Paradox

As far as manipulating fate itself, a good example comes from Remilia Scarlet from the Tohou-verse. Remi's ability is the manipulation of fate, but we never really see it openly used. It's thought by the fandom that she uses it for very subtle things rather than overt, vulgar displays. The way I see it, manipulating fate is just changing a road slightly, like putting up a detour sign so something that's meant to happen happens sooner rather than later, or later rather than sooner. You have to re-merge back into the main road. For example. If someone is fated to be killed by being shot, the Astromancer reads the cards and sees that their fate is destined to happen tomorrow. That person has something important to do tomorrow, so the Astromancer manipulates fate. The person *is* shot, but survives. However, they're still fated to die by being shot, and from that point on it's unknown whether it's tomorrow, or ten years form now. The way I see fate manipulation working is, you can only detour the same road once, twice at most. However, once someone knows their fate, they can actively try to change it themselves after it's been once changed for them. Awareness is half of fate, destination the other half. In the previous example, the person's fate to die by being shot remains. However, other questions are unanswered, such as 'will it be the same person', or 'is it going to be an accident rather than willful', and so on. Learning your fate and manipulating it to a degree makes for even better roleplay if it's handled properly. I tend to go by the rule of three; a single person's fate cannot be changed by magic like Astromancy more than three times before the stars simply fail to answer again. I like to think this is reasonable as it goes by known rules of magic in other mythologies and faiths; some might also argue that the stars, like the gods, might be fickle and only answer if they feel like it, or in ways that aren't *quite* what is asked for. Back on the tarot card topic, it also fits in with using the cards IRL (I've been a reader as well in my past). In the sense that there are various interpretations of what each card means. They can be taken as a literal event or as a figurative meaning depending on the actual reading itself as well. The pattern the cards are laid in, the question asked, or event accessed..it's all subjective, because fate is not ironclad or concrete. It's a road with a thousand branches.

The only major problem with a large in-RP police force is the same problem presented with a lack of them; wanting to force things or ignore things by individuals who think the RP 'badge' gives them power over others. I've seen this happen in various other MMOs where there's a lore backed or official police force and people play guards or members of this force. While some are fine roleplayers, you do have the ones who just want to play a cop to be an asshole cop, and try to harass, arrest, or otherwise bother people for the tiniest infractions, all the time, and then pull the 'well in the lore/canon/etc our police force is valid so you have to listen/obey/etc. Not everyone will do this. But it has been done, so any large group of police characters like that has to be done with extreme care, lest they become the bullies. And considering the Blades often have a lot of assholes and corrupt people on their force, you might find this kind of play becomes more attractive in such a group. Not saying it will, but just that it can, so it's good to know who your members are and that they can be trusted not to cause toxic RP. Overwhelming with numbers can also eventually cause tension (been on the receiving end of this before), and while it's what a realistic police force would do, it has to be handled carefully or it turns into one big Charlie Foxtrot. On the flip side, the idea of a brass blades group that creates a little tension here and there within reason, roots out its own corruption, tries to reform 'bad cops', and so on might make an interesting bit of pre-modern police drama, which I don't see any of, really. The conflict of those who want to serve and protect, vs those who want to make money and climb the ladder is great for RP within such a police force. Makes for some delicious conflict.

Fair enough. Then it's safe to say we all just each have our views. Not a whole lot more to be said at this point. Let us each game on, in our own way.

The entire term 'special snowflake' has always smacked of elitism to me, or an unreasonable and irrational judgment on someone's character for having a special feature, a little more power, or something different or down a path that most tow-the-line Rpers don't like to play or see played. I've generally only heard the term used in a snide or judging fashion, so I actually tend to avoid people that call people's characters or players such things, and avoid roleplaying with them because they already have their judgment or idea of what you are before they get to know you. The minute 'edgy' or 'special snowflake' comes out of anyone's mouth, that basically tells me they've already cast their die of what they think of your character idea. But that's also a bit off topic. Regardless, once someone makes that judgment against you or your character, good luck proving them wrong.

