Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]

Sin is starting a new RP!
Welcome to Espada of Alexandria. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Crest Ability System
Topic Started: January 11, 2015, 3:31 pm (1,106 Views)
Onime No Ryu
Member Avatar
I'll be your Undertaker this evening
Remember to KISS it.

Looking forward to it, and if you're having trouble because of your schedule, feel free to PM me and I'll try to help.
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Sin
Member Avatar
Slow and steady...
My idea...

Elemental Crests:

Fire, Gifire, Rafire, Gofire. The bit on the front would represent the strength of the base Crest. Regular fire being the first level, Gi being second level, Ra is third and Go is obviously forth. It would apply to each element as well whether you chose to go with the basic six or to expand it some more. It'd be easy enough to change the names, that's just my idea.

Manipulation Crests:

These would be used to change the state of the element and give it a form. There would be th following:

Bolt: form the element in to a small projectile that could be thrown at distant targets. An example would be your everyday fireball.

Trap: create a small "zone" s to speak that would trigger an effect when it was entered. An example would be a circular area that, when a target enters, the earth closes up around them and makes a dome or box.

Blanket: this would be your standard issue area of effect spell. Blanket an area with a particular element. A wave of water would be an example of this as well as a fiery explosion.

Target: something that would allow a self or ally buff spell. Something like healing or increasing attack damage. You could also use it to de-buff an enemy.

Wall: an easily assumed wall form that an element could take. A wall of flame or ice would be examples here.

Fall: a crew that would let a particular element rain down from about. Lightning storms or raining fire are examples that come to mind.

Augmentation Crests
These would be used to influence the effect of the previous two combined Crests.

Multi: this would allow for multiple instances of an attached spell combination. Something like multiple fireballs being thrown by a caster or several lightning bolts raining from above.

Reach: expand the reach or area of effect of an attached spell combination. This would just make the target area larger or make non-area specific spells go farther.

Status: this would allow an element t have a lingering effect that would disrupt the target after the spell has resolved. Poison, burns, freezing and paralysis are examples of things that could occur.

I feel like this section could be expanded upon. I'm just firing out stuff that immediately comes to mind because I'm bored at work. XD

Strengthing Crests
These would be things that just increase the hitting power of crest combos. I feel like these could have a multitude of effects beyond just simply increasing damage, mostly based on what ever element they're connected to.
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Arcvalons
Member Avatar
Lord of the Octoroks, all hail!
Ok, just coming in to say that I'm still working in this, and in fact, I have decided to expand in the idea. I keep thinking about the setting and new ideas continue to flow, in fact, having an expanded setting might make the RP more self-sustainable - I'm thinking like what I tried to do with Hyrulean Soul (anybody still remembers that?). And may change crests to cards so that I get to draw some cool TCG-style designs.
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Onime No Ryu
Member Avatar
I'll be your Undertaker this evening
Arcvalons
January 25, 2015, 11:39 am
Ok, just coming in to say that I'm still working in this, and in fact, I have decided to expand in the idea. I keep thinking about the setting and new ideas continue to flow, in fact, having an expanded setting might make the RP more self-sustainable - I'm thinking like what I tried to do with Hyrulean Soul (anybody still remembers that?). And may change crests to cards so that I get to draw some cool TCG-style designs.
Trading Card stuff requires tons and tons of cards though. I think sticking with Crests might be a better idea and not quite so cheesy or reliant on "CHILDREN'S CARD GAMES!"

What are the Crests anyway, like just a badge-type object that bonds to a person/weapon and leaves a tattoo type mark in its place or what?
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Arcvalons
Member Avatar
Lord of the Octoroks, all hail!
They would be something like a tatoo, yeah.
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Onime No Ryu
Member Avatar
I'll be your Undertaker this evening
ARE YOU STILL WORKING ON THIS!?
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Arcvalons
Member Avatar
Lord of the Octoroks, all hail!
YES OF COURSE
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Onime No Ryu
Member Avatar
I'll be your Undertaker this evening
WHEN DOES IT LAUNCH?!
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Arcvalons
Member Avatar
Lord of the Octoroks, all hail!
Ok, so dropping the TCG thing, because that was stupid, let's get back to the basics after your feedback.

Quote:
 
1. Element Crest
This is the first type of crest required to build a crest ability. It's the crest that determines the elemental affinity of the crest ability, and there are four basic elemental affinity crests: Fire, Water, Wind, and Earth. Additionally, you can use two of these at the same time to create composite affinities (g.e. Water + Wind = Frost), though you can't combine two opposite element affinities (Incompatible: Fire & Water, Earth & Wind).

