TOPIC: 2025 Volunteer and Participation

Volunteer and Participation

I think these are pretty solid, though I still think The DK shirt needs + STR not CON. All other DK set pieces deal with STR only

Charm of the Champion feels like it would be better if it granted +1 to STR, DEX, and CON, since at the moment it is twice as good as the previous UR volunteer charms.

The rare greaves could use a boost, maybe +1AC in additional to each of their existing effects, since there are already 10-pack rare beads which grant +1 to a stat (or +2 for the relevant class).

I looked over these for common errors (e.g. wrong transmute category, missing hand icons, etc.), and didn't spot any.

Defender Greaves: I'm not complaining, but these are really, really good. They will be must gets for all my builds. Are these intended to be class restricted to the heavy armor classes?

I don't volunteer (immigration/visa restrictions), so listen to the actual volunteers if they shout me down, please!

Death Knight Shirt:
The unifying factor behind the DK set has been STR. It would feel awkward if this were to be the only piece without it.

Charm of the Champion:
+2 STR & +2 DEX strictly outclasses previous volunteer Charms.
I previously floated the idea of a Charm that was "+2 Focus or +2 CON (choose at start)", but it was mentioned that it would be too weak and unappealing. What if it were "+3 Focus or +2 CON (choose at start)"? "+2 Focus or +2 DEX (choose at start)"?
Really, I just want a Focus charm because I want more fun healy toys, but Focus is not broadly appealing. Luckily, we already have precedent to fix this: volunteer tokens that offer a choice as functional reprints of older volunteer tokens. What alternative would it take to have a Charm that grants Focus be appealing?

White Bifrost Charm:
This should get bumped up to +2 untyped Melee damage. The 2023 Uncommon Charm of Horus grants +1 untyped Ranged damage; why is that considered more valuable (given the lower rarity on the item) than untyped Melee damage?

Death Knight Shirt: At this point, I want to say, make it +2 STR or +2 DEX, choose at start, )to reflect the probable upcoming game changes). Plus the undead touch effect, of course.

Charm of the Champion
Doubles the effect of prior vol charms, which is creeping prior volunteer charms as recent as 2022. If you're insistent on creeping the old charms, please put a note that you're creeping it and that won't change.

If you're open to suggestions, consider making it a base +2 str and then create a transmute with the DK shirt that gives +2 str / +2 con at relic. A bonus of having a transmute is the value of both items shouldn't drop so steeply from Jan to Dec

If a transmute is too complicated for volunteers, maybe consider:

+1 str / +1 dex / +1 con (so it isn't strictly better than prior charms)


Death Knight Shirt
I'm don't believe this shirt creates enough of an alternative to Arcanum Shirt to create demand from the secondary market, which means it might not be as popular with volunteers as desired.

Consider possibly making this a transmute paired with the charm (as above) to maintain demand. If it can't be a transmute, consider using a different slot.

Bifrost participation charms
There is a lot of redundancy in these, and a player could basically fill all their slots with damage charms for their preferred combat method. Perhaps these could be dropped to 7 and broken up in abilities just a little more, like the ruby iouns were? The White bifrost charm is a bit of an outlier - it's untyped, but I'm not sure that justifies halving the damage.

What about:

Green: +2 Sacred to 1H missile attacks
Indigo: +2 Cold to 2H missile attacks
Orange: +2 Fire to spell damage
Red: +2 Fire damage to Scrolls
Violet: +2 darkrift 1H to melee
Yellow: +2 Sacred to 2H melee
White: +2 to healing

This adds some variety, uses existing damage modifier methods, and makes the transmute more meaningful

Participation beads
Please be consistent with either abbreviations for attributes or spelling them out. Also, consider adding something else to them (+2 hp?), otherwise they are basically just pack rare beads without a kicker for certain classes.

Defender Greaves
These are really good - probably the best greaves released. They should probably be limited to the same classes that can equip the defender set though.

I understand why many want the UR charm lowered, but I honestly don’t think it will give the vols a good return unless it stays. I could be wrong. Maybe someone who has been watching the numbers this year? Slotless +4 HP has been going for sub 200 in February already. Beads aren’t selling over 290 and we aren’t 1/2 way through.

I truly don’t have a dog in this fight but last year it was a big thing to increase the UR to make it more desirable for the Vols to sell. If this is going to keep being an uncontrollable progression I’ve seen some good ideas of vol currency of possibility vol multi year. Issue with a multi year is each year we have 2 relics from participation plus other paths SH arcanum etc. i don’t think it’s wise to add more in. The goal is to slow the rapid growth and help things just be and grow at the level it is.

If you are mostly confident that something similar to the proposed changes are going to go through. A neat twist on the volunteer charm would be to change it up and go +2 Int, +2 Wis, or +2 Cha (choose at start of adventure).

The Death Knight Shirt needs an ability/stats that are not similar to the Arcanum shirt. It needs to feel different. One option would be "Immune to Retribution Damage" this would make it slightly better than the Shirt of Shielding because it is part of the set, and makes it a shirt that folks would wear depending on the module. If this is too weak you could maybe even put a +1 str on it.

OrionW wrote: If you are mostly confident that something similar to the proposed changes are going to go through. A neat twist on the volunteer charm would be to change it up and go +2 Int, +2 Wis, or +2 Cha (choose at start of adventure).

The Death Knight Shirt needs an ability/stats that are not similar to the Arcanum shirt. It needs to feel different. One option would be "Immune to Retribution Damage" this would make it slightly better than the Shirt of Shielding because it is part of the set, and makes it a shirt that folks would wear depending on the module. If this is too weak you could maybe even put a +1 str on it.

do you think that would give it enough to be helpful to the Vols ? ( Charm )

I like the idea of making the DK Shirt w/ the Shielding effect w/ a + 1 to STR… but I don’t think they would go for that. The Shirt of Shielding is a 4pt Exalted, and its effect on an UR I think would not be something many would go for. I do like it though, I’d definitely use it.