@Gowi Would you mind if I placed a WIP version of my CS here? I've got all the combat stuff down and that's...really what I'd like to make sure is okay before I start working on the wordier parts of the sheet. I can PM it to you too, if that's what you would prefer.
Fair warning. Feel free to post it in the OOC, but I will not review it until it is complete.
My only inquiries are with the powerset of the character. I thought it sounded rather balanced, but I'm not quite sure what you'd think of it.
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“Why the hell would you roll need on my Bloodletting Pike?! You're a mage, you idiot! I've been grinding this stupid raid for a month!”
O V E R V I E W
N A M E
Andrew Matthews Gray
A V A T A R
Graves T. Bludd
A G E
23
G E N D E R
Male
V I S A G E
Andrew is a lanky Caucasian male with light blue eyes and a stupid sideways grin. He’s almost always the tallest guy in the room, standing at six feet and four inches tall. It’s only natural his avatar be of the same verticality. Graves is a tank, so of course he’s built like a linebacker, whereas his creator is skinny enough that most his of real life friends know him as ‘Twig.’ The dichotomy was initially a little difficult to adjust to, but eventually his mind was able to comprehend having two separate body types. Both Gray and his character have long nearly silver hair that they tend to keep up in a ponytail. Keeping with the theme of ‘blood,’ Graves tends to favor crimsons, blacks and silvers. His armor is admittedly more for looks than practicality. It covers his shoulders, back, arms, legs and sides- but lacks a breastplate in any capacity. This is the case for two reason: One being that he wants his enemies to think he’s vulnerable there, and give the courage to get in range of his pike. Two being showing off his sick abs.
P E R S O N A L I T Y
Graves has been called any number of things for his less than stellar behavior: jerk, asshole, dick, bastard and jackass all being common substitutes for his name. He isn’t particularly malicious. He doesn’t wake up in the morning, wondering who he can screw over today. But Graves is selfish to his core. He cares only about himself. Every action he takes is to get ahead, others be damned. He’s abrasive, standoffish and horribly arrogant. His crude sense of humor tends to be bent toward insulting others and joking at their expense. He very smugly thinks he’s the greatest person ever, and that anyone who doesn’t see that is a moron. It’s easy to see why he doesn’t have many friends; mostly because he takes advantage of people, treats the badly and then dumps them off before they can get too close. Once upon a time, however, he was different. Graves used to be pleasant enough. He had a small but dedicated circle of friends that he would drop everything for. He was generally joyful and kind, and there was a lot less edge to his humor. Was Bludd perfect? No. But back then, in great contrast to the present, Graves wouldn’t hesitate to help someone else- even if he didn’t get much out of it. It’s speculated that Andrew is putting up a front; that he’s building up a toxic and unlikable character to push others away, to avoid getting burned again.
When Andrew can’t hide before a pike and a fake face, he’s a lot quieter. He hides his emotions from his coworkers and peers, keeping some of the choice words he might have to himself. He avoids conflict whenever possible, to such a degree that he’s willing to bend to views he doesn’t agree with just to avoid a confrontation. Gray is weak. He knows he’s weak. That’s why, when he plays Pariah, he likes to pretend he’s strong- it’s an escape from his sucky ass life and sucky ass 'friends'. He wishes he was tougher, but never makes any strives to actually become more confident and assertive. In game, he's pursuing that power fantasy- he hunts down the toughest of the tough and trains himself until he's strong enough to beat them. Then he moves on to the guy stronger than the last, repeating the process until, one day, he stands above everyone. He isn't anywhere near completing his goal. But, hey, he has nothing but a shitty part time job to do outside of play Pariah- he has plenty of time to dedicate to the game.
