I mentioned this in passing in the shoutbox, and there was surprisingly positive feedback. Should it be possible to optionally "rent" a treasure for the duration of a single quest or dungeon, at the cost of a percentage of its normal price? (I was thinking somewhere between 10% and 25%.) While inspired by a Link Between Worlds, the treasure need not literally be rented--just as most treasures aren't literally bought. A character might gain a Hookshot in the quest, but break it before accomplishing the goal, or a character might "borrow" a headband that enables him to cast Spire while he wears it. As a possible add-on to this, if a character spent rupees on renting a treasure, if he later got it in full, he could deduct the rental price from the full price. (I.e., if it cost 12 rupees to rent a Hookshot which normally costs 60 rupees, he could later acquire it for 48 rupees.) To prevent abuse, this would only apply once no matter how many times it was rented. (I.e., if you rented the Hookshot thrice, you'd have to pay 36 rupees, but still only subtract 12 rupees from the full cost if you acquired it fully.) Like DM Dungeons, this would just be an option for those interested in it. Thoughts?
With the thing in place to help prevent people from abusing it, I like this idea a lot. Although I personally can't see myself using it frequently(Though I still might a little bit), it's a good idea and I can see where others would find the appeal. I'm all for it. As for price, I'd say 15%. 25% seems a bit too high for one use, but 10% is barely anything for a lot of treasures, 15% seems like a good balance(Though I suppose it doesn't matter much). Alternatively, you could assign each cost tier a renting percentage. So say, for example, lowest cost could be 10%, while highest cost could be 30%.
While I may or may not ever use this, I like the idea and hope it comes in one form or another. We're assuming now that Major Treasures aren't rentable, for obvious reasons, correct? A tiered cost system may work, though, but I guess it really comes down to what you would rent for what golden price that makes it worthwhile. Sure, if you can't afford a Tunic but want to run a dungeon, even a pricey-price is worthwhile if you don't or can't invest for the item, while certain items may be worthless to rent at the price when you could just buy it to end with. Can you rent multiple treasures at once, or limited to One-at-a-Time? Also, are the Discounts character-bound or account-bound? I'm assuming Character-Bound, Account-Bound or Free-Trade could cause the most interesting of outcomes, .
Much like Eev and CJ, I don't see myself using this all too frequently, although I DO already have several examples in mind- this would make dungeon-character compatibility less of an issue and I could do dungeons with any characters as long as he/she rents the necessary item. I like Eev's idea of a tiered cost, although I must say that treasures in the 'Lowest' tier would be about 1 rupee to rent if the character renting them has a high enough PWC... May want to look into that more closely. That being said, I definitely approve of this idea.
I can understand the points made so far about costs. Perhaps instead of being a percentage, it would just be a flat rate for all items in a specific category? Assuming that, the tiered costs could perhaps be: 5 rupees for Lowest/Lower, 10 for Low/Normal, 15 for High/Higher, 20 for Highest? This disregards PWC, yes, but I question whether or not that's a problem... If renting disregards PWC, then it would make it easier for characters to get an item they really need/want for that one quest/dungeon (like a Goron Tunic for Fire Temple), even if their PWC isn't apt for it. To me, that seems like it would be a good thing. Treasures with a set cost would probably have to be a percentage though, so, I was thinking 20%. Twenty percent would be more likely to give you a whole number (compared to 15%, which while perhaps slightly better balanced, is more likely to get you decimals). Yes, I would think so. I wouldn't see why one couldn't rent multiple treasures. Yeah. Like everything-except-race-licenses, I was thinking they would be character-bound.
Fun Fact: The first game, to bear the Zelda Title, that had Renting was BS The Legend of Zelda: Ancient Stone Tablets. Anyways, a flat fee based on tier would be really handy for those with 1 Power that could use a Hookshot in the next dungeon, for example. Should also probably have a rule that One-time Use items can't be rented, lol, just to avoid someone trying it anyways. Oh, can you rent Treasures with Reward Rupees or do you have to have Rupees on your Character Sheet to rent?
