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Qhora Bajihri · **08-22-2013, 05:39 PM**

(08-22-2013, 01:36 PM)Theodric Ridgefield Wrote: One of the major issues that arises when role-players deviate from what their character model, armour and weaponry looks like to an outsider is that it can quite quickly break someone else's immersion or simply leave a bad taste in their mouths. If I have Theodric break the ice by commenting on another character's lance or axe then it'd feel very contrived and awkward to be expected to suddenly assume that it's a broadsword instead.

This would be my reasoning for not doing it myself. "Hey, Joe. Nice sword." "((Actually, it's a ratflail.))" "((Oh, crap. Sorry.))"

That being said, it doesn't really bug me at all. I'm perfectly happy to just go with it and be reminded of the ratflail whenever I forget.

Also, I agree with the line of thought regarding names and personalities for weapons instead. Like Zaeed's good ol' Jessie. She was a crappy, busted up, piece of junk weapon, but even so, I've certainly never forgotten her.

Ildur · **08-22-2013, 06:21 PM**

(08-22-2013, 05:36 PM)Uther Wrote: I think it's ridiculous to discourage RP weapon exchange when we have people in this community with magitek robot arms and no one bats an eye (No offense if you're reading this.). If anyone is that concerned about what weapons someone is RPing vs. what weapons their character is using, they need to calm down. It's not a big deal. At all. It's not a question of can you complain, it's a question of shouldÂ you complain.

I'd argue that this question should be applied to anything in a character: yes, you can give your character exotic or not-in-game weapons, but should you? It's all a matter of what it gives the character from a storytelling perspective.
For example, I do see the storytelling value of a pugilist that fights completely unarmed: it's an statement of his martial expertise, or maybe he dislikes to kill. However, a marauder that uses a broadsword would need a different justification.

With that said, I do agree that stopping roleplay because of this is quite silly. Weapon choice is essentially flavor and, as long as it stays like flavor, I don't think complains or interruptions would be justified.
On the other hand, giving your character something that cannot be despicted in game without a good reason is sillier.

Uther · **08-22-2013, 06:26 PM**

(08-22-2013, 06:21 PM)Ildur Wrote: I'd argue that this question should be applied to anything in a character: yes, you can give your character exotic or not-in-game weapons, but should you? It's all a matter of what it gives the character from a storytelling perspective.
For example, I do see the storytelling value of a pugilist that fights completely unarmed: it's an statement of his martial expertise, or maybe he dislikes to kill. However, a marauder that uses a broadsword would need a different justification.

With that said, I do agree that stopping roleplay because of this is quite silly. Weapon choice is essentially flavor and, as long as it stays like flavor, I don't think complains or interruptions would be justified.
On the other hand, giving your character something that cannot be despicted in game without a good reason is sillier.

I can agree to this. This is fair.

Whatever weapon you have should have some reasoning behind it. I said earlier "Because it's cool" is a valid reason, but allow me to rephrase:

If you want a different weapon because it's cool, that's fine, as long as you justify it somehow.

I think having bare fists and maybe a knife is cool as shit. But it also makes sense to the character. Then again, I designed the character based on what I thought was cool, but I'm not going to get into circular logic here.

FreelanceWizard · **08-22-2013, 06:28 PM**

(08-22-2013, 05:36 PM)Uther Wrote: I think it's ridiculous to discourage RP weapon exchange when we have people in this community with magitek robot arms and no one bats an eye (No offense if you're reading this.). If anyone is that concerned about what weapons someone is RPing vs. what weapons their character is using, they need to calm down. It's not a big deal. At all. It's not a question of can you complain, it's a question of shouldÂ you complain.

Who's complaining? The OP asked for opinions, and they've been given. (For what it's worth, I do bat an eye at the magitek robot arms, but again, it's not my character; he can do what he likes.)

At any rate, if you want to say your weapon X is actually Y (or no weapon at all) in RP with me, then that's how it is, and I'm fine with running with that. Smile

I RPed semi-regularly with a guy in EQ who had a clockwork mechanical arm, and we had a ball. In CoH, we had people explain kinetic energy blasts (which were blue in game and did bashing damage) as blasts of water, as there were no water powers in game. In practice, I think most people will chalk it up to "flavor" and run with it.

However, there are real downsides to playing something that's not how you appear, from the likely and minimal ("What's that weapon so-and-so uses again instead of a lance?" and "Cool lance!" -- "((That's not a lance.))") to the unlikely but incredibly obnoxious ("No, truly, that is a sword. Perhaps you should seek the services of a Conjurer for your mental illness?"). If you want to do it, fine, just be aware of the potential downside and how it impacts your RP, and at least consider that there are other ways to achieve many common narrative goals (such as being cool and unique) that don't require as much work and don't have those downsides.

I think in practice, the biggest downside is having to repeatedly tell people about the difference, just as those with odd voices or accents for their character have to do the same. However, there will always be people who are going to not be fine with it for whatever reason, and you will lose access to RPing with them. Whether that matters to a player or not is up to them.

