Aether for fighters (or 'Dragoon OP')

[Seriphyn]

For over a year I have played Kale as more NPC-than-PC, an ordinary soldier who is surrounded by extraordinary adventurers. Completely physical in terms of combat, more of a Western-style than Japanese-style character. However, over the many months of roleplaying, Kale has become enough of his own character that I no longer have to rely on being plain and mundane to be a unique, freestanding character.

 

The Heavensward trailer challenged me with one question; "If the elite of Ishgard can do feats like that, then what can the elite of other city-states do?". I have to abandon the idea that this isn't a DBZ universe, and that if your character has any amount of experience as an Eorzean soldier (who are inherently blessed with aether manipulation), they could accomplish various extraordinary feats. With someone of his rank and presence, he can no longer just be a background NPC.

 

Mages and dragoons aside, what can other Disciples of War achieve that, while not as acrobatic as Aetheric Jumping™, carry equal worth in terms of power? Not necessarily jobs; we know monks have chakra...but what could classes do? Specifically for myself, I'm trying to think of the feats Gladiators could pull. Some have suggested 'manmoding' things, and proto-Raubahn feats of extraordinary strength and resiliency. So while a Dragoon comes jumping down on my Gladiator, a powerful swipe of his sword upwards knocks the Dragoon back, who lands several yalms away. And so forth...

[Aaron]

Here's how I look at it. Other people are free to disagree, as always.

 

Every FF game to my knowledge has fodder that can

 

- Dodge bullets on occasion (big one)

 

- Use Elemental Magic (big one)

 

- Use summons (not necessarily fodder but yeah)

 

- Some can do stuff like jump higher or run faster (SOLDIER or SeeD as a GROUP were not special snowflake but just some individuals in it even then, you see the wild shit some fodder do anyway)

 

Now I know XIV is not (other FF games) but, you've seen lalafell take on giant monsters and run a syndicate. You've seen a giant roe struggle to break a boulder in the MSQ that was half his size. And you've seen magic users dodge bullets from gunblade welding Garleans in the OP movie.

Your character is not fodder, but on consensus they are not every other characters hero. So everyone has a spectrum. Mine is probably more lenient than others.

 

So, why can't you? Long as you're not warping dimensions or dropping planets on people im perfectly ok with people using unique moves the public might consider op so long as it's not something like (You must be standing in this spot preaching to the moon at this time to happen)

 

For example, Aaron is a Rogue, he can't use any mudra, but I still use Hyouton because Aaron is ice affiliated so therefore, I see no issue. He also edges over his weapons with ice and can freeze things (to an extent) but just because I IC make it known Aaron can control ice doesn't mean I'm going to get in a fight just to purposefully flash freeze someone on a whim because why not?

 

A rule I DO like tho - If the roll (if you use rolling) is higher, the more fancy and powerful your attack or defense can be. The lower, the weaker etc.

[Val]

I'd say for a gladiator, just dive out of the way. The jump is only one directional, or.. well. It should be. Classic anime tropes of being able to change direction on a whim instantaneously aside, it should be very difficult for them to pinpoint a target that is at least aware of their situation. I've said this a million times before, but I feel that dragoons are meant to fight dragons--like in Heavensward. They drop down on large, slow moving targets in order to make an impact. That's their whole purpose. A much smaller, faster target will be a lot harder to hit.

 

For your last paragraph, I plan on RPing Val's ninjutsu abilities more along the lines of geomancy. It's stated in the lore that the ninja borrow the aether from the objects of the world around them, so if he's not around a source of water, he can't use anything related to water. Unless, of course, he melds the various things together to create water, which is more or less the aetheric manipulation involved in casting mudra. I plan on that taking a lot longer.

 

Ninja also have the Shukuchi ability which I think is a bit OP and I've never used it (or any other mudra abilities for that matter) in combat. Why? Because Val's a ninja, or will try to be. He's not going to run around showing off his skills and telling everyone he's a ninja. Anyway, back on topic! Shukuchi's lore states that the caster physically melds two spaces together in order to instantly teleport themselves to that space. It doesn't say it has to be a space that they can see, nor does it state that it has any limitations on movement--all we have is the in-game limitations that are put in place strictly for balancing purposes.

