Nasuverse You're trapped in FRO!

Tyrantviewer · Jan 18, 2015

If you do, then please do something intersting with him, I don't want my contribution to be "element used by the traitorous asshole that was in two episodes"

But yeah the idea originally for the metabolism was that once he got it going he could use it to keep the general level of mana from going too low, a way of effecting the level of mana in an area, which while inefficient, would have been the first of its kind at the low levels. It was when I saw the parallels with biology that i though of using a blood element.

As for the blood as a prana battery, some of the stuff I didn't put in was the spells he would set up to draw from that battery. reinforcement meant to draw from that prana (more like reinforcing how blood strengthens tissues than anything else) but Then I decided to go with runes as a specialty since biology is more of an area of study than a magic system.

The blood mage vibe with the runes and blood felt right, and could be interesting since blood could be a potent ink for runes just from a msytical standpoint, and with it being his element, his infusing his own with prana all the time, it means that he can do instant runes with psychokinesis, especially in combination with other spells, like stabbing someone while using infusion (psychogenesis and psychokinesis together to push blood into somthing) and then twisting that blood into some runes so they go off inside of an enemy, even worse if it could be made to mix with their blood and have the spell spread through that medium, transmute blood to fire anyone?

One spell I thought of that I didn't mention I called Blutlied (blood song) it uses blood as a medium for sound, it is kind of the reverse of the sonic spell of the prismatic duke, using all the blood in the area as a medium for sound rather than sound as a medium for a spell. It would be like feeling a song in your bones during a loud concert, but covert, and if it would be disrupted like curses (and thus not reliable to comunicate with allies in battle) then a spell tenetively called Blut- Wolke (blood cloud) to create a mist of blood, then the sound would be projected like a speaker. I also had the idea of maybe having an offensive use, like the water hammer the orc boss had, bypassing defenses by transmitting violently loud sounds into their blood.

I had one other idea that fused his element, runes, and interest in biology, organic runes. Like how Illya rearanged hexi's circuits to give him mysitic eyes blood vessels could be shaped to mimic runes and rune sequences. I once read that Blood vessels can natually reshape when the cardiovascular system is under stress (narrowed arteries can cause need by vessels to grow to keep potentially deprived vessels oxygenated) but it is a long term thing. This Idea would use concepts behind his element and the cure spell to shape runic spells into his flesh, which would then be constantly fueled by his prana infused blood, and using Blut Geburt (blood birth, somthing between cure and psychogenesis, that turns prana into blood via the body's natural functions) creating new or reshaping old vessels wouldn't adversly affect his blood pressure.

This could lead to a bunch of minor but focused spells being constantly active for him, whether or not his circuits are active, but it will be only workable after the game unless the bodies get even more realistic.

Origninally I had some spells based of some of the quincy techniques in the recent bleach arc (where they boost their offense or defense by infusing spirit energy into their veins) where alterations on the blood would spread to the flesh (my blood more like iron and it acts like another layer of armor, reinforce the flesh's reliance on blood so it mimics this increase in durability). The organic runes would make this obsolete, however, but one quincy inspired technique I think still has merit is (Blut Streicher or Blut Puppe I couldn't make up my mind (blood string and blood puppet respectively)) which would use psychogenesis on blood in the body to manipulate movement like Illya's eyes, but meant to work on one's self as well, you could support your own movement to quickly change the direction, force, or speed of a movement. It would take practice, but it means you could still move after being paralyzed as long as you can use magecraft, and could possibly be a way around the forced stillness after some sword skills (at the very least you could pull your whole body out of the way of an attack even if it stayed in that cool down position).

how widespread is the knowledge of Hexi and Illya's eyes, if enough know of them than my character would want to work with them to see if he can improve that spell (total biological control, muscle joints and blood to force movement) even if he only made a version that worked on himself.

After the game this self puppetry would be one of the ways my character would get through rehab faster, or at least manage to run if someone came to keep him quiet.

Tyrantviewer · Jan 18, 2015

Wow that last post went longer than I planned. as a final note another spell idea I had was blood golems, not completely made of blood, but infusing blood into something to make it a golem, either via direct puppetry, or a s a temporary familiay, using runes formed by the blood inside the substance to reinforce the effort (like diable reinforced himself at the begining) to hold the whole thing together around the blood controlling it or to boost the effect of familiar making.

Tyrantviewer · Jan 18, 2015

I don't know about Kuradeel but the character as I imagined him would love to try out such a sorcery trait experiment, it would be a major reason to work with Illya after hearing about Hexidecimal, that could even be a reason Illya could advertise her rare elements recruitment, offering to help them make personal spells and sorcery traits (not that she would necesarrily call it that)

on a side note if kirito's musing about eh title abuse becomes truth, I wonder what other special titles will occur, I can't help thinking that if my character ended up with one via extrodinary effort in support or biological manipulation in his research that his title would be rather creepy, "The red Butcher" or "the Bloody Wizard" the second would sound more apropriate if he became Illya's disciple/guinea pig.

As an aside, a sourcery trait of storing prana in one's blood actually sounds like one of those things a establishe clan of magi in the Nasuverse would have, a way for them to use huge amounts of prana or pull off very potent spells while not neccessarily having extraordinary circuit capacity.

