The IC use of Materia?

[Knight Kat]

So, Kiht wants to look into ICly affixing Materia to one of her weapons. However, most of the materia enhancements make sense if they were attached to armor; elemental resistances, enhanced strength, enhanced speed (maybe), ect.

 

I am unsure of what effect materia would ICly have on a lance. In the game-mechanics, it just applies an enhancement bonus to your stat pool. But I am not sure how to translate that into RP, or even if I should. The way I'm going about it is, the only materia that will be IC is the materia attached to her favored weapon. I am assuming that materia would be ICly rare or expensive, so she will only ICly have a couple for her lance.

 

Does anyone know any lore on materia that may help with this situation? If not, does anyone else ICly use materia, and how do you translate it into your RP?

[Drifter]

So, Kiht wants to look into ICly affixing Materia to one of her weapons. However, most of the materia enhancements make sense if they were attached to armor; elemental resistances, enhanced strength, enhanced speed (maybe), ect.

 

I am unsure of what effect materia would ICly have on a lance. In the game-mechanics, it just applies an enhancement bonus to your stat pool. But I am not sure how to translate that into RP, or even if I should. The way I'm going about it is, the only materia that will be IC is the materia attached to her favored weapon. I am assuming that materia would be ICly rare or expensive, so she will only ICly have a couple for her lance.

 

Does anyone know any lore on materia that may help with this situation? If not, does anyone else ICly use materia, and how do you translate it into your RP?

 

While I don't know the "official" lore stance on Materia IC.  I would think if Armor materia would add resistance, strength, etc... then wouldn't weapon materia add things like bonuses to piercing, sharpness, durability, etc?

 

or you could go with an super-rare "dragons-bane" or something, where it gives your weapon an added effect against specific enemies? but that might be pushing things...

[TheWizard]

I feel like I haven't helped ya out in a while so perhaps this link may help ya out Kiht

 

http://finalfantasy.wikia.com/wiki/Materia_%28Final_Fantasy_XIV%29

[Boo the Hamster]

Honestly, the goblin was extremely vague when it came to doing affixing materia.  All he stated when it came to specifics was that it enhanced the weapon's capabilities.  Could be a keener edge, could be something lighter than usual (that has its ups and downs), or other things.

 

If you wanted something more durable, you can find someone skilled in their craft, since we can technically increase the durability through the repair action.

 

Personally, I'd just call it as you stated it, a favored weapon. A favored weapon will bring some advantages to a character due to how close they are to it in a sense, mostly through skill and technique when wielding that particular item. That's how I'd play it out though.

[Zyrusticae]

Well, since materia is essentially refined aether crystals, I would say that materia merely adjusts the aetheric properties of your weapon in a specific fashion depending on the type of materia used. Remember that your weapon is actually bound to your soul (and while this is nominally a game mechanic, the relic weapon questline makes no bones about the fact that the weapon is connected to you, personally, as a character). As such, any materia you put into it should affect yourself in some form or fashion.

 

Remember: when in doubt, the answer is aether. Which is just a fancy word for "magic", really, but you know...

[Raelas]

Well, since materia is essentially refined aether crystals, I would say that materia merely adjusts the aetheric properties of your weapon in a specific fashion depending on the type of materia used. Remember that your weapon is actually bound to your soul (and while this is nominally a game mechanic, the relic weapon questline makes no bones about the fact that the weapon is connected to you, personally, as a character). As such, any materia you put into it should affect yourself in some form or fashion.

 

Remember: when in doubt, the answer is aether. Which is just a fancy word for "magic", really, but you know...

 

All of this!

 

Yangh's special snowflake Scimitar is also explained away in such a fashion. Aetherical gems (Materia) set into the hilt that allows her to use magic... as she actually has little aether than she physically con't do it any other way!

 

Granted, this is part of my Pseudo Blue Mage but not Blue Mage RP class design but still!

 

Magic!

[Naunet]

Applying materia is like aetherically enhancing one's gear. It is extremely common in Eorzea for combatants to utilize aether to enhance their attacks (just look at pretty much every ability for every class/job). It stands to reason that materia affixed to one's weapon could boost the raw power of the aether channeled with it. Rather than affecting the physical properties of the weapon, it's affecting one's magical attunement.