 

Taking out the limitation and using it more as an instant transmission-styled move, the caster still has the ability to teleport themselves into walls and the like, so it'd be pretty dangerous to use without being able to actually see the location anyway. However, the possibilities of its use in combat are pretty extraordinary.

 

It states in the lore that the caster cannot change direction during the movement--they just appear at a different place. This means that if someone is being thrown north, even if they teleport somewhere else, they'll still be going north at the same force and speed they were originally being thrown. I won't really go further into detail with this unless asked, but I think the implications as to what is possible with this is pretty clear.

 

I also try not to limit my character's abilities to in-game spells. I imagine Ninja could do more than shoot lightning from the sky and breathe fire, as well as gladiators doing more than just slashing swords (and paladins in regards to their light-based skills).

[Chris Ganale]

I'm sure it's not what you have in mind, but I already break the combat system with Chao in that she can fistfight and cast magic at the same time after extensive and lengthy training to cast spells faster and on the move.

[Spiritual Machine]

I always thought that every great feat of skill in this game expended at least a little aether. I've seen pretty basic NPCs perform exceptional moves such as shooting a bow out of another archer's hand, discharging energy from a lance or fist, throwing multiple precision knives while spinning, splitting boulders with an axe... I've also seen aether transferred from one person to another so that they can perform even greater physical attacks.

 

This is a magical world. Why wouldn't these things be possible or able to be learned by most adventurers?

 

There's only two things I really think need to be considered in all this. One is that it's just not fair for your character to be objectively more powerful than any other character or undefeatable--roleplaying is a multiplayer affair where no one is the hero and everyone ought to be on more or less equal ground.

 

The other is that your character ought not be entirely defined by your upper limit in combat. It should be acceptable to tone it back or to be defeated in combat, because that's not all your character is about, and sometimes tone and situations in certain scenes merit certain outcomes. The object of roleplay is for everyone to have fun.

 

So be flexible, I say! All things in moderation--especially moderation.

[Raelas]

When it comes to this type of combat first and foremost it about communication and simply put, excellent descriptive writing. A bit of common sense and moderation doesn't go a miss either. Can you do some funky stuff? Sure! Just don't forget that there are pro's and con's to these very special attacks.

 

We see that even in the MSQ cut scene with Raubahn. Is he extremely strong when he uses his aether like that? Yes! But he sure as hell isn't as quick as Illberd (I forget if that's the right spelling.). Illberd is MUCH faster and seems to switch the way he uses his aether for such purposes, juggling between strength and speed, but never having both at once.

 

I guess what I'm saying is... be sensible with it. Do cool things, plan for what happens when those things miss, backfire, are countered, ect. Assume that you're not the only one who can do these things. What happens if they can equally defend against what you did with something equally as flashy or impressive?

 

Forward thinking and an understanding of consequence on both sides.

 

I'm rambling. >.<;

[Makyn Loneseeker]

When it comes to this type of combat first and foremost it about communication and simply put, excellent descriptive writing. A bit of common sense and moderation doesn't go a miss either. Can you do some funky stuff? Sure! Just don't forget that there are pro's and con's to these very special attacks.

 

We see that even in the MSQ cut scene with Raubahn. Is he extremely strong when he uses his aether like that? Yes! But he sure as hell isn't as quick as Illberd (I forget if that's the right spelling.). Illberd is MUCH faster and seems to switch the way he uses his aether for such purposes, juggling between strength and speed, but never having both at once.

 

I guess what I'm saying is... be sensible with it. Do cool things, plan for what happens when those things miss, backfire, are countered, ect. Assume that you're not the only one who can do these things. What happens if they can equally defend against what you did with something equally as flashy or impressive?

 

Forward thinking and an understanding of consequence on both sides.

 

I'm rambling. >.<;

[Erik Mynhier]

To date Erik has used aether on many occasions. Most notably and commonly in the following ways. Note that Erik has ooc had 3 years of conjury training early on in his life and also over the course of his early life as his mother was a conjuer as well. Also note that several but not all of his aetheric abilities stem from enchanted items more then himself.

