I've had an idea for a character for this game, but I imagine that now it's nearly full, I won't actually be able to join up by the time I get to writing up a sheet for it. Given that said character concept involves somewhat copious amounts of Seastone, it may well be beyond the rough power level of the game's starting point to boot. C'est la vie, I guess.
Regarding power levels, assuming anything does get utilised at all, I might recommend comparing any given character to what Marine ranks they're typically capable of having an even or better fight against - for instance, somebody who could evenly battle an Ensign (11th in rank) with a roughly 50% win rate would be considered Ensign level, whilst somebody who could crush a Lieutenant Commander (8th in rank) most of the time, only to get consistently beaten by a Commander (7th in rank) more often than not, would be considered Lieutenant Commander in terms of power even if the degree by which they lose against the Commander is only quite small. And so on through the levels. If we want to go even higher than that, I suspect roles like Inspector General, Commander-in-Chief, and the Gorosei would be considered as the next few steps up from Fleet Admiral; if you're consistently losing to Chore Boys, you may be a World Noble, and do not deserve to pirate regardless.
Thanks for the suggestions. My only issue with simple rankings is that it still remains vague. It just becomes Rank A will most likely beat Rank B and Rank S would destroy Rank A. I mean, who would want that? The purpose of the system would be less focused on PVP and more on being able to answer the question, "What is my character capable of?"
Well, there's prooobably not going to be a lot of PvP anyway, but capabilities will still naturally unfold as we play. Although, I tended to like knowing the relative strengths of the crew when it came to designing the arc foes because it helped me in coming up with their own strength hierarchy, which can be pretty important in character dynamic.
Also, I imagine you're waiting on one or two more apps, but any idea on when we might start? o:
@Jabber I thought I had something for that at first, but then I realised that the system I would've suggested is extremely general in terms of tiering. And as a matter of fact, so are most power tier lists I've seen - for instance, a general "street tier" might exist which covers everything from sub-muggle to block-busting, or something along those lines. Which is great in terms of description, aside from the fact that that's a relatively huge range of power when considering such low values, and they only really get more stretched out as the scale increases. That said, if you could reliably apply feats to each rank of Marine based on what an average Marine of that tier can do (and disregarding those who are ranked below their actual power, of course), what I said might still be applicable as a system, but... well, good luck with that.
@Pacifista I'll try to think of something. We can start with the members now. Probably in a day or two.
@BCTheEntity Wouldn't it be better to assign feats with each individual character? Creating ranks and just listing down what those ranks are able to do just creates a form of uniformity amongst characters which are of the same rank.
Still here, definitely interested, just drawing a blank on what character to throw in. Was gonna do a gambler that weaponized dice and maybe cards but his personality would probably overlap too much with Player 2's.
Currently writing up the first arc. Do you guys have any preference? Aside from an event that would bring you all together, would you want the typical fight or something different all together?
Well, on one hand, some kind of action would be a good way to get a grip on how everyone fights, along with being a neat climax.
On the other, in my experience, introducing a bunch of characters at once tends to err on the side of a clusterfuck, so trying to get our screwballs together while also introducing and characterizing a bunch of assholes they have to fight might be tricky. Not that it can't be done, of course, but I'm not sure about either what the antagonists would look like, or about how the arc would go even without any.
Speaking of our screwballs there's so many friggin' zany ones. Probably one of the wildest groups I've seen in an OP game. I dig it.
I think I have an arc I could use; me thinks it has what it takes to get the job done. At least that's what it say on paper.
Anyway, I'll post something up soon along with probable trait assignments and bonuses for each character based on their history and background.
If anyone has a suggestion for a trait they would like, feel free to tell me and we'll see if its acceptable. If not, we'll work around it to make it acceptable.
Opening post and stat system are currently in progress.
Regarding the whole regulation/measurement of each character's capabilities, I just have a few questions for you guys?
