Rubber Ducky follower

I approve of the rubber ducky to improve Swimming - I tested it out today with my kraken's helmet and the finest swimming pants in all the realm.

I think it is a little underpowered or a bit too expensive, especially when you compare it to the Pathfinder. Let's assume that 1 bread is equal to 20 bronze - which isn't always true, typically I have had to spend more in order to buy bread. But also, the benefit from +20 Swimming is less than for +20 Walking just because the base cost to swim is more, and so there are less opportunities in a day to get the benefit.

More specifically, if I have 300 stamina and I use all the Swimming buffs available, I expect the base cost of each move to be 6 with an occasional move only costing 5. So if I use all my stamina to swim I can move ~50 spaces. And each time I move the rubber ducky will give me 20% to save 1 stamina each move for an expected gain of 50*(0.2*1) = 10 stamina, for the cost of ~2 bronze per stamina gained which feels expensive to me.

Walking has a lower base cost, so you get more moves on a given day, and so you get a bigger gain for the same cost. So maybe Rubber Ducky needs to give +30 Swimming to compensate?

Good point, daradle. Just what I was thinking, i.e.

1. I thank the Grail Lords for adding rubber ducky to the realm.
2. The buff needs to be +70 swimming. This will, together with a bought 20 Swimming skill (100 grail tokens) and +10 from equipment sum up to 100. Which will only reduce stamina use from 6 to 5, i.e. at most 50 stamina per day for those with Learning skill 100. Swimming is too stamina consuming for combat xp harvest; this will help.

The Rubber Mc Ducky has been added mostly as a kind of joke, while having a good time in the Grail Tavern.

I agree that hiring this follower isn't worth the bread at this moment (except maybe during the Grailympics) and that +30 might be more appropriate. However if the skill effect becomes greater, it might cause issues in the future, if for example another use for the Swimming Skill get added, as then the follower might be to powerful compared with others.

Our beloved bath toy "Rubber Mc Ducky" -please do not confuse with Seeker Mc Duck- gives now +30 on the Swimming Skill instead of +20.

Maybe a quick solution is lowering the reduced stamina cost for swimming from 1 to a range of 1-2, where the second reduction in cost is calculated on the amount of extra swimming skill you have.

For example:
- 100 swimming skill without swimming gear: -1 stamina 100% of the time
- 50 swimming skill +20 from the rubber ducky: -1 stamina 50% of the time with 20% on reducing it an additional stamina (-2 in total (10% chance in this case) to trigger both the stamina discounts)

This way people are positively encouraged to use the appropriate swimming gear instead of going swimming with heavy gear  and is it a little more balanced out in general (or it would seem to me)

The max amount of extra swimming there is to obtain is 30
Follower: +20 swimming
Kraken helmet: +5 swimming
Swimming pants: +5 swimming

Although this does make it that early game swimming is much more easy because you get twice the chance to reduce the stamina by 1 is it only a 9.3% (4.2% with only the follower) chance with max extra swimming and 1 in swimming to reduce the cost by 2.