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Message: <blockquote data-quote="covaithe" data-source="post: 4452276" data-attributes="member: 46559">I like garyh's suggestion, too, but this:really interests me.  One of the big problems with regional benefits has always been that they need to be in place and established when the first characters are created, and any changes after that would tend to be perceived as either nerfs to existing characters, or "his is better than mine now" or whatever.  That's why this discussion is blocking character creation.  But if we build in a mechanism for people to change their region, then a lot of the pressure comes off.  It's easier to adjust regional benefits later, either to add new ones or to nerf/improve existing ones, knowing that we won't be permanently screwing anyone's character.  Thematically, "changing your region" sounds a bit... awful, but I think if it were rephrased slightly, it would suck less, flavor-wise.  Consider, instead, if each region had a dominant philosophy, that, when understood and practiced, granted mechanical benefits.  E.g. in the Valley of Bone, life is hard and people understand that not every little bruise or scratch is something to get upset over; people know that death is a part of life and that to hate the undead is to deny part of themselves.  Thus, +1 endurance and bonuses to diplomacy against the undead.  In Daunton, there is a culture of knowledge, where people accumulate and trade bits of monster trivia for fun, and of there's the library, where, with some training and practice that all dauntonians acquire over time, you can find answers to nearly any question.  Hence, +2 to monster knowledge checks and the occasional knowledge check reroll.  Now that the benefits derive from a philosophy rather than the accident of where you grew up, it's a lot easier to see how it could change.  We could offer a sprinkling of NPCs around the world, that would (possibly for a small fee) instruct you in the teachings of their homeland.  The training would take months (game time, of course), so you couldn't just change on a whim:  "You've got an angry ghost, eh?  Let me just nip over to Throm Thunderpants and bone up, haha, on undead philosophy, and I'll be right with you."  No.  Mechanically, you'd have to get permission from a judge to change your regional philosophy between adventures.  Obviously you can only have one philosophy "active" at a given time.  Now, when a character gets created from a new region, they can either propose their region along with its philosophy as garyh described, or remain uncommitted (with no mechanical benefit), and can either train to one of the other region's philosophies, or retain the option to propose a philosophy for their own region later.  I realize this is a big change to the idea, and that it's coming at the 11th hour, and that it feels (to me, at least) very MMORPG-ish, but I think this would go a long way towards alleviating any possible balance issues that we might be introducing, and provide a good mechanism for future change.  What do you guys think?</blockquote>

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