[Other FULL] Of Mice & Magic [T]

ordinaryOddball said:

Extensive in a good or a bad way? Are there any you would say break your idea of the game?

Oh, any opinion about the Rune Master concept itself? I'd like that kinda feedback. An age that seems suitable for that kinda character n' backstory, too.

I know. No dice. I was just using one in Hidden Power because it was supposed to be a random element. Needed a RNG of some kind for that.

Click to expand...

Extensive is definitely a bad thing. There are three classes without inherent magical capabilities, so any magical character shouldn't be a powerhouse, rather just a few spells, or maybe even just a single potent one.

Ice said:

Extensive is definitely a bad thing. There are three classes without inherent magical capabilities, so any magical character shouldn't be a powerhouse, rather just a few spells, or maybe even just a single potent one.

Click to expand...

While I understand what you mean from a power-balance perspective, having just a single or handful of spells makes the player's battle options feel extremely bland. Building a bunch of ideas for runes was my way of A) making the Healer able to lend support to the battle B) giving me more options to pull from when roleplaying.

I'm not looking for power so much as interesting variety. Do you have any advice on how to change my character (or make a new one if you dislike rune master) to that effect?

Clarification edit:
I do not believe it is realistic to have only a couple runes at my disposal. My roleplay will be criminally boring, you see. I would be without a role to lend to the party for large swathes of time, and when I did have something to contribute, it would be a rerun of last time. I strive to make my contributions varied, my posts interesting.

I wanted to be a support character, really.

Does this make sense? I don't want to be at odds with you, Ice, but I do want to find a way to make us both happy with my application. What do you suggest trying?

P.S. how much combat might we see in this campaign, give or take?

Finished

Name: Xerea Almoor

Nicknames: "The Great Thief of Segeir" (self-entitled), Xer

Age: 18

Class: Rogue

Gender: Female

Personality: Loud and brash, Xerea looks at the world with excitability and energy, despite ostensibly being a self described "sneaky thief". Don't let her self-description be the whole story, however; Xerea couldn't steal a cookie from a cookie jar without being caught. Boldly proclaiming a prowess in the typical fields of thievery, cunningness and stealth, her brash nature comes at odds with that. However, pressure of being the thief in the mold of her mother has caused her to become extremely driven to be that thief, even if her eccentric and unsubtle behavior would be at odds with it. With her out there vibe and quirky mannerisms, she can be a bit hard to conventionally befriend or get close to.

While it may seem that her behavior makes her seem flamboyant and a bit simple, she is far more intelligent than she lets on, possessing a lot of book knowledge of art, valuable goods, economics and other fields that a savvy "thief" might want to know. Also hidden behind a layer of some eccentricities is a more charismatic, charming side to Xerea, something that was a combination of a learned behavior when she needed to cover her tracks and a natural talent. These traits lie intermixed with a sense of naivety; after all, book knowledge isn't everything for the world.

Appearance: Like many in her family, she is a fairly lithe brown field mouse, of average height and possessing a slender musculature. Her attire consists of cloaks with hoods, a vest, loose pants, boots and a satchel to carry her stuff in.

History: Born to a merchant father in the city of Haaveland in Segeir and a great, infamous thief for a mother, Xerea was always hanging around her father, comfortably residing a sheltered life. Much of the sheltering had to do with her father's parenting style, given who her mother was. He did not want her daughter to follow in her mother's footsteps, being a gallivanting thief and always just shy of being caught by law enforcement. It wasn't a lifestyle that Xerea's father felt would be suitable for the young girl. For as long as he could, being torn between loving the intoxicatingly charming and pretty thief and not letting her influence. It couldn't be helped, however, when her mother was home and would tell her daughter stories of her "adventures". The young mouse's naivety did not differentiate the morality of her escapades and how great they sounded.

This continued to inspire her through her childhood and adolescent life, being a little something to spice up the interesting but rather flat and closed off world she lived in with her father. Unfortunately for her, Xerea's enthusiasm tended to go a bit overboard and her "prowess" in stealth and instead had to "settle" with casting her aspirations of being stealthy and develop other skills. Her loud and brash behavior did, however, come in handy for deceiving people. Nonetheless, she has not given up in being the greatest thief in all of Segeir.

