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Unread 06-07-2012, 12:08 AM   #1
Teal Mage
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Quote:
Originally Posted by phil_ View Post
Short version: Can one make a living on magic?
Short Answer: No.

Longer Answer: Not exactly. Magic may primarily be viewed as a weapon in this game – hence the strict guidelines for its control and application. However, it is true that most Magicians do not regularly fight monsters and demons – magic does have more practical applications than killing people. The spell-growth aspect of MTPL! is actually based around these ‘more practical’ applications – clubs encourage students to use their magic to improve the quality of their work, or meet challenges that are not strictly related to combat, to help them prepare for a life where overt magical displays are simply impractical.

Put another way, magic may – and in-fact, should be – used to improve the quality of work you put out in your day job. A magician must be careful not to create overtly magical objects, and therefore, they must walk a very fine line. However, the Masquerade does not prevent Doctors from using spells to subtly improve the health of their patents (though curing Cancer miraculously is another story entirely – some plausible explanation must be maintained), nor does it prevent a baker from making their products taste better (making them addicting, on the other hand, might cause problems – if such a thing is detected, that is). The Guilds believe that, while revealing magic to the general public will cause more harm than good, there is value to using it carefully to provide benefits. Consequentially, Guilds officially encourage such actions.

But no, in the modern world, outside of working an Administrative, Educational or Military-esque position, you can not live on magic alone. Oh, Government Organizations also have Research positions - dedicated to finding ways to do what the Guilds do, without so much specialization or decentralization.

Quote:
Originally Posted by phil_ View Post
Or could one ever, historically?
In the past, when belief in magic was more widespread, people could make a living as magicians more obviously, yes. However, these people still needed to provide some sort of service – magical healing was probably the most common one. Nobles might have kept magicians on staff for more combat oriented uses. Priests, associated with the Catholic Church, had a larger (and vaguely Military-esque) role in the past as well.

This arrangement is still present, to varying degrees, in less-developed countries.

* * *

Good news Rhiya! Your bio requires very little attention from me. Backstory, relationships and clubs all check out. I have a few comments about some of your spells and the Elite Ma - Oh you changed the name in your edits? Elite Maid Sisterhood, then. Gonna work off what's on the pad, but please post an updated bio on the forums when you have a chance.

Let's start with some basic stuff. Inconspicuous Maid, as I recall, also requires her to avoid making aggressive or attention drawing movements, while the spell is active, so add a note about that to the spell. Otherwise, that one's fine. Broomstick Defense is also fine - the ability works on most objects she can get ahold of.

Quiet Determination works, going by the form on the pad. A physical boost increases the amount of power her muscles can put out - her jumps will go further, she hits harder and etc. Downside is that it'll put a fair stress on her body, though the Will drain is around moderate, as far as Mode-Shifts go. Whether or not this is the best way to get Emme a 'get serious' mode is another matter. The two alternate options I can think of would be something like a competency boosting mode-shift, wherein she emulates a master of her style (like her mom?), or a luck enchantment. The former wouldn't improve her attributes, but would allow her to act more rapidly (not quite a reflex boost, but close), while the latter would prevent her from getting tripped up by outside influences. If you'd prefer a straight-up attribute boost though, like I said, fine. It would be Yellow Elemental, in that case.

Moving onto Summon: Extra Hand. I don't have a large issue with this, but I would like to clarify its limitations. Right now, Emme needs to know what the hand will do before she calls it, using a Wizard Spell, I think. I would recommend making the command she gives the hand at least partially verbal. Since its a Wizard spell, it probably needs to be Latin (incidentally, when speaking a foreign language in this game, unless you know the phonetics of the words, just write what you want to say in italicized, quoted, English). Even if the command is simple and short, Emme can use her thoughts to fill in details. The spoken command, incidentally, would prevent the hand from getting completely confused if she has a poorly placed stray thought.

Regarding further limitations: The hand must remain relatively close to Emme, it can levitate, is invisible (through obvious to the Awakened) and is relatively weak (though I won't give it a strict weight limit). Assuming there's a Mental or Spoken command involved, it would be Green. Teal if the command is purely Mental. Once the task Emme set for it is fulfilled, it vanishes. She can only have one hand summoned at a time. After the hand is summoned, Emme may continue to use spells (its not a Mode-Shift). Altering or adding to the command would be a relatively easy free cast, incidentally.