B A C K G R O U N D
Andrew was born in a little town in Ohio to two loving parents and eight siblings. He was unlucky enough to be one of the middle children, so it was no surprise when he was overshadowed by the rest of his family. He found that the best way to get any attention from them was to act out- so he was a bit of a devil when he was younger. He eventually grew out of it and accepted the fact that he was meant to be ignored and merely tolerated as a background figure. His town was small, and his high school even smaller- which meant finding friends and penetrating the normal clichés was quite difficult for someone that had gotten used to quietly observing. Gray wasn’t exactly an introvert. He could be loud, excitable and social- but he just…never got the chance to. He didn’t have many friends at all. That is, until he had scrounged up enough cash for his first MMO. He used his low grade laptop to play the game at its lowest settings; it was choppy, constantly lagged and rather ugly…but he loved it. He loved everything about the game. Gray retreated from his garbage normal life into the world of a generic role playing game. He ignored his tanking grades, few acquaintances and boisterous family to play for hours on end. He started off grinding on his own, as most do. But he chanced upon a party of likeminded individuals that needed a secondary tank. Andrew melded seamlessly into their company. They were all chill, cool guys and gals that were always willing to help Andrew learn the game. They continued to play together for months, the size of the group ever expanding as they built up a sizable guild of their own. Andrew became near addicted to raiding. Fighting bosses was the most visceral and exciting experience he’d ever had in a game. Eventually Andrew was (somehow) able to graduate high school and purchase a real computer. All was well for him. His family only occasionally harassed him for being a bum. He had a steady job at a backwater gas station, making minimum wage for very little work. He had made a decent circle of friends for himself within the guild. Life was simple; it was good.
But nothing ever stays good for very long. Rumors began to arise within the lower ranks of the guild that Gray’s circles of friends, the founders of their company, were cheating. Accusations ranged from merely using gold farming bots all the way to increasing their characters’ stats to impossible levels. Gray defended his friends religiously. There was no possible way they’d do something like that. His aggressive resistance to their false claims earned him a fairly bad reputation in a short time. The rumors continued to spread, to the point where other guilds were putting in tickets to the server admin to have their guild investigated. With the moderators getting involved, Grays’ friends found themselves backed into a corner- they had been breaking the rules, and would soon suffer the wrath of the ban hammer. A meeting was held, and a rash decision was made. They would find a single member to put the blame on, plant evidence that they were responsible, and then report them to the administrators. Andrew was chosen. It wasn’t out of personal distaste for the guy; most everyone liked him well enough. But he had already tarnished his own reputation among the lower guild members and lacked many close friends who could help him fight the claim. The next day, Gray logged on to a single message: he had been permanently banned from playing the game. Of course Andrew sent in a support ticket. He tried to fight the claim. However, he found no success- and was eventually forced to abandon his first and favorite MMO. He had been devastated. Things only got worse when someone leaked a log of the meeting to him where his so called ‘friends’ had decided to use him as the scapegoat for their actions. He brought the logs to the mods that had banned him; nothing came of it. He wasn’t trusted, and they had tossed his evidence aside as fake.
A T T R I B U T E S
R O L E
Tank
A F F I L A T I O N
Sikth
P R O F E S S I O N
Bounty Hunting: A video game is all about killing things for Andrew. It's what he enjoys most about Pariah. So what better profession than one that let's him kill things? Bounty Hunting covers a wide array of different targets over the entire game world. He's given a list of hunts to choose from that can range from simply kill twenty of X monster, to beat X raid boss in less than forty five minutes, to even going after other players. It's a profession that doesn't ever get boring or tedious and allows Gray to indulge his murderous tendencies on virtual mobs. Certain epic jobs are available for all hunters and can only be completed a certain number of times; making the bounty hunting profession extremely competitive for those looking to make the most from their job.
W E A P O N O F C H O I C E
Graves currently wields a weapon called the Bloodletting Pike. It's nearly as large as he is, and is designed to allow him to land as many hits on as many enemies as possible from various ranges. The weapon has a unique effect known as 'lifesteal' that allows the wielder to regeneration a percentage of their hit points based on how many hits they land on an enemy. It doesn't do incredible damage, but the healing it offers (so long as Graves continues attacking) is the main source of his 'tanking' abilities.
