Sage Advice

I know, the title is corney.

What if certain advancements to a settlement's Library could add a resident Sage?

*Now a Sage is a serious fellow and players would bring only serious questions. Questions require a placement of a sum of gold be put into escrow. Amount determined by type of question.

*Questions sit under "consideration" until an actual game Dev picks one and decides whether to answer. No answer possible = 1/2 gold refunded. Answer is... = gold goes to library. Wait too long and withdraw question = 1/2 gold refunded.

Some Questions and possible Answers:

Q: Where can I find Carl Bloodhand? A: "Sources tell Us that Carl Bloodhand was last seen 1 mile north of the Brickleberry bridge."

Q: Are there any orcs around here? A: "Sources tell Us that there is an orc encampment, newly formed, 3 miles south of Hampton" Dev generates encampment

Q: Where is the closest place to gather Ebony Mandrake Root? A: "Sources tell Us that Ebony Mandrake Root is growing under the giant oak at the top of Cherry Hill." Dev generates Ebony Mandrake Root patch

Q: How can I become King of Bloodstone? A: "The Sources cannot answer that question."

Etc., etc., ad naseum...

Nope nope nope. No NPC for this. This is a business, sir, for PCs.

I think the idea has merit, but rather than a sage my recommendation would be for the equivalent of the Oracle of Delphi, remote and a harrowing journey to reach, and that obtaining a response should require a sacrifice of starmetal.

Better yet, let Divination Wizards serve this purpose.

The problem with placing such powers in the hands of players is that those with the ability to dvine the location of rare and powerful items and resources are unlikely to sell their discoveries but rather go harvest them themselves.

Possibly their divination could give the purchasing player a vision the diviner never sees? Still seems awflly prone to exploit.

The problem with placing such powers in the hands of players is that those with the ability to dvine the location of rare and powerful items and resources are unlikely to sell their discoveries but rather go harvest them themselves.

I don't think it would be absolute.

There are a number of people on these boards who have posted their intent to play as Scouts who go out and explore and come back to civilization to sell information such as where to find good Gathering spots.

A Divination Wizard might provide the same information, just obtained differently.

As I understand the mapping system, your map gets filled in when people tell you about locations or you visit them yourselves. Divination could, for example, let the librarian-assassin see the location of the nearest Ebony Mandrake Patch and then he would be under contract to inform the paying customer, with whatever penalties breaking a contract entails if he chooses to hide that information.

I would suggest that in this situation the Diviner have the ability to lie and cause the wrong place on his client's map to show the information. I'd actually like that in general, but this would seem to be a prime place for it to be helpful.

The problem with placing such powers in the hands of players is that those with the ability to dvine the location of rare and powerful items and resources are unlikely to sell their discoveries but rather go harvest them themselves.

Possibly their divination could give the purchasing player a vision the diviner never sees? Still seems awflly prone to exploit.

Divination is a rather notoriously limited school to specialize into. Specifically, if there's any fighting involved to obtain the MacGuffin Muffin that you sussed out, you'll need pals to help you get it. If your pals are unwilling or unavailable or you have no pals, you will be well advised to sell your knowledge.

We don't know what the limitations and perks will be of specialist Wizards. It may be that they are actually quite combat capable. But this is unlikely.

Opportunity cost is not just an empty word.

@Being:
Often enough, yes, I suppose players will want to harvest things themselves.

BUT - a character that is truly effective at tracking things down is less likely to be the best harvester in the world when he finds those rare material nodes. For the most profit, he should sell that information to a good harvester, at a price appropriate to the rarity of the find. It might not be what the harvester will be getting from the node, but it's more than what he would get in material worth for himself. In addition, he doesn't have to spend his time harvesting - he can get right back to scouting.

This also benefits the harvester greatly because he doesn't have to spend time searching for nodes to harvest from - all he needs is to know some men with their ears to the ground and enough gold to make their tongues dance.

Personally, I have a lot of interest in creating a character who acts as an information broker, a hub of news. Looking for iron ore? A gold pieces and I'll tell you the location of every node within three hexes. Two, and I'll tell you which ones are already claimed, and by whom. On the other hand, you know an adventurer who runs to the far ends of the earth? Let's make a deal - you make note of where you find resource nodes, and I'll pay you an appropriate fee.

Who doesn't want to sell information that's useless to them, getting free coin? Who wouldn't spend a little coin to help them ply their trade effectively?

@Keign How open are you to telling my competition that a hex of escalating monsters held a resource they wanted? That might be more valuable to me than actual information at times.

I do not deal in misinformation, sir. It would ruin my reputation for reliable, current information. I would only send them there if my reports mapped a desired resource at that location. (Whether or not I would tell them about the escalating monsters is up to how much they can pay.)

Divination is a rather notoriously limited school to specialize into. Specifically, if there's any fighting involved to obtain the MacGuffin Muffin that you sussed out, you'll need pals to help you get it. If your pals are unwilling or unavailable or you have no pals, you will be well advised to sell your knowledge.

We don't know what the limitations and perks will be of specialist Wizards. It may be that they are actually quite combat capable. But this is unlikely.

Opportunity cost is not just an empty word.

The Divinassin in question will have LOTS of pals that he would help to get whatever it is that is in the center of that area shielded from divinations...

I can see a group of players (The Seventh Veil, perhaps?) being a source of information for coin. If they played it in a mysterious way, a request for information could be written on a note and deposited in a place near the "Oracle" with a donation The group would ply their resources to come up with an answer, and if the donation were not large enough the answer would be partial (hinting of more information with a larger donation). Not gouging, but important information costs more.

Hardin, HERE'S your application to join The Seventh Veil. Thinkers like you we'll be glad to have :-).

I think Jazzlvraz meant Here :)

I think Jazzlvraz meant Here :)

Damn, just a bit too late to edit my link. Thanks, Nihimon.

Thanks for the invite! I'll be tromping around with Mbando keeping the lands safe from bandits and thugs in Peace Through Vigilance. But I'll hit your oracle up when I need good info!