Oh, minor additional question: Does this summon a spirit from another location? If so, is the spirit a real ghost that Emme bound to her, or an artificial ghost someone (maybe Emme) created? The alternative would be to make this into something she creates each time she uses the spell - making it less a Summon Spell and more, well, a normal one.

Maid's Step. If this is just Flash Step, fine. However, I thought you wanted the long range variant of Flash Move? As a review, Flash Move requires Emme to stop moving and generate a spell circle (the sending circle) beneath herself, before firing an invisible projectile for magical energy. The projectile bursts on contact with a physical obstruction and creates a second spell circle (the receptor circle). Emme is then able to teleport instantly between these two locations. In theory, the order that these circles are created isn't important (though if she's not careful, the spell might fail, since this would technically be a free-cast) but the spell requires her to stop moving for an instant before the teleport can occur, and she needs to be fully within the sending circle to activate this spell. It's Blue Elemental. Flash Step is Yellow.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Rhiya Ravenwing
Elite Maids Sisterhood – a largely independent organization with a seat on the ESA. The Sisterhood specializes in training prized bodyguards for the higher members of any organization - extending from the ESA Households, to even the Witches, Wizards and even the Blacks' government. They are also simultaneously highly trained individuals very capable in other mundane fields (ie: running and managing a Household fully independent to the head of the House). The Maids Sisterhood is in association to the male equivalent Brethren of Butlers.
I would mention that their links to the Government Organizations would probably be tenuous at best. Guilds and Government Organizations have a cool relationship at best - using agents of the Guilds, even if they represent a particularly neutral and independent faction within them, to guard their higher-ups would be something they'd be extremely wary of. Government Organizations ultimately want to reduce the influence of Guilds, after all.

Beyond that, I would also suggest either making the organization gender-neutral with a deceptive name (like the Witch's or Wizard's Guilds) or simply giving it a gender neutral name, rather than make two organizations divided strictly along gender-lines. Doing that seems to needlessly overcomplicate things, without adding significantly to the flavour. Seems easier to collapse them into a single body - even if Maids and Butlers would be housed/trained separately – unless you can think of a good reason to keep them divided, that is?

Alright, that stuff said! Please post an updated bio as soon as possible.

* * *

Quote:
Originally Posted by Relm Zephyrous View Post
Fleshing out Fighting Style
Her preferred style of fighting at a range is with grenade like thrown projectiles. Mainly for when subtlety isn't as much of an issue as outright stopping somebody. I don't suspect that grenades will be available to any degree though, so the most I expect this to come into play in-rp is being able to throw small round things accurately, or maybe chucking rocks at people.
Wow.

Okay, Relm? This is the same thing I just warned you about doing. The way you phrased that makes it sound as those Alice was always intended to have throwing skills and specialize in hucking munitions at people. This isn't remotely implied in your profile. But, it sounds as though you were gonna put this in anyway.

That's bad. It's also an incredibly stupid thing to do, on the bunch of levels. The least of which being Capoeria requires your hands to be free to use the moves properly, and does not leave openings to throw grenades at people. A wholly different point is that, as a Wizard, using mundane munitions instead of a spell is pretty dumb and expensive.

However, it is precisely because this is overwhelming stupid that I won't expel you, this time. Make no mistake, you messed up. But, I'm just going to assume you didn't understand my warning, rather than that you knowingly broke the rules. To be clear: If something isn't clearly present in your profile, do not pretend that it was. Do it again and you're done. Other kinds of stupid will get warnings, for now.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Relm Zephyrous View Post
To Arms
Summons dexterous and firm battle gauntlets/boots onto her limbs. These are nimble but hard, and are able to withstand blows about as well as any other metal weapon.
Changing focus, since this spell suggests you don't quite understand the constraints your character is under, skill-wise. Taking a Summoning Spell for weapons is fine, but it suggests that you believe your character to be a trained fighter and an experienced mage. I would like to be clear that your character's backstory will only give you an academically skilled Wizard, with perhaps the barest basics of combat training. She is not, and will not be, a full-fledged Enforcer (or even a skilled martial Artist were you to drop the magic aspect altogether).

