@Zero Hex
Axel is looking at is as I type. And like I said, it is in ruins and nothing but a shell of what it once was. Its no longer the "capital" of Hueco Mundo but basically a relic of the past. Yes, sketchy activity has been happening there but its Hueco Mundo. Everything screams shady.

@malmshodes
Cant help you there >.< I just made a separate count from Facebook

@everyone
Also, last call to see if anyone wants to join in the missions? oxo before I fuse them to do one mission

Well I'd not mind having something to do with either of my characters. Not sure which character is better suited to a given mission though. I've also gone and forgotten what the missions are, @Phobos >_>

@Phobos, @Kurisa Are there any more Lieutenant/Captain slots left? If so I have a second character I think I'd like to introduce to the RP, though she does have a Bankai, so It'd need to be either a Lieutenant that is okayed to have one or a captain...

I'll volunteer Yuka if it will help move things along faster.

Inb4 it still doesn't.

<Snipped quote by Axel>

My lieutenant character still needs to be approved, co-gm.

Sorry for the wait :( But without further adu, let me jump into it:

@Axel
Happy to have you on board :)
Uh. Random question though. Shouldn't Reila's shikai ability be classified as illusion instead of kido?

Edited and thanks ^-^ I'm surprised I missed that xD

@Kurisa
@Phobos

How does he look?

@malmshodes

Like a Kawaii Potato.

@Tarquin
It will, with that the mission spots are full and I shall start working on the opening IC post ^.^

Woo! Finally! Yeah!

@Axel
I'll go through this n whatnot but I'd rather wait till you go through all of my character so I only have to make one concise reply.

So can I get a real quick count of people that aren't going on either mission so I know who Unagi can interact with?

Me.

@Kurisa @Axel @AbigailTenshi @Phobos

Considering the wide scope of other lieutenant shinigami's powers and the presence of much higher proficiencies across the board when compared to my character, I feel my application is being unfairly judged. Hence, why I just typed this out. It is what it is.

Your char's backstory is pretty solid but him not wearing the correct Shinigami uniform due to personal preferences is not acceptable. Being that the Gotei 13 is a military organization, disobedience wouldn't be tolerated. Even if they did make exceptions for a select few, Toshiro wouldn't be one of them since as you said it best,"He was, truth be told, rather entirely average and hardly rank material, not at all gifted with the significant power of many of his peers, and so he went by mostly unnoticed."

People no one notices are more likely to slip through the cracks and wind up retaining more individuality than someone who is at the forefront and therefore scrutinized, hence why he would’ve been able to get away with it at the start. Furthermore, squads tend to be defined by their current captain save for the few that come with an ingrained gimmick, which leaves the door open for quirks they'll allow. Skills aside Toshiro was also promoted because he seems very normal and laid back.

In a division that can easily be seen as strange what with the christian captain and the seated members in nun's clothing or the glam rocker, both of whom happen to be long time high ranking shinigami to boot, having a more normal person act as a representative to ease others into it all would gel better with recruits. Him wearing what amounts to a shinigami uniform except for a lighter colored, more personal robe would be seen as part of the image. Similar in structure, yet more relaxed and approachable.

"He was, truth be told, rather entirely average and hardly rank material, not at all gifted with the significant power of many of his peers, and so he went by mostly unnoticed." Also, the skills he possess basically contradicts the preceding sentence because how can he be remotely close to being an average Shinigami if his shikai ability allows him to fight toe to toe with people far superior than him?

As for the shikai, here's the way I see it: my character's essence, so to speak, is "sword" and the skilled use thereof. He is defined by his ability to use a sword, an actual sword, and has specialized in this one thing so much that he can use it to step above what his station should be. There's a few reasons for this. First, it plays into the "peasant to samurai" archetype seen in jidaigeki fiction, around which my character was patterned. Also, Bleach places a lot of importance on the sword, but rarely actually displays them as swords. They morph into strange oversized weapons coupled bizarre abilities and that's fine and all, but I happen to like swords and their use and I find there's plenty of depth and fun to be found in an actual blade.

