BrokenPromise

Kurai Majokko

@TheWendil Sounds like both options function more or less the same on a magical girl, but on Miseria, vitality drain is effective but risks making other Miseria stronger. I think I'll go with that, since the idea was to have Suki get beat up more anyway.

Once I get home, I'll make the edits and move her over to the character tab. Thanks for being patient with me.

Kurai Majokko

@TheWendil You answered all my questions and I should be able to move her over after making some edits, but I'm wondering if going the vitality/stamina route might be better. Would that be any more effective on Miseria? Less effective on magical girls? This should be my last round of questions.

As for teaming up, I think I'd like to see how things play out ICly before I make any calls. Especially if more people are joining. I do have a few preferences, but it seems silly to say "These two would be a good team!" When I don't even know how they act yet. So Suki's keeping her prospects open. Big surprise.

Kurai Majokko

Yeah that's fine. I doubt she'd be able to kill or harm a Miseria in that way but the option is there for her.

@TheWendil

Her geas? Yea, that's strictly to make her attacks harder to avoid and was never intended to cause harm.

Just so we're on the same page, by vitality do you mean someone's life force or literally just their vitality?

@TheWendil

Yes.

I more think about how my character works in terms of mechanics, and Vitality and life force have been used interchangeably for so long I've forgotten the difference between the two. I was thinking that the target of her kisses take some of their "Hit points" and then said hit points are used to close her wounds. If you have a suggestion that most closely matches that, I'll use it when making edits.

If you wouldn't mind me asking, what is the difference between the two?

Kurai Majokko

@TheWendil I edited her magic/weapon combo way too many times, and I may have over simplified it in the final version.

So I wrote this:

She also has vitality sapping kisses, and kissing someone on the lips or neck greatly accelerates the geas, provided they have those features.

Her kisses sap vitality. Additionally, kissing a "sweet spot" greatly accelerates the geas, which is sustained just by touching her target.

My original idea was that Suki was going to have a close range/grappler sort of fighting style. She can fight in close weapon range with her blood magic, but that's just to weaken targets enough for her to close the distance and use her more potent abilities. Not every fight is going to play out that way, but I'd like it to be an option.

Given how close Suki has to be to a target to harm it, I figured that she'd be getting beaten up a lot. It's not especially important to me that Suki can recover gobs of HP from her kisses, but I thought it was a nice way to handwave Suki getting beat up like a loony toon character during certain encounters. But I'm up for hearing your thoughts and concerns regarding that.

Kurai Majokko

@CamiCat Seems to me that if the Miseria are just "amalgamations of pure negative emotions," magic that is designed to play on negative emotions should have some sort of effect on them. I'm not saying that they have to go heart eyes for Suki, but maybe it can inhibit them in some other way, sort of like brief muscle paralysis? Can the vitality sapping kisses be allowed to work? I just like the idea of Suki being so out of her mind that she might try to snuggle up to a Miseria.

Kurai Majokko

Oros the Joyful

• Appearance:

Mundane

Former

Corrupt

• Name: Oyama, Suki “Trixy”

• Title: Oros the Joyful, formerly Nurse Joy

• Age: That age where kissing any of the other characters isn’t considered gross.

• Emblem: A gothic heart tattoo located just a few inches under her belly button, right over her intestines.

• Devil Arm: Formerly, Suki’s sweet arm was a set of heart shaped IV bags that she could control with her mind. Now she wears a bleeding hair pin. Her hands, legs, and dress are always soaked in blood, effectively making them magical weapons. She rarely fights with her pin directly, but can form the blood into other things like claws, blades, and tendrils. Effective range is just a bit longer than the length of her arms, while her tendrils can reach a meter or so further. The more wounded she is, the more numerous her attacks become.

• Magic: When Suki was a pure magical girl, her magic was based around love. Now it’s based around lust. Instead of enabling her allies as a nurse, she disables her enemies as a vampire or succubus. Though most just take to calling her a blood witch.