The reason I'm limiting you like this is quite simple. You, the player, have not conducted yourself in a way that treats martial arts or magic as 'serious' things. Therefore, I do believe your characters will not treat them appropriately either. You'll have the opportunity to prove otherwise in-game, but you won't be beginning the game with huge advantages by virtue of a particularly advantageous backstory alone.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Relm Zephyrous View Post
Everyone told me Capoeria was dance-fighting. I just imagined her doing something with listening to music a lot of the time.

Fleshing out Fighting Style
Her preferred style of fighting at melee is Capoeira, with spells augments herself and dampens the magic of the opponent.
Her preferred style of fighting at a range is with grenade like thrown projectiles. Mainly for when subtlety isn't as much of an issue as outright stopping somebody. I don't suspect that grenades will be available to any degree though, so the most I expect this to come into play in-rp is being able to throw small round things accurately, or maybe chucking rocks at people.
Its clear to me that you don't understand what Capoeria is. Here is an example video of how Capoeria works in battle. Granted, it doesn't get into real fighting 'til near the end and the beginning is quite scripted, but it is a good demonstration. Capoeria isn't 'dance' fighting. Fighting like a dancer is different - therefore, I will be making Maria (Alice's current Martial Arts instructor) fight like a Dancer. Alice may know the basics of her style (IE: How to dance normally), not how to fight. If you pursue Capoeria in Amaranth, that's your decision, but you won't be starting with that style.

Additionally, while I had originally intended to leave most of the details surrounding Alice's attendance at Amaranth a secret, I've decided to inform you of several of these changes. I've also included a few clarifying details, required to make her backstory make sense.

Alice is a foundling found by Maria and raised, essentially, as a princess in a magically concealed castle in the Irish country-side. Maria, incidentally, is Samuel Marshall's second wife. Alice was denied little by her foster-mother (Maria raised her, primarily) - save the freedom to leave the castle (it appears Alice didn't want that anyway) and formal combat training. Maria would have liked to train her as an Enforcer from birth, but Samuel insisted that, while it would a disgrace for her to be raised in this castle without knowing some magic, as she is not a true Ex Nihilo, and could not be trusted to as an Enforcer until she was tested. Consequently, Alice was allowed to live a normal - well, normal enough - life, which just happened to contain some magical instruction. It would be acceptable for her to learn one or two battle spells for self-defense reasons, incidentally.

Now, she's being sent to Amaranth to prove she can follow in the family business. Upon reflection, I'll also allow Gary Marshall (if Gem approves it) to be one of her elder siblings (not by birth) who was sent to Amaranth a year before. I will note that their relationship won't be terribly happy - he doesn't like her overmuch.

If these constraints and modifications aren't suitable for you, you can design a new character to play. However, if the new character is worse than Alice (or no better) I'll end the review process there.

Ball's in your court, regarding her initial spell set. Don't plan on getting Grade 2 spells without in-character justifications for how hard she'll have to work for them, though. Magic is really hard, and no one's going to push her to learn tricks.

* * *

Right, aside from the club-based levels (I'll get to those in a moment), I suppose Naomi's fine. She's technically at the point she'd be when entering Amaranth - just need to cover the past two months.

Her four clubs are...Fitness, Veterinary, Computer and Meditation. I'll give you a quick run-down of what goes on in them and then I'd like you to pick two Grade 1 abilities for your character to learn, which are thematically appropriate to two of those clubs. Alternatively, I am willing to consider boosting the grade of a pre-existing ability if it applies to the club at hand - but no promises there. Upping a Grade is hard.

Keep in mind that your character's pre-existing training and knowledge limits what they may learn.

As I implied to Dante, Meditation's first two months are mainly about breathing/relaxation techniques and learning to sit in one place for long periods of time. Very little martial stuff goes on at this point, and most of the more academic elements relate to anatomy (specifically, breathing!) or Buddhism, with bits of Daoism and Shintoism thrown in. Emphasis so far has been overwhelmingly on getting the basics of Meditation down, though. The idea that everything is connected has also been stressed. Compared to other clubs, relatively light homework, for now. Meets daily for Meditation sessions.