Each of the Element Crests has a non-literal property that can further increase the uses of the Crest Ability; Earth has Endurance, Wind has Swiftness, Water has Fluidity, and Fire has Willpower. This are intentionally ambiguous, so for example, Earth can represent both Endurance of the Body or the Mind, depending on the ability.

2. Form Crest
This is the second type of crest required to build a crest ability. It's the crest that determines the 'form' of the crest ability (g.e. Fire Element Crest + Sword Form Crest = Flaming Sword) , here's a list that includes some of the available Form Crests:


  • Switch Form Crest: Uses an existing physical object to serve as the Form Crest in a Crest Ability. For example, using the Switch Form Crest in a sword, will give that sword the properties of the Element Crest and any additional Modifier Crests. It could be seen as a form of enchantment.

  • [Weapon] Form Crest: Creates an ethereal weapon depending on the specific Form Crest.

  • Bolt Form Crest: Creates a small and fast projectile, can be charged to increase it's power.

  • Wall Form Crest: Creates a wall that can shield allies or trap enemies.

  • Trap Form Crest: Creates a zone where certain effects are triggered, can be combined with another Form Crest to define the effect. This is a Beginner-class Form Crest.



3. Modifier Crest
This is the third type of crest that can be used to build a crest ability. As the name implies, it modifies the characteristics of a Crest Ability once it's given element and form; up to three Modfier Crests can be combined in a single Crest Ability. Some of the Modifier Crests are:


  • x2 Modifier Crest: Creates two instances of the element and form combination. For example, the combination [Fire Element Crest + Bolt Form Crest + x2 Modifier Crest] would create two fireballs simultaneously.

  • x3 Modifier Crest: Creates three instances of the element and form combination. For example, the combination [Fire Element Crest + Bolt Form Crest + x3 Modifier Crest] would create three fireballs simultaneously.

  • Range Modifier Crest: Doubles the effective range of the element and form combination. For example, the combination [Fire Element Crest + Sword Form Crest + Range Modifier Crest] would create an ethereal flaming sword twice as long as it's original size.



As you can see, Body/Spiritual split has been dropped, and a Switch Form Crest was added for infusions/enchantments. Additionally, Sin and Onime were right about using Modifier Crests more creatively rather than using just a Power Crest type. So far the system seems mostly complete. What do you guys think?

It'd be impossible for me alone to create a comprehensive list of all possible Crests, so I'd allow people to come up with their own and I'd approve them through PM. Then I would add them to a general list available to all characters.
Edited by Arcvalons, September 29, 2015, 12:10 pm.
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Onime No Ryu
Member Avatar
I'll be your Undertaker this evening
What are the pros and cons of Ethereal Weapons vs. Enchanted Weapons? If I use a real sword and a Switch Form to give that sword fire properties, vs using a Weapon Form [Sword] Crest in combination with the fire crest, what differences are there?

I would think maybe a physical weapon would take less energy (assuming using Crests draws on some kind of mana or whatever) but possibly sacrifice actual attack power for durability--because an "ethereal" weapon could always be razor sharp without ever dulling its edge or needing to be sharpened, right? Yet at the same time an "ethereal" weapon lacks mass and substance, so it could be "broken/dispelled" more easily maybe?

What kind of combination would one need to use to produce "superpower" type effects? Like, opposed to magic spells that are actively cast--you choose when to pull the trigger on that gun--what kind of crest could be used to create more natural abilities that, while maybe not entirely passive, aren't so much in the magical realm of things? I guess maybe I'm asking if it's possible to create things like the Nen abilities of Hunter x Hunter or the Stand abilities of JBA, or the Bankai abilities of Bleach. Standard "unique" abilities of a character as opposed to spells.
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Arcvalons
Member Avatar
Lord of the Octoroks, all hail!
In general terms, if your character lacks a specific weapon form crest, he can always use his own physical weapon. There are also advantages to using a physical weapon, for example, a steel sword is stronger than a wooden sword, so it makes sense that the former would be more effective when infused with an element than the latter. On the other hand, you cannot like, clone a physical sword with a modifier crest.

I was planning on allowing different races and perhaps each can have their own natural abilities, but other than that, special "powers" could be achieved with creative combination of crests. Originally I had posted about a fourth type of crest, which would have defined an ability as Active (normal abilities that you have to cast), Passive (abilities that are active all the time in the "background" like a healing factor), or Reactive (abilities that activate automatically when certain conditions are met).