Would you prefer quantification of stats such as strength, speed, focus, endurance, etc?
Number of technique/skills should be assigned a definite number? Or at least points would be allocated to them so that you'd know how strong a technique would be?
Just rely on the honor system where stats and traits would be given to the characters?
I prefer the last one. Honestly I don't think numerical stats should be involved at all, just the traits and people's common sense seems good enough to me. A numerical stat system is pretty pointless without dice or some other form of random number generation and a great deal of calculation, because there's no way it can cover all the numerous variables that can come into play with writing--for instance, if you gave us a hard and fast "Bob has 8 Strength and Jim has 10, Jim will always win in a fist fight" Bob could still argue "what if I poison his booze? What if I attack him from behind? What if I shoot a cannon at him?" so on and so forth.
Plus, One Piece is supposed to be a whacky, ridiculous world. Bogging it down with numbers seems like it would hamper the fun.
Glad to hear your opinion. Just want to go with what the majority decides to go with. Since this is technically your story; I'm just hear to moderate it.
Well, what would be easier for you? You're probably going to be coming up with most of the antagonist parties. If they all have stats then that's way more work for you, and if they don't then what's the point of having stats except in those rare instances of PvP?
Honestly, I'd personally be satisfied with leaving the strength management to you. You probably have a rough idea of how strong each character is, so when you set up a fight all you have to do (at least for me) is say how the NPC fights, their personality if it's important, and about what level of challenge it would be for my character.
If you aren't sure about strength management, then one idea I had might be to have everyone PM you a strength ranking of all the current cast, and you average it out to decide roughly what level the crew is next to each other.
Alrightie. Went on ahead and posted in the IC. Nothing extravagant; really just to get the ball rolling.
I'll fix up everyone's CS with the appropriate amount of traits and whatnot. Look out for the needed edits.
@Pacifista Well, righ know, I have a relative idea on who the heavy hitters and the light weights are among you guys.
Also, my IC post is just really an introduction. The real story starts when I get a good grasp on where everyone is. Everything's has been planned out, just need to write stuff down.
@MacDuffyFor Scabbard, I fixed the coding a bit. Also, gave him Strength and Endurance traits. I think it fits his backstory and fighting style. Given his massive burns, I would want to suggest a weakness; being unable to fight prolonged battles. He could continue, but the fatigue and stress on his body would be more than usual.
Name: Scabbard Age: 18(??) Gender: Male Race: Human Height and Weight: 6'1, 171 lbs
Bounty: 0 Beli
Personality: Perpetually sleepy and groggy, as the pain of his burns often gives him trouble sleeping. Rarely raises his voice, if ever. Often laid-back and kind of lazy, but quietly focused when things get heavy. Has a strong, personal sense of justice, which he rarely talks about, but often puts into action when he can. He desires information about his past more than anything.
History: Scabbard's life is a complete blank slate to him. Waking up in a dingy Loguetown alley one day without a memory in his head, even a name. The only thing he had was a large sword, chained in its sheathe with a mysterious lock without a key, and a hideous body covered in painful burn scars. With no connections, or Beli to his name, he turned to petty crime to earn a living, taking the name of the first thing he saw: The scabbard of the locked-away blade. While life as a small-time crook gave him food to eat, he longed to learn who he really was, and saw the free life of a pirate as the ideal way to find out. Now his dream is to travel the seas, and one day find both his lost identity, and the key to the lock that seals his mysterious sword.
Abilities:
Swordsmanship: Scabbard fights with the locked-up blade he awoke with. Since the blade is locked in its sheath, it serves as a blunt weapon.
Techniques: ---
Traits:
Strength
Endurance
Inventory:
Great Sword - A large and mysterious two-handed sword that has apparently been locked up in chains.
@Great Sogeking For TJ, since he already has his cooking-based ability, I just wanted to give him some thick-skinned hands for boxing and whatnot. Feel free to rename the trait.
