Channelknight Fadran

Dorgadir Barydii, Head Engineer, blinked through his little bokoblin glasses. "Yes you... did...

"Whatever. That's not important. I don't mean to speak ill of your machinations, Lord Kavros; simply to provide constructive criticism. I'll be taking my lunch break now."

6 hours ago, ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ said:

Picky swung a second later, thinking along similar lines.

8 hours ago, Ravenclawjedi42 said:

As one was called, Rajib thrusts their lightsaber—still in form III—at the space right in front of Nayla, hoping that the Sith will have solidified by then.

51 minutes ago, Justice_Magician said:

Cloud did not to answer, maybe someone else had figured it out but he certainly hadn't. He moved in front of Nayli just in case.

@Ancient Elantrian @Scars of Hathsin @Shard_Blades

Master Feisyyd set a hand on his shoulder, staring out towards the Assassin. She spoke to her students, but held his gaze. "He is separating body and mind, allowing his essence to scatter freely, and wielding shadows as a medium. Your Presence, Sith, when you enter the state - it comes from all directions. Rather than dissolving your form entirely, or pushing it between dimensions, your physical body exists in every nearby shadow as a probability; but your mind is maintained in a meditative state, so that you can choose an exit at any time."

Krarik chuckled. "All that from a few scattered clues?"

"Similarly," she continued, "your body maintains its momentum between states. If you're moving when you enter a shadow, it will be moving once you exit. I suspect that this Step of Shadow has a small effective range, given its potency - as well as your decision to make battle here, among the pillars at dawn. It's quite possible that you can only maintain the state for a limited time; likely less than thirty seconds."

Nayla finally let out a breath, drawing herself back into a more confident mindset. Honestly, she could barely follow a word of what Master Aria was saying, but... well, she seemed pretty sure of herself.

"Which means, Darth Krarik," Master Feisyyd concluded, "that if we force you into Shadow Step after cancelling your momentum, and guard any places where you can emerge, we will win."

9 minutes ago, The Honorable One said:

“Just the festival will be destroyed. There will still be plenty of land for you to conquer. But trust me, the explosion will still be glorious.”

"If it's just the festival, then why do we need a superweapon in the first place? The lot of us could probably take care of it."

"We're all working for you because we wanna... y'know. Take over the world and such. How are we supposed to do that if everything gets exploded?"

"Question."

1 hour ago, The Honorable One said:

After the crash, a powerful, deep voice rang out. “Faster, my faithful minions, faster! We need to finish this section quickly, so my plan can be fulfilled.”

"Sure thing, boss," said one Particular Minion. "But, uh... you never did say what your plan was."

8 minutes ago, Justice_Magician said:

 

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I don't see why not

This one is spoiler-boxed because badly-drawn blood

1 hour ago, The Honorable One said:

 

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if you so desire

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............though I'd kind of prefer we didn't do TotK

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sure

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you ever heard of Hyrule Warriors?

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GUYS WANT TO CAUSE A TIMELINE MULTIVERSE RIFT AND JUST COMBINE EVERY SINGLE GAME AT THE SAME TIME

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The previous idea was just to set it in [Hyrule] during [Time Period] instead of picking a game. We'd be free to come up with the story and the lore as we go along

1 hour ago, Ravenclawjedi42 said:

As one was called, Rajib thrusts their lightsaber—still in form III—at the space right in front of Nayla, hoping that the Sith will have solidified by then.

19 minutes ago, ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ said:

Picky swung a second later, thinking along similar lines.

And he did - crouched, dashing, emerging from the shadow. Red gleamed, he slashed outwards in a deadly triad; deflecting the strikes, then stabbing at Nayla. It missed, of course.

Krarik swept away, sliding back into the gaze of the sun to view all his foes at once. The grin had yet to leave his face, but a bead of sweat had finally worked its way onto his brow. His breathing was... perhaps not heavy, but certainly not light.

