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Ellie · **08-09-2013, 07:13 AM**

With the last live letter, we've discovered that the devs are awarding players with something called a Phial of Fantasia, which the Lodestone describes as thus:

Quote:Legend states that any who drink this mysterious liquid before lying down for the evening will awaken a new man (or woman).
Grants you a single opportunity to edit your appearance in the character creation screen upon your next login.

It seems that they've gone a step past making this an option that you can choose and made it a part of the lore as well.

Now I know a while back there was some discussion about changing your roleplay character's established race or gender. Maybe this could be a good continuity cover for the few who would actually want such a thing.

Kari Illderthane · **08-09-2013, 07:19 AM**

(08-09-2013, 07:13 AM)Ellie Wrote: With the last live letter, we've discovered that the devs are awarding players with something called a Phial of Fantasia, which the Lodestone describes as thus:

Quote:Legend states that any who drink this mysterious liquid before lying down for the evening will awaken a new man (or woman).
Grants you a single opportunity to edit your appearance in the character creation screen upon your next login.

It seems that they've gone a step past making this an option that you can choose and made it a part of the lore as well.

Now I know a while back there was some discussion about changing your roleplay character's established race or gender. Maybe this could be a good continuity cover for the few who would actually want such a thing.

I really don't see a problem with this, in fact it could be quite funny to play a long with and characters could get so many laughs and shocked moments from it.

Edit: I have no plans of changing.

CassandraJean · **08-09-2013, 07:22 AM**

That's actually a really good point! I have no plans to use such a thing (though I will undoubtedly hoard it) but it could be really useful for those who wanted a change but couldn't figure out if they should do it in an rp setting!

Aysun · **08-09-2013, 07:32 AM**

I absolutely will not be accepting this as IC way of gender/race swapping. Own personal preference. Small changes are perfectly fine imo though.. but those sort of changes can be made at the barber shop.

Adelpha · **08-09-2013, 11:58 AM**

I think such a thing could open up a huge can of worms: say, someone commits a crime, then drinks a phial to completely change their identity in order to escape prosecution. Or, someone makes a character who's rich and has access to large stockpiles of fantasia so they can ICly change their appearance on a daily basis. I'd hope that phials would be extremely rare ICly, but that still won't prevent people from potentially abusing it. (Especially since no actual character race change is necessary; such a person could just make one-off alts of varying races and genders to represent their shape-shifted alter egos.)

IMO, it comes down to interpreting whether this is some in-world window dressing to place on top of a gameplay mechanic, or actually a conscious change to the lore that SE is making. Do we think that lore NPCs would have access to such a thing, or would we ever see a lore NPC use one? If not, then we probably shouldn't assume we have access to them either.

Fiona Swift · **08-09-2013, 12:01 PM**

if it was temporary or easy to obtain additional phials the only real use from a RP perspective I could think of (outside of someone literally wanting a sex change) is getting cursed.

Like they got cursed and POOFED into something else and now have to find a cure.

They could also be used to go "incognito" like changing your appearance to look like someone else so you can walk into the secret hideout of bandits.

Spiritual Machine · **08-09-2013, 12:17 PM**

If you want to take this as word-of-god lore, then I think you should at least respect the rarity of the concoction.

That is, the flavor text says that its powers are a thing of legend, not empirical fact.

That implies to me that the stuff is so rare that none of us would be able to obtain a phial of the stuff for the purposes of convenience.

If you MUST use it to make some permanent change to your character--who must be the same character as before, but of a different race or gender--then at least accept the whole lore.

You probably will never get another chance to use a Phial of Fantasia.

You probably didn't even know it was a Phial of Fantasia when you drank it--or you didn't know what it did.

You probably didn't turn into something you wanted to turn into.

And while I won't ignore people who use the Phial in their roleplay, or ignore the claimed effects of it, if you're not using it to compelling effect (and more or less just used it to be a non-tribal catman with the brain of a Hyur or a man with ladyparts who is now a lesbian), don't expect me to find your character all that interesting for it.

You're better off in general just retconning minor appearances, or making the re-customized character a new character entirely.

It's the same with character recustomization services in other games. No one appreciates people abusing those for roleplay either (and then saying a wizard did it). The lore only makes it marginally more legit for IC use. Marginally.

Hayden · **08-09-2013, 12:24 PM**

If it is in game it can be used as cannon. Â while I have no plans to use it. I will respect those who do. Who am I to tell someone what in game devices they can or can not use?

lady2beetle · **08-09-2013, 12:42 PM**

I confess - I actually DO have plans to use this in my RP. But like the others, there are stipulations and acknowledgements:

1. First, I this was a plot idea we were throwing around before the vial was revealed - I was going to need to actually reroll my character.

