Marks of Status for High Levels Characters
I was thinking it would be quite cool if the higher an adventurer gets in level, the more his/her status should be apparent visually. I was also thinking that it makes no sense that characters often don't"suggest" the class they are supposed to be playing, and that differing marks of status should be used to give a more realistic visual representaion ofa class. For instance, as a warrior gets higher in level, his "muscularity" should also increase, until he/she reaches a kind of max muscularity at level 100 or 120 or so (whatever the top level is going to be), replete with bulging biceps, lats, six-pack etc. Being that this game already has the sliding muscularity bar at character creation, I don't think it would be too hard to implement. Characters really shouldn't have the option to be at max muscularity at the outset. It should be something you earn and look forward to, like say bump it a bit every ten levels. So when you see this well-muscled guy (or girl) walking down the road, you autmatically think "Wow, there's someone who's seen a few fights."
Also, realistically, all adventureres should have a few battle scars. Yes, so we are the gifted and come back just as pretty as we were before, but that just seems a little dull. What if say, every twenty or so levels, you earned a scar of some kind. You could even have the option of where to put it, such as on your chest, or leg, or face, if you wanted. But you would have to choose some kind of battle scar before being able to move on to your next level. I'm not saying we should all get really disfigured, and the player should always have th option of where to add his scars, but I am saying that these battle scars that all adventurers realisticallyshould acquire will give real flavor and distinction to characters as they move up in level. Different levels of severity should be offered too,from light, small scars on the shins or arms, to missing appendages, or eye patches [8-|]. It should be up to the adventurer how much of a veteran battler he/she wants to look like.
While battle scars would likely be a acquistion of all classes, and muscularity, etc, a mark of status for melee classes, caster classes should have other marks of status. I would guess that clerics or paladins might over time begin to develop an "aura" of some kind. Maybe it would start out small or faint, or be as simple as glowing hands, or something cool like a halo around the head, and eventually grow into a full-body aura at the highest level. Maybe the top level could be a shimmering image of that character's diety hovering over him/her, that fades in an out as you look at it. This would be a realeye-catcher, as well as show the other players the status the cleric has earnedunder his diety. Mages and wizards might have something similar, like trailing flame behind them, or they might just look like they are on fire, or maybe they just have stars twinking and falling all around them. Spiritists would look really cool and somewhat scary with a group of ghostly, tormented souls floating around them, and druids might have a glowing crown of leaves or maybe they aresurrounded by a wolf-spirit aura or something, or ghostly wolves that move and circle around them as they walk.
Multiclassing certain high levelsshould also give you the option for more than one effect, depending on the class. For instance, muscularity once earned should always be permanant regardless of current class, but auras and stuff should only apply to the current class.
These are just some ideas, and obviously I don't have everything thought-out completely for each type of class, but I think having these high level marks of status would be so cool for those who have earned a high place among their comrades, and give lower levels something to aspire to. Not to mention it would just look cool. Probably these effects should fall under the option of being able to turn them on or off, like spell and combat effects, if someone is afraid their systems couldn't handle it. But nonetheless itmight give adventurers something to stick around or come back into the game for--a specific goal in leveling with a series of cool rewards. It would be at least a start.
Originally Posted by Istarian Wizard