So, my guy focuses entirely on the sword. Compared to being able to control the weather, create and control magical shadows or water or glass and the multiple wide scale applications of these powers, you have to admit swinging a sharp piece of metal around is rather subdued and limited. Next, Bleach is pretty much defined by flat powerlevels. The idea behind my character was one who could overcome being born average through practiced skill with a good if simple weapon, and his reiryoku and reiatsu are never made out to be astonishing as with other characters. He wasn't born powerful, he simply employs what he has well. You'll notice his backstory means he's spent at least a couple centuries of anonymity almost entirely focused on swordfighting in such a way as to overcome his low level of reiatsu, which would logically account for ways to fight the many things a shinigami would run across.

His skills and character all have one clear thematic: the idealization of the swordsman, rising in life through the application of martial skill and ensuring he can ply his lone trade. How else do you suggest balancing out a character that is generally outmuscled, can't use the many powers related to sheer reiatsu volume, lacks the wide scale applications and highly destructive abilities of many other zanpakuto, can't do Hakuda barrages, can't spam Hoho afterimages or engage in a long distance shupo chase, and who is armed with one of the most basic of weapons, whose lone active skill is simply "cut harder"? If I'm willingly limiting myself to a very, very narrow scope compared to others I would expect at least the ability to actually engage in it to a very good level.

Skill 1: Rendering all ailments ineffective is undoubtedly op cause it means that no one can harm you through those specified methods. This basically means that any Shinigami(Regardless of rank) who only specialize in illusionary, curse, poison or other similar type techniques have no choice to use something else and for a lieutenant to have such a thing is a definite no no. The Sternritter that fought Kisuke and Yoiruichi had a very similar power, and he basically put them to shame as result.

Comparing this ability to Askin’s is rather unfair considering Askin can also immunize himself to direct means of destruction via reiatsu blasts and had a healing factor to boot. Askin also has the ability to lethally poison anyone with an attack or two, practically an instakill, and to set up giant inescapable poison deathzones. He also had high levels of reiryoku, the ability to catch a shunpo expert by surprise with his hirenkyaku, extremely high damage tolerance, the ability to compete with Yoruichi in hand to hand and his quincy weapons, all of which contribute to him being able to fight against those two.

My character has none of that and could still be handily overpowered by Askin just on powerlevel alone. Toshiro's sole advantage would be that hey, you have to actually fight him to kill him. Yes, it counters a number of ability types, but not in such a way that they cannot actually do anything. He still has to get in sword range to fight, which in something like Bleach is hugely limited. Other lieutenants and captains have advantage on reiatsu which has a number of applications, ability to use Kido, they can stay well out Toshiro’s range with shunpo and proficiency with Hakuda means their level would be more advanced than his in that area.

Thematically, this and other skills of his relate to the ideals of a honorable means of combat and death for a samurai. Poison and firearms would be seen as weapons beyond contempt. To be felled by such would be a great disgrace. Tying to Toshiro desperately wanting to be a samurai, if he could he would most certainly develop the means to try and ensure that his death happens blade to blade, something the zanpakuto he's imprinted upon would bring manifest on the boost that Shikai signifies. It carries no great release of reiatsu, no grandiose power, instead as it strengthens the blade it also seeks to strengthen the man in what ways it can.

Skill 2: Honestly, this seems more like a personality thing rather than an actual skill. With that said though, this sounds like it would give him some type of mary sue like power, where he would be able to see behind his back and react to stuff that would be otherwise impossible.

It’s tied to his personality and story, as are all his abilities, but I’m honestly not seeing how training himself so he doesn’t rely solely on his eyes isn’t an actual skill. Here’s a fun fact: the Bujinkan, a real life organization with legit demonstrable links to both samurai and ninja schools of martial arts, has this one test for rank where you have to dodge a (wooden) sword strike from behind while in a seated position. It is a commonly exaggerated trope in martial arts fiction but training for attack awareness is one of the most important things in any martial pursuit, from boxing to karate to military and self defense CQC.