And that is where we must agree to disagree. I look at the creativity in roleplay. The game mechanics are there to be used in the playing of the game itself. And unless you're talking about full time raiding, PvE is somewhat effortless, but it also takes time. And as has been stated, things like time constraints, personal preference factor in. If it's your opinion that someone has to have 50+ level classes and shiny pretty gear to be strong as a character, then indeed, you have the right to that opinion. I however, would rather play with someone who can convince me no matter what they've leveled or not, as opposed to someone who goes 'lookit me, I ran the same thing a hundred times over, that makes me tough!'. PvE doesn't take that much effort. Neither does PvP. Being legitimately skilled in it does take effort. But that effort has nothing to do with my *character* or their backstory or what they've been roleplayed to be and grow as, but what I myself, as a player, OOC, have done with the game's mechanics. In any case, you have your belief and I have mine, and we'll leave it at that.

A'rklonn is simultaneously moderately refined and an angry bastard. He grew up quite poor, and made good for himself with various Aether breakthroughs in his magic synergy studies as well as trading (*cough, smuggling*) various relics and artifacts from digs he's conned or bought his way into. He tries to be refined and philosophical and even succeeds..but when he gets angry, that orphanage kid comes out and he sounds like someone you'd expect to hear in a back alley tavern. So cross-culture characters can be such a way as well. They can keep up a trained mask because they eased into a type of culture, but you can't take the street rat or soldier out of them in the end. A'rk's the type to actually say things like great philosophers would to teach a grand lesson, but internally he's just like. 'Fuck it'.

True, but that also comes down to playing style. Some actually find it difficult to play more rough characters, even if they're not playing a fancy noble. For myself, it's difficult sometimes because I like to think I have moderately good grammar, spelling, speech abilities. Stepping out of the ability to have such things is hard because I grew up being literate at a young age, learned to read quickly and developed my writing skills early. It's actually harder for me to use impolite speech or write in things like accents (because I often forget to add said accents in speech, which is my own fault, but I digress). To that end I generally play characters who have at least a rudimentary education, or come from a more middle class sort of background. Not wealthy, but not dirt poor either. If my character also has a profession, which most characters do that isn't mercenary or bounty hunter or something of that line, they generally have basic reading skills for processing orders or sending out things. But this is totally off topic, so I'll actually stop my summary there. Adventurers I'd think, might find a reason to at least learn to read because after a while, people will start to fleece you if you can't. Even if not noble born, they might also have done work for them at one point, and likely would have had to learn certain skills. There's a whole spectrum of people who work with high class individuals that have to at least be able to do certain things, so I think it's not as unrealistic in-lore for *some* lowborn types to have gotten there on their own or through training, but at the end of the day I think a lot of it is player stylistic more than a fully even portrayal.

'We' don't expect it of crafters. I don't doubt someone's IC ability to do a craft just because they don't have the fancy 50+ Crafter clothing. Saying we expect it of crafters is a bit of a sweeping statement. I've never done such a thing. The statement also has a bit of a false ring there; how does one 'prove' one is a badass in roleplay by doing mindless pve grind and acquiring over the top shiny outfits and super duper magic weapons? I don't think it has anything to do with roleplay at all aside from fancy duds. Well, unless all of your dungeons are RP dungeons and it genuinely fits into the roleplay history of your character as having visited those places. Yes, this is an MMO. But just as there are people who pvp all the time and people who pve all the time, again, there are people that roleplay all the time. And refusing to acknowledge their character advancement in roleplay they've legitimately done and put real work into because they didn't go grind World of Darkness all day seems a bit of a snub. They work just as hard, by roleplaying their character, spending hours developing their story, interacting with others. So are you saying the work they put in creatively is less equal to the work someone else puts in button mashing and yelling at bad healers and tanks when a group wipes?

I would certainly entertain such a thing myself. Would my character look at them as if they are insane? Certainly. If they thought they could somehow back it up? I'd certainly let them try and convince me. Sometimes fun RP is about even the nonsensical, and letting things flow. Sometimes insane people or drunks say all kinds of nutty things. People having outlandish concepts to me, isn't 'don't rp with them', it's 'what kind of rp can I make out of this outlandishness that flows'. But that's me.

