Retainers (门客)

v0.11.2

A Retainer (门客) is a cultivator who takes service with you. Like a spirit beast it grows, earns experience and goes on expeditions, but it fights as a person, with a sword or the burst of its element, and it can be posted on your sect's ground to guard the hall, copy scriptures, train in seclusion or tend a vein.

You hire them from your sect's daily recruit list for Spirit Stones, and then you pay them wages. A retainer belongs to you, not to the sect: if you leave the sect you keep them, but their posts end.

Retainers are on by default (Retainers-Enabled). Every number on this page is a default from Society/RetainerConfig.json; the Codex article Retainers (World category) prints the live values of the server you are on.

What You Need

• A real cultivation. A test profile cannot hire, earns no retainer experience and cannot claim an expedition.
• A sect whose hall is claimed. Any member may hire; there is no rank check. Hiring is the only thing that needs the hall: a retainer you already have stays with you if you leave the sect, or if the sect loses its hall.
• The realm for a free slot: Qi Condensation for the first (slots).
• Low Spirit Stones in your inventory for the fee. A fleeing soul cannot hire, pay, instruct or release.

Hiring

The daily list

Your sect's hall offers one recruit list a day. It is made the first time anyone in the sect looks at it after midnight UTC, saved, and shared by the whole sect. Nobody can reroll it, and a restart or a sect rename does not change it.

A Guest Court built after the list was made adds its candidate to today's list without touching the ones already there. Each candidate can be hired once: once someone takes a name, everyone in the sect sees hired by someone today. A new list arrives at the next midnight UTC; the Recruit tab shows how long that is.

Every candidate has a name (a surname and a given name from fixed pools of 24 and 40, such as Lin Wei), an archetype, an element, a talent grade, a realm, and a plain robe-and-topknot look.

Archetypes

Each candidate rolls one of three archetypes with equal chance. All three fight in melee as well; the archetype decides the art.

Elements and talent

A candidate's element is one of the ten Dao elements, picked evenly. It decides which Burst an Elemental Adept (or a Nascent Soul Swordsman) uses and the color of the damage. See Rogue Cultivators for the ten bursts, since retainers cast the same arts.

Talent (资质) is the grade: Common (平庸), Fine (良材), Rare (奇才) or Heavenly (天骄). It does two things: it scales the hiring fee, and it multiplies every point of experience the retainer ever earns.

The chances are relative weights (Retainer-Aptitude-Weight-*), shown here because the defaults add to 100. The growth speeds are Retainer-Aptitude-Xp-Multiplier-*.

Realm rules

• The list is rolled for the sect's strongest member: the highest realm among all its members (offline ones included), and never below the realm of whoever opens it. A candidate is one to three realms below that, picked at random, and never below Body Refinement.
• You can only hire a candidate whose realm is at most one below your own. A weaker member of a strong sect sees candidates they cannot hire yet, marked Too advanced.
• A new retainer starts at the Early stage of its realm.

The hiring fee

The fee is Retainer-Hire-Base-Fee (50) x (1 + the candidate's realm) x the talent factor, in Low Spirit Stones, at least 1.

The fee also pre-pays the first three days of wages (below). If you cannot afford it, nothing is taken and the candidate stays on the list.

Slots

How many retainers you can keep depends on your realm. A departed retainer no longer counts.

The key values count Body Refinement as 0. Retainer-Max-Per-Player (3) caps the total, whatever your realm.

Only one retainer walks beside you at a time, on top of your spirit beast. The others wait at home, hold posts or are away on an expedition.

Wages

A retainer draws a daily wage of Retainer-Wage-Base-Stones (5) x (1 + its realm) Low Spirit Stones from a purse. The wage rises as the retainer grows.

• The hiring fee pre-pays Retainer-Wage-Days-Included (3) days into the new retainer's purse.
• Wages are settled lazily against the real clock, a whole day at a time, whether or not you are online. Retainer-Wage-Base-Stones at 0 makes retainers free to keep.
• Top the purse up with /sect retainer pay or the Pay button, which adds seven days of wages. A purse holds at most Retainer-Purse-Cap-Days (30) days; a payment past that is trimmed to fit.

