DMs in faction warfare

Just my two cents, but if DMs are going to be allowed to use the Homestead to level up and equip characters, they shouldn't be allowed to participate in faction warfare with those characters.

Talked to Mister Deepockent about it, and here's what he had to say.

'DM's get bored too, but to just make a character and go slaughtering almost instantly really defeats the purpose.'

Fehrin can you be a little more specific?

If there is a DM abusing their power, please PM either Tree or myself on the forum or talk to us about it when you see us on the server.

I'll grab you in game when I see you, then.

The Homestead key is only give to DM's and Quest Leaders who have an established "quest leader" character. The Quest Leader characters are MADE for providing assistance to and/or creating rp quest for the server. It isn't a personal gain.
Just a reminder to the quest leaders. You shouldn't be using your QL account unless you are in your roleplaying character which is listed in the STAFF heading on this forum. The server really is too easy for you level with a regular player character. DMs on the other hand can and will use the account to enforce the rules/assist pcs and test problems as they see fit. AT this time I beleive there are only two ACTIVE DMs with access to the server password. (not including myself)

To avoid any regular player misconceptions: The Homestead does NOT have any over extraordinary advantages such as godly weapons or a super mega forge. The homestead is NOT necessary for the QLs to levelup, boot a pc, change their appearance, or port from place to place. What it does have is:
1. a message board
2. a shop with access to healing potions, raise dead, gems, standard Edge gear in an easily accessible area for any on the spot Quest needs.
3. a forge that combines ALL of the world's forges in one for crafting both the quest leaders equipment AND for crafting quest rewards. This forge does NOT have anything more than ALL of the forges in the world combined.
4. a chest stocked with extra gold, bags, dm xp reward tools (useless for a QL or DM since they can apply LEVELs with a touch) and old plot items that frankly i have to remove because they are useless.
5. Manwee: who can change a characters appearance to any form or shape in the NWN toolset. Manwee will also adjust a characters head/body type/ tattoos ect. At present he isn't set to fix portraits or voices ... sorry.
6. An alignment adjustor for those who somehow manage to mess up their alliance.
7. a Trade Skill leveler, for those with a desire or a need to increase the crafts we have in game. Again this isn't such an advantage when you realize there is NO experience gained other than you can farm, fish, skin, brew, forage a few more things more often. The crafts are JUST a roleplay item.

So basically, the homestead is ... where the DMs/QLs get their stuff to make a player's fun more so. Yes its so much fun to have unlimited healing at your fingertips but frankly, its also boring.

But what happens when it's NOT a quest leading character? What happens when it's NOT just standard gear? What happens when a certain active DM gives themselves two of their own 'Special Rewarded' items?
He's not just feeding himself regular old Stolen Noblewomans Robes, but stupid red named stuff.


The limitations that I'd like to see, not that I have any control on them, are the gear limitations. I don't give a crud if Aule wants to go, and make a toon, level up to 40, and go kill some bosses for shits and giggles, even if it's OOC. If he's testing things, great. If he's not, great. But I dunno. I don't like seeing him have a character lower than 10 one minute with basic gear, and then within the next 20 have the toon at 30 or so with red named gear. I don't wanna go raggin' on the guy for leveling a character, and giving it gear. I've done it a time or two on other servers. (Mind you, those were action servers, and it was to help some players through a few dungeons that they didn't know how to do. And none of it was epic gear.) But there ought to be limitations encouraged. I'm not even sure how he got red named gear, in the first place. (Hell, I can't even figure out how to make the color codes work on item names. Ha.)

The point is, having the power to give your characters gear, and level them up is not the point, or the reward of DMship. Anywhere. It's fundamental. Your reward is the players. When they're happy, you're happy. The DMs job is to make sure that the players enjoy themselves. And when they do, their happiness is the DMs reward. Not the power to create a character, and then go kill things it takes us two to three weeks to work up to. Especially when it's a continual thing. I appreciate his help when we need it, but it makes things a hell of a lot less interesting when you've got forty levels of arcane intervention behind you.

If it's legal, alright. You're the server host, and the boss. I'll agree with what you go with, Tree, and you know that. But I do seriously recommend putting putting some form of guidelines on the Homestead, and what DMs can give their characters for gear. I really do. Unchecked power leads to corruption, no matter how good intentions were in the beginning.

This post disturbs me and I'm officially asking to have the thread dropped. Deep', we'll talk about it in detail elsewhere.

Suffice it to say there ARE limitations for the DMs and their characters. While they can give their characters anything they can create from the game's database (and a few other methods) the server has the Level Limits turned on, so the items cannot be THAT overpowered. As for other limits on the DM choices and actions; both Tree and I have chosen our DMs with as much care as possible and they know how disappointed we would be with them should they act... I hesitate to say 'rashly' for obvious reasons. However, the word fits.

Enough for now.