[OOC] City of Gold OOC

[Luminous Beings]

Cruiser, I'm just gonna be brutally honest and express some concerns I have about your characters

1) Your character's powers have no weaknesses. Limitations are not weaknesses. For instance, "I cannot run for twenty hours straight". That is a limitation. "Every time I run, I develop hemophilia". That is a weakness. Your characters have limits to their powers, but given that they don't have flaws that are more vulnerable than a vanilla human it's hard to describe them as weakness. It seems like they can use their (rather strong) powers with zero consequences.

2) Where did Zac learn to become an expert in assassinations and knife fighting, neither of which are things you can really learn quickly or easily? I also have trouble believing, regardless of powers, that he managed to run a prison from the inside. Doesn't matter how good you are, you can't keep your guard up all the time, and gangs in prison generally tend to have some proficiency with killing other guys in prison. Beyond that, once they noticed this dude was involved with several gangs being straight up wiped out, and that he tattooed their signs on his body with each one, he'd probably get hauled in for something else/put in solitary.

3) I am generally leery of any sociopath character. I am not accusing you of doing so, but generally speaking, they tend to be an out for the RP'er to avoid developing character and to dodge personality weaknesses. I could roll with cold and harsh but sociopath, coupled with his unexplained proficiency at several different kinds of killing and his no-weaknesses power makes me leery. If I had to take down your character, how could I? Does he have any weak points? You yourself said

"He became feared throughout the institution for his seemingly uncounterable power,"

4) Not to be a dick, I really don't get his backstory. His uncle raised them to be good kids and then turned and rapes their mother? And then he stabs his uncle and burns his mother to death? I don't understand why he did this. Sociopaths don't do violent things for no reason. They don't feel remorse over them, but that's not the same as doing violent things for no reason. They're still aware of the consequences of their actions, they don't get off on killing like serial killers do. He seems more psychopathic than sociopathic...and if he'd do something with such brutal consequences as that without a second thought, I'm worried about what he's going to do in this RP. Will he murder one of my characters for no reason the first chance he gets?

5) Not to be a dick, again, but there is literally no way he could accomplish wiping himself from all known records like that. I also don't understand why he would do this. Again, sociopaths don't feel remorse but that doesn't mean they do super illegal stuff without a motive. Why does he go to all that effort, risk further incarceration (which, given that metahumans have existed for a considerable amount of time in this RP, I have trouble believing he could escape as effortlessly as he did, as guards would likely be aware of them and able to contain them) and death by doing all this. Killing people tends to piss MORE people off, and burning down a federal prison would probably piss the government off. No matter how good he is, the government has infinitely more manpower, resources, etc, and once they linked this long series of murders, arson, etc, to him, they'd have Marshals, anti-meta squads, cops, etc, hunting his ass at every turn. Disappearing would not be possible. And if he killed everyone that knew his name, why did he let that dude with connections to the Skulls live? Surely he doesn't care about one random guy that's a gang member at the time, given that he's wiped out all the other gang members in prison...?

Sorry if this comes off as rude or overly critical, I'm just somewhat concerned about this sort of character being in the RP.

[Dead Cruiser]

Maxx said
@Cruiser: Interesting sheets. It was a neat idea to make identical twins with identical powers. However, I'm not sure I quite understand your characters' powers. I mean, the way you described it to me before was like bullet time, where the character slows down his perception of time, not someone else's, which isn't OP because just because you can slow down time doesn't mean you can still dodge things. If he changes other people's perceptions of time, then I can't allow either of them because that's basically auto-dodge. The time erasure is okay with me so long as the target can still react during the time period (like they forget it afterwards, but if the character strikes at them with a sword, they can still parry).

1) They can put other people into, as you say, "bullet time," against their will, which is highly disorienting to someone that isn't used to it. Or they can speed up their perception of time, leaving them to move in seemingly slow-motion. Or they can speed or slow their mind but not their body, giving them a sort of semi-paralysis due to the disassociation. Hopefully that makes sense.

2) Targets still behave normally during "time erasure," as you said, but lose any memories of what occurred within it. Meaning if they saw a weapon and the thought of "I have to dodge" occurred within "time erasure," upon time resuming they would forget the need to dodge.