[C'kayah Polaali]

I'd take a page from fantasy or medieval battle poetry and sort of handwave it a bit from a descriptive point of view: It's a special weapon, adorned with aetherial crystals to focus the blessing of the Twelve and the Elementals of the Shroud to further defeat your enemies. You don't have to talk about specifics, after all.

[Knight Kat]

Thank you all for your great answers. I have considered all of the angles presented by you all.

 

I guess the specifics I am looking for are just not entirely there. See, I personally am not trying to make a god-mode-ish weapon. However, simply making Kiht "good" with it is not good enough.

 

My character is ICly a Lancer, not a Dragoon. However, I have come to notice that there are just as many characters who play their abilities on a "fantasy powers" scale, as there are who play on a more "realistic" scale. But, that is a topic for another thread.

 

My point is, I have noticed that my character can ICly do very little against Dragonfire Dives, fireball spells, lightning blasts, ect. It dawned on me that there are resistance materia though. Instead of trying to use materia that will make her stronger or faster to an unknown degree, I decided that I can and will use the elemental resistance materia to give her a chance against those who may be a bit more on the "fantasy powers" scale of things. Since the elemental materia only give -resistances- against magic, they will not give her an advantage towards anyone who fights her on a more "realistic" scale. This is my solution that I think will work for me. Again, I am not really trying to make her more powerful. I just wanted to give her a chance against all these characters with freaking 'powerz' out there.

 

Anyways, I have written this because I wanted to tell everyone the reason for my original questions, and offer my own 2 cents on the topic. I would still encourage more responses to the thread if anyone has any.

[Raelas]

You know, if you're having to defend against Dragonfire Dive I want to know who this legendary Azure Dragoon is... then Blist them! lol

[Dravus]

I generally don't go too in-depth when it comes to dealing with enchanted armour and/or weaponry. I role-played a blood elf for many years back when I played WoW and for those who aren't familiar I'm only bring it up because their day to day lives involve quite a bit of magic.

 

Yet in the end it's often better to just avoid making such things more complex than they need to be. We all know that materia exists in the setting but if the purpose is to enhance a particular piece of armour or a weapon then it's usually wise to just keep it simple so that everybody can be on the same page.

[Melkire]

Thank you all for your great answers. I have considered all of the angles presented by you all.

 

I guess the specifics I am looking for are just not entirely there. See, I personally am not trying to make a god-mode-ish weapon. However, simply making Kiht "good" with it is not good enough.

 

My character is ICly a Lancer, not a Dragoon. However, I have come to notice that there are just as many characters who play their abilities on a "fantasy powers" scale, as there are who play on a more "realistic" scale. But, that is a topic for another thread.

 

My point is, I have noticed that my character can ICly do very little against Dragonfire Dives, fireball spells, lightning blasts, ect. It dawned on me that there are resistance materia though. Instead of trying to use materia that will make her stronger or faster to an unknown degree, I decided that I can and will use the elemental resistance materia to give her a chance against those who may be a bit more on the "fantasy powers" scale of things. Since the elemental materia only give -resistances- against magic, they will not give her an advantage towards anyone who fights her on a more "realistic" scale. This is my solution that I think will work for me. Again, I am not really trying to make her more powerful. I just wanted to give her a chance against all these characters with freaking 'powerz' out there.

 

Anyways, I have written this because I wanted to tell everyone the reason for my original questions, and offer my own 2 cents on the topic. I would still encourage more responses to the thread if anyone has any.

 

Kiht enhancing her lance/spear/whatever-it's-called with resistance materia seems both feasible and sensible to me, provided that A, her IC acquisition of the materia makes sense, and B, she has someone to go to ICly to enhance her weapon for her.

 

The concept of using one's materia-enhanced lance to, say, ground out a Thunder spell, or knock aside an incoming fireball, etc., is a workable one, IMO. You might get belligerent OoC comments from your IC opposition - "omg wtf is the point of playing a thaumaturge if you can just make my super duper special awesome magic spells irrelevant?" (dear thaums who might think this way: please get creative with your environment) - but that doesn't mean that the concept is a bad one, nor that you shouldn't pursue it.