OOC: The School of Seven Towers

[sunnyside]

Feel free to ask me questions or just say hello. It's ever so tempting to have written a lot more for the game, but I worry about overloading people, and to an extent more content can be limiting.

[Black-Cat0001]

Hey pal. I'm ready and had a great idea for my character after reading some of your detail on the war. PM me for the details please

[Ranshiin]

Boosh.

I need to find the bit of discussion we had regarding what sorts of abilities/skills my character should have in the game. I think I have a bit of a potential backstory to him.

I can't remember if you said anywhere (or if you added it to the sign-up thread) but what sorts of magic are possible? Would there be some sort of 'forbidden' magic that could be taught at the school, or would things like that get people thrown out? Just asking.

[sunnyside]

Boosh.

I need to find the bit of discussion we had regarding what sorts of abilities/skills my character should have in the game. I think I have a bit of a potential backstory to him.

I can't remember if you said anywhere (or if you added it to the sign-up thread) but what sorts of magic are possible? Would there be some sort of 'forbidden' magic that could be taught at the school, or would things like that get people thrown out? Just asking.

I'd thought about laying out a limited number of types of magic...but then figured maybe it'd be better to just leave it open. As it is it's hard enough to fit people's characters in (Mr. "Dragon Magic")

As for your character you have that pic somewhere. Then you'd written:

As for my intended character ... well, as is known he's a dragon, but due to how you explained the individual cultures the only one that presently really fits is Therian.

I don't mind talking about this in public but you can PM me to discuss it if it's easier; however for the sake of comparison I'll give the basics on him in terms of his personality and powers as is "canon" in the story/world he's from. You can probably help explain what works and what doesn't, and some things could be changed.


Personality-wise: Generally very indifferent and somewhat cynical. He can come across as a bit rude or cold since he's usually only concerned about himself, and though he doesn't particularly shy away he tends to be a bit of a loner due to his attitude. His personality/character has its reasons for this as from a young age he was mistreated and left to fend for himself and he's more-or-less reluctant to rely on others for help, but he can learn to respect others and he's usually very reluctant on letting go of that respect once he has it.


In terms of the RP, as is obvious the only culture I can really class him as is as a Therian, but personality-wise he's much different to their 'norm' and could be seen as a rebel. Also it's not like he necessarily doesn't respect the world enough to help it like the others do, but more that he simply doesn't see the point.

And you spoke about some abilities.


Biomagic sounds potentially something like your "dragon magic". So the Therian package might be fine.

Then take flight, enhanced strength, fire breathing, and armor (with fire strength/cold weakness) as biomorphs. Put whatever is left into a skill or two.

Maybe Therian package (20 points for)
Biomorph, fire breathing, 20
Biomorph, armor 10 (strong against fire, weak against cold)
Magic Discipline, Biomagic, 10

Then:
Biomorph, flight, 15 -as a biomorph this gives wings
Biomorph, enhanced strength, 15 -as a biomorph this would make him a bit larger, but give some resiliance for that.
Skill, Martial arts (sword focus), 10

Reserve 40 points

The thought was that he'd leave things like fire, wind, shadow, dark, etc magic stuff for things to potentially develop.

Interest in them might explain why you character might interact with someone else. Sounds like you might be interested in something dark. (You could also shuffle points to start with that).

Also there is the general idea that he doesn't fit in so much with the Therians. You seemed fine with that.

[Blackwaltz]

I am all about this game and so ready to make up a character ASAP

[Ranshiin]

@sunnyside Yeah, my idea is that he became interesting in understanding forbidden magic or something that his Therian village didn't particularly appreciate and he was essentially thrown out after being warned about his actions. Whether or not he has any 'compassion' for nature is something I'll have to figure ... perhaps I'll give his tower room a small greenhouse or a garden or something even if he doesn't like it 'because the school staff assumed as he's a Therian'. lol.

As for all the info - thanks, lol. I'm terrible at finding stuff in threads for some reason.

And as for abilities - well, the whole 'dragon magic' thing I can eschew in favour of simpler magic - such as just fire magic - but I'll have to give that some consideration.



My question about magic was mostly to understand what in this world is / is not possible in terms of magic. You already explained in the signup thread that practically everyone has some form of advanced resilience due to magic (I'm imagining basically a magical 'shield' that greatly reduces the effects of incoming damage but that's just me), so I understand that much - but I do genuinely dislike godmodding so I wanted to know what you feel is acceptable forms of magic and what you feel might be a little too OP, unnecessary, etc.

If you believe that within reasonable limits anything is possible, then I'm fine with that too. It doesn't bother me either way but I just wanted to understand the world's rules, laws, etc.