"Very good!" He said, allowing his opponents a moment to breathe. "Step of Shadow: the ability to move between places where the light of the stars do not touch. However, my adaptation of this power isn't limited just to that... would anyone hazard to guess?"

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okey so ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ wanted to revive this old RP for some reason which I personally think is hilarious because the last post was nearly two years ago

anyway, to avoid invoking the Arbiters of the Damned, we're going to not Necro the old thread and just start a new thing.

I'll summon the folks from the old one just 'cause. No pressure to join, ofc.

@ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ @Enter a username @Frustration @The Known Novel

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oh yeah also it's a Legend of Zelda RP. Kinda forgot to mention that.

On 10/4/2023 at 1:35 AM, Shard_Blades said:

Inger ignited his lightsaber and rushed into the battle. Using his height as an advantage, he swung a low blow at the Sith's legs. 

On 10/4/2023 at 1:33 AM, Channelknight Fadran said:

...

Perhaps, in that case, he would have to fight a little more seriously today.

Krarik snapped back into the smoke, mist blowing about in every direction as swipes and twists went wild. You have twelve seconds to discern how my Step of Shadow and Mist operates. Succeed, and you'll counter my next attack with ease - fail, and I kill the youngest one.

On 10/4/2023 at 1:52 PM, Justice_Magician said:

Cloud stopped swinging his lightsaber. He stood still, trying to focus on the Sith. He'd try let Krarik come to him. He reached out, trying to sense any oncoming attacks.

On 10/4/2023 at 2:44 PM, Channelknight Fadran said:

Ten... nine... ahh, not quite! Mist is uncertain, you see.... six...

On 10/5/2023 at 7:38 AM, Justice_Magician said:

Cloud braced himself, lightsaber ready, for whatever was coming. 

Five... four...

Thinkthinkthinkthinkthink. Nayla's breathing shot to a rapid, painful series of sharp pants: he could be anywhere, he could appear anywhere, he could appear anytime. He was going to try to kill her he was going to try to kill her...

Three...

Master Aria... said to trust her senses. They didn't tell her anything. Trust her instincts... she twisted around to get the glare of the sun out of her eyes, but now all she could see were the long morning shadows; a clearer picture of the last place she'd ever stand in.

Two...

A whimper escaped her mouth. Nayla escaped to Form I, completely unsure of what was to come next.

One...

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(just because I've reduced the time window to 1 second, doesn't mean you can't post your characters doing stuff in the last twelve. Go as far back as you like, really; just don't try to retcon anything important, ofc)

(also also if you think your character would be a bit more perceptive and/or smarter than yourself, feel free to ask for some handy dandy hints as to what Krarik's powers might entail)

@ΨιτιsτηεΒέsτ @Ancient Elantrian @Ravenclawjedi42 @Scars of Hathsin

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I'll get to this soon enough; promise. My InspiroMeter 2000 has been a little on the down-low of late

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whoa -

uhhhhhhhh...

...probably be prudent to break out a new thread, but I'm down

Don’t rep this one it’s really bad

there is not

the more you think about it, the better it gets

1 minute ago, Frustration said:

I'm going to disagree here.

Plot holes are part of how I judge a book, if the author cared about their work enough to ensure their aren't any plot holes then it's probably pretty good.

Example: LotR is some 70 years old and has exactly zero plot holes. (To others reading this who are not Fadran: Don't give me the whole 'theu could fly the eagles to Mordor' that is a movie problem. The books explained quite well that they needed to be sneaky, and giant eagles are not sneaky.) Excellent piece of work.

I... don't like that approach

but if we can agree that LotR is incredible then I suppose I can forgive you this once

9 hours ago, Trutharchivist said:

All right, great! So, a few things:

Regarding Nen, if Specialist doesn't really fit the system of "it's closer to your Affinity so you're better at it", then why is it on the hexagon on the first place? Why not make it a pentagon with a blob on the side that says "Specialist"?