 

1. Crystal Eye

Erik's right eye was lost in a fight with his childhood friend. The eye is made of an aether shard treated by a joint effort of the alchemist and goldsmith guilds. The eye has 3 abilities. First it "looks" real via glamour. Second he can see through via aethiric attunment, even if its out of his head up to 100 fulms. And third it allows him to "Lybra" or see anothers aura to assess the person's health, as a side effect he can scan the heart rate as a makeshift lie detector.

 

2. Battle Ring

Using the same technique as the aether network (converting matter into energy, transmitting the energy, then reassemble the matter) the ring can convert Erik's his battle armor into aether and store that energy within it. It allows him quickly go to arms.

 

3. Conjury

Not tied to an item Erik has very basic conjury ic. He cannot heal a complex wound but he can heal basic injuries and at time with much concentration and exhaustion once stopped the bleeding of a deep wound but that was a bit of a fluke.

 

4. Aetheric Power

In a world where aether is not only a fact of life, but where it is, as stated in the lore, abundant, my thought is that is an advantage no army would pass up. Even if there was no aetheric training in the three main militaries before the issue of the empire, there would be after the first attack. The empire is weak in aether, that is to much of an advantage to pass up. That said as a Flame soldier Erik can do channeled aether skills. Focusing the energy to boost his strength and stamina for short periods is a common reality and is reflected in his ic combat. As a note he can use as his ultimate skill, Circle of Scorn, which I balance by saying it exhausts his aether leaving him weak for hours or more depending on other activity.

[Chris Ganale]

...Tell me more about this battle ring.

[Knight Kat]

I'd say for a gladiator, just dive out of the way. The jump is only one directional, or.. well. It should be. Classic anime tropes of being able to change direction on a whim instantaneously aside, it should be very difficult for them to pinpoint a target that is at least aware of their situation. I've said this a million times before, but I feel that dragoons are meant to fight dragons--like in Heavensward. They drop down on large, slow moving targets in order to make an impact. That's their whole purpose. A much smaller, faster target will be a lot harder to hit.

 

I also try not to limit my character's abilities to in-game spells. I imagine Ninja could do more than shoot lightning from the sky and breathe fire, as well as gladiators doing more than just slashing swords (and paladins in regards to their light-based skills).

 

^^^^My perception is pretty much this, but I'd like to add more on what we can see in-game.

 

In order to see what some classes are capable of, one only need pay attention to cut-scenes in the MSQ and Class quests. MSQ and Class Quest spoilers below!!

 

 

 

For lancers (that are not Dragoons), the last Lancer Class quest shows you Foulques, a main antagonist, causing AOE Ice magic that he casts with what looks like "Ring of Thorns" Lancer ability. Most people tend to hand-wave it when I bring it up, but Foulques is only a Lancer. He shows that magic -can- be used as a Lancer.

 

Raubahn is a Gladiator, and the MSQ finally shows the crazy he can do. I still want to call BS at the part where he kicks a chunk of stone pillar at Illberd because the amount of power needed for that should be Superman levels, but I guess it all comes down to what we want to accept.

 

Thancred shows what Rogues can do, Y'shtola for Conjurers, Yda for (is she a Pugilist or a Monk?) one of the two Fist-weapon Class/Job and ect.

 

I still wouldn't call it a DBZ universe as that would imply characters can become powerful enough to blow up planets, but Final Fantasy has always seemed to have many aspects of High-fantasy.

 

 

 

When it comes to character power balancing, it can be frustrating for those who are supposed to play competent fighters. Do we power our characters up to match with those who can kick boulders at hordes of enemies, or do we scale more on the "realistic" level like characters in Lord of the Rings? There is enough diversity in the community to where scaling either way can cause mismatch in RP scenes.

 

My solution? I have recently thought of a way to scale Kiht somewhat accordingly to whatever type of reasonable, lore-supported power-level that is required for the plots she's in.