People have been playing Ishgardians for a long time already, before Ishgard was even a thing. So I certainly wouldn't have an issue with your Ishgardian character, Blue. Everyone has their reason for being out in the world, y'know?

When it comes to nobility, all nobles aren't created equal, certainly. And whether you want to go more with old royal nobility or aristocracy is also a fun possibility. Different houses with different values, all vying for the favor of things. Ul'dah seems like its noble houses would be based entirely on money, and with how much you have meaning how big you are a lot of the time, there's a lot of opportunity for 'new money' to come up. Those who've come into a large sum by trading, or treasure hunting. Imagine the fun being the adventurer who has just gained enough wealth and measure to be considered 'powerful' in Ul'dah, but with little knowledge of how the older money does things. That'd be some fun RP in itself, with some delightful conflicts of interest. Adventurers and treasure hunters are often wont to use combat to solve their problems in a lot of cases; but when in an environment where violence is frowned on, they'd have to use their wits to convince these people that they're worthy to be their peers, or even their betters. Stranger in a strange land can take a lot of forms, and in noble house rps I've been in in the past, this is always good for a contrast of personalities without everyone being the 'same old nobles'. Ishgard is lineage, which is wholly different, and can accept outsiders into the family for reasons. From what I've seen, Gridanian nobility (If Lady Amandine and her gentlemanly servant are any indication) Remind me more of the old aristocracy, perhaps a mix of established houses and 'old money' style individuals..though perhaps a strong Conjurer bloodline/closeness to the Elementals would rank you in as well. Limsa..eh..I've never seen any indication of nobility in Limsa as far as the city proper. I'm sure a wealthy shipowner would be the closest they have to 'nobles', and if they have anything, it would be merchant lords who own fleets and make a lot of trading money. There's also the idea of poor noble. Outside of Ul'dah, and maybe even rarely in it, they can exist. Perhaps their house had a major scandal, or maybe it was sacked. Maybe another family assimilated theirs and they kept their old name and used what was left of their house's reputation to keep the loyal ones close. Or perhaps they're living off their name alone; finding a marriage partner in another house can be a big deal for a noble on hard times, after all. It was like that in Titanic, after all. The young lady was marrying another wealthy (douchebag) aristocrat because as her mother told her, 'all the money was gone'. I think the most fun with playing nobles is there's as many concepts for them as there are for normal lowborn or middle class RP characters. Not all of them are snooty and drink tea and talk about the unwashed commoners. There's a diversity there, and when different types of nobility interact, it's a glorious sight if played correctly. I love intrigue RP almost as much as combat RP, so seeing some noble stuff going on more often would be pleasing and fun. As far as conflicts and power plays, it's also great to bring in non nobles, giving them more opportunities. Adventurers, bounty hunters, thugs, low class types, all could be paid to rough up a noble's kid and rob them to 'teach them a lesson', to hamper caravans, to harass their rivals in 'bad parts of town' and the like. And let's not forget the noble's retainers. Who says that sweet little Au Ra maid isn't a shinobi assassin specializing in Othardian poisons that many Eorzeans wouldn't know? What's that? She's poisoned someone's heir? Then I guess you'd need a learned apothecary from a similar area of the world to identify the poison and save the poor boy before it's too late! Nobility have the ability to bring people from every class into their intrigue, form hirelings to killers to friends in low places, to mingling with the other side for whatever reason or another. Love them or hate them, they can get some great RP going. Whether your style is Downton Abbey or Game of Thrones, hope to see more of this.

