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Gegenji · **02-09-2015, 12:30 PM**

(02-09-2015, 12:21 PM)Warren Castille Wrote: "STOP. You will NOT engage me with a {KNIFE} today, ON PAIN OF DEATH and more likely just taxes. Instead I implore you to bring a {STAFF} to bear against me." The old Au Ra gazes into your soul, and a part of you realizes his statement is less of a request and more of a demand.

A pair of glowing crimson eyes burn into <t> from within the depths of the ornate plate helmet. Though no hands are placed upon them, they feel as if the gaze itself is locking them into place. As inexorably as a glacier, the Judge moves towards them, reaching into the depths of his tabard. From it, he produces a square of crimson, pressing it firmly against <t>'s forehead. He keeps it held there with two armored fingers, and <t> gets the feeling that trying to remove them would not be in their best interest. "Red Card. Thou art disqualified."

SicketySix · **02-09-2015, 12:36 PM**

I think the basic thing to do, is to understand that your character, no matter what experience, can, and probably will be defeated more then his fair share of times.

For instance: I have a little shy of 2yrs of martial arts experience (Aikido) Â which is a self defense karate form. Now due to Hollywood, you'd assume i'd never be hit........WRONG......I've done my fair share of taking hitsin RL scuffles to know that no matter how good you are, someone, somewhere, will be able to best you at least once. And it has nothing to do with your skill level. Maybe something distracted, maybe something was thrown into your eyes, or maybe, you simply thought he was hooking left, and instead he hooked right.Â

Upon creation of my character, i wanted realism. This means having battle scars of fights long before that was a loss. If someone wishes to fight with me IC, i assume the /roll rule. It seems to be the most fair, realistic way of pertaining an outcoem to both parties.

Where my character achieves his "badass-ery" is the ability to overome any lose and have a "can't keep a good man down" vibe to him.

Gegenji · **02-09-2015, 12:41 PM**

(02-09-2015, 12:36 PM)A'mon Vespar Wrote: Where my character achieves his "badass-ery" is the ability to overome any lose and have a "can't keep a good man down" vibe to him.

Chachan kinda falls into that sort of vibe as well. He's only been training with Warren on sword and shield for, what, a couple moons now? So he's certainly better than when he's started, but he's certainly no master. He's lost fights from inexperience, from fighting a weapon/style he's never seen before, and I even attributed part of his loss in the last Grindstone to the fact that he was fighting a friend, something he never thought he'd really have to do.

However, I also like to play up his "never say die" positive outlook and a resilience that comes both from his heritage and his years working the heat of the forge. Which, in the end, I've taken to calling his Variable Defense - since how tough he is ends up being directly proportional to the threat on his friends, he's exactly as tough as he needs to be for the situation at hand.

It may sound a little metagamey... but it allows me to have him get some pretty stellar moments in RP, without making him some immovable, unbreakable wall.

Dasair · **02-09-2015, 01:28 PM**

So this is an interesting topic, and I'm just going to throw my own point of view on this, as I don't often get to yammer about FIGHTAN. I will note that oddly, even though I play a weenie mage who probably couldn't punch someone properly to save his life, that I do have some RL combat experience insofar as things like various martial arts, straight brawling, grappling, and weapons fighting. I've been in a number of tournaments with varying rules, done even more sparring from little to full contact, got in fights with other people out in the world, and fought people with weapons (same weapon, different weapon, disarming weapons, etc.). I know there are differences between sparring, 'actual fights', and tournament fights by experience, and I can tell when things are choreographed or make no actual sense in terms of media vs RL fighting. Basically media is pretty bad about it, but their job is to entertain, not necessarily be accurate.