Anything she touches is slowly overcome by a “geas” that makes them charmed by her presence. The geas can be resisted for a time, but if Suki holds on long enough, even the most resilient miseria or magical girl will fall to her charms. She also has vitality sapping kisses, and kissing someone on the lips or neck greatly accelerates the geas, provided they have those features. Once she lets go of someone, the geas fades and her charms slowly wear off.

• Background: Some girls should have never been magical to begin with.

Suki was not born into a stable family. Her father was a detective that was never home. When he was around, her parents used that time to argue with one another. It was no secret that her father wasn’t faithful, but they stayed together. Mr. Oyama didn’t want to split his assets with his wife, and Mrs Oyama couldn’t support herself without his lucrative job. This made Suki an undesirable symbol of their unhappy union. Her mother did the bare minimum she needed to keep Suki alive, and otherwise let her fend for herself. This made Suki a very needy girl.

Her parents failed to provide her with any self worth, so she tried to find validation in others. Her desperate behavior was a red flag to most, except to those that weren’t above using her. She fell in with the wrong crowd and became a delinquent. Her parents would scold her, but at least she was getting their attention. She would dye her hair, get piercings, and get into whatever trouble she could. She smoked her first cigarette when she was 11 and had her first beer when she was 13. But the other delinquents didn’t stick around forever. Most of them wised up and started taking school seriously, leaving Suki alone again. She still liked the negative attention she was getting from her parents, and pressed on alone.

Suki would get a reprieve from her mystery when she was greeted by a mascot. Naturally, she wished to be loved. The mascot already had a few magical girls under its wing, and they treated her with respect. What followed were the best years of her life. She was part of a team and was making a change for good. She saved people, even her friends sometimes. They helped her break her alcohol and nicotine addiction. They played arcade games and had sleepovers in place of causing property damage and petty theft.

But Suki wasn’t going to be a girl forever. She was turning into a woman, and her emotional needs were evolving. It wasn’t enough to be loved by a group of friends. They all had boyfriends (or girlfriends) and Suki didn’t want to be left out. She wanted to feel romantic love. The kind of love Suki had never known. She had seen how cruel the real world could be, and knew she had to pick someone from her group.

Suki set her eyes on Lada. She was a foreign transfer student, and a relatively new addition to their group of magical girls. She was kind, confident, and easy on the eyes. A real foreign beauty. When everyone talked about relationships, Lada was silent. Suki talked to the other magical girls and they were all pretty sure she was still available. Suki set out to have Lada join her on a surprise date. She was going to take Lada to a concert and then return to their hangout to ask about their relationship. She spent months saving her money for those tickets. Her other fellow magical girls were in on it, but she insisted on getting the money for the tickets herself.

Lada was surprised that Suki wanted to go to the concert, but it wasn’t hard to convince her to come along. They had a great time, and it seemed like it was all going well. But when Suki asked Lada about being her girlfriend, Lada laughed. She swiftly apologized, then informed Suki she wasn’t into girls. That was devastating on its own, but what was worse was that this all happened in front of her friends, who were hiding around the hangout. Once Lada left for the night, they all came out to cheer her up. But as kind as their words were, they couldn’t cease their snickering. She was just a joke to them.

They had never really been friends..

The following day she relapsed into her old habits as she let her despair fester. It only took a day for her dark emotions to corrupt her, and Nurse Joy became a blood witch: someone that didn’t need to receive love. She could make people love her. With Suki’s new powers, she immediately conspired to get that kiss Lada had denied her. It didn’t take a lot of stalking to find out where she was and jump her. Suki wasn’t good at stealth though, and the ensuing fight was messy. But in the end, Suki got what she wanted.

It didn’t take long for her friends to find out what happened. Suki fled to Hibusa Town where she suspected she would never be discovered, and joined the delinquent club after trying to seduce one of their members.

• Sample Post:

First kiss

It felt like everything that happened in Suki’s life led up to this moment.

Lada’s room was a mess, but that was bound to happen when two magical girls fought in a small space. The bed had been overturned, the closet doors laid on the floor, and Lada’s dressers were reduced to wood and fabric, scattered to the four winds. In the center of the room sat the victor with their prize.