He Who Walks Behind said
Cruiser, I'm just gonna be brutally honest and express some concerns I have about your characters1) Your character's powers have no weaknesses. Limitations are not weaknesses. For instance, "I cannot run for twenty hours straight". That is a limitation. "Every time I run, I develop hemophilia". That is a weakness. Your characters have limits to their powers, but given that they don't have flaws that are more vulnerable than a vanilla human it's hard to describe them as weakness. It seems like they can use their (rather strong) powers with zero consequences.2) Where did Zac learn to become an expert in assassinations and knife fighting, neither of which are things you can really learn quickly or easily? I also have trouble believing, regardless of powers, that he managed to run a prison from the inside. Doesn't matter how good you are, you can't keep your guard up all the time, and gangs in prison generally tend to have some proficiency with killing other guys in prison. Beyond that, once they noticed this dude was involved with several gangs being straight up wiped out, and that he tattooed their signs on his body with each one, he'd probably get hauled in for something else/put in solitary.3) I am generally leery of any sociopath character. I am not accusing you of doing so, but generally speaking, they tend to be an out for the RP'er to avoid developing character and to dodge personality weaknesses. I could roll with cold and harsh but sociopath, coupled with his unexplained proficiency at several different kinds of killing and his no-weaknesses power makes me leery. If I had to take down your character, how could I? Does he have any weak points? You yourself said 4) Not to be a dick, I really don't get his backstory. His uncle raised them to be good kids and then turned and rapes their mother? And then he stabs his uncle and burns his mother to death? I don't understand why he did this. Sociopaths don't do violent things for no reason. They don't feel remorse over them, but that's not the same as doing violent things for no reason. They're still aware of the consequences of their actions, they don't get off on killing like serial killers do. He seems more psychopathic than sociopathic...and if he'd do something with such brutal consequences as that without a second thought, I'm worried about what he's going to do in this RP. Will he murder one of my characters for no reason the first chance he gets? 5) Not to be a dick, again, but there is literally no way he could accomplish wiping himself from all known records like that. I also don't understand why he would do this. Again, sociopaths don't feel remorse but that doesn't mean they do super illegal stuff without a motive. Why does he go to all that effort, risk further incarceration (which, given that metahumans have existed for a considerable amount of time in this RP, I have trouble believing he could escape as effortlessly as he did, as guards would likely be aware of them and able to contain them) and death by doing all this. Killing people tends to piss MORE people off, and burning down a federal prison would probably piss the government off. No matter how good he is, the government has infinitely more manpower, resources, etc, and once they linked this long series of murders, arson, etc, to him, they'd have Marshals, anti-meta squads, cops, etc, hunting his ass at every turn. Disappearing would not be possible. And if he killed everyone that knew his name, why did he let that dude with connections to the Skulls live? Surely he doesn't care about one random guy that's a gang member at the time, given that he's wiped out all the other gang members in prison...?Sorry if this comes off as rude or overly critical, I'm just somewhat concerned about this sort of character being in the RP.

1) Don't worry about offending me; I'd much rather clear up any issues or misunderstandings.

2) I have a hard time writing in arbitrary weaknesses to characters. Some come naturally, like water to a fire-based character, but characters with more abstract abilities such as these are difficult to write in weaknesses for. Do remember that they have standard metahuman weaknesses, including mounting fatigue as they use their powers, and a chance to kill themselves from over-use.

3) Zac ran with a gang before his turn in the joint, and was generally up to nasty business beforehand. Zac is an exceptionally scary person. Not only in his looks and personality, but his powers are terrifying in a psychological sense, which he knows how to exploit to his own advantage. People just end up dead when they cross him, and no one can really explain why. He's never seen killing anyone, and yet they know he's responsible for it. His powers are also very subtle, and so it would be very difficult to pin him as a metahuman. Given that he was in a "normal human" prison, the assumption would be that he is a normal, yet somehow ungodly lethal, human.

4) Zac's power takes more thought to counter than most others. It's a matter of strategy, rather than blasting a particular color of laser beam at him. The amount of thought countering him requires was more than the terrified guards and inmates of his institution could afford.

5) I'll put this bluntly. Zac is dangerous, violent, and criminally insane. The major themes with Al and Zac as characters are "Perception" and "Identity." Zac's perception of events could be completely warped and different from actual occurrences. Likewise with Al, who is also sort of deranged in his own way. The difference between a "sociopath" and a "psychopath" is kind of non-existent as they're both outdated terms for really the same thing, and neither are still used in modern medicine. Either way, Zac has strange thoughts and strange plans, often imperceptible to normal, well-adjusted folks like ourselves. I know this sounds like a cop-out, but I'm trying to represent an individual with a completely warped, inhuman mindset.

6) He's done the best he can. Considering both his birth and incarceration (really the only two events that would put him on the books) were done under shady circumstances in which several parties partook in a cover-up, deleting himself from the system was easier for him than for most people. Again, I refer to his imperceivable motives. Once more, his abilities are extremely subtle, and well-suited to not leaving behind evidence. Being able to remove oneself from causality helps with that. Staging deaths and arson as accidents are not very difficult for Zac. Not to mention that he is also highly skilled in manipulation, and likely convinced a number of other people to do his dirty work for him. Given his rapidly disappearing identity, this made him all the more difficult to track. Regarding the one particular Skull... well... sure he's alive right now, but...