 

I will be a bit vague as I intend to reveal my idea through a story I plan to post in the Town Square section of the forums, but it has to do with an object she can use only in certain circumstances. I found support for it in the lore, so it's not lore-breaky.

 

I have to do this as Kiht is currently involved in two totally different plots on two different sides of the spectrum - one has characters more on "realistic" level while another has characters on a more "high-fantasy" level. I don't want to back out of either as they are both important to Kiht's story.

 

Most of the time, Kiht is a skilled Huntress on a more realistic level of ability. However, when the time is right, I can have her use something more special to make her stand a chance against things and people more on the "High-fantasy" level of ability. It will have consequences though, and she won't be able to use it in certain situations even if things are dire.

[Aaron]

. Crystal Eye 

Erik's right eye was lost in a fight with his childhood friend. The eye is made of an aether shard treated by a joint effort of the alchemist and goldsmith guilds. The eye has 3 abilities. First it "looks" real via glamour. Second he can see through via aethiric attunment, even if its out of his head up to 100 fulms. And third it allows him to "Lybra" or see anothers aura to assess the person's health, as a side effect he can scan the heart rate as a makeshift lie detector. 

 

^ this is awesome as hell. Reminds me of the Sharingan.

[S'imba]

S'imba has aether abilities after being extensively experimented on. Particularly the elemental abilities that the ninja gets. (Actually kind of ironic since the whole thing started before ninja showed up.) Basically works the same where he's manipulating the outside elements. Though I like to get a little more creative and put some effort into my posts instead of just saying S'imba casts Raiton.

 

Basically if you can find a explanation as to why your character can do something I say go for it. Aether is a force that permeates every bit of life in this world. So learning to manipulate it would be a fairly accessible subject and more than likely any combat type wanting to further themselves would try and figure out how to add aether to their abilities.

[Erik Mynhier]

...Tell me more about this battle ring.

 

Well I was having a bit of fun with macroes one day basiclly made a sailor moon style transformation macro. My buddy, who played a aetheric scientist but saddly no longer who is in game, suggeated that we rp that me makes a ring doing as I said ic. We rped it out and I have had it ever since. I ic made it the tipping scales ring I wear on my shield arm. Come by sometime and see the macro. Ill even give you the macro and rp making one for you if you like.

[Chris Ganale]

Well, the concept intrigued me because one of the biggest problems I'm having with tech'ing out Chao the way she's supposed to be is that in other settings, she relied heavily on having magitek hammerspace which there's like, precisely zero precedent for in the lore. So your ring interests me greatly, and she might have to find reason to pay a visit.

 

(Read: I need to create a reason for her to go back to Ul'dah now >< )

[Flashhelix]

Oskwell's really fast

 

and uh

 

he's really really fast

 

that's about it

[ChewableMorphine]

Flynt's just a two-handed Barett Wallace + mudras. I think that's fair game.

[Erik Mynhier]

Well, the concept intrigued me because one of the biggest problems I'm having with tech'ing out Chao the way she's supposed to be is that in other settings, she relied heavily on having magitek hammerspace which there's like, precisely zero precedent for in the lore. So your ring interests me greatly, and she might have to find reason to pay a visit.

 

(Read: I need to create a reason for her to go back to Ul'dah now >< )

 

Anytime, Erik travels alot too outside of Ul'dah, so I can find you also.

[Chris Ganale]

Chao's been lurking in the Limsa area as of late at or around Vylbrand Academy. We'll work something out, should stop spamming unrelated stuff in this thread. D=

[Kellach Woods]

I don't think I've ever used aether boosts for anything fighting related.

 

I've pulled out SOME bullshit however in non-fighting related activities.

[Harmonixer]

Originally I was going to talk about some example of power, but thinking it over as I type makes me want to say this instead:

 

It's prolly more important to apply 'power' to your character that can be adjusted and throttled to RP properly. Balance is of course very difficult to work of course, but when I find myself wanting to place things that I know would be somewhat frowned upon without details in my RP, I try to make it's shortcomings readily apparent first.

