Archer

I do get notifications every time someone posts here, as do 20 other people. Could we try and keep this a little more one topic please? *cue five people posting 'Okay, Archer!'*

I had to Google what a beamer was, but other than that, this reads well. If you don't object, I'll lower the 'panic attacks' weakness to 'gets frightened', which you can RP as minimally as you like. Normally that would be a -5, but coupled with Meeker's comment, I'm willing to call it even. I still think the mind link is an advantage worth noting though. But it's all your call. I'm going to add these to the list now, but you're still welcome to update and edit them as much as you wish. You can make him intelligent, and a skilled hand to hand fighter. I'm going to refrain from adding him to the list right now while you make any updates (I noticed you have a lot of notes in there) but I'll save him a spot. I put my suggested scores to the right of yours when I quoted your post. But since last night, I thought of an interesting side effect of her bane. Gold heals according to the way one perceives themself. The bane could make some weird things happen when they try to use the goldmind. If you say it's a major weakness, then it has more of an effect than I'd initially supposed. Go with -40 or so. You can afford to keep the PTSD at a minimum, so I'd just leave it as a minor weakness. I'd like to add this bio now so I remember it's been approved. When you can update the history, I'll edit the list again. Looks good. I'll take my mod hat off and talk to you abut TUBA after I'm done here.

1. Awesome roasts, everybody! And I look forward to reading yours, Herowannabe. 2. Ashspren, I have a suggestion. Perhaps while everyone is choosing and voting for Returned names, you could announce who is up for the next round? The last two rounds have shown that people don't tend to post their raps until the third day anyway, so there's not likely to be any overlap. It would go something like, Sunday: Returned names are submitted and next round's contestants are announced, Monday: voting for the Returned, Tuesday: New roasts get posted, Wednesday: vote on roasts.

This is a fun character. I like the amount of thought you've put into it. However, I believe it is OP. When I scored it, I added up 255 skill points and 100 magic points, and subtracted 80 weakness points. That's 175 over. Given the prevalence of goldminds in the Alleyverse, I'm hesitant to add many points for it, but I'm hesitant to brush it off because of the description. Description was a factor in many of our differences in scores. Without being given more details, I struggle to see how the fashion or chocolate weaknesses could be such drawbacks. If you want different scores, I'd like to see them be justified with limits and examples of specific ways and it impacts them that explain the scope of the weakness. And the character will either need some additional weakness, and the weakening or removal of some of their skills. I'll agree with Voidus and Gancho's remarks. It's important to note that a character's intentions are not consider when determining their power level, but if you're under the limit, you're welcome to bump it back up. I'll just request that you'll add all the new information into the bio. I like your variety, and the way you've built these characters. I just have some reservations about the first one. @kenod Your character looks good to go, and has been added to the list.

That's about a 30. But water is rather common. It would depend on his reaction, and how much water is enough to set him off, but I think that would work.

Welcome to the Shard! Have a hemalurgy-free cookie. I'm curious, what's the story behind your username, @herondreamer? I've got this theory that it's a combination of your favourite animal and your favourite Sanderson novella that you are welcome to shoot down.

It's a close call, since the powers are complimentary. I'm going to need to call in our resident Epic expert @Voidus for his opinion. I'm concerned it might be OP. If it is, my recommendation is to give him some additional weaknesses. He doesn't have as many as most characters do. I like the amount of detail you've put into developing this character. It's a great bio. This is for Era Three, correct? ***** @Dr. Dapper Regarding Dwig and Ciera for Era Three, Ciera gets a pass for being non combative, but I'd like some more information about Dwig's power armour. When I scored him, he came to 150 without it. So, I'd like to know what it does, so I can score it as a piece of equipment. It is very likely that Dwig will need another weakness or limitation of some other power to off-set it. The weakness will need to detract as much a the armor benefits him. On a non-scoring read through, I came to the same conclusion.