Discontent and departure

When the purse cannot cover a whole day, the retainer is discontent (不满). Until you pay:

• it earns no experience from any source, and cannot be instructed;
• it takes no new post and no expedition. A follower still walks with you.

Paying settles the back wages first, so pay enough to cover them and the days to come. After Retainer-Unpaid-Days-To-Depart (3) days without wages, counted from the end of the last day the purse covered, the retainer leaves for good: the purse is gone, nothing is refunded, and you are told the next time you are around.

Fighting Beside You

Summon a retainer with /sect retainer summon or the Summon button and it appears beside you about Retainer-Spawn-Delay-Seconds (3) after you arrive in a world, then follows you. It is a body in the world with health of Retainer-Base-Health (80) + Retainer-Health-Per-Realm (40) x its realm, times Retainer-Iron-Body-Health-Multiplier (1.5) for an Iron Body.

A follower:

• fights whatever hit you in the last 8 seconds, and whatever you hit in the last 6. It drops a target that runs 36 blocks away;
• hits harder with realm: its melee blows gain Retainer-Melee-Damage-Per-Realm-Percent (15) percent for each realm it has climbed;
• casts its art at a target within 7 blocks and in line of sight. The cooldown and strength are the rogue ones, Rogue-Art-Cooldown-Seconds (6) and Rogue-Art-Power-Multiplier (0.75), scaled by the retainer's realm;
• teleports to you if it falls more than Retainer-Leash-Distance-Blocks (40) behind, and vanishes when you leave the world, die or flee as a soul;
• keeps the health it left with: dismissing it, swapping it for another or changing world does not heal it for ten minutes.

An Iron Body also pulls: a creature within 16 blocks that is hitting you is turned onto the Iron Body instead (once every 1.5 seconds). It never pulls a player.

Dismiss it with /sect retainer dismiss or the Dismiss button and it goes home, and cannot walk out again for Retainer-Resummon-Delay-Seconds (15). Summoning another retainer sends the first one home.

Who a retainer never hurts

• Players, unless the rules let you hurt them: the world's PvP, shields and spawn protection, protected land, and never your party, your sect or your allies. A retainer never takes part in a duel, on either side.
• Other retainers, every spirit beast and follower, quest givers, the merchant and mounts.
• Your sect's Sect Guardians, and those of allied sects.
• A rogue that has yielded to you (below).

Nothing friendly can hurt your retainer either: you, your party, your sect and your allies cannot land a blow on it, and another player can only hurt it where they could hurt you.

Creatures can hurt it freely. Rogue Cultivators have been hostile to retainers since 0.11.2, and a retainer that falls loses ground (defeat).

Growth

A retainer climbs the same four stages and seven realms you do, on the spirit beast curve, and may reach your own realm but never pass it. At the Peak of your realm it stops and waits: experience is discarded until you advance.

The experience a stage costs is Beast-Base-Xp-Requirement (120) x Beast-Xp-Growth-Rate (1.35) to the power of the retainer's level (its realm x 4 + its stage), times Retainer-Xp-Requirement-Multiplier (1.0). Each stage costs 1.35 times the last. At the Early stage of each realm:

Where it comes from, before the talent multiplier:

Instruct (/sect retainer instruct) turns Spirit Stones into lessons. One lesson costs Retainer-Instruct-Base-Stones (5) x (1 + the retainer's realm) stones and gives Retainer-Instruct-Xp-Per-Stone (8) experience per stone. A retainer can learn at most Retainer-Instruct-Daily-Stage-Fraction (0.5) of its current stage's cost per UTC day this way, so lessons cannot replace time. The last lesson of the day is trimmed to fit.

A retainer that is recovering, departed, discontent or at your realm's cap gains nothing.

Expeditions

A retainer can take the same three expeditions as a spirit beast: forage (2 hours), hunt (4) and delve (8). They are separate from the beast's: you can have your beast and one retainer away at once, but only one retainer at a time (Retainer-Expeditions-Enabled).