 

This comes from me simply over-analyzing everything I do for myself. It has it's detriments but so far I've been mildly successful with putting things into motion by being subtle and not slamming it into the face of my partners. I try not to just list something as an ability or a power, I get specifics and try to string them together so that they make sense and can be understood.

 

Okay, so I will make an example actually.

 

Think of shields. It's easy to just have 'a powerful tower shield that can take x amount of blows and repel magic'. But the stuff I think about, is the arm and body the shield is protecting. Can it withstand the force? Magical or otherwise? It's the whole bulletproof vest thing in movies, you know what I'm talking about.

 

Other things to remember too, in rl we have plenty of feats that are considered impossible that few people in the world can do with ease. Since this is a fantasy (stop laughing) I don't see the problem of letting it happen a little more than usual. So yeah, kick a pillar because you've got five stacks of 'holyfuckimreallyunhappy'. It wouldn't happen just any day, the situation seemed to call for it.

 

I don't want to play a character that is in a position to fight the things we come across and not be able to actually stand up to it. Seems like a bad idea to me. How can we protect people, much less fight a war without somewhat super human ability?

 

Just don't go ham with mouth beams or some chit. Ain't nobody got time for that.

[Zyrusticae]

Well, I think this should go without saying, but I treat the various classes and jobs as gameplay concessions and the like rather than hard-and-fast rules for how people handle martial professions in Eorzea. For example, there's no reason in-universe someone can't freely switch between a spear, a bow, and daggers in combat aside from the obvious problem of where you put it all. By the same token, armor classes are there more for gameplay reasons than anything else (yes, even the glamour system being restricted is there to encourage you to level up more classes so you can wear the stuff). I believe it is entirely fair for someone to mix and match in ways that the game doesn't allow, with the caveat that few things can be considered straight upgrades and most combinations have some kind of downside (especially if you move too far into jack-of-all-trades territory).

 

All that said is just to drive home the point that I believe players should be free to come up with unique ways to manipulate aether. With the variety of classes present in the game, they basically give players free reign to imagine anything is possible. Just make sure you

 

THAT SAID, obviously "common sense" prevails here. No one should be trying to be playing at Louisoux power levels, unless it's an extremely situational, highly temporary power boost at the climax of an arc or somesuch. If I were to make a comparison, Final Fantasy heroes are pretty much at the level of legendary heroes of old, rather than demigods. Only the Primals can move towards the latter (though they could arguably be considered actual gods, despite their power being limited compared to what gods are usually depicted as being capable of). Superhuman feats should be the norm for player characters - with the assumption that player characters are usually the extraordinary individuals of the realm, and NOT ordinary people.

 

To elaborate, my 'ground truth', as it were, is that any player character is supposed to be an extraordinary individual in their own right, and that the NPCs that populate the world are supposed to be the more ordinary ones (obvious big players aside). The only problem with this is when the world is very small and it feels like PCs outnumber the NPCs 10:1, which obviously is not supposed to be the case in-universe. I consider that more of a game development issue and prefer NOT to allow that to dictate the reality of what we're allowed to RP. If the community collectively decided that we were only allowed to play NPC-level characters I'd just fully quit, no questions asked. That's not to deride those who decide to play such characters of their own volition. I just feel like there's a difference between that and a demand that anyone who stands out be hammered down for it.

 

Annnyway, to answer the thread premise, here is what I imagine the various physical jobs to be capable of:

 

Warriors: Self-explanatory. See the intro with the WoL knocking and throwing enemies around with wild abandon. He has absolutely no trouble throwing a fully armored (with chain!) grown man some 20 yalms away with a swing of his axe. Their "inner beast" works more as a state of mind that allows them to fully devote the aether of their body towards these incredible and devastating attacks while also shrugging off blows.

 

Paladins: Equally self-explanatory. That intro is very useful, isn't it? They should be able to take considerably more damage than you would think a human capable of. Stopping a blow by Behemoth, for example, should not be outside of their ability. I'm not too keen on their lore, however, because I never leveled the job to cap (unlike literally every other DoW class). They have some interesting potential due to their combination of martial prowess with a smidgen of magic.

