Appearance: An image is preferred, along with a physical description in text.
Name: You know the drill. Any monikers should also be here as alternate names.
Nationality: Valkyries operate globally and draw their talents from just about anywhere as a result.
Faction: Schicksal, Anti-Entropy, World Serpent, or School of Taixuan. Choose your faction and have your resources (and perhaps reputation) determined accordingly. This will likely be where you primarily received your Valkyrie training. You may also choose "other", and we can hash out the details of a custom option. However, be aware that it will be inferior to any of the major factions. You are also automatically assumed to be part of Fire Moth, no matter what option you pick.
Age: The work of a Valkyrie is not a profession for the old. The wear and tear of Artificial Stigmata has a nasty habit of killing the host as much as any monster they're fighting. As relative newbies, your age should range from somewhere between 16-19 years old. Age is barely a consideration in determining who is old enough to fight in the perpetual struggle against Honkai, but pure rationality dictates avoiding sending out those that aren't fully physically developed. 16 is therefore the absolute minimum to enter battle, no matter what "genius" traits or talents they might hold, but the majority of new fully-fledged Valkyrie range closer to 18-19 as graduates.
Valkyrie or Chevalier: Valkyries can be female or male, but due to the fact that Stigmata are more attuned to female genetics, females are generally noted to be more compatible with Honkai energy. If you play a male, you will be in the minority, and a cap will be enforced on how many male PCs can be in the whole party to reflect this rarity. Generally speaking (at least statistically for this), only 1-3/10 Valkyries are male. It will generally be first-come, first-serve on playing a male PC. If you're going for female, you can ignore most of this and do as you will. A male Valkyrie is instead known as a Chevalier. If you are from the School of Taixuan, this limitation still applies, and -though it is not technically correct- you are still referred to by one of these two terms.
Origin: Human, Psychic or Disciple of Taixuan.
- If Human, your supernatural abilities most likely stem entirely from your Stigmata; you were born with a natural resistance to Honkai energy that makes you one of the precious few that can survive this process and (relatively) safely use the powers it provides afterwards. Unlike a psychic, it's possible that you have a Natural Stigmata, but the trait is still very rare and will be treated as such.
- If Psychic, you are still human and still likely use an implanted Stigmata, but you are a distinct variant of human. You may have a unique psychic ability or talent of some type, the details of which should be hashed out with the GM, but if your ability is anything other than unrefined and/or weak, your Type will automatically be Psychic to reflect this focus in your training. Psychics are about as rare as male Valkyries and will be restricted similarly in number.
- Disciple of Taixuan: It's also possible that your abilities are derived from receiving SWARA training and that you have no Stigmata at all. You are still human. You have simply undergone extensive training to cultivate the natural Honkai adaptability of your body. If you choose this, remove your Stigmata section entirely and use the optional SWARA section on the sheet.
Rank: You start at C-Rank and will have opportunities to be classed higher later, upon proving your metal. Playing a higher rank or "experienced senior" type is explicitly disallowed. You are all rookies. You may choose to play a D-Rank if you wish, but be aware that it will severely limit your combat opportunities until you rank up.
Grades: How you were ranked upon your last testing period, the score that said you were ready for field work. Grades for the typical Valkyrie run from F-A with particularly exceptional abilities being worthy of the S (Special) grade. You start with an average of "points" enough to have a D in every statistic, which you may adjust as you like. To have a "passing grade", you must have at least some semblance of competence in just about all areas, so only a single stat can be dumped further than an E. Conversely, no stat may be higher than C (unless the bar is raised by your Stigmata).
- Power: Governs physical strength or weaponry. The general capacity to do damage. Contested by Endurance.
- Endurance: Governs damage resistance, overall "health pool", resistance against status effects and constitution. Also governs how resistant you are to the corruptive properties of Honkai energy.
- Agility: Governs a combination of swiftness and precision. Generally contested by the selfsame, but can be used to get around Endurance to a degree through sheer skill and/or weak point targeting.
- Intellect: Skill with knowledge-based pursuits. Governs psychic strength if the user has the potential. Also partially governs mental fortitude against certain types of trials, contributing to resisting mental influence and attacks, like from a Herrscher Ego or a MANTIS AHR.