As for the mary sue bit, that's not what a mary sue is. A sue is an unrealistic attempt at a perfect character. A sue would be more like reaching this level of swordsmanship with less than a decade of practice, have huge stores of reiryoku and reiatsu or possibly a special unique type of spirit energy from birth, likely be from some sort of famous bloodline and also have actual high level skills in other areas beyond swordsmanship, as well as a highly overdone zanpakuto power while being greatly admired for all this. My guy has spent centuries in anonymity trying to overcome his weaknesses by overspecializing to a ridiculous degree.

Training in both peripheral vision and nonvisual cues for attack, as well as having developed a knack for a quick reaction after so many years of service fighting dangerous creatures while not being particularly powerful, does not a sue make. In fact you could argue that it's a sign of his weakness, as someone much more powerful wouldn't have to worry so much about these things. They could, much like Kenpachi et al, simply charge forth confident in victory.

Skill 3: Becoming naturally impervious to something without a sufficient reason to why is op. Another thing is how is he unaffected to something he doesn't even know about? Like if I'm Shunsui Kyoraku or Kaname Tousen and your has never fought them, how can he even have a counter for any area of effect move they employ? I could see if a water type character was going up against a fire type and had a counter to it or vice-versa but I can't see a grass type having a counter for a fire type without a legit explanation. Or better yet, if someone attempted to punch your char but he blocked it without having to defend himself...like how is that possible? I doubt this skill would be accepted anyway but at least have it make some sort of sense cause Toshiro's not even emitting some type of field to protect him from that sort of thing...it just is.

Oh, and being able to apply sudden, unappealable rulesets that can very well completely shut down abilities and not even allow their use isn't rather OP? You don't like my guy being able to see through illusions, but those characters could still, for example, target Toshiro's friends to make them think he's an enemy and still remain effective. Not so if confronted with an ability that establishes that, for instance, deception is not allowed. Something like playing truth or dare with Shunsui, he could do away with the deceptive attacks or at least force the opponent into an action. He could want to play red hands and do away with Toshiro's blade and then he'd be essentially be a step away from death. This just lets Toshiro continue to apply his one limited ability.

I thought the name and concept were self explanatory: You can't put rules on the battlefield, or rather he won't accept such rules. It's not for actual physical limitations, it's for theoretical powers such as magically trying to limit actions he can do. If someone can say "don't do this or that" and make others obey the command as a power, it stands to reason someone would be able to ignore such a command as a power. As a former soldier, a samurai wannabe and a student of an art meant to kill others in an effective manner when the situation presents itself, telling him he can't do this or that is meaningless. It also links to his story as a peasant rising above, his life has been spent confronting norms and trying to step outside their boundaries.

Skill 4: Like skill 2, this is more like a personality thing rather an actual skill. But just like it though, Toshiro's unwavering willpower is one of the main symbols of a mary sue like char. I beat your ass with a bat, you get up. I hit you with a thousand rpgs, you get up. I force you to your knees by increasing the gravitational pull, you get up. Like what? It's like the only way someone can incapacitate you is by killing you but doing that is hardly ever the case since we try to refrain from doing that except in the most dire scenarios. If you've seen Kimmimaro fight in Naruto despite being in the condition he was in, you'll see why this is problematic(Provided that he was extremely skilled but still). Unless you have some legit reason as to why, if your char gets beat to the utmost extreme, then he won't be able to get up like any other person.

It's something physical, technical and mental. Physical and technical because, with centuries of practice to focus on swordsmanship, Toshiro will have trained to deal with different battlefields. Much like how soldiers train to perform in all manner of settings and harsh weather conditions, as their lives depend on it. You adapt yourself to the battlefield, learn its make, learn what is necessary to be effective in it. If your life hinged upon this, wouldn't you? Mental because, much like how risk awareness is a trained skill, so is the ability to not freeze up when confronted with a dangerous situation.

