Alleyverse Character Discussion

[Lunamor]

5 hours ago, Ookla the Windwhisperer said:

This looks really good! I honestly think this would fit right in. They are the type of character that could easily be wrapped into a plot, and it looks like you put a lot of care into her, making her seem very lively and interesting. Is there anything in particular you feel shaky on? Because to me, this looks awesome!

Thank you! I mostly wanted to make sure that it would make sense for someone to randomly wander into Alleycity and that the merits/flaws are balanced.

4 hours ago, Ookla of whimsy said:

I think this character is great and would definitely fit very well especially since the current plot is taking place in the Mistwarrens. I also think she might fit in well with my character, Asylum, since they are also a morally ambiguous person who loves trickery and money.

Ok, thanks!

[Brik_head]

So i want to play as a chromium compounder, but it is obviously overpowered. I would like some ideas for weaknesses that could help balance the character out. I also have two of my own ideas that could balance it out, but i just want some feedback.

1st: The character has gained some renown for his abilities and so he is banned from most casinos and is on the law enforcement's "dangerous list" or something of the sort. So if he starts making more serious crimes (robberies, murders, etc) then the most powerful lawmen (like a windbreaker) would be on his tail in a heartbeat.

2nd: Maybe he chooses when to use his powers, but he doesn't choose how it manifests. Like it only gives him things useful for his survival, or instead of getting a good hand at a game he gets a free drink instead. 

 

[Koloss17]

20 minutes ago, Brik_head said:

So i want to play as a chromium compounder, but it is obviously overpowered. I would like some ideas for weaknesses that could help balance the character out. I also have two of my own ideas that could balance it out, but i just want some feedback.

1st: The character has gained some renown for his abilities and so he is banned from most casinos and is on the law enforcement's "dangerous list" or something of the sort. So if he starts making more serious crimes (robberies, murders, etc) then the most powerful lawmen (like a windbreaker) would be on his tail in a heartbeat.

2nd: Maybe he chooses when to use his powers, but he doesn't choose how it manifests. Like it only gives him things useful for his survival, or instead of getting a good hand at a game he gets a free drink instead. 

 

currently, your character has underlying trauma. Maybe if you make it more pronounced, it could go sonewhere? Perhaps he has PTSD or flinches when being touched, or possibly having trauma induced amnesia. Also physical, not just mental trauma could be used here. Maybe he’s missing a hand from a freak accident, which can play into insecurities as well as just hindering some of his capabilities, even if he has a prosthetic. Maybe he has some serious nerve damage to a part of his body. These could all be strong flaws while doubling as helping round out a character (which I frankly don’t think you need, but it would certainly make any character more interesting!)

Though if none of those float your boat, I think your thought of being a wanted criminal or something similar could be a decent enough flaw. It doesn’t exactly limit their power level, but it restricts their options. 

[Koloss17]

@Brik_head, how’s things going? Obviously there’s no pressure for ya to get things going, but you seemed to be passionate about your character, and I haven’t heard from you in a while.

Edited January 8 by Koloss17

[Brik_head]

27 minutes ago, Koloss17 said:

@Brik_head, how’s things going? Obviously there’s no pressure for ya to get things going, but you seemed to be passionate about your character, and I haven’t heard from you in a while.

Thanks for checking in. I do really like this character, but I have no idea where he fits into the story or if there are changes I still need to make.

[Koloss17]

1 hour ago, Brik_head said:

Thanks for checking in. I do really like this character, but I have no idea where he fits into the story or if there are changes I still need to make.

He actually would fit into the story quite well, I think. @Ookla of whimsy is in a bit of a slump with their character and where to go, and your character bumping into them would be a good way to get the ball rolling again.

As to changes, it’s mostly finding stronger flaws or lowering the strengths of the character, and then you’re looking pretty good!

[Brik_head]

I made a significant flaw that I feel balances the character (you can see that in the other thread). Cool, so once the character is approved i just jump in when it makes sense?

Edited January 8 by Brik_head

[Stormlightsong]

On 1/7/2024 at 11:15 PM, Brik_head said:

I made a significant flaw that I feel balances the character (you can see that in the other thread). Cool, so once the character is approved i just jump in when it makes sense?

