On the nature of the Echo in lore -
Off the top of my head, Echo-granted powers that your character may or may not have:
• Immunity to tempering from Primals (this one is, afaik, always present for all Echo-users; all others are optional).
• Universal language comprehension and speaking - "knowing a man's mind without comprehending his words".
• ?? Ease/quickness of learning new skills, either from a mentor or from a soul crystal. (Tbh I think this one might be headcanon?? Can anyone else corroborate this one?? I run with it but I don't wanna say it's canon without backup and I don't have time to confirm right now)
• Having visions of things that happened to other people in the past - either directly from them (more common) or from aether left lingering in a location they passed through (less common).
There's also... some real funky stuff that Echo-users should theoretically be capable of, that's shown during MSQ (the part where Minfilia takes a trip out to Western La Noscea)... but since even Minfilia was unaware of these capabilities up until that moment, I think it's fair to say that regular mortal Echo-users would not be performing these skills.
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On the courtesies of having the Echo in RP -
I haven't had any problem with my characters' Echo. It's opened up some storylines with other players, given me and other players "easy ins" for our characters to start talking when they otherwise wouldn't break the ice, and generally added enjoyment to my RP with very few drawbacks.
And for the players who don't like it (they have their own reasons, which is fair, personal preferences)... then, I've never had trouble playing with them, too. Because it's not that hard for me to just not mention it, IC or OOC, while I'm playing with them. It doesn't cause me trouble to just let it drop off the radar when that's more appropriate for the scene in question.
After all - it is, from beginning to end, a plot device... so... treating it like one, and mentioning it or not mentioning it solely based on which will open more doors, isn't a bad thing. Imo the Echo adds value to my characters' stories overall, so it's worth keeping - but it's not so vital that I have to mention it in every single session.
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Also, you want to be careful with using the "visions of the past" thing on other player-characters, if you decide your character's capable of it - I utilise it very sparingly with PCs, and only after extensive OOC discussion with the other player, wherein the other player demonstrated enthusiasm and was forthcoming with potential subjects for the vision. In fact, my favourite (and, surprisingly, most common) way of having these visions arise is that the other player approaches me FIRST and is like, "hey your character has the Echo right? Does he have visions? Could he have THIS vision cause I think that would be cool and open up more avenues for development".
NEVER just take a thing from a person's History section on their wiki page - this is still meta-gaming, regardless of how much sense it would or wouldn't make ICly. Just like it's meta-gaming when someone says, without prior OOC discussion/permission, that their character just happened to be in the same place/time and therefore knew what happened - even though that utilises no special powers and requires no suspension of disbelief. It's not about how much sense it makes in-universe, it's about being courteous out-of-character, and allowing people to retain a modicum of control over their own character's storyline.
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TL;DR: If you do your research on its lore-stated properties*, think about what influence you want it to have on your character, exercise discretion in mentioning it during RP, and stick to the normal rules on metagaming - just like you would with any other ICly stigmatised trait/ability - I think you're all good.
*Especially on what is "The Echo" and what is "Hydaelyn's Blessing", because they seem to be different. An Echo-user does not a Crystal of Light-wielder make, and a lot of the Warrior of Light's really inconceivable abilities seem to come from the latter, not the former. As others have mentioned, look to NPCs like Krile and the Path of the Twelve for more info on what the regular ole Echo does - the Warrior of Light is a special case even among them.
Off the top of my head, Echo-granted powers that your character may or may not have:
• Immunity to tempering from Primals (this one is, afaik, always present for all Echo-users; all others are optional).
• Universal language comprehension and speaking - "knowing a man's mind without comprehending his words".
• ?? Ease/quickness of learning new skills, either from a mentor or from a soul crystal. (Tbh I think this one might be headcanon?? Can anyone else corroborate this one?? I run with it but I don't wanna say it's canon without backup and I don't have time to confirm right now)
• Having visions of things that happened to other people in the past - either directly from them (more common) or from aether left lingering in a location they passed through (less common).
There's also... some real funky stuff that Echo-users should theoretically be capable of, that's shown during MSQ (the part where Minfilia takes a trip out to Western La Noscea)... but since even Minfilia was unaware of these capabilities up until that moment, I think it's fair to say that regular mortal Echo-users would not be performing these skills.
-
On the courtesies of having the Echo in RP -
I haven't had any problem with my characters' Echo. It's opened up some storylines with other players, given me and other players "easy ins" for our characters to start talking when they otherwise wouldn't break the ice, and generally added enjoyment to my RP with very few drawbacks.
And for the players who don't like it (they have their own reasons, which is fair, personal preferences)... then, I've never had trouble playing with them, too. Because it's not that hard for me to just not mention it, IC or OOC, while I'm playing with them. It doesn't cause me trouble to just let it drop off the radar when that's more appropriate for the scene in question.
After all - it is, from beginning to end, a plot device... so... treating it like one, and mentioning it or not mentioning it solely based on which will open more doors, isn't a bad thing. Imo the Echo adds value to my characters' stories overall, so it's worth keeping - but it's not so vital that I have to mention it in every single session.
-
Also, you want to be careful with using the "visions of the past" thing on other player-characters, if you decide your character's capable of it - I utilise it very sparingly with PCs, and only after extensive OOC discussion with the other player, wherein the other player demonstrated enthusiasm and was forthcoming with potential subjects for the vision. In fact, my favourite (and, surprisingly, most common) way of having these visions arise is that the other player approaches me FIRST and is like, "hey your character has the Echo right? Does he have visions? Could he have THIS vision cause I think that would be cool and open up more avenues for development".
NEVER just take a thing from a person's History section on their wiki page - this is still meta-gaming, regardless of how much sense it would or wouldn't make ICly. Just like it's meta-gaming when someone says, without prior OOC discussion/permission, that their character just happened to be in the same place/time and therefore knew what happened - even though that utilises no special powers and requires no suspension of disbelief. It's not about how much sense it makes in-universe, it's about being courteous out-of-character, and allowing people to retain a modicum of control over their own character's storyline.
-
TL;DR: If you do your research on its lore-stated properties*, think about what influence you want it to have on your character, exercise discretion in mentioning it during RP, and stick to the normal rules on metagaming - just like you would with any other ICly stigmatised trait/ability - I think you're all good.
*Especially on what is "The Echo" and what is "Hydaelyn's Blessing", because they seem to be different. An Echo-user does not a Crystal of Light-wielder make, and a lot of the Warrior of Light's really inconceivable abilities seem to come from the latter, not the former. As others have mentioned, look to NPCs like Krile and the Path of the Twelve for more info on what the regular ole Echo does - the Warrior of Light is a special case even among them.
![[Image: tUzrT.png]](https://puu.sh/tUzrT.png)
