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Hello to you all
Here I would like to give a case as to why I think the automatic sorting of
players into the different Oots Patrons should be changed, as to allow a free
for player to decide what patron their character belongs to. I think that the
automatic sorting is both too restrictive and not in line with other design
choices when it comes to design philosophy, and is not in keeping enough with
the lore in order to justify it being so restrictive mechanically.
1 OOTs is unique in how it makes this sort of choice for the player. Warlocks
can choose their patron, Minstrels can choose their instrument, Elementals can
choose their preferred Elemental. This choice being made for the player instead
of by them removes a great deal of player agency both when it comes to
mechanics and roleplay, and I think is inconsistent when compared to other
areas of the game that a player makes character choices in (the big race
changes from a while ago were made, to my understanding, in order to allow for
more freedom for players to choose aspects for their character without being
locked out of certain builds mechanically).
2 This could be overlooked if it was seen as a necessary sacrifice to be in
line with the lore of The Holy Orders of the Stars, but as far as I know in
lore there is very little restriction as it is represented in Gen within the
story of Dragonlance. Explicitly stated in the War of the Lance Sourcebook, any
Cleric of the Good Aligned Holy Order of Stars can create an amulet that admits
another person as a Cleric of any other Good-aligned God, with the same being
stated to be true for the other alignments. For example a Cleric of Paladine
could use their Medallion of Paladine to create a Medallion of Mishakal and
sponsor someone as a Cleric of Mishakal. Also, from the Holy Orders of the
Stars sourcebook, while it at times states that certain groups are among the
first to, or are the most likely to become clerics of a certain God, the
language used seems intentional to indicate this is only a tendency, and not a
restriction, and if anything the more important decider is exact alignment
which is a non-factor in Genesis since it doesnt have Evil or Neutral
churches or a Chaotic-Lawful alignment spectrum. If races as a whole were
reworked in order to make more builds more viable for more races, then as well
the different Oots patrons shouldn't be racially locked, especially with a
lacking precedent in the story.
It is for these reasons and others that I believe that the racial/guild
restriction on which patron you are in service to as a member of Oots should be
lifted, and it should be a free choice for any member. In order to allow for
more people called to the Oots, whether for its mechanics or rp value, to make
choices that best fit their character without being locked into a certain
aspect of it or having to resort to race hopping to get the Patron they want
anyways. Maybe even allow people to switch once every x time limit or so for no
or minimal cost, and to switch more than or outside of that time limit resets
your title back to start.