Abilities: Despite a claimed prowess in stealth, the abilities she actually is good at pertain to smooth talking, persuasion, distraction and sleight of hand. On top of those sorts of skills, her knowledge also ensures she's getting the best deal out of anything, even if her behavior might completely dupe someone. For physical abilities, she possesses relatively good knowledge in acrobatics and a sense of dexterity. The tools of her trade include smoke pellets, grappling hooks and throwing knives.

Roleplay Sample: http://www.pokecommunity.com/showpost.php?p=9230104&postcount=33

http://www.pokecommunity.com/showpost.php?p=9136805&postcount=62

ordinaryOddball said:

While I understand what you mean from a power-balance perspective, having just a single or handful of spells makes the player's battle options feel extremely bland. Building a bunch of ideas for runes was my way of A) making the Healer able to lend support to the battle B) giving me more options to pull from when roleplaying.

I'm not looking for power so much as interesting variety. Do you have any advice on how to change my character (or make a new one if you dislike rune master) to that effect?

Clarification edit:
I do not believe it is realistic to have only a couple runes at my disposal. My roleplay will be criminally boring, you see. I would be without a role to lend to the party for large swathes of time, and when I did have something to contribute, it would be a rerun of last time. I strive to make my contributions varied, my posts interesting.

I wanted to be a support character, really.

Does this make sense? I don't want to be at odds with you, Ice, but I do want to find a way to make us both happy with my application. What do you suggest trying?

P.S. how much combat might we see in this campaign, give or take?

Click to expand...

My personal philosophy when it comes to magic characters - especially in a setting where they run on par with non-casters - is less is more. Two or three spells that can be used in creative ways is worth way more than a plethora of spells with varying effects. Looking at your current spell-list, there's such a long listing that some of them alone would be good enough if it weren't that your class was healer. I like to look at those spells as superpowers; They are quite defined but allow for a plethora of creative uses. The array of spells should be on par, power-wise, as to what a ranger would do with their tools, or a knight with a big sword and a spiky shield. If you feel that a small spell list could be limiting to your actions in roleplay, the best way to solve that would be to create more versatile spells instead of more spells. I like the rune master idea nevertheless!

On how much combat the RP'll have, I have no clue. I'm willing to present it as much as the players want it. Of course, the classes are combat-based so I'm expecting to at least have some, but how much is entirely up to the players. I wouldn't build a character around how much combat you expect to encounter, but more on how much combat you want to encounter.

Alright, so I need versatile spells. I think I could do that quite easily with a wizard, e.g. telekinesis and charming are very versatile for whatever scenario presents, but Adventure/Cronald already has that covered...

I think the "trigger" can be used with versatility, at least. It could be combined with the spells as a means of timing, given the situation. As for what happens when it's triggered, if not an alarm or a random attack, then I'm not sure...

The channeling may either be versatile or utterly useless, I'm not really sure. Obviously I have to be at the location or object before I can make the rune there.

Divination could provide vague guidance/information. Versatility depends on the visions you give. Then again, I may be stepping too close to a Seer class there.

The first four runes are either reasonably versatile, or necessary for my class, or a bit of both. Perhaps they could be reworded to be even more versatile, with some thought...

ordinaryOddball said:

Alright, so I need versatile spells. I think I could do that quite easily with a wizard, e.g. telekinesis and charming are very versatile for whatever scenario presents, but Adventure/Cronald already has that covered...

I think the "trigger" can be used with versatility, at least. It could be combined with the spells as a means of timing, given the situation. As for what happens when it's triggered, if not an alarm or a random attack, then I'm not sure...

The channeling may either be versatile or utterly useless, I'm not really sure. Obviously I have to be at the location or object before I can make the rune there.

Divination could provide vague guidance/information. Versatility depends on the visions you give. Then again, I may be stepping too close to a Seer class there.

The first four runes are either reasonably versatile, or necessary for my class, or a bit of both. Perhaps they could be reworded to be even more versatile, with some thought...

Click to expand...

I think it seems like you are trying to cover exactly everything with your spells. That doesn't sound very fun, from my experience. The best RPs is where your character is challenged and forced to collaborate with others or be really creative with what they've got, imo.

For your character, I think the glyph channeling, the alarm, the blessed and cursed touch sound interesting for a versatile healer/support. Maybe also a shield.

PastelPhoenix said:

-Snip-

Click to expand...

The Ranger Artean Bellepetal is accepted!

adventure said:

-Snip-

Click to expand...

The Wizard Cronald Ripipip is accepted!

