Henchmen Bonus

[Chala]

So on another server to help make henchmen a little more worth while they had a system where for every virtue level they gained they got a bonus to their str cap. This makes sense because a more expirienced fighter would be more effective in combat. I propose a small str bonus for henchmen for each virtue level they gain, another possibility is to add dexterity as well. It could look something like this.

The Honorable +10 Str
The Commendable +10 Str (or +10 dex)
The Admirable +10 Str
The Reknowned +10 Str (or +10 dex)
The Famed +20 Str
The Noble 6400 +10 Str (or +20 dex)
The Illustrious +10 Str
The Glorious +25 Str (or +25 Str and Dex)

Str bonus does not tend to give a lot of damage bonus, but would make them a little harder to kill, which is something that is much needed for henchmen. Dex bonus could give them a little faster swing speed.

[Azarion]

Henchmen feel really strong to me to be honest, If anything I'd suggest the AI be Improved a tad if possible. From my experience so far they are forced to tether back to you if following you and the "All kill" command doesn't seem to work at times. When I tried using them as archers they would constantly tether back to me mid-shot, to fix the problem I tried using "All Stop" before I would command them to kill. This usually resulted in them standing there confused and not even trying to attack. They are following the players during combat so strictly its disrupting their combat routines. I know in Ackadia we had some custom scripts and we could say " Name, combat setup" and adjust all of their bandy timings along with how many paces they stood behind us and whatnot in a gump, which was amazing for configuring them as archers. In general something feels up with how they are responding to combat, primarily with a bow equipped. But henchmen damage as it stands are extremely decent, I can get mine to 140 strength easily and they chop out a good 70% of my damage, this is a melee henchmen and they tend to respond a bit better then archery right now.

Also, I noticed they would frequently just unequip a bow altogether and try and melee, regardless of having plenty of ammo in their bag and having them plenty PLENTY far away.

[Chala]

Ahh I was using them and the AI seemed a lot more responsive than other places I've played, but they are fairly fragile compared to them as well. The str isn't about the damage, it's about them surviving longer because they have more hp. Strength only adds 1 point of damage for every 20 points of strength. So at most this method would only add 5 damage per hit which is not much but we could always make it a hp increase instead so they get no str bonus.

[Chala]

Also not sure how hard it is here, I would assume kinda hard, but even getting a henchmen to glorious would be pretty hard to even get all of these bonuses. Generally hunches only make it to renowned or famed at most (at least that's around the highest I've seen).

[Mack]

Henchies are really strong as it is just weak to AOE and dumb as a box of rocks/AI issues and the monsters tend to target them a lot more in this version of pol from what I can tell, but that could just be my imagination.

[Chala]

Wierd maybe I'll have to work with them a little more, I thought the AI was pretty good, but they were pretty squishy.

[Azarion]

Yeah when properly buffed and mastery of magic resist I've honestly had no issues with them surviving at all. You will need to macro taunt, it's labeled as begging in the skill window currently. This helps ensure any big badies wont get them, but you really need to pick your battles where you take them as well. Ladies of frost will certainly kill them fast though, although the loot they drop is hardly worth the effort currently. 140 strength is close to around 180-200 hp for mine, which is plenty tanky enough alongside platemail and protection buffs & Strength Jewelry

The idea is pretty neat though, perhaps tone it down a tad though. Strength is an extremely valuable stat, +25 would be a full blown poly-morph. Maybe cap it around 10 strength if it actually gets implemented.

[Wolfsong]

I'd like to see Gargoyle henchmen as well =D

[Chala]

Believe it or not that was toned down

The other server i was it on was like 25 per level and 50 every few levels. You could get your henchmen to like 400 str there lol

[antman3]

A little off topic but is there a way to open henchmens bags to check stock of things they are carrying?