So this is the thread you've been preparing, you sneaky rascal you. Happy thousandth, Ink! Like some others before me, the Coppermind was my gateway drug. The usual cabal of boredom, fandom, and chance hooked me. Shortly afterwards, I received a stroke of outrageous good fortune, and ended up becoming involved in a fantastic group of likeminded individuals. That's why I've stayed so long. That, and the memes. I really like the format of this site. No other forum comes close to being as easy to read and well structured as this one. The sigs are short, there's no ads, the text is a nice font and black on white. That really jumps out. But I love the subtle details too. The ranks, the filter, the widgets, even the way the administration works. I appreciate all of it. I know I'm supposed to say something here about loving the community (which I do), but have you seen the emojis? THERE'S A NINJA FACE.

It gets the job done. Don't worry about it. Thanks for pointing that out. I'll fix that. I would like to take a look at it so I can make suggestions and add it to the list. So if you could post it here, that would be appreciated. I don't know if you've been following the reform process, but in case you haven't, I should introduce you to a new system we've come up with for keeping everyone's characters at a similar power level. I encourage you to take a look at the Index to give you an idea of what power level we're aiming for this era.

I made my comments in the quote. Thanks for doing this, Sorana. I like the updates you've made. You can ignore the bolded text, they're just my notes. The only thing I'd like is an answer tot the purple question. Assuming it's a middle-of-the-road answer, I feel comfortable approving this character for Era 3. And friendly reminder, please don't double post, @Sunbringer.

Yes, transferred Era two characters will be reevaluated. I'm also recommending that when you ask me to move a character to the new list you reread the bio and update it. I intend to get to that soon. Maybe tomorrow, it depends on my schedule. Sorry for taking so long on this front. ^ Valid points. The power problem you're bumping into is that second ideal Elsecaller and Division is powerful combo. You could get away with it if it was first ideal, but as is, it's 25% over what we're aiming for (I'm assuming the blade is dropped). It's hard to decide how much the weakness negates their abilities. I don't know how often he zones out, or how much can go on without him knowing while he's daydreaming. You've got a bunch of small weaknesses that add up, but once again, I don't have enough detail on them for me to assume they have anything other than a mid-level impact. With the obviously good fighting skills, that'll bring him closer, but not all the way to where I'd like them to be. As always, my recommendations are reduce amount of powers, increase effect of weaknesses or provide more detail (like hard limits etc.), and look at weakness that limit his ability to use his powers (those are the best ones, points-wise). But overall, good work. I like the amount of thought you've put into this. I also put a link in my sig for the time being. Obviously it's overpowered, but its nature means that its guaranteed to be passive, right? It can't attack anybody, or even communicate. I can't shake the feeling that there's some combination of powers that I'm missing that will give it the capability to grow up really fast and take over the world, so I'm going to strongly recommend that you keep it in DA territory. (That grey area where weird stuff is both possible and allowed.) And consider turning my assumed non-combativeness into an explicit restriction. What I'm trying to say is RP responsibly. It's also going to be hard to RP in the traditional sense, but I know you love a challenge. So sure, it's approved. But I'm glaring at you for setting difficult precedents. While it helps to have a bottleneck in the approval process in order to ensure consistency, I do appreciate when other people chime in with their expertise and input. That's why this is a public process. I like naming people after one-syllable objects that sound like names in the right context. 'Amount of sacrifice required scales with power of the being.' Like snake scales? Please clarify. Either way, I think that'd some extrapolation of Dakhor monk's powers is okay. '(I'm not totally clear on how this type of Dakhor power works. It will be the same as the teleportation power, but I don't understand if the sacrifice with the teleportation makes the bone grow or if it just activates a specific power.)' The way I understand it, their bones are in specific shapes to allow them to do specific tasks. I assumed they all had the shape for teleportation already programmed in, and it just needed to be activated, but it could be the other way. We know very little about them, so you've got some wiggle room. Looking at power level without actually quantifying it, we're looking at a one investiture being with a power upgrade, of above average intelligence (smart), and several years of extensive combat training. That's going to end up being OP, I think. I recommend adding another weakness. The ones you have now don't hinder him too much. The other option is getting into more detail about how specifically these impact him, and maybe that will scrounge up some more points, but I don't think it'll be enough. He's just a very competent and strong guy, so he's naturally pretty powerful. Going off of the Index, I put it at 100 for magic. Is his command of non sentient like a Rithmatist's (requiring specific explicit commands?). That's important to know when judging his power level. 15 on intelligence (for good talker), 50 for Hand to Hand (for training at the monastery). You're close, you just need another weakness to drop him down a bit. I like where you're headed with this. Nicely done.