Godzil said:

-Snip-

Click to expand...

The Knight sir Ben Junkheap is accepted!

ordinaryOddball said:

-Snip-

Click to expand...

The Healer Eleanor Bennett is accepted, on the premise that we talk through a bit of the spells. Hit me up on PM, or Discord!

Winter said:

-Snip-

Click to expand...

The Druid Yvanna of Whisker Woods is accepted!

Fen-kun said:

-snip-

Click to expand...

The Rogue Xerea Almoor is accepted!

IC has been submitted. I'm going to ask y'all not to make a post before I made the introductory post. Feel free to start writing anything, though. For posts like this I'll have some nice CSS in the future.

Everyone starts off at the gates, through which everyone entered. The gates themselves are a bit mysterious, as it seems that there's no way back, everything outside the gate is an empty black space, just loose rocks and dirt floating around. Maybe a horse far off in the distance? You can't be sure, it's quite far away. How everyone got on the other side of the gate is up to themselves. I'll let you guys discuss here how that happened. Because of this, it's also up to the players to decide if the characters know each other at this point, and who they've met. The objective is to get to the giant castle door.

Visible information:
Dirt pathway from the gate to the doors.
Paw prints in the dirt. Clearly a cat, but those are such a strange sight in the Realm of Mice that they aren't a familiar sight.
The sides of the path are decorated with flowers, bushes and trees. Some of them don't seem familiar, not at all.
A park bench made from creaky old and moldy wood stands on the pathway. It's in full decay, and bugs can be heard scurrying along the inside.

Unknown info:
The castle doors are locked, but it seems there's no way to unlock it from the outside.

If you come up with anything else you wanna explore, or an obstacle you think will be fun, hit me up, and you'll probably be free to work it in.

So, another idea I had for a healer character is using water.

You know how magic users will sometimes need a supply of some kind of magic substance contained in bottles, and once it runs dry, you can't perform magic anymore? Think Link, for example, collecting ornate little green bottles of nameless magic...liquid of some kind.

That got me thinking, what about a magic healer who uses up water whenever she uses magic?

For balance, she would only be able to perform as much magic as she is carrying water, unless there is a source of water nearby. Her supply would be limited because: they are traveling, water is heavy, and some of it is needed for drinking.

For uses, she could use it to heal in a number of ways, like pouring directly on mice, or applying to bandages, or doing that waterbending healing motion you may have seen on Korra...

I could see her using this magic water to create barriers if she can shapeshift it into a flat plane and/or ice. I could see her using it as a non-damaging combat measure, poisoning it and splashing on a foe, making surfaces too slippery to tread...

Just overall the rules are a little less strict and it allows for some versatile make-up-a-creative-use-for-your-situation.

What do you guys think? I wanted to bounce this ideas off of you lot. Do you prefer glyph-drawing or water manipulation?

Using water would be more costly, since we need water to drink, but more versatile and fun, I feel. Not to mention, it would be faster than drawing runes during a crisis. I like the water approach.

ordinaryOddball said:

So, another idea I had for a healer character is using water.

You know how magic users will sometimes need a supply of some kind of magic substance contained in bottles, and once it runs dry, you can't perform magic anymore? Think Link, for example, collecting ornate little green bottles of nameless magic...liquid of some kind.

That got me thinking, what about a magic healer who uses up water whenever she uses magic?

For balance, she would only be able to perform as much magic as she is carrying water, unless there is a source of water nearby. Her supply would be limited because: they are traveling, water is heavy, and some of it is needed for drinking.

For uses, she could use it to heal in a number of ways, like pouring directly on mice, or applying to bandages, or doing that waterbending healing motion you may have seen on Korra...

I could see her using this magic water to create barriers if she can shapeshift it into a flat plane and/or ice. I could see her using it as a non-damaging combat measure, poisoning it and splashing on a foe, making surfaces too slippery to tread...

Just overall the rules are a little less strict and it allows for some versatile make-up-a-creative-use-for-your-situation.

What do you guys think? I wanted to bounce this ideas off of you lot. Do you prefer glyph-drawing or water manipulation?

Click to expand...

Either, as long as you give up the idea of trying to cover all possible uses and needs with your own spells and skills. Water sounds nice! Always loved water bending in Avatar and Korra.

Ice said:

IC has been submitted. I'm going to ask y'all not to make a post before I made the introductory post. Feel free to start writing anything, though. For posts like this I'll have some nice CSS in the future.

