This better:

Have you ever wanted to join the Arena, but were put off by the perceived Ill-tempered, short fused, argumentative, and quite frankly bullish personalities said to roam those war torn lands? Well, we - the argumentative and Ill-tempered few - would like to invite newcomers to our messy home.

The Arena's very own premiere middle man is offering to host a bevy of new fighters, and has called in some of his chips to get them mentored by some of the best fighters of the Arena universe.

The tournament itself will be hosted in the legendary Lobby of the Liaison, where popular Arena tournament, the Way of the Warrior, is hosted. Consider this, the winner of the tournament will Automatically have a spot in the Way of the Warrior, meaning they'll be accepted without worrying for a spot.

The rules of the tournament are few, the mentors will help walk you through the rules we commonly use in the arena. The scale will be lower tier, minor powers to provide a diverse, yet easy to engage level of combat for those who may not have tried their hand before.

Other rules will be discussed forthwith.

Restrictions apply.

Much better.

@Rilla

You're able to make Arena thread stickies, right?

@Rilla

You're able to make Arena thread stickies, right?

I'm not sure if he even knows if he can or not.

<Snipped quote by Tasuke>

I'm not sure if he even knows if he can or not.

So true...

@Rilla@Vordak@Guru

Put me in charge of the locations in the tournament and no one will get hurt.

Looks like I can't.

Rilla only has the power to score ranked fights, that's all Mahz was willing to secede to him for fear of revolution.

May need to revisit the terms and conditions.

I wish my computer wasn't on the outs right now. Ugh.

Lobby of Liaison. ;)

It's not you booboo. I have a character named Liaison, lovely fellow.

Rilla only has the power to score ranked fights, that's all Mahz was willing to secede to him for fear of revolution.

All fear what may come of the Black Power Ranger.

I actually have a few questions for the Arena Regulars _tm. Some of these questions may seem a little weird, but do keep in mind that i'm a role player who prefers writing a good story over interesting fights, and I'm curious if the arena scene would interest me even on a casual level. First question being:

Is there a benefit to giving your characters flaws? Is there any reason to enter the arena with a character that is less than perfect?

As an example: if I'm making a character for a magical setting, chances are the characters are going to be getting into hand-to-hand combat, if only occasionally. I could make my character a cute, plucky witch...



...But is there any reason to not give the same magical powers to a more physically capable fellow like this?



Now I realize at higher "levels of play" your characters are essentially gods and details like your character's sex and how much armor they choose to wear is actually really inconsequential. but as you move further down the spectrum towards more realistic settings, your characters age, body shape, muscle mass, and dare I say even sex play a large factor in battle. Or at least it should. I'm curious as to how you guys handle this in a competitive setting.

Essentially it comes down to what you want to play. The arena is highly competitive but we do value having a good time. As well as weaving an interesting story. So while you may want to give it to a more physical character, is that the story you want to tell? We also, well I, frown upon loading up one character with all types of advantages. Fast, strong, durable, er flaws allow for a better story to be told.

How do you overcome them? How does the witch get around being fragile to combat someone who can take a few hits?

My characters tend to lean towards the faster side, less defensive, decent power output.

@BrokenPromise

To me, 'flaws' are just another way of balancing out a character, speaking in strictly competetive terms. Anything that weakens them just shifts them down in tier, which is neither a good or a bad thing, since you can find a willing opponent at almost any point of the power spectrum. As said above, it just depends on how you want to play. If you fancing having a particular trait in your character that happens to put them at a disadvantage, you can always slightly improve the other aspects of their combat potential and shift them back to where they would be without said trait; and vice versa.

As for your second question... well, duh. If it is relevant, then we will most certainly put it in the character sheet. Weight, height, fitness and bodytype are all common practice to include, as well as sometimes a psychological description and their fighting style of choice. There is this unspoken rule that if your character is an average joe, you don't need to go into great detail about them, save for the actual characteristics that differ from the norm; but i don't think anybody is going to turn down a request to add more information for clarity's sake.

As for me... I used to be pretty competitive. Brought out a side of me a didn't really care for. Nowadays, I don't really care how it ends up, as long as I tell a good story while doing it. Frankly my wins vs. Losses matter very little to me, but I still enjoy a good bout. I'm satisfied losing every fight as long as I walk away leaving an impression of a great story teller. Why do I fight then? Well, some of the best writing and stories I've told had been in the midst of battle. My most memorable have been in all out war. Something about the fight that just shows a characters true nature.

And flaws just emphasize that even more. Imo, they magnify their strengths.

Generally speaking in realistic or semi-realistic settings everything is a trade-off. You might be able to scrape your plucky witch character into feudal combat if she's poorly armoured or outmatched in direct melee, you wouldn't be able to scrape a fully armoured swordsman who also has magic into the same setting. You're covering too many bases, and it pops your character up into the next category of power as a result.

Taking magic out of the equation, going unarmoured is generally a bad idea, but it does have its advantages. Armour limits mobility, particularly vertical mobility, it reduces stamina, it could kill you in a small pond, and its usually noisy. An unarmoured character will generally be able to outrun an armoured one, all things being equal, and potentially outlast them. Also helmets generally make you look less cool, so there's that.

Thanks for the responses. I recently read the TB battle basics tutorial, so I do realize that breaking up the fights with story segments makes a fight easier to follow.

Essentially it comes down to what you want to play. The arena is highly competitive but we do value having a good time. As well as weaving an interesting story. So while you may want to give it to a more physical character, is that the story you want to tell? We also, well I, frown upon loading up one character with all types of advantages. Fast, strong, durable, er flaws allow for a better story to be told.

How do you overcome them? How does the witch get around being fragile to combat someone who can take a few hits?

My characters tend to lean towards the faster side, less defensive, decent power output.

It might be the story I want to tell, yes. But arena or not, this is a roleplay, and my partner's input matters to. Is it the story they want to tell? There is a competitive element to the fights in arena, which I assume is why people come here. It looks like there's a contest going on with a cash prize. That's definitely going to facilitate a "play to win" mentality. It will be interesting to see how that plays out.

@Vordak@Guru@MelonHead

This talk about tier play, levels, and balance brings me to my next question: What are the tiers of play and how are they balanced? Or is it more done on a fight-by-fight basis where the combatants all need to be tweaked to complement each other?