B E N C H M A R K S
Tough Skin: Graves is naturally more durable than other non-tank characters. He doesn't wear particularly heavy armor; however, his naturally high health pool allows him to take incredible amounts of damage for a character with relatively low defense gear. The trade of for this is he's weighs a hell of a lot more than other classes, and is thus slower and can be kited by ranged or agile enemies.
Vampiric Warrior: What makes Graves so unkillable is his ability to steal life from enemy combatants. Lifesteal is an onhit effect, so it only works if Graves lands a shot; the more damaging the blow, the more health he receives back, so critical strikes provide a critical heal. This skill stacks with the special effect from items like the Bloodletting Pike.
Blood In The Water: Much like a shark, Graves gets a sort of sixth 'sense' whenever a target is bleeding. It allows him to track them within twenty five meters (doubles if he was the one that made them bleed); it's less like echo location and more like a compass that points him in their general direction. It won't reveal the exact position of a hiding enemy, nor does it tell Graves if they are above or below him- simply where they would be on a two dimensional field.
Enhanced Strength: The weapons and armor used by a tank are heavy. Graves is required to have above average physical strength if he wants to use them effectively. This also means he's able to carry more (when not impeded by his regular gear) and hits slightly harder with unarmed attacks.
Executioner: Enemies very close to death's door take more damage from Graves' attacks, although he also heals less off of them and takes more damage from them- so he has to be careful with certain monster types or enemies with 'deathrattles.'
Monster Bestiary: Graves has studied the average field and dungeons mobs extensively. He has a fairly good grasp on what most common enemies are capable of, what their weaknesses are, ect. More rare beasts, especially those he isn't high enough level to be fighting anyway, wouldn't apply.
Boss Bestiary: Bludd is a raider at heart. He loves MMOs for the massive, titanic battles between huge parties and giant bosses. It's his favorite part of Pariah. Thus, he's invested quite a bit of time into learning some of the boss enemies in the game. The tougher, higher end leviathans that require teamwork, determination and raw power to defeat. Knowledge is power in these sort of encounters, and Bludd has made sure he knows about the general workings of the bosses he's likely to face.
Meditative Healing: Since Graves' combat stance is entirely based on healing, he figured he could use an out of combat healing ability too. Essentially, Graves can sit down and focus his magic on repairing his wounds. How long it takes depends on the severity of his injuries. The stance is extremely taxing, takes awhile to start and takes forever to finish if he's hurt- and it can't heal things like broken bones or eviscerated organs. He'll need a real healer for that.
Metalworking: Required field to get to Weapons' Repair. He uses this as a source of income, creating very basic items and selling them either on the market or to NPCs. He would much rather get money from killing mobs all day and pawning off legendary raid items, but sadly working the marketplace is the only real way to get a stable source of income.
Weapons' Repair: Graves likes his Pike. It's his favorite weapon. He isn't very good with much else, and doesn't have a backup for when it breaks. So, instead of constantly paying vendors and other players to fix it for him, he decided to spec into Weapons' Repair and do the damn thing himself.
R O U G H V I R T U A L H I S T O R Y
Graves is not a name known by many, simply because he keeps to himself for the most part. He has a rapidly growing reputation, however, among the more attentive members of the bounty hunting community. The profession is used by a large chunk of the player base; however, the group that keeps toward the top few hundred on the leaderboard are a highly competitive and inclusive class. So when some no name young blood starts snatching up important contracts and taking down a high level bosses and esteemed players, the smarter heads start to turn. He's an above average raider that joins public groups, dominates his enemies and takes what he needs before disappearing again. Andrew is above average at best. He's no professional, and lacks the experience or gear to take on the really big names. Yet. He's dedicated himself to becoming the absolute strongest hunter in the name; and he's going to do it by almost any means necessary. The only thing he's wary of is teaming up with other players. He's partied up a handful of times, but never long enough to get attached- he knows where that particular road leads. However, there are some obstacles which cannot be overcome alone. Some enemies cannot be defeated through sheer force of will and hours of scrolling through guides and wikis online. On occasion, Bludd has to team up with others- usually to do bosses or gank unsuspecting targets that he can't beat alone. His temporary help always gets a 'piece of the pie' so to speak; he makes sure they get something out of the effort, even if he's an asshole to them while doing so. Bludd received his primary weapon a few months ago in one of the hardest grind sessions of his life; it's priceless to him, and it fits his playstyle perfectly. He uses it consistently, and has yet to hear of any item that he'd rather have over it. He and that dumb ol' pike have been through a lot together. Why give it up for something unfamiliar? His current weapon is reliable. And if Gray needs anything, it's a little bit of reliability in his life.
