Feral OOC

[ReaperZ]

Never really said Dagger would fight, only how Dagger's power would conflict against Shade's. Though Shade's serious Assholier than thou art attitude will probably lead up to that. I've just have had really bad experiences with characters with such powers since it's pretty much limitless and like you say "Can pull shadows from anywhere". I really mean it when I say I've had really bad experiences when it comes to these sort of powers in RP. And hoarding power like that, such as you say, gets more power the more souls he eats (though in the CS it says shadows but that is just a minor nitpick). And just defeating minions and gathering more and more power might just end up in a gigantic Shadow nuke by the end of it.

Please don't get the impression I am saying "Your character is bad and should burn in hell for all eternity with you" because I'm not trying to get across that. It's really hard not to sound dickish when you are talking about these things when texts don't translate tone very well.

Though my little concern is: Are these souls just sitting around waiting to be released into a Kamehameha? You'd think something like this would try and get out in some way and be taxing to a character

Theoretically, yes his power is limitless. The problem is if his body can tolerate the strain of excessive use. One of our first major battles saw Shade opening a pocket dimension where neither combatant could leave alive - he survived only because one of my other characters sealed his body away when the spell unraveled after Shade almost died. I am fully aware of how open to abuse this mechanic is, so I always put a heavy cost on any "limit break" spells Shade uses. Think of his power as similar to blood magic or occult magic - he has to "pay" more than magical power to use anything overtly powerful. His Amteratsu ability is also like this: he can't control it once he's fired it. It could very well backfire in his face of he's not careful.

Another thing to note is Shade is trained as an assassin, not a mage. He's never had proper instruction about his magical abilities and whatever he can do is a result of trial and error (perhaps with a few less than legal tomes educating him along the way)

@pum: you know, I hadn't considered that. I'd say he'd rely more on his own magic than shadows in that case. He's not completely defenseless when it comes to fighting. I imagine he would force an encounter indoors where it's darker or where there's fire or light.

Dammit you people are making it hard to discuss this without spoilers.

[WitchChild]

Though there are shadows pretty much everywhere. Anything casts a shadow. The only real way there aren't any shadows is there is absolute no light whatsoever anywhere, only complete darkness. Then the term "shadow" has been made void. THis character really could just make a spike come right up between someone's leg and impale him from a$$ to head. You really cannot escape your own shadow since it is firmly attached to you.

And maybe it just me because I only really know of this character from the last couple of pages and the CS but now I hear he has the Amateratsu ability which I am going to assume is similar to the one in Naruto since in Japanese mythology Amateratsu is a Sun Goddess. Not bad for a self taught assassin.

[WildKitsune]

Shade has always been very versatile in combat, but it's not like it's constantly excessive. Reaper himself has admit he may have made things a bit too easy on Shade in some past encounters, but I don't think that should be a worry. Any infighting between players would be moderated by myself to ensure that the fight didn't turn into a playground superhero battle. The only instance I can recall Shade really using his powers against another player was, as mentioned, against Rolnak/Kassarock, and as he mentioned that had a reasonable effect. In that instance Reaper said what attack he was doing and, as I said before, I specified to what extent it was effective to a degree I felt reasonable.

If ANY player seems to be overly judicious with his powers in battle, I have always aimed to either separate them from the group to scale up their challenge, give them a challenge that raw power can't overcome, or otherwise punish the group in some way as a concrete effect of being a bit heavy-handed. I can't say I always get it right, but new players shouldn't live in fear of other players' abilities. If anyone feels some particular instance is beyond reasonable I always welcome a PM or message of some kind to talk about it so I can take reasonable measures. Sometimes that means bigger enemies, or traps, or finding out the guy you killed wasn't such a bad guy after all and your character was the bloodlusted one. Our reputation as a group in Dumont, as well as how other races and people may treat us, is a direct result of our actions, good AND bad, so it's not like there are no repercussions for overplaying an ability.

The other options is that, if your character can't stand another character, they can leave the group. Rolnak and Colm left the group, and while it proved more difficult for Kassarock/Harbringer to stay connected, I'd like to think I still gave him something to do. Don't be afraid to split off if it feels right. I have no problem writing up a sidequest that will both tie into the main narrative and eventually bring you back to the group if you want.

So to anyone with any concerns, I say be at least. In simpler terms... "I got this."