Remember how I brought up how your Affinity determines how efficient you are at other Affinity Types?

There's actually a mathematical thingamajig here. Let's say you're a natural Enhancer; that means with 100% Aura input, you'd get 100% Enhancer output. With Transmutation and Emission, you'd need 120% Aura input to get 100% Nen output; with Conjuration and Manipulation, it becomes 140%. The numbers themselves don't come up all that often because Nen very rarely becomes a case of Aura Attrition, but it's an important factor to consider.

Specialization, however, has a 0% output if you're not a Specialist. Doesn't matter where you are on the ring: you can't Specialize. However, if you're a natural Specialist, then you can spec into Conjuration & Manipulation at a 120/100 rate, and so on and so forth.

Also you can't have a pentagon because it would break some numbers. Currently a Conjurer has a 160/100 for Emission, but if you removed Specialist then it'd become 140/100 alongside Enhancement. Also also because Nen is based on your Willpower, there's a slight chance you can change Affinities down the line; this process is rare, relatively undocumented, and generally unheard of. However, there are cases of Nen Users (especially Conjurers and Manipulators) becoming Specialists by this process; sometimes you'll see charts that place Specialization at a 1% Output for Conjurers and Manipulators because of this.

9 hours ago, Trutharchivist said:

Regarding Sanderson's second law: I didn't watch all that much from One Punch Man, so I might be wrong, but aren't the interesting fights when he for some reason is unable to punch someone, or his punch doesn't finish them off, or there's some other issue? It's not a weakness, but it is a limitation. Again, I might be - and probably am - wrong here, but since conflict makes for interesting stories it follows that limitations help create conflict.

Also, every time someone says "watch Howl's Moving Castle" I get a little uncomfortable, because... the book is great! It also has a somewhat interesting magic system - I'd argue that most types of magic in Diana Wynne Jones' books are more intuitive than necessarily sensible. So... I don't know, I need to think about it more, but read Diana Wynne Jones. She has really good books. 

(Also, maybe I should read Hunter x Hunter. This magic system does sound interesting.)

Saitama Thing: yeah, I see what you mean. I think it's up to preference on this one, but most of Saitama's best moments are when he's not even trying - like when he One-Punched the monsters for exploding his roof, or during the Cosmic Garou fight where he won (I kid you not) with a fart. The story often sets up the gag of "Oh no... this... this is a problem..." before punchlining you with the fact that Saitama's not even paying attention and is only worried because he suddenly realized the sale he wanted to go to was going to end soon.

And honestly, I think I might have to concede to Brandon here because the difference between Limitations and Weaknesses is really important. To refer back to Nen, pretty much 75% of what makes the system so awesome is that you have to create your own Conditions for your powers to work. I think where he's wrong is more with "what your magic can't do is more interesting that what it can," because I think a better way to define an equation like Limitations > Power would be something like "What your magic can do is less interesting than how it can do it."

But even then I'm not entirely convinced that that's what I'm thinking. My brain works in vibes, not words; it takes hours upon days to really figure out what I'm thinking about.

Howl's Moving Castle: I love the movie AND I WANT TO READ THE BOOK BUT I CAN'T FIND IT WHERE THE HECK DID IT GO HELP

will get back to you on that front once this issue has been remedied

also the movie in subbed Japanese is 8000 times more magical I cannot recommend it enough

anyway: HUNTER x HUNTER IS THE BEST ONE

8 hours ago, Aeoryi said:

I still am waiting for the paragonal characters lecture 

Me too

3 hours ago, Edema Rue said:

That was very fun to read  

Magic systems are so cool.

46 minutes ago, Justice_Magician said:

I guess I really have no excuses left now, huh

Concur

Did you know that most people have no idea what they're talking about when it comes to "Hard" or "Soft" Magic Systems? You might think that's a bit conceited for me to say, to which I reply, "Hah! You've activated my trap card: Writer's Rant! The opponent is compelled to listen through the end of whatever the Writer has to say, regardless of how much Hunter x Hunter content is thrown in."