Tyrantviewer · Jan 18, 2015

I used german for the spells after a concept in the Dresden Files, where all wizards use foreign language as spell words for insulation, to disassociate them from everyday language. The reasons would be different but it fits in with the self hypnosis the nasubers arias are used for, Foreign words would be strange and there for more mystical. Shirou does that a bit using english for Trace on.

Also, since the language functions in the first chapter indicate that the game auto translates, could my character find enough german phrases to do what I am doing.

Also since the translation software is a thing, are there people caught in the official launch that aren't in japan. I could see it go either way, the internet would let the game go online everywhere, but Kayaba might have limited the initial launch to one country to minimize lost connectivity, which would trigger the nervegear's kill switch, or maybe he has enough safeguards against that and would want subjects from as widespread a sample as he could get (canon and FRO kayaba both)

I say this because I envisiond my character, as me, not me in japan. Also it would make silencing all the victims more difficult, and provide issues with people like my character, who would want to meet up with his comrade in real life, which would be epecially difficult if they all lived in different countries and he only speaks english.

paintedspear · Jan 24, 2015

Tyrantviewer said:

living animals can be turned into familiars as well and magi prefer this type more as other types since they are quick created and easily controlled by them. But these animals become magical monsters over time and the best example for this are the Blood Worms.
They are true deviations from biology that cannot be explained by immature research or sudden mutations. They can be ranked into three categories, which change as the creatures age and increase in power towards becoming higher existences. The lowest rank is Monstrous beasts , which then change into Phantasmal Beasts and finally become classified as Divine Beasts.

above was all found in the type-moon wikia
but It does seem like you can make a living species.

Tyrantviewer · Jan 24, 2015

Awesome, that is just what I would do, once I was out of the game of course.

One another note, this means that Silica will be able to tame her canon pet, making it a familiar. I was worried that she would be forced to either kill it for materials, or keep it without any sort of familiar type benefit.

What is dissapointing is after reading the page you referenced it seems that living familiars still have a prana cost, I guess it makes sense since the connection is still need to be maintained, but hopefully the cost would be lower since the burden of animating a corpse is absent.

I wonder if the tranformation into magical beasts need multiple generations or if it can happen to the very beast you make into a familiar, If it was done carefully creating a creature that can gain some prana on its own would be possible.

I wonder if the (metabolism) mystery could be used, if it could be set up so the familiars could use it (familiars can be made that can perform spells) then the prana cost could be completely negated, or the familars could even pay back prana. That could be interesting familiars gathering prana to fuel their master rather than vice versa. Since they can run far afeild of their creator that could avoid the issue of reducing the local mana concentration.

I can also see familars being very useful for rune masters, they could set up runes while the master is occupied, immagine the landmines used against the 5 floor field boss set up and maintained by familiars until their master could kite the enemy into position. Even if they could only maintain and not set up spells (runes would seem like the spells they could deffinitely set up on their own.) it would be very useful, a familiar could have a standing order to maintain a field spell type effect to support the master who could fight or cast to take advantage of the effect.

Tyrantviewer · Jan 25, 2015

What exactly is Drudic Magecraft, I have heard it mentioned, but unlike runecraft I haven't heard of the nasuverse equivalent to the real life runes, and unlike gemcraft, i haven't heard of the explanation for a system that is senisble by Nasuverse rules without a neccessary real world equivalent (as in it may not be based on the actual druids).

Is it just the term for players with a certain build magic wise? It seemed to be mentioned in the same context as runecraft and I have heard mention of a tutor for it on the forums but not in story.

This leads into what I hear from daniel about runes-
I pictured runes as a sytem like kayaba's numerology, but more limited. Put the right stuff together and you can get almost any effect, the difficulty would be determining the recipe as it were and each rune has its own context that makes it more difficult than just stringing words together.

Daniel said for example that there was no fire rune so runecraft wouldn't be able to do fire magecraft- but there were several water runes so that would be easy. You started of you talk with how the Nasuvere runes may be different from the futhark (in which case I am goin about this all wrong) but if they are the same, the futhark runes can have several meanings, and even more strung together, there are runes that can translate to sun or torch for example, so fire effect would start with those runes.

I brought this all up thinking of whether I should change what my character focuses on, I was thinking runes would synergize with blood based magecraft, and provide a channel that could produce many effects providing versatility, but if not then maybe druidic magecraft would be a stonger base.

Revlid · Feb 6, 2015

Tyrantviewer said:

It's difficult to tell what "druidic" magic might really have been in the real world, since most records of druidic practices come from Christian and/or Roman sources, both of which have a history of attempting to discredit their cultural enemies and predecessors. Human sacrifice is something often attributed to druidic practice, for example, but it's ambiguous as to how much of that is true and how much of it is a Roman invention or assumption. If we're to really split hairs, "druid" was a term for the educated, not for priests and magicians - the latter fell into the druid category, but it wasn't their exclusive label.

The best thing to do is to draw its recorded practices, the popular perception of it, and any actual Nasuverse references (basically just Robin Hood, who was son of a druid and so knew the forest well enough to earn the Protection of the Fairies) into a sort of historiography, from which we can tease the general shape of the thing.