The ability to quickly draw one's blade and strike even from a resting position isn't exclusive to japanese swordsmanship, it was preparation for having to deal with violence at any given time. That is also what this skill refers to. You're taking it too far and assuming I'd turn it into some sort of invulnerability. Why I'm getting this treatment when a different player’s ability to create new spells was completely fine, I couldn't say. I can say that just how he said he'd control himself and it was accepted, I'm telling you that this is about readiness to fight and a tenacity to overcome absolutely typical of the genre. He can take damage and truck on, but that doesn't mean the damage isn't there. The mind can be willing but the body unable.

Willpower is hardly the mark of a mary sue character. Attaining success through effort and mental fortitude is a basic trope of the type of fiction Bleach belongs to. It is a basic trope of mankind, of the general will to advance and overcome and succeed that has shaped us as a species. A mary sue character would, for instance, increase their reiatsu through willpower, or will themselves into a better shunpo or hakuda. Toshiro continues to be a man with a sword with all the shortcomings I've described before.

Skill 5: See? Now this is one of the skills that is pretty solid but like 2 and 4, this is more like a personality trait. Of course since I'm only judging by face value, I'll have to see how this one is actually used before I can pass a final verdict on it.

It’s what you think it is, the idea is pretty simple. Gun > sword, unarguably so. As this is fantasy, Toshiro has trained himself so his melee skills aren’t completely and utterly trivialized by ranged attacks as they were in real life. He’s still at a considerable disadvantage, as anyone with solid shunpo and a willingness to play keepaway and pelt him from a range is bound to outlast him sooner or later, but at least he can defend himself with his lone skillset.

Sorry for the meh post ^^; ended up being more busy today than I thought but with it, the IC is finally open and everyone with a Captain CS is free to post ^.^ even if your zanpakuto has not been accepted, we just ask to refrain from using it in battle/spars until it is accepted.

@Kurisa @Axel @AbigailTenshi @Phobos

Considering the wide scope of other lieutenant shinigami's powers and the presence of much higher proficiencies across the board when compared to my character, I feel my application is being unfairly judged. Hence, why I just typed this out. It is what it is.

<Snipped quote by Axel>

People no one notices are more likely to slip through the cracks and wind up retaining more individuality than someone who is at the forefront and therefore scrutinized, hence why he would’ve been able to get away with it at the start. Furthermore, squads tend to be defined by their current captain save for the few that come with an ingrained gimmick, which leaves the door open for quirks they'll allow. Skills aside Toshiro was also promoted because he seems very normal and laid back.

In a division that can easily be seen as strange what with the christian captain and the seated members in nun's clothing or the glam rocker, both of whom happen to be long time high ranking shinigami to boot, having a more normal person act as a representative to ease others into it all would gel better with recruits. Him wearing what amounts to a shinigami uniform except for a lighter colored, more personal robe would be seen as part of the image. Similar in structure, yet more relaxed and approachable.

<Snipped quote by Axel>

As for the shikai, here's the way I see it: my character's essence, so to speak, is "sword" and the skilled use thereof. He is defined by his ability to use a sword, an actual sword, and has specialized in this one thing so much that he can use it to step above what his station should be. There's a few reasons for this. First, it plays into the "peasant to samurai" archetype seen in jidaigeki fiction, around which my character was patterned. Also, Bleach places a lot of importance on the sword, but rarely actually displays them as swords. They morph into strange oversized weapons coupled bizarre abilities and that's fine and all, but I happen to like swords and their use and I find there's plenty of depth and fun to be found in an actual blade.

So, my guy focuses entirely on the sword. Compared to being able to control the weather, create and control magical shadows or water or glass and the multiple wide scale applications of these powers, you have to admit swinging a sharp piece of metal around is rather subdued and limited. Next, Bleach is pretty much defined by flat powerlevels. The idea behind my character was one who could overcome being born average through practiced skill with a good if simple weapon, and his reiryoku and reiatsu are never made out to be astonishing as with other characters. He wasn't born powerful, he simply employs what he has well. You'll notice his backstory means he's spent at least a couple centuries of anonymity almost entirely focused on swordfighting in such a way as to overcome his low level of reiatsu, which would logically account for ways to fight the many things a shinigami would run across.