Where would it make sense for Asylum and Eza to meet your character?

Edited January 10 by Ookla of whimsy

[Brik_head]

Flint would be the guy who likes to spend the evening at the bar or at a car show, but i don't know if cars are common enough here to have a show for them or not and Eza isn't old enough to get in the bar so a cheap diner would work well.

[RoyalBeeMage]

Would awakener of the first heightening be possible for a normal power?

[Koloss17]

4 hours ago, RoyalBeeMage said:

Would awakener of the first heightening be possible for a normal power?

Oh for sure! I’d say anything up to third heightening is going to be a minor advantage, assuming the character is not particularly adept at awakening. 
 

If they are, normal merit is probably fair. However, if they are an awakener above all else, it might be higher than that. 

[RoyalBeeMage]

oh ok. if i wanted to create a herald (fancy surgebinder with the surges of gravitation and division, living surgeblade without spren, the ability to come back to life after dieing. you know that kind of stuff. it would also be a new type of herald with different surges to normal surgebinders.) what would a good majer, 2 normals and 3 miners be. i have another idea including the heightening if the herald idea doesn't work out. 

[Koloss17]

13 minutes ago, RoyalBeeMage said:

oh ok. if i wanted to create a herald (fancy surgebinder with the surges of gravitation and division, living surgeblade without spren, the ability to come back to life after dieing. you know that kind of stuff. it would also be a new type of herald with different surges to normal surgebinders.) what would a good majer, 2 normals and 3 miners be. i have another idea including the heightening if the herald idea doesn't work out. 

Hmmmmm. Surges are generally quite powerful, shardblades too. I mean, so long as the character is fleshed out, and has pretty strong flaws, it could be alright.

For them to be a proper herald would be a bit much I think. Immortality and hundreds, if not thousands, of combat training is a recipe for an overpowered character.

 

And alternate universe Cosmere characters I don’t think have been done before. Could they be done? I mean…maybe? We have alternate earths with the Reckoners, so alternate Cosmeres aren’t that far out of the question. However, I would need a very good reason and a ton of worldbuilding to justify it.

[AonEne]

11 hours ago, RoyalBeeMage said:

oh ok. if i wanted to create a herald (fancy surgebinder with the surges of gravitation and division, living surgeblade without spren, the ability to come back to life after dieing. you know that kind of stuff. it would also be a new type of herald with different surges to normal surgebinders.) what would a good majer, 2 normals and 3 miners be. i have another idea including the heightening if the herald idea doesn't work out. 

I'd say alternate Heralds or trying to do things with Honorblades or inventing new Surges. We generally try to stick with canon - filling in gaps where they exist, and getting a little experimental is okay, but stuff like that wouldn't fit here. 

Third Heightening would be totally fine for a normal power, agreed. 

[RoyalBeeMage]

what about a fabril scientist that created a shardblade that forges a connection to the shard of honner?

[AonEne]

19 minutes ago, RoyalBeeMage said:

what about a fabril scientist that created a shardblade that forges a connection to the shard of honner?

I wouldn't go for any new kinds of connections to Shards in general, that has potentially huge ramifications. Artifabrians are also nowhere close to creating anything like Shardblades (and understandably so, what with their origins). Alleyverse scientists, particularly in the Dark Alley, do some wacky things, but they also mostly self-contain their insanity because otherwise they'd be OP as hell. 

[RoyalBeeMage]

for my major merit could i have full Mistborn. my normals be zinc and copper ferucemistry. my miners be second heightening, fabral creation proficiency and the capacity to hum to the pure tones of the shards(only for light combining and moving like navani in rythem of war.) my idea for this character is a fabral scientist who also uses awakened southern scadrial tech. would this be possible? 

[Stormlightsong]

On 1/10/2024 at 12:29 AM, Brik_head said:

Flint would be the guy who likes to spend the evening at the bar or at a car show, but i don't know if cars are common enough here to have a show for them or not and Eza isn't old enough to get in the bar so a cheap diner would work well.

I don’t think a cheap diner would be of Asylum’s taste. Also, you under underestimate the power of asylum being a really irresponsible guardian. I think a bar would work.

ps. Sorry for taking a while.