And I'll agree with Sylas, in that a lot of it is luck, but skill is also a factor. However, a character's strengths in certain areas also have a lot to do with where they fall back in others. In order to be able to move at all, I was always taught that if you have your guard and focus in one place, you will always have an opening somewhere else. For instance, I myself am not the bulkiest person out there. However, I can be incredibly quick on my feet. I'd be a 'lightweight', and know that if I get in too close with a bigger opponent (and stay there) I'm likely to get either hit hard, or literally thrown around. Not the best place to be. Despite this, I've still been able to beat / take down a number of bigger opponents than me, because I'm faster and they sort of barrel around full force while I can get out of the way / predict their movements and hit hard to vulnerable targets. Or because they dropped their guard that one moment to a fake, and I managed to sneak a nasty hit in. At the same time, I've, somedays, also been completely annihilated by bigger opponents, who have been able to charge me before I could move, or my guard just wasn't there when they dealt a nasty blow to the head and I dropped like a sack of flour.

In 'realistic' fights, it's just as easy for something to go as expected as to go completely unexpected. Again, echoing Sylas, terrain, mental state, how awake a person is that day, where they get hit, and specifically what it is they're up against all have any number of factors. Someone excellently skilled and trained in fighting on flat ground could easily make an embarrassing slip while fighting up on a steep hill, and may very well pop out a knee from the fall. (Which may or may not be speaking from experience. *sobs*) They can be hit from someone less skilled who has managed to see that hole in their guard, and use it to their advantage, or maybe they picked something up to throw at a person that knocked them off their feet.

Fights in general are typically pretty quick, and not long, drawn out affairs, unless someone manages to get away and get more distance. Or it's, as noted, a more controlled environment with particular rules (I'm honestly more used to these). There are also some things that most people just will not be able to handle well, such as hard strikes to the throat, anything that knocks the wind out of someone, groin shots to most guys, shots to the eyes, hard hits to the back of the head, various joint locks that leave people no choice but to go along with unless they want to dislocate / break something; and this is regardless of skill level, it's just how a body works. You can't keep going if you can't breathe, can't see, or are in too much pain to move. And then there are the 'lesser but still often debilitating' things like hard blows to the shins, stomping on feet, cracks to the jaw (especially with an elbow), 'raking' the face, blowing out knees, and so on. ... And that's mostly in terms of close, unarmed combat.

I've honestly never fought in armor, just padded gear on occasion, so it's hard for me to say just how much this affects things like movement, reaction time, and overall stamina as to keep swinging the extra weight around, but I would imagine someone heavily armored might have a more difficult time keeping their balance now and then. They could take more hits, but might be easier to knock over in certain scenarios.

I do know with things like staff fighting, (where both people have staves) you never actually think about how much your hands are going to be smashed up to hell during this until you actually do it. So many cracks to the knuckles and fingers. I think things like that are important to consider too; how the wear of the fight might take a toll, especially in terms of wielding weapons. Can't much hold them or move them very well if your hands / arms take too much of a beating.

Then finally, there's magic, which is a whole different game entirely; I'd say that there'd need to be some sort of 'rules of physics' in place to know how this would go. Most people have their own headcanons, which is fine, but in terms of this, with people who you are unfamiliar with (since RL can't really be the basis) I'd figure a roll system would be best. Actually, I figure a roll system would be best for both, physical fights and magic, considering all the factors, unless you're RPing with people you know and have a particular thing in mind.

TLDR: There are a ton of things to consider, even as a master fighter, and while this is something that other players could definitely consider while they face your character, I think it's best to realize that even masters can lose to any number of unexpected odds. What they train for and what they're good at doesn't make them immune to what can befall anyone, and those things are perfectly capable of being dealt by someone of lesser skill in the right scenario. Chance / luck is always a huge factor to this.

Knight Kat · **02-09-2015, 02:05 PM**

I pretty much stated my thoughts on combat and expectations. However, the balancing of my character is something I didn't do in my previous post.

Kiht is easy to balance. She was built to be a scrappy "underdog" type. Not someone who looses all the time, but one who is not unfamiliar with loss. Eorzea is a dangerous place, and every defeat or injury is a lesson.

