Octo

Yurei High: Spooks Versus Students (Ghost Hunting)

@Octo
Alrighty, I'll go ahead and hand down my verdict.

Now, the thing is that skills aren't actually that impactful. Their main purpose here is to serve as a way of codifying a character's theme. This isn't the sort of environment where most skills will have much weight outside of guiding character interaction.

With that said, to reach even decent experience in three styles of martial arts is near-impossible order by the age of fifteen, if we're talking true experience and not the waterdown kind. Also, just from a posting perspective it's troublesome for you should she ever make use of that talent, because it requires that you've done a decent amount of research on all three styles, and have a good enough grasp on all of them conceptually that you can think of how to blend them appropriately, which is quite a lot of effort for something with pretty little payoff.

So, on that front, I will have to request that you either pretty sharply reduce her skill in each style, or go all-in on one of your choosing and have an appreciable level of skill in it for her age. Especially considering the sheer breadth of skills she has, it's unreasonable to think that she would have the same level of experience in martial arts as someone her own age who has focused exclusively on martial arts, and even a child like that would be far from mastery with under a decade of experience under his belt.

Also, keep in mind that she's a little girl in Japan, and this is a roleplay about ghosts, so the odds of firearms coming into play at any point in time will be minuscule at best and nonexistent at worst.

Besides that, I don't have any huge issues. While she does seem to have the whole "perfect" feeling about her, in this roleplay specifically I don't have a major objection to that, because things like that don't matter as much in either the character dynamics half, or the horror half, so if you want to make a princess locked in an ivory tower, be my guest.

So yeah, just reach a decision on the martial arts debacle, and you're good to go.

@Three

Right, I'll work on that, then. Since I ultimately expect it won't be used much (If at all), would it do to say that she just has vague "Self-defense training" without defining a specific style? We'll assume it's a single style that she is somewhat decent in with the best trainer that money can buy, but I doubt we'll start going around describing specifically how the mantis style directly counters the tiger claw technique in this specific scenario and whatnot. Since it's not something that I, as a player, am capable of talking about, it might work if I just keep it nebulous.

The gun thing and the horse thing were actually both more for flavor than anything else. I honestly didn't expect to use either, like, at all. Unless we end up going around with super soakers loaded up with holy water, I guess.

In addition, I was kind of going for that 'perfect' feel. You've seen anime. I wanted to do something like that.

Yurei High: Spooks Versus Students (Ghost Hunting)

<Snipped quote by Octo>

Okay fair enough, a lot of the times people go a little crazy with martial arts in their characters, that's why I ranted the way I did.

I can't say much about Krav Maga and Aikido, as I don't know much about those styles, but I can tell you that MMA is a sport style and is pretty much useless for self defense. There's too many rules. There aren't rules in a street fight.

Honestly if you want a good self defense style, I'd go with the one I mentioned I take, Shaolin Chuan Fa, or as most people know it as, Shaolin Kempo. That style has a little bit of everything, we have the punches and the kicks, we have forms, we have throws and grabs, everything. The best part is that its tailor fit to the individual, I'm five feet tall, I'm not going to do stuff the same as a big, muscular guy is going to, so I don't learn things the same as them. We deal with a lot of different scenarios too, like how to fight multiple opponents, even things like how to fight after you've been pepper sprayed and things like that.

And, to be honest, it's the best self defense training money can buy. And I'm not just saying that because it's the style I take. I could say a lot more about it, but to even touch on the history of the art or what we do in it would take a long time to type up.

@AirBender

Haha, you know, I was about to say "Are you sure you're not a bit biased because Shaolin Kempo is the style you train in?" before that last paragraph. You seem reasonable, though, so I'll put faith in your ability to be objective. Since the style is tailored for the individual, however, I'm not sure how I would go about talking about it if it came up. I don't know what exactly she would know and/or be capable of, or even how I would speak of the style in very broad strokes. Her ideal and my own would be that the skill doesn't get used at all, but it might nonetheless.

I wouldn't want to impose on you and ask for a crash course, because as you said, it would take a while to type up even if you were just giving me the gist. I suppose I could try looking up some videos on Youtube to get a rough idea just in case, but I also suppose I could just not worry about it at all unless a fight becomes unavoidable. That may be for the best, in the end.

