Beating the Rotting Horse Corpse: Pets
Note: Before you read, I must inform you that not a lot of thought went into this. This came about from musings whilst eating dinner one night with nothing else to occupy my wandering mind. Nevertheless, have fun.
We all want them. A companion in battle; a mount; even just some pretty little thing to show off to friends.
Pets would be a welcome addition to Horizons, would they not? But it can't just happen with the snap of a dev's fingers. No, that would be a tad unbalancing without thought put into a workable system of Taming.
Part One: Taming and Training Skills
Anyone can gain the Taming skill. It would be included in the Tutorial, were I to have my way. As soon as level 1 in your chosen adventure school, you could be the proud owner of a pet.
Taming would climb in skill points, not a levelling system. It would be seperate from every other aspect of yourself. To raise it, you would need to care for progressively more difficult (or higher tiered) pets. It would max out at 100 points, but that would be no small feat.
Training skill would work in a similar manner: it only raises by training pets with progressively harder training methods. It also maxes out at 100, and is also independant of any other statistic.
Taming skill is needed to own and control your pet of choice. A certain skill would be needed to own a certain type of pet. Obviously, the first pets available to you would only need your Taming to be at level 1. The higher your Taming gets, the higher-tiered the pets are that you can own. There are only five tier of pets, tier one being 1-19, tier two being 20-39, and so forth. Their are also five types of pets (explained later), and thus five pet slots, which work in a similar manner to Gift slots. At Taming level 1, you have one slot, level 25, two, 50, three, 75, four, and 100, five.
Taming skill can be used to actually tame pets from the wilds, which would require the same amount of taming as it would to just own the pet, but by Taming a tamer can sell these to others who just don't want to go through the trouble of Taming one themselves.
Training is what gives abilities to your pets or others. Training 'formulae,' called Regimens, are used to learn a certain sort of training, which can thenbe used to teach a pet an ability. Regimens require certain reagents, which must be found by the trainer or provided by the owner of the pet. These reagents would be something akin to tech components, but would be obtained mostly from bestial monsters instead of humanoid ones. As you teach more abilities to more pets, your Training skill rises. Training can be used on your own pet or others' pets.
Part Two: The Pets Themselves
There are, as previously mentioned, five types of pets. In order of obtainability they are: novelty pets, buff pets, combat pets, pack animals, and mounts.
Novelty pets do nothing but look pretty whilst following you around. Buff pets provide special otherwise unobtainable buffs to their owner and sometimes even their owner's party. Combat pets fight alongside their owner in battle. Pack animals are exactly that: a living cargo disk, but with a bit less capacity and the ability to port with you. Mounts are rideable pets, enhancing the speed at which its owner travels.
There are also hybrids, which can be a mix of any two of the above. They can fit into either type of slot corresponding to their types. A combat-mount can fit into either the combat or mount pet slot. However, they are less adept at any one of their areas, suffering from the 'generalization effect.' A pure combat pet will always be better in combat that a hybrid of equal level.
Part Three: Pets Before They're Pets
Pets are a different class of 'mob' than anything else, all of them falling into the class of Beast: (Type of beast). For example, say a combat pet Tiger is seen. It would show as Beast: Combat -Tiger. These would be like any other monster, possibly included in quests to be killed for trophies or just kill tasks, the only thing that sets them apart is that they are tameable. The skill required to tame them would appear next to the Beast: "" moniker. [e.g., Beast: Combat -Tiger (50)]
To tame one, you would select them, get in the range of about thrity metres and use a Taming ability. This instantly aggros the beast. The success of the Taming depends on your level of Taming. If a pet needs 50 to be tamed, a skill of 50 gives a 50% success rate. 100 would give a 100% chance of success. If a pet needs 5 to be tamed, 5 offers a 50% success rate. 10 would be the 100%. The base needed for a pet offers a 50% chance for it to be successful, two times the base is 100%, and there are various other percentages inbetween. However, a lower than needed skill drops it down to 0%.
What if the attempt fails?
Then try again. It's an instant cast.
Part Four: Miscellaneous Things That May or May Not Fit Into The Above Three Catagories
Some pets may be rewards for quests.
All combat and buff pets must be fed. (Added value to Confectioners, whoo!)
Combat pets may pick up aggro but have a much smaller aggro range than yourself.
Saddles or harnasses must be purchased before one can ride a mount. Made with leather and probably by Outfitters.
That's about all I can think of to put here for now. . . .
Questions? Comments? Constructive Criticism? Flames? . . . Cookies. . . ?
Originally Posted by cattoy
