<Untitled IAQ Project>: Round 4: Characters, Status, Equipment, Specials, etc

[DjinnAndTonic]

Conglomerate post of stuff mentioned in chat:

Magic threw a bunch of ideas for Claire at me that he hasn't posted yet.

Claire's theme is that she is a Guardian that has a sweet tooth, and uses sweets to keep her emotions calm and focused in Disquieted areas. This translates into her being a Item-user/Focus-meter hybrid character, with her focus being entirely on utility. She has high move and speed, plus interesting support abilities and skills that move the enemies around, but practically no damage.

Her items are unique sweet Fruits. The main common one is a Fruit that fills up a large chunk of the Focus meter (eating them keeps her focused after all). It restores more for her than other Focus-meter-users, but she can certainly use them on Mirek, Ilona, and Artur.

One example of her moving skills was a Joint Struggle like move. For that don't know Joint Struggle, it's a WA4 Jude ability - does more damage if more allies are in his hex. In Claire's case, she pushes an enemy more spaces back if more allies share her hex (I guess they all grabbed the spear and pushed together!).

Currently, Claire's speed is an A+, probably needs to be fixed since Magic wants her Focus bonus to be a slightly increasing Speed boost.


Ilona learning system concept:

Ilona is the other Guardian on Mirek's path. She uses a Focus meter as well. Unlike Mirek's style, which emphasizes keeping emotions calm through meditation and releasing a single high-emotion attack, Ilona keeps her Focus by continuing to move. As long as she's still slashing, her thoughts are undistracted and her emotions calmed. Once she stops moving, she becomes hyper-aware, and very skilled at stopping incoming attacks.

This translates to a Focus meter than only increases when she attacks physically or evades. And when she reaches 100% focus, she can use a skill that greatly boosts stats in exchange for the full meter. She also has skills that cost lower amounts of Focus available.

However, she's taking the opportunity to learn from a more experienced Guardian. She recently joined the Guardians at age 18 (at bit late by some standards), and Mirek's agreed to help train her. Talking to Ilona with Mirek out of battle starts a small side game. It opens a menu with a choice of 6 enemies for Mirek and Ilona to battle. After choosing which enemy type, Mirek gives some advice on what feats Ilona needs to accomplish to perfect a new Guardian skill.

Feats include things like, using a good combination of weapons, buffs, and enemy choice to perform a 5-hit chain against one opponent. If she can do this, then she can certainly perform X skill which guarantees a triple-hit, for example.

For each chapter she's available, Ilona unlocks more skills she can learn through this method. In chapter one, a player can experiment and puzzle out Mirek's hints to learn up to 3 skills. In chapter 2, two more skills become available to puzzle out, an so on.

Seems like a good way to build a brother/sister type relationship between these two Guardians, which ties in to Mirek's theme of learning to Trust again, this time, he's learning to trust in the Guardians on an individual level again.


On Rafael: Discussed this a bit with Nama, but I'll post it here.

The current plan for him is to use mix-and-match Sigil items to cast spells. The sigils are entirely non-consumable, they are just gathered and then used in combinations to produce magical effects. These spells run off of Rafael's HP as a resource. I'd imagine there's about 5 or 6 Sigils total, slowly acquired throughout the game, with different permutations each performing different skills.

However, a lot of permutations result in the same skill, it just takes some experimentation to figure out which does what. (Once he uses a permutation once, it's added to his list - no memorization necessary!) Additionally, the same combination of Sigils generally produce the same effects, but different permutations of that combination can produce different numerical results.

For example, Sigil combination AB is a X% Durability buff that lasts Y rounds. Permutation AB is 25% Durability buff for 6 rounds. Permutation BA is 50% for 3 rounds.

With 5 Sigils, this makes 10 skills, with 20 results.
With 6 Sigils, 15 skills, with 30 results. So, he might be one of the ones that breaks the 10-skill rule if we go with that, or we have some overlap, like mentioned above.

[AndrewRogue]

Now with 100% more skills.

Artur
Eirwen's longtime friend and longtime admirer. He is much smarter then he looks, but conceals something of a nasty character. Although he keeps it as a secret, he possesses a small knowledge of practicing resonant magic.

HP: A+
MP: D+
Strength: A+
Dexterity: D
Vitality: B+
Intelligence: C+
Spirit: F
Speed: C-

Accuracy: B+
Evasion: D-
Magic Accuracy: C-
Magic Evasion: F
Move: 3

Weapon Groups: Heavy Blunt
Armor Groups: All
Accessory Groups: Many

Resource Description: Uses a combination of Focus (starting at 75%, increasing by 10% every turn and 25% whenever he uses a resonant skill) and MP.

Types of Moves/Specific Move Ideas:

*Passive
**Big Swing: Artur deals splash damage to all other enemies in the hex with his attack, with the percentage of splash damage being equal to his focus percentage.