- Honkai: Governs manipulating Honkai energy, energy pool and inflicting status effects. Displays how skilled at manipulating Honkai energy you are with or without gear. This effects how much Honkai energy your body naturally gathers and can safely hold on the day-to-day, and the higher the rank, the more you have to work with at the start of combat. When battle starts, you get a one-time discount on the rounds needed to use your Burst at a rate of 1 round per rank above F.
- Burst: How often you can use your "Burst" with a base of 5 rounds. A lower rank than D increases the required rounds. Higher than D decreases them. This stat also governs your Burst’s potency. Every point above F grants a “modifier point” for the Burst, representing the release of suppressed power, and you have one modifier point by default for a minimum of two. Your Burst stat limits how far effective boosts from it can go, and your burst cannot raise any stat beyond a single rank higher than your Burst level (ie. A D-Rank Burst can raise a D-Rank stat to C temporarily but no further, no matter how many points are dedicated to it). The same applies to your other stats. You cannot raise them directly more than one rank above their base using your Burst, as your body can only contain so much power. You can’t use your Burst to increase your Burst stat, and you can’t use it to raise your Endurance for the purposes of defending against Honkai corruption caused by your Burst; the corruption applies first, before any buffs.
Type: Choose from among
Mecha,
Psychic or
Biologic.
Quantum and
Imaginary are not necessarily absolutely restricted starting out, but due to their exotic nature, they cannot be taken casually, requiring a sufficient lore-compliant justification for them that doesn't overstep other character creation restrictions. Your type determines the delivery method of your element.
- If you're Mecha, you probably use machinery and other pure high-tech; you rely on your equipment and have the training or some other capacity necessary to maintain and repair it.
- If you're Psychic, you've likely got the rare natural trait that allows you to manipulate things with your mind and naturally tap into a sort of spiritual energy; you rely on your mental stamina and intellect.
- If you're Biologic, you fight with primarily physiological traits, being the most physically dominant type of Valkyrie; you rely on your honed body and physical training to get by, fighting with brute force, agility and skill.
- If you're Imaginary, your abilities draw from a closer connection to Imaginary Space and the Imaginary Tree. Imaginary is exactly as it says: literally imagination wielded to impose a personal view on reality, usually subconsciously. In a lot of ways, they have many similarities to other types, but the fundamental reason behind your abilities is different. However, all Honkai energy is generally Imaginary in nature, so what separates a true Imaginary type from the crowd is that they usually look at the world in an unusual or inhuman way. It might not even be incorrect to call them "deluded", except that the nature of Imaginary imposes the user's own reality, thereby making them not delusional. Suffice it to say, this type is very strange and extremely uncommon. Fundamentally, Imaginary abilities hew towards a nature of "creation and control", and it is the type closest to the nature of the Honkai itself.
- If you're Quantum, you have been exposed to the Sea of Quanta in some capacity and been changed by the experience. It is quite possible that you are no longer entirely "grounded" in reality, attuned to the nature of things that exist in more than one place at once. To say the least, the opportunities for this to occur are vanishingly rare, but the results speak for themselves. Like the Sea of Quanta, your abilities hew towards destruction, chaos and dimensions. You rely on manipulating space in some fashion.
Element: Choose from among
Fire,
Ice,
Lightning or
Physical and theme your other abilities appropriately. Each element provides appropriate utilities and advantages. Fire can set things on fire and generally inflict additional damage over time, able to inflict a searing heat that can ignore Endurance. Ice can freeze enemies (or parts of them) solid and provide breathing room, slowing or stopping foes. Lightning can paralyze foes with a large enough shock or enough cumulative blows. Physical can inflict bleeding wounds and lower physical integrity in a supernatural way, dealing damage with raw brute force. These are not the only things these elements can do, but they are the primary and simplest ones when channeling them with Honkai energy.
Discipline: Dual Pistols, Blade (short/katana), Heavy (cannon), Two-Handed (greatsword), Cross, Fists (gauntlet), Scythe, Lance, Bow or Chakram. Your character may have competent skill in the usage of a single one of these disciplines, which comes with an innate understanding for handling any weapon that falls under that type with either equal skill or an intuitive understanding of its operations at minimum. You can wield any weapon from your discipline with at least a bare minimum of competence if you so much as pick it up, and with time to study its functions, you can use it as well as any other you've acquired. By contrast, you are unable to use weapons outside your discipline efficiently, and you won't be able to use their unique supernatural abilities, only wield them in their most basic surface capacity as a weapon.
