Award Refunding

[Kuma]

The refunding of awards up to level 5 was a welcome move especially for last minute mistakes at character creation, as well as realising that maybe your choice of race or concept or award wasn't as fitting as you'd like. However, getting to level 5 is basically as easy as sneezing, especially these days, and it might take people a while longer to realise they'd made an error in judgement, be it mechanical or in terms of character suitability.

If it matched the threshold for sacrifices - i.e. so long as the character was below level 16 - I think that might be a better option than 5.

[Chosen Son]

Fully agree with this.

[MRFTW]

Even just a little higher would be great.

[AstralUniverse]

I agree with this suggestion a lot. Getting to level 5 takes so little time to reach that it's entirely harmless to extend the award refund to a higher level threshold.

[Good Character]

I think the finest spot would be level 8.

1. Little character development has likely been done.
2. Melee has access to 2 APR whether full or 3/4 progression, so they can see if the build is as comfortable as they thought.
3. Caster classes get access to good, useful spells at this point.

[Killer on the drive home]

My friend made a pirate, using an award, but wanted to play with me UD immediately after realizing. Soo we tried to petition for it, but was explained rules are rules despite the fact they were immediately started out at level 6 by Sencliff.

It's not really fair imho. Please raise.

[Farlius]

The fact you can reach 6-8 in a single set of writs now really necessitates moving to a 9+ refund policy.

[Watchful Glare]

That would be nice to have, it's quite a thing when you use a rare award (Which is rarer already if you don't roll characters left and right to farm awards) and you messed up somewhere and didn't realise until later, and you're essentially bonked. You get no other advantage except avoiding needless sadness. No downsides either.

[Babylon System is the Vampire]

Agreed.

[mash]

I would favor a higher limit, maybe even going into the 10-15 range, especially with the increased leveling speed. Personally, I tend to try and drop characters within a few days of their life, either because their personality did not work or the story didn't sound as interesting in hindsight. As I also play rather slow, and not too many characters, I am quick to waste an award on a barely played character. Relaxing the limit a bit couldn't hurt, in my opinion.

[Curve]

Seems reasonable.

[Archnon]

Honestly, I think this is overdue. I remember suggesting this with the HIPS nerf, highlighting the frequency of balancing changes that can take a toll on character development. These balancing shifts are still pretty steady, including the (rather terrific) warlock update. add to that, the ability to start at level 6 or even level 14 in guld with the use of an award. It is not just the speed in leveling but a broader dynamic environment.

I don't think it should go all the way up to 16. I think the risk to be balanced is the use of awards for say, a skal start. Then you could level up to 16 and engage in extensive RP, then start over again and regain the award. However, I would like to see it capped at a high level (10-12) and of course, if it is being abused, there should be ways to track it. Just knowing how many times each player has used a refund should give a pretty good signal to the DM team. Or cap it to a single refund per reward would honestly be great. Then you know you get 1 reset up to X level for when you 1.)screw up 2.) get your character concept shot to oblivion by a major change.

[Edens_Fall]

+1

[CNS]

+1

[Woper_The_Black]

Not sure if it's possible but what if you set it up to allow you different cutoffs depending on your starter area, so the mention of skal and not going to 16 levels etc. If it records you starting in cordor or skal make it level 8, sencliff maybe level 10 ? If you do the guld start, maybe just 2 levels to 17, since you start at 15 is it ?

[Spyre]

We'll adjust this to level 10 across the board.

[Good Character]

Woo! Significant jump, and much appreciated.

[White Haven]

We'll adjust this to level 10 across the board.

While this is certainly much appreciated, it still leaves people who chose the 14 (guldorand) start out in the cold. Could the sacrifice milestone at 16 possibly be moved instead to 18 and the threshold for award refund be increased to 15 or 16?

[Killer on the drive home]

You should probably pick the Guldorand award pretty knowingly and with a build onhand you know.

[White Haven]

You should probably pick the Guldorand award pretty knowingly and with a build onhand you know.

A pretty unhelpful post, if I'm honest. Refunding an award isn't always about the build (as the OP and several other people in-thread have said). You might also decide a concept isn't as cool or interesting to you as you thought it was, or it otherwise just wasn't turning out how you wanted and unlike a level 3 start you have no time to get used to the character enough to decide this, effectively wasting your normal completely.

[Good Character]

While a DM might give better insight on the purpose of the Guldorand award now that the event is over, to me it's seen rather as a way to skip the tedious low level leveling. Hence, it's meant for people with a truly solid idea and know-how of their build. A cheap award saving a lot of time in-exchange for the risk of not enjoying your concept.

[Kalopsia]

The reason, to my knowledge, is that starting with 30000gp and rolling/remaking immediately after handing the money to an OOC friend would become a problem.

[Killer on the drive home]

I would use the PGCC - a whole extra server the Arelith staff hosts for us to test builds - before deciding on your Guldorand start. You're cutting out something like 1/4th of all your leveling.

[White Haven]

The reason, to my knowledge, is that starting with 30000gp and rolling immediately would become a problem.

Huh. I was under the impression that money only counted toward 5% rolls, which means they would have to be 26+ when rolling.

Even so, if the lowest award tier was raised to 18 or something, they'd still have to spend that 30k on stuff to do writs to get there, unless they mean to spend hours ticking rpb down.

Anyway, I don't mean to get pedantic about it. I've just been burned by the 14 start once before and thought it would be nice.

[Kalopsia]

The reason, to my knowledge, is that starting with 30000gp and rolling immediately would become a problem.

Huh. I was under the impression that money only counted toward 5% rolls, which means they would have to be 26+ when rolling.

Even so, if the lowest award tier was raised to 18 or something, they'd still have to spend that 30k on stuff to do writs to get there, unless they mean to spend hours ticking rpb down.

Anyway, I don't mean to get pedantic about it. I've just been burned by the 14 start once before and thought it would be nice.

Edited my original post to be more precise. The award chances aren't the problem here :)