I'm also thinking of deliberately not reading the other cultures' bios as to demonstrate my character being a bit 'ignorant' of other cultures owing to how his village operated. Though, since he was thrown out, he might have come across a few on his way to finding the school.

[sunnyside]

@sunnyside Yeah, my idea is that he became interesting in understanding forbidden magic or something that his Therian village didn't particularly appreciate and he was essentially thrown out after being warned about his actions.

There could potentially be plenty of things that could do that. A particularly expansion minded Therian tribe might even only approve of biomagic.

[/quote]Whether or not he has any 'compassion' for nature is something I'll have to figure ... perhaps I'll give his tower room a small greenhouse or a garden or something even if he doesn't like it 'because the school staff assumed as he's a Therian'. lol. [/quote]

heh

And as for abilities - well, the whole 'dragon magic' thing I can eschew in favour of simpler magic - such as just fire magic - but I'll have to give that some consideration.

Well, if you define it than it's probably fine.

[/quote]
My question about magic was mostly to understand what in this world is / is not possible in terms of magic. You already explained in the signup thread that practically everyone has some form of advanced resilience due to magic (I'm imagining basically a magical 'shield' that greatly reduces the effects of incoming damage but that's just me), so I understand that much - but I do genuinely dislike godmodding so I wanted to know what you feel is acceptable forms of magic and what you feel might be a little too OP, unnecessary, etc.

If you believe that within reasonable limits anything is possible, then I'm fine with that too. [/quote]

Something rather more like that. The points bit puts something of a limiting effect. You could have a discipline of magic with incredible potential, but you're a student (granted potentially an exceptional student) in it not yet a master.

Feel free to pitch things. Though actually maybe I should have included some more on the hows of magic and example disciplines. I had written stuff up, I just worried about length.

I can appreciate how tabletop games end up taking hundreds of pages of rulebooks to operate.

[Light Buster]

Is it okay to make two characters from one culture? I have an idea in mind for them.

[Ranshiin]

Something rather more like that. The points bit puts something of a limiting effect. You could have a discipline of magic with incredible potential, but you're a student (granted potentially an exceptional student) in it not yet a master.

Feel free to pitch things. Though actually maybe I should have included some more on the hows of magic and example disciplines. I had written stuff up, I just worried about length.

I can appreciate how tabletop games end up taking hundreds of pages of rulebooks to operate.

I just wondered, really. I'm happy to go along with the rules (or lack of rules) given that the pointy system does impose arbitrary limits anyway. I've got a grasp of the sorts of 'forbidden' magic that my character might be trying to learn. Nothing as far as mind-control, that might be pushing it a bit too far.

... I'll leave the mind-control up to the Pactmaker guys lolol. ;-)

[sunnyside]

Is it okay to make two characters from one culture? I have an idea in mind for them.

Probably. The only thing I worry about is someone trying to build a mini army by making multiple characters that team up. Though someone could also make a team, just have one spend points on the other as a companion. I also might be fine with full powered chars teaming up if one accepts karma issues.

But it sounds like you're thinking of having them be separate if not adversarial, so that should be no issue at all.

[Ranshiin]

Okay, taking this out of the sign-up thread because I'm not sure I want to clutter it up by getting confused.


So, you added some stuff regarding how points allocated to powers and skills affect their proficiency. However, I'm now just a bit stuck understand what relevance it has to my character -- aka what exactly I've done wrong, since that all I did was copy/paste what you suggested to me and gave some brief description about their general use and strengths/disadvantages.

You're going to have to help me understand what I need to alter. Sorry. :/

[sunnyside]

You're going to have to help me understand what I need to alter. Sorry. :/

Oooooh. I see. Your character is fine, there isn't anything you have to alter. I was responding to:

If his biomagic is a bit too 'out there', I could change it to being control over the fire-element magic instead. I'm also thinking of dropping his sword proficiency to 5 or perhaps enhanced strength to 10, and adding unarmed combat 5 as a skill. Alternatively I might just drop his swordplay altogether for this RP, I'm not too sure.

Also should I move the 'physical resilience' part to his armour biomorph? I'm fairly sure one or the other is going to give him that.

Where it appeared you were considering making a number of changes.

Though sort of on that note I'm wondering about the armor part. The way he's usually drawn, your character looks soft to the touch. Is that just how the artist does it and he's ment to have armor plates, scales, shark like dermal denticles, a thick hide, or is his resistance meant to be more of a purely magical effect?

[Ranshiin]

It's a mix of both. The artist likes drawing him the way she does but he's supposed to be scaly ... though closer to something like a thick hide or scales on a snake or something as opposed to thick, hard plates. He'd have very little physical movement ability otherwise.