His skills and character all have one clear thematic: the idealization of the swordsman, rising in life through the application of martial skill and ensuring he can ply his lone trade. How else do you suggest balancing out a character that is generally outmuscled, can't use the many powers related to sheer reiatsu volume, lacks the wide scale applications and highly destructive abilities of many other zanpakuto, can't do Hakuda barrages, can't spam Hoho afterimages or engage in a long distance shupo chase, and who is armed with one of the most basic of weapons, whose lone active skill is simply "cut harder"? If I'm willingly limiting myself to a very, very narrow scope compared to others I would expect at least the ability to actually engage in it to a very good level.

<Snipped quote by Axel>

Comparing this ability to Askin’s is rather unfair considering Askin can also immunize himself to direct means of destruction via reiatsu blasts and had a healing factor to boot. Askin also has the ability to lethally poison anyone with an attack or two, practically an instakill, and to set up giant inescapable poison deathzones. He also had high levels of reiryoku, the ability to catch a shunpo expert by surprise with his hirenkyaku, extremely high damage tolerance, the ability to compete with Yoruichi in hand to hand and his quincy weapons, all of which contribute to him being able to fight against those two.

My character has none of that and could still be handily overpowered by Askin just on powerlevel alone. Toshiro's sole advantage would be that hey, you have to actually fight him to kill him. Yes, it counters a number of ability types, but not in such a way that they cannot actually do anything. He still has to get in sword range to fight, which in something like Bleach is hugely limited. Other lieutenants and captains have advantage on reiatsu which has a number of applications, ability to use Kido, they can stay well out Toshiro’s range with shunpo and proficiency with Hakuda means their level would be more advanced than his in that area.

Thematically, this and other skills of his relate to the ideals of a honorable means of combat and death for a samurai. Poison and firearms would be seen as weapons beyond contempt. To be felled by such would be a great disgrace. Tying to Toshiro desperately wanting to be a samurai, if he could he would most certainly develop the means to try and ensure that his death happens blade to blade, something the zanpakuto he's imprinted upon would bring manifest on the boost that Shikai signifies. It carries no great release of reiatsu, no grandiose power, instead as it strengthens the blade it also seeks to strengthen the man in what ways it can.

<Snipped quote by Axel>

It’s tied to his personality and story, as are all his abilities, but I’m honestly not seeing how training himself so he doesn’t rely solely on his eyes isn’t an actual skill. Here’s a fun fact: the Bujinkan, a real life organization with legit demonstrable links to both samurai and ninja schools of martial arts, has this one test for rank where you have to dodge a (wooden) sword strike from behind while in a seated position. It is a commonly exaggerated trope in martial arts fiction but training for attack awareness is one of the most important things in any martial pursuit, from boxing to karate to military and self defense CQC.

As for the mary sue bit, that's not what a mary sue is. A sue is an unrealistic attempt at a perfect character. A sue would be more like reaching this level of swordsmanship with less than a decade of practice, have huge stores of reiryoku and reiatsu or possibly a special unique type of spirit energy from birth, likely be from some sort of famous bloodline and also have actual high level skills in other areas beyond swordsmanship, as well as a highly overdone zanpakuto power while being greatly admired for all this. My guy has spent centuries in anonymity trying to overcome his weaknesses by overspecializing to a ridiculous degree.

Training in both peripheral vision and nonvisual cues for attack, as well as having developed a knack for a quick reaction after so many years of service fighting dangerous creatures while not being particularly powerful, does not a sue make. In fact you could argue that it's a sign of his weakness, as someone much more powerful wouldn't have to worry so much about these things. They could, much like Kenpachi et al, simply charge forth confident in victory.