My conclusion would be that druidism, though a term originating in Celtic practices of religion, medicine and woodcraft, is used as a more general term referring to magecraft rooted in the power of nature. Practitioners can divine by examining the flight patterns of wild animals, gain power from ritual hunts and blood sacrifice, commune with fairies and nature spirits, provoke illness and poison, and are well-versed in herblore and the mapping of natural leylines. It's an understanding of how best to make use of those parts of the World that are rich with life, but still left untouched by human hands and thoughts. As a result, it has become steadily less widespread as humanity has colonized the entire planet, with magi of the developed world forced to cultivate their own quarantined microcosms within which untainted nature can weakly thrive, or else worm their way into guardianship of untouched national parks and so on.

So its root philosophy is something along the lines of "life is power".

While I'd expect Wood, Earth, and Water to be the most advantageous normal Elements for a practitioner of druidic magecraft, Blood's a good fit for a Rare Element. Certainly, it offers synergy with blood sacrifice and the brewing of potions.

Tyrantviewer said:

Well, we know you can use runecraft to start fires, because both Touko and Cu Chulainn have done so. Apparently they both used the Ansuz rune, which makes little sense to me, but whatever. There should be others with meanings like "sun" or "fire" that should work - Googling turns up Sowilo, f'rex.

Runes seem to be based on magical principles similar to how mystic codes are constructed, really. Forging magic power into a channel that sets off a spell when activated (generally by running prana through it). It's just more useful for quick, fleeting uses... but less useful for advanced, long-term uses, because you need to use a specific alphabet where esoteric applications require elaborate combinations of letters, and each effect or contributing effect is anchored to an actual rune that can be physically tampered with.

Tyrantviewer · Feb 7, 2015

Thanks Revlid, you give the best explanations.

I was waffling on using runecraft or druidic magic because of the theory I came up with for my character.

When I first imagined him as a monk like guy (who found direction adn motivation when he discovered his element) playing with prana to create things like (metabolism) i thought of what his grand theory to magecraft would be (both for when he got out of the game and because I like to think of the mechanics of magic in the games I play in real life) I thought of first a macrosms microcosm idea, ie the world and the soul were reflections of each other, giving this a biological bent with his element being discovered, That evolved to the idea that mana and natural magical phenomenon are organic, as in part of a vast organism-like system, with him styling magecraft as taking advantage of and reflecting that.

Runes would have been set up so different sequences could work together or their effects could flow to modify others (think prana as blood and rune sequences as organs) this would take years for him to be skilled enough to pull off but would be his concept to work towards

With Druidic magecraft it would be more litteral trying to tie into that idea of the world as an organism by using druidic practices to effect that biology (think using healing like magecraft to modify the body for a certain effect but the body of something you are inside of). So reading signs in nature would be taking its pulse, rituals and sacrifice would be like unto certain biological proceses or organs, with the results being the products therof being the mystical equivalents like hormones (potions) or other reactants (trigging the immune response or something like that would be annogulous with causing some natural phenomenon, like encouraging it to rain)

I picture the character getting really into the "natural" magical phenomena, animals and floor effects, and leylines if the instructors have mentioned them. After exiting the game and all the kerfufle afterwards I can picturing him having maping the worlds leylines and natural mystic phenomena as a means of study for his lineage, not necesarily aiming at the root, but at understanding the world's anatomy to divine its physiology.

Anyone have any other cool ideas of what to do with a magic element and druidic magecraft?

Tyrantviewer · Feb 7, 2015

sorry forgot to add this

The reason I am torn twixt runes and druids, is that the first as channels for magecraft seems to go with the power of blood thing I have thought of, but the second seems like it lends itself towards the long game and goes with the organic and living potential in the blood element.

Also, could you use runes to create longer term spells, obviously preventing tampering is a must, but like the body runes I mentioned earlier the idea of something like a standing stone or part of a wall having runes carved into them that people could pour prana into in their own way, like an offering of blood for example. I also pictured longer rune sequences like the coding like numerology I picture kayaba using, but like poetry to numerology's coding, which goes with their use in old poems, the development problems would be like finding the right rhyming sequence or mystic equivalent.

Tyrantviewer · Apr 11, 2015

I had one idea when thinking on what sort of things a average one could do. If it was me I would be hard pressed to find a good plan for what to do with my magic- paralyzed for too many options- no matter what I picked I would feel that there might have been better options

Then I remembered 2 things. I a fanfiction (breaking bones breaking walls) for fate/stay night where some of the stat sheets included skill in various aspects of the different elements- I.E. fire including thermodynamics and entropy- wind including actual wind and also static energy. but this was after ther first bit of inspiration I had- Magicka

The Idea I came up with is a average one that focuses on refining spells in each aspect of each element- spells meant to combine and work together- so more advanced spells would be easily developed. for example combining ether fire and wind in their aspects of modification, thermodynamics and directed movement- would used to replicate magicka's haste spell.

The character doing this would likely act as a support - working more on creating useful spells than going out and fighting- I can imagine him/her using personal or donated funds to create a school like building where a research type guild would be situated- experimenting with various spells and systems- trying to create spells to help everyone else while trying to crack the magecraft system as best they can. basically the clocktower if it was made up of engineers, gamers and spacebattlers, instead of mad scientists, evil aristocrats and politicians.