Name: Teodore Jay “TJ” Dugrass Age: 20 Gender: Male Race: Human Height and Weight: 6’5’’, 200 lbs
Bounty: 0 Beli
Personality: TJ is a boisterous man that just as boisterously claims himself to be a gentleman. As such, he strives at all hours of the day to perfect his gentlemanly manners and abides by the gentleman’s code of conduct. There are times, however, that he must painfully lay down his morals for the sake of achieving his dream. Such as when it comes to money. TJ is a shrewd businessman that sells his services for a high price. He may dislike having to negotiate in an ungentlemanly manner, but he tries not to let it bother him.
History: TJ was born and raised in Loguetown. He greatly admired the fry cook industry and worked himself up from a humble dishwasher to an ace cook over the course of several years. As a child, he was told stories of a fabled island filled with legendary and exquisite creatures no man had ever laid their tongue on. As he grew into an adult, he aspired to one day find this island- not just for discovery’s sake, but to contribute to his larger goal of opening the greatest food service chain on the Grand Line. Originally he planned on working to save up more travel money, but the restaurant he worked in for most of his life recently bombed. Literally it blew up and left him jobless. Seeing it as a sign to get started, he has decided to become a pirate as a means for adventure.
Abilities:
Boxing: As a gentleman, TJ is well versed in the basics of fisticuffs.
Exquisite Grilled Cuisine: Being a former fry cook in a busy restaurant, TJ knows and is more than capable of making a variety of grill-related dishes on the fly.
Techniques: ---
Traits:
Thick-Skinned Fists - TJ's fists are, for a lack of a better word, meaty. They are thick and though, allowing him to block and punch without damaging his precious hands. At least most of the time.
Inventory: A stainless steel spatula and a copy of “The Gentleman’s Book of Etiquette.”
@Pacifista Edited the coding a bit. Made her Improved Perception from her DF into a trait instead. Not sure how profecient she is with that rod, but I edited her fighting style; just wanted to categorize it. But if she just hits people with it without any real techqniue, we could just remove it from the CS; you don't need it to be an ability if its just that. Anyway, since she's experienced in sailing, I gave her a navigation ability. Combined with her DF, that could make for some unique weather predictions. Not sure if that was the path you were going for. Also, if you noticed, I intended some of your techniques; this way, it'll be easier to understand that those technique have basic version where they were derived from. A good example of this would be Zoro's Lion Song which later on after the timeskip became Lion Song of Death.
Name: Claribel Donner Age: 17 Gender: Female Race: Human Height and Weight: 5'4'', 100 lbs
Bounty: 0 Beli Personality: Claribel is about as carefree as they come. When it comes to people, she is generally pretty dismissive of most, often right to their faces. Her rudeness doesn't stop there, as her honesty often comes to mouth before anything resembling restraint. She is also stubborn and single-minded: when she sets herself to something she's probably not stopping until it's done. She can be quite clever when she has the care for it: combat, for instance. She also tends to take some things for granted, as her upbringing wasn't exactly the most normal. One thing she cannot stand is the mundane, thought not because she dislikes it, but because it doesn't stick in her brain at all. She seeks interesting people and situations, sometimes to the point of recklessness. One might even say that's what she lives for. She certainly has a bit of rebellious, teenage spirit, as she occasionally does things if she thinks something interesting will come out of it.
History:
Claribel has been familiar with the modern sea of pirates for a long time, as she came into this world on the vessel of what would become a pirate ship. At first, it had been the vessel of a lucrative business as an upscale passenger liner, but it was no stranger to pirates, as it weathered numerous scuffles in the East Blue Seas thanks to the strength and wit of Flors Donner. However, as it so often does, tragedy struck, in a form. After a journey that took place while Claribel was at the tender age of 3, a passenger who had been wounded in a pirate attack sought to press charges against Flors Donner and his estate, the legal avenues proving successful, the hefty fees damaging the company beyond repair. Though he was required to turn over his ship to account for bankruptcy, he denied this, running off with his ship, daughter, wife, and trusted crew. Now he was at an impasse: having fought pirates for such a length, he had no desire to enter their ranks, let alone with a woman and child on board, but the Government had scorned him, so he was now technically an outlaw. As he struggled with his options, the answer came to his from the mouth of his wife, Isabel, who said something he'd never have considered with the safety of his wife and daughter to consider.