Kiht began training at age 11. She has been hunting and scouting since age 14. She gained a year of intense education and combat training at age 17. Since age 18 she worked with the Twin Adders for two years, did adventurer's work and fought to survive alongside her family in the Twelveswood. She is now 24 years old. Still young, but she has 10 years experience as a hunter and scout with 6 years experience in adventurer work and combat.

That isn't 20 years, but it's still hefty. However, Kiht is five feet tall. She is not a great, big, strong thing. Finding reasons for her to loose is not hard, but I also don't like when some seem to OOCly discount her. I totally expect people to underestimate her ICly, but OOCly people get too fixated on strength and size.

If strength and size were such major factors, humans would not be the apex predators of this planet. We use our -tools- for survival. Weapons and armor change things. One of Kiht's weapons of choice is a guisarme. It doesn't matter how big or strong a foe is if she manages to get one of the guisarme spikes into a fleshy spot.

Then again, I think some of you are referring to combat in controlled environments like the Grindstone where weapons are blunted or peace-bound. When the advantage of weapon effectiveness and lethality is removed/reduced, strength and size does become a bigger factor. That is why MMA and Boxing have weight divisions.

Warren Castille · **02-09-2015, 02:10 PM**

(02-09-2015, 02:05 PM)Knight Kat Wrote: Then again, I think some of you are referring to combat in controlled environments like the Grindstone where weapons are blunted or peace-bound. When the advantage of weapon effectiveness and lethality is removed, strength and size does become a bigger factor. That is why MMA and Boxing have weight divisions.

Just to clarify, weapons aren't blunted at the Grindstone. We keep healers on stand-by to stop people from being killed, and the only rules are no killing and no magic/poison/trickery/bullshit. There's still plenty of blood spilled, you're just not allowed to try and decapitate someone.

Inessa Hara · **02-09-2015, 02:21 PM**

I actually think a powerful character with no background or deep development in itself is ideal for development and RP.

There is the argument that character is key but what about the characters with no real personality and just skill? I think they serve a roll in RP as well. Cant expect everyone to be the sociable type. Some people are just quiet and tend to only want to work or do what they are best at.

I believe this personifies my main, Inessa really well. She is centrally, a work focus character designed to constantly use her skills to go about her daily life in her RP. She has no real deep personality aside from her moral viewpoints, love of black coffee and martial art's.

This in itself does make her interesting as she fills a roll not many people tend to trend. The only real failing is the inability to hold any stable topic of conversation without it being related to work. Standard casual RP is a no-go, however she is a good character when it comes to plot development and work related issues.

My point: Every character has a place in RP, even one that's skilled focused.

((sorry if this is worded weirdly. I'm a terrible forum poster.))

Melkire · **02-09-2015, 02:26 PM**

(02-09-2015, 02:10 PM)Warren Castille Wrote:
(02-09-2015, 02:05 PM)Knight Kat Wrote: Then again, I think some of you are referring to combat in controlled environments like the Grindstone where weapons are blunted or peace-bound. When the advantage of weapon effectiveness and lethality is removed, strength and size does become a bigger factor. That is why MMA and Boxing have weight divisions.

Just to clarify, weapons aren't blunted at the Grindstone. We keep healers on stand-by to stop people from being killed, and the only rules are no killing and no magic. There's still plenty of blood spilled, you're just not allowed to try and decapitate someone.

Wait, I thought the Grindstone had rules against other things, like contact poisons which induce paralysis, which can't be realistically and fairly represented in dice-rolling? Just checking to make sure.

On the subject of relative advantages:

A character like mine, who relies mainly on small weaponry, footwork, what measure of hand-to-hand prowess he has, and skullduggery, will always be at great disadvantage against, say, an armored knight who's bigger, weighs more, has a longer reach sans weapons, is armed with sword and shield, etc., in a "fair fight". Any sort of direct confrontation, i.e. a traditional exchange, is going to result, more often than not, in the less armored and less well-armed man (or woman) losing.