All that said, if it's a good style to take on multiple attackers with, and if it's the best that money can buy, that's very likely the style for her.

<Snipped quote by Octo>

If I may also put in my two cents into this little discussion - and I'm not trying to offend anyone here, or claim that you're wrong, Bender - but as someone who has studied Taekwondo myself, I really don't see any problem with the character to be honest. Certainly studying more styles would take time, and while I doubt she'd be the best, I could see her being fairly decent if she was dedicated and had the time and money.

Depending on when exactly she started.

I started studying Taekwondo around...I can't exactly remember since it's been awhile - somewhere around when I was seven or eightish, I think. By the time I was fourteen or fifteen, I was well on my way to becoming a black belt. (Won a few tournaments as well) Unfortunately, due to various financial situations, I had to abandon it and am currently lacking all skill in the manner xP

While I'm not saying she'd be the best by any means, I don't see a problem with her being 'decently skilled' at all of them. She could hold her own in a fight against someone who had no idea what they were doing, but against another opponent who had trained better in one style, she'd probably get rekt. You know, just be reasonable with it and don't go overboard.

@Rune_Alchemist

The most important thing is being able to fight and get away however possible, and if multiple styles would put her at a profound disadvantage against someone who had trained in one well, I'll just go with one style.

I haven't thought of when she started, though. It would definitely be important to start early, but you probably don't see a 5-year-old training in Shaolin Kempo. Seven or eight is probably a fairly good age, though. That would give her about eight years of the best possible training that money could buy, which is probably sufficient to at least be decent. She's still training, of course, but it's good to know. Thanks for the input!

Yurei High: Spooks Versus Students (Ghost Hunting)

<Snipped quote by Octo>

You're right. She is too skilled. At fifteen she can't be a self defense master, especially considering she's taking three different styles. Trying to split her focus between the three would mean she'd be even less skilled at each one. Because every style is different, what she does in one won't for the other. She can be good for her age, but she can't be a master. I've been taking one style (Shaolin Chuan Fa) for over ten years and I'm no where near a master yet.

Okay, rant over. For now.

@AirBender

Ah, well, it's more that I wanted a cool title for the skill that I called it "Self-Defense Mastery". I didn't mean to imply that she would be considered a master at all three styles. That would be absurd. It's my fault for labeling it as such, however. That said, I will plead ignorance to the subject of the martial arts. I don't personally have much knowledge of those things, but I found it hard to imagine that the single daughter of a hugely rich man would go without the best self-defense training money could buy, so I made sure to add something in.

As for the styles picked, I tried to go for the most straightforward items of which I knew in regards to the goal "Turn attempted attacks back onto the opponent, take advantage of openings, and end the fight quickly". I thought that Aikido was good at the defensive portion, I thought that the purpose of Krav Maga was ending a fight quickly however possible, and I thought that a general knowledge of MMA would help with holds and blending techniques.

If it's more practical and reasonable to just concentrate on one style, though, which do you think would be the best fit? I think that the biggest thing to consider is adaptability to multiple attackers, since we're assuming a kidnapping attempt as the most likely scenario. Any of the three I mentioned, or even a fourth style I may not have considered that fits the goal better. I'm open to editing.

Yurei High: Spooks Versus Students (Ghost Hunting)

Hail to the King?

Name: Octavia King

Gender: Female

Age: 15

Appearance: Octavia has the fair porcelain skin, gleaming blue eyes, and spectacular blonde hair that comes to mind when imagining an ideal foreigner. She is slim and somewhat tall for her age at 5’6”, and only wears the most beautiful, expensive, and detailed dresses she can find when not in school. Her naturally wavy, long hair reaches about halfway down her back, and she often adorns it with ribbons and other ornaments.

Personality: Octavia has had quite the sheltered upbringing, and thus tends to conduct herself with a degree of naivety uncommon in girls who are 15 years of age. Although she used to be kind and sweet thanks to her good-natured father bringing her up, Octavia has recently become somewhat jaded and withdrawn. Her kindness and sweetness are still there, but those traits have become muddled in a mire of cynicism after having spent so long watching people trip over themselves to appease her, as if they were animals performing tricks. She lives in a boring world without conflict, problems, or criticism, which is only exacerbated by her own physical and mental excellence.