Fitness Club is pretty straight-up. The goal of the club is to teach students to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Surprisingly theory heavy - there's a lot about anatomy that students need to learn. Most topics are related to exercise, like sports injuries (and how to avoid them), but there's also information on vitamins, diet, first aide and some simple disease prevention tips. More practically, students need to exercise regularly, and are frequently tested on how 'fit' they are - which includes blood tests to determine if they're eating right. The test is probably magical! It's also accurate. Something like a Sports/Naturalist Medicine program, with a Gym Membership rolled in.

Veterinary Club! This is the closest thing you'd get to a real medicine course in Amaranth. You learn about injuries (predicting, diagnosing and treating), anatomy (mostly animal anatomy, but it's not without application in humans) different diseases (how to diagnose, prevent and some cures) and also need to raise a pet (you select the breed and the club provides it) while you're enrolled in the club. Very heavy theory component - there's a lot of information to take in.

Computer Club, unlike more of Amaranth's clubs, is pretty straight up. First few weeks are a brush-up on practical applications of basic programs - should be pretty easy for Naomi or anyone raised in Human Society. Gets into programming assignments - gradually building in complexity - afterward. Workload gets pretty high - it's similar to most Art classes, in that a new project is due basically every three days. Periodically, you're required to play videogames and write reports on them, instead of assignments.

So, please rank the clubs in order of most focused on to least focused on - then submit some spells. They probably should match the clubs she's putting most of her effort into, though it depends on the rationale she has for learning the spell (some students develop spells to make clubs they're not focusing on easier, after all).

* * *

Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Mage Black View Post
Appearance: 6'1"(182.5cm or 1.83m), shoulder length black hair, dark skin, eyes that are gold during the day and silver at night, tattoo under his right eye(Mark of The Wanderer, not an actual tattoo, but might look like one to people who don't know what it actually is). Wears his desert/religious clothing, which includes the light billowy clothing all in varying desert hues which include sand and how it appears during the day and the night, a cloak with a hood, a carved stone mask that bears a design of the Wanderer's Mark(painted on) and is kept strapped to the hood of his cloak when not in use and last but not least sandals on his feet.
Oh! I forgot to mention, the Wanderer's Mark varies with each Priest. It's a series of lines - sometimes they're uniform in shape/thickness/color, but sometimes they are different - placed in a design of some kind. Asked Girasol to see if she could come up with anything, but the ultimate decision of what Nasir's mark looks like belongs to you, Red.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Mage Black View Post
His finer manipulation of the wind and his ability to call lightning from a clear sky. Spells inherited from his own blood. Lesser abilities were confirmed to be the minor ability to heal, a very useful ability on a battlefield and the ability to harden his body against attacks on his person. Despite the fact The Wanderer only takes one priest every lifetime and constantly putting himself on the battlefield would be a danger, Nasir continued his training regardless.
I should mention that, aside from his Wind God's blessing, he shouldn't have any innate skills or talents to confirm. They ought to be skills that any magician in his tribe, with the proper training, can manage. Like, I could see if his family was dedicated to the God/Goddess of Healing Winds, he might get Healing and Wind stuff innately, but there'd be drawbacks to a hybrid purview like that. Regardless you'll need to specify what his blessing is associated with in the bio.

Otherwise, backstory looks good. I am going to assume the last Witch he met gave him some winter clothing, though.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Mage Black View Post
Whispers of the Storm
Before his training as The Chosen of The Wanderer, Nasir was starting to master the elements of his family's deity, which started with weather. By continuous chanting, Nasir can eventually change the direction of the wind and turn it into a strong gale.
So, does this spell require it to be windy to use? Don't think there's a way to work this spell without it being Grade 2. Second grade doesn't seem justified by his background, so you're looking at a spell with a long charge-time that blows a gale in a direction from Nasir, or a quick spell the temporarily strengthens a pre-existing wind. A moderately strong wind, or a focused gale-blast (equivalent of Sean's original Blizzard spell) would reflexive casts, but less weather focused. All of the above options are yellow, assuming you go with Nasir's original blessing relating to a Wind God.

A different sort of spell would be one which allows him to alter the direction of a pre-existing natural wind, within a certain range from his position. Requires him to attune to the wind first/spread his magical influence through it, then speak a command in Arabic. Changing the direction of the Wind isn't a quick action, either though. Strengthening or stopping could be done as a free-cast, but they're a lot harder, comparatively (and in ascending order of difficulty). Alternative there would just be a spell with a long incantation - slightly different with each direction. Wouldn't have the option to stop/strengthen it. Former is Chartreuse (Yellow-Green), might be more expensive, second is Green. Neither is cheap.