[Dead Cruiser]

Whup, double postings.

[Jazzy]

Alright Cruiser, unfortunately I have to deny your characters.

'Bullet time' is when you alter your perception of time. If you're altering other's sense of time and speed, you are making them think everything's in slow motion, while in reality you're just walking out of the way. That is not bullet time, that is Auto-Dodge: The power, and unfortunately that cant fly. I wont even touch on the other subjects, I'll let Allen, Maxx, and HWWB handle that.

[Dead Cruiser]

Jazzy said
Alright Cruiser, unfortunately I have to deny your characters.'Bullet time' is when you alter your perception of time. If you're altering other's sense of time and speed, you are making them think everything's in , while in reality you're just walking out of the way. That is not bullet time, that is Auto-Dodge: The power, and unfortunately that cant fly. I wont even touch on the other subjects, I'll let Allen, Maxx, and HWWB handle that.

I genuinely have no idea what you mean by this. By slowing their perception of time, that's exactly what I'm doing. Bullet time for my characters would be no different from anyone else's. In that particular instance, time is moving normally for both characters, only the "targeted" character has their reaction time exaggerated. This would be the effect of accelerating their mental perception of time.

[Maxx]

@ comment 1: Not gonna fly here. Sorry Cruiser. I'm not having your character be able to paralyze people without any way to counter.

@ Comment 3 and 5: That doesn't satisfy me. Just saying he's scary and a psychopath doesn't give you an excuse for not giving him a personality weakness.

@ Comment 3: Two words; genetic testing. Everyone in the US government knows Zac is a meta because the moment he got incarcerated they stuck his ass with a needle and took a blood test. Now that doesn't mean that the gov't knows his power, per-say, but he couldn't pass off as just a very lethal human.

@ Comment 5: If he's so inhuman, then why is he human? I mean, I think every person, no matter how twisted, has some humanity to them. Zac does not.

I realize that I kinda sound dickish in these replies, and I'm sorry if I do. I don't want you to think that I don't like your or that I'm just an asshole. I don't have a problem with Alphonse, so long as you change that power so he can't paralyze people, but I don't feel comfortable having a psychopath supercriminal running around the city with a power that cannot be countered in traditional means. I mean, there's some strong characters in this rp; Skeleton is immune to physical damage, Matt can do literally anything, and Whisper is a ton more powerful than you all think (because I didn't reveal the exact parameters of her abilities) but all of these powers have very clear-cut weaknesses that can be used in a fight. Zac's power is undetectable, by the way you've stated it, and there's no way to counter it without knowing what he's doing, so unless someone is a telepath, they're boned.

EDIT: Yes, but if you slow down someone else's perception of time so that they cannot react fast enough, Cruiser, then they become basically useless. Zac and Alphonse can simply freeze other people in time and then do whatever they want. Bullet time is when you slow your own perception of time, like in the Matrix; Neo isn't super fast, but he sees everything as if he is. That's what I thought you meant by your power.

[Dead Cruiser]

Maxx said
@ comment 1: Not gonna fly here. Sorry Cruiser. I'm not having your character be able to paralyze people without any way to counter. @ Comment 3 and 5: That doesn't satisfy me. Just saying he's scary and a psychopath doesn't give you an excuse for not giving him a personality weakness. @ Comment 3: Two words; genetic testing. Everyone in the US government knows Zac is a meta because the moment he got incarcerated they stuck his ass with a needle and took a blood test. Now that doesn't mean that the gov't knows his power, per-say, but he couldn't pass off as just a very lethal human. @ Comment 5: If he's so inhuman, then why is he human? I mean, I think every person, no matter how twisted, has some humanity to them. Zac does not. I realize that I kinda sound dickish in these replies, and I'm sorry if I do. I don't want you to think that I don't like your or that I'm just an asshole. I don't have a problem with Alphonse, so long as you change that power so he can't paralyze people, but I don't feel comfortable having a psychopath supercriminal running around the city with a power that cannot be countered in traditional means. I mean, there's some strong characters in this rp; Skeleton is immune to physical damage, Matt can do literally anything, and Whisper is a ton more powerful than you all think (because I didn't reveal the exact parameters of her abilities) but all of these powers have very clear-cut weaknesses that can be used in a fight. Zac's power is undetectable, by the way you've stated it, and there's no way to counter it without knowing what he's doing, so unless someone is a telepath, they're boned.EDIT: Yes, but if you slow down someone else's perception of time so that they cannot react fast enough, Cruiser, then they become basically useless. Zac and Alphonse can simply freeze other people in time and then do whatever they want. Bullet time is when you slow your own perception of time, like in the Matrix; Neo isn't super fast, but he sees everything as if he is. That's what I thought you meant by your power.