Cato · **08-22-2013, 06:37 PM**

I often encourage role-players to invest in giving their character's weapon or armour a background story instead of making it into something that can't really be depicted very well due to the various restrictions put into place. Perhaps one's character inherited their shield as a family heirloom, passed down from generation to generation? Maybe they simply found their lance when clearing out a den of monsters or thieves and kept it for themselves?Â

It's the sort of thing that can be done in role-play itself too - I've often had my character obtain a new weapon from time to time as part of their ongoing story. It can make for some pretty compelling role-play if your character ends up losing a precious weapon and is forced to either reclaim it or even obtain a new one.

Some people may disagree, but I find the above scenarios far more interesting than giving my character a weapon that can't really be portrayed with the numerous weapons available to us in the game itself. A character doesn't need to be artificially complex to be intriguing.

Uther · **08-22-2013, 06:43 PM**

(08-22-2013, 06:28 PM)FreelanceWizard Wrote: I think in practice, the biggest downside is having to repeatedly tell people about the difference, just as those with odd voices or accents for their character have to do the same. However, there will always be people who are going to not be fine with it for whatever reason, and you will lose access to RPing with them. Whether that matters to a player or not is up to them.

I feel like if you have to impress someone to win their RP approval, you should find a different crowd. All I'm saying is, if you don't mind telling someone "((Hey this isn't an axe))" or whatever, you should have every right to go for it. Anyone who gets insanely upset about it isn't worth RPing with. Hell, in Misericorde, we bring up RP inventions constantly to explain things, or just for fun. And it's a blast. If someone were to try and put the kabbash on that because it "takes them out of the game" I'd be livid. This is what's fun for us. Gun-scythes might be fun for OP. Who am I to say "no" to that?Â

I do think some justification is fair though. For instance, why does Eko fight using his bare hands and a knife? Because he was born on a jungle island unknown to the rest of Hydaelyn and that's what he was raised doing and what he's most comfortable with. That's just playing by the rules. You should be free to do whatever you want, but if someone asks you should have reasoning behind it. That's my thoughts anyway.

Xha'li Moui · **08-22-2013, 06:58 PM**

From my understanding all Arcanist's weapons are custom as the geometries contained within the tome were likely inscribed by the Arcanist who owns the tome, even if they were all copied wholesale from another tome(s), the particular order is likely to be unique to that one tome.Â For other weapons I'm on the fence-as long as its not to out there(read gun-anything, buster swords, etc) then I don't have a huge issue with it.Â If its something as similar as saying theres a scratch from this or that then thats totally fine.

FreelanceWizard · **08-22-2013, 07:12 PM**

(08-22-2013, 06:43 PM)Uther Wrote: I feel like if you have to impress someone to win their RP approval, you should find a different crowd. All I'm saying is, if you don't mind telling someone "((Hey this isn't an axe))" or whatever, you should have every right to go for it. Anyone who gets insanely upset about it isn't worth RPing with.

(...snip...)

I do think some justification is fair though. For instance, why does Eko fight using his bare hands and a knife? Because he was born on a jungle island unknown to the rest of Hydaelyn and that's what he was raised doing and what he's most comfortable with. That's just playing by the rules. You should be free to do whatever you want, but if someone asks you should have reasoning behind it. That's my thoughts anyway.

I think we agree, actually. There's a cost associated with going away from the "norm" (with regards to lore, mechanics, appearance, or what have you) -- in this case, realistically, the major cost is just having to ensure that you weave information about your variant weapon into your RP so that people know it's there and can react accordingly. But, of course, everyone has a varying level of acceptance of things that are different, and that's where you can get the snippiness, claims of "Mary Sue" or "special snowflake," or people just refusing to RP with you. That's a cost, too, although perhaps not a fair one. My point's just that, since there's a cost, you should make sure that, in your mind, the narrative benefits (to you and others) outweigh the costs. Not everyone's aware of these costs, which is why I bring them up. Smile

Is the cost for a custom weapon all that high? No, probably not. Personally, though, I think custom weapons that don't elucidate backstory, don't bring out elements of a character, or don't strike up interesting RP don't outweigh the costs; the narrative benefits are too low. IMO, if the whole purpose is to make your character look cool and unique, there's ways to do it that don't incur costs at all, and I think people should evaluate those first. Sometimes, though, you have to accept the higher cost to do what you want with the character, and that's fine too, as long as you know what you're getting into.

All that aside, yes, definitely, if you choose to do this -- indeed, if you choose to deviate from the norm in any circumstance -- you definitely need to have an explanation for it that meshes with lore, if nothing else so you can use it in RP. Smile

DriftingFable · **08-23-2013, 03:43 PM**

Well I certainly took my time on this post, but really thanks everyone. I'm loving all of these various view points you've all got here. It really gives me a good idea on the state of affairs here.Â Smile

Though I should say bout the Scythe bit . . . that was more of a pure example of the potential kinds of unorthodox weaponry rather than a hint of what I'd like to use. Its tool I'd think that's very feasible to exists in this timeline despite we've yet to see one in game(or least I've yet to see anyone tending the fields, period). Its simply not often weaponized by traveling adventurers, though not too much is stopping a capable adventure from trying to do so.