However, right now all abilities will be active unless you use a Passive Modifier Crest or a Reactive Modifier Crest. I mentioned that you can use up to three Modifier Crests at the same time, precisely because alot of the uniqueness of the ability will come from that. For example, a "Super Strength Crest Ability" would look something like this, with notes in red:

*Note that below are just examples.

Strength Crest Ability
+ Element Crest: Earth [Has the secondary property "Endurance"]
+ Element Crest: Fire [Has the secondary property "Willpower"]
+ Form Crest: Body [Specifies the ability is being used in one's own body]
+ Modifier Crest: Passive [Specifies the ability is always active]
+ Modifier Crest: x3 [Specifies the strength of the abilities' user is tripled]

Now for something somewhat approximating the concept of Stands, or more like, a Summoning template. :

"Stand" Crest Ability
+ Element Crest: Water [Primary Property: Water Element | You can use whichever you want, really.]
+ Form Crest: Elemental [Specifies the ability involves conjuring an elemental, in this case it would be a sort of water elemental. Elementals would have specific abilities compared to other types of summons. ]
+ Modifier Crest: Guardian [Specifies the behavior of the water elemental, with this crest, it would act as a guardian, and would prioritize the defense of its master. If used with, say, an ethereal flaming sword, this would have the effect of the sword moving in to defend the user automatically.]
+ Modifier Crest: Crest User [Allows the water elemental to use the Crest Abilities of its master so long as it's able too (for example, no fire crest abilities, no infinite summoning loops)].


Right now, the only other major changes I would consider, would be to add a lot more Element Crest and not necessarily just for elements.


Edited by Arcvalons, September 30, 2015, 6:00 pm.
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Arcvalons
Member Avatar
Lord of the Octoroks, all hail!
pls respond
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Onime No Ryu
Member Avatar
I'll be your Undertaker this evening
well i mean you answered pretty much everything and i don't think anyone really has any problem with it as it stands. maybe look up how some video games go about their crafting systems for ideas on how to balance the rewards of finding/earning/making Crests and such.
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Onime No Ryu
Member Avatar
I'll be your Undertaker this evening
Okay so how does this work:

+ Element Crest [Fire] - Willpower
+ Element Crest [Earth] - Endurance
+ Form Crest [Sheath] - The crest is placed upon the sheath of a sword.
+ Modifier Crest [Condition] - There's a condition to activating this Crest, something that must be done rather than simply choosing to use it.
+ Modifier Crest [?X] - The strength of the interaction based off the condition is multiplied. Left it ? because I don't know what starting number would be fair if the character is gonna have this at the start of the game. Maybe just 2 or 3?

Then this:

+ Element Crest [Void] - Absorbing/Vacuum
+ Form Crest [Sword] - This crest is placed upon a sword.
+ Modifier Crest [Counter Attack] - This crest is used to counter an action made or caused by another crest.

And the end result is this:

+Whenever this character sheathes his sword, the Multiplier Crest is activated. Upon an unsheathing strike, the attack is more powerful than it would normally be. After the single attack the sword returns to normal strength/cutting ability, and it won't increase its power again until it's returned to the sheath. Powerful, but if it doesn't hit he has to make himself vulnerable to use it again. If the sword is drawn out a bit without attacking--the "thumb push" on the handguard that causes an inch of the blade to click out--then slammed back into the sheath, the multiplier is added again, creating a way to "Charge" a much stronger attack but again leaving the user in a vulnerable state.

+Whenever this character counter attacks a Crest Spell, which infers that the Crest Spell itself has to be an attack that is "counterable," the sword absorbs it. Fireballs, lightning bolts, etc can be nullified by the blade as long as the user is fast enough or can make proper contact with the sword's edge. The absorbed power is just vacuumed up, not reused or copied or whatever, so the user's strength or attacks don't increase. It just allows him to defensively force the opponent into close quarters.

Does that all check out?
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Arcvalons
Member Avatar
Lord of the Octoroks, all hail!
In the first one, the Modifier Crest should be Reactive. Those are fully customizable, but other than that minor semantics issue it's OK. Maybe I'd witch the Earth crest with a Water crest (Willpower + Swiftness), or full-on Wind and Water combination (Fluidity + Swiftness). Second one would be more like:

+ Element Crest [Non-Elemental/Mundane] - No specific Elemental attribute, if you don't want to add any.
+ Form Crest [Sword] - This crest is placed upon a sword.
+ Modifier Crest [Reactive] - Reacts to counterable Crest Abilities.
+ Modifier Crest [Absorb] - Absorbs Crest Abilities (fireballs, lightning bolts, etc.)

