Let Ru ask Ds to sacrifice Ds mutations

[MainiacJoe]

No idea if this is a good idea or not, but it's an idea. "Sacrifice your attunement to the shadows. This is an incredible sacrifice."

[lansh]

This just sounds stupid because all the current sacrifices are things that most/all species already have (ability to cast spells, ability to use summons, use wands, whatever), so you're losing out on common "default" features. Meanwhile DS mutations are bonuses that other species lack. So at least from a consistency perspective it seems wrong.

Plus that's just stripping away what makes a species unique. All the other sacrifices don't do that because, once again, they're things that are quite universal.

[Aean]

It also has the issue of becoming a way to game the system. Just like Gnolls aren't given the ability to sacrifice skills, Demonspawn shouldn't be given the ability to sacrifice their mutations.

A Gnoll could actually benefit not only from the Ru gift, but by concentrating its XP on more useful skills, if it could sacrifice things it didn't want.
A Demonspawn could similarly benefit by sacrificing mutations it didn't want - I see, for example, plenty of people on the forums saying that they re-roll their Ds if they get Monstrous, or if they get claws and they're not going UC.

Your Ds caster, for example, might happily sacrifice its horns, knowing that it won't be doing lots of melee, and that it'd benefit far more from being able to wear a hat/helmet. Any kind of Ds in the lategame would likely happily sacrifice talons or hooves for the chance to wear a good pair of boots (running, anyone?). Any Ds that's not using its claws would happily sacrifice them for more Ru power and the ability to wear gloves. Surely a tier-3 Ds mutation would be an incredible sacrifice, but how many characters do you think would willingly give up their passive freeze if it meant they didn't need to sacrifice a hand or eye? How many would sacrifice all three levels of Spiny (past the early-game), if it meant they wouldn't have to sacrifice armour, or dodging, or resistance?

Offering players a way to give away unwanted racial mutations in exchange for power seems like a potentially problematic thing to do; would you allow mummies to sacrifice their necromancy enhancer, nagas to sacrifice poison spit, tengu to sacrifice beaks, gargoyles to sacrifice being unbreathing, etc? Let alone serious weirdness, like sacrificing your poison immunity, or your ability to dig? Sure, some of these aren't BAD, per se, but some you'd prefer to be without (Can't wear that awesome artefact helmet with a beak), and others you're more than happy to lose in exchange for Ru-power (Naga poison spit is about as useful as a thrown rock in the lategame, mummies' necromancy enhancer means nothing if you're not casting necromancy,etc.).

Edit: While it might be okay to allow the sacrifice of strictly beneficial racial mutations in the same way that you can sacrifice a hand or eye (Sacrifice increased movement speed, or rC+, for example), it'd be dubious if players could trade potentially unwanted mutations for power (claws, for example), and a serious issue if players could trade strictly bad mutations for power (Here, Ru, take my naga's slow movement mutation!). I suppose it could be made workable for more middle-of-the-road mutations too, if you took your situation into account, though (You sacrificed claws, but had no ranks in UC, so this is a very minor sacrifice; You sacrificed passive freeze, but it's still only a minor sacrifice even though it's tier-3; You sacrificed Spiny, but you're above XL 10, etc.).