Attunement to Death Feedback

[Xersaoth]

The attunement system is elusive and fuels metagaming. After years of playing on Arelith, I, like many others, still struggle to understand what various auras mean exactly. This lack of clarity muddies roleplay and encourages players to rely on some out-of-character assumptions.

One issue that stands out a lot is the attunement to Death - it is odd that certain classes, like warlocks, automatically get it even when they roleplay as good characters in surface settlements. Meanwhile, characters who summon undead and murder PCs - actions that seem far more tied to death - do not have it and cannot earn it by any means. It should be given clearer meaning to reduce such silliness.

[Paint]

You'll see death stick to a whole bunch of characters depending on how they like to handle combat and conflict, tbh. The problem with talking about the attunement system is that discussing it is kind of spoiling it for other people, but one fun example of the death attunement I've experienced was seeing multiple paladins with the death attunement in the same room. Not, 'I thought they were paladins,' we're talking about holy-sword casting card carrying paladins. You're right. It totally does fuel metagaming because a lot of people's knee-jerk reaction to the death attunement is that someone is doing spooky stuff.

But there's really nothing to imply that's what's happening, other than that it's called the death attunement. I've seen conflicts spark over it and it's pretty funny every time.

Personally, I think arelith needs more vague, confusing mechanics for people to puzzle out in their own way. It's great to be presented with open-ended puzzles that don't have a set solution and watch people lose their minds over the meaning.

I will say that no warlock automatically gets the death attunement, though. It does happen, however, that what they do often results in it.

[Xersaoth]

You'll see death stick to a whole bunch of characters depending on how they like to handle combat and conflict, tbh. The problem with talking about the attunement system is that discussing it is kind of spoiling it for other people, but one fun example of the death attunement I've experienced was seeing multiple paladins with the death attunement in the same room. Not, 'I thought they were paladins,' we're talking about holy-sword casting card carrying paladins. You're right. It totally does fuel metagaming because a lot of people's knee-jerk reaction to the death attunement is that someone is doing spooky stuff.

But there's really nothing to imply that's what's happening, other than that it's called the death attunement. I've seen conflicts spark over it and it's pretty funny every time.

Personally, I think arelith needs more vague, confusing mechanics for people to puzzle out in their own way. It's great to be presented with open-ended puzzles that don't have a set solution and watch people lose their minds over the meaning.

I will say that no warlock automatically gets the death attunement, though. It does happen, however, that what they do often results in it.

Based on my personal experience, many of the points you have raised do not align with what I have observed.

Your example of paladins with death attunement does not just encourage metagaming, to me it feels completely out of place. Paladins, by their nature, should not have that attunement, and seeing it happen, if true, is just odd.

I recently leveled a character alongside a warlock who had death attunement from the start. She never got into a conflict, summoned undead or did anything remotely dark, yet that attunement stuck with her the whole time.

On the flip side, I have seen other characters who regularly kill players and summon undead all the time, yet they somehow forever avoid getting death attunement entirely.

This discrepancy makes the system seem random and skewed toward identity rather than roleplay and actions - I am convinced that the attunements rarely reflect what a character does but instead hinges on their race and class.

[In Sorrow We Trust]

necromancy isn't the only way to get death attunement, is the summary of what i'd write if i could go into details without spoiling the FOIG element of attunements.

if people are using the attunements as a means to metagame, they probably don't actually understand the system

[Paint]

Your example of paladins with death attunement does not just encourage metagaming, to me it feels completely out of place. Paladins, by their nature, should not have that attunement, and seeing it happen, if true, is just odd.

Unless the nature of the death attunement isn't what you think it is. Shrug.

Edit:
To elaborate, the attunement system isn't a reliable way to out characters who do evil and unscrupulous things, and your character may or may not know that.

[Xersaoth]

Unless the nature of the death attunement isn't what you think it is. Shrug.

I am just trying to apply common sense here, but from the answers I usually get it has some esoteric FOIG meaning that I could not figure out after three years of playing here.

[In Sorrow We Trust]

Unless the nature of the death attunement isn't what you think it is. Shrug.

I am just trying to apply common sense here, but from the answers I usually get it has some esoteric FOIG meaning that I could not figure out after three years of playing here.

ironically the attunement system is probably one of our simpler systems to date. it's not even that complicated. to the point that once you know how it works because you've looked at the code, it almost spoils the mystique.

[chris a gogo]

I spent a year playing a seer and it's really very simple once you understand it.(im not going to explain it as it is FOIG)
But death does not = evil
Only way to work out alignments or classes via divination is using the deck of stars.

[Azensor]

Without spoiling it to much, hopefully, i'll try to explain it abit.
Think of death/life/forget if theres a third or forth: like a ..'refined' attunement, compared to say water/earth/fire/air
Once you figure it out it becomes really easy to notice, and one final hint: Time is the key. thats all

[Iceborn]

This is discussing a FOIG mechanic that is working as intended, and I believe enough has been said about it.
If you want to know more, well, Find Out In Game.

A grand part of the joy of playing a diviner is maybe not knowing exactly why you see the things that you see, but what do they mean to your character, and what will they do with that information.
And even then, can they really trust their own visions?

Locking.