*Active
**Knockback Swing (25%): Artur deals heavy melee damage and knocks the target back a hex. If they cannot be moved, they take additional damage. High interruption.
**Wind-Up Swing (50%): Artur deals awesome melee damage to a single target after a long delay. High interruption.
**Crushing Swing (50%): Artur deals great melee damage and the target takes periodic damage for several turns. High interruption.
**Batter and Bruise (75%): Heavy melee damage and increases all damage the target takes by 10%.
**Foster Doubt (X MP): Reduces the target's evade, defense and accuracy by 10%. Stacks with itself up to 3 times (30%).
**Enrage (X MP): Raise the target's attack by 25% and decrease their accuracy by 30% for a short time.
**Sow Distrust (X MP): Reduces the target's stats by 5% per character in the hex/adjacent to the hex. Caps at 50%.

Method in Which They Learn Moves: Learns physical attacks from odd jobs/mini games and Resonance from Erastus.
Just a general summary of the idea: More classic slugger with a surprise magic side.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Eirwen skill-learning idea:

Hell yeah let's steal Chef Battles from Suikoden, they're the best part of S2.

Ahem. I'm thinking a Tales-like cooking system, or a DQ8-like Alchemy pot system. Basically, make Eirwen's ingrediants storebought or very common drops, and the limitation on their use comes from the fact that Eirwen has to -cook- the dishes over time, and she stores up the cooked dishes to use in battle. This gives her a technically unlimited supply, but the time it takes to make each kind of dish is the gatekeeper on her resources.

An additional option might be to allow the 'pot to brew' while Eirwen is in-battle as well, so that if she started cooking something before an encounter, its timer is still ticking down and can be used if it finishes before the battle is over (and she can use a turn to start a new dish if it's going to be a -loooong- battle, or she can just wait for the battle to end and start cooking from the menu instead).

Depending on the potency of each Meal's effect will determine how common the ingrediants are, how long the cooking takes, and the quantity created with each cooking session. (So a really common Meal might have storebought ingrediants, a short preparation time, and produce 3 items when finished.)

We could also have short random humor scenes where the other PCs challenge her culinary experience. It probably doesn't end well for most of them. Perhaps Isolde or someone has a surprise talent at cooking and can be her rival?!

[074]

...now I'm imagining Faulheit being the one with cooking talent.  And any rivalry with him would be one-sided.  Amusingly so.

Alternatively, he does the laziest thing possible after being dragged into it.

[EDIT]  Now to do something meaningful.  In my case, taking on the colossal task that is Rafael's set of Sigils.  As we have established, he may be one of the few who breaks the generally-agreed-upon cap of 10 through his combinative and permutative spell variants.  In his case, we'll be assuming six sigils.  Depending on how late he joins, he may have either 2 or 3 sigils to start with.  In order of acquisition, these sigils will tentatively be called:

Chaos Sigil
Dominion Sigil
Strife Sigil
Affliction Sigil
Entropy Sigil
Nihil Sigil

The basic rules of sigil-merging: One can only merge two sigils at a time.  Merging is permutative in nature, which means that order matters.  And furthermore, one cannot double-merge a sigil.  All in all this leads to a total of 30 permutations--though thankfully not that many actual skills, as you will see--it ends up being closer to 12 differing skills, with four of them having four total variants, rather than two.

Now, with the row as the first sigil chosen, and the column as the second, we would have this resulting:

__| CS | DS | SS | AS | ES | NS |

CS| XX | 1A | 2A | 3A | 4A | 11 |
________________________

DS| 1B | XX | 5A | 6A | 7A | 1D |
________________________

SS| 2B | 5B | XX | 8A | 9A | 2D |
________________________

AS| 3B | 6B | 8B | XX |10A| 3D |
________________________

ES| 4B | 7B | 9B |10B| XX | 4D |
________________________

NS| 12 | 1C | 2C | 3C | 4C | XX|

________________________

Now, without further ado, the skills.  ...all twelve, with all variants.