Starting or stopping winds are wholly different spells, incidentally. Shorter range of effect is faster casting, as a rule.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Mage Black View Post
Staff Fighting Mastery
Part of growing up in the tribe is knowing how to fight the dangers in the desert and whatever foes to the many faiths you may come across. Although only armed with a walking stick, the principle is the same, defensive and to keep the enemy from approaching. Though with each strike, from the side or from the tip, Nasir adds a little bit of force, like wind, for a knockback. The walking stick is specifically enchanted for not only this purpose but to deliver his other elemental spells.
Relatively simple, I suppose. Staff's designed (see: the script makes it 'part' of him) to channel his Demonic-Powers, allowing him to augment his strikes with pulses of wind. Relatively little Will drain, though...uh. I'd suggest that using a casting focus as a melee weapon isn't smart - if the script is damaged, the spell in question could backfire/fizzle when he tries it. That said, since this script just allows him to channel his tainted power through the staff, if its damaged it shouldn't backfire, just fizzle.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Mage Black View Post
Ignite Object
Days walking through the Alaskan Wilderness were cold, but the nights were even more brutally so. The tip from the Witch's Guild representative gave him good advice, "Learn to start a fire or make it out of nothing," this was for refusing the much easier route of being driven to Amaranth. Considering the elements of The Wanderer, this was much easier than was thought. By pressing the tip of his walking stick against a block of wood and channeling throught the stick, he can set it on fire, wet or dry.
Seems easier to learn a spell which creates a barrier of against the cold, by drawing on the Brand alone. Regardless, Walking Stick's unnecessary, since this is demonic - should probably be touch-based.

Little confused about the final part of the 'can burn wet wood' bit, though. Does it only burn wood of any kind? Or is the fire supposed to be ever-burning (and non-fuel consuming)? Just really, really hot? Created magically by using the Wanderer's power to force the material to be flammable? Either the wood-only fire or the ever-burning fire seem the most useful in that situation. Former is much cheaper and more powerful because of how specific it is (runs out when the will invested is used up, but great efficiency rate). Latter either has a high cost initially, or require a steady Will investment (ei: Mode Shift). It's also a lot more versatile.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Mage Black View Post
Healing Heart
Training as a battle priest meant not only training to disable or destroy the enemy, but healing your own warriors so that they may fight another day. Not one of his strongest spells, he must first touch the wounded and chant the prayers of healing, albeit this would be for more minor wounds.
So, what does this do? If it's 'speeds healing of wounds' Nasir needs to touch the wound and chant the basic prayer of healing. Basic ability wouldn't heal more than superficial wounds. He'd need to extend it via free-casting, continue chanting the prayer and keep his focus to deal with larger wounds.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Mage Black View Post
Deny The Infidel - Defense Surge -
Learning how to defend yourself is key to any encounter with hostiles and this is something that's emphasized greatly to the tribe's warriors and battle priests. It is also offensive to strike the priests first, but while the defense isn't perfect, it can prevent much greater injuries. By chanting the prayer of protection, Nasir hardens his skin to cushion blows in whatever form they take, be it blunt, slashing or piercing.
'fraid that hardening your skin won't help much against (strong) blunt damage or pain. You'd want this to be reflexive, not chant-based. Yellow. Relatively high drain, he can't move or breathe while it's active. High physical stress. Technically closer Modeshift, since you can hold it as long as you want, but can't cast spells while its active. More expensive than your usual shifts, though.

Different options are pain-canceling surge/modeshifts, anti-blunt defenses, or an invisible barrier around his whole body. Barrier is more expensive but, provided he has a Wind-blessing, he can make it work with Yellow magic like the others.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Mage Black View Post
Clubs -
Fitness
Martial Arts [Advanced - Bojutsu]
Meditation
Wilderness
Would Nasir really be interested in 'Fitness?' I'm surprised. It seems so...shallow, at a glance. I suppose if he sticks around long enough to get into the medical stuff, it'd be alright. But I don't know if he'd even try that club in the first place.