[Koloss17]

2 hours ago, RoyalBeeMage said:

for my major merit could i have full Mistborn. my normals be zinc and copper ferucemistry. my miners be second heightening, fabral creation proficiency and the capacity to hum to the pure tones of the shards(only for light combining and moving like navani in rythem of war.) my idea for this character is a fabral scientist who also uses awakened southern scadrial tech. would this be possible? 

So the biggest thing to consider when building a character is how powerful they are. Right now, we have

-a person with a Smedry talent

-a Cytonic with only the ability to teleport and cause illusions

-an iron misting

-an obligator with no powers other than being smart and charismatic

-a chromium compounder with the downside of being allergic to chromium

-A forger

-A bronze compounder

-A midnight essence spore-eater with a dead shardblade, with heavy trauma and in an abusive relationship 

-The main villain of the era, who is an A-bronze F-Tin Twinborn, who is completely blind. He has recently acquired fifth heightening and A-steel and A-iron spikes. He is also slightly insane.

Generally speaking, make a character with the base power level without any significant flaws be around the strength of a mid-tier Twinborn. You can definitely have a full Mistborn, but the more powerful the character is, the bigger the flaws should be.

Additionally, the more you develop the character, making them more interesting and 3-dimensional, the more you can get away with having a stronger character. Since this is a storytelling RP over a gameplay RP, the more interesting and well developed your character is, the happier everyone will be.

As you can see from our current roster, the strongest character is a pseudo inquisitor who is still getting a hang of their powers. However, they are also the main villain, which means that people will naturally gang up on them. The whole idea of power level in this case is to make it so that you find that sweet spot between fun to RP and not encroaching on other people’s ability to be useful in the plot.

Besides powers, what do you have in mind personality-wise?

[RoyalBeeMage]

right. so just to lower the power of the merits i might have only a major power to be 2nd ideal skybreaker.

his main personality would be all about preaching the law to everyone around him. he would be dedicated to justice and upholding the law. he would most likely work for the police or court system. (though police would probably be more fun). 

flaws. he will uphold the law in any way shape or form. if anyone so much as jaywalks (or equivalent in this world) he will use gravitation to send them imeadietly to the police station. 

any and all feedback and suggestions for flaws would be appreciated.

[Koloss17]

10 minutes ago, RoyalBeeMage said:

right. so just to lower the power of the merits i might have only a major power to be 2nd ideal skybreaker.

his main personality would be all about preaching the law to everyone around him. he would be dedicated to justice and upholding the law. he would most likely work for the police or court system. (though police would probably be more fun). 

flaws. he will uphold the law in any way shape or form. if anyone so much as jaywalks (or equivalent in this world) he will use gravitation to send them imeadietly to the police station. 

any and all feedback and suggestions for flaws would be appreciated.

So my biggest concern with that is that it might not be all that fun for other players. And frankly, the only way I can see this playing out is immediate confrontation by any and every person they come across. 

[RoyalBeeMage]

replace skybraker with stoneward. he would be a mercenary for hire who also cares a lot about charity?

[Koloss17]

44 minutes ago, RoyalBeeMage said:

replace skybraker with stoneward. he would be a mercenary for hire who also cares a lot about charity?

Well, feel free to either submit a character draft to the Era 7 thread, or send a draft to my DMs. That way I’ll be able to get better advice.

[AonEne]

On 1/19/2024 at 5:12 PM, RoyalBeeMage said:

if anyone so much as jaywalks (or equivalent in this world) he will use gravitation to send them imeadietly to the police station. 

Pretty sure that itself would be against the law, I'm sure Alleycity is far from perfect but I'd also like to think police brutality is stopped. 

[Koloss17]

7 hours ago, AonEne said:

Pretty sure that itself would be against the law, I'm sure Alleycity is far from perfect but I'd also like to think police brutality is stopped. 

You know, I kinda assumed that the troublemakers and criminals being close to if not occasionally more powerful than the law bringers mean that law enforcement (at least in some parts of the city, such as the poorer areas) are not very effective at their job.

I mean, I would assume places like the Sphere are much safer, as Radiants are going to be by and large law abiding.