Lada’s sword had cut Suki deep. The wound ran from the center of her chest down to her right hip. It was a grievous wound, and she wouldn’t had survived it if she wasn’t a magical girl. Lada, comparatively, had no wounds to speak of. But Suki didn’t need to wound her prey to win a fight. She was sitting on Lada’s stomach, with a pair of tendrils reaching out of her wound to pin the girl’s arms over her head. Lada could kick her legs, twist her arms, but she wasn’t getting free. Suki’s hands closed around her face.

”That was a nice fight!” Suki’s voice was sickeningly sweet, but her body lacked any kind of malice. She used her thumbs to follow the curvature of Lada’s cheek bones, then the bridge of her nose. She dragged her index finger down the center of her face, riding over her lips. ”Such beautiful contours, just like the wound you gave me!”

”Don’t.” Was all Lada could manage. Her breathing was becoming ragged. The geas was taking its toll on her mind, but she resisted. That wouldn’t last for long.

”Oh Lada! I couldn’t bring myself to hurt something so pretty! But we’re wasting time, and the anticipation is killing us.” Suki giggled. ”I know your first time is a little scary, but it’s my first time too! So just relax and let it happen.”

Suki closed her eyes and closed the breach between their faces. Lada’s eyes went wide, but if she could have escaped she would have done so already. She opened her mouth to make one last plea, but Suki plunged her tongue inside. Her eyes dilated and her back arched, only for Lada’s eyes to flutter shut. Her entire body relaxed as Suki probed every inch of her mouth. The tendrils released her arms, and she wrapped them around Suki.

Suki pulled her head back with a gasp. ”Oh sweetheart, that was magical!” She wiggled on top of Lada’s stomach. ”Your skin makes me want to cry! You glow like a goddess! You taste like a strawberry! Well, maybe a little more subdued than a strawberry, but-” Suki kissed Lada’s cheek. ”See? You shouldn’t have said no! We could have been having all this fun yesterday!”

”I-” Suki wouldn’t stop laying kisses along Lada’s neck and shoulder. ”I’m sorry, I didn’t, know it, would feel like, this.” Her eyes were half closed. ”But, I’m glad, you-”

Suki placed her finger over Lada’s lips. ”I forgive you. The important part is you came around!” Suki leaned in to give Lada one more kiss, only to notice she fell unconscious in her arms. ”What? We didn’t even get to the spicy part yet!”

But their alone time would be interrupted. The other five members of Suki’s magical girl team piled into the room. They already had their weapons drawn and were ready to fight.

Suki shrugged. ”Yea, she decided to take a nap. I think-”

Penny, the leader of the unit, closed the distance with a swift punch. Powerful enough on its own, more so when you considered the cyborg girl’s fist was powered by its own afterburner. Suki careened into the adjacent wall, and Penny caught Lada in her arms.

”She’s secure!”

Suki didn’t even have time to stand back up before the other four girls stood in front of them. She placed her hand on the window sill to stabilize herself. ”Good evening!”

Penny stepped between the other magical girls and looked at Suki. ”You’ve got ten seconds to tell us what you did to her.”

”Well.” Suki struggled to stand upright. ”I kissed her? A lot? But it kind of tuckered her out? I’m a little new to these powers, so I might have gone overboard. I think she’ll be fine with some rest!” The newly arrived wouldn't notice it, but Suki's wound from earlier had completely healed.

”Not what I meant, but I’m glad that’s the case.” Penny raised her fist and leveled it with Suki’s head. ”Answer this next question very carefully. Were you involved with Nurse Joy’s disappearance?”

Suki tapped her chin. ”Only that we’re the same person.”

Penny’s body tensed up as her allies gave each other confused glances. ”You’re her? Prove it!”

”Let’s see…” Suki looked over her former team. ”Lily’s favorite animal is a wolf, and she still sleeps with stuffed animals. Her boyfriend Alexander got her a plush wolf about a month ago and she wouldn’t shut up about it. Maura likes flowers, but is too shy to tell anyone because she thinks it will ruin her tough girl persona. Samantha wet the bed about a week ago, but she swore me to secrecy. Sorry girl, you understand right? Then there’s-”

”Why?” Penny’s fist was shaking. ”Why did you do this to yourself?”