I picture the character personally imitating magicka at first as a way to find some path amist all his/her options and then expanding on the aspects of the elements and the potential modular design of spells as his/her own system, trying to figure out how to replicate magicka's life element and other advanced spells while coming up with new ones while experimenting. A lot of what he/she would do early on after discovering this path would be trying to create useful combo spells to trade with other players- I see this as how his/her first party and then guild would form as those interested in what he/she was doing and indebted to him/her for help would join in until it snowballed.

And of course there is allways the fear of what if they discover the formula for vortex or some other disasterous spell.

Tyrantviewer · Apr 11, 2015

This magicka style would also lend itself to mystic codes- as the sort of simple modular spells could be put together easily- especially for magicka type element weapons- where a simple effect like frost (chills an area when prana is channeled) could be added and thus made available to any reguardless of what elements they can use.

That could end up being agil's calling card actually- instead of casting every elemental spell- he could enchant any elemental effect into his products making simple spells universal.

With the combo heavy style I am picturing parties could pull of damaging spells without much spellcasting ability themselves- it could be a great way to let the rear gard acquire magical muscle.

Ward type spells like the self cast sheild+element would be broadly useful as well- especially as enviromental hazards occur more often. Sheild+cold (aspect of the fire element, probably thermodynamics) would solv asuna's problem in 12.3 easily. In fact I thing asuna could use this system pretty well- magicka's fire and forget would work with her style- she is pretty much doing it already with her weapon enhancement+spell combo- just like when you add water to a lighting element weapon before attacking in magicka.

orumon · Sep 16, 2015

I'd probably be an [Explorer] who devoted himself to mapping the safe zones on new floors. Probably a 4:1 speed build so I had a decent margin of error. If I knew what element I had, it'd probably be one of the [Common] elements. Since my task would require me doing it continuously I wouldn't have much time for dedicated research, so I'd basically be relying on publicly sold and used spells, rather than anything I devised on my own.

When [familiars] came out I'd have actually devoted some time to getting that spell and creating a few, probably of the small flying animal types, as well as developing or simply learning a way to share their senses.

As safe zones became more sparse on the higher floors I'd probably shift from exploration to [Forward Fortification Builder], and that would require study in [Bounded Fields] and [Architecture]. Likewise, my character build would the shift to a 3:2 Strength emphasised build.

Basically a Mid~Front Liner with an exploration emphasis.

Wing101 · Oct 19, 2015

Been awhile since I was here I decided to roll for the character I'm planning on using in my fic now that I have time and motivation to write. It's night here so I'll edit and more tomorrow.

Okay here's link to my roll in d20 dicebag

And the barebones sheet.
Name: Wing101
Gender: Male
Appearance: Well kept Black Hair, Black Eyes, Lightbrown skin, average height, a bit chubby. H
Circuit Count:29
Circuit Quality:39
Total Prana Capacity:1131
Elements: Western Average One
Origin: TBD.
Equipment: Blue T-shirt
Spells:
TBD.

Tyrantviewer · Nov 10, 2015

Wing101 said:

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Where is this fanfiction? I keep hearing about it but can't find it.
also I look forward to what you do as an average one considering my last few posts

Tyrantviewer · Nov 10, 2015

I just got back into all of this after being busy with school for a while and I had an idea- my original concept was for a character with the blood element (which is being used by leviathan in the story so thanks again Daniel for using my idea) who would combo it with other magecraft (see my previous posts) to create new and optimized spells. I Never considered much about what he would do if illya choose him as a "pokemon"
I personally would be flattered and delighted- joining the best guild with some of the best players- and while I wouldn't know about Illya I would still see her as adorable. Then I would be disapointed like Leviathan if I couldn't measure up, the difference being that I have thought of spells to use so i would get out of that funk quickly (like I hope he will once the others start trying to help him, my money is on silica or asuna being the first) and try to catch up/ learn from them. I would try to make my own twist on the rediculous reinforcement shirou has- and some way to replicate that internal sword body armor. I would also think about being the groups medic.
The bigest change would be runes- I thought of using runes because it would be magecraft I could do before blood was enabled- and using blood to write runes->using surgery/psychognesis to do so internally (perpetually active rune veins anyone?) would be interesting- but as the latest chapter shows Illya doesn't like associations with Diabel- so my character would look for other options because he wouldn't want to disapoint her- and probably ask her about it, intending to convince her there is no other option if she can't help him- then she might mention alchemy, which he would jump on. I see him becoming an apprentice like Hexi- trying to do organic alchemy or jsut blood as a medium for alchemy- blood into iron for attacks and defense and other ticks- that metabolism trick I thought up could be useful for the sealed room/ atomospheric prana lose alchemy has to deal with.
In any case how the various pokemon are getting along would make for some good chapters.

NobodiesHiiro · Jan 20, 2016

Figured I'd get in on this, even though it seems like this thread may be dead. I hadn't actually realized that until after I spent a good while developing my sheet, and thus I became a Thread Necromancer.