If you wanted to be able to reflect those later on, you could add a Modifier Crest [Reflect] too.

Everyone will be entitled to one full Crest Ability with two Modifier Crests at the beginning. Crests will be obtainable as treasure, or through defeating monsters and enemies.
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Onime No Ryu
Member Avatar
I'll be your Undertaker this evening
So instead of Condition and Counter Attack, just use Reactive, and instead of a Void element, the trait of "Absorbing" things is just a Modifier.

The reason I used Fire and Earth is because that seemed like an attack focused thing--the idea is that when the sword comes out of the sheath, the attack is supercharged, not that the sword itself is any faster or more fluid. Fire and Wind might still be good though since that implies a "fast" attack instead of a "heavy" attack so I might use that.

Is the list of "starter" Crests the same as the example crests you gave up above? Maybe there should be a more comprehensive list of what we can choose from to begin with, plus whatever unique ones players come up with as long as they're approved beforehand.
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Arcvalons
Member Avatar
Lord of the Octoroks, all hail!
Yeah, the Element Crest would be more about aesthethics and style more than actual functionality. I will make a more comprehensive list of starter crests, those above are just what I thought of at first. Some NPCs would tease some more advanced and cool ones during the RP, which PCs would be able to get too.
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Arcvalons
Member Avatar
Lord of the Octoroks, all hail!
Here's a list of starting Crests. Only change I implemented in this list is make combination Element Crests into normal Element Crests, for simplicity:

Element Crests
+ Element Crest [Air]
+ Element Crest [Body]
+ Element Crest [Earth]
+ Element Crest [Fire]
+ Element Crest [Forbidden / Death]
+ Element Crest [Ice]
+ Element Crest [Lightning]
+ Element Crest [Metal]
+ Element Crest [Mind]
+ Element Crest [Nature]
+ Element Crest [Sacred / Life]
+ Element Crest [Void / Non-Elemental]
+ Element Crest [Water]

Form Crests
+ Form Crest [Arrow]
+ Form Crest [Breath]
+ Form Crest [Barrier]
+ Form Crest [Dart]
+ Form Crest [Miasma]
+ Form Crest [Trap]
+ Form Crest [Switch/Infusion]
+ Form Crest [Shockwave]
+ Form Crest [Spear] *As in, a thrown spear.
+ Form Crest [Spike]
+ Form Crest [Summon: Guardian]
+ Form Crest [Wall]
+ Form Crest [Wave]
+ Form Crest [Weapon: Battleaxe]
+ Form Crest [Weapon: Dagger]
+ Form Crest [Weapon: Greatsword]
+ Form Crest [Weapon: Glaive]
+ Form Crest [Weapon: Halbeard]
+ Form Crest [Weapon: Katana]
+ Form Crest [Weapon: Mace]
+ Form Crest [Weapon: Lance]
+ Form Crest [Weapon: Longsword]
+ Form Crest [Weapon: Rapier]
+ Form Crest [Weapon: Spear]
+ Form Crest [Weapon: Sword]
+ Form Crest [Weapon: Scythe]
+ Form Crest [Weapon: Ultra Greatsword]
+ Form Crest [Weapon: Warhammer]
+ Form Crest [Weapon: Whip]


Modifier Crests
+ Modifier Crest [Absorb]
+ Modifier Crest [Active] *Unused, it's assumed abilities are Active unless they include a Passive or Reactive modifier.
+ Modifier Crest [Passive]
+ Modifier Crest [Endurance Multiplier: x2]
+ Modifier Crest [Endurance Multiplier: x3]
+ Modifier Crest [Range Multiplier: x2]
+ Modifier Crest [Range Multiplier: x3]
+ Modifier Crest [Reactive: Conditions can be attuned by player.]
+ Modifier Crest [Reflect]
+ Modifier Crest [Strength Multiplier: x2]
+ Modifier Crest [Strength Multiplier: x3]
+ Modifier Crest [Spin]
+ Modifier Crest [Speed Multiplier: x2]
+ Modifier Crest [Speed Multiplier: x3]
+ Modifier Crest [Size Multiplier: x2]
+ Modifier Crest [Size Multiplier: x3]
+ Modifier Crest [Target: Self]
+ Modifier Crest [Target: Ally]
Edited by Arcvalons, October 6, 2015, 3:07 pm.
PM Offline Member Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
1 user reading this topic (1 Guest and 0 Anonymous)
« Previous Topic · RP ideas · Next Topic »
Add Reply

Systematic made by Phaede of the SZ..