<Snipped quote by Axel>

Oh, and being able to apply sudden, unappealable rulesets that can very well completely shut down abilities and not even allow their use isn't rather OP? You don't like my guy being able to see through illusions, but those characters could still, for example, target Toshiro's friends to make them think he's an enemy and still remain effective. Not so if confronted with an ability that establishes that, for instance, deception is not allowed. Something like playing truth or dare with Shunsui, he could do away with the deceptive attacks or at least force the opponent into an action. He could want to play red hands and do away with Toshiro's blade and then he'd be essentially be a step away from death. This just lets Toshiro continue to apply his one limited ability.

I thought the name and concept were self explanatory: You can't put rules on the battlefield, or rather he won't accept such rules. It's not for actual physical limitations, it's for theoretical powers such as magically trying to limit actions he can do. If someone can say "don't do this or that" and make others obey the command as a power, it stands to reason someone would be able to ignore such a command as a power. As a former soldier, a samurai wannabe and a student of an art meant to kill others in an effective manner when the situation presents itself, telling him he can't do this or that is meaningless. It also links to his story as a peasant rising above, his life has been spent confronting norms and trying to step outside their boundaries.

<Snipped quote by Axel>

It's something physical, technical and mental. Physical and technical because, with centuries of practice to focus on swordsmanship, Toshiro will have trained to deal with different battlefields. Much like how soldiers train to perform in all manner of settings and harsh weather conditions, as their lives depend on it. You adapt yourself to the battlefield, learn its make, learn what is necessary to be effective in it. If your life hinged upon this, wouldn't you? Mental because, much like how risk awareness is a trained skill, so is the ability to not freeze up when confronted with a dangerous situation.

The ability to quickly draw one's blade and strike even from a resting position isn't exclusive to japanese swordsmanship, it was preparation for having to deal with violence at any given time. That is also what this skill refers to. You're taking it too far and assuming I'd turn it into some sort of invulnerability. Why I'm getting this treatment when a different player’s ability to create new spells was completely fine, I couldn't say. I can say that just how he said he'd control himself and it was accepted, I'm telling you that this is about readiness to fight and a tenacity to overcome absolutely typical of the genre. He can take damage and truck on, but that doesn't mean the damage isn't there. The mind can be willing but the body unable.

Willpower is hardly the mark of a mary sue character. Attaining success through effort and mental fortitude is a basic trope of the type of fiction Bleach belongs to. It is a basic trope of mankind, of the general will to advance and overcome and succeed that has shaped us as a species. A mary sue character would, for instance, increase their reiatsu through willpower, or will themselves into a better shunpo or hakuda. Toshiro continues to be a man with a sword with all the shortcomings I've described before.

<Snipped quote by Axel>

It’s what you think it is, the idea is pretty simple. Gun > sword, unarguably so. As this is fantasy, Toshiro has trained himself so his melee skills aren’t completely and utterly trivialized by ranged attacks as they were in real life. He’s still at a considerable disadvantage, as anyone with solid shunpo and a willingness to play keepaway and pelt him from a range is bound to outlast him sooner or later, but at least he can defend himself with his lone skillset.

Hmm...you executed your rebuttal with impressive flair and as such, I respect it. With that being said however, my decision still stands as it wasn't sufficient enough to change my views on the matter. I've carefully read everything you said, so in case you think that I may have overlooked something when reconsidering your cs...I assure you that I didn't(I even watched the go dan video which was funny to see since most of the students were nothing shy of being scaredy cats). If you can't accept my decision, then you are free to leave at anytime. Though we as gms want you to travel along this journey side by side with us, we don't need you, as someone will be sure to come along to act as your replacement. Now if you decide to stay and revise the sections of your char that is required, then I have a few more things to say. First:

"In a division that can easily be seen as strange what with the christian captain and the seated members in nun's clothing or the glam rocker, both of whom happen to be long time high ranking shinigami to boot, having a more normal person act as a representative to ease others into it all would gel better with recruits. Him wearing what amounts to a shinigami uniform except for a lighter colored, more personal robe would be seen as part of the image. Similar in structure, yet more relaxed and approachable." After thinking about it I'm going to give this some more thought and I'll have a response to you sometime tomorrow.