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Name: Grass[/font]
[font='Times New Roman', serif]Age at start: 25[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Gender:Male[/font]
[font=Times New Roman, serif]Circuit Count[/font][font=Times New Roman, serif]: 30 circuits[/font]
[font=Times New Roman, serif]Circuit Quality[/font][font=Times New Roman, serif]: 38 units[/font]
[font=Times New Roman, serif]Total Circuit Capacity[/font][font=Times New Roman, serif]: 1140 thaums[/font]
[font=Times New Roman, serif]Element[/font][font=Times New Roman, serif]: Rare(Predator)[/font]
[font=Times New Roman, serif]Origin[/font][font=Times New Roman, serif]: Nature[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Role:Solo Front Liner, specialty is finding the dungeon, mapping/scouting it and getting the information to other clearers. Sharing map data, mob distribution, etc.[/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Point spread: 2[STR] 3[AGI][/font]

[font=Times New Roman, serif]Weapon(s): Bow, claws, hand to hand,[/font]

I would probably have taken the whole death game thing pretty hard thinking along the lines of: “Now the game is like real life, everything can kill you there too, it all just depends on how you approach it that matters.' I imagine that one of the first things I would look into would be bows, as they are something I'm familiar and comfortable with in real life, along with daggers.

I imagine I'd spend the first several floors doing little more than trying to wrap my head around everything and force myself to do something, to be useful mapping the parts of the levels that haven't been mapped and giving the map data out for free through Argo, this eventually evolves into me forcing myself onto the frontline and scouting farther and farther ahead trying to find the best paths forward for everyone involved, likely spending long periods of time outside of safe zones. My thaumaturgy naturally evolving to support my need for security.

I'd had a thought that I could have met my magecraft teacher in the field, and old NPC that has an old school shamanic feel to them I think would be cool. Like an old man, covered in furs, with a headress of a wolfs head fitted with dear antlers and attached via leather chords odd bone trinkets, clay jugs/jars full of strange smelling things, rune covered bones/stones, bone knives, stuff like that.

Somewhere along the line I realize that something is wrong with my magic as some of the simplest things come to me extremely difficulty and others are almost too easy. Spells to increase my senses and physical abilities come almost naturally, along with anything that improves my ability as a [Predator] always come out with added affect and less cost, but anything that strays from that path is almost impossible. Somewhere around here I'd probably, finally, take the element identification test.

As I branch out and learn more about [Being a predator] I'd probably begin working on original spells things that alter the body permanently(Alchemy I think this is), along with things like traps(runes), bounded fields, and what in other games might be called tools, stuff like bombs, poisons, potions, etc. Not necessarily making that last stuff, but definitely using it.

Aria/imagery: ~none thus far~, imagine a shadowy predator pursuing prey through a dark forest as the build up of prana/od, and the last moment as the predator finally takes the prey as the activation of the spell.

Magic/spells:

[Reinforcement] Pretty early on I'd see this as a necessity for a character out on their own, I'd use it to not only increase my overall stats, but primarily to increase things like sense of smell to help with tracking, sight to make shooting the bow farther easier, hearing also for tracking but also to avoid ambushes the same as smell.

[Alteration and then Alchemy(Transmutation)] Alteration Being a derivative of reinforcement it's an obvious next step as I begin learning more about my element and how it restricts me, forcing me to adapt or fall behind, then alchemy later to make the changes permanent. I'd use it to change the shape of who, what I am to better match my element, changing finger nails to claws, altering teeth and jaw to fang and maw, changing the eyes for better vision far off, in low light and the tracking of quick prey, changing the structure of my nose to something closer to that of a wolf or other such animal, changing the ears to pick up on a larger array of sounds and frequencies and likely changing the musculature to allow for sleeker movements more in line with how a predator should move, never really losing the [Human] look, but definitely to the point a trained observer could tell a difference.

[Alarm-Bounded field] simple as it sounds, a simple trigger field tied to a small bell held on my person, meant to wake me if anything enters it. So I can sleep in the field in peace.

[Geas Bounded Field] Anyone entering it with ill intent is seen as agreeing to the terms of (taking ones life into ones own hands) and is tagged as the [Prey] for the time they are withing it, and are unable to leave without the permission of me designated as [Predator], basically the field acts on my element and clearly defines the predator/prey dynamic, likely by lowering stats, awareness, causing fear and anxiety, stuff like that.

[Runic Traps] Made with the element [Predator] in mind, these traps have various functions ranging from capturing an enemy to killing them, though likely not in a wasteful manner as a predator in the animal sense is one that kills to survive, and keep living.

Personality:

Serious, with an inclination towards taking things too literally. Friendly towards children, suspicious of strangers has something of a weakness for women, especially red heads. Has an extraordinarily dry sense of humor, often making jokes without even meaning to, often at the expense of others when something he meant as an honest question is interpreted as a dig, tends to cover this up by smirking like he'd meant it all along. Usually amiable, has a snap temper that can linger for a long time if something doesn't take his mind off of it.

Notes: What's funny is I rolled a rare element and literally thought to myself AWESOME! Wait, what am I supposed to do with this? And going by what I've made up for spells it might be kind of sad that he has soooo much mana, if I don't come up with some more energy intensive spells.