[Passive] Nullification: 50% flat chance of negating a cancel effect, but reduces all healing targeted at him by 50% (Drain healing already factors this in)
1A: Obfuscation [Code CD] (13% mHP):Adds Confuse and Berserk to all targets in a hex.
1B: Obfuscation [Code DC] (15% mHP):As above--slower chargetime, but more accurate
1C: Obfuscation [Code ND] (23% mHP):Greatly reduced chargetime.
1D: Obfuscation [Code DN] (27% mHP):Slower than Code DC, but perfect hitrate.
2A: Destruction [Code CS] (15% mHP): Fairly heavy ST Darkness damage.  Slow to charge.
2B: Destruction [Code SC] (18% mHP): Slightly weaker than the Code CS version, but is now Hex-target.  Even slower to charge.
2C: Destruction [Code NS] (27% mHP): Comparable power to Code CS, now with a fast chargetime.
2D: Destruction [Code SN] (35% mHP): Radius-1 hex burst AoE.  Lower damage, but still fast.
3A: Ruination [Code CA] (12% mHP):The next three instances of damage on the target are multiplied by 1.5x after all considerations (also including field effects, poison, et cetera)
3B: Ruination [Code AC] (18% mHP):The next two instances of damage are multiplied by 2x.
3C: Ruination [Code NA] (20% mHP):The next three instances of damage on the target are multiplied by 1.75x.
3D: Ruination [Code AN] (25% mHP):The next instance of damage is multiplied by 3x.
4A: Degeneration [Code CE] (13% mHP):Adds Poison and Necrotized(cannot be healed) to a 1-hex-burst radius
4B: Degeneration [Code EC] (13% mHP):As above, only slower and more accurate.
4C: Degeneration [Code NE] (23% mHP): Much faster as to be near-instant.
4D: Degeneration [Code EN] (27% mHP): Slower than Code EC, but perfect hitrate
5A: Assimilation [Code DS] (5% mHP): Deals low ST darkness damage, absorbs half the damage dealt as health.
5B: Assimilation [Code SD] (7% mHP): Deals moderate ST darkness damage, absorbs 1/4 of the damage dealt as health.  Slower chargetime.
6A: Corruption [Code DA] (18% mHP): Reverses the effects of healing spells for the single target for one round--any healing effects cast or received now do damage.
6B: Corruption [Code AD] (20% mHP): As above, only hex-target and less accurate.
7A: Reciprocation [Code DE] (18% mHP): Adds Backlash (take damage equivalent to damage dealt) effect to target.  ST.
7B: Reciprocation [Code ED] (20% mHP): As above, only slower and more accurate.
8A: Aggravation [Code SA] (18% mHP): Deals ST nontyped damage to the target equal to (tmHP-tcHP).  Typically does not affect bosses.  Long chargetime.
8B: Aggravation [Code AS] (23% mHP): As above, but shorter chargetime and lower accuracy.
9A: Fragmentation [Code SE] (15% mHP): Deals heavy ST nontyped damage with a multiplier based on the number of buffs (status and stat-boosting) the target has.  Multiplier starts at 0x for unaffected targets.  Ignores reflect.  Targets unboosted magic defense/SPR.
9B: Fragmentation [Code ES] (18% mHP): As above, but at a lower base damage, longer charge time, and Hex-targetting.
10A: Execution [Code AE] (20% mHP): Chance of instant death to a target.
10B: Execution [Code EA] (28% mHP): Chance of instant death to all targets on a hex.  Lower accuracy.
11: Annihilation [Code CN] (0% mHP): Drops Rafael's HP to 1 in order to deliver nontyped magic damage to a single target.  Has no base HP cost, but is OPB.  Damage based on current HP.  Does 0 if cast from 1 HP.
12: Cessation [Code NC] (20% mHP): Targets in hex have their status locked.  For the duration, no outside sources can add or remove statuses or statdowns to/from the targets. (Note: If Katarine has this on her, Aura Lance doesn't dispel the buffs, but inflicts 0 damage)

Might have a unique accessory later on to reduce HP costs of the spells somewhat.

[AndrewRogue]

With 100% more stats. Updated stats and such too.

Eirwen
A young chef who owns a tavern in the town of XXXX. Using her resonance to help her cook, she's capable of making quasi-magical dishes with the right material. Has a crush on Mirek. With some training, she is able to expand her talents and use her resonance directly.

HP: G
MP: A
Strength: F
Dexterity: B+
Vitality: C
Intelligence: B
Spirit: C
Speed: B+

Accuracy: C
Evasion: C
Magic Accuracy: C
Magic Evasion: C
Move: 3

Weapon Groups: Knives/Cooking Implements
Armor Groups: Light
Accessory Groups: Light, Girly

Resource Description: Uses a synthesis-type style to create food outside of battle, and with some MP expenditure in battled, she can make them look similar.

Types of Moves/Specific Move Ideas:

*Activated
**Cooking: Crafted outside of battle, by imbuing her food with her own resonant abilities, she can enhance any medicinal effects or morale boosting. (Conveniently snack sized for on the field consumption!)

(Note: Non-identical effects can stack)

XX: Heals a small amount of HP, regens a bit of HP every turn. (Upgrades later)
XX: Heals a small amount of MP, regens a bit of MP every turn. (Upgrades later)
XX: Heals a small amount of Focus, regens a bit of Focus every turn. (Upgrades later)
XX: Heals a small amount of HP, gains a bonus to Str, regens a small amount of HP every turn.
XX: Heals a small amount of HP, gains a bonus to Dex regens a small amount of HP every turn.
XX: Heals a small amount of HP, gains a bonus to Vit, regens a small amount of HP every turn.
XX: Heals a small amount of MP, gains a bonus to Int, regens a small amount of MP every turn.
XX: Heals a small amount of HP, gains a bonus to Spi, regens a small amount of HP every turn.
XX: Gains a bonus to Str, Dex, Acc for a short time.
XX: Gains a bonus to Vit, Spi, Phys Eva and Mag Eva.
XX: Heals a small amount of HP, regens a small amount of HP/MP/Focus each turn and boosts all stats by a moderate amount.
XX: Heals a small amount of HP, regens a small amount of HP and recovers to 25% HP next time they would be dealt fatal damage.

Method in Which They Learn Moves: CLEARLY WE NEED CHEF BATTLES ALA SUIKO 2.
Just a general summary of the idea: Dedicated Healer/Buffer type.

[AndrewRogue]

New stats, etc.