Do you count the ability to cook as a skill I should substract some points? Same with other "fluff stuff" e.g. Damaya knows like embroidery or painting? – Sorana I think it really depends on how you use them. If your character depends on these skills for survival and uses them a lot, then I would consider subtracting points. However, if you’re are giving your character fluff skills, then I think you’re fine, just make sure you clarify them with Archer first when you make the character. – Snipexe I subscribe to a similar mentality as Snipexe. I add points for skills and powers that make a character more capable than the average human. I assume that the average person is capable of some basic skills and has hobbies that develop their character. I would not apply points for ‘fluff stuff’, unless I felt they amounted to an extraordinary ability, or were extremely rare. On the intelligence topic, what can be considered average intelligence? -Kenod Intelligence is hard to quantify. Going by IQ would be a nightmare. If they were in school, I’d say someone of average intelligence would get B’s in most of their classes. Smart would get A’s. Why does Melody level ability and normal ability in Rithmatics have different scores? - Kidpen That’s a mistake. (Although I like how Karnatheon managed to defend it). I intended to make people with that level of ability (and normal line-drawing skill) ranked more powerfully. I always wanted to make it more difficult to get her level of skill, given its rareness and potential to revolutionize the art, so its set up so that those with her level of ability are worth 60 point. I’ve clarified that in the post now. Thanks for pointing that out. I have a question regarding character advancement. If my Era 3 character advances, gains new skills, or a new weapon, speaks an oath, whatever, and then is over the 100 point border. Does that mean, I can't play him/her the next Era anymore? – Sorana Swearing oaths is a very slow process, the RP tends to move quite a bit faster than, for example, the SA books do in time. It takes several months at least of particularly trying and appropriate circumstances to swear the next oath. As for how it should be handled, honestly I think it should be the same as any power addition, a question that is floated past everyone and if no one has objections then it is allowed. - Voidus I agree with Voidus’ view. Inevitably, people will end up gaining power. Mistings can become savants as they practise their skills, for example. But to prevent rampant power creep, we’re going to have to be more conscious of it, and discuss it when it comes up, I think. One thing the group may ask for is the addition of a new weakness to go with the new power. Archer, the point cap will definitely need to be improved, if only because the nature of the system has changed. When you set the 100 point cap, you intended it to only be for investiture, to see if a character is OP. We didn’t take into account the fact that characters are more than their investitures, and then we added all this stuff with out raising the bar. My point is that you can have a pretty decent KR, who wouldn’t be OP. But as soon as you say that they were a soldier and are skilled in hand to hand combat, they are OP. That doesn’t seem right to me. My idea would be to have multiple scales. Let’s say you can put 100 points into investiture, another 100 into the amount of skills they can have in a given area, and and a few more for gear that they could have on them at a given moment. - Mac How about you can use Investiture points to acquire skills but you can't use skill points to acquire Investiture? If we went with that I'd suggest probably a 2:1 split, so probably 100 free points, 50 skill points. So Investiture cap is still limited to 100, which I think prevents most of the broken combos. - Voidus That’s a valid point, Mac. We definitely need more points. I intentionally kept the skills and magic powers in the same total so that non-magical characters could pick up extra skills to compensate. I think Voidus’ suggestion works and would like to adopt it. (I’ll put it in the post.) I have my characters' bios done, with points tallied up and everything. I'll post one here, and archer, if you find anything I did wrong, lemme know. If I got it mostly down, maybe we could use it as an example bio? Like, a template? - Gancho I’m going to make a few edits, but I think that would be a useful addition. I’ll add it. Thank you. (I changed the score a bit. I consider the loss of both arms to be a greater weakness than you gave it credit. And I added some for the PTSD.) If Dapper is pointing up WoT, then should I draft point values for Warhammer 40k? It seems like interest in playing Space Marines has grown, at least since I was last active. – @Grey Knight That would be much appreciated. Please do! Thank you, King T and Dr. Dapper for your contributions! You threw me off there for a minute. I was wondering why everything was a weakness, then I realized you subtracted for power instead of weaknesses. It's not a problem, I'll flip them when I post it. I'd love to post this, but I need some things clarified first. I'm pretty sure you meant for one of the first ones to be female, instead of two male options. In the second paragraph, I think the first line pasted weirdly. If you meant to put '++1-++6 -1200.' I'm going to need you to explain. Finally, I don't understand what you mean by this: '-30 points+dreamwalking'. Otherwise, great work so far!