Regarding the Martial Arts (Advanced) club. His abilities suggest he's more of a hybrid than a Melee-specialist anyway - which is the only way he'd get into an Advanced class. If you want to shift his skills around to reflect that, go ahead. As it is, he seems to lean more toward the magic side (weather and healing spells are really hard) than the melee side anyway, even if he'd be passable in both.

Meditation and Wilderness fit.

Ah, should note, I count one ability from his great journey, and four from before the journey. He should have room for one more pre-journey spell and one more journey spell. See what you can come up with. Oh, though large-scale weather spells (smaller ones might be alright) and healing spells are more difficult than other abilities, as a note – improving your existing ones (or learning more) will probably push you into Mage territory.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Mage Black View Post
Misc -
The staff itself is enchanted to be able to cast spells with, with tiny markings over it and was hardened previously to be able to use for melee combat as well.
Only one spell in here seems reliant on the staff? This is just as well though, I suppose, since putting multiple spells on the same object is dangerous - if the caster's overly hurried, they may accidentally activate the wrong symbol on the staff.

I'm assuming the staff is made of bone? Wood would be hard to find (and rare) in a desert.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Mage Black View Post
Book of prayers - Just what it says, a book of prayers to not only The Wanderer, but a few other deities from his tribe as well. Contains the prayer of healing(Healing Heart) and the prayer of protection(Deny The Infidel). It's usually chained to the belt around his waist, a hook through the bottom of the spine and one at the top which can be undone so he can hold it freely, with a small length of silk tied around it to hold it shut when not in use. All the prayers inside are written in Arabic, including the spell prayers.
A book of spells, eh? Well, I suppose the other characters can phone their parents for help/advice (or might have a book of their own), so, sure, why not. All spells written in here fall under free-casting, if they aren't in your bio.

* * *

Quote:
Originally Posted by Teal Mage View Post
Regarding your remaining prospective spell-slots. Tell me which of his four clubs Ben would focus on most and I'll suggest a few things. I should note that the Veterinary club requires you to raise a pet while you're in it, so he probably got a snake from them. Additionally, Writing club requires you to write a blog, if either of these details help.

Ah, actually. He's probably picked this trick up from Meditation.

Calm Down – Black Elemental.
Crazy mysticism or not, the Meditation club's breathing exercises work wonders. By focusing on a particular breathing pattern and willing himself to calm down, Ben is able to invoke a supernatural sense of calm on himself. This technique actually triggers a Mode-Shift, which remains active until the user stops the breathing pattern. Celestial Intuition still activates in combination with this ability.

I suppose a different breathing technique could be appropriate, but this seemed simple and useful, so I thought I'd offer it.
Still waiting for that list! You have another spell slot.

Anyway, I see Lilluim edited her bio. 'fraid I don’t have time to get to it tonight. I'm going in for a minor surgery tomorrow, so I also won't be around for the next few days. Sorry everyone, I'll continue where I left off when I get back. Sorry about typoes, no time for a real proof-read.
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Last edited by Teal Mage; 06-09-2012 at 11:53 AM.
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Unread 06-07-2012, 03:41 PM   #2
Red Mage Black
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Teal Mage View Post
* * *
Oh! I forgot to mention, the Wanderer's Mark varies with each Priest. It's a series of lines - sometimes they're uniform in shape/thickness/color, but sometimes they are different - placed in a design of some kind. Asked Girasol to see if she could come up with anything, but the ultimate decision of what Nasir's mark looks like belongs to you, Red.
Edit: Gira already finished it and it looks good. Here it is.

Quote:
I should mention that, aside from his Wind God's blessing, he shouldn't have any innate skills or talents to confirm. They ought to be skills that any magician in his tribe, with the proper training, can manage. Like, I could see if his family was dedicated to the God/Goddess of Healing Winds, he might get Healing and Wind stuff innately, but there'd be drawbacks to a hybrid purview like that. Regardless you'll need to specify what his blessing is associated with in the bio.

Otherwise, backstory looks good. I am going to assume the last Witch he met gave him some winter clothing, though.
Major Edit: Clarified which one was from a blessing on his family, which one he uses the mark for and which ones he learned during priest training that the other priests of his tribe could learn. Though I'm sure they'd allow some leeway for spells if it benefited the tribe as a whole.

