Nerf Slaves
Some terminology I'm going to use in this post:
Established Character: A character that is at or around level 30.
Slave: Someone who has accepted the 'permanent' slave collar.
Reasoning:
Slaves are a joke on the server. Look at any story, lore, bit of history, w/e, and you can see that when slavery is used, there are those in control, and those who are not. Slaves are given significantly less opportunity, power, and room for improvement beyond what their owners say. Very very very very rarely does a slave even stand a chance at competing with someone who is not, especially on the non-slaves own strength. ex: slaves in fighting pits very, very, very rarely ever best a well armed, trained, and seasoned war veteran of an army.
Currently, there is practically nothing in place in this server that differentiates a slave from a non-slave. They can have the same level, same gear, same power. The only "major" difference is, slaves can be forced to be summoned, and slaves have limited property rights. One could argue they have limited rights, but often Established Character slaves can just whoop-butt on anyone they please just the same as any other Established Character. Ultimately, the differences are moot. They are no different than the RP restrictions of property/ownership for various other races/classes. Some get favor in some areas, some don't. Slaves just get it in far less than most others. Other than that, there's fundamentally no difference between a slave and non-slave.
Possible Solutions:
There are two solutions that come to my mind.
1) Non-Commoner Class slaves are capped at level 20. This makes it so slaves cannot become Epic. An Epic Level slave? If you're epic, you're probably too badass to be enslaved. If this were any other server, I'd suggest 5 or 10 being the cap, but 20 should put slave characters at a level that they can reasonably participate in high end content with other Established Characters. 20 also means that if enough slaves team up, they have a decent chance at taking down one or two Established Characters. I think it's fine for commoner to still reach level 30, as they are a heavily gimped class to begin with.
2) (My Personal Preference) Non-Commoner Class slaves can only take Epic Slave class for epic levels. This allows them to become level 30, but I would advise the class Epic Slave class to offer no selection of Epic Feats, even as general feats (where mechanically possible), and all skills are cross class, and a D4 hit die for HP, but otherwise offer no other benefits. This would allow some more power over simply being level 20, but nowhere near the amount that a non-slave could get. And then this would allow for an easy transition if they get free, to simply relevel and select proper epic classes and abilities. Conversely, it would also allow an easier time for epic characters who are taking the collar to conform to this change.
What will either of these changes do?
They will make the slavery system feel more 'real'. Slaves will actually have a mechanical disparity that will ultimately be transferred over to RP. I've personally witnessed many slaves who walk around like they are just slightly disadvantaged citizens (if even that). This is largely because they have been mechanically no different than the Established Characters who 'own' them.
Arelith tries to encourage and offer mechanics to 'playing the class'. 'Slave' is one that falls extremely short of expectations. The limitations would encourage RPers to play the role more suitably and in a way that better indicates being considered property and less than a citizen.
Ultimately, it would enhance the slave/owner dynamic of RP. It would make the mechanics and meaning of Slavery tangible, rather than just a fancy title in form and function. It would also do the same to being an Owner and as a citizen to a slave-owning community.
"But players can already/have the expectation to RP like they are slaves!" Sure. But they don't. The only time a slave HAS A CHANCE to act like a slave, is when they are still leveling and they KNOW they are in trouble if they act out while in that underpowered, under geared state. The moment a slave hits level 30, or near it, they start to get that max level swagger, 99/100 times. It isn't something a slave should have, ever. There are very few exceptions of where a level 30 will retain that slave mentality and functionality.
TLDR; slaves should be nerfed and not be allowed epic powers, so that non-slaves can keep slaves reliably in their place and so that being a slave actually means something other than being a hired thug.