The Unspoken Woes of a 5%

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Twily
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The Unspoken Woes of a 5%

Post by Twily » Sat Sep 30, 2017 5:46 pm

As a brief introduction:
When I got a major award, I was so excited and really looked forward to getting to play a unique character. In the end I went with a silver half-dragon, something I had wanted to play for quite some time due to FR lore on silver dragons.
To not bore you with the entire story, the point is I regret it.

I'm not saying not to play a special race, and I'm not saying other players did anything wrong, I'm simply trying to help set the expectation for others who are considering playing a special race.
I didn't realize how the character would be received when I choose it due to a lack of source information specific to Arelith, so there is really no way I could have known.
I wish there was a post like this when I was considering what to go with for the award, and so I write it up in hopes that others may find it useful should they be in the same position I was.


Playing a special race:
As a start: Your millage may vary. Everything posted here is based on my own experiences, and the experiences of those I have spoken to. There is always the possibility you may end up not falling into any of this.(Thank you Cortex: A good point.)

If you are a special race that has abnormal appearances and doesn't conceal their identity, there is a high chance they will be treated like a monster regardless of what that race is. (be it deva, tiefling, dragon disciple, half-dragon, etc)
Do not expect to be treated in a manner that includes specifics of situations, or in a way that includes forgotten realms lore on that race.
Ask yourself "Do I want to play a monster?", and if that is a no, consider very carefully before making the choice, as there is no turning back.

I also suggest asking other players about a specific race before choosing to play one, to get the Arelith take on it.
As is occasionally said, Arelith isn't 100% by the book, and various races have a history on the server, be it positive or negative, and these don't always align with what the Forgotten Realms source books may say, but do influence how others will react to and treat the character.

Be prepared to file reports. Every 5% character I had talked to agrees that there will be times where people's reactions are just a little too out of line, whether it be things their character asks or says, OOC factors influencing their character's actions, etc.

Endurance. You may need a lot of endurance to play a character of that nature, especially so if you don't hide it's identity, as your character will most likely be knocked down again and again, through endless insults, rumors, and/or lies.

Use of a 5% on anything else:
Be patient if you're requesting something custom: The devs have lives too, and going back and forth to discuss the details of the reward's usage could take multiple weeks. (everyone I've spoken to that has a 5% said it toke them a while)

Additionally, when choosing a build for any character that you plan to use a major award on, I strongly recommend that you contact the devs and ask if they plan to work on or release any changes to the classes you are looking at any time soon.
My story:

When a majority of people saw something such as silver wings on my character, they would instantly label her a monster and sometimes even physically attack her, with seemingly no regard to what "sort" of monster she is, be they elves within Myon, dwarves within Brogendenstein and so on.
This isn't an issue when it's not a breach of rules, but it's not what I was expecting.

I had wrongly expected the elves to recognize that she can't be that bad if she could pass through the Mythal(meaning Myon is a safe space), that the dwarves would think of the silver dragon that lives in their own hall(meaning she might find allies there), or that some(not all) people would recognize that she's part silver(a dragon that, by forgotten realms lore is known to be kind, friendly, honest and merciful, even if prideful).
These didn't factor in nearly as much as I expected, even high intelligence mages that I thought I could safety assume to know the difference between different types of dragons revealed that they didn't know, far more often than I expected.
Literally every single time I log on my character, I receive negative treatment by other characters, regardless of where I am.
I had naturally expected some hate, but not to the point others would effectively exile her from entire cities for simply being a monster, have guards listen to a criminal and known underdarker before her, or to the point she'd be insulted or even attacked by members of the same faction that she's been a part of for a while.

I think part of the reason the Forgotten Realms lore on this race is so overlooked ties into the fact player controlled silver dragons have a rather bloody history specific to Arelith.