”I did this?” The corners of Suki’s lips twitched. ”The only reason why I signed up to this outfit was so that I could be around people who loved me. Come on, Penny! You were my friends! I healed you, I helped you out, we did so much stuff together! don’t expect you to get it. Everyone loves you, but me? I can’t get my parents to look at me unless I do something bad. I took Lada to see a concert and the first thing she does is blow me off when we get back. You all laughed at me. A-and I get it, it was sort of funny!” She sniffed, but shed no tears. ”But you’re no different than my parents. You ignore everything I tried to do for you, but the screw ups? The mistakes? the bad behavior? Ohhhh, that’s gotta get corrected right quick! No one’s gunna make you look bad!”

Penny pursed her lips. ”I see.” She closed her eyes. ”Nurse Joy is dead.” When her eyes opened, they were glowing neon blue, and every afterburner on her body fired up. ”The least I can do is avenge her.”

”Oh, uh...” Suki touched the tips of her fingers together. ”Can I have a do over or-”

The speed in which Penny moved could be compared to teleportation. Her metal frame slammed into Suki with enough force to launch her out the window. The shattered glass haloed the blood witch’s form as she was thrown into the darkness. They never found her body, but she was never seen in town again.

• Other: I’m not sorry.

The Secret Lives Of Schoolteachers - A Magical Girl Mix-up RP

Amber Bianchi

The Mundane

Name: Bianchi, Amber

Age: 44

Regular Appearance:

Amber wants a drink

Like any proper Italian, Amber has a fantastic dress sense. Unlike a proper Italian, the way she dresses just barely conforms to school guidelines. She’ll wear a sweater with a low neckline, only to wear a tank underneath to hide her cleavage (as to not “spill” while bowing towards students.) Sometimes she dips more into business casual than formal, and how good her hair is depends on what time of day you check in on her. She looks pretty good in the morning, with her hair becoming all bent and frizzled by the evening.

Subject: Home Economics

Personality: Amber is gruff. She is no student’s favorite teacher as she lacks the bubbly, jovial nature most of the Japanese teachers have. She takes her class seriously and expects her students to do the same. That’s not to say that her classes aren’t well taught. They are made to be as engaging as possible. But Amber knows none of the children will remember her a year from now, and she probably won’t remember them either. She’s just here to give them the skills they need to survive out in the world.

Japanese people tend to view westerners as a little rowdy, and that’s not incorrect for Amber. She’s very hard on delinquents and bullies, and god help you if the student you just gave a wedgie to informs Amber about it. Best case scenario she yells at you. Worst case scenario she does nothing, only to show up at your home while you’re eating dinner to tell your parents how shameful your behavior is. She used to take things a bit further in the past, but no longer does as it gets her in trouble with the principle.

Amber doesn’t go out of her way to get to know the other teachers very well. She’ll greet them in the morning and show up to meetings, but is content to stay out of their lives. She’s a busy body that always has somewhere to be and can only allow so much time on any given interaction. Most who know her regard her as a hard worker that could stand to be a little more polite.

Bio: Amber was born in Italy, but her parents moved to the states while she was quite young. Mr Bianchi was quite the engineer and specialized in the kind of plastic manufacturing plants that were being built in Texas at the time. He did a lot of traveling, but his lucrative job easily supported his family. So well that Mrs Bianchi could spend her days raising their children. They never entered public school as Mrs Bianchi wanted to teach them all herself. She got a hold of all the textbooks and all of her children did very well. The only issue with homeschooling was that none of them had a high school diploma to show their efforts. Once they were of age, they needed to find entry level jobs to get experience and support themselves. College was getting expensive, and Mr Bianchi couldn’t put all three of his children through college. Amber begrudgingly took on a job working retail at a bargain clothes outlet.

