Proposal: Weapon Expertise Trainers

[KenHood]

I see that some of y'all are bumping about the idea of giving away weapon expertise at certain levels to characters to make up for screwy math on the attack bonuses.

How about...

• Characters don't get expertise for free.
• They have to find a trainer and pay a preset amount of GP.
• The trainer takes them through a mini-adventure--one or two little 'get your butt kicked by the kung fu master' events, like a wuxia movie.
• The character gets the expertise as an attainment.

This lets DM's make crusty masters of different weapons or schools of fighting. Adds a little depth to the RPing. And players pay money to get their butts kicked by a higher level character. All around fun for everyone!

You could even have different schools opposed to other schools, so if you learn a particular expertise, you can't learn the opposing school's style. And you might get into fights with folks from opposing schools or have to 'defend the honor' of your own school.

Ken

 

[renau1g]

The only issue I see is that the PC loses money for something that is a design error. I'd rather just give out less gold and call it a day.

Also, this will take PC's out of the game for a bit if they have to go through this mini-adventure, especially if each PC does, there are probably at least 50 PC's active right now and having each one go through this might be a bit of a strain on the DM's.

Just playing Devil's Advocate, I do like the concept of RP'ing things out, but in PbP this might bog it down too much.

 

[Atanatotatos]

I agree with Renaug. Also, while this kind of thing mifght well fit some characters, some others would have to give up on the feat because such an in-character decision just doesn't fit their character. Like, I really can't see Alexander and the MMC pay to find a bunch of trainers and let their ass be kicked without budging We would probably burn down the whole dojo

 

[renau1g]

Murphy would join in, although probably in some other form...maybe a red dragonborn or fire genasi... they'd probably burn sh$t all the time.

 

[elecgraystone]

I'd rather NOT have to pay gold for it. If that means I don't get the feat for free, oh well.

 

[CaBaNa]

I like the idea of Trainers, they shouldn't cost gold, they shouldn't be required.

Fun RP way to explain free feats.

Kamotz would go to the Temple of Lauto for his.

Someone else could go somewhere else.

The "Trainer" could just be an NPC that the PC controls, who degrades or humiliates their own character. This is how we get around MMC needing something different, each character can use the Training style most suited to their play.

There could be a list of Trainers and their personalities/speciality in a thread. Borrow the NPC, pick a thread that is appropriate, train your character, link to the thread on your character sheet.

Win/Win

Doesn't need judge approval, because at 5, 15, 25, its auto anyway, and still captures the RP element of the character training for the feat.

Implement trainers as well...

 

[covaithe]

I kind of like the idea, I just don't see it scaling. Running 50 micro-adventures is a horrifying thought. What about this instead?

• For each type of weapon/implement, there's a thread. E.g. for hammers, it might be called Master Gurod's Forge.
• When you reach level 5, if there isn't already a thread for the weapon/implement you want to take, you make one.
• Whoever first posts the thread puts in the first post a description of the NPC trainer and their location.
• When you want to take a free expertise feat, you may (must? I could possibly see this being required, but that has complications...) post in-character in that thread, requesting training from the master.
• Whoever feels up to it (you, if no one else wants to) speaks for the trainer, and you RP a short scene where the trainer shows you a few things.
• If this is required, we could ask for a link from your sheet to your post in this thread.
• Retraining works more or less the same way; you post in another thread, and the trainer there corrects the bad habits that you've acquired at the hands of a less skillful teacher, blah blah blah.

For sanity's sake, we could restrict the number of threads by grouping them together, e.g. martial weapons you go to the barracks of Daunton's guard, where there are always a number of drill instructors. Or we could muddle through with a lot of threads, and keep a list of them in the wiki somewhere.

If we like this, I'd be tempted to require posting in the threads to get the free feat. The one thing that gives me some pause is that people may (are likely to, in fact) reach level 5 in the middle of an adventure, somewhere else. Likewise for leveling up and retraining. The easy way around that would just be to invoke PbP flexible timelines; just post in the thread anyway when you level up, and we all pretend it happened at some undetermined earlier time.

Anyway, just thoughts.

 

[covaithe]

There could be a list of Trainers and their personalities/speciality in a thread. Borrow the NPC, pick a thread that is appropriate, train your character, link to the thread on your character sheet.

I just realized that this is more or less the same thing I was suggesting, but not tied to specific threads. Not sure whether I prefer it that way or not, but it's worth thinking about.

 

[Don Incognito]

Some ideas for trainers.

Gunter Brunt: Mayor of Daunton, former squire to Threehammers. Expert in maces and hammers.

Gouki: Thuggish head of the Iron Ring. Expert in unarmed attacks.

Just a few ideas.

 

[Atanatotatos]

I... don't think this is a good idea. There are some characters that just will not accept the idea of seein an instructor to get better at what they do. Well, of course they will accept it because the player wants the free feat but, well, it seems kinda forced to me.