Yes. Once you have achieved Nen Enlightenment, there is no turning back.

Anyway, allow me to explain myself. If you're like me, then you were rather confused whenever people used Bending as an example of a Hard Magic System; I mean, it's up there with Allomancy? And Alchemy? And... probably several other systems that start with A? It seems a little weird putting "do a karate move and summon fire" up there with Equivalent Exchange, and for the longest time I always assumed these losers had no idea what they were talking about. Just because there are four distinct elements, doesn't mean the system is Hard - and in fact, to an extent, I still stand by that.

However

A Hard Magic System does not mean a Rigid Magic System. Too many people assume that Hard Magic Systems have to have this incredibly intricate set of fundamental rules and limitations, with each application being its own clear separate category and league. I know for a fact that I used to do this a lot; one of my absolute earliest magic systems was just a laundry list of basic fantasy stuff packed into a wheel of symbols. A good example of a Rigid Magic System would be Allomancy, which (obviously) has clear conditions and actions by use of Omf Nomf love me some tasty pewter; and let me be clear that Allomancy is great. Sanderson's best magic system, even if it's not my favorite. However, if you try to use it as an example of a Hard Magic System, then you're going to seriously mislead yourself.

"Rigid" means you have a clear and concise set of rules - these systems are pretty great if you know what you're doing, but a lot of people will just tack on random limitations to check the boxes. "Hard," on the other hand, simply means that how the Magic works is established. With Bending, you know that 1) Bending can only be performed by Benders, 2) each Bender can only Bend one type of element, 3) how well you Bend that element depends on a combination of training, enlightenment, and emotion, 4) the Avatar can Bend all four for some reason.

It's established to the viewers that Bending Prowess = Talent x (Training + Understanding). That rule is never broken (except for when someone enters the Avatar state, which has its own set of rules), meaning the Magic System is Hard. We can expect the developments in fights and training arcs based on these rules, and even learn to recognize Benders prematurely by how they think and act. Despite the fact that Bending itself doesn't require a massive checklist of conditions to fulfil, it still counts as Hard; so as long as we can expect what will happen with its use.

So what's a Soft Magic System, then? I used to think it just mean "Magic Without Rules," but in reality it's more like "Magic Without an Established Consistent Canon." Let's go the LotR route here, because Eru forbid I talk about anything without bringing up Tolkien.

In The Hobbit, the most we learn about Gandalf's magic is in a single line after the dwarves escape the goblins, where he says something to the effect of "I had to store up my magic for many minutes in order to cast that spell of darkness," implying it works something like ki; but then again, he was clearly capable of calling upon vast amounts of it on a dime in order to face off against a flippin Balrog. So which is it? We have no idea. Do the Staffs do anything, like Saruman implied? How is it that Gandalf can have a level of prescience and yet remain the dark about so many things? If Sauron poured all his life force into the Ring, how is it that he got a positive return on the power whilst wearing it? What the hell is the difference between Darkness and Light, and why is it that it can randomly counter the other without any noticeable difference in overall power? How in the world did Elrond program a literal river to explode if the Nazgul Proximity Alarms went off??

But we love it anyway, because the LotR Magic follows a different type of consistency: Tonal. Specifically for this case, a sense of Mystery, Wonder, and Mythicism. We don't know how the Magic works, but if Tolkien says "Gandalf's magic cannot work here; the Darkness is too strong," we just go with it, because it makes sense anyways. It's the same reason why we can look at ancient myths and legends about dragons and gods and demons; Medusa's face is ugly enough to turn any man into stone, so shouldn't that work through a mirror too? The Nemean Lion's hide can deflect any blade, but it's never explained why. Why the heck did Loki give birth to so many eldritch horrors?