Which is why those kinds of characters don't engage in "fair fights". Sand thrown in the eyes, a shove to knock the heavily armored man off the docks and into deep water, weapons coated with poisons as mentioned earlier, etc. A mage is going to blast a knight out of his boots from a distance. An assassin is going to look to get the drop on a mage. So on and so forth.

You can't, and IMO there's no need, to "balance" anything because with the right application of thought (see: skullduggery) any character should, theoretically, be able to triumph over another in the absence of a sport setting. It's when you get into "fair fights" and regulated contests that things get murky.

The trouble with dice isn't that it's random. The mere possibility of a David felling a Goliath goes to show that having a random element is actually more realistic than not having it. The trouble with dice is that, unless you implement a system such as Fate-14, pitting rolls against rolls without modifiers doesn't allow for a character's history or experience to impact the results as they should.

Warren Castille · **02-09-2015, 02:30 PM**

(02-09-2015, 02:26 PM)Melkire Wrote: Wait, I thought the Grindstone had rules against other things, like contact poisons which induce paralysis, which can't be realistically and fairly represented in dice-rolling? Just checking to make sure.

My fault for taking knowledge of the rules for granted and lumping that all into the "no magic" rule. Post is edited, and you're correct: No trickery, no skullduggery. It's meant to be straight martial prowess and nothing else.

Sounsyy · **02-09-2015, 02:31 PM**

I ran into this conundrum when I first started RPing and doing combat RP in particular. Lemme start with I never intended Sounsyy to be a "powerful" character, just an experienced one. Like Kale, she has about 20 years combat experience. She started as an Ala Mhigan Resistance grunt soldier fighting the Garleans. She eventually joined the Corpse Brigade, where she learned to fight dirty. Then she became a Noxius (slave gladiator) for a few years buying her freedom to return to the Resistance. After the Resistance was crushed she left the Aldenard mainland altogether to retire in Limsa by the sea, only to enlist as a Barracuda when tensions between the Garleans arose. So from Garleans, to Gladiators, to beasts, to pirates - Sounsyy has seen some shit, but as much as that defines her personality, I didn't want all that to define her RP.

I kind of came to that realization after Sounsyy got her arse handed to her a few times in combat RP and Grindstone. Initially, I handwaved it as she was still recovering from her near-death experience at Carteneau, which I still treat as a factor, but then I realized Sounsyy's story isn't about winning. It's really the opposite. She's been on the losing side of just about every battle, but after 20 years experience losing, she hasn't given up yet. She's still got that drive, and that's what make her a strong character in my opinion. So if she wins, great, I hash it up to experience, if she loses, I get to explore why she might have lost.

Granted, that's all very specific to my character and may not fly with yours, but I've always felt that a character who doesn't get what they want or expect to get (ie. winning Grindstone) offers more avenues for character growth than a character who never struggles with something they think they're good at. That said, if another RPer recognizes my character is a seasoned veteran and thinks there's no way their peasant could best her in a fight, I try to have fun with that sort of pre-arranged combat as well and let Sounsyy maintain a little bit of her pride.

I know this post has gone on pretty long, but in short I agree with what everyone else has added. Kiht made some excellent points about varying combat styles per region. And also that a lot of factors go into combat besides just experience. In my own experience I know this to be quite true. I have nearly 10 years experience with a Korean self-defense martial art style called Kuk Sool Won, which teaches techniques to disarm and deflect real world attackers or "street fighting" as opposed to martial artist versus martial artist. I also have one year experience with MMA. Despite this, when I was in college I got mugged by three guys outside a bar. "Experience" says I should've been able to defend myself pretty easily. "Real Life" weighed the element of surprise, superior numbers, and superior body mass over experience in that instance.

Also,

(02-09-2015, 11:11 AM)Warren Castille Wrote: ICly he's only had to draw his weapon with any seriousness a small handful of times.

I see what you did there Warren. ;P

Knight Kat · **02-09-2015, 02:37 PM**

(02-09-2015, 02:10 PM)Warren Castille Wrote:
(02-09-2015, 02:05 PM)Knight Kat Wrote: Then again, I think some of you are referring to combat in controlled environments like the Grindstone where weapons are blunted or peace-bound. When the advantage of weapon effectiveness and lethality is removed, strength and size does become a bigger factor. That is why MMA and Boxing have weight divisions.