 

Dragoons: They certainly do seem to have some pretty crazy and precise air control. In addition, they seem to have some way of directing all the force of their blow into their enemy and preventing any of it from damaging themselves on the landing. No matter how you look at it, they're a force to be reckoned with. They seem to be devoted specifically to using their aether in very short and explosive bursts of action - first in the acceleration (both into the air and downwards into the target), second in the impact in which they must doubly damage their foe while protecting themselves.

 

Monks: The only of the original five physical jobs that is not depicted in a CG trailer yet. Easiest reference: Tifa from Advent Children. Crazy fast and powerful combinations augmented by their "chakra" (re: moar aether). Blows that can send people flying, quite literally. While this is not canon, I would not think it outside of the realm of possibility for them to 'charge' their aether for ever more devastating blows, at the cost of depleting their stamina (re: TP) faster.

But mostly, they're just LIGHTNING FAST. Hence, Greased Lightning. That gap-closer they use where they practically teleport to the target? Yeah, that kind of speed.

 

Bards: Gods, that accuracy. And the speed at which they can let arrows fly? Absurd. That's not even considering their bardsong in the equation. That plus acrobatics makes for a powerful and slippery foe. Naturally, all of their arrows are charged with aether, allowing them to fly further and hit harder than they otherwise normally would. The best arrows, I imagine, are the ones with natural aether-conductive properties that allow a particularly skilled archer to pierce even the toughest opponents. Also, the Ironworks bow is a freakin' railgun!

 

Ninjas: Do I need to? Everyone knows what they're capable of. They're probably the most straightforward of all the jobs thanks to their lore being so to-the-point on this. The combination of speed, precision, stealth, and the elemental techniques granted by mudra make them very dangerous and super-effective as scouts. That being said... while Naruto ninjas may make sense as a reference, the emphasis in FFXIV is largely on their physical abilities, not their mudra, and as such I would highly advise against attempting to RP the more outrageous abilities. (I was going to say 'stuff like chidori is ok' but then I don't know how having lightning coming out of your hand would work in FFXIV so...)

 

Dark Knights: I probably shouldn't include the expac classes here but I will anyway because I can. From what I've seen so far, dark knights are the more offensively-oriented mirror image of paladins, and as such you can expect their combination of martial prowess and DARRRKNESSS to be similarly inclined. Much of how they function will depend on how their use of darkness actually works. Expect laz0rz. (Not really, that's just kind of my blind hope, because I'm not very interested in them otherwise.)

 

Machinists: The most unique of the physical DPS classes, and the ones with probably/most likely the weakest actual physical abilities. I fully expect them to be completely dependent on their technology to overcome their lack of aether-based feats of martial prowess. Fortunately, they use guns, and not just any guns, but aether-powered guns with special attachments, and as we all know, guns hit hard and are extremely lethal. Guns in Eorzea in particular are based on the Rule of Cool and, as such, ignore ammunition limitations and the like. I suspect that they work more like black mages in-universe than any of the other, more martial classes.

[Chris Ganale]

If it was decided we would only be allowed to play NPC-tier characters, I would first laugh at them for having the kind of hubris it takes to think that they get to decide how we're going to play and continue to play my characters who are well above the average commoner without any change.

 

Then, as a joke, I would say "Yes, my characters are NPC-tier. Oh hey, those absurdly-powerful characters that a DM uses to murder the party are NPCs too."

[Val]

Ninjas: Do I need to? Everyone knows what they're capable of. They're probably the most straightforward of all the jobs thanks to their lore being so to-the-point on this. The combination of speed, precision, stealth, and the elemental techniques granted by mudra make them very dangerous and super-effective as scouts. That being said... while Naruto ninjas may make sense as a reference, the emphasis in FFXIV is largely on their physical abilities, not their mudra, and as such I would highly advise against attempting to RP the more outrageous abilities. (I was going to say 'stuff like chidori is ok' but then I don't know how having lightning coming out of your hand would work in FFXIV so...)