Weapon: Choose or otherwise create your weapon. Your weapon will be equivalent to a three-star in-game. It's possible for it to have a unique ability of some stripe, but nothing crazy. You can pick an in-game weapon (this is preferred), and I will help decide what that weapon's ability translates to in narrative, rather than stats. Or if you want to go completely custom, we can perhaps work something out. Available weapons can be found on
this wiki.Stigmata: Choose from among Artificial or Natural Stigmata (if qualifying). Stigmata (singular Stigma) are the visual indicator that a human has mutated to have Honkai adaptability. Your Stigmata may potentially provide narrative abilities, based off in-game abilities altered to equivalent benefits or from a standing lineage, like Kaslana or Schariac. Your Stigmata is the primary source of your ability to manipulate Honkai energy, making you inclined to a specific element, and you recieve stat changes based on which one you have. This stat change effectively lowers and raises the maximum starting threshold for certain stats. For example, an Artificial Stigmata means the maximum starting Endurance is D instead of C. Conversely, however, a +1 will allow you to overcome the normal statistical threshold for your rank, and it can allow you to have a starting stat at B if you wish to invest that far. Even if you don't use the increase to go above the threshold immediately, it is still raised, and you can invest a point later into that empty spot. Mark any alterations of this sort as (+1), (-1), (+2), etc in your stats section.
- Artificial Stigmata: Developed to mimic natural stigmata, these imperfect stigmata are made through DNA sampling and artificial DNA of a compatible bloodline infused with Honkai energy. While this method does allow for higher Honkai energy adaptability, allowing people to fight that never could otherwise, it significantly shortens the life of the user and also has a higher risk of cascade as time continues. It is only used on Valkyries that are not Stigma Awakened. You do not gain any stat boosts from your Stigmata, as your starting stats are assumed to already be partially the result of it. +1 to a stat of choice other than Endurance; +1 to Honkai; -1 to Endurance.
- Natural Stigmata: These stigmata are naturally found on individuals with high Honkai adaptability. They are often passed through bloodlines, such as the Kaslana or Schariac families. Those that naturally develop a Stigma are known as Stigma Awakened. Those with these Stigmata are immune to Honkai cascade, able to live normal lives with regular lifespans if they wish. That said, they can still be burnt out by the overuse of Honkai energy; the only thing their mutated blood really defends them from is a fate worse than death. Psychics do not develop Natural Stigmata. +1 to Endurance; +1 to Honkai.
- True Stigmata: These stigmata are granted to humans who have the potential to become a Herrscher. A True Stigma acts like a visual marker but can cause pain and emotional instability at high concentrations of Honkai energy. Owners of these do not experience normal Honkai cascade but instead fall prey to their Herrscher Ego, who may take over the body until suppressed. True Stigmata are often mistaken for Natural Stigmata. In fact, it's quite possible for a "Natural" Stigmata to turn out to have actually been a True one, awakening and becoming more powerful under the right conditions. They are generally restricted entirely and may be privately discussed/bestowed or otherwise granted upon appropriate candidates at GM discretion. In addition, your cascade threshold instead scales off the average of Intellect and Endurance, rounded up, as for you, Honkai energy is not at all harmful but rather a highly intoxicating substance. +1 to stat of choice, +1 to Endurance; +1 to Honkai; +1 to Burst.
SWARA: If you aren't a Disciple of Taixuan, remove this section. Otherwise, delete the Stigmata section instead. If you have SWARA, your martial training has taught you to manipulate the "Ki" inside your body to gradually cultivate and improve your natural adaptability to Honkai energy. Through extensive hard work and mystical teachings, you learned to alter the flow of Honkai energy within you, forever changing you into a supernatural existence. As a benefit of allowing your body to gradually adjust, you suffer none of the reduced lifespan issues Artificial Stigmata inflict. Conversely, however, your more grounded human nature leaves you more vulnerable to Honkai corruption than a Natural Stigmata would provide, and you are -generally speaking- a lot more "squishy" than a Valkyrie, relying far more on skill and not getting hit at all to carry the day. +1 to two stats of choice other than Endurance or Agility (cannot be the same stat), +1 to Agility, -1 to Endurance.