Alright, this is all I have for now, not bad for my rough draft.

orumon · Jan 20, 2016

Okay, here's my new version using the magic randomizer

Character Name: Dorn
Circuit Count: 40
Circuit Quality: 23
Total Circuit Capacity: 920
Elements: Metal, Wood, Water, Earth
Character Build: 2/3 Speed emphasis.

Role: At the start of the death game Dorn probably stayed partied up, which tends to have a more directed purpose than mindlessly wandering. However, once the depth of the magecraft system became clear Dorn would be more devoted to exploring it's depths, developing new spells which could be sold or patented. Since spells would be designed to be used, some tests would have to be in the field, requiring joining a party or guild. Dorn would probably be on the borderline between the frontline and the mid-lines, since any spells designed for the front line would have testing required on current 'top' floors.
Possible member of a guild, although it's not certain. In other words, falling into a mentality of research for profit. A white lab coat would be a ubiquitous part of his clothing.

Equipment: Early on reliance on swords, but Doron would shift to a sword stick later on to fit with the mental image of a mage, probably with a gemstone pommel mystic code to operate as an additional store of prana. Any armour would generally be lightweight.

Specific magecraft: Dorn's self devised magecraft would be focused on overcoming and exploiting the environment (the ground shooting shards of rock at enemies, water becoming high pressure jets, plant life aggressively attacking foes.) Likewise, methods of surviving in hazardous environments would be things Dorn regularly devises and sells. Would extensively use familiars, although none of them would be permanently kept.

Dragonlover553 · Feb 3, 2016

Mokofooja said:

Um... I'm pretty sure that when Kirito logged in in Ep. 1, he had to choose a language, so I'm 99% sure that there's a build in translator. It's not like you actually hear what anyone says, you get electrical impulses representing what people attempted to say beamed into your head by a helmet. A translator wouldn't be that much of a jump when you're in virtual reality.

Dragonlover553 · Feb 3, 2016

I'd try to be a front liner... and probably die horribly in the process. I'd want to wield a spear or a single-hand sword and close or mid-range. I'd want to stick primarily to long range, though. Save up the money to buy the location of the [Martial Arts] [Extra Skill] from Argo... For [magecraft], well, most magi are limited by their innate affinities and abilities, but I'd probably start with the basic triad of [Reinforcement], [Projection], and [Alteration], try to get at least the basics of all [Thaumatugical Systems]. I'd hope to have two or more element, one of which being [aether], and any of the standard four but [Earth]. Not because [Earth] is bad, I just prefer the other [Elements]. Probably mostly use [Rune Magic] combined with [Gem Magic] so I could store Prana for later, [Alchemy] to prepare things in advance(as well as Medical Magecraft. Not dying is [Very Important] to me), [Numerology], for its critical hits, as well as [Holy Sacraments]. I'd have one small familiar, some small bird, for scouting and such, and probably spend time trying to figure out [Shapeshifting]. Maybe become a [Necromancer]. Keep those guys near my [Workshop] though. Probably be in the [Paladins]. Or perhaps start my own guild, call it [The Inquisition] or something. Maybe [Those Guys]. 50/50 STR and AGI build([Running Away] is a valuable life Skill when the world literally exists to kill you and everyone else). The Church's technique for removing the limiters on a person would be much more viable when you can [Reinforce] yourself... not to mention kind of OP. (Three times the effective STR than any player your level is capable of. Seems useful to me. It'd be killer on the equipment, but damn if it can't take down someone you really want dead) I'd be in the "NPCs are just programs" group of that particular debate. If I found out about the "create a Circuit" spell, I'd pay a mint to learn it, then spend my time trying to figure out a way to make a permanent one. Or at least a longer-lasting one.

Prince Charon · Feb 9, 2016

Dragonlover553 said:

I'd try to be a front liner... and probably die horribly in the process. I'd want to wield a spear or a single-hand sword and close or mid-range. I'd want to stick primarily to long range, though. Save up the money to buy the location of the [Martial Arts] [Extra Skill] from Argo... For [magecraft], well, most magi are limited by their innate affinities and abilities, but I'd probably start with the basic triad of [Reinforcement], [Projection], and [Alteration], try to get at least the basics of all [Thaumatugical Systems]. I'd hope to have two or more element, one of which being [aether], and any of the standard four but [Earth]. Not because [Earth] is bad, I just prefer the other [Elements]. Probably mostly use [Rune Magic] combined with [Gem Magic] so I could store Prana for later, [Alchemy] to prepare things in advance(as well as Medical Magecraft. Not dying is [Very Important] to me), [Numerology], for its critical hits, as well as [Holy Sacraments]. I'd have one small familiar, some small bird, for scouting and such, and probably spend time trying to figure out [Shapeshifting]. Maybe become a [Necromancer]. Keep those guys near my [Workshop] though. Probably be in the [Paladins]. Or perhaps start my own guild, call it [The Inquisition] or something. Maybe [Those Guys]. 50/50 STR and AGI build([Running Away] is a valuable life Skill when the world literally exists to kill you and everyone else). The Church's technique for removing the limiters on a person would be much more viable when you can [Reinforce] yourself... not to mention kind of OP. (Three times the effective STR than any player your level is capable of. Seems useful to me. It'd be killer on the equipment, but damn if it can't take down someone you really want dead) I'd be in the "NPCs are just programs" group of that particular debate. If I found out about the "create a Circuit" spell, I'd pay a mint to learn it, then spend my time trying to figure out a way to make a permanent one. Or at least a longer-lasting one.