The stories are about describing legends and heroes, not any of this "complexity" crap. Lord of the Rings, Legend of Zelda, Star Wars... an argument could be made for whatever the heck Rowling was doing, but I'd like to keep that can of worms closed tight and buried deep beneath the bridge of Kazad-Dum. The ones I'm electing to acknowledge are less of stories about complex characters and realism and crap, and more about telling a Legend, a Myth, or an Epic. In fact, I urge you all to start going through stories with Soft Magic and Worldbuilding, and to enjoy them as Myths instead of Stories; the idea of Eowyn slaying the Witch-King of Angmar, or Anakin Skywalker turning to the Dark Side hit way harder if you do.

...where was I? I think I was supposed to be talking about Hard Magic Systems. Blast it, Tolkien, you've gone and got me digressing again.

Which means I should probably wrap things up by way of the Best Magic System of All Time: Nen.

That's right. Nen. Three letters. It means "Sense," "Mind Force," or (perhaps) "Willpower" in Japanese, because Yoshihiro Togashi knew exactly what he was going for with this. For those of you not in the know, I first urge you to go watch and/or read Hunter x Hunter; it is The Best, and I Love It. For everyone else... okay, you know exactly why this system is the best. But for the gray area in between, I will explain.

Nen is a magical art form, based off a person's Life Force (usually referred to as Aura). This energy is directly tied to a person's willpower, as demonstrated through training and study; and like all forms of energy, it can be converted. After you discover your Aura and learn to control it (through a series of techniques, like Ten and Ren and Gyo; basically just being able to manipulate how your Aura flows), you can begin to apply it into various abilities. Basic applications include just coating your fists in the stuff to punch someone really hard, or surrounding your vital areas to defend against even the toughest of weapons; but eventually, you will ahve to discover your Nen Affinity - and, subsequently, develop a Hatsu.

There are six Nen Affinities: Enhancer, Transmuter, Manipulator, Conjurer, Emitter, and Specialist. Each of these demonstrate a major application of Aura - Enhancement allows you to imbue yourself, others, or things in Aura to make them stronger; Transmutation allows you to change the properties of your own Aura for fancy new effects; Manipulation is what it says on the tin, letting your control stuff; Conjuration, obviously, lets you Conjure objects (usually with far more potent properties than what a regular equivalent of the object might be); Emission is the process of detaching Aura from your body, often as a means of providing others with energy or just to shoot them with laser beams; and Specialization is the catch-all for the weirdos that don't really fit anywhere else.

At birth*, you are pretty much just randomly-assigned one of these Affinities. However, your natural Affinity does not lock you into using only that type of Nen; instead, it just means you're most efficient with that form. There's a handy chart for this that I'm going avoid adding because either you've seen it never or you've seen it a kvghillion times, but basically the six Affinities are placed around a hexagonal ring, each one at a point; the farther your natural Affinity is from another application, the less efficient you'll be at using it (with the exception of Specialist, because it doesn't make sense by definition).

So you think "well that's pretty neat; it'd be like if everyone was the Avatar, but mostly focused on one or two Elements instead of mastery in all four," but it gets EVEN COOLER THAN THAT. Because when creating a Hatsu (did I say what that was? It's your personalized Nen Ability.), there's another incredibly epic system with the simplest rules ever but also the best rules ever: Nen Conditions. Are you a natural Transmuter but really want to Conjure a Nen Sword? Is your Aura a bit on the weak side for something like that? Well look no further, my friend, because you can imbue your Hatsu with a fancy-schmancy Condition to make up the disparity! Something simple like speaking the sword's name aloud could be enough to significantly decrease the Aura Cost of using this ability, whereas something like "Can only be used once per day" or "Will drain the user's health if they don't stab someone with it within fifteen seconds" will not only make up the difference, but could even provide additional power to the Ability, like allowing it supernatural sharpness or speed!