Aurel

HP: A+
MP: D
Strength: B
Dexterity: C
Vitality: S
Intelligence: D
Spirit: A
Speed: C-

Accuracy: C+
Evasion: F-
Magic Accuracy: N/A
Magic Evasion: F-
Move: 2

Weapon Groups: Two-Handed Weapons
Armor Groups: All
Accessory Groups: Heavy

Resource Description: MP. Recovers 15% at the end of battle.
Types of Moves/Specific Move Ideas:
*Passive
**Master of his Body: Aurel regens 10% of his HP at the start of his turn.
**Never Say Die: Aurel's Vit and Spi increase significantly while he is below 50% health.
**Refuse to Fall: Aurel has a 25% chance of surviving a fatal attack with 1 HP remaining.
**Trained Bodyguard: Aurel has a 25% chance of intercepting an attack directed at an ally in his hex.

*Activated
**Bolster: Recover a moderate amount of HP, but cancels his regen for several turns.
**Return From the Brink: Recover 100% of his HP, but takes significant penalties to his stats.
**The Iron Wall of the Empire: Aurel takes 0 damage from physical and magical damage for a short time, but his Vit and Spi are dropped to G levels for several turns afterwards.
**Reckless Strike: Moderate damage, but increases the damage he takes until his next turn.

Method in Which They Learn Moves: TBD. Fine with him leveling.
Just a general summary of the idea: TANK.

[DjinnAndTonic]

The basic rules of sigil-merging:

Good stuff. The setup is perfect.

Now, without further ado, the skills.  ...all twelve, with all variants.

This obviously took a while, so I'm going to say here that this looks good for the most part (dig the names, too), but he's REALLY powerful. He's a status whore w/ good damage and range. His only drawback is durability, it seems. I'll point out some specifics.

2C: Destruction [Code NS] (27% mHP): Comparable power to Code CS, now with a fast chargetime.
2D: Destruction [Code SN] (35% mHP): Radius-1 hex burst AoE.  Lower damage, but still fast.

I'm especially pleased with how you arranged the Nihil Sigil compounds for later-gamer balance.

3B: Ruination [Code AC] (18% mHP): For 2 'rounds', all final damage applied to the target is multiplied by 2x.
3D: Ruination [Code AN] (22% mHP): Until Rafael's next turn, all final damage applied to the target is multiplied by 3x

...This is pretty broken. Needs to be more expensive to balance things out. As it stands, Rafael + Healer = 3x damage all the time.

4A: Degeneration [Code CE] (8% mHP):Adds Poison and Necrotized(cannot be healed) to a 1-hex-burst radius
4B: Degeneration [Code EC] (8% mHP):As above, only slower and more accurate.

I'm guessing if you don't list anything about accuracy, it's like a 50% hitrate?

6A: Corruption [Code DA] (8% mHP): Reverses the effects of healing spells for the single target--any healing effects cast or received now do damage.
6B: Corruption [Code AD] (10% mHP): As above, only hex-target and less accurate.

This needs to be more costly or just make sure the accuracy isn't that great. With this, Raf + even a crappy healer can be doing 3x pitiful MT healing spell's damage every turn.

7A: Reciprocation [Code DE] (8% mHP): Adds Backlash (take damage equivalent to damage dealt) effect to target.  ST.
7B: Reciprocation [Code ED] (10% mHP): As above, only slower and more accurate.

This is good, though I'm assuming from cheap cost that the accuracy isn't great.

9A: Fragmentation [Code SE] (10% mHP): Deals heavy ST nontyped damage with a multiplier based on the number of buffs (status and stat-boosting) the target has.  Multiplier starts at 0x for unaffected targets.  Ignores reflect.  Targets unboosted magic defense/SPR.

Cool idea. Very situational, but cool idea. Makes him a good anti-buff fighter.

10A: Saturation [Code AE] (15% mHP): Chance of instant death to a target.

This is the only one where I don't like the name.

11: Annihilation [Code CN] (0% mHP): Drops Rafael's HP to 1 in order to deliver extremely strong nontyped magic damage to a single target.  Has no base HP cost, but does have an additional cooldown alongside the cost.  Does 0 if cast from 1 HP.

Even with the ridiculous cost... this might be too much. This make Raf able to do everything. He statuses the enemy to hell, and then as long as he has more than 1 HP, he busts out this ridiculous, nontyped! damage damage as a finisher. And then a Healer pops in and he can do it all over again. Need to make this inaccurate or less powerful, and probably OPB. The cooldown is a good idea, but with the rest of his skillset... Well, he's boss-level powerful. Might need to make him a boss fight at some point after you get him his last Sigil. And once you beat him out of whatever madness caused him to fight you, he gets a toned-down version of this skill.

12: Cessation [Code NC] (10% mHP): Targets in hex have their status locked.  For the duration, no outside sources can add or remove statuses or statdowns to/from the targets. (Note: If Katarine has this on her, Aura Lance doesn't dispel the buffs, but inflicts 0 damage)

Make this more expensive, his statuses are too good for him to be able to spam Status Lock.


He's a really cool build. Just... really powerful, especially for a PC with no ties to the story. Just based on how powerful you've made him, I'm thinking he needs a boss fight. Perhaps he's onto Erastus and he fights the party who's still defending him? Maybe. Though that seems like it might tip the player off to Erastus far too easily.