In the end, it comes to down to people roleplaying how they want to play. Some favor story and presentation of their character in roleplay more than running all over the game doing PvE. And that's fine. I level my characters not to show off their power, but because I do enjoy the pve aspect of the game. As someone who started in RP tabletop, I understood the necessity of stats, but at 17, I got into online chatroom RP, and we had no stats there. It was all freeform, you just had to be creative enough at writing to back up your claims and convince the others you had those capabilities. I think that's the biggest issue is being convincing. At the crux of this argument, you have two basic sides. One who will think you can't RP powerful without the mechanics supporting it. And the other who would rather take the..I guess for lack of a better word, 'purity' of the roleplay itself to decide. Cowboys and Indians didn't have gearscores, assigned levels, or any of that but as kids, we played it just fine. I have characters who are powerful who are leveled, and who aren't leveled. Honestly because..well..I dislike grinding. I can only work on one character at a time, and only for so many hours before the repetitive grind gets on my nerves and I have to quit. I'm notorious for having little attention span for constantly repeating actions, and after a while the dungeons all look and feel the same to me. So I take RP breaks. Sometimes for days, weeks. And no leveling happens. But my character is still the same, or grows through the RP rather than the grinding. If a level 1 character can thoroughly convince me beyond a shadow of a doubt that she's a Primal in disguise and can suplex a train, hell, I'll roll with it. Because if someone can convince me of that, it means their description or ideas are rich and creative, and I've found a gem to RP with. If they can't convince me, or just want raw power without reasonable creativity, then well. I'll just RP not really taking them seriously, because that's how I'd react. If someone tells you they're Jesus (no offense to anyone genuinely faithful/religious), you're gonna have doubts. But if they can show you the miracles, then yeah, you'd probably be convinced. If someone can reasonably show me *why* their character can do things like that then I'm fine. Your level doesn't matter. Though my character might wonder why you're so strong and still wear those ratty clothes, but hey. With great power often comes great insanity. The only reason I generally level the classes tied to my IC abilities is so I can get a feel for how they work, then I add my own flavor to it. But that's my choice, and if someone else's choice is different, it's not my call to make how powerful their character is in roleplay. I mentioned this a while back in a thread..mm..I think it was on magic, and how you use it on your characters. But I digress. To me, OOC achievement is not necessary for high-powered RP. Just like doing nothing but PvP does not make your character a better fighter IC. Gearscore=/=IC power. Maybe it seems odd to me, but applying an RP powerlevel to items and abilities acquired in PvE and not RP..seems the foreign entity. When I PvE it's generally seperate from my RP because..well, pugs, honestly. I get most of my gear pugging. And I'm not going to count that as RP, because it wasn't. So the gear and levels I got have nothing to do with my actual RP, so yeah. I can't viably connect them other than by being able to click my numkeys and show off my shiny in-game skill. Meh. I guess to each their own, but I'd rather play with a person who's an IC badass and so creative about it they can prove it regardless of what their mechanical level is and make it fun, than someone who says they're stronger than you on principle because their gearscore/in game level lords over yours. It smacks of someone being powerful because of button clicking, not character building. Which makes no sense on its own. Just my two gil.