Everyone starts off at the gates, through which everyone entered. The gates themselves are a bit mysterious, as it seems that there's no way back, everything outside the gate is an empty black space, just loose rocks and dirt floating around. Maybe a horse far off in the distance? You can't be sure, it's quite far away. How everyone got on the other side of the gate is up to themselves. I'll let you guys discuss here how that happened. Because of this, it's also up to the players to decide if the characters know each other at this point, and who they've met. The objective is to get to the giant castle door.

Visible information:
Dirt pathway from the gate to the doors.
Paw prints in the dirt. Clearly a cat, but those are such a strange sight in the Realm of Mice that they aren't a familiar sight.
The sides of the path are decorated with flowers, bushes and trees. Some of them don't seem familiar, not at all.
A park bench made from creaky old and moldy wood stands on the pathway. It's in full decay, and bugs can be heard scurrying along the inside.

Unknown info:
The castle doors are locked, but it seems there's no way to unlock it from the outside.

If you come up with anything else you wanna explore, or an obstacle you think will be fun, hit me up, and you'll probably be free to work it in.

Click to expand...

So uh, I posted. Did I do it right? Is anybody else going to post?

ordinaryOddball said:

So, another idea I had for a healer character is using water.

You know how magic users will sometimes need a supply of some kind of magic substance contained in bottles, and once it runs dry, you can't perform magic anymore? Think Link, for example, collecting ornate little green bottles of nameless magic...liquid of some kind.

That got me thinking, what about a magic healer who uses up water whenever she uses magic?

For balance, she would only be able to perform as much magic as she is carrying water, unless there is a source of water nearby. Her supply would be limited because: they are traveling, water is heavy, and some of it is needed for drinking.

For uses, she could use it to heal in a number of ways, like pouring directly on mice, or applying to bandages, or doing that waterbending healing motion you may have seen on Korra...

I could see her using this magic water to create barriers if she can shapeshift it into a flat plane and/or ice. I could see her using it as a non-damaging combat measure, poisoning it and splashing on a foe, making surfaces too slippery to tread...

Just overall the rules are a little less strict and it allows for some versatile make-up-a-creative-use-for-your-situation.

What do you guys think? I wanted to bounce this ideas off of you lot. Do you prefer glyph-drawing or water manipulation?

Click to expand...

It sounds great! Seems a lot more suited for a healer's skillset than the whole rune-list.

My application's been heavily edited in appearance and magic. Have a new look-over.

Since Ice said "Because of this, it's also up to the players to decide if the characters know each other at this point, and who they've met,"

I wanted to chip in and say I would prefer for us to be together from the beginning. A pre-established party which we could work out in OOC as to how that may've come together.

Well, Ice DID write "Six brave little mice have banded together, set on solving the clock's issues and making time tick again with the help of the Key of Ages. Each with their own particular skills, and own story, they have come to save their homes. Hidden between the long blades of grass, obscured by the shadow of an overly ripe pumpkin, stand a wizard, a knight, a ranger, a druid, a rogue, and a healer." So that's just how I pictured us starting, with the group together.

Besides, It doesn't make sense for a healer to go on her own so I'd need to latch Eleanor onto a group.

I'll be willing to hear other ideas if someone has a compelling premises for us all meeting each other right now, though.


Edit: A possible way we could play it out - One of our characters (I'd be happy to do this, but someone else can) has set up a camp in front of the gates that we start at. They wait at the camp for everyone to arrive, knowing that mice from different places will collect here to take on the challenge, since, let's say, the word has been put out in many different mouse cities that time is losing its grip on the realm of mice and something must be done about the Door of Tomorrow. Some brave mice were sent, or volunteered, from different corners of the realm.

*crickets*

Silvadi said:

*crickets*

Click to expand...

No comments on my prompts and ideas, Silv? :(

ordinaryOddball said:

No comments on my prompts and ideas, Silv? :(

Click to expand...

I like the camp idea! I already put my confused wizard in elsewise, but perhaps he did get slight amnesia (time shenanigans, he has to catch up with his memory of the past?) so that it'll make sense when he meets the others again.

postypost

Heeere kitty kitty?

doubleposty

Hey guys where are you, what's up, what do we do

Whoops, give me a day or two to get a better writing time. Moon has kind of taken my life for the past week.

Heh can't blame you. Most of my waking time I want to play Sun <3