Second:

"Gunto (lit. military sword): A shinigami version of the Quincy’s Seele Schneider created by the 12th division. It’s geared towards being used as a blade rather than a projectile and, as a reverse engineered reproduction, lacks the original’s ability to loosen and absorb spiritual matter and energy. It still makes for a handy sidearm that can be carried around unnoticed. Developed to better equip lower level shinigami or those who have lost their zanpakuto in some way, it is rather rare because most reapers scoff at wielding such a weapon." This is a no no as well.

And lastly: I see nothing wrong with nothing else so re-do the parts mentioned and you'll be on your way to being accepted ^-^

Okay so, considering you haven't actually responded to much of anything, and I'm trying to work with you here seeing I've pointed out a myriad of shortcomings and heavy disadvantages my character is subjected to as well as provided justification for powers you thought lacked ground to stand on based on thematic, story, personality and even real life examples of similar skills:

How do you suggest balancing out a man whose thing is being a skilled actual swordsman with the low key powerset of "can sword real good despite being unable to powerblast", without being immediately rendered moot by the people summoning reiryoku-stealing, crushing bodies of water, creating poisonous clouds and a poison-on-touch armor, summoning and controlling magical shadows etc, all of them armed with a magical weapon as well, often with a higher level of proficiency in other skills to boot over my extremely overspecialized guy. Should I just scrap it and just have a samey powerset? Let go of an actual gimmick in favor of regular lieutenant levels of power?

As for the gunto: Why tho? It's not as though there's no precedent, such as Mayuri having a legitimate Quincy artifact at hand to give to Uryu after he sacrificed his powers. I'm asking for a crappy copy of a thing to have a sidearm both for thematic reasons (daisho) and because my character is, once again, a sword and literally nothing else. It's not at all outlandish to believe someone would think that researching into a backup weapon that's just "portable blade" might be a good idea. I mean it's just whatever, but it feels like a weird thing to shut down off-hand.

Okay so, considering you haven't actually responded to much of anything, and I'm trying to work with you here seeing I've pointed out a myriad of shortcomings and heavy disadvantages my character is subjected to as well as provided justification for powers you thought lacked ground to stand on based on thematic, story, personality and even real life examples of similar skills:

How do you suggest balancing out a man whose thing is being a skilled actual swordsman with the low key powerset of "can sword real good despite being unable to powerblast", without being immediately rendered moot by the people summoning reiryoku-stealing, crushing bodies of water, creating poisonous clouds and a poison-on-touch armor, summoning and controlling magical shadows etc, all of them armed with a magical weapon as well, often with a higher level of proficiency in other skills to boot over my extremely overspecialized guy. Should I just scrap it and just have a samey powerset? Let go of an actual gimmick in favor of regular lieutenant levels of power?

As for the gunto: Why tho? It's not as though there's no precedent, such as Mayuri having a legitimate Quincy artifact at hand to give to Uryu after he sacrificed his powers. I'm asking for a crappy copy of a thing to have a sidearm both for thematic reasons (daisho) and because my character is, once again, a sword and literally nothing else. It's not at all outlandish to believe someone would think that researching into a backup weapon that's just "portable blade" might be a good idea. I mean it's just whatever, but it feels like a weird thing to shut down off-hand.

I manage pretty well. My character literally has his fists, he doesn't even have a zanpakuto. Most people hardly consider him weak.

That's fine, but your character has a number of high power techniques that would by all rights oneshot my guy if he were caught with them flush, considering Ikkotsu and Oni Dekopin are effective against the likes of Aizen and Wonderweiss, as well as the ability to block blades flush with his fists and straight up tear through rock, hollows and the like combined with regular expert hoho.