That was where she encountered Jomei, her future husband. The boy had taken a shining to Amber, and it wasn’t hard to see why. She was a blond bombshell with a chipper personality. Jomei was a mysterious foreign stud who could speak English better than some of the locals. He was brash and unashamed. The second time he met Amber he asked her out on a date. When she said she was working, he proceeded to stick around the store, occasionally buying things to appear as a normal customer. He even got some Chinese takeout that they ate together during her lunch hour. He was rebellious, and she felt liberated being around him. But he was only in America because of his student visa, and planned to return to Japan someday soon. Amber could keep on working this dead end job, or she could go on an adventure with Jomei. Visit strange new lands, experience cultures, all with a boy that loved her. Amber was 18 when she moved to Japan, and got married in the same year. She gave birth to her first child not even a year later. She was so happy she decided to get out of America.

But it wasn’t meant to last.

Jomei grossly overestimated his ability to sustain a family, and it wasn’t like Amber could bring in the cash as a retail worker. The financial pressure put a lot of strain on their relationship, but Amber refused to get a divorce. Unfortunately for her, it’s not difficult for a Japanese native to file for divorce without their foreign spouse’s consent. She lost custody of her two boys, had no place to live, and had no way to support herself. She was only allowed to live and work in japan because she was married to Jomei. She did not know if she was going to have enough money to buy a flight out of Japan, let alone pay child support. But Amber was too proud to return to her family for help, and too stubborn to let herself get kicked out of Japan.

As it turned out, all of those skills her mother had taught her so long ago made her perfectly suitable for teaching Home Economics and doing odd jobs. Not only that, but there were a lot of things she didn’t have to pay people for because she could do them herself. She was even able to get her marriage visa turned into a work visa so that she could do all of this legally. But it was a lot of work, and she didn’t have much time for leisure or relationships. After a few decades, the bubbly young girl turned into a bitter middle-aged woman. Her dreams of going on an adventure or finding love died with the young woman she used to be.

Other:

• Amber is distrustful of most Japanese natives, but reveres the principle. They helped her out when she was at her weakest.
• Some of her odd jobs involve patching clothes, working in soup kitchens, and running street stalls.
• Amber hasn’t spoken with her family since she was 18.
• Likes having her nose booped, but will still retaliate to keep up appearances.
• She might be romanceable, but I discourage it.

The Magical

Transformed Appearance:

Amber thirsts for adventure!

Her magical form makes her appear a bit younger. Only a bit.

Weapon: Masterwork Great-Bag-of-Infinite-Holding +5 - A giant, durable backpack that’s larger than the tiny adventurer carrying it. It’s heavy and durable enough that it can be used to block attacks. It also comes with various cooking instruments that can double as more practical weapons such as a ladle, frying pan, a mixing spoon, and several small utensils. But Amber’s favorite weapon to use is the pantaku, which is a pair of frying pans bound together with a chain. She can only use it properly when she isn’t wearing her backpack. Alternatively, she can use some vegetables as ranged weapons, like carrots and turnips.

Magic:

• Hammerspace - Amber can reach into her bag of holding and draw any mundane item she can think of. The only limit is that it has to be something she’s come in contact with at least once and can’t be larger than her bag.
• Mend - Amber’s magic sewing bag lets her use her sewing needle and thread to fix anything. That includes non-cloth items like steel and glass.
• Alchemic Genius - Amber can quickly brew potions of Strength, Speed, and Durability. But a recipient of a potion may only be under the effect of a single buff at any one time. She can also brew more harmful things such as potions of alchemic fire, poison, and fog. Her star ladle can be used to lob these potions great distances.
• Adventure Financing - Amber can pull golden coins out of her bag of holding and throw them. Minions of the shroud seem to be attracted to them, and are more likely to attack magical girls that are holding them.

Other: Amber goes by the title “Oros the Shrewd” when she’s in her magical girl form, and tends to be far more optimistic. Like a brave adventurer facing the dangers of a dungeon. Her magical girl form looks unusual because she brewed a “potion of lemur” when she first awakened her powers. The potion gave her a youthful appearance, but some unusual animal traits. Her nose can also be safely booped in this form.

