Normal/Greater Awards

[Void]

It feels like there's not a whole lot of fun stuff to spend a normal and perhaps even greater award on.

At the moment, minor award unlocks:
Forest Gnome, Wild Dwarf, Wild Elf, Ghostwise Halfling, Troglodyte, Derro, Nobility (and bunch of languages)

Major unlocks:
Avariel, Ogre, Fey, Firbolg, Vampire, Tiefling, Aasimar, Minotaur, Rakshasa, Imp, RDD.

In comparison, Normal unlocks:
Aquatic Elf, Gnoll, Human Genasi, Non-evil Palemaster, Duergar/Goblin pirates, Guld start.

Greater unlocks:
Yuan-ti, Deep Imaskari, all Genasi.

That's... not a whole lot of things to choose from.
Guldorand start, for example, does not have an Underdark Equivalent, so it is only worth picking if you want to play surface.
Genasi do not have any custom visuals or skins (like they do in NWN2).
Now, Gnolls are fun, but if you just played one, you might be looking for something new.

It feels like anything interesting is quickly shifted to major award and then it remains mostly unavailable.

[a shrouded figure]

I have to agree with this, however, grumpy cat did suggest that /something/ from major may move down to greater soon(tm).

[Edens_Fall]

There is also plans for a rework of the award system at some point as well. If it was me, I would just sit on the award for now or until you see something you like.

[Void]

I have to agree with this, however, grumpy cat did suggest that /something/ from major may move down to greater soon(tm).

I'm sitting on two normal awards right now, and literally not seeing anything to spend them on. Genasi aren't my thing. Gnolls can be a lot of fun, but I just finished playing one, so... (-_-) ECL reduction? Kinda pointless, given that I get bulk of xp from writs. No point for me to know the rare languages either, and I'm not seeing a lot of appearl in a goblin pirate.

The extra fun thing is that at some point I had an imp, got bored of it and killed it before award refund was introduced. It was some low tier award back then, I think it was normal one. Now they're Major ones.
And weren' gnolls minor/normal race before?

Would be nice to have more mid-tier options...

[MRFTW]

I'm in the same boat, a greater and one or two normal awards to spend, but nothing I'd like to spend it on.

I came close to making an imaskari, but I realised I was just excited by the prospect of a significantly more powerful human with no drawbacks, which is by explicit statement not what award races are meant to be. I'm not scared of low level play so Guldorand award is not of use, either.

A large race or two would be nice. You currently have to spend a major to play any of them, and let's be honest, ogres aren't rare.

[AstralUniverse]

There is also plans for a rework of the award system at some point as well. If it was me, I would just sit on the award for now or until you see something you like.

I dont recall reading that anywhere but if it's the case then I'm glad to hear. I dont think the method of pulling a major award down to greater every once in a while on rotation has been working out smoothly. As the OP said correctly, anything *slightly* interesting enough or that upgrades/enables good builds soon becomes too common [see: RDD].

As it stands tho, I'm quite happy with the addition of language awards. for me it's a good investment for all these minor and normal awards I have as a surface player. Greater does not have a *lot* of options for me. Already played Yuan-ti, so it leaves me with elf/horc gensai. More options there would be nice but I cant think of anything from the Major awards that wouldnt be just way too common after a month if it's lowered to Greater.

[Yvesza]

I'm sitting on two greater awards and every time I've tried to spend them I've had an exceptionally hard time of it, there's a lot of very fun concepts locked behind major and the rewards at greater feel quite niche.

[The GrumpyCat]

Watch this space. Changes may be coming Soon(ish).

That said, whilst there are hopes to change the award system - that won't be happening any time soon as it'll take a while to implement. But a change on some of the current greater/major/ect will be happening before too long, I promise.

[Void]

Watch this space. Changes may be coming Soon(ish).

"Derro are now major award race".

Alright, I'm kidding...

[a shrouded figure]

lol! I’ve been pleasantly surprised at seeing a few more derro that I remembered previously. And I can say that honestly the normal rewards for gnoll seems to have improved the health of gnolls. I see much better RP and significantly greater investment in gnoll characters which is really nice.

[Definately Not A Mimic]

I get the sentiment and am not arguing with it, but if you would like more options maybe add in a suggestion on what they could be?
Such as... I know it is a lot of work but maybe rotate the greater down to normal more often, or the major down to greater. Example - for one week a major is now a greater option. Don't need to tell them how long this will run, just state, limited time. Perhaps that would keep so many from being made and swamping the server before it is bumped back.
Or maybe let a request be put in from people to play a major using a greater. Obviously this one feels like it would be more work, having to read through all the requests. Could do it as a specific Major now can fit three more into the setting, put your requests in and those approved. Sadly that option will lead to people crying out favoritism but it's all I have off the top of my head.

[Void]

I get the sentiment and am not arguing with it, but if you would like more options maybe add in a suggestion on what they could be?

Suggestion box is currently closed and this section is technically feedback.

I was personally interested in playing tieflings, but they're major, and given that in all the time here I never had a chance to make one, my interest is sort of slowly vanishing. I'm also not reallyh interested in all that "bloodline tiefling" thing, but just want a plain 3.5 tiefling.

A plain 3.5 tiefling is +2 int, +2 dex, -2 cha, +1 ECL, has dark vision, can cast darkness, and gets +2 bonus on bluff and hide and has horns and optional tail. Also can have odd skin colors, like gray, red, etc. In nwn2 they also had elemental resistances, but those were apparently homebrewed. Currently it is possible to make a completely mechanically equivalent human with gifts.

[The GrumpyCat]

It is a bit of work, and frankly we kinda have to manage how much work load we put on ourselves, so weekly, or even monthly award changes are never likely to happen.

I have and would like to... aim... (Please note the word 'aim') for a shakeup of some awards every six months(ish). Generally raising and lowering things dependent on the current awards avaiable and on their popularity. Probably focusing on greater/majors, but a others may be changed too, we'll see.

But again I stress, this is just an aim, an approximate, a hope, perhaps, should things not go wrong, should the team not be overworked, should there be opportunity to. It's not a promise written in stone.

After all, we didn't do one last six months, after all, because we were busy and also because we had a lot of new award stuff come in around that period (Avariel, language award, gnesi award fiddlng, sea elves ect...)

So yeah, in the next month or so there may be a shift around. Watch this space.