Um, can you break that up into separate paragraphs, so I can get a better idea of what you're saying, without getting a headache (I know I've done walls of text myself, and it annoys me to have done them)?

Molyneux · Feb 27, 2016

I'm not sure what I'd do if I were put in the situation of playing a death game that got progressively more realistic as it progressed, but I know that when I play these open sandbox games I'm more interested in exploring the world/map and seeing everything then I am in finding more enemies to fight. That's not to say I don't like fighting, just that grinding and fighting its not my primary focus when I explore the game. When I do find enemies I prefer to strike from a distance and use stealth to get the element of surprise and first strike. So what ever build I ended up with would have to support my tendance to explore and I'd probable be more of a gatherer and explorer then a frontline fighter. I'd probably end up working for Argo as one of her little helper rat exploring stuff for her.

I have a few ideas for potential builds. Not necessarily for me, but they'd be cool.

1. Alteration

I primarily got the idea for this build after watching a video from scholagladiatoria on Youtube about sword weights (Sword weights compared - Rapier, Medieval Arming Sword, Falchion, Smallsword https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fy8rhlK3kNY) and Daniel Gudman's talk about how a weapon with history can impart added benefits to the wielder above what the basic weapon should allow.

The basic idea of this character/build would be that once the player got their hands on a good steel sword they kept that same weapon ever since. This player uses alteration to change the shape and properties of their blade to suite whatever their needs at the time are and reinforcement for bodily and weapons enhancement. So the weapon would change from a rapier to a falchion, arming sword, warhammer, handaxe, falcata, estoc, falx, etc. Beyond this magic I wouldn't envision them using much more unless it was something to do directly with enhancing their weapon or enhancing themselves, so they'd likely fall behind the frontliners, but would be versatile against whatever type of enemy they fought and able to custom their fighting style to the situation.

They could have some hero worship of Shiro and his abilities with using different weapons and has tried to emulate him to a degree. They could also just be really stubborn and the game is called Sword Art Online and they're going to use a sword dammit! As for Agility and Strength probably favour speed more, so A:S=3:2.

2. The Windrunner

This build is really simple in concept in concept and execution. They're an archer who has invested every stat they have in agility (S:A=0:5) who is stealthy and fights predominantly mid range. They're obviously not that strong so their bow isn't going to be that powerful, but the sheer speed they can shoot arrows and move around makes pinning them down incredibly hard. This player is obviously a glass cannon that can deal damage, but wont be able to take much, so they're willing to retreat and continue drawing agro while leading the enemy into a more advantageous position from where they can attack beyond reprisal.

For magic I was thinking wind and that the build would work well with the ninja guild (Fuki-something). They could use wind to help with their speed as well as their weapons damage output. Maybe make the arrows sharper and penetrate better, or suck air into the would like bullets so that the arrow bursts out the other side and inflicts grievous wounds when they exit.

Before ranged weaponry was patched in the character would have used throwing knives, which they can continue to use alongside their archery. Using throwing blades would have to include shuriken for trick throws and would only further cement the idea of them belonging with the ninja.

3. The Bokor

This guy is a magic heavy build that part voodoo priest, necromancer and puppeteer/familiar maker. Ideally this build would never get in direct combat themselves as they heavily rely upon reanimated corpses to do what they do. This build reanimates corpses, binds spirits, casts nasty voodoo curses and has used their experience with working with bodies to create a familiar simulacrum of themselves (and others). They're almost never seen personally, preferring to work through their puppet/familiar body.

They work more on the traditional Haitian Voodoo concept about zombies that there are two types of zombie. The first is the one we're all familiar with them being dead persons physically revived, while the second is an incorporeal type of zombie, the "zombie astral", which is a part of the human soul. In Voodoo a Bokor can capture a zombie astral to enhance his spiritual power. A zombie astral can also be sealed inside a specially decorated bottle by a bokor and sold to a client to bring luck, healing or business success. These two typre of zombie reflect soul dualism, a belief of Haitian voodoo. Each type of zombie is therefore missing one half of its soul (the flesh or the spirit).

They use the spirits they capture to empower themselves, their rituals and as their curses, while the physical zombies do all the manual labour and fighting for them. They simply inhabit their familiar and direct the zombies and lay down curses. If everything goes to shit and everything is destroyed in a fight, then at least they're still safe and alive and the only thing lost are some resources and time.

I don't think point distribution really matters with this build as they'll almost never be directly engaging in combat and they can improve their familiar to be faster or stronger as they wish and the zombies can also be tinkered with to improve and them make super zombies (re. Dark Souls zombies and shit). They could even have multiple other bodies they use as a familiar that are all different that all look alike, but are customised and used for different tasks. They could also make familiars of other people for shenanigans.