Both are multiplied by 1 + 0.05 x level (the retainer's level, fixed at the moment you send it) and then by Retainer-Expedition-Reward-Multiplier (0.75), so a retainer brings back three quarters of what a beast of the same level would. The experience still goes through the talent multiplier and your realm cap.

• Send a retainer that is idle, following or posted (a post ends). A discontent retainer cannot go.
• While it is away it cannot be summoned, posted, instructed or dismissed.
• When the timer ends you are told. /sect retainer expedition <n> (or the Claim button) collects the haul into your hotbar, then your storage. Whatever does not fit stays claimable; nothing is rolled twice.
• If the retainer is discontent when you claim, the items arrive but its experience waits: pay the wages and claim again.
• /sect retainer recall <n> calls it home early and forfeits the reward. Releasing a retainer on an expedition loses the expedition too.

Defeat

When a retainer's body falls it is recovering, not lost:

• It is gone from the world for Retainer-Recovery-Base-Minutes (10) x (1 + realm / Retainer-Recovery-Realm-Divisor (3)) minutes. You are told how long.
• It loses Retainer-Defeat-Xp-Loss-Percent (25) percent of the experience it had banked toward its next stage. It never loses a stage or a realm.
• Whoever struck it down earns nothing.
• When it recovers it returns to its post, or goes idle if it had none.

Dismissing a wounded retainer does not shorten or avoid any of this. A server that sets Retainer-Permanent-Death makes defeat final: the retainer departs, its purse is lost with it, and you are told it fell in battle.

Posts

A post gives a retainer a job on sect ground. Stand in a chunk your sect holds and use /sect retainer post <n> <post>, or open the Posts tab and press Post here. A retainer must be idle, following or already posted (posting it again moves it), and not discontent. Posting takes it off your side; it stays at the post until you end it.

• Hall Guard. It stands at the hall and fights what threatens it: the attacking sect in a live siege (and mutual rivals if the server turned on Guardian-Aggro-Outside-Siege), Beast Tide beasts aimed at the hall, and rogues in the world. It looks 16 blocks (Guardian-Aggro-Radius-Blocks) around itself and only ever strikes the people a Sect Guardian would; bystanders, members and allies are left alone. Each guard standing at the hall slows the attackers' hold clock by Retainer-Hall-Guard-Siege-Slow-Percent (6) points, inside the shared War-Total-Slow-Max-Percent (50) ceiling with the Warding, Guardian and Array Domain slows (see Guardians and array eyes). Like a Sect Guardian it never counts as a defender present. A guard that falls during a live siege is not replaced until it ends. Allowance by sect level: level 1 gets 1, levels 2 to 3 get 2, levels 4 to 5 get 3, level 6 and up get 4 (Retainer-Hall-Guard-Base, -Levels-Per-Extra, -Max).
• Scripture Scribe. Each scribe adds Retainer-Scribe-Library-Bonus-Percent (50) percent of the base Library research rate, so two scribes double it. Funding still limits progress, a Library with no subject or no hall gains nothing, and a scribe only counts for the time it worked.
• Seclusion. A secluded retainer earns Retainer-Seclusion-Stage-Fraction-Per-Hour (0.1) of its current stage's cost per real hour, times the building's meditation multiplier (1.05 to 1.3, see Sect Buildings), credited every few minutes and subject to your realm cap. A plain hall chunk with no building assigned does not qualify.
• Vein Tender. A tended array gathers Retainer-Tender-Yield-Bonus-Percent (20) percent more, inside the array's daily cap, and a raid on it needs Retainer-Tender-Raid-Extra-Percent (25) percent longer. Only the sect that holds the array can post a tender there.

A posted retainer stands near its post (within the 40-block leash) once the chunk is loaded and running. Scribe, Seclusion and Tender work from the record and do not need the body in the world; the Hall Guard's siege slow needs it standing at the hall. A post never makes a retainer fight a player except the Hall Guard, as above.