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but considering that fire is a plasma, would it not be possible to generate flames so hot that they take on the form of lightning? And I'd imagine the mudra would work two ways: Either a direct elemental call from the sky, as seen, or taking the element of lightning into the body to discharge it however the Ninja sees fit.

[Spiritual Machine]

Ninjas: Do I need to? Everyone knows what they're capable of. They're probably the most straightforward of all the jobs thanks to their lore being so to-the-point on this. The combination of speed, precision, stealth, and the elemental techniques granted by mudra make them very dangerous and super-effective as scouts. That being said... while Naruto ninjas may make sense as a reference, the emphasis in FFXIV is largely on their physical abilities, not their mudra, and as such I would highly advise against attempting to RP the more outrageous abilities. (I was going to say 'stuff like chidori is ok' but then I don't know how having lightning coming out of your hand would work in FFXIV so...)

 

Correct me if I'm wrong, but considering that fire is a plasma, would it not be possible to generate flames so hot that they take on the form of lightning? And I'd imagine the mudra would work two ways: Either a direct elemental call from the sky, as seen, or taking the element of lightning into the body to discharge it however the Ninja sees fit.

Fire is technically just a chemical reaction, but you're right that if it's hot enough the reacting matter can ionize.

 

At least one source in-game implies that ninjutsu is scarcely different from thaumaturgy, with both being a forceful manipulation of aether guided by the caster's will. There are even hard limits to the technique--a Ninja has to be focused when performing the Mudras, and there is a recovery period between usage of Ninjutsu due to the toll it takes on the Ninja.

 

This is all covered in the opening Ninja Job quest (the only one I did), and it all just sounds like quick, cheap, taxing spellwork to me.

[Caspar]

I haven't read all of this, so I can't say if this has been mentioned already, but perhaps consider looking at non-physical applications of aether too. Of course your character could make use of aether subconsciously to strengthen his muscle fibers or bone to better resist injury; this is subtle enough for him to look mundane as you seem to want, yet still supernatural enough to fight on the level of other characters in the setting. But how about instinct? Perhaps it's not so much something as intense as clairvoyance, but perhaps his battlefield experience is such that he has powerful, aetheric-fueled hunches. Like the aether of a potential assailant feels different than that of others around him, and so he gets a really nasty gut feeling when someone is attempting to get the drop on him. Or perhaps he has a flash of intuition that isn't more explicit than a powerful thought or subconscious movement in his body, where he finds himself acting before he's even aware of his own intent; i.e. his body responds to the aether in the opponent and lends his sword arm speed to parry or preempt his opponent's strike with one of his own.

 

The way I play it is that since aether seems to be in pretty much everything, the old martial arts concept of 'sakki' (murderous intent) works in both a literal and conceptual sense. A person who is not sensitive to aether cannot claim to have supernatural sense, but at the same time, they can rely on experience, intuition, hunches, or being just plain paranoid to "feel" the animosity of an assailant before they act. But a person like a monk, who manipulates chakra and is explicitly connected to powers within the surrounding environment, or perhaps the hypothetical aether-manipulating mundane fighter that seems to be the topic of the thread, actually can claim to "feel" an enemy because they presumably have instinctive awareness of that person's aether. I rp the distinction between the two as poorly studied and not particularly concrete. It is difficult to determine whether your sudden reaction to a sneak attack, or a successful guess that your opponent is going to aim for your right leg instead of your left before he's even moved, is something within you or a supernatural power; many people of martial bent probably only care that they're alive and their opponent is dead.

 

Psychological warfare could be a matter to delve into too. I thought raubahn looked rather different during that one cutscene. Maybe this is an effect of aether making him appear monstrous and terrifying in the eyes of his enemies. A trick of the light makes your character's features seem bestial and utterly inhuman, just long enough to make them hesitate. But in fact this isn't a coincidence and is actually your aether actively affecting their senses.

 

Being that my character is effectively a freak with unnatural strength, I can't really claim to be playing a mundane character, but I try to find feasible enough explanations for what she can do that it leaves people uncertain as to how much is aether and how much is built in. In some cases I haven't really decided. What is most important to me is establishing what she can do and delivering consequences where they matter.