Flors Donner became a pirate. But with a wife and child he could not afford to take a bounty, so while he flew the black flag symbolizing freedom, he never pillaged or killed. No, he targeted those who'd plagued his business for years on end, aiming at pirates. Not at first, of course: while he was one of the strongest men he'd known, his crew tough and loyal, if small, and Isabel was getting better with a rifle for those worst case scenarios, he wasn't convinced they were safe. So Flors turned to the newspaper, following the paths of pirates, arriving like a bountiful wind in their ashy wake. He went from town to town to find those who had been left behind by the Marines, and relighting their fire, giving them purpose. And so the Inferno Pirates sailed to the day where the sight of their flag would strike fear in the hearts of pirates and hope in the heart of the common man.
As for the toddler on board, Claribel's childhood was spent among the sailors, learning their names and their stories, picking up some useful seafaring knowledge and skills to boot. After a while, that was: not because she was young when she was taught. When it came to combat she learned much quicker. But while the crew initially believe it to be a matter of interest, or talent, the truth would be learned later. Isabel had become stricken with grief upon learning of the death of her parents, news of which was relayed to Claribel. And yet, some hours later, Claribel was upset, not sure of why her mother was sad. After being told once more, she was satisfied, until the next morning, when Claribel was once more confused about her mother's mood. The young girl had known that her mother was sad, but she couldn't remember why.
After she'd forgotten the death of her grandparents yet again, Flors was getting concerned, and began to seek out some medical advice. Claribel had always been a bit absent minded, but this was a bit much. After some study, there was a hypothesis that seemed to fit what Flors knew of his daughter: Claribel had a memory disorder. She could only remember things that were interesting to her the first time. Otherwise, she would need to be told repeatedly. Even then, however, she still risked forgetting again after a while.
Claribel certainly didn't forget that. She even got a bit worried: what kind of things had she forgotten? If something became boring to her, would she forget about it one day? She couldn't just decide what was genuinely interesting to her or not either. After some thinking, she finally concluded that if she was going to have problems remembering things, then she should just get as many interesting memories as she could.
Through her teenage years, Claribel would finally start helping a bit more out on the ship, mostly aiding in the sailing until age fifteen, where her father allowed her to start fighting alongside the rest of the crew, where she showed that she did have a good deal of strength. But once the novelty of that wore off, she was starting to get bored: she'd been on the boat for her entire life, after all. She had to come up with something.
Then, almost two years later, opportunity knocked. After a battle with pirates, the crew looted a Devil Fruit, and Flors sent the quartermaster to work on getting a buyer. Claribel wasn't having any of that though. In the dead of night, she went to where the Fruit was kept and ate as much as she could stomach (less than half) before leaving the rest and leaving the boat in the middle of the night, only leaving a note explaining that she'd left. Chances are they were going to be pissed, but Claribel was happy. Not that she was now free: she always had been. But now all the adventures and stories she'd had with them were good memories, and would probably never become boring, so she'd never forget them. Now she had to contend with the day to day: figuring out how to get along alone while also working out the kinks of her tricky Fruit. But six months after striking out, three of them on the legendary Loguetown, she's starting to get a bit bored of her locale, wondering when she's going to get to start the interesting life she'd been looking for.... It can't start in a boring way, after all!