And I'm not seeing anything about limited reiryoku and reiatsu, which means he could employ all those abilities that come with the aura release as well as giving him a general advantage in power and durability. I mean it's fine if that's what you want to do, I like your character and their type, I'm just saying it feels you're overly limiting yourself, especially considering what's been established as acceptable by other lieutenants.

Okay so, considering you haven't actually responded to much of anything, and I'm trying to work with you here seeing I've pointed out a myriad of shortcomings and heavy disadvantages my character is subjected to as well as provided justification for powers you thought lacked ground to stand on based on thematic, story, personality and even real life examples of similar skills:

How do you suggest balancing out a man whose thing is being a skilled actual swordsman with the low key powerset of "can sword real good despite being unable to powerblast", without being immediately rendered moot by the people summoning reiryoku-stealing, crushing bodies of water, creating poisonous clouds and a poison-on-touch armor, summoning and controlling magical shadows etc, all of them armed with a magical weapon as well, often with a higher level of proficiency in other skills to boot over my extremely overspecialized guy. Should I just scrap it and just have a samey powerset? Let go of an actual gimmick in favor of regular lieutenant levels of power?

As for the gunto: Why tho? It's not as though there's no precedent, such as Mayuri having a legitimate Quincy artifact at hand to give to Uryu after he sacrificed his powers. I'm asking for a crappy copy of a thing to have a sidearm both for thematic reasons (daisho) and because my character is, once again, a sword and literally nothing else. It's not at all outlandish to believe someone would think that researching into a backup weapon that's just "portable blade" might be a good idea. I mean it's just whatever, but it feels like a weird thing to shut down off-hand.

So, I'm just going to throw a couple things out there, one being that history is a bit different in this, I'm not sure the whole Quincy extermination event happened (Might've missed or jsut wasn't mentioned), so for the artifact thing might not be so available really...Also since my character is one of the lead project people, especially in relations to Quincy related items, I'm sure we could talk something over in PM and I could work something out possibly and run it by the GM's through her as a character.

As for the the abilities, I'll second what Gan said, though I'll almost point out that he's excessively good at what he does and is a bit of a show off, but aside from that, if you really want to keep the gimmick (Not a GM so I can't speak for anyone, especially none of them) why not just be like kenpachi without a release (Early on obviously) and just go about how he fights differently then 'head on! Who cares if I'm cut!' because obviously already done, and no way a lieutenant would survive that...Also another idea is maybe just go for a seated position if you don't think that they can hack it as a lieutenant. (Of course I look overly biased as I'm already in the process of a character that I'd love to take a Lt. spot with, but that's not the point!)

Sure, we can talk about the Quincy thing over PM but the idea is very simple. Quincy had this cool weapon, we wiped them out and then the science division made a crappy replica from observation and recovering the busted up chunks we could find, because having a portable sword can be nice and practical and a solid backup for any shinigami. They wouldn't be widespread for obvious cultural reasons, the attachment of a shingami to their zanpakuto would make accepting such a weapon slow and complicated.

I'm specifically trying to avoid pulling a Kenpachi because he's cool and already established, I'd rather try my own take on a similar character. Kenpachi is naturally ridiculously powerful, he can hand captain level fighters their ass without release and by holding back to boot. Meanwhile the idea behind my guy is that if he underperforms he's probably dead because he just isn't that gifted with reiryoku and reiatsu, rather than faceroll on power alone he has to survive on skill.

He'd always walking a razor's edge, since reiatsu also essentially translates to stamina and defensive power. Rather than simply overpower abilities as Kenpachi would do, he has trained and developed for hundreds of years to avoid the type of situation where he'd be rendered completely useless and he still carries plenty of weaknesses and limitations inherent to him. The entire point is to avoid Bleach's obsession with powerlevels and aura size more or less defining who wins and who doesn't by having a character who has, through literal centuries, worked his one specialized skill to a level where it can at least partially compensate and pull him forward in life and put him into a station he would not have attained by birth alone.