The Secret Lives Of Schoolteachers - A Magical Girl Mix-up RP

Amber Bianchi

The Mundane

Name: Bianchi, Amber

Age: 44

Regular Appearance:

Amber wants a drink

Like any proper Italian, Amber has a fantastic dress sense. Unlike a proper Italian, the way she dresses just barely conforms to school guidelines. She’ll wear a sweater with a low neckline, only to wear a tank underneath to hide her cleavage (as to not “spill” while bowing towards students.) Sometimes she dips more into business casual than formal, and how good her hair is depends on what time of day you check in on her. She looks pretty good in the morning, with her hair becoming all bent and frizzled by the evening.

Subject: Home Economics

Personality: Amber is gruff. She is no student’s favorite teacher as she lacks the bubbly, jovial nature most of the Japanese teachers have. She takes her class seriously and expects her students to do the same. That’s not to say that her classes aren’t well taught. They are made to be as engaging as possible. But Amber knows none of the children will remember her a year from now, and she probably won’t remember them either. She’s just here to give them the skills they need to survive out in the world.

Japanese people tend to view westerners as a little rowdy, and that’s not incorrect for Amber. She’s very hard on delinquents and bullies, and god help you if the student you just gave a wedgie to informs Amber about it. Best case scenario she yells at you. Worst case scenario she does nothing, only to show up at your home while you’re eating dinner to tell your parents how shameful your behavior is. She used to take things a bit further in the past, but no longer does as it gets her in trouble with the principle.

Amber doesn’t go out of her way to get to know the other teachers very well. She’ll greet them in the morning and show up to meetings, but is content to stay out of their lives. She’s a busy body that always has somewhere to be and can only allow so much time on any given interaction. Most who know her regard her as a hard worker that could stand to be a little more polite.

Bio: Amber was born in Italy, but her parents moved to the states while she was quite young. Mr Bianchi was quite the engineer and specialized in the kind of plastic manufacturing plants that were being built in Texas at the time. He did a lot of traveling, but his lucrative job easily supported his family. So well that Mrs Bianchi could spend her days raising their children. They never entered public school as Mrs Bianchi wanted to teach them all herself. She got a hold of all the textbooks and all of her children did very well. The only issue with homeschooling was that none of them had a high school diploma to show their efforts. Once they were of age, they needed to find entry level jobs to get experience and support themselves. College was getting expensive, and Mr Bianchi couldn’t put all three of his children through college. Amber begrudgingly took on a job working retail at a bargain clothes outlet.

That was where she encountered Jomei, her future husband. The boy had taken a shining to Amber, and it wasn’t hard to see why. She was a blond bombshell with a chipper personality. Jomei was a mysterious foreign stud who could speak English better than some of the locals. He was brash and unashamed. The second time he met Amber he asked her out on a date. When she said she was working, he proceeded to stick around the store, occasionally buying things to appear as a normal customer. He even got some Chinese takeout that they ate together during her lunch hour. He was rebellious, and she felt liberated being around him. But he was only in America because of his student visa, and planned to return to Japan someday soon. Amber could keep on working this dead end job, or she could go on an adventure with Jomei. Visit strange new lands, experience cultures, all with a boy that loved her. Amber was 18 when she moved to Japan, and got married in the same year. She gave birth to her first child not even a year later. She was so happy she decided to get out of America.

But it wasn’t meant to last.

Jomei grossly overestimated his ability to sustain a family, and it wasn’t like Amber could bring in the cash as a retail worker. The financial pressure put a lot of strain on their relationship, but Amber refused to get a divorce. Unfortunately for her, it’s not difficult for a Japanese native to file for divorce without their foreign spouse’s consent. She lost custody of her two boys, had no place to live, and had no way to support herself. She was only allowed to live and work in japan because she was married to Jomei. She did not know if she was going to have enough money to buy a flight out of Japan, let alone pay child support. But Amber was too proud to return to her family for help, and too stubborn to let herself get kicked out of Japan.

As it turned out, all of those skills her mother had taught her so long ago made her perfectly suitable for teaching Home Economics and doing odd jobs. Not only that, but there were a lot of things she didn’t have to pay people for because she could do them herself. She was even able to get her marriage visa turned into a work visa so that she could do all of this legally. But it was a lot of work, and she didn’t have much time for leisure or relationships. After a few decades, the bubbly young girl turned into a bitter middle-aged woman. Her dreams of going on an adventure or finding love died with the young woman she used to be.

