Pawn Inclination

Pawn Inclination is a characteristic of pawns that affects their behaviors in the field and in battle. Inclinations can vary from bravely aggressive, to protective of other pawns and the Arisen; and from cautious to adventurous. There are nine possible inclinations.

Inclinations are an easily overlooked and important aspect of pawn behavior.

Overview
A Pawn's inclination assists in dictating the behavior of a Pawn, mostly when in combat. Main Pawn inclinations are initially decided by answering questions during character creation. Inclinations can be modified at any time by using the Knowledge Chair found at Inns and Rest Camps, or directly and most efficiently by using the Inclination Elixirs, which are purchased from Johnathan in the Encampment.

The primary and secondary inclinations are shown in the stats menu ingame, under "Profile".

Inclinations generally only affect likely actions, but in a few cases introduce new behavior. Generally inclinations causes prioritization of related actions when there are multiple action options available.

It is thought only the Primary and Secondary inclinations affect behavior. Generally primary will override the secondary effect, if both behaviors are possible. In some cases only having an inclination in the primary spot will unlock certain behaviors. The effect of the "Tertiary" or the other lower ranked inclinations on behavior is unknown, but it is likely that they are ignored.

Temporal and battle effects
Inclinations change periodically over time - there are four main causes of changes to a pawn's inclination
 * Battle actions - including which can include : the type of enemy which is attack first, enemies slain, actions such as grapple
 * Debilitation and healing - becoming debilitated, curing ailments, taking great damage, and healing harm
 * Pawn commands - each of the three pawn commands "Go", "Come", and "Help" will modify some inclination's likelyness - the effects sometimes depend on whether in battle or not.
 * Hired pawns and their inclinations - the Arisen's main pawn slowly drifts towards hired pawn's inclinations over time (Hired Pawns' inclination does not alter over time.)

For each type of action inclinations can only be raised a certain amount in a fixed period. Once that period is over the first new action may raise an inclination again. Because of this defeating many enemies in short order may have a minimal effect on inclinations, whereas a long drawn out battle with the same foes can alter inclinations far more.

Some other actions such as picking up look affect specific inclinations every time the action is performed.

Knowledge Chair
Whilst talking in the Knowledge Chair a pawn may ask which of two inclinations to prioritize - this swaps the Secondary inclination and the otherwise invisible 'Tertiary' inclination. This action also slightly reinforces the Primary inclination and slightly disfavors all the others.

Inclination Elixirs
Consuming a single inclination elixir promotes the associated inclination to Secondary, or if it was already the Secondary inclination, promotes it to Primary. Taking more inclination elixirs for a behavior already in the primary position reinforces its position, as well as moving other inclinations down. The Neutralizing Elixir resets all inclinations to a middle value.

Creature associations
Most types of foe are associated with an inclination type. In general :
 * Mitigator corresponds to small foes
 * Challenger to ranged foes
 * Scather - giant foes including giant saurians, poisoned undead and bigger.

Pawns of a specific inclination will only attack a creature matching their favored inclination when present.

Effect of foes on inclinations
Battle actions such as the first foe targeted promote the inclination associated with that foe - similarly when foes are defeated, though in some cases the inclination change depends on the type of attack used : eg a Wraith defeated by ranged attacks promotes Challenger, whilst defeat by melee attacks promotes Scather

Additionally the classification of foes in terms of inclination change may also depend on the other enemies present - a Frostwyrm may be a Mitigator targeted foe in the presence of a stronger Scather targeted Firedrake, but if the drake is defeated, then the wyrm becomes the target of Scather attacks.

Pawn chatter
Pawns indicate inclination specific actions just before they perform them in battle. For example :

Scather
 * "I'll leave the weak foes to you."
 * "I'll begin with the strongest."

Nexus
 * "I'll give aid."
 * "I'll bolster our defenses."

Acquisitor
 * "Never mind the monsters, I'll get the loot!"

Mitigator
 * "I'll take care of the weak."
 * "Leave these to me."
 * "I'll get the weaklings out of the way."

Challenger
 * "The ranged ones are mine!"
 * "I'll take down the most troublesome of them."

Guardian
 * "Any that would target the Arisen are mine!"
 * "I'll protect you Arisen"
 * "Arisen, I am at your side."

Utilitarian
 * "I'll support you!"
 * "You've my support"

Troubleshooting
The only inclination that is incompatible with certain parties is Guardian - specifically a Guardian pawn will not attack if the Arisen is not threatened by melee attacks - making it generally incompatible with distant attacking styles including both bow, longbow, and magick bow; and ranged spellcasting. The problem is further compounded by the Guardian attracting random foes to the Arisen's vicinity, which is especially troublesome when said monster is a club wielding cyclops.. (Guardian is generally good support for Arisen melee vocations like Fighter and Warrior)

Nexus can cause similar behavior to Guardian though it is rarely not so problematic -the Nexus pawn will actively battle as long as the other pawns are in battle. The exception is if all the other pawns are Guardian which leads to all congregating around the Arisen. this becomes a problem if the Arisen is a ranged attacker.

Many perceived pawn behavior problems including unneeded climbing, excessive rolling, constantly running away or around, or canceling spells before completion cannot be fixed by tweeking inclinations.

Doesn't affect inclinations

 * Use of stamina curatives isn't known to increase or decrease any inclination.
 * Whilst picking up objects raises Acquisitor, opening chests, or gathering does not.
 * Pawn commands affect inclinations once every half minute - spamming the command button during that period is no different to pressing it once in terms of inclination change.
 * There's a limit to the increase from some pawn commands - for example "Go" only increases Pioneer to 70% of its maximum value after which Pioneer is no longer promotoed.
 * Sneak attacks when foes are not alerted to the party's present have no effect on inclination.
 * Reviving an Unconscious pawn doesn't promote Nexus - however the loss of health will likely have raised the inclination anyway..
 * Draining stamina totally doesn't affect inclinations.