Yeah Im gunna be a let down compared to that... Ill back out... Sorry
Hey, if you wanna participate in this but need some help- hit me up! I'm more than happy to lend a helping hand. Sometimes this stuff can be intimidating but it's really not.
I have been at work with my character but totally forgot to ask. Are there gods that classes who focus on them (like priests, clerics, paladins, etc) are able to follow or is there only one singular god? Or does it operate on a whole different system, with simply priests and clerics using magic specifically for healing and doesn't have gods? If you get the trend, I'm just curious about the status of religion in Pariah.
< Also, if there are gods, is magic from religious classes (priests, clerics, paladins) considered divine magic as the proper terminology or what would you call it?>
@Gowi o.o Oh, I do remember this. I...huh. I can't remember if I planned on joining. Or if I had any ideas. Also it's nearly five and I'm only up because I couldn't sleep after the performance this evening, so. -.- *waves sleepily and toddles ofF*
Yeah Im gunna be a let down compared to that... Ill back out... Sorry
Hey! Get back here! >.<
Listen, I wouldn't even be able to write that amount (you'll see when I put my character sheet up) and you should never measure yourself in the length of your writing. How about this - you make a character to the length you usually write to but try to make them as interesting as high hell so the length of the CS doesn't matter, what will matter is what they're like IC!
If you need some help, we can exchange ideas! I know this world a little more than the other guys so I might be able to help!
I have been at work with my character but totally forgot to ask. Are there gods that classes who focus on them (like priests, clerics, paladins, etc) are able to follow or is there only one singular god? Or does it operate on a whole different system, with simply priests and clerics using magic specifically for healing and doesn't have gods? If you get the trend, I'm just curious about the status of religion in Pariah.
< Also, if there are gods, is magic from religious classes (priests, clerics, paladins) considered divine magic as the proper terminology or what would you call it?>
For the sake of simplicity let’s say there aren’t gods but rather domains— this keeps it so there is still spirituality in the framework of the world but keeps it straight forward.
@Gowi Do I need a faction thing? My character would probably fall under "skith" but he is really just a loner that like being on his own out in the wilderness... So what can we do about that situation? (Yes I know I quit but I reallllllly love this idea and people asked for me to come back so here I am.)
Long Answer: There is a reason I have the section on the sheet— much like in Familia Myth, Grimgar, and other contemporary influences the system I’ve designed here has purpose. When the “player” becomes a resident of Pariah they joined one of the major Pathos to accommodate as a base of operations, research hall, and inventory storage. Any abstaining is thereby impossible and impractical as it is a fundamental framework of the game.
I've had a spur-of-the-moment idea involving music and dead people, so we'll see if that gets off the ground at all. First, though, I've gotta read all the info on page 1. (And walk the dog, and buy [and play] Watch_Dogs 2, and play more Civilization VI, and... =P)
I... am interested in this. Not a huge fan of SAO, and that's putting it lightly, but I enjoyed Log Horizon a lot (maybe even enough to go ahead and finish watching it some day), and I absolutely fucking adore Overlord, so this sounds like my cup of tea. I'll try to get something resembling a character sheet up in the next day or two.
EDIT: Question. How advanced is other technology in this future? Do they have space elevators, orbital cities or off-world colonies? What about asteroid mining and/or interplanetary commerce? Could PARIAH be played by someone living on Mars or in the belt?
