I've seen this mentioned in threads but not really detailed or discussed. There may be additional effects or events then the three I listed, but they should operate on the same core principal.
The concept of a character being put under the control of another player,being or entity shouldn't be taken lightly. Like the imprisonment debate, no one wants to lose control of their character. But sometimes the risk is considered worth the possibility.
A prime example is Michael Moorecock's Stormbringer, the black sword possessed by a demon that grants great power and extracts an equally great price from its holder. In the books the sword would, at times, move of its own violation and suck the soul of someone standing nearby. Often the victim would be someone Elric considered a friend, it seemed to favor slaying any female Elric was involved with. But the power granted by the sword was awesome.
An example in a game is the Barbarian class's Berserk ability in the 2D graphical MUD Drakkar. In that game a Barb could activate his Berserk ability while in combat, the ability had levels which were accessed with repeated key presses of the ability button. As the Barb increased their "rage" their damage, number of attacks in a round, ability to dodge would all fluctuate randomly within a round while the Barb would often let out wild, incoherent screams. But there was also the chance that the Barbarian would lose control, leap huge distances and strike (usually with massive damage) friendlies, party members pretty much anyone. The way a Barb usually "calmed down" was to go off where they alone until they naturally calmed down, think of it like some games handle recovering from having drank too much.
Demon possession would be putting a character under the control of an NPC demonic (or Devilish?) entity.
Cursed items, perhaps even cursed locations might result in a character becoming possessed.
Mind control would be putting a character under the control of another player, or NPC entity.
Now my thought would be to have these things be pretty much short term events. No one wants to spend 30 mins watching someone else kill your alignment after all! But I do think this sort of thing would provide a lot of RP potential as well as being something memorable to all parties! :D methods to rid characters of these effects shouldn't be too difficult to find nor perform unless its some sort of special situation.
Spells in the form of Dominate Person, items or the effect of some action by the player might lead to their becoming possessed or some sort of divine interaction may result in a player being possessed (perhaps not all possession need result in bad things happening? That would be more of a GM event though) . In terms of the Barbarian, the skill Berserk. Perhaps there are other things that can cause these effects or even other similar effects.
It goes without saying that this would be something far back on any priority list if it even makes a list!
So, what do you think?
Goblin Squad Member
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Ryan said that any effect that 'takes over' a character would be momentary at best.
My rule is 3 seconds or less and no outside 'control', just random movement, anything over is more frustrating than fun. Having to watch your screen while someone/thing else controls you isn't enjoyable to enough people.
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Goblin Squad Member
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They could achieve many of the effects without actually taking over the character. Just change the information about local creatures so the players can't tell friend from foe. Randomize their targeting and their perception of attacker flags, and they either stop fighting because of the confusion or they guess and take the risk that they're hitting friends or healing enemies.
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Goblin Squad Member
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They could achieve many of the effects without actually taking over the character. Just change the information about local creatures so the players can't tell friend from foe. Randomize their targeting and their perception of attacker flags, and they either stop fighting because of the confusion or they guess and take the risk that they're hitting friends or healing enemies.
Problem there, abusable via 3rd party programs. Party of 5 with a tool that monitors targets in the area. Barbarian gets confused, hacked client realzies it is confused, and instead determines real targets via what cleric and wizard are seeing. Or if GW attempted to prevent it via not giving the barbarians system direct knowledge he is confused, than the 5 hacked clients will share information, and on a descrepency default to the majority, or the least likely to be affected characters. If one character can see things for what they really are, you can expect his allies to have pretty immidiate access to that information.
and hypothetically pretending that GW did have a perfect client-hackproof system, and the information was somehow unrelayable via ventrilo etc... how would that work in the event that the barbarian had his bearings early in combat. IE that dude I was mid swing on with my axe... is still the guy I'm trying to kill, even if he now has my wizards name and face.
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Goblin Squad Member
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They could achieve many of the effects without actually taking over the character. Just change the information about local creatures so the players can't tell friend from foe. Randomize their targeting and their perception of attacker flags, and they either stop fighting because of the confusion or they guess and take the risk that they're hitting friends or healing enemies.Problem there, abusable via 3rd party programs. Party of 5 with a tool that monitors targets in the area. Barbarian gets confused, hacked client realzies it is confused, and instead determines real targets via what cleric and wizard are seeing. Or if GW attempted to prevent it via not giving the barbarians system direct knowledge he is confused, than the 5 hacked clients will share information, and on a descrepency default to the majority, or the least likely to be affected characters. If one character can see things for what they really are, you can expect his allies to have pretty immidiate access to that information.
and hypothetically pretending that GW did have a perfect client-hackproof system, and the information was somehow unrelayable via ventrilo etc... how would that work in the event that the barbarian had his bearings early in combat. IE that dude I was mid swing on with my axe... is still the guy I'm trying to kill, even if he now has my wizards name and face.
I suppose they could just make it so that each attack has a chance to hit others within a certain radius, regardless of targeting. Then allies have to back off, leaving you to be surrounded and flanked by enemies.
In Drakkar the way Berserk worked mechanically was, a round began and I as the Barb would select my target and click my attack key, however when it came my characters turn to attack he would let out a scream like Aaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiii! And would smack the age for 3/4 of their hit points. Te next attack might work fine, or it might hit twice or at the height of his rage he might strike three times in a round.
The involuntary actions would occur as if he failed a roll. His actions would be totally random. GW may well take another path with Berserk, if its even included among he Barbarians abilities.
Some spells like fear and command could have limited affects but make for interesting play. Hold person would also need to have a very short cycle time.
I imagine they will be considering hold person along with other CC (crowd control) spells and abilities separately. Any of the hold,stun,mesmerize type effects will have to be given special attention to ensure they do what is required without being too powerful or lasting too long.