Basically they're supposed to be tough enough to offer -some- protection, but not infallible protection. A sharp enough arrow or dagger-stab or enough of a bludgeoning with a mace or a sword or anything will get through them. I guess in that sense they could be classed as 'soft' but not like 'squishy' soft or anything.


His resistance to fire magic/weakness to cold is a balance owing to his origin as a dragon and his ability to breathe fire - makes sense that since he can breathe it he has strong resistance to it in turn. I came to assume that the armour (in this case scales) would offer some form of physical protection as well as his resilience to fire and heat.


My consideration of altering his magic was more to do with whether you thought his biomagic ability was a bit too unorthodox. If you think it's fine though then that's okay. I'm thinking of it in this RP that he was taught to manifest his life energy by his elders - y'know, to be able to use it to heal the land or to provide energy for nature such as to grow trees or plants or whatever - but instead he worked it into an offensive ability. Is that something that's feasible?



edit

How tall do you think he should be? He's going to be quite tall owing to his alterations but I don't want him to seem unreasonably large.

[sunnyside]

My consideration of altering his magic was more to do with whether you thought his biomagic ability was a bit too unorthodox. If you think it's fine though then that's okay. I'm thinking of it in this RP that he was taught to manifest his life energy by his elders - y'know, to be able to use it to heal the land or to provide energy for nature such as to grow trees or plants or whatever - but instead he worked it into an offensive ability. Is that something that's feasible?



edit

How tall do you think he should be? He's going to be quite tall owing to his alterations but I don't want him to seem unreasonably large.

Ah. I see what you're looking for with the bio magic. How about he starts with the normal version, but at the school can learn to "twist" it to what you're wanting as you add points. That might also meet some of your other magical desires as this is how you could achieve those effects.

I'm flexible on size. But if you don't want him going around indoors on all fours you might want to keep the standing height to 8 ft or so max.

[Ranshiin]

I'll give it some thought. His biomagic (or his use of it) is what got him thrown out of his home-village (I added a bio) but I can change it if needs be.

As for size - canonically, he's seven foot three. However, I'm thinking of making him a little shorter (six foot eight, nine?). I was just thinking if that might be too tall or not. He can't walk on 'all fours' either.

[Light Buster]

Just so everyone knows, I don't have 24/4 internet access so I won't be posting often. I also have a job, which will also be a factor as well.

[sunnyside]

Just so everyone knows, I don't have 24/4 internet access so I won't be posting often. I also have a job, which will also be a factor as well.

Actually, wait. Does that mean congratulations are in order for graduating college and getting a job?

I'll give it some thought. His biomagic (or his use of it) is what got him thrown out of his home-village (I added a bio) but I can change it if needs be.

As for size - canonically, he's seven foot three. However, I'm thinking of making him a little shorter (six foot eight, nine?). I was just thinking if that might be too tall or not. He can't walk on 'all fours' either.

Seven three is fine.

Also something I mentioned to Light Buster that probably applies to all of you is that I do consider that there is some overlap between the different melee specialties. If you're an expert with a sword you aren't going to be clueless with a spear or in hand to hand and vice versa. A lot of the motions and especially the footwork carry over, all might teach something with kicks, and should include knowledge of how others might attack. You could have a more general mixed art as opposed to specializing.

I'm a bit not sure about the magic. I like your bio, and you can get whatever via non-package points, but I see what you're wanting to do. Maybe adding some points into it to enhance and twist the magic? Are you looking for some specific effects, or is it more that it should be naughty and have at least one attack and a barrier effect?

[Ranshiin]

I'm a bit not sure about the magic. I like your bio, and you can get whatever via non-package points, but I see what you're wanting to do. Maybe adding some points into it to enhance and twist the magic? Are you looking for some specific effects, or is it more that it should be naughty and have at least one attack and a barrier effect?

The specific effects I was looking for is that this is basically his 'dragon magic' that I mentioned before, although very basic and limited in its use. The idea is that he's able to create very basic spheres of 'force' that can perhaps put a dent in a brick wall or hit someone like being punched really hard or something. If you look at the profile at the first picture, it's pretty much the orange energy sphere he's holding.

I tried to balance it as he has only 10 points in the power, so that it requires a lot of his energy to use.

I'm guessing in hindsight that being able to create 'barriers' might be a bit too far-reaching for having only 10 points in his biomagic and might be something he learns to do with 15, 20 or 25+ points. I'm not sure if I can change any of the points around to add points to his biomagic skill or not.

I think for now I'll just remove the 'defensive' ability of it and leave it as something he might gain with training.