My failure to ask about changes also resulted in a change being released only 1 month after I got the character that ruined the entire build concept to my character, and made playing it that much more of a struggle. This unfortunately falls under "When bad things happen to good adventurers", so cover your bases.
Last edited by Twily on Sat Sep 30, 2017 7:52 pm, edited 9 times in total.

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triaddraykin
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Re: The Unspoken Woes of a 5%

Post by triaddraykin » Sat Sep 30, 2017 6:49 pm

I'm sorry to hear you've been through that. It sounds like a rough time for both player and character. I wanted to extend a hand from the Tower, and while not all of the members are knowledgeable of draconic lore, the leaders are, having been approached by several of them in the past. Dragons have become rare once again, so every one that approaches us is a rare and special treat. That's all I'll say, as I don't want to draw away from the point of your post. I've never played a 5%, I'm infamous for never rolling my characters anyways, so I don't have much to put that's relevant.
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Commie
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Re: The Unspoken Woes of a 5%

Post by Commie » Sat Sep 30, 2017 6:50 pm

Twily wrote:As a brief introduction:
When I got a major award, I was so excited and really looked forward to getting to play a unique character. In the end I went with a silver half-dragon, something I had wanted to play for quite some time due to FR lore on silver dragons.
To not bore you with the entire story, the point is I regret it.

I'm not saying not to play a special race, and I'm not saying other players did anything wrong, I'm simply trying to help set the expectation for others who are considering playing a special race.
I didn't realize how the character would be received when I choose it due to a lack of source information specific to Arelith, so there is really no way I could have known.
I wish there was a post like this when I was considering what to go with for the award, and so I write it up in hopes that others may find it useful should they be in the same position I was.


Playing a special race:
If you are a special race that has abnormal appearances and doesn't conceal their identity, expect to be treated like a monster regardless of what that race is. (be it deva, tiefling, dragon disciple, half-dragon, etc)
Do not expect to be treated in a manner that includes specifics of situations, or in a way that includes forgotten realms lore on that race.
Ask yourself "Do I want to play a monster?", and if that is a no, consider very carefully before making the choice, as there is no turning back.

I also suggest asking other players about a specific race before choosing to play one, to get the Arelith take on it.
As is occasionally said, Arelith isn't 100% by the book, and various races have a history on the server, be it positive or negative, and these don't always align with what the Forgotten Realms source books may say, but do influence how others will react to and treat the character.

Be prepared to file reports. Every 5% character I had talked to agrees that there will be times where people's reactions are just a little too out of line, whether it be things their character asks or says, OOC factors influencing their character's actions, etc.

Use of a 5% on anything else:
Be patient if you're requesting something custom: The devs have lives too, and going back and forth to discuss the details of the reward's usage could take multiple weeks. (everyone I've spoken to that has a 5% said it toke them a while)

Additionally, when choosing a build for any character that you plan to use a major award on, I strongly recommend that you contact the devs and ask if they plan to work on or release any changes to the classes you are looking at any time soon.
My story:

When a majority of people saw something such as silver wings on my character, they would instantly label her a monster and sometimes even physically attack her, with seemingly no regard to what "sort" of monster she is, be they elves within Myon, dwarves within Brogendenstein and so on.
This isn't an issue when it's not a breach of rules, but it's not what I was expecting.

I had wrongly expected the elves to recognize that she can't be that bad if she could pass through the Mythal(meaning Myon is a safe space), that the dwarves would think of the silver dragon that lives in their own hall(meaning she might find allies there), or that some(not all) people would recognize that she's part silver(a dragon that, by forgotten realms lore is known to be kind, friendly, honest and merciful, even if prideful).
These didn't factor in nearly as much as I expected, even high intelligence mages that I thought I could safety assume to know the difference between different types of dragons revealed that they didn't know, far more often than I expected.
Literally every single time I log on my character, I receive negative treatment by other characters, regardless of where I am.
I had naturally expected some hate, but not to the point others would effectively exile her from entire cities for simply being a monster, have guards listen to a criminal before her, or to the point she'd be insulted or even attacked by members of the same faction that she's been a part of for a while.