Whatever Rafael's motives are (thinking some kind of forbidden magic research because I'm too lazy to come up with specifics that might make this sound interesting), once he gets all of his Sigils, it would be cool to fight him as a boss with the 6 sigils as his boss support (because I'm thinking that the mHP cost for his spells still applies as a boss, so he needs some healers~). Obviously, since we need to cut down on the number of betrayals going on here, let's just make it some kind of accident that makes him lose control instead of premeditated betrayal, and once we beat him into submission, he's back to help us.

Depending on just how accuracte/powerful you were intending each of his spells to be, you may not need to make -all- of the changes I suggested. But Annihilation and Ruination need balancing. Especially Ruination since he's essentially made all of our buffers pointless once the party merges.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Resource Description: Uses a synthesis-type style to create food outside of battle, and with some MP expenditure in battled, she can make them look similar.

Make what look similar?

**Cooking: Crafted outside of battle, by imbuing her food with her own resonant abilities, she can enhance any medicinal effects or morale boosting. (Conveniently snack sized for on the field consumption!)

(Note: Non-identical effects can stack)

Omelet: Heals a small amount of HP, regens a bit of HP every turn. (Upgrades later)
Crepe: Heals a small amount of MP, regens a bit of MP every turn. (Upgrades later)
Gratin: Heals a small amount of Focus, regens a bit of Focus every turn. (Upgrades later)
Coq au Vin: Heals a small amount of HP, gains a bonus to Str, regens a small amount of HP every turn.
Foie Gras: Heals a small amount of HP, gains a bonus to Dex regens a small amount of HP every turn.
Cuisse de Grenouille: Heals a small amount of HP, gains a bonus to Vit, regens a small amount of HP every turn.
Quiche: Heals a small amount of MP, gains a bonus to Int, regens a small amount of MP every turn.
Marrons Glaces: Heals a small amount of HP, gains a bonus to Spi, regens a small amount of HP every turn.
Beef Bourguignon: Gains a bonus to Str, Dex, Acc for a short time.
Cassoulet: Gains a bonus to Vit, Spi, Phys Eva and Mag Eva.
Tourtiere: Heals a small amount of HP, regens a small amount of HP/MP/Focus each turn and boosts all stats by a moderate amount.
Souffle: Heals a small amount of HP, regens a small amount of HP and recovers to 25% HP next time they would be dealt fatal damage.

Name ideas. Obviously all French dishes. Arranged the names based on cooking time. The better skills have more time-consuming dishes. Thinking that the ingredients themselves can have normal English names like 'Cheese', though we can always tack on words like 'Magic Cheese' or 'Echo Garlic' or something for flavor.

Also... since she gets -nothing- offensively, last suggestion is a non-item-specific skill:

**Al Flambe: Eirwen can use any cooked dish in her inventory, make it 'al flambe', and toss it at a target to deal reversed HP/MP restoration on contact.

Flavor-wise, since Eirwen's cooking has stored up her resonant energy, she can just release it against an enemy on contact (the fire helps~). This would deal a small amount of damage (or MP damage for the dishes that restore MP) on contact, and then damage a small amount every turn, giving her a Poison-type option at least. To make this worthwhile, it should either be 100% accurate, or deal as much damage as the Dish would originally heal (assuming it's fairly good healing at higher levels). The dishes that don't heal HP/MP wouldn't work with this skill. And thinking that Souffle Al Flambe would just be a straight-up good damage skill.

[DjinnAndTonic]

**Never Say Die: Aurel's Vit and Spi increase significantly while he is below 50% health.
**Refuse to Fall: Aurel has a 25% chance of surviving a fatal attack with 1 HP remaining.
**Return From the Brink: Recover 100% of his HP, but takes significant penalties to his stats.

re: Names
You're a terrible person.

Resource Description: MP. Recovers 15% at the end of battle.
Method in Which They Learn Moves: TBD. Fine with him leveling.

Wow, this makes him our most boring combination to date. Perhaps we can give him -something- to make him a little more interesting. I mean, we want people to care about him.

Looking at his skillset... he's actually a prime candidate for Cooldown moves. Most of his moves have lingering penalties anyway, so the Cooldown period can work right alongside those. He also only has 4 Active moves, so there's no worries about menu space... >.>;;

And since he's from the same training grounds as Isolde, it makes sense from a story perspective for them to have something like this in common. Also, we don't have -anyone- else with Cooldown stuff (excepting Noemi, and possibly Rafael, who each tentatively have one CD move as of now).

The rest of the build is quite awesome, and I dig the names.

[074]

EDITS:

Isolde:
-'Blasting Wave' added.
-Details on most skills added

Rafael:
-HP costs increased almost completely across the board.
-Nullification now also halves the effects of received healing/
-Ruination changed to cHP gravity damage.
-Corruption duration set at one round
-Saturation name changed to Execution
-Annihilation given extra details that were omitted (damage based on current HP at time of casting).  Made OPB.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Given chat statements that I remember, and the most current setups, I guess now would be the time to catalogue who uses what, as far as weapons and armor go.