1) Fair, though I'd like to keep the mental acceleration for a particular offensive technique. Senses do strange things when your mind moves far faster than your body.

2) His insanity is a major personality weakness. This would lead him to behave irrationally, which essentially his long identity-erasing campaign was an example of. I forgot to mention his overwhelming paranoia, but that and his sociopathy keep him from forming bonds or trusting anyone. I'd count that as a pretty large weakness.

3) Alrighty. We'll say then that the unknown nature of his power kept others in fear of him.

4) I'll PM you about this.

5) Zac's power is easily detectable if anyone is actually subjected to it. Time doesn't just "jump forward" normally. The issue arises that if the victim doesn't live to tell the tale, it was seemingly just a mundane murder.

6) Yes, that's it. They can just induce bullet-time in other people, literally the same effect, as an offensive technique. They would be used to such a distortion of time, while the other person would not. They would still be moving at a normal speed, just very disoriented as they perceive themselves and everything around them moving very slowly.

[Mixtape Ghost N]

Being insane/sociopathic isn't really a personality weakness if you think about it.

My two cents.

EDIT: I personally think you should either come up with a different power than time perception manipulation, or limit it to a personal level.

[Leonerdo]

It would be a badass power in comic book or story written by one person or maybe two or three people. But in roleplays, people sometimes strive to "win". We just try to avoid that by imposing certain restrictions on everyone. It's not that there's bias against or for people, we just can't take sides.

And if there's going to be a sociopath in the roleplay, I would want them to be played very well, otherwise it's a no go. It is a touchy subject and it can be hard to find the balance - you could accidentally venture into psychopath or generally aloof territory.

[Maxx]

Okay, I think we have enough people now to at least start the IC. Hopefully some more peeps will join after the IC begins.

[Maxx]

IC is up.

[McHaggis]

Posted Mal, just a little bit late 'cos this is the third damn overhaul of his power I've had to do before I was sorta okay with it.

Oh yeah, and they're a cold-case solving double act now. I have no idea why.

[TachyonBlade]

Yeah, that sheet is WIP. I'm actually unable to do much with the internet for a few days, due to me being taken for a road trip I don't want to go on.

[Mixtape Ghost N]

Made my first post. Sorry it's not too good, but I wasn't too inspired and I just wanted to get my characters in position. Anyone is free to talk to my characters - Provided they're apart of their respective factions. I'd like someone neutral to talk to Vanessa, but anyone can do it.

... Now it's a race to see who I get bored of first!

[Engel]

Posted a second character as well. I'll work on a post for Rabbit now.

[Mixtape Ghost N]

Engel said
Posted a second character as well. I'll work on a post for Rabbit now.

Umi could use some more weaknesses/whatever. Since you only covered her power replication, and she doesn't have too many at that.

[McHaggis]

So er, I just noticed half of the first OOC post is missing with all the settings and stuff in it?

[Maxx]

Oh fuck.

Okay, I have the OP saved somewhere. I'll go fix it. The Guild must've had an aneurism or something. I'll check that sheet out once I finish fixing this.

[Maxx]

@Tachyon: I cringe at the thought of accepting a character without a real power weakness, but I suppose Kane is okay because his power isn't that strong compared to the others. Accepted.

@Engel: I don't know how I feel about this one. I mean, in a roleplay with only one normal human character, power manipulation is extremely strong. I just feel like Umi will end up being, in allen's words, a "Super dooper badass that can solo both factions". As I mentioned before with Cruiser's character, the reason that the rp has gangs is to use teamwork to accomplish goals; I don't want any one character being able to fight solo against a large group and win. No character in the rp can do that thus far (one could make a case for Titus for this, but he has the common sense of a half-toasted bagel and because he's such a moron the chance of him winning a fight even against one person is close to zero). You can still make a case for her, but I suggest either nerfing the first power or just going with the replication. Also, if you do find out a way to nerf the first power, then I'd like you to cut the second one. Power manipulation is strong enough in any form that a backup power isn't necessary.

@All: Just a quick note. I'm fine with having neutral characters (if I wasn't I wouldn't have allowed it) but the gangs don't exactly have a lot of members in them atm. If you make a character and you can't decide whether to make them a part of a gang or neutral, I'd suggest gang.

[TachyonBlade]

Wait, wait, wait.
It's not actually done yet, which is why it doesn't have a weakness.
Or a history.