I think part of the reason the Forgotten Realms lore on this race is so overlooked ties into the fact player controlled silver dragons have a rather bloody history specific to Arelith.

My failure to ask about changes also resulted in a change being released only 1 month after I got the character that ruined the entire build concept to my character, and made playing it that much more of a struggle. This unfortunately falls under "When bad things happen to good adventurers", so cover your bases.
How long did you play this character? Did you work to change hearts and minds to accept your draconic blood after the initial mistreatment?

Playing a monster is work, it's true, but I don't see why anyone should feel dissuaded from putting in that work.

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Re: The Unspoken Woes of a 5%

Post by Marsi » Sat Sep 30, 2017 7:18 pm

This... just seems like a great IC narrative to be dealt with IC.

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Twily
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Re: The Unspoken Woes of a 5%

Post by Twily » Sat Sep 30, 2017 7:31 pm

Please lock.

Reasoning: This thread is meant to offer another perspective to those who have gotten a major award before they fall into the same trap I did. It's meant to share information that was never shared with me(that would have changed my decision on how to use the 5%) despite speaking to devs and other 5% characters alike. It's not meant to debate what I should or shouldn't have done, the sharing of my story was for a practical, first hand example.

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Cortex
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Re: The Unspoken Woes of a 5%

Post by Cortex » Sat Sep 30, 2017 7:38 pm

Important to note your mileage may vary, regardless, and your experience may not be the same to others. Take everyone's opinion with a grain of salt.
:)

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Re: The Unspoken Woes of a 5%

Post by gilescorey » Sat Sep 30, 2017 8:00 pm

I'm trying to figure out this thread. You made a half dragon and expected to be treated as normal, or uplifted as some sort of paragon of goodness? I don't get it. Surely you saw this coming.

It's not like every single character (or, even player) is going to know silver = good. To them you're just some crazy elf with shiny skin and dragon wings.

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Twily
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Re: The Unspoken Woes of a 5%

Post by Twily » Sat Sep 30, 2017 8:06 pm

@gilescorey Your post is the exact sort I don't want here, and is why I asked for it to be locked.
It doesn't further the point of my post, only serves to insult me for not seeing that coming, while also disregarding me stating that I did expect some hate. (and for the record I didn't expect it to be treated like a paragon of goodness)
If you really want to talk about it, we can do so in PMs.
Last edited by Twily on Sat Sep 30, 2017 8:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: The Unspoken Woes of a 5%

Post by gilescorey » Sat Sep 30, 2017 8:10 pm

I'm not insulting you, and I'm bewildered as to why you feel that way. You're trying to get the post locked because nobody's agreeing with you.

You expected "some hate" and then people actually hated you and you don't like it. It's not adding up, can you clarify?

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Re: The Unspoken Woes of a 5%

Post by DarkDreamer » Sat Sep 30, 2017 8:14 pm

@gilescorey - It sounds more like shes saying that Arelith doesn't follow set lore that she expected and is warning others to do more research rather then just assume as she had that it would follow the lore. She clearly expected some hatred as it is a Dragon, just not nearly as much as she has received.

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Re: The Unspoken Woes of a 5%

Post by Lorkas » Sat Sep 30, 2017 8:22 pm

Locked at the request of thread creator.

These are definitely thoughts that people should consider before requesting a special, unique race as part of their 5%. Unique ideas are weird to many characters (heck, to many players), and someone who doesn't consider carefully how they really expect people to respond to their character trying to interact within normal society.

It's actually not that odd of a thing to fail to think this through totally--on the old forums, Mithreas noted at one point the large number of 5% characters (at the time, there were no tiered rewards, only the 5%) who request something obviously special and unique and then shelve their characters in 2-4 weeks.

Twily is far from the first to fail to think this through entirely, and it's admirable to step forward and say something about it in an attempt to help others not make the same mistake.

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