TheMerlin

Scorched Earth

@Neianna86 Don't mind if you do. Hell, I'll give you a push!

Scorched Earth

Hey guys, sorry for the delayed response. I've been really busy lately and have only had enough time to read everyone's posts and msgs, but not enough to reply myself. Finally got some breathing room now though, so let's make the rounds.

I could always forge another character and leave the space for you, I do not mind.

@RezonanceV

Please don't. Stehl's perfectly fine the way he is right now and there's no need to apologize. I just thought it'd be interesting to share how similar he was to my initial character concept personality wise, that's all. I've switched it up since so there's really no need for you to worry about it. I do appreciate your idea of them coming from the same village though. I've already got something in mind, but it would've been interesting. Anyways...

Update: Stehl's teleport has been changed to -

Psychic Impressions
Stehl can enter a space and it will reveal in a dream-like state or shadowy essence of what has happened in that space. He can reel back months and depending on the emotional charge of what happened, years. Stehl can also draw out linked memories of an individual when he has time and can get his hands on their body. In order to see memories inside someone’s mind, he needs complete focus leaving him vulnerable to anything and everything.

Also updated Griff's Dispel to Disrupt and his Precog to Hyper-Aware.

And with that, both your characters are now approved. You may post them in the Characters thread at anytime. Just a heads up btw, the picture for Griff isn't showing anymore for some reason.

@ReusableSword
So I've seen. No problems as far as I can see, so I'll add him to the approved list. Reckon we've got enough people to begin now, but there's a couple more waiting in the wings, so I'll give it a bit more time before we start.

Scorched Earth

Sure is getting lively around here, I like it.

@RezonanceV
Alright, keep me posted. Also, I just want to say that I legit had the same idea for my Spectre character being an avenging Ghost of [insert name of fallen hometown or whatever here] with a similar kind of personality. Great minds think alike, eh? Anyways, I suppose it'd be a common enough story for those who'd be willing to become Spectres in the first place. Perhaps I could keep that revenge aspect and still have my character be an edgy boi, just in a different way. I'm thinking a religious or spiritual motif. Gonna have to think on it a bit more.

@deadpixel101
I did notice that you misspelled Belisio at the end of the first paragraph in the backstory, but that's clearly just a typo. If there's anything I could suggest, it's renaming the 'Form Change' ability to 'Phase Shift' just because it sounds cooler, but it's not like our characters will be calling out their moves like it's One Piece or something. Asides from that, what else can I say but character approved? Feel free to post your cs in the Characters thread and I'll add it to the list.

Scorched Earth (Fantasy, Sci Fi, Magic, Technology, War)

@Neianna86 But of course!

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Thanks, I am glad it fits with the aesthetic, I really vibe with your setting @TheMerlin. As for the minor changes with abilities, we can discuss them here. It might be helpful for those still building their characters.

@RezonanceV

Y'know what, that's a good idea. Anyways, like I said, it's just a few minor things. A matter of semantics really regarding the abilities Precognition and Dispel Magic in particular.

So for Precognition, anything to do with time is going to be a bit iffy, because it's not really covered by any type of magic for the roleplay. Could make a case for Psionics with their telepathy, but that'd be reading their enemy's mind to predict their next move, not looking directly into the future. Same effect, I know, but different means.

In Griff's case, might I suggest changing it to 'Enhanced Awareness' or something like that? Projecting ki in an aura seems to be his thing, so maybe we could say that he can feel the movement of every little thing inside it before it reaches him.

As for Dispel Magic, the wording of its description seems to imply that he'd be able to no-sell any kind of mana based attacks thrown his way and maybe I'm just misinterpreting, but either way it could be an issue. Perhaps change Dispel to Disrupt and say that when in close proximity to a mage, he can give them like a 'shock' of ki which disturbs their focus enough to mess up their magic before they can use it. Sort of like a stun effect.

Anyways, that's it for Griff. Since you managed to write up a whole other CS while I'm writing this response, I might as well address it too. First of all, I just wanna say... you stole my idea! How dare y- just kidding. Actually, I'm kinda relieved coz I had a lot of clashing ideas for my 2nd character. and since you beat me to writing a full CS, that narrowed it down some. Anyways, everything looks fine. It's just the abilities once again, or just one in this case.

So off the bat, no teleportation allowed. At least not as a magic ability. Could be equipment based, but not magic since it's not covered by telekinesis or telepathy. I like the anchoring to a position part though, so maybe just change 'Teleport' to 'Anchor' or something like that? Say that he uses telekinesis to sort of latch onto a surface and be able to hang off from walls and ceilings.

Scorched Earth

Impressive work, @RezonanceV! This is what I ike to see. There's just a few minor things to work out with the abilities before I can approve your character. Would you like to discuss it here or in pm?

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Ignore this post, accidentally double posted.

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It sure does. As much of a rivalry Knights and Battlemages have, Knights tend to be held in higher regard among the citizens of Belisio due to what they represent and I can easily see mages envying them for that.

As for cybernetics and such, that's also fine. Quite a few Knights and Battlemages would have cybernetics themselves due to injuries sustained in battle. It's usually just prosthetic limbs and things of that nature though, nothing as extensive as the Spectres with the implants and injections that give them their psionic powers.

I'll say this though, it's a little odd for a mage wanting to be a Knight when they're exclusively all masters of Ki, so perhaps we could say that your character is a late bloomer?

Like, maybe they wanted to be a Knight as a kid, but after realizing it was never going to happen due to their condition, they experienced a highly intense emotional outburst and their power as a mage finally manifested itself by accidentally setting the room on fire, or something like that. The punchline to a lifelong joke, their dream being impossible from the start. That's just an idea off the top of my head though.

Scorched Earth

Hey yourself. Short answer, no. Slightly longer answer, allow me to clarify.

So basically, Ki is available to everyone who is NOT a mage. In the world of this roleplay, there's no limit except for one's lifespan to how physically powerful humans can become through constant training, so it's basically the Charles Atlas Superpower trope in action mixed with a bit of martial arts movie magic like wuxia.

On the other hand, mana is only available to those born as mages and the two forms of magic are mutually exclusive. A non-mage cannot use mana and a mage cannot use Ki. You can choose one or the other, but you can't have both. Lore wise, this is because a mage's soul is different from an ordinary person's, but practically speaking, I figured they're already born powerful so it wouldn't be fair to let them use Ki as well.

As explained in the Setting, psionic powers are unique to Spectres and the program is available to non-mages only. If someone had Ki powers before becoming a Spectre, they are replaced by the psionic abilities that they gain and the person can no longer use or learn to use Ki ever again. Price of power and all that. To be clear, no one is born a psionic. They are artificially created, hence why their telekinetic and telepathic abilities are considered to be unnatural.

There is a bit of overlap between how psionic and Mana abilities work in that similar things can be done by both, eg. Lifting and throwing objects, or stopping projectiles mid-flight. The difference is that Mana is about the direct control of matter whereas psionics use pure kinetic force. They can't, say, summon a ball of fire or shoot lightning from their hands, but what they can do is something like this (skip to 0.45): .

Hope that clears everything up.

Scorched Earth

Like Dorian from Dragon Age Inquisition. Alright, well if there's anything you want to ask me, just lemme know. I'm more than happy to help.