If you're confused, that's fine. That's the point. And we haven't even started going through stuff like combining Affinities, Nen Curses, Nen Exorcism, all of Greed Island... because this system can accomodate anything and everything; to the point that you could probably explain any Magic System ever created as an application of Nen. Stormlight, Bending, The Force, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, Jujutsu Kaisen, whatever the hell was going on Wizard of Oz...

...have I contributed anything beneficial here? Has this whole thing just been me ranting without explaining how to actually apply magic systems to storytelling?

Maybe this should've been an SU.

TOO LATE

Let's salvage this with some bullet points:

• A Hard Magic System has a level of Internal Consistency established to the audience
  • as opposed to a Rigid Magic System, which is a branch of Hardies that has a strict set of rules.
• A Soft Magic System follows a Tonal, Narrative, or otherwise Story-Related Consistency, instead of a Functional one.
  • In general, if you want to do one of these, go for No Thoughts; Head Empty; Vibes Only. Ever seen Howl's Moving Castle? There's your prime example.
• Watch and/or read Hunter x Hunter. It is incredible. It is worth your time. If you don't like it, watch NewWorldReview on youtube; he will change your mind.
  • If that doesn't work, you're probably best sticking to boring old Realistic Fiction or something like that
    • that was a joke, write what you want, I'm not trying to gatekeep fantasy
      • but like... I'm not wrong
• I can help you brainstorm, develop, and rework Magic Systems! Turns out I poured a lot of my autism points into deciphering tonal consistencies and The Vibe Machine, so I spot weird issues pretty naturally.
  • Also feel free to tell me off if I ruin something because I tend to do that. How Magic Systems work in Fadranbrain is very tightly-established, so I can occasionally be... insistent.
• Also I forgot to bring this up but like... I don't like Sanderson's "Laws" of Magic? First of all, calling them "Laws" without citations or peer-reviewed redrafts or clear scientific data means they're either fraudulous or straight-up wrong; but also they should really be regarded as more of guidelines than actual rules.
  • "The author's ability to resolve conflicts in a satisfying way with magic is directly proportional to how the reader understands said magic." DUNNO. I will advocate for Gandalf vs the Balrog as a more satisfying scene than a lot of his much more significantly-explained sequences, but the idea itself isn't actually that far off. Maybe I'm more annoyed by how this "law" is perceived than what it actually says, but I take issue with the idea that you have to explain your magic for it to be satisfying, because it implies that the author basically has to explain the rules in order to do anything with it. A lot of my favorite Magic System moments are ones where what's happening is explained in the moment, or if they're foreshadowing something to be explained later on; for some great examples of this, I recommend Jujutsu Kaisen (And also HxH, ofc, but that goes without saying).
  • "Weaknesses are more interesting than powers." DISAGREE. Limitations provide more tension than boundless powers, but they are not more "interesting." There's a reason why characters like Gojo Satoru and Saitama are so compelling, and it certainly isn't because they have some secret super-kryptonite that renders them completely powerless. I love massively overpowered paragon characters. I think a better way to word this would be "Defining your powers makes them cooler," because there are tons of magic systems with little to no real weaknesses (Nen, Ki... probably JoJo's, but I'm still watching through that so idk), but rather a clear and intuitive system by which they operate; it's how the characters manipulate this system to their needs that makes them so interesting.
  • "Expand what you have before you add something new." THIS ONE IS GOOD. Honestly it's kind of just the last point. All these rules could probably be one rule, probably.
• The Fadran Theory of Magic: How you establish your Magic System determines how it can be used.

https://www.reddit.com/r/jedicouncilofelrond/

I didn’t want to finish this so I left it looking sketchy. It be Diseri, a little tired, looking at (get this) a map

51 minutes ago, Justice_Magician said:

Cloud stopped swinging his lightsaber. He stood still, trying to focus on the Sith. He'd try let Krarik come to him. He reached out, trying to sense any oncoming attacks.

Ten... nine... ahh, not quite! Mist is uncertain, you see.... six...