[MUD-Dev] Re: Levels versus Skills, who uses them and when.

[D. B. Brown]

From: Andy Cink <ranthor at earthlink.net>

>I was considering "typing" exp, so that people couldn't gain exp
>by casting fireballs and killing stuff, and then turning around
>and using the experience to get better at say, first aid. I always
>thought it wasn't fair that someone could get experience points
>by doing one thing, and then raise some difficult to raise skill
>without going through the trouble of using it.


The way we're doing it on Jormundgand involves some sort of
typing -- although it's a bit different as you can't apply
exp directly to skills; exp only goes towards increasing rank
within one's guild.

We have a feat system, in which most actions generate a feat
which gets processed by the player's guild and religion.  Things
like Feat_Combat_Defeat_Opponent, Feat_Disarm_Trap, even Feat_Altruism.
These feats are passed to the guild/religion with a level associated
with it as well as a hint associated with the feat, for more in
depth processing if required.

The guild then looks at the feat and decides how much experience to
award the character;  this is generally done by applying a bonus/penalty
to the level of the feat and then generating experience points based
on the character's level in the guild and the modified level of the feat
on an exponential drop-off scale.  For instance, a fighter would probably
have +1 levels to Feat_Combat_Defeat_Opponent, while a bard may get
-3, and a scholar would get nothing for it; an assassin might get -1
normally, but +3 if he finished the conflict quickly and unharmed.

Religions also use this system -- feats are passed to the player's
religion as well, but instead of awarding experience, the religion
adds to or deducts from devotion.  Things like Feat_Altruism and
Feat_Use_Equipment let the religion object be aware of what the
player is doing, whether good or bad.  Feats like Feat_Cast_Spell
can apply to both religion and experience -- a mage would get 
experience for casting a high-level spell while a follower of a 
god(dess) of life would get smacked around for casting a necromantic 
spell.

Religions on Jormundgand generally grant many more restrictions than
bonuses, however atheists are seldom resurrected...

D. Bingham Brown