Wall of Text incoming. I think when it comes down to issues like this, there are two facts one has to remember about the human race in general. One is that as a species, humans are collectively selfish (though there are exceptions). When one feels they've been slighted, even if they actually haven't been, impulse takes control and they go on a (generally nonviolent) rampage. The second fact is, convincing said humans of something they are already very convinced of in opposition of how they have convinced themselves it is, well..it is nigh on impossible. I think most, if not all of us are guilty in jumping to conclusions at one point or another in our lives. And unfortunately, when you put a bunch of creative, opinionated people in one big space together and tell them all to get along, someone's peanut butter is going to get into someone's chocolate, and one of them will invariably hate peanut butter or chocolate. Throw that in with the gang mentality of a lot of people, and the cliques that form (Yes, they do form, don't deny it. A lot of you may be in one and not even realize it because you're on the inside looking out), and you have a recipe for a lot of hurt feelings and misunderstandings among people who should all just be building together. IC behavior can trigger negative OOC feelings if someone feels they're 'doing it on purpose', or 'it's being done to personally slight someone'. Unfortunately, this can be a misled judgment at the best of times, because nobody really knows the players behind the characters. I for example, can be very vitriolic OOC, but I also have a short temper (Working on it), and I do warn people of that when I meet them. I've never made it a secret I'm a confrontational person a lot of the time and I don't hold back my words when I feel something needs to be said..however, I have some sweet characters IC, and I do try to RP even with people I have issue with if I have no choice due to cross-FC friends or similar situations. But that's really not on topic. If you're playing a bad guy, dark type, someone with a familiar background trope, or even just an asshole IC, because those do exist who are really cool people OOC..you'll find a lot of judgment. Judgment is the first impulse of a lot of roleplayers nowadays I'm finding. The snide little terms and words 'special snowflake' and 'edgy' get thrown around a lot, and honestly, after some scanning of some of the people that have been accused of such, that doesn't even mean someone's character is bad. A lot of the time in the community it just means 'I don't like your character/concept/etc because it doesn't suit my opinion of what it should be', and the ones that are disliked because someone doesn't like what you've made without even getting the chance to talk OOC or go further into detail get shamed or ridiculed because someone wants to start a humiliation conga. GG. It happens more than you think. A lot of roleplayers are judgmental people, and drama can often start from just one snarky little remark because they couldn't keep their judgmental words to themselves. Try roleplaying with the 'snowflakes' sometimes. Some just like to play things really off the wall and garner negative drama or get shamed for doing so, yet I've met some really good people in giving them a chance regardless of where their creative process goes. Protip: Don't hug tightly to your idea of roleplay as gospel. Expand. Drama actually decreases when you drop judgment. Like Glioca, if I've experienced personal drama, I will inform the people I'm close to or that are within my personal circle of actual friends. I don't really spread it all over the world. I just like to keep my friends from having to deal with the same shit I went through. I also make it a point to let them know not to spread shit around. And generally the people I stay close to listen. As far as the drama goes though, it's unavoidable. Some individuals will always believe their opinion is fact, and while it's their right to roleplay their own way, OOC they're often bent on forcing what they believe is fact down your throat, and calling you a bad roleplayer or taking what you say out of context because what they hear is not what you say, and shaming you to the whole community about it. See the whole 'snowflake' talk above. I find this is especially common of individuals who have some clout or are recognized in a lot of communities who've had their ego stroked by others. Being 'recognized' or 'famous' is often a huge doorway lead into drama. Doesn't matter how many people recognize someone, an individual's internet/community fame isn't a right to walk over others. Drama will happen. That's all there is to it. Someone who causes it without just cause eventually gets their real face shown to the public, and a karmic debt is paid. People will only put up with bullshit for so long, because if there's one thing people hate more than constant drama, it's being lied to; and when a pattern is recognized, doubt comes into play. Genuine problem causers will only last so long, even among their friends because drama snakes tend to eat their tails. So your best bet if you're the victim of drama is to game on with the people you do know and trust, and hope that the rest of the community will use their own reasoning skills and experiences from roleplaying with you to continue to do so. If someone listens to someone else's opinion before forming their own by interacting with you? Eh, no big loss. The community's a big place. Even if one group doesn't like you, there's bound to be another group that doesn't like that group. The best way to think of any RP community is like a high school. Find your niche and go with what works. You'll find good people who don't listen to the gossipy BS, and a few are all you need.

I had a character I axed as part of a personal storyline not that long ago who died because she had been brought back to life imperfectly after dying. The energy supply keeping her alive sort of got cut severely, and her and her twin brother faded away into the Aether. She's already Fantasia'd, and I just need to namechange for an Au Ra. Off topic, I dislike the female Au Ra body types immensely. I was hoping for something taller, more mature, more..filled out considering the size of the males. Ah well. I still would like to have one under my belt regardless. Technically I'll have two as I filled a slot with a male character as well with a name similar to Yugiri's convention to Fantasia later, so I'll have one of each gender. But, details.

A'rklonn is going to Ishgard for the same reasons he goes anywhere where there's a war. To observe which side he believes is right or wrong, or flip a coin, and join just to test his strength against the other guy. RP wise, he's not sure if he's on the side of the dragons, or the side of the Ishgardians, or his favorite side; his side. Either way, it means new training grounds, and new enemies to fight, and new food to sample. He loves new food.