----Weapons----
Knives: Noemi, Katarine, Ilona, Erastus, Yiu, Eirwen
Light Swords: Katarine, Selena, Shao, Yiu
Guardian Blades: Mirek, Ilona
Large Swords: Isolde, Aurel
Blunt: Rafael, Yiu
Large Blunt: Artur, Aurel
Large Axes: Isolde, Erastus, Jin, Aurel
Scythes: Ilona
Spears: Shao, Claire, Aurel
Polearms: Isolde, Claire, Erastus, Aurel
Staves: Selena, Erastus
Bows: Meilin, Xun
Crossbows: Faulheit, Kasia
Throwing Knives: Faulheit, Yiu
Whips: Kasia, Yiu
Instruments: Jin
Cooking Implements: Eirwen

So, why am I doing this?  Part of it is just catalogueing current progress.  The other is seeing if we can consolidate characters' weapon options in some manner--we already have overlap, so...

Observations:

Not sure what was designated as 'light weapons', so I'm just going with what was assumed as such when Andy described his build of Yiu.

PCs with unique weapon categories: Isolde(Large Swords), Artur(Large Blunt), Ilona(Scythes, consider merging this into axes or polearms), Shao(Spears, consider merging this into polearms), Jin(Instruments, which I'm not too big a fan of decision-wise as a point of contrast to the other weapons, but okay)

PCs with unique weapon categories barring temps: All the above, plus, Selena (Swords, Staves)

PCs with unique weapon categories barring temps and rejoinables: All the above, plus Faulheit(Crossbows)

Looking at this over and over, decided to offer a suggestion on what to do about weapons. Hoping for some feedback.

First proposition: Go back to simple weapon categories. We've got too many categories and we haven't even started making weapons yet. Instead of focusing so much on making every category different, let's just make the weapons within each category very different.

For example, combine Axes, Blunt, Staves, and the weird stuff into 'Bludgeoning Weapons', and just the weapons within the category to suit different stat builds. Yes, this means that mages would be able to equip Heavy Axes! ...for all the good it will do them... >.>;;  However, it also means anyone with access to the Bludgeoning category will be able to share weapons, giving the player some choices on who gets which weapon, and allowing old weapons to be passed down once new weapons are acquired. This isn't a ground-breaking idea, but it tends to work well and I know that NEB was big proponent of this.

Second proposition: Give each character a small pool of unique weapons in a single category to complement their broad category. Ideally, these unique weapons would be focused on providing some kind of unique skill (like counters, elemental attribute, added status, unique range, etc), but have somewhat inferior stats compared to their more universal counterparts. Also, there would ideally be only 3-5 of these, depending on how early the character joins.

Put simply, this means that Mirek has a unique weapon class called 'Guardian Blades', and he can also equip any of the weapons in the universal 'Sword' class. Sure, he may not have much use for a Butter Knife, but he can still use it. Additionally, this means that he can be a good option for using the Ultimacalibur X9000, strongest weapon in the game. But he might serve you better with his less-powerful, but starting-Focus-doubling, final Guardian Blade weapon.


Taken together, I think these two propositions allow a lot of flexibility for the player while still allowing us to make lots of different kinds of weapons and maintaining some uniqueness for all the PCs.

Since I had the time/inspiration, I have a tentative list for how I'd break this down. Feedback is good.

Universal Weapon Types:
Swords: Swords, Knives, Sabers, Greatswords, etc.
Polearms: Spears, Lances, Javelins, Staves, Pikes, Scythes, etc.
Blugeoning: Axes, Clubs, Maces, Whips, 'Mage weapons' like Tomes, Whips, etc.
Ranged: Bows, Guns, Darts, Shuriken, Handbombs, Slingshots, etc.

As you can see, I'm being -really- general here.

Proposed Weapon-type distribution:
(First listed weapon is the unique-type, each of which also falls into one of the above categories)
Noemi: Twin Daggers (Swords), Swords
Erastus: Flails (Bludgeon), Bludgeons
Kasia: Throwing Knives (Ranged), Swords
Shao: Claws/Katar (yeah, those things Kiros uses, classifying them as Swords), Ranged
Fahim: Rings (Ranged), Bludgeons
Aurel: Scimitars (Bludgeon), Bludgeons, Swords (Yes, 3 types)
Isolde: Halberds (Polearms), Bludgeons, Polearms (3 types)
Faulheit: Customized Crossbows (Ranged), Ranged
Katarine: Fencing Swords (Swords), Swords
Claire: Guardian Spears (Polearms), Polearms
Selena: Bo Staff (Polearms), Ranged
Mirek: Guardian Blades (Swords), Swords
Eirwen: Kitchenware (Ladels and Frypans, Bludgeon), Ranged
Artur: Great Hammers (Bludgeon), Polearms
Rafael: Shields (he bashes people with them, Bludgeon), Bludgeons
Ilona: Guardian Scythes (Polearms), Swords
Yiu: Knuckles/Gauntlets (thinking the God-Kings have a solid hand-to-hand fighting style, Bludgeon), Swords
Meilin: Short Bows (Ranged), Ranged, Polearms (3 types)
Xun: Chain-Whips (Bludgeon), Ranged
Jin: Instruments (Bludgeon), Bludgeons

Thoughts?

[Talaysen]

Yeah, not really for this change.  There are definitely too few categories there.