Honkai Arts: This covers your ability to -broadly speaking- freely manipulate Honkai energy in a number of ways. Each "Art" generally covers a category of capabilities and represents your capability with them. To learn Honkai Arts, you recieve 2 points per level of your Honkai stat past F. You also receive a third point that is automatically allocated to your chosen starting element each level. At E-Rank, your points are automatically assigned to the basics, your element, Time Fracture and Honkai Sensing. Beyond that, you can use points to unlock new Arts or upgrade a current one, and no Art can ever be more than one rank higher than your Honkai stat, demonstrating a specialty. Using Honkai Arts requires your battlesuit or that the relevant Art be rank B or higher. Not wearing your battlesuit treats your Arts like they are 3 ranks lower than normal, which is why B is the minimum, and they will always be weaker in that state.
- Arts are usually less like a single "spell" and more like and collective practice of multiple techniques. You can propose new ones beyond the base set to be judged by GM discretion. You can also use this as your way to attain the ability to use more than one element.
- F-Rank indicates total ineptitude in an Art, unusable; E-Rank indicates basic usability, allowing the infliction of status effects for example; D-Rank indicates an increase in raw power to the basic usage; C-Rank displays the beginnings of flexibility with its usage, allowing one the creativity to -for example- actively shape fire rather than merely generate it and display basic "kinesis"; B-Rank edges further into flexibility, allowing one to perform greater and more elaborate feats; A-Rank demonstrates conventional mastery; and S-Rank demonstrates being a cut above.
- Pyrokinesis, Cryokinesis, Electrokinesis or Bleed: ? (whichever matches your starting element)
- Time Fracture: ? (Every two ranks in this Art grants another use of Time Fracture in battle, the first use unlocked at E. Time Fracture is unique in that it is completely unusable outside the battlesuit and inflexible compared to other Arts, as it is the act of accessing a very narrow portion of the [Authority of Void] or rather [Finality]. All Herrschers are innately capable of it.)
- Honkai Sensing: ? (Your range and finesse with this Art follows the Range Grades. Higher ranges allow you to not just locate and track areas of Honkai corruption but also to eventually detect the presence of individual beasts and even determine their species before ever encountering them. This applies to anything with Honkai running through its body, allowing extreme skill to pick out the nuance of Honkai flow between a Valkyrie or a SWARA practitioner, for example.)
Battlesuit: Where the Stigmata acts as the power source, a Valkyrie's battlesuit provides the structure for their abilities, channeling the Honkai energy flowing through their bodies in the ways they desire. Whether it was developed in a lab or summoned from the Imaginary ether, your battlesuit is always on hand, able to be stored in a form of subspace while not in use and summoned back onto your body at a moment's notice. Battlesuits are rather unusual in the capacity of "armor", as they are less focused on protection and more on channeling Honkai energy safely. This, as a result, tends to mean they come across as "skimpy", as they are often designed to leave "breathing space" for excess energy to escape to not cook the wearer alive inside them like a microwave oven. After all, what use is there in protection from outside threats if the wearer suffers cascade from their own power? Of course, this is simply the commonality rather than an absolute rule, but the results speak for themselves, leaving most Valkyries to come across as rather eccentric in appearance. Your battlesuit provides no statistical benefits, being more like a work uniform than armor. Whatever protection it could provide is assumed to be inferior to the Valkyrie's own durability. However, most Valkyries cannot use their elemental supernatural abilities without donning it.
- Features: Outside its ability to channel Honkai energy, your battlesuit is typically possessed of a conglomeration of other utilities, including communications, GPS and sensors to measure local Honkai Miasma levels. Whatever weapons or other tools you use can be stored within or retrieved from your battlesuit's subspace storage, which can hold a limited amount of possession and automatically absorbs the wearer's normal clothes and possession into it when the battlesuit is summoned. Most modern battlesuits also grant you access to the Time Fracture ability.
- Time Fracture: A legacy ability from a past Era, this technology and technique was developed after extensive study of the core of the Herrscher of the Void, eventually culminating in a mimicry of a single aspect of its abilities. Time Fracture partially displaces the user's temporal and spatial profile, casting the world around them into shades of purple from their viewpoint and -furthermore- into slow motion while leaving the user -from their perspective- moving at normal speeds. When a Valkyrie uses this ability, they effectively increase their Agility by one level for a single post or about 5-10 seconds, whichever is shorter IC, giving them the opportunity to dodge some form of peril and potentially retaliate in the same timeframe. Time Fracture accrues a very particular kind of strain, and as such, it has a large enough cooldown that it can usually only be used once per battle.