Abilities:
Echo Echo Fruit (Eko Eko no Mi)
A paramecia-type Devil Fruit that bestows Claribel with the ability to create echoes where there otherwise wouldn't have been any. The only requirement is that she must be near the origin of the noise within the last minute. Then, with her hands, she can manipulate the air to recreate the sound, one of her hands emitting pulses of faint white light as she does so. It doesn't need to be identical, however, as she can also manipulate where it goes, though some applications of her ability are unbeknownst to her: she can make a sound pass back and forth over a person, making them hear one thing several times, or she can redirect the whole wave at once onto a single point, creating a much louder resonance in a small area, attacking the eardrums. However, every time she makes a sound repeat, it steadily decreases in volume, like any echo. Deaf opponents or any with ear protection are more resistant to her abilities, as they can't hear her misdirection. It's worth noting that her control of sound is limited to the medium of gases. Liquids aren't workable (such as water, the bane of Fruit users) and solids more so, meaning she can't redirect or copy sounds she can feel from the ground or hear while underwater (though if the sound is loud enough it enters the air, however muffled, that's another story).
Rod Fu - Claribel is tough enough to hold her own, using a sturdy iron rod as a bludgeoning instrument.
Navigation - CLaribel's time at sea has made her into a reliable navigator as well as a talented cartographer. She is not only knowledgeable regarding weather and world events, but is also well capable of using tools such as maps, compasses and sea charts.
Techniques: Claribel doesn't yell out her technique names in the middle of battle, but that doesn't mean they can't be named!
Echo – Claribel takes a sound or phrase just emitted and repeats it. She can change the location it comes from as long as it's fairly close by. The volume is decreased slightly, however.
Echo Pop – A natural extension of her Echo. Claribel takes a sound, usually a very loud one like a gunshot or the bang of her rod hitting something hard (like a skull!), and repeats it numerous times in quick succession, usually right by someone's head. The result is a sudden burst of disorienting sound that often leaves the target venerable to further attack. It's tricky to pull off, since it requires more precision, so Claribel isn't capable of it yet!
Shoosh – Claribel redirects the voice of a person away from their intended target. If someone is trying to yell for help, then Claribel can redirect the sound so that it travels backwards, for instance. This doesn't affect the volume of the sound though, and she has trouble catching the further echoes. A yell in a narrow hallway will carry both ways no matter what she does, but someone yelling from a boat in the ocean to a nearby shore is out of luck if Claribel wants them to keep quiet.
A-pu-pup! Shoosh – A more precise version of the standard technique, Claribel 'grabs' a sound, effectively quieting it down, redirecting it in the same bubble, so to speak, without letting the sound bounce off another surface and echo naturally. Imagine a sound as a superball, bouncing madly, each bounce making the noise that reverberates and become audible. Were Claribel to grab that sound midair, redirecting it back and forth until it naturally petered out, she would create a silence from a sound, in effect. Like Echo Pop, this technique is beyond her current ability due to the focus and precision required.
Traits:
Improved Perception: She has an easier time hearing the echos and reverberations left by other things, and has better hearing for it. However, it's dependent on conditions: it a crowded street, there's so much noise it's hard to focus on any particular sound unless it stands out, but in silent room, she can probably hear the fast heartbeat of a hiding person. Aside from mere perception, she can't do much with it. Being able to tell if someone is lying or not based on their heartbeat would be to difficult even in ideal conditions for instance. Focus is also important: in the heat of battle, differentiating sounds is certainly trickier.
Inventory:
Iron Rod: Sturdy enough to trade blows and noisy on the right surfaces. It's straight, cylindrical, and a bit less than a meter long.
Tone Dials (TDs): Claribel almost always has a pair around her neck or over her ears.
@Zeroth You're character's pretty balanced. The only thing I can offer would be another ability. I guess you coul take the engineering or inventor one now?
@thespacephantom@ZobozunNot really sure what to give you guys. Based on what I have on you, you seem to not need any. Any suggestions?
@Player 2 You may add Enhanced Agility and Master of Anatomy as traits.