When a post ends

You are told when a post ends on its own. It ends when:

• you leave or are kicked from the sect, the sect disbands, or its hall is captured (the defender's posts end);
• the sect no longer holds the chunk, its building is removed or changed, or the array is released or changes hands (checked every Retainer-Post-Heartbeat-Seconds, 10; a changed value applies after a restart);
• you summon the retainer, send it on an expedition, release it, or press Unpost (/sect retainer unpost <n>).

A defeated retainer keeps its post and returns to it.

Recruiting a Beaten Rogue

v0.11.2 A Rogue Cultivator you beat can surrender instead of dying.

1. You land a blow that would kill a rogue. There is a Rogue-Yield-Chance-Percent (30) percent chance it yields instead. It only rolls for your own blow (not your beast's or your follower's), and only if you could hire right now: retainers on, a real profile, a sect with a hall, a free slot and no offer already open.
2. The blow is canceled and the rogue drops to 1 health, kneels and stops fighting. Nobody else can hurt it. You are told its name and the fee.
3. You have Rogue-Yield-Window-Seconds (60) to use /sect retainer recruit (or press Recruit on the Recruit tab) within 32 blocks of it. The fee is the normal list fee for the retainer it becomes, times Rogue-Recruit-Fee-Multiplier (0.5), so half.
4. It joins you as a retainer with no drops, no kill credit and no experience from the rogue. If you cannot afford it, the offer stays open until the timer ends.

What it becomes:

• Realm: the rogue's realm, or yours if lower. Unlike a list candidate it may be at your own realm.
• Archetype: a rogue with Sword Qi Slash becomes a Swordsman. Otherwise it is an even chance of an Elemental Adept or an Iron Body (a rogue whose second art was Control).
• Element: the rogue's. Talent: rolled like any candidate. It has the same three prepaid wage days.

Strike it again to kill it instead: your blows are ignored for the first 1.5 seconds, so a swing already on its way does not finish it, and after that the next blow kills it normally with the usual rewards. If the window runs out, or you log out or leave the world, it slips away with no drops.

The Retinue Page

/sect retainer with nothing after it opens the Retinue (门客) page, also a button on the menu bar. It runs exactly the same orders as the commands. It has three tabs:

• Roster lists every retainer with its state, rank, talent, element, experience toward the next stage ("At your limit" at your cap), wage and purse, plus buttons for Summon, Dismiss, Post, Unpost, Pay (seven days), Instruct, Expedition (with a picker), Claim, Recall and Release. Release takes a second press, Confirm release.
• Recruit shows today's candidates with realm, archetype, element, wage and fee, and a Hire button that reads No free slot, Too advanced or Hired when it cannot be used. When a rogue has yielded, a banner with its name, fee and time left and a Recruit button sits at the top.
• Posts shows the chunk you stand in and which posts it allows, how many are staffed, a Post here button for the retainer you chose, and a list of your current posts.

Commands

Every subcommand needs cultivation.sect, which every player has by default. Numbers (<n>) are the retainer's place in the info list, counting from 1. There are no --flags.

The Codex has a Retainers article in its World category.

For Server Owners

Settings live in mods/Siren_Cultivation/Society/RetainerConfig.json, with their own Retainers section in the admin config editor, and apply live. Retainer records are saved in Data/RetainersData.json. The full key list is under Retainer Config.

• Retainers-Enabled switches the whole feature off. Off means no hiring, growth, wages or bodies; saved retainers are kept untouched.
• Retainer-Permanent-Death (off) makes defeat final.
• Retainer-Expeditions-Enabled switches retainer expeditions off.
• The arts reuse Rogue-Art-Cooldown-Seconds and Rogue-Art-Power-Multiplier from RogueConfig.json; the expedition math reuses the beast keys.

Related

• Sects - the hall, Guest Courts, the Library and the Guardians retainers work with.
• Spirit Beasts - the follower beside the retainer, and the expeditions they share.
• Rogue Cultivators - who can yield, and whom Hall Guards fight.
• Sect Wars - the siege a Hall Guard slows.
• Vein-Tapping Arrays - what a Vein Tender tends.