I don't mind a bit of condensing (merging spears and polearms, bows and crossbows seem like decent ideas), but would still like to keep a decent number of different categories.  Could stand to rebalance the number of people in the categories though (outside of unique ones, of course), too, but it's probably not a big deal.

There's also the option of just adding more people to some categories, which means weapons you find/buy have more use in general.

[AndrewRogue]

Per e-mail with Gorth, suggestions for Erastus.

Abilities for Erastus-as-guest

SUMMONS (names to be decided.  During the final battle, to make Erastus more human-y, he'd only have the first 3 summons, but each summon would summon 3-4 of these dudes when he did it.  Yep.  The last summon would be the pre-Erastus fight, so its excluded.)
1) Low level soldier type- Ash Elemental (middle range on damage, HP, armor, move, etc.)
Happy Erastus Quote- "Suck Ash!  Ash Elemental!"
Angry Erastus Quote- "Char the flesh, seal the wounds, end the cycle!  Come to me, Ash Elementals!"
2) Ranged Archer Type- Flame Lasher (fire plant, shoots spines and does middling damage.  Cannot move)
Happy Erastus Quote- "Plants!  Come to my aid!  Also, be on fire!  Flame Lasher!"
Angry Erastus Quote- "I need artillery... Swarm of Flame Lashers!"
3) Expendable Melee Damage Guy- Vampiric Fire Wolf (low HP, armor, high move and damage, hits replenish Erastus' HP)
Happy Erastus Quote- "Look!  It's a puppy, and wants to chew off your face!  Flaming wolf!"
Angry Erastus Quote- "Consume them all.  Flaming Wolves!"
4) Ultimate- Balrog or a drake (name, obviously, subject to change) (Very high HP, armor, has area attacks, an area of effect ability that scorches all squares he's standing in and damaging adjacent foes, and strong melee.  Costs ALL of Erastus' MP to summon, and is probably the 'gamebreaker')
Happy Erastus Quote- "Look what I've learned how to do... Balrog!"
Angry Erastus Quote (used when summoning him for the last fight)- "Behold, your unmaking!  I call upon you, Balrog!"

DIRECT DAMAGE (Notes- Erastus likely knows only the first three, or has the other options grayed out.  As Noemi confronts him on more details of his past, he stops 'hiding' his ability to do them, which allows him to use them in combat.  They lower in MP cost as he levels- by midrange of the game, Scorch, Drain Touch and Emberstorm would be 1-2 to cast.  At endgame, right before the betrayal, only Rain of Fire, Immolation and Flame wall would cost more than 1-2 MP, costing (in my head, and figuratively) 1/2, 1/3, and 1/4 of his mana pool each)
1) Scorch- Standard, at-range attack, hits one hex.  Ignores line of sight issues.  Middling strength at best.  'Scorches' the hex, causing any foe who enters or exits it to take (very low) damage.
Happy Erastus Quote- "What's red and yellow and would look great on you?  Fire!"
Angry Erastus Quote- "BURN."
2) Drain Touch- Melee, does very small damage.  Heals Erastus for 5% of his HP and MP.
Happy Erastus Quote- "Aww, look!  Got your life force!  Got your life force!  Drain Touch!"
Angry Erastus Quote- "BE CONSUMED BY MY HUNGER.  DRAIN TOUCH."
3) Emberstorm- Large damage to one hex, middling damage to surrounding hexes.  All hexes affected become 'scorched' and remain so for the duration of the battle, enemies entering them take (very low) damage.
Happy Erastus Quote- "Ashes, ashes, we all fall... DOWN!  Emberstorm!"
Angry Erastus Quote- "Your pyre burns ever higher... Emberstorm."
4) Flame Wall- Yeah, this needs explaining.  Pick starting hex and ending hex, game calculates a route for the wall.  Lengthens (not strengthens) as Erastus levels.  Ground is 'scorched' after the effect ends.
Happy Erastus Quote- "No no, that's quite close enough!  Flame Wall!"
Angry Erastus Quote- "Flame Wall."
5) Immolation- Emberstorm, but has an area of two hexes, middling damages (not splash), does not Scorch the ground.
Happy Erastus Quote- "Ever wonder what charcoal feels like?  I can end your curiosity... Immolation!"
Angry Erastus Quote- "The phlogiston consumes all... even you.  Immolation."
6) Ultimate- Rain of Fire.  Area of 3 hexes.  For X rounds (starting at 2, increasing with level), the area is affected by Emberstorm.  When the duration expires, the hexes are still "flaming" as per the Flame Wall, which lasts until the end of combat.
Happy Erastus Quote- "Raindrops keep falling on your head... only they're made of fire, and you sing less, and scream more.  Rain of Fire!"
Angry Erastus Quote- "DEVASTATION!  RAIN OF FIRE!"

