Families

Families are a means to relate up to nine characters.

• Family sizes are normally limited to eight characters.
  • Marriage increases family size by one to allow player housing permissions to be shared.
  • This size increase only applies if the family's head is married.
• A character may only belong to one family at a time.
• Leaving one family and joining another family will have a cooldown period in the order of days.

• There are costs associated with family creation and maintenance.
  • Some costs are shared among the family members and other costs are specific to the family head.

• Freeholds are intended to work with the family system.

There's not going to be a ton of ton of parcels all over the world- that might not be feasible for every player to get one; but... if you can be a family member and you have a whole family owning a freehold together, it'll allow many more players to see the system and partake in it. – Kory Rice

• Players can charge for access to their family via player-to-player trading, but there won't be game mechanics or UI systems around this.

• The family system is not a core pillar of the game and will be changed based on testing and feedback.

Family names

Characters will have a first-name and an optional surname (last name).

• Character names are unique per server.
  • Character name changes will be possible during server merges.

• There is a minimum length of three for a character name.
• Special characters, including apostrophes and hyphens, are currently not allowed in character names.

Currently we don't allow special characters in character names (including apostrophes and/or hyphens). It's possible this changes in the future. – Ry Schueller

Character names will appear on the character sheet and optionally on the character website page.

• In-game a character's name is displayed above their head. This can be the first or last name.

Marriage

Harmony Attire pre-order pack cosmetic costume.

There is a marriage mechanic in Ashes of Creation, including same-sex marriages.

• Marriage increases family size by one to allow player housing permissions to be shared.
  • This size increase only applies if the family's head is married.
• A NPC may offer quests relating to a marriage ceremony. This may come online post-launch.

You might have a NPC that is specifically a RP event NPC. This is a person who marries you and you come up to them and they have a quest that relates to finding the cosmetic attire for the wedding; and once you have that achieved you must find a Best man or Maid of honor- these are systems that can be created around immersion in the game. – Steven Sharif

Marriage may unlock different activities that are not available to characters who are not married.

• Interaction with the freehold system.
• Unlocking certain node quests.
• Impacts on social organizations.
• Other mechanics will be discussed in the future.

There are not plans for gender neutral neutral pronouns. However our marriage system which will be present does not take into account gender. So two individuals of any sex will be able to utilize the marriage system and we feel that that's pretty important to really reflect the nature the cultures in Ashes of Creation: That it does not have that conflict present in this fantasy world that we may have experienced in the past in our real world; and that's a good place both from a sanctuary standpoint through people who are maybe experiencing that in the real world to get away from it in the fantasy world: We wanted to provide that type of outlet. – Steven Sharif

Family summon

Skill	Icon	Rank 1	Rank 2	Rank 3
Family summon		Long duration cast (30 seconds to a minute) with an approximate 30 minute cooldown that slowly summons each of your family members to your location (up to eight members). Players cannot be summoned in the following cases: While in combat, if they are corrupted, or if they are engaged in an event, such as node wars, guild wars, sieges, arenas or participation in the caravan system. If they have mats, gatherables or certs in their inventory. This will be tested in Alpha-2.	-	-

Player housing storage

Alpha-1 chest concept art.

Alpha-1 chest 3D renders.

Chests are a type of furniture that provides localized storage within a specific house.

• Players must obtain and place storage containers in their player-owned housing.
• Different grades of storage containers have different inventory capacities.
  • There are restrictions on the grades of storage containers available in different types of houses.
• Access permissions can be set to allow others to access a player's personal storage devices.
  • Personal storage chests may be set to permit access by family or guild members.
  • Transfer of resources and materials to alts will only be possible via player housing storage, as this is local to the specific house.
• Players are prohibited from moving goods out of depositories within a node following a siege declaration against that node.
  • Gatherables and processed goods that were stored in in-node housing and apartment storage chests become lootable upon a successful siege against the parent node. These do not become lootable if the node survives the siege- even if the housing buildings are destroyed or damaged during the siege.
• Corrupt players are not able to utilize storage systems.

Some of the following information has not been recently confirmed by the developers and may not be on the current development roadmap.

• Personal caravans may be launched from any point of storage (including chests).

Household security

A permissions system will enable an owner/primary tenant to grant access to specific parts of their housing.

• Ability to open the door and enter the home.
• Access to crops.
• Ability to deposit or withdraw items from storage containers.
• Permission to use furniture or crafting stations.

A property has a single owner/primary tenant.

• Marriage enables family size to increase by one so that housing access can be shared.
• Access lists can be used to mimic co-ownership.
• Payment of taxes may be via a "gentleman's agreement".

It'll be a single owner based system for those types of properties- for properties in general, but it doesn't prevent players obviously from collaborating and pooling resources in order to achieve certain achievements in the game. – Steven Sharif

Freehold owners are able to set permissions that grant access to their artisan and business buildings' services.

Freehold ownership is designated by one account only and then the family system is the system that facilitates multiple accounts having permission basis within that freehold. – Steven Sharif

• Freehold permissions are intended to work with the family and guild systems.
  • It is still not determined if freehold permissions will be able to be granted to individuals outside those social structures.
  • Freehold permissions may only apply to battalions/micro-structures within a guild.
  • Interaction with the guild system will be tested in Alpha-2.

• This includes permission to enter the homestead, interact with furniture, access storage, interact with crafting or processing stations, and harvest resources.

Permissions to help manage your home are handled through affiliations like your Guild and family system. When setting permissions for your Freehold to do things like enter the house, interact with furniture, access Freehold storage, interact with crafting and processing stations, and harvesting gatherables on a Freehold, you can set if your Guild or family members should be able to do these things.

• Permission to decorate a freehold is restricted to the owner of the freehold. Previously it was stated that permission to decorate but not take anything from the house would be able to be assigned to other players.
  • Family members may be granted permission to apply their cosmetic skins to freehold buildings.

Players cannot steal from a freehold under normal circumstances.

• Items stored in a freehold become lootable after a successful siege against their parent node. It has not been decided which players get to loot the debris field during this period.

Only players given permission to do so will be able to do things like access your Freehold storage, and harvest crops and animals on your Freehold. These permissions are capable of being individually assigned per interaction. Note that if the node associated with your Freehold is successfully destroyed during a siege event, attackers will be able to assault Freeholds, and have a chance to pillage them for their resources.

Players cannot PvP while inside the footprint of a freehold homestead even if the doors are unlocked. This does not apply for a period of two hours following a successful siege against its parent node.

Your home building is safe from PvP. While on the footprint of your home, you can not be harmed by damage from other players.

• NPC guards may be available for hire to defend freeholds after a successful node siege. NPC guards that permanently exist on a freehold are not a planned feature.

• Duels may be initiated within a freehold or node as they are considered self-contained events that are opt-in by all parties, and do not fall under the player flagging system.

See also

• Marriage
• Family summon
• Roleplaying