CLOK BBS

Hello all. I've checked the game out briefly before but I'm going to start out giving it a real go here in a little bit, but before I started out I was hoping to get more info about the skill system.

I know that there is a kind of "open" skill system, where using skills improve them, but I've been trying to figure out which are considered general skills that everybody can learn and what is limited to certain guilds. For example, is there any way to learn geomancy skills as anything but an elemancer?

The second question is regarding guild advancement. Are there multiple ways to increase guild standing? My main concern right now is that I want to play a character using the mummer skills but who is definitely in no way a "performer." Am I going to have to just suck it up and do something that my character normally would not do, such as sitting around in an inn singing songs or telling stories, simply for the sake of guild advancement?

I appreciate any help in figuring out how this all ties together to get my character going how I'd like him to.

In terms of open and closed skills, it's fairly simple. For the most part, if it's a magic skill, then you can only learn it from the related guild. So if you want to learn Geomancy, you've got to be in a Guild that uses it, and the only guild that uses it is the Elemancer guild. That's primarily due to game balancing, as far as I know. Other skills like locksmithing are learnable by anyone, but you have to have access to lockpicks, which is hard if you aren't an Utasa or Thief.

Secondly, some guilds have multiple ways to increase guild rank. But certain guilds, like the Mummers, have very specific niche roles. As far as I'm aware, and I could be wrong, Mummers are entertainers. The Mummer guild abilities are, from what I can tell, based around using words to affect people in different ways such as being able to fill them with Wonder, and being able to fill them with fear. Not wanting to perform, I think, would be akin to wanting to be an Udemi or Utasa without wanting to hunt the Infested. Of course, I'm not a GM/Imm for the game, so that's just opinion and speculation based on what I've seen from playing in that guild.

I was afraid of that. I completely understand that mummers would generally be considered performers, but I'm trying to figure out how I could make a giganti mummer - a tribal warchanter focusing on the magical power of the voice as opposed to a typical song and dance story telling kind of character. I like the general idea of the skill set, debuffing and mesmerize/fear and buffing kind of stuff, I just feel like limiting an entire set of guild skills to a role like that is counter-intuitive to a free RP environment.

Has allowing access to even the lowest tier of a single elemental magic (with a penalty to learning it) to characters outside of the elemancers been considered? It would definitely be nice for adding a bit of flare to some characters.

Well, their power (from what I understand) stems through channeling raw emotions through the words. A warchanter could still feasibly perform at inns and taverns, will still remaining in character. But I'm not sure how else they could reasonably gain guildpoints, as they are meant to be a non combat guild. You aren't necessarily just singing and dancing as a Mummer, and a 'warchanter' would realistically also be the tribal story teller, if they're focusing on channeling emotion through words. Despite the fact that the game is a free RP environment, there's still certain things that are limited by design.

Which ties into magic. I very much doubt that will ever happen with single element magic. Only one guild outside of the Elemancers has access, to my knowledge, of ANY of the elements, and that is the Udemi with aeromancy. Even a single channel of some of the magic can be devastating if used correctly, and it would not be fair to Elemancers; because the way Elemancers work is, to be able to channel one element, they have to spend an ability point. So essentially, you'd be getting something that an Elemancer has to dedicate an entire Guild Point to. That, and it's just not the way magic really works in Clok. Magic requires specific training to utilise, since it isn't so much "I wave my hand and magic happens", and more "I have to precisely calculate these things in order to get an effect".



For more information on the Mummers, since there isn't Wiki documentation yet, check out

viewtopic.php?pid=8868#p8868

The Mummers, as a guild, focus on things like performing, music, storytelling, and so on because it's a way to practice and exercise the channeling of emotions, and to hone their supernatural abilities - and honestly, those are the type of people that want to be able to more accurately and powerfully convey emotions. That's what being an arteest is about, yes? But anyway, you don't have to be a flamboyant singing minstrel, but you do have to stick to your guild's roots, i.e. you can't join the Mummers but claim you're not a Mummer and then say OOC "I only joined to get the spells". In this case they're associated with and known for the things listed above, but not all Mummers do those things specifically. Some may join the Mummers to learn mental manipulation to aid in their cons and swindling, and essentially be a kind of "mentalist thief". Others may do so for power and dominion over others via manipulating their thoughts and emotions. If you take a look around Mayhew's wagon (the local Mummer guildmaster) he doesn't exactly seem like the outgoing, jolly musician type that many assume Mummers to be.

You also have to consider this: Imagine an organization that was actively honing the ability to get into other peoples' minds and manipulate their thoughts and emotions. They could easily be seen as a very serious threat that needs to be heavily watched and moderated, and they would likely be mistrusted. But a group of entertainers who can tell such great stories that the listeners actually feel the emotions and thoughts of the people spoken of in the stories, and feel like they're actually there? People would love and support that happily. It's kind of like the Rook Parlour, and how they're officially a private club of philosophers, and that's enough to secure a level of acceptance as an organization, but they rarely mention some of the things they do as they "philosophize".

As far as guild tasks, I'd be glad to add more methods of promotion point accrual. Most guilds have a few different things they can do. But as Kian said, I don't think it would be outside the scope of a Giganti warchanter to tell war stories and glorious tales of his tribe's prowess and victory, or the legendary tale of the time he or his tribal leader won out in a battle despite seemingly insurmountable odds. Storytelling doesn't mean you're doing cheesy voices and telling kids stories. There are a lot of different types of storytelling you can choose from with the mechanic, and different establishments like different types. You could find the places that enjoy stories about war, conflict, heroism, etc. and stick to those places for your storytelling efforts, and avoid the places that enjoy "cheesy" things like comedy, romance, drama, and junk like that.

Lorewise, I could see your Giganti warchanter having joined the Mummers to further hone his abilities, rather than saying he only got his "warchanter" skills after he joined the Mummers. As can be seen by Dwaedn Wyr (who use shouts) or Templar (who use chants), you don't need "magic" to enable your voice to have power. Joining the Mummers would be a good way to augment that power, however.

So now that I have played around with how the storytelling system works it is definitely not a concern any more. My guy still might not be big on playing the storyteller, but being able to craft the elements of the story he can very easily see it for what it is - as you said Rias, a necessary part of training and honing his abilities.

Also I wanted to add, not to argue for being able to learn elemental magic (though some earth magic would be awesome for my guy), that while I was reading through the wiki before I saw this: "Elemancers will have access to a large variety of elemental attack spells via channeling and casting the various elements via the basic elemancy skills, and only Elemancers can attain the skill required to weave the more complicated mixed-element spells." That was what had me wondering if I would be able to pick up simple single-element magic as a non-elemancer. I might be weird reading it that way, but it couldn't hurt to make it a bit more clear.

I think that more refers to the fact that other guilds could potentially know elemancy, not separate characters. As I said, the Udemi have access to aeromancy, even though they are not elemancers. Even though my Udemi knows aeromancy though, he only can access a single channel, and does not gain access to the benefits that Elemancers do. So that is most likely what that means, and I do not think Mummers will be gaining access to elemancy.