You know, this may make me sound weird, but having a character sheet showing your abilities and skills wouldn't bother me at all, I just hate the idea of a character's experiences and skills being summed up by a factor you have no genuine control over. Even losing is fine as long as I feel like it's my own damn fault. I have more problem accepting failure that I have no hand in than accepting failure I do have a hand in, if that makes sense. So if we had sheets detailing all potential abilities as long as nobody would metagame the info, I'd be totally fine with it. :3

Sounds reasonable. I guess I've fought so many fights in my time and lost and won my share, I just wanna fight for the fight. Like I said, combat RP is my favorite type of RP, so I'm a bit biased there. I know not everyone likes to fight, and it makes me sadface, but hell. Gotta do what you love, you know? I like talking to people. It's fun to talk to someone even if your characters are beating the hell out of each other. I actually think it's more fun in situations like that.

Fair enough! Like I said, Ark loves to fight. He'll start a fight with a toaster if you let him. Not all of my characters are like that though. S'vanoh prefers to make love, not war.

There is one way that this makes sense, and that's if someone has consistently won battles in a reasonable fashion and has had reason to believe in their strength because to date their character hasn't been defeated..but still maintains a reasonable level of OOC disconnect realizing that they *can* lose, but till now have had no evidence of loss backing up their belief in their character's power. In a way it was phrased a bit..eh..that is hard to merge together one way or another, maybe if it had been stated a different way? As for instigating..well, you really don't know what kind of roleplayer someone is until you interact with them, so there's no guarantee depending on where your story was going you might not instigate them one way or another, right? I mean, none of us can know the future one way or the other.

I s'pose I have to give you that one. Point made. Still, there is no real fairness in battle in a lot of cases. I've won and lost my share of fights in RP, I just like to think someone can surprise me, and there's just no surprise in dice, really. But! To each their own. The discussion is fun regardless. Gives me a feel for who likes what.

This might be the case in some instances, but when it comes to roleplay, clever might also mean retreating. Hell, I'd love to see someone actually run away. No one even considers that retreat or surrender's even a possibility. Or even go into a populated area where they couldn't actually feasibly keep attacking realistically due to brass blades/sultansworn/generic npc guards. I guess I just prefer dueling logic constructs. I've seen people that fight smart win out over the bigger, badder types. It just seems odd if someone is very good at one type of fighting, say a dragoon with a spear for example, to fail multiple times in a row because of consistently bad rolls. It literally makes no sense to me. It may make fights more balanced and fair, but fights are not always fair. I s'pose some of us will just have to agree to disagree. No big deal.

My only (minor) gripe with this is, it only takes five minutes, not even that, to invite the person into a party, have a discussion with them, and see where they stand and if you can work something out. Hell, ask them their actual character's power. Goodness knows if they're good roleplayers, they'll tell you whatever you want to know barring special secrets. And you may be surprised, pleasantly. It could be their character has an inflated ego and can't back it up. Assuming they're going to godmod you might be selling them short. I don't like roll system. I really don't. I will agree to do it, if both of us (myself and the other player or players, not actually like..you and me in this discussion, I mean.) come to an agreement on why, but it's not my preference. However, forcing someone to use the system you prefer or else you don't even let them have a chance, seems like roleplaying in a bubble to me. Admittedly no one can make you do what you don't want, and everyone has their own way, so that's that. And as stated, I will adamantly fight any reason to push me into rolling dice, I suppose I'm guilty in my own way of sticking to a specific preference. Pot and kettle, and all that, I know. So I'm not trying to sound judging at all so don't let it come off that way as it's not meant as such, but as Aaron said, there are probably far more decent roleplayers than jerks by the numbers. Hell, I got to know some of my favorite roleplayers in random freeform dust ups between our characters. Edited because the quote bubbles hate me. OTL