Quote:
So, does this spell require it to be windy to use? Don't think there's a way to work this spell without it being Grade 2. Second grade doesn't seem justified by his background, so you're looking at a spell with a long charge-time that blows a gale in a direction from Nasir, or a quick spell the temporarily strengthens a pre-existing wind. A moderately strong wind, or a focused gale-blast (equivalent of Sean's original Blizzard spell) would reflexive casts, but less weather focused. All of the above options are yellow, assuming you go with Nasir's original blessing relating to a Wind God.

A different sort of spell would be one which allows him to alter the direction of a pre-existing natural wind, within a certain range from his position. Requires him to attune to the wind first/spread his magical influence through it, then speak a command in Arabic. Changing the direction of the Wind isn't a quick action, either though. Strengthening or stopping could be done as a free-cast, but they're a lot harder, comparatively (and in ascending order of difficulty). Alternative there would just be a spell with a long incantation - slightly different with each direction. Wouldn't have the option to stop/strengthen it. Former is Chartreuse (Yellow-Green), might be more expensive, second is Green. Neither is cheap.

Starting or stopping winds are wholly different spells, incidentally. Shorter range of effect is faster casting, as a rule.
EDIT: Suppose I'll redo this one as well:
Power of the Wind - -
Nasir's affinity for wind showed itself when he first started his training. Long before he was marked, his family was capable of controlling the wind, an innate ability inherited by The Wanderer's blessing. By thrusting his palm outward towards the opponent, Nasir sends a small, but strong gale of wind at his in opponent in a bid to knock them off balance or knock them back or knock them over. However, the more distance there is between him and his opponent, the weaker the attack becomes. From a strong gale force wind to a strong breeze.

(I'm meaning this one to be a short cast and I wanted to limit it by line of sight, but that's your call. The little history of the blessing of wind control is just the general idea of how he knows the spell. Just clarifying it isn't that advanced yet.)
Quote:
Relatively simple, I suppose. Staff's designed (see: the script makes it 'part' of him) to channel his Demonic-Powers, allowing him to augment his strikes with pulses of wind. Relatively little Will drain, though...uh. I'd suggest that using a casting focus as a melee weapon isn't smart - if the script is damaged, the spell in question could backfire/fizzle when he tries it. That said, since this script just allows him to channel his tainted power through the staff, if its damaged it shouldn't backfire, just fizzle.
I addressed most, if not part of this in the 'staff composition' question further down, but still using it for combat. I like the risk, at least.

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Seems easier to learn a spell which creates a barrier of against the cold, by drawing on the Brand alone. Regardless, Walking Stick's unnecessary, since this is demonic - should probably be touch-based.

Little confused about the final part of the 'can burn wet wood' bit, though. Does it only burn wood of any kind? Or is the fire supposed to be ever-burning (and non-fuel consuming)? Just really, really hot? Created magically by using the Wanderer's power to force the material to be flammable? Either the wood-only fire or the ever-burning fire seem the most useful in that situation. Former is much cheaper and more powerful because of how specific it is (runs out when the will invested is used up, but great efficiency rate). Latter either has a high cost initially, or require a steady Will investment (ei: Mode Shift). It's also a lot more versatile.
EDIT: Going to go with cold barrier for this one, since it seems a little simpler.

Warding off the Cold - -
While the desert nights were cold, the Alaskan wilderness was colder and even the winter clothes wouldn't be able to keep away the full chill. So, using The Wanderer's affinity to fire, Nasir created a way to keep himself from freezing to death. By calling upon the Mark, Nasir creates a small field of warm air around his body, rejecting the chill of wind and natural cold air.

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So, what does this do? If it's 'speeds healing of wounds' Nasir needs to touch the wound and chant the basic prayer of healing. Basic ability wouldn't heal more than superficial wounds. He'd need to extend it via free-casting, continue chanting the prayer and keep his focus to deal with larger wounds.
Yeah, that's what I was going for with this one. It's severely limited, but it's also one of the ones that most, if not all of the priests in his tribe learn, some more dedicated than others and it will be kept to free casting to make it stronger. Yeah, free casting is a risk, but I'm mostly doing it this way to reflect him focusing on the other facets of his powers.

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'fraid that hardening your skin won't help much against (strong) blunt damage or pain. You'd want this to be reflexive, not chant-based. Yellow. Relatively high drain, he can't move or breathe while it's active. High physical stress. Technically closer Modeshift, since you can hold it as long as you want, but can't cast spells while its active. More expensive than your usual shifts, though.