Klasten bit his tongue. He had a clever remark prepared, to be delivered in his best Island impersonation, but frustratingly he couldn't say it. Then again, he thought, getting between her and what she wants right now probably isn't the best idea. For once he was glad no one could see him. It saved him from being dragged into heated moments like the one that had just transpired. By chance, he happened to look into a small pool of dark liquid that had formed on the ground. An unobstructed view of the ceiling was reflected there. Then it started to fade. Why are the lights going out? He watched, with increasing anxiety, as his vision faded. Darkness encroached upon his world like the tide sweeping towards a beach. Within moments, he had gone completely blind. Starvin' Domi, was all he could bring himself to think. He grabbed hold of the wall and held on to tightly. A little dazed, he stood passively, listening to the others talk. Their voices sounded distant as panic consumed him.

They're really into hemalurgy. I keep telling them they should use their skills to start a home improvement show, but they're always like 'No! Nails should be used to steal people's souls, not hold up walls.' (That's also the reason why they don't have a base anymore. They had to move into an alleyway after The Incident.) Shoot me a PM if you're interested in joining TUBA. We're also a baking guild, but there's significantly less death involved. (We don't have a base either. The DA stole the nails from ours, and the alleys were taken, so we dug ourselves a hole and became an underground organization.)

Whisper: It's a fine weakness, but as someone who has RPed a mute character, I feel obliged to warn you it's tough. It's doable, especially for you, but makes you think differently about writing scenes. While this weakness can be assumed with spikes, I like when people explain its extent. I agree with your assessments, but that comes with an asterisk on it as we keep adding new ways to get points. That's annoying, because these are relatively weak characters and don't fight much. I fear fighters will end up being much higher. I'll have to check a few other bios tomorrow, but that seems to indicate to me that the cap needs to be raised. I like what I've seen of the character. It doesn't seem OP to me, and the defining weakness should prove fun to work with. Especially for one so smart, not being to control the conversation would lead to some interesting coping mechanisms. But I'll leave the development to you.

Good point. Fixed it:

I'll add this. If I recall correctly, you never outright named him. Maybe it was someone else who coincidentally met his description...

Some of that is built in. That's why immortals score higher and knowledge of your given magic system is considered when determining how powerful it makes you. What's going to happen with some is these is combination and repetition. If someone's physically capable, they might overlap with some skills eg. melee and hand to hand are pretty similar, and rely on similar base skills. So I wouldn't count both when scoring, I'd just do a combined score that seems appropriate. It's not an exact science. The opposite could happen with intelligence. Being smart in languages, math, chemistry, and hemalurgy could all be added respectively, giving you a higher score than just a base 60 for high intelligence, eg. 20+20+20+20=80. I'm going to have to give people leeway, assuming they know some stuff, but geniuses could score really highly. That's my first instinct, I'm going to have to think about that. I'm tempted to ask who the father is, but I'm worried what your response will be.