Burst: The special move of your battlesuit, a release of power that can typically only be pulled off sparingly. Your burst is a custom move or ability over which you have full creative freedom (within reason), either releasing the normal safety constraints upon your battlesuit or otherwise using a gathered excess of power to exert a higher tier of ability for a short time. You gain points of Burst modification for each point of your Burst stat, which you can use to determine how your burst strengthens you. This is typically a very draining effort that takes a toll on the body and puts you at greater risk of Honkai corruption. Your burst energy reserve charges over time, requiring preparation. Typically, it charges by post and is available (or otherwise held in reserve) approximately every five rounds, so use it tactically. This length can be modified by your Burst stat. Your Burst does not begin recharging until a previous use has fully resolved. Be warned that if your Burst rank is higher than your Endurance rank, every time you use it, you will take points of Honkai Corruption equal to the difference. You can mitigate this by deliberately casting your Burst at a lower rank, weakening it but subsequently making it safer. This way, it is available to you in some form even in areas with extremely high Honkai Miasma lowering your effective resistance to corruption.
- Rank: Equal to your Burst stat.
- Duration: 1 round +1 for each Burst rank above F. You can sacrifice rounds of duration for more modifier points, creating a more powerful but short-lived burst. You can lower this to a minimum of one round.
- Modifier Points: 1 point +1 for every rank above F. A point is required to be spent for every "notable feature", which will be determined by GM review.
- Effect: Describe your custom ability here. Keep in mind, your ability should stay "on brand" for your type and element, and anything that strays into the domain of outside ones will likely be vetoed.
Psionics: If you have chosen the Psychic race, this is where any talents derived from your nature will be described. While broadly speaking, you have creative freedom, your abilities here should remain within the bounds of the typical "cerebral" abilities you'd expect from a psychic. That means stuff like telekinesis, empathy, telepathy, remote viewing/scrying, and even perhaps precognition. Of these things, you are innately inclined to one or two and no others. Psychics are specialists that individually access only a limited few "skill trees" from amongst those available to their kind. Your rank of investment in the Intellect stat will partially influence what level of power and flexibility your abilities may have. It's also worth noting that psychic abilities are considered "useless" against the Honkai in most cases, so be sure to account for the fact that you can only fight Honkai with them indirectly. Psychics are best at anti-human operations over anti-Honkai. That being said, however, this means they have a potential niche use against Herrschers, who are simply humans empowered by the Honkai. If you didn't choose the psychic race, delete this section.
Skills: List any notable mundane skillsets or talents you might have, but do keep them within reason. As a rule of thumb, I expect your backstory to explain or otherwise easily imply exactly where each skill originated from. Example skills could be wilderness survival, cooking, piloting planes, any languages you know (at least passable English should be among them as a mandatory skill), and any particular acumen with technology (whether constructing or manipulating it).
Gear: Include notable assets, utilities and other equipment here. You are free to draw from any existing Present Era tech from the series within reason. Keep in mind you are low-ranking Valkyries, and the resources you can requisition for your missions are limited until you prove your worth. You should typically keep this within what you can carry on your person, either on hand or in your battlesuit's subspace.
Personality: You know the drill. Give us an idea of what they are at least like at a casual impression. What drives them? What annoys them? Likes? Dislikes? Dreams? Consider the Kakashi introduction as a template for the absolute minimum. A single paragraph is fine, of course, but more than that certainly wouldn't go amiss.
Biography: A couple paragraphs preferred. You don't need a novel, but this section should answer such questions as: What lifestyle did they grow up under? Why did they become a Valkyrie? Please note that whatever your backstory, your character should remain by the end of it a relative rookie to fighting the Honkai, pretty much freshly graduated/ranked up to a point where you're allowed to fight. Playing an "experienced senior", "ancient hero" or other archetype that would narratively only justify exceptionally honed skills and abilities is not allowed.
Other: Anything not covered by the rest of the sheet that you'd like to add, like interesting trivia or theme music.
Danyel
Reisling
Guardian Angel Haruki
Izurich
4wheathRmany
Aku the Samurai
Otreas