Different options are pain-canceling surge/modeshifts, anti-blunt defenses, or an invisible barrier around his whole body. Barrier is more expensive but, provided he has a Wind-blessing, he can make it work with Yellow magic like the others.
I believe the original was an invisible barrier, so I'll go with that instead. I remember mentioning it almost being something like a 'kinetic barrier'. Yeah, reflexive would work better, too.

Deny The Infidel (Reworked) - -
The heat of battle can be deadly and the warrior priests of the tribe lack the proper armaments to fully defend themselves in combat. This is one of the first spells taught to warrior priests and a valuable asset. If he sees an attack coming, Nasir reflexively creates a kinetic barrier between himself and whatever physical attack is coming his way, meant to cushion blows instead of just blocking them.

(If only because blocking them would probably take up more will and wouldn't last as long.)

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Would Nasir really be interested in 'Fitness?' I'm surprised. It seems so...shallow, at a glance. I suppose if he sticks around long enough to get into the medical stuff, it'd be alright. But I don't know if he'd even try that club in the first place.

Regarding the Martial Arts (Advanced) club. His abilities suggest he's more of a hybrid than a Melee-specialist anyway - which is the only way he'd get into an Advanced class. If you want to shift his skills around to reflect that, go ahead. As it is, he seems to lean more toward the magic side (weather and healing spells are really hard) than the melee side anyway, even if he'd be passable in both.

Meditation and Wilderness fit.
Yeah, I didn't quite see what Fitness was about until your review. So, I believe I can change that to Strolling. Have to remind myself not to listen to everything the people in chat say.

EDIT: Yeah... I guess regular MA would be good then? I chose Bojutsu because staff fighting is mostly defensive, which I at least thought was fitting for the Staff Fighting Mastery spell slot.

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Ah, should note, I count one ability from his great journey, and four from before the journey. He should have room for one more pre-journey spell and one more journey spell. See what you can come up with. Oh, though large-scale weather spells (smaller ones might be alright) and healing spells are more difficult than other abilities, as a note – improving your existing ones (or learning more) will probably push you into Mage territory.
EDIT: Might have an idea for the pre-journey. Kind of priestly, I guess?
Praise the Strong - -
In combat, sometimes enemies are harder to kill or disable without a little help despite the best efforts of a warrior. By reciting a battle chant, as long as the target of this can hear him and even through language barriers, Nasir can increase the physical strength of an ally to help break through even tough defenses.

Journey idea:
Steady Footing - -
Not all paths are straight and narrow or flat and winding, some are slippery and wet or move around, making it hard to stay standing. While crossing through many lands and over many kinds of geology, Nasir found it necessary to find a way to keep his balance no matter what it was. By channeling his will through his equilibrium, he can keep steady whether the ground is shaking, slippery or if someone is trying to knock him off balance.

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Only one spell in here seems reliant on the staff? This is just as well though, I suppose, since putting multiple spells on the same object is dangerous - if the caster's overly hurried, they may accidentally activate the wrong symbol on the staff.

I'm assuming the staff is made of bone? Wood would be hard to find (and rare) in a desert.
Yeah, I was thinking of going with bone. Whale bone would need to be considerably carved down due to weight, but there have been rumors of the bones of giants that could actually work. That and the fact it would be more useful to actually take a hit. The other option was 'neem', which is a type of tree that grows around that area, but a glance at the wiki page for it suggests it has more medicinal use than any structural use outside of making strong rope.

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A book of spells, eh? Well, I suppose the other characters can phone their parents for help/advice (or might have a book of their own), so, sure, why not. All spells written in here fall under free-casting, if they aren't in your bio.

* * *
Book of spells isn't what I was actually going for. It's more along the vein of morning/afternoon/evening prayers, for meals, bedtime and that sort of deal.
The healing one was to keep it all in one book. Also written in it is the Battle Chant, but that's less reading from it than it is a careful reminder in case he forgets and also a little motivation for himself.


All in all:

MAJOR EDIT: Okay, so I may try something like hybridization later, when it's a little more effective than being a jack of all trades with crappy magic and melee.

Last edited by Red Mage Black; 06-07-2012 at 07:25 PM.
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