#1
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Origin of 'canni' mechanic?
A lot of the classes, races, and class features in EQ came from more-or-less obvious precursors in myth, literature or tabletop games. I've been wondering, though, about the 'cannibalism' mechanic on shamans...does anyone have any information about where that idea came from?
__________________
The Ancient Ranger
Awake again. | ||
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#2
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#3
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Sometimes developers make up game mechanics to match the story, and sometimes they make up story to match game mechanics. I'd guess that the cannabalise mechanic of "let's let Shaman turn their life in to mana" came first, and then they looked around for something vaguely Shamanic to call it (and found "cannabalize").
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#5
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I've always thought it was poorly named... it's more of a sacrifice of vitality in exchange for spiritual favor. That's not a novel concept...
Move to make un-classic change in renaming "Cannibalize" spells to "Flesh to Spirit" | ||
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#6
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Quote:
Because practices such as starvation, sleep denial and flagellation are known to induce altered states, flagellation may be used by religious ecstatics and mystics as part of ritualistic practices or ceremonies to achieve unusual states of mind Going on the basis that the spell canni is "starving" yourself of health to regen mana. the effect and the word cannibalism arent really tied together. Its moreso your eatting yourself away"Cannibalizing"(losing health) to gain enlightenment (mana). | |||
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#7
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Along the lines of Thulack's description I can see the act of inflicting damage to ones self in exchange for enhanced ability, in this case with mana, as related to cani.
In many mythos and narratives something is gained through sacrifice. Take the biblical story of Adam and Eve or any one of the many stories throughout history and fantasy in which blood is used as a reagent for a spell.
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#8
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In India, Aghori Sadhus which are similar to shamans eat dead bodies from the funeral pyres. They are a wandering monk who embraces the darker side of life to go beyond duality.
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#9
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Quote:
For instance, D&D apparently has shamans, but no mention of any cannibalistic tendencies.
__________________
The Ancient Ranger
Awake again. | |||
Last edited by fadetree; 10-23-2013 at 02:33 PM..
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#10
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EQ was based largely on DikuMUD. I'd suggest checking into gameplay of that particular thing to see if it had a cannibalize mechanism.
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