I'm hoping this will be the final draft, beyond additions to the sections others have volunteered to improve, and a few minor updates which I can make to this post instead of posting it again. (It feels like I just posted an update, but I don't want people to miss these new additions.) After that, this can go to live in the Character thread or Guide thread or wherever it's going. EDIT: @Snipexe wrote the bulk of the updates. The Equipment list and skills section are his creation. All I did was edit them. A huge thanks to him. At first glance, the points for skills seems high. I was tempted to half all of them. But then I got to thinking that if someone spent fifteen years training with a gun, they would end up being better than some of the magic users on the list. That said, like everything here, I'm open to revisiting them. Because of the skills, I'm seriously considering either upping the cap to 125 or, or allotting more points for weaknesses when I score. I've decided I'm going to try out this version on the submitted E3 bios, to see how the average character scores. If it's higher than I'd like and they're not OP in my opinion, I'll tweak something to make it work. Most weakness lessen character's ability to use their skills anyway, so I expect people will score lower on that section than they'd expect. Thanks to everyone who has contributed so far. EDIT: The points cap for a character is 150 points. 100 of these may be used for points from any category, like magic. 50 of the points may only be used for skills. THE INDEX: FOURTH DRAFT Additional Equipment List: (first draft) Example Character Bio (scored):

Thanks, Gancho. I would appreciate that. That is a good question. I don't know how that works.

Except for me. I'm real. Would you like some lemonade, sir? And perhaps some for your 'friends'? He had trouble speaking in air quotes while holding the thermos at the same time, but being a good butler, he managed it. Still being a good butler, he was there to kill them, but he was too polite to mention it and spoil the mood.

Q&A Why is duralumin feruchemy +30 points? - Jac That was mostly a convenience thing on my part, to lower the number of levels I had to work with. But in its defense, you can use it to manipulate people, so it's a bit like being an emotional allomancer. Have you ever wanted to end a relationship? Just store your connection and the girl's good as gone. I think it could have combat applications. It's one of the few powers that can turn an attacker into a friend. You don't need to drop them if you can take away their reason for attacking you. Plus, it's handy for worldhoppers, which everyone in the Alleyverse is. Our characters get to experience its full benefits. Also, what is the point-addage for Shardplate? - Jac They're pretty comparable to being a pewter misting in terms of enhanced strength, dexterity, and ability to take damage. So I'd say we're looking at around 40, maybe 35. They can't be flared and require time to put on, but they provide better speed and jumping ability than a pewter misting, so it balances out. Ways of harming them are pretty similar. They do break and need time to regrow, but that's not too different from the rest a Thug needs after taking too much. Plus, even if your plate is wrecked, it's possible the man inside is unharmed and can fight the next day. Not so for a Thug. Could we put the Index in a Google doc or the first post of this thread? Easier to keep track of that way. - Kidpen Will do. [Lots of comments about chromium compounders]. - Itiah, Ark, and co. Nicrosil and chromium are scored high enough they shouldn't be accessible anyway. Updates: - Changed kandra scoring system (let me know if you think it should go even lower. Trouble is, I know what an OP kandra looks like, and am trying to make them hard to make, but want to allow not OP ones. This puts the baseline possibly higher than it should be. I'm considering switching it to be a rank system, but multiplied by 10. I'm open to suggestions.) - Added other genetic enhancements to Centrifugal section - Changed Returned score. Returned don't need to eat or sleep*, and are functionally immortal. They can befriend animals. They can change their appearance to some extent. They're physically in great shape. And they can sacrifice themselves to save somebody. But that's it. I think the first part gives them some serious advantages, so they still score highly, but I'm taking them out of OP range. They'd be lower than 55, but immortality has got to count for something. Given the prevalence of investiture available in the Alleyverse, and the ability to stockpile, I don't think the need to be fed it counts as too much of a weakness. To Do: - Include general disclaimer about adding points for expertise, experience, and savantism, and taking them away for lack thereof in the final draft. - Tech and skills THE INDEX: THIRD DRAFT

Looking at the coppermind article for Returneds, they still have a lot of power, even if they can't use awakening. But I'll lower the point allotment on them. It's a nice bio. I'm going to tentatively say it would be OP for E3 though. I recommend decreasing proficiency with their investitures, and adding to and expanding on weaknesses. Good bio as well. Given her physical state, I would not consider her to be OP either. My only recommendation is that you change this word if possible, since it has another meaning in the cosmere that it may be confused with. I'll transfer and reevaluate them. Although I encourage you to give their bios a read through again to add any new skills they've developed or experiences they've had. Will thread appear in E3? If not, he doesn't need any special indications. If he is, I'll add the footnote. I'll have to get back to you on OPness once Voidus shares his Epic judging formula. I like the bio though.