Other:

• Amber is distrustful of most Japanese natives, but reveres the principle. They helped her out when she was at her weakest.
• Some of her odd jobs involve patching clothes, working in soup kitchens, and running street stalls.
• Amber hasn’t spoken with her family since she was 18.
• Likes having her nose booped, but will still retaliate to keep up appearances.
• She might be romanceable, but I discourage it.

The Magical

Transformed Appearance:

Amber thirsts for adventure!

Her magical form makes her appear a bit younger. Only a bit.

Weapon: Masterwork Great-Bag-of-Infinite-Holding +5 - A giant, durable backpack that’s larger than the tiny adventurer carrying it. It’s heavy and durable enough that it can be used to block attacks. It also comes with various cooking instruments that can double as more practical weapons such as a ladle, frying pan, a mixing spoon, and several small utensils. But Amber’s favorite weapon to use is the pantaku, which is a pair of frying pans bound together with a chain. She can only use it properly when she isn’t wearing her backpack. Alternatively, she can use some vegetables as ranged weapons, like carrots and turnips.

Magic:

• Hammerspace - Amber can reach into her bag of holding and draw any mundane item she can think of. The only limit is that it has to be something she’s come in contact with at least once and can’t be larger than her bag.
• Mend - Amber’s magic sewing bag lets her use her sewing needle and thread to fix anything. That includes non-cloth items like steel and glass.
• Alchemic Genius - Amber can quickly brew potions of Strength, Speed, and Durability. But a recipient of a potion may only be under the effect of a single buff at any one time. She can also brew more harmful things such as potions of alchemic fire, poison, and fog. Her star ladle can be used to lob these potions great distances.
• Adventure Financing - Amber can pull golden coins out of her bag of holding and throw them. Minions of the shroud seem to be attracted to them, and are more likely to attack magical girls that are holding them.

Other: Amber goes by the title “Oros the Shrewd” when she’s in her magical girl form, and tends to be far more optimistic. Like a brave adventurer facing the dangers of a dungeon. Her magical girl form looks unusual because she brewed a “potion of lemur” when she first awakened her powers. The potion gave her a youthful appearance, but some unusual animal traits. Her nose can also be safely booped in this form.

STORYCRAFT: For Roleplayers

Round VS Flat, Static VS Dynamic: Is a Character Arc Always Necessary?

Something we’re told constantly when we set out to make a good character is to have a character arc. Give your character a journey where they mature and grow into the best version of themselves, or in some cases, the worst version. That has more or less been how main characters have been written since time eternal. Naturally, we try to mimic this in role playing so that our characters can be just as strong as their story counterparts.

If you’ve ever tried this, you know it’s much harder in practice.

What can end up happening is that the RP takes an unexpected turn. Maybe something happens that makes your original idea impossible, or a player drops and their character is retired. It can create a lot of extra work.Even if things go well, you’re still need to decide how this thing is going to unfold. You don’t want to drag things on only for the interesting stuff to happen at the end of the RP, but if you resolve things too quickly, your character will have completed their arc with no room to grow moving forward. Because a character stops being interesting once their arc ends, right?

Not necessarily.

When writing stories, any given character can be defined with a number of attributes based on their personality and arc. There are subtle differences between each, and some mistakenly use them interchangeably. In fact I did so in the last article before re-writing it! These attributes are:

Flat: Character that has a simple personality and is easy to understand. They fill archetypes perfectly and can rarely surprise a reader.

Round: A more complex character that cannot be immediately understood. They often have conflicting ideas and a reader will have to be observant to understand how they tick.

Static: Characters like this do not change as the story goes on. They will always be as they are.

Dynamic: A character with the capacity to grow and change as the story progresses. Their personality can be altered by the events of the story.

Flat and round refers to a character’s personality, while static and dynamic refers to their growth/arc.