1. How do you address posting order and initiative in freeform mass combat? Who goes first, and how often can they attack? Generally in mass combat situations, either we agree on a post order, or do a round robin based on who replies first and keep that post order. Common sense dictates everyone should get a post chance, then resolve it as best they can. Communication is key in this kind of situation generally. 2. In situations where one group is outnumbered, does the other group allow them to have an edge in terms of how often they can attack and defend themselves for fairness' sake, or does the larger group press the weight of numbers? In the fights I've been in, the larger group generally presses numbers. However, larger numbers can be as much a disadvantage as an advantage. Especially depending on what the numbers consist of. There's really no 'go to' answer for this kind of situation, but myself and my peers generally go with it as is. The only time any exceptions are made is if a story absolutely needs an advantage given to move on. 3. How do you handle disparities in character strength? The Powerlevel thread shows that some characters consider themselves strong enough to take on much larger groups. Do you take these disparities into account when trying to resolve a mass combat? I always take people's power into account. It's actually rather important. If we take that thread as our example, if two power level type 3s are against one type 2, there's a very good chance if the 3s are cagey and know their stuff, that the 2 can very likely lose. Hell, even a type 5 can defeat a type 2 if they get the drop on them. Nothing says a power level 2 can't be holding off a couple 3's, then a 5 gets the drop on him from behind or from below with a lucky strike to the kneecaps or the back of the head. No barrier is foolproof after all, and every defense, magical or mundane, will break. It comes down to smart fighting, not power. 4. Do you assign individuals to specific targets to the best of your ability, or do you prefer a more chaotic melee in which it's possible for everyone to strike everyone else? I like the 'pro wrestling approach'. That is, generally people stick to their chosen targets, but if someone's about to tap out or be pinned, be a bro and go help if your own target is currently incapacitated or distracted. It's what you'd do in a real fight if you had the ability. Protect your bros, because the longer they're up, the more chance they have of supporting you if you get in a crossface. 5. Friendly fire: It happens, and it's unfortunate, but how do you involve accidental strikes on someone friendly when there are very few accidents in freeform? It depends on the situation. If you're firing a bow into a melee, especially a large one, realistically you have a chance to hit your buddy. If you're casting wide area spells, expect to nuke some friends. Hell, even single target spells have a mildly explosive backwash when it comes to fire especially; and be careful your Egi doesn't accidentally swipe a friend in that long slash of flaming claws or wisp of cutting air. Err on the side of realism to a point. 6. Do you feel some of the difficulties in addressing the above have a cooling effect on this kind of combat RP? If so, how can they be corrected? It's genuinely hard to say. In the end, communicating is important. If someone things something doesn't make sense, address that. A good thing to do is invite everyone involved into a party or raid if possible, or a temporary linkshell so discussion can happen during the fight itself. If it's not your turn to respond, raise your questions then, so the fight's pace isn't slowed but you can still make your disputes known. And try to remain calm and not be butthurt; everyone's style and method differs, so having a common ground is good too. And it's important that everyone is having fun and not worried too much about who comes out on top over everything else. Flowing is key to a lot of things. Just my two gil.

There's only one thing to do when you roll 0. Divide by it. =D

For me, it's not about my character being too 'good' or too 'bad' to win or lose. It's about the fact that dice breaks immersion in my opinion. Having to stop the flow to roll dice and then figure things out breaks the picture in my head. When I fight, post and counterpost is a flow that I can see clearly, and that messes up my ability to see. I also find leaving battle to entirely random chance misrepresents the character. I put effort into everything I do. Dice, to me, says 'fuck your effort and your ability, lady luck decides everything', and that seems unacceptable to me. Everyone has their own way of doing things. I don't mind losing either, but I'd rather lose because my opponent was a superior fighter and planned his win. Dirty tricks, unfair fighting, or honorable play and just being plain better. I just dislike rolls in a one on one battle. They're great for story fights with multiple players, for plot resolution, and the like. But if it's just me and the person in front of me, I'd like to think both of us would be able to resolve an IC fight without resorting to the winner being chosen not by which of us were more clever and fought better, but by a computer saying which of us fought better. It ceases to be roleplay then. It becomes a dice game. And I'm not keen on the idea of my fights being solved by snake eyes.