Just to clarify, weapons aren't blunted at the Grindstone. We keep healers on stand-by to stop people from being killed, and the only rules are no killing and no magic. There's still plenty of blood spilled, you're just not allowed to try and decapitate someone.

I apologize. Maybe that is a change since I last watched the grindstone quite awhile ago, or I am remembering incorrectly because I thought it use to be that way.

Regardless, it is still a controlled environment where opponents would have to hold back to prevent killing blows. In such an environment, things like strength might play a bigger factor while weapons play a little less of a factor.

For example, if my character is not allowed to drive a spear into her opponent's neck, heart or skull, she has less options and opportunities to take her opponent down quickly before said opponent could use something like brute force on her.

Gegenji · **02-09-2015, 02:42 PM**

(02-09-2015, 02:37 PM)Knight Kat Wrote: Regardless, it is still a controlled environment where opponents would have to hold back to prevent killing blows. In such an environment, things like strength might play a bigger factor while weapons play a little less of a factor.

For example, if my character is not allowed to drive a spear into her opponent's neck, heart or skull, she has less options and opportunities to take her opponent down quickly before said opponent could use something like brute force on her.

Alternately, it's also a great place to try to learn how to fight in a situation where you need to subdue rather than kill, to disarm instead of dismember. Which could be another situation where someone who's well-honed in the art of battle might have issues. I've seen a couple cases in a couple fights where the attacker pulled short rather than landing a blow for fear of doing TOO MUCH damage. Being really strong has its drawbacks too.

That's basically the reasoning I have for Chachan to attend. To learn how to fight people of all different styles and, more importantly, learn how to defeat them without killing them. He's still the little naive dork who wants to save everyone, after all.

Zyrusticae · **02-09-2015, 02:59 PM**

(02-08-2015, 02:53 PM)Iex Wrote:

Show Content

Spoiler
This post is personal opinion and not how I expect or how people should Create/RP powerful characters. (This is added so I donâ€™t have to say â€˜in my opinionâ€™ every other line.)

First of all, there is nothing wrong with making a powerful character what so ever. The character should be more than their â€œpower levelâ€ (snort). The strength of a character should be vehicle to encourage varied and increased Role-play. Also, weaknesses should not be given to â€˜balance out the character in combat.â€™ Weaknesses should be given round out the character in general and should be organic to how you want the character to be. Where the â€˜balanceâ€™ comes into play it not the mathematical way the character can be defeated, but it should come from the way the characters is Role-played, the situations they get involved in, and how they deal with said situations.
I am going to use my own character for example.

Grave Shadow is a very powerful character, but most folks would not even know that. He rarely takes center stage if he gets into combat with other folks. He does not come off as godly. He rarely even gets into fights to demonstrate his â€˜power.â€™

There is so much more a powerful character can do than step into a fight with an â€œIâ€™m here bitchesâ€ and promptly critical hit on everyone in his way, but since this thread seems to be about combat I will start with that. In a Role-play event, (say something plot related and not Grindstone) where there are two sides of more than one PC or NPC on either side, every character deserves a chance in the spotlight. A powerful character really does not to be in that spotlight to be considered â€˜powerful.â€™

In the case of Grave, if he does get into a combat situation with other individuals on his side, I tend to keep him role to a support role rather than exploding faces. His help allows other individuals to have their moment to shine and it does not make him weak or less powerful if he actually does little in terms of smashing. The other thing is, Grave rarely gets into combat because he chooses his fights and not all of them need his presence, but I will get to that later. If he gets in a one on one fight, that is a different beast all together. If it is an NPC, for case of the storyline you probably have the end of the fight already all planned out. If it is against a player, if you are using dice you can make the low rolls represent bad luck as folks have mentioned or other factors that would cause a powerful character to bumble. If you are not using dice, hopefully an OOC dialogue is also open otherwise it may not end wellâ€¦ or ever end.

