Entourage

[NickD]

I would like to see a separate set of slots for your party for your entourage.

This would be for single NPCs like Marnid (and possibily temporarily the kidnapped girl) and would either be non combat, or would have an option as to whether they would go into combat or not.

Options for your entourage could be things like doctor who has first aid, surgery and wound management skills, a scout who has tracking and pathfinding skills, a tactitian who can add to your party slots and has tactics skills and a courtesan who improves group morale.

It seems a bit excessive that these single NPCs would take up an entire party slot, hence my suggestion for a entourage set of slots. You'd have a number of entourage slots depending on your leadership skills, but would be less than the number of party slots you currently have.


Also, when a "Party has nothing to eat", perhaps it should take food from your inventory and put it in the food slot. Either that or have 2 food slots.

 

[El Perdido]

Very nice suggestion. I would really like to see something like that soon.

 

[Narcissus]

Welcome to the forums, NickD.

Interesting suggestion and it makes sense. I like it.

Narcissus

 

[guspav]

sounds good, I agree!

 

[Kelpo]

If the slot system is here to stay, then your suggestion is a fine idea. If I was president though, I'd poke Armagan with sharpened pencils until he removed the slots altogether, but the elections are still some time away, so nothing's certain yet.

 

[NickD]

If the slot system is here to stay, then your suggestion is a fine idea. If I was president though, I'd poke Armagan with sharpened pencils until he removed the slots altogether, but the elections are still some time away, so nothing's certain yet.

Whether there are slots or not wouldn't really effect the above unless you included the entourage as part of the "troops" as the entourage would only have 1 character per slot, so the maximum size of the entourage would be the same as the number of slots.

In addition to what I originally posted, each entourage member would have to have a skill above and beyond what their skills are, otherwise you could have a doctor who is just as good as a scout if you put all their points in tracking, spotting and pathfinding.

Also, as they would largely (or wholly) not be combat troops, they wouldn't get XP from killing or training, but they would get shares of the party XP for quests and completed battles.

A further list of possible entourage members and their effects:
Doctor: Their skill in First Aid, Surgery and Wound Management skills is +1 on their actual skill points allocated.
Scout: Their skill in Tracking, Spotting and Pathfinding skills is +1 on their actual skill points allocated.
Tactitian: Their skill in Tactics is +1 on their actual skill points allocated; +1 party slot; +1 to Prisoner Management (can't remember if this is a personal or a party skill);
Courtesan: Adds 2 levels to the Morale of the party.
Cook: Reduced consumption of food; Adds 1 level to the Morale of the party.
Quartermaster (Marnid): Their skill in Trade is +1 on their actual skill points allocated; +1 to hero's actual skills points allocated in Inventory Management;

 

[Janus]

Sounds like a good idea.
Since each point in the leadership skill adds an extra troop slot, I'm thinking it might be better to add an extra entourage slot for every 2-3 levels in leadership or so. Having as many entourage slots as regular troop slots seems excessive to me.

 

[jrawlings]

Of course, Armagan would need to add recruitable NPCs to fill all those roles. Poor Marnid and Borcha can't multitask THAT much!

 

[Forral]

Though, it would of course be interesting to see Borcha double as a Courtesan.

 

[jrawlings]

What if leadership was revamped entirely... such that instead of giving you +5 troop capacity, it just gives you 1 slot. These slots could only be filled by NPCs. Now, each NPC, as well as the character, can command the # of troops = to their charisma.

So, to get an army of 30 troops, you'd need yourself to command 10, Marnid to command 10, Borcha to command 10, assuming everyone has a charisma of 10.

This adds another new subtle, but important ripple to the game. If Marnid and Borcha are to command troops, you will have to consider having them put points in leadership!

The idea can be expanded further... you could then select which leaders to send troops into battle with you by selecting the hero to accomany you in battle. Each hero would get ALL of their troops on the battlefield, so if battle size is at 40, assuming you get 20, you could have yourself and Marnid's troops with you in battle. You'd know exactly which troops were going to go into battle this way.