SONGS
NOTE- As Erastus levels, these lengthen- starting by affecting only adjacent hexes.  After they lengthen to 5 hexes, they do improve further- and become battlefield affecting, despite range.
1) Song of Discord- Any spells used by Aural dissonant (or resonant...?) casting are weakened substantially when affecting Erastus or the hexes under the effect of the Song of Discord.
2) Song of Sorrow- Enemies under the effect of the Song of Sorrow have all debuffs last twice as long on them.
3) Song of Fear- Foes under the effect of the Song of Fear have their chance to hit and chance to dodge lowered.
4) Song of False Hope- Foes under the effect of the Song of False Hope have a chance to have their stats (their baseline ones) lowered every turn they remain in the area.  The drain effect lasts until the end of combat.
5) Ultimate- Song of Despair- Drains HP from all affected enemies every round, for very very low damage.  Erastus regains 1/2 of the damage dealt this way as MP.

[074]

Looking over at OK's old post, I've determined that a refactoring of Meilin is -really- needed.  Aside from the stats having a serious case of WTF, her niche in the God-Kings feels like it needs a change, what with Yiu handling statuswhoring through items, Xun having pets with further potential abilities (he had a sea monster as one of those, so it's not that surprising that others might have some usable abilities), Jin with his support songs, and Fahim for the Dissonance front.  As for what I think she needs to be refit into?

Ren Meilin
We...know the idea by now.  Yiu's wife, one of the God-Kings crew.  Presumably flirty.

HP:D-
MP:N/A
Strength:B
Dexterity:B
Vitality:F-
Intelligence:C-
Spirit:D+
Speed:B-

Accuracy:A
Evasion:B+
Magic Accuracy:N/A
Magic Evasion:D-
Move:3

Weapon Groups:Bows
Armor Groups:Light
Accessory Groups:Light, Female

Resource Description:Two resources.  Focus gauge (starts at 25%, increases at a rate of 10% per 100 CT, increases by 5% at the end of her turn if she has not moved.  Defending (if there is no 'do nothing' command) increases Focus by 5%) for bow techniques, and cooldown on the support skills.
Movelist:

[Passive]Precise Aim: Meilin's critical rate increases by a flat 5% for each 20% focus she has.

Bow(Focus-based) (skills marked with a * are already known)
*Linear Sniper(10% focus):Attack to a single enemy for improved damage.  Adds a flat 20% bonus to critical rate.  Cancel effect.
*Fan Shot(30% focus):Single attack to all targets in a spread pattern.
*Twin Sniper(30% focus): Fires two shots at a target.
*Bloodletting Shot(25% focus): Attack that inflicts Bleeding alongside its damage
Hamstring Shot(20% focus): Attack that reduces a target's MOV by 1 in addition to damage
Hail Burst(minimum 50% focus):Radius-1 hex burst centered on target.  Fires 7+((focus-50)/10) shots.  Extra shots cost 10% focus.  Shots fired land in random hexes--a shot landing in a hex strikes a target within that hex randomly.
Rapid Sniper(Minimum 20% focus):Fires one shot at the target for each 10% of focus present before use of skill, maximum 10 shots.  Consumes 10% focus per shot.  Shots are made at -50 Accuracy and base critical rate.


*Utility (Cooldown)
Spark of Concentration: Increases Focus by 25%.  4-turn cooldown.  Very low chargetime.
First Aid: HP healing and cures a few statii (Poison, Bleeding...) to a target in her or an adjacent hex.  1-turn cooldown
Resuscitation:Revives a character in her hex or an adjacent hex with 1 HP.  3-turn cooldown.


Method in Which They Learn Moves: Sparking for the bow moves she has left to learn.  Cooldown moves are already known.
Just a general summary of the idea:An archer with some minor healing.  Critwhore.

[DjinnAndTonic]

----Weapons----
Knives: Noemi, Katarine, Ilona, Erastus, Yiu, Eirwen
Light Swords: Katarine, Selena, Shao, Yiu
Guardian Blades: Mirek, Ilona
Large Swords: Isolde, Aurel
Blunt: Rafael, Yiu
Large Blunt: Artur, Aurel
Large Axes: Isolde, Erastus, Jin, Aurel
Scythes: Ilona
Spears: Shao, Claire, Aurel
Polearms: Isolde, Claire, Erastus, Aurel
Staves: Selena, Erastus
Bows: Meilin, Xun
Crossbows: Faulheit, Kasia
Throwing Knives: Faulheit, Yiu
Whips: Kasia, Yiu
Instruments: Jin
Cooking Implements: Eirwen

Universal Weapon Types:
Swords: Swords, Knives, Sabers, Greatswords, etc.
Polearms: Spears, Lances, Javelins, Staves, Pikes, Scythes, etc.
Blugeoning: Axes, Clubs, Maces, Whips, 'Mage weapons' like Tomes, Whips, etc.
Ranged: Bows, Guns, Darts, Shuriken, Handbombs, Slingshots, etc.

Proposed Weapon-type distribution:
(First listed weapon is the unique-type, each of which also falls into one of the above categories)
Noemi: Twin Daggers (Swords), Swords
Erastus: Flails (Bludgeon), Bludgeons
Kasia: Throwing Knives (Ranged), Swords
Shao: Claws/Katar (yeah, those things Kiros uses, classifying them as Swords), Ranged
Fahim: Rings (Ranged), Bludgeons
Aurel: Scimitars (Bludgeon), Bludgeons, Swords (Yes, 3 types)
Isolde: Halberds (Polearms), Bludgeons, Polearms (3 types)