On the topic of Realism, â€œYour character brought down a meteor on the last rp to save our asses why doesnâ€™t he do that all the time.â€ The age old story sin of a character doing something amazing in once scene but for some reason cannot do it again in the next.Â An easy excuse is being tired or aether drained however for a powerful character this is where you can round out the character and plug in some interesting aspects that go beyond combat.

GraveÂ does not get into every possible fight he could. This is partly so everyone gets a turn to Role-play stuff, and he also knows that not every fight needs his attention. This part is a bit more tailored to the character than in general for powerful characters, but he does not get involved all the time because he knows other people need to grow, need to make mistakes, and honestly need to suffer to be able to strengthen themselves. Then he also has his own dangers if he uses too much aether, and becomes too known. This is a plot limitation of a powerful character, consequences of things (NPC or not) if he ends up making too big of waves in the leylines. Grave basically belonged to a cult for a good thirtyish years of which despite him being a powerful character, it is filled with NPCS on par with him or far greater which would remind him of that if he does too much. Hence why as a powerful character, he will never get â€œwe gots a problem turn on the Grave signal.â€

â€œWeaknessesâ€ to round out a character really do not have to be all about combat. Your character hopefully does more than run into battle or pick fights. They are entities with personality quirks, physical limitations, and even the occasional flat out stupidities.Â Perfection in training does not make your character a Mary Sue, nor does perfection in training mean your character cannot be defeated. Unless your character spends every waking moment in a fight, flaws in combat style are not going to be what people see.

Grave has a few personality quirks that prevent him from doing things, but a big thing that affects both combat and out of combat is that he absolutely cannot heal folks in the usual way. Nature refuses to allow him to channel its power to mend flesh, and arrays designed to heal break down as he tries to apply aether to him. (And fairies just donâ€™t like him) This is a major character plot thing which I will not go into detail, but when it involves physical damage to someone he is as helpless someone who just knows first aid. This is something that bothers him greatly, but he cannot do anything about it. Another aspect is that he is a bit withdrawn from things so often when he could up he just ends up not helping either because he does not know what is going on or feels his help will cause more harm than good. Neither of those are mathematical ways to defeat him, but still round him off somewhat.

What makes a powerful characterâ€¦ powerful is hardly how undefeatable he is. If the character is created with only combat prowess in mind or only role-played in his combat state, he ceases to be a character and more of just a tool. Powerful characters are only powerful or characters if they can relay that strength and relay their flaws inside and outside of combat without being the spotlight whenever they are present. That is actual realism even if your character can summon all three primal at once while balancing a lance on his nose. To create a character with mathematical way to defeat them for sake of being balanced robs them of depth and character and harkens back to video game bosses that have just a pattern you learn to beat them. If everything in RP was balanced it would be very boring thus it becomes a matter of Role-play to make even unbelievably unfair differences in â€˜skill and powerâ€™ seem irrelevant for a good time.

This post is so good that all I need to do is quote it and give it my thumbs up. Thumbsup

Now, for my own contribution:

It's all too easy to fall into the trap of thinking about your character in terms of numbers or "balance", when what you really need to do is actually think of them as a character, as an individual, with their own quirks and nuances. Simply being skilled or powerful does not make your character a character, it just makes them a plot device. You need actual personality behind that character for them to be something more.

This is part of why I built an out into T'rahnu's character: she doesn't participate in any fights in which she doesn't have personal investment in (re: she gets paid or her pride is on the line), and if she deems the situation too threatening for her security she bugs the hell out. She is remarkably skilled and talented but that doesn't mean she has to try to show that off everywhere she goes, and furthermore, it doesn't grant her absolute personal security in every conceivable situation. It's just a thing, and a large part of her is really proud of that thing, but she refuses to allow any one aspect of herself to define her entire being as such.