2. This is a very rare thing. In this particularly case, it is a curse placed upon my character, certainly not something she has free access to.

3. I'll admit there are IC and OOC reasons for doing this and it involves a lot of character development.

4. I am not in a hurry to follow this plot and will be taking my time laying it out, so it's not a spur of the moment, "Hey, look I'm a cool!" ting.

5. I have absolutely no problem with people not accepting this, but I ask that they handle it ICly. Would your character believe that my character is now a different race? Absolutely not. So RP that way. I'm counting on my character dealing with a lot of grief for trying to prove that she is the person she was before.

Hope that helps... and gives at least one perspective on the issue. Big Grin

Eva · **08-09-2013, 12:46 PM**

I'm on the fence on this one. I agree that it's been added as a canon option to be able to do something like that, and I can agree that some people may want to change to options that were not made available previously. There might be some good RP that stems from "my husband is now my... wife?" or "my best friend is now a roeg!!"

On the other hand, I feel this is a really sloppy way to go about it. As has been pointed out above using it to radically alter something that goes beyond just appearances and into the realm of genetics and such. Two elezen parents now have a child that looks like a miqo'te. He should still have that elezen upbringing, knowledge, etc. I feel like there's room for that sort of stuff to get twisted and distorted. Like I get the "but it's magic!" excuse. I just think it's kind of a sloppy way to go from point A to point B and - speaking only for myself - if I wanted to change race/gender badly enough, I would probably just create an entirely new character identity.

I guess I lean slightly in the direction of the camp that feels this is not a good tool for RP - but far be it from me to dictate what other RPers elect to do for themselves!

allgivenover · **08-09-2013, 01:09 PM**

I'm thinking/hoping that it won't come up often, due to rarity.

In the Aion community we had/have a "plastic surgery ticket" that you could purchase from the cash shop that allowed you to change everything but your gender, it had an in character presence via the "Daeva of Appearance". Opinions varied about whether or not it was a good thing, but thankfully when it was used IC most of the time it wasn't done so lightly. I suspect a lot of people RP the race/gender that they want to RP, and as a result won't be quick to change things around IC.

If anything we'll mostly see the occasional "oh, no! this alchemy accident turned me into a boy/girl! what do I do!?" sort of event, but that will likely be uncommon too.

Regardless, it's not as if you can stop people from using it IC, so expect it to happen.

Dubs · **08-09-2013, 01:17 PM**

For some odd reason this topic reminds me of Gogo from Final Fantasy VI. I agree it can open up a whole can of worms for those wishing to RP gender swapping mimicking doppelgangers. Tread lightly.

Teardrop · **08-09-2013, 02:20 PM**

(08-09-2013, 12:46 PM)Eva Wrote: *snip*
Two elezen parents now have a child that looks like a miqo'te. He should still have that elezen upbringing, knowledge, etc. I feel like there's room for that sort of stuff to get twisted and distorted.
*snip*
I guess I lean slightly in the direction of the camp that feels this is not a good tool for RP - but far be it from me to dictate what other RPers elect to do for themselves!

How often do we see almost this very thing happen in people's backstory just to get around naming convention Rolleyes

?

And just like we're supposed to respect people deciding their Roegadyn was brought up by Lalafell to account for the variation from a lore-supported naming convention and whatnot, I fail to see why one couldn't respect someone's choice to use this item, an item that is an official item, in context. Doesn't matter how rare one thinks it should be...I'm sure its maybe more common to come upon a bottle of that than for someone of a certain race to be brought up by a different race's parents, and can easily be explained away in a similar manner Wink

Yet we swallow that whole thing quite readily when people use it in their character concept without any great support from lore that orphans are often raised by non-racial parents and such (or am I incorrect on multiple examples of this happening lore wise Huh

Any examples?).

Wouldn't ever use it myself, but I don't understand the automatic poo-pooing of the use by someone of an in-game item to advance that someone's role play. Eva's last part of her last line is what I would go with myself Thumbsup

Naunet · **08-09-2013, 02:32 PM**

(08-09-2013, 07:32 AM)Aysun Wrote: I absolutely will not be accepting this as IC way of gender/race swapping.

I have to wonder... why not? When it's got lore behind it? Even if you think it's silly lore, it's still lore.

Strikes me as a little snobby to not "accept" such an excuse.

Clover · **08-09-2013, 02:44 PM**

(08-09-2013, 02:20 PM)Teardrop Wrote: Wouldn't ever use it myself, but I don't understand the automatic poo-pooing of the Â use by someone of an in-game item to advance that someone's role play. Â Eva's last part of her last line is what I would go with myself

It depends on how much it's used. If many people used it, the lore of each race would stop mattering. They no longer would be recognizable. I'd personally be troubled if that became a common occurrence.

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A Phial of Fantasia and Roleplay

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes