed to be stealthy. It's not very
>stealthy when so many people can spot you.

That's only a detriment if they can do anything about it.

>- What does you should only worry about mean? When you see a
>gang of
>two or three warriors trying to kill you and they are all
>duergar, um.... yeah. Even if there is only one duergar in the
>group, it makes a huge difference, and it happens quite a lot.
>Can you always just run away, well I guess. But that's not all
>that much fun is it?

No, running away is not particularly fun. But it's not like they can sneak up on you, either. You're not going to match up well against certain classes. I find it hard to believe you'd go up against three warriors with your thief, duergar present or not.

>- As for what you said, there are quite a number of duergar
>summoners around these days these days.

Blackjack them when they summon. Or quaff a potion. Don't allow yourself to get surprised.

>- Is your thief a city ties thief that doesn't pk much? Are
>you involved in cabal wars at all? do you fight a lot of
>duergar? Particularly in gangs?

I was a binder thief that took the thug path all the way to cheapshot. I averaged 2.00 people in my group per kill, so yeah I ganged a bit. But I killed my share alone.