But to get a little more personal: I designed my character from the beginning to be a specialist in greatswords, even though said class isn't available as of yet. Greatswords have always been my weapon of choice in RPGs when it has been available as they tend bear the Mighty Glacier playstyle I prefer. And while I may be largely unfamiliar with Final Fantasy as a whole, I do believe it's only a matter of time before a my sought after class arrives that efficiently wields such a massive blade. Probably months and months away, but it will surely come if what I've researched on XI is any foretelling of what Square is willing to do on the MMO side of things. Till then, my character isn't above utilizing other tools outside his accustomed proficiency to get the job done(dabbling into the other classes like the pugilist). So that way I can still play the current classes and it won't suddenly be awkward or OOC. But now I look back and realize a slight issue.Â

Assume the day does that a greatsword guild is founded and begins to accept members. Why after months of mastering/experiencing numerous forms of combat would said character suddenly decide to not only join up but hold its craftsmanship above all of his previously honed and mastered skills? Especially when he usually refers to his other weaponry as mere tools for his work. Sure he'd pick it up to advance his combat knowledge, but I can't find motivation here as to why the greatsword would become his main focus of all of his combat skills instead of simply another tool for the job. I mean to me, when you call a certain weapon type your specialty above all others, there's usually some form of personal attachment or bonding to said weapon. Dubs little snippet is evident of that, surely he and his Grymgohta have been through a lot together to share that kind of relationship. At least I'd think so. I want my character to have a much deeper appreciation for the blade over the rest of his gear, and the best way I believe said goal can be accomplished is for said sword to appear in his early life. Which would have to be before greatswords would ever see widespread usage among the adventurers of Eorzea and before my character would have easy access to the various weapon guilds. While I'm still narrowing down exact descriptive feelings beyond "the one true companion that has stuck with him through and through", the placement should at least lead to some reasoning as to why he would hold such a weapon in greater standing than his others.

As I am nailing down the possibilities of how said blade is acquired, a Garlean origin for my greatsword seems likely as it would allow my character the earliest opportunity to acquire it. Which may or may not imply a gunblade modification to the weapon that I mentioned earlier. And I'm not at all too crazy about that, as honest as I can be. So you slapped a longsword onto a gun and called it technological superiority, goodie for you Garleans, I hardly see the marvel in it at this moment. Â Regardless, taking to account with how much the Garlean Empire likes to marry firearms and blades, I'd find it somewhat difficult to justify why said greatsword would lack such a thing. I would probably limit the gun bit to being something with shorter range and slow/not-spammable like a shotgun or a musket just to emphasize its melee proficiency over ranged fire power. But if its possible to lack said attachment and make sense to be of Garlean craft, I certainly wont mind taking that route for further balancing. And as I stated in the OP, such a weapon would probably have no action trait support and many other shortcomings due to its experimental nature.

More or less, I'm pretty much just poking around trying to determine whats acceptable in the community and what constitutes as overboard. I do think understand the difficulties as addressed as such, some I was aware of but there was some information that got me to think a little more. I have little issue of mentioning the blade from time to time as I am usually descriptive with actions, that large slab of steel is bound so clank around as he moves. I will probably attempt to design said weapon a simply shaped as possible so it so it wouldn't be so difficult to describe. I also have little intent to attempt wield a different weapon type and pass it off as said greatsword as I would usually simply imagine in on his back along with his usual existing in-game weaponry. If itÂ would however be better for the communityÂ leaving the blade in the care of a retainer or restricting usage of it till the widespread release of greatswords; so be it. But I feel that the weapon needs at the very least to have an existence in the backstory. Alternatively, my character does very well wield the existing weapons(swords, axes, baghnakhs, lances) along side with the custom greatsword, so it would certainly wouldn't bring about RP awkwardness if random bystander decided to comment on one of my other weaponry instead. In the end, I do understand if it really pushes someones buttons a little too far and ends up alienating me from a number individuals. I can at least take pride that there are some individuals here that are willing to RP with me in light of my abnormal character decisions; and that's something I can live with.

Well that was a lot . . . soo obligatory TL;DR : I like greatswords, its what my character was designed around. I'd like for said greatsword to appear in his early history for bonding purposes. Its origin may be garlean and may have the gun- attachment that I'm not too crazy about. I will take great care into ensuring it has the proper drawbacks to its already perceived advantages such as no action traits or class support. And I believe I can combat the negatives presented in this thread of custom weaponry and calmly adapt to the situation if it proves hazardous in RP.

Really, thanks again for all of these replies.

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Custom Weapons

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