That said, what do you think I should do? Would having it as a presently very-basic and offensive 'magic' attack be enough with the 10 points or is it still too potent? If it's too potent and you think I'd need 15 or 20 points for him to be able to use his biomagic as an offensive tool then I guess I'll have to change it so that he's still in the process of learning it, though with 10 points I assumed he'd have some manner of success with it.

I guess that being a modification of environment-healing magic may have something to do with it, though he's not really very competent with doing that. Enough to say, maintain a small garden (hint hint lol), but nothing greater than that.

[sunnyside]

As a note for a few people, I'm letting the Therians have their teeth and claws for free, because I'm not charging for daggers or swords or whatnot.

That said, what do you think I should do?

How about this. Just leave the biomagic alone. It still has uses beyond growing crops that you might like, chiefly buffing your biomorhs and giving you a route to healing yourself and others.

Then drop the martial arts. It's certainly something that you could learn at the school and judging by the sign ups we've had so far I think there may be people who would be eager to try and help your character learn. Keep the sword. He can use his strength to fake it until he makes it.

And then use the 10 points to get the sort of magic you actually want instead of missing the mark. Based on your idea of using your own energy. As a magic discipline you then gain some flexibility. Since it doesn't sound like you're looking for a wide range of effects you could have flexibility in those effects you do have. So an energy ball is fine, a barrier is fine. You could also choose the throw energy in a "focused" (single target damage), "ball" (knockback or wall breaking), or an explosive ball (for multiple weak or hard to hit targets). The taking damage yourself part can really add to the effect in general, and I'd be willing to give you the option to double down on that for more of both. And you could use it as a light source without dealing yourself damage (unless you want a firework). Though again that's just a pitch. It could work differently. And a little more variety beyond the above pitch would be OK. As with the other magics you don't have to define every detail. Just realize you can have variations on the theme, especially as you continue to add points.

[Ranshiin]

Okay, I understand. Given his background he's likely to have very little in the way of combat experience.


So, how exactly should I arrange the points? Should I class the 10 points as an unrelated power to his biomagic - its own Magic Discipline, in other words - or as something that's an 'augment' to it? I understand what you're saying but not exactly how I should place the points as to give him magic and how it affects the biomagic and stuff.



Therian package (20 points for)
Biomorph, fire breathing, 20
Biomorph, armour, 10 -- minor physical resistance, strong resistance to fire, strong weakness to cold/ice
Magic Discipline, Biomagic, 10 -- World regeneration and basic healing powers for self or others??

And:
Biomorph, flight, 15 -- possesses wings
Biomorph, enhanced strength, 15 -- enhanced physical strength, taller and heavier as a result


10 points then for what? Separate magic discipline, or a direct biomagic enhancement/augmentation?

I'm aware this is being a bit of a nuisance and I want to get it dealt with so that my character is ready and we can start. ._.

[Light Buster]

Actually, wait. Does that mean congratulations are in order for graduating college and getting a job?

Yes. I have a legitimate job.

[sunnyside]

Yes. I have a legitimate job.

Well congratulations! I think people should get more props for that regardless, but you might stand out among your generation.

10 points then for what? Separate magic discipline

That. No ties to the biomagic except that, as far as backstory goes, learning biomagic might have provided the basis your character used to learn whatever you want to call this. (Dragon Magic?) This gives you the flexibility to have it work the way you want it to work.

and we can start. ._.

Despite the sorry state of the RP board I was rather hoping for some more sign ups. I think @Blackwaltz at the least will sign up in a bit and I have some hopes for at least three others that have indicated interest. But I was hoping for more like a dozen players for the social interplay. I could do a smaller group though if that's just how it is. Maybe if we get some activity things will liven up.

[Ranshiin]

That. No ties to the biomagic except that, as far as backstory goes, learning biomagic might have provided the basis your character used to learn whatever you want to call this. (Dragon Magic?) This gives you the flexibility to have it work the way you want it to work.

Okay, I'll do that then.

I'm thinking of dropping 'enchanced strength' to 10 in order to give him 5 points on something else, such as basic combat skills (sword or hand-to-hand) or perhaps to be able to cast basic fire magic. It depends how much of an effect you'd perceive that would have on that particular skill.

[Princess Lemon]

Hey all, I apologize I haven't been on. I got a new job that's working me 5-7 days a week for 8-10 hours. GOOD bit is I've adjusted to the schedule.

However I'm excited to see it up. Tetsano and I are reading up on it and should be doing some fun character stuff soon. I'll post some delicious questions when I need 'em

[Scourges daughter]

Hi scourges daughter here! I want to join okay my RPG chapter name is silver but her nickname is Bloody Wolf she's 16 has black hair and red eyes she a werewolf she's cold she's a killer she has a belt with bones and teeth of her victims she turns into a black wolf with red eyes Below is her belt wolf form and her human form