History: Octavia was raised mostly by her father, as her mother passed away when she was very young. Her father, Richard, was depressed for a while afterwards, but he put on a handsome smile every time Octavia walked into the room. He knew that she deserved kind and loving parenting, and that was what she got. Perhaps it was a bit too kind and loving, however, because Octavia never wanted for anything. If she needed something done, there were people to do it. If she wanted something in a store, it was hers. Richard was the CEO of King Communications (an American cell phone network that merged with a Japanese network to become among the most popular providers in the nation) and her mother Ida was the head designer of the insanely-big-in-Japan clothing brand Kleidungekauft (From which they still receive money even after her passing). Thus, Octavia never really had to worry about anything but school work, which was easy for her because she was naturally smart and athletic. She had friends, too, until the end of middle school. When she entered a private high school, she lost all contact with her middle school friends who, as she had found out after some blunt messages, only really hung out with her because their parents told them to. When it became clear that her father wasn’t giving out bags of money to people who befriended his daughter, they just stopped being her friend. Devastated, Octavia withdrew from the private school and society and shut herself inside her home for a long while. Due to its strict attendance policy, she was kicked out of the private high school and forced into a public school which her father pushed her to try. He’d also told her to try joining a club so that she could make some new friends, as if it was just that easy. Well Octavia knew how people were now, and she didn’t want in on any of this fake friendship business. She cared deeply for her father, however, and for him she supposed she could at the very least join a club to make him happy.

Skills:

#1 in the School: Octavia is incredibly smart, and can pick up just about any subject quickly. She’s always been the #1 test-taker for a reason, and knows just about everything from the main high school curriculum. Due to her upbringing, however, this generally doesn’t leak over into any practical skills whatsoever. She can solve for X, but her cooking skills are awful and she can’t operate a washing machine.

Ojou-sama's Self-Defense: When it comes to self-defense training, Octavia has been taught by the best of the best. The daughter of an insanely rich and powerful man needs to know how to defend herself, after all. She doesn’t like the idea of fighting, though, and will avoid doing so at all costs.

Athletic: Well of course she’s athletic. Maybe not the first in the school, but she’s quite good at just about any athletic feat she tries her hand at. Self-defense doesn’t mean much when you don’t have the athletic ability to apply it well, so working out with a trainer is just a part of her average day. She is oddly terrible at sports, however, because they require the knowledge of rules and techniques that she has no interest in.

Money: All of it.

Guns: Some of her favorite outings with daddy were to the shooting range. She is American, after all, and thus needs practice with guns of all sorts. Not that she’ll ever get any use out of this skill other than stress relief, right?

Horseback Riding: Side saddle. A gigantic white stallion named John is her father’s preferred transport, so she’s learned to ride a horse quite well.

Languages: She speaks both English and Japanese fluently. Her mother was German, but she passed away before Octavia learned any.

Other:

-After being a hikikomori for the past few months, Octavia has grown somewhat enamored with otaku culture at the expense of her now atrophied social skills

-Romantic perception of a harem protagonist played straight

-Has a sweet tooth, which she has the habit of secretly rewarding after exercise

-No occult knowledge, joined the club because it sounded the least boring and she liked Ghostbusters

-Not here to make friends

-Secretly here to make friends

Alright, I've finished. I do feel that she is perhaps a bit too skilled, but I've tried to give her an amount of limitations and drawbacks to balance things out. Not to mention, I don't think she'll end up getting any real use out of most of them (Though I could be wrong, because I don't know what you have planned). I hope this is alright.

Yurei High: Spooks Versus Students (Ghost Hunting)

<Snipped quote by Octo>

That there are!

@Three

Oh, wonderful. I'll try to finish up my character soon. Expect my entry within an hour or two, perhaps.

Yurei High: Spooks Versus Students (Ghost Hunting)

Oh, my. This looks very interesting. Are there any spaces open at the moment? Because I would like to join if so.