Pets/Familiars

[Kay 0]

With this and that being settled I thought I should bring to our attention the matter of pets or as they're known in SAO familiars. In the novel it goes and I quote:

"On rare occasions, aggressive monsters would show interest in players. If you didn't miss the chance, you could successfully tame the monster by giving it something to eat. The monster would then become the player's «Familiar» and serve as a valuable ally who supports the player in various ways. Players referred to those who had succeeded in doing so as beast tamers with a mix of praise and envy.

Of course, not all monsters can become familiars; only a very limited variety of small monsters could. The conditions to trigger the event weren't all that clear, but the only one that everyone was sure about was that the event wouldn't occur if the player killed too many of the monster type. "

Should we do just like that? If so do we want to make of list of possible monster types that can be tamed?

[Namine 0]

I think that's the way I'd do it personally. Seems like it'd work well.

[Mythee 0]

You know how on some forums people have 'pet' mods? I was thinking of something simpler, like the 'achievement' type images often displayed next to people's posts (under their avatar). Except I could make little drawings of small monsters and when someone is a beast tamer, their familiar would be displayed by their post-sidebar, just like that. OvO

And maybe players with a familiar should include a post for their familiar's stats and abilities in the character profile page of the OC that owns it.

[Kay 0]

Namine, that's fine.

Mythee that's a great idea about the achievement thing but would that be too much trouble for the admins, what if the pet dies? Pet's would definitely need a post for themselves they have hp and skill of of their own, would they need a level system or would their stats reflect ours? Also what about my list idea? Too much trouble or take it as we go?

[Guest]

If we'd have the room, we could make sprites for pets/familiars and place them in the avatar...

[Mythee 0]

I don't think there's really room.

But yeah, I'm all for familiars having their own stats and post in a character's page. Having to make a list would add a barrier before we could start implementing the system which I don't think is necessary- but I like the take it as we go idea (making creatures that suit the floor and season, perhaps?) Sounds like excellent fun.

I don't think having a familiar appear in that information area below avatars next to people's posts takes much work to implement, but maybe they could be put into signatures instead.

Maybe I could make a mockup of what I mean sometime!

[Kay 0]

The make up different mobs idea does sound fun. As for the second thing I'm all for next to having them appear by our avatars, but as for sig's I thought we ditched those since this Immersion IS the goal.

[Namine 0]

Honestly I don't want too much cluttering up the Siganture area and the Avatars it doesn't look like there's that much room left with the CM there. If the sprite team thinks they can handle it and find a way to make it work, I'd have no problem with it being in the avatar.

The Signature idea? Well I'd have to see an example before I completely shoot it down. Honestly though I think the stat bar signature is really all we'd need as far as signatures go.

[Mythee 0]

What about the idea where it gets inserted in the area beneath the avatar, rather than in the avatar itself? Kind of like where a lot of forums like to put badges and achievements?

[Guest]

What about the idea where it gets inserted in the area beneath the avatar, rather than in the avatar itself? Kind of like where a lot of forums like to put badges and achievements?

I'm all for this idea too

[Kay 0]

I'm all for the the badge idea but instead of doing one for each pet how about we do ones that symbolize archetypes (beats, reptiles, birds) cause custom ones for each pet could get very confusing and time consuming.

[Tokio 0]

So by doing that, with the symbols standing for the monster's race, we would just describe the monsters when RPed with them, yes? Or am I just confusing myself with that?

[Mythee 0]

That's what I gather Kay meant. Since beast taming is rare, though, I really don't see how anyone who gets a beast simply having the specific species of it by their posts would be too much work.

[Kay 0]

Tokio yes that's what I meant. We use archetype badge-icons and describe our pet in a RP post.

[Ahnicah 0]

Would it be less of a burden I wonder, on IF such an occasion happens, that at the time of obtaining a familiar, a player can describe or choose if the said familiar is either of companion level and takes little to no action in battle, or a battle pet, as such would act like a separate fighting entity.

Now this isn't giving immunity to the bests tames of companion is their status, it just means they could be left at 'home' or hidden away (is small) or even ordered to stay back, yet are still viable targets for attack from other players.

it's a curious thought.

[Kay 0]

That would be up to the player and the admins what a pet could do. As for the second idea I don't think that would work unless they've died and been reduced to Heart form.

[Namine 0]

Would it be less of a burden I wonder, on IF such an occasion happens, that at the time of obtaining a familiar, a player can describe or choose if the said familiar is either of companion level and takes little to no action in battle, or a battle pet, as such would act like a separate fighting entity.

Now this isn't giving immunity to the bests tames of companion is their status, it just means they could be left at 'home' or hidden away (is small) or even ordered to stay back, yet are still viable targets for attack from other players.

it's a curious thought.

I actually think this is a neat idea and I would not mind giving this a trial run for a little while. If it gets too complicated for the GMs to handle then we'll discuss it, but so far I have no issues with this.

[Kay 0]

OH! I see what you're saying now. I thought you meant something else. Yeah I'm all for a trial run :).

[Crim 0]

I am GM Crim and i approve of this idea :D

So now thats done and i have done some more reading into the beast tamer Skill. I found that this is one of the more hard skills to learn. Almost like a unique skill but not as rare per say. So here is a general idea of how to obtain this skill.

~It is believed that there are monsters out there that grow an attraction to a certain user. Based on this connection, the player will have to make a choice to either kill it or give it food as a means of showing friendship. Once the food is given, the monster will follow the player and become its familiar. However, kill to much of a type of monster and it is believed that you will lose any chance of gaining a companion.

Some simple guidelines for this skill

~Tamers can only tame one monster at a time.

~Not everyone can be tamers and that only a small percent of players can truly be a tamer.

~Tamers can develop a means of communicating with there companion and after many levels gained with this companion, can understand its speak. However, this does not mean you can out right understand its language. A simple Hello can be taken as FOOD!.

~As the tamer gains level and understanding with its companion that soon the companion will be able to talk to other hostile monsters.

[Tokio 0]

So I take it, it's like having a child to begin with? Don't understand much of what it is saying, just kinda have go with instincts when posting with pets. Sounds fun.