I can imagine how someone who is both powerful and possesses a high-and-mighty attitude that predisposes them towards intervening in situations they have no personal investment in could be incredibly irritating, and for that reason I really suggest players avoid playing such characters. Yes, it is a legitimate personality type and, yes, such people could conceivably exist within the game world but this is one of those things where you must make a concession to your fellow players in the name of fair play. Unless the other parties consent to being pushed around OOCly, you've gotta give them some room to breath, y'know?

It's not so much a game of "balance" as much as it is a game of "give and take". Other players are looking to get something out of the experience, so it's only fair that you give back as much as you are given. It's not that your character has to have clearly outlined weaknesses so much as you need to build your character in such a way that they are not insufferably stealing the spotlight from everyone else. There are ways to do that without resorting to just weakening them overall, and it might even be better for everyone involved if you try to take such alternative routes.

...Heh, I'm pretty much just repeating what others have already said in this thread at this point. Ah, well. There it is, my 2c, take it or leave it. Wink

Warren Castille · **02-09-2015, 03:06 PM**

(02-09-2015, 02:59 PM)Zyrusticae Wrote: First of all, there is nothing wrong with making a powerful character what so ever. The character should be more than their â€œpower levelâ€ (snort). The strength of a character should be vehicle to encourage varied and increased Role-play. Also, weaknesses should not be given to â€˜balance out the character in combat.â€™ Weaknesses should be given round out the character in general and should be organic to how you want the character to be. Where the â€˜balanceâ€™ comes into play it not the mathematical way the character can be defeated, but it should come from the way the characters is Role-played, the situations they get involved in, and how they deal with said situations.

Mark this day on your calendars, everyone. It's the first time Z and I have completely agreed on something and all I have to do is point at this paragraph.

Harmonixer · **02-09-2015, 03:32 PM**

(02-09-2015, 03:06 PM)Warren Castille Wrote:
(02-09-2015, 02:59 PM)Zyrusticae Wrote: First of all, there is nothing wrong with making a powerful character what so ever. The character should be more than their â€œpower levelâ€ (snort). The strength of a character should be vehicle to encourage varied and increased Role-play. Also, weaknesses should not be given to â€˜balance out the character in combat.â€™ Weaknesses should be given round out the character in general and should be organic to how you want the character to be. Where the â€˜balanceâ€™ comes into play it not the mathematical way the character can be defeated, but it should come from the way the characters is Role-played, the situations they get involved in, and how they deal with said situations.

Mark this day on your calendars, everyone. It's the first time Z and I have completely agreed on something and all I have to do is point at this paragraph.

It's like this wherever he goes, not to put him on blast. He's an incredibly vocal individual and while I like to sort of 'see things from all sides' even I have difficulty siding with aÌ¶lÌ¶oÌ¶tÌ¶ some of things he's said.

It's okay Z, I still think you're a cool guy.

So when it comes to making characters, I have very often said I make better villains than I do anything else. It's often requested and the old phrase of 'someone's got to do it'. However a lot of careful planning in involved whenever I've done it. There's the whole bits of communication, but we aren't focusing on that here. My so-called effectiveness lies in 'placement' and positioning of the characters.

More specifically, I play antagonists that file a very specific goal and focus on a very particular vice or thought process. Leaving it open to others to work around it. I like making counters to thing, but in interesting ways. That and sometimes crushing hero white knight #6000 is oh so satisfying when it's done 'fairly'. I provide plenty of options to overcome, but make it interesting.

By no means would I say I just play a carpet for people to walk on, but I've can honestly say I've only made -one- 'powerful' character. Which I've long since retired because he was just too much and he covers subjects that actually make me uncomfortable as a person. Like, he's done some vile shit. But what 'boss' character hasn't right?

In relation to that, I've tried to make an effort to have all of my characters follow this framework in some way. It tends to be more fun, and I like being somewhat of a vehicle for others, because it lets the RP take it somewhere that isn't completely planned out and can truly grow. Partners providing that is, there's only so much I can do, you know?

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Expectations and balancing of "master fighters/mages"

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