The temptation is to say characters with complex traits (round/dynamic) are better than those with simple (flat/static) ones, but this isn’t always the case. The sad truth is that not every character is going to get the same amount of time to shine. A protagonist will likely be featured in many chapters, if not all of them. Other characters won’t get this level of exposure. Good writers know this, and make most side characters flat. Because they have no complex motives, you don’t need to see a lot of them to understand them. These characters are often static for the same reason. They don’t have an arc to further develop, reducing the amount of page time they need to be effective. Moreover, characters that never change are allowed to be their best selves right away. They don’t need to undergo an arc to be interesting, or maybe their arc concluded before the story started.

There are some examples where flat and static characters fill the protagonist role, like Sherlock Holmes. He’s already capped his deduction skills as a detective, and his personality isn’t hard to figure out. He’s all about the thrill of chasing down his mark and discovering whodunnit. If you want something more recent, Goku is another example. He fights to protect earth, and his motto is to never stop training to push what the best version of himself is. Goku has faced countless foes and hardships, but this never changed his core beliefs. Same with Looney Tunes and other early forms of episodic television. It’s rare for the characters to change much from one episode to the next. Nor do we need to see more than an episode to understand how the character thinks.

The reason why it’s important to make a distinction between one type of character or another is because of their needs. Characters with complex traits are internally focused. It’s watching them grapple with their flaws and struggle to change that endears us to them. Simple characters do not have that advantage. They are externally focused, and while they may be inherently charismatic or interesting, it is watching them resist change or make the world change that endears us to them. If you want your simple character to be more interesting, then you need to challenge them. This is one of the reasons why the pupil/teacher trope works so well. Actually, let’s demo that right now.

Once again, I’m going to borrow Rilla Müller for this example. She’s an inventor of steam gadgets and racist against Italians due to what they did to her family. Moreover, she needs to learn how to better pilot her mech suit if she wants to be of any use in the upcoming war. To this end, the higher ups decide to have her train with legendary mech suit pilot Fiorello Bianchi. Yes, that is a very Italian name, and Rilla is very not okay working with him.

It’s a rocky start, as you can imagine. Rilla is a round, dynamic character, so her prejudices prevent her from getting what she wants. Her hate for Italians prevents her from listening to Fiorello, even though it would help her get the vengeance she seeks. Meanwhile, Fiorello is her flat/static support. He’s an accomplished mech pilot and he performs as well as he can every time. He also has little difficulty focusing on his objective during a mission. When she disobeys him, he still does his best to make sure she doesn’t get herself killed. He resists the urge to let her get her just deserts. He frequently adapts to her reckless behavior and may outright save her on occasion. There it is on display: Rilia struggling with her inner flaws, and Fiorello struggling against his pupil’s personality..

Over time, Fiorello will be able to help Rilla overcome her flaw. It should be something Rilia is ultimately responsible for, but Fiorello can help guide her. Through him, she may realize that there are exceptions to the rules sometimes. Maybe she starts to take him seriously as her teacher and grows as a pilot. Then there will come a time when Rilla is tempted to give into her racism again. Say she comes across a group of Italians in a burning building. It would be easy to let the fire claim “their kind,” the race of people responsible for her parents death. But she makes the harder choice and risks her health to save them. The act endears us to Rilia because she was strong enough to change, but it also endears us to Fiorello for making her realize she could.

But Rilla isn’t done as a character. She’s grown, and her social dissonance has been corrected, but that just means she’s a bit more like a simpler type of character. If she completes her arc “too early” in a story, that just means her needs as a character have changed. You could find other aspects of her to grow and change, but you could also just treat her like a simple character. Don’t make her change, have her try to change her environment. She’s an accomplished inventor, so maybe she can help someone else with their mech suit. Maybe trick it out or something. And just because she’s overcome her bias doesn’t mean she can’t still struggle with it. Other factors in the story might tempt her to revert, but she resists them every time.

There you have it. Character arcs are cool but by no means something that is essential to have a good character. By having them struggle to resist change or change others it is possible to endear our characters to readers. So strive for external changes for your simple characters, and they’ll never need an arc.

The Secret Lives of Schoolteachers - A Magical Girl Mix-up RP

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