If he needed to have a weapon then maybe a spear for some distance and the whole staff thing, or a sacrificial kris-like dagger with a nasty curse on it. He'd probably change his name to Baron Samedi once he started with the necromancy. It would probably be a good idea to establish this guy on the zombie floor as there would be plenty of materials to use. There may even be a reason that there are so many zombies in the floor and its a good place to learn necromancy.

4. Agro Control

The build is a combination of magic, stealth and inflicting indirect damage by getting others to kill each other for you. With hypnotism and mental magic coming into its own, having a character that specialises in manipulating and targeting the mind of their enemies to control agro, have enemy mobs tear each other to shreds while they pick off those on the edge of the pack, making them terrified so that the enemies run away from the player so they're not attacked or overrun and being able to calm and mentally manipulate others into giving them what they want/working with them would make sense.

I originally had this idea, then I found that someone had a build almost exactly the same as this on Youtube by ESO (Skyrim : Mage Assassin Build Class : Nightblade, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_QsWdABNfKg) which is actually more comprehensive then my own agro manipulation idea and has effectively supplemented my original idea. Disregard the backstory and shit and just focus on the build.

This is one of the few builds that I could legit play solo, although I could easily see them get in over their head and if they cannot control their enemy into not attacking them they'd be screwed. This is also the build that I'd probably prefer to go for. They'd also work well as part of any group and help weaker groups get further so they could be a mid-liner or a front-liner support player. For weapons I'd probably go with a scary staff mystic code to help with controlling more powerful enemies or some other nasty looking weapon for intimidation factor and aesthetics. They'd also have a crow or raven familiar for scouting and generally for the theme.

5. Spiderbait

As it can probably be guessed this guy uses spider familiars. The reason stems from their name (chosen after one of their favourite bands) and with familiars being a thing they took their name and ran with it.

They use spiders of various sizes and abilities as disposable familiars. They have some giant spiders which they use as their muscle in a fight. Think the Frostbite Spiders from Skyrim. Some other spiders are more varied in their abilities and capable of more effects ranging from exploding in fireballs to glowing in the dark and even mind control. http://elderscrolls.wikia.com/wiki/Spider_Scrolls

The spiders can also weave bounded fields with their webbing. Being able to make bounded fields in webs allows them to be hidden underfloor o in walls, can be made 3D and harder to comprehend to others and can be hidden in plain sight to others.

This build works similar to the Bokor in that they don't come out to fight and rely purely on their familiars to fight for them. This build would be more of a mid-liner who focuses on their study then fighting. They'll be fairly territorial so once they can go and find some cave of shack of their own they can set up outside most of the community. I could see their main form of income being selling their trick familiar spiders to front and mind-liners as disposable familiars. Eg. The spider that glows would be really helpful for dungeon diving or fighting at night and this would allow the players not need to hold a torch or something.

So, opinions?

Prince Charon · Feb 28, 2016

Molyneux said:

A bit tired, and not sure about the rest (especially as this jarred me enough to stop reading), but zero Strength (beyond what you have at game start) on a archer is a bad idea, because you need Strength to pull the bow back, and there are limits to how much Reinforcement can help, limiting you to weaker (shorter-ranged) bows. This will get worse as realism increases - of course, you don't know that realism is going to increase until later, so you could start out this way, and then need to switch over later.

Another concern as realism increases is that Strength would become a factor in Speed, rather than Speed being based purely on Agility.

Molyneux · Feb 28, 2016

Prince Charon said:

Of course the build would have more then starter strength, just like Ilya would have more then just the start agility. Its more about highlighting that the build has a focus build as opposed to a balanced build. Perhaps it would have been better to state a S:A=1:4 would have been better. The idea was never to have the build use massively powerful longbows and snipe from long range, but rather use a shorter bow or a compound bow and flit about a mid range peppering the enemy with arrows.

I'd like to hear you opinion about the others you haven't read and the one you had.

edit: thinking more on it I would have to disagree with most of your assertions. Shirou has a pure speed build and even without his special snowflake abilities he still had a viable build. Yes, he did have IRL experience and knowledge and this certainly helps in the justification of his success, but those factors don't mean that the build couldn't be applied to others. As the situation becomes more realistic the stat distributions would matter less and less until I'd imagine the stats are removed completely. I agree that reinforcement certainly has its limitations, but I'd argue that for the purpose of drawing a bow string it would be more than enough. If players are able to parry and block the strikes from stronger enemies with a weapon then just pulling a string wouldn't be impossible.

Ultimately a build that focused on speed, maybe a S:A=1:9 would be more reasonable, that uses its speed to keep its distance from their enemies makes sense. Confronted with death and the need to fight some may choose to get more health, while others would rather have the ability to keep away from the enemy and run if needed certainly makes sense. Considering this player, much like everyone else in FRO would almost certainly not have Shirou's IRL experiences to aid their combat abilities, wanting to maintain a safe distance and have the ability to bolt if things get messy isn't unreasonable.

Vanigo · Feb 29, 2016

Molyneux said:

Actually Shirou started putting points into strength after the first couple of floors, since people had gotten their feet under them and running around saving people directly wasn't accomplishing much anymore.

That said, wind-element magecraft could definitely clear up the range and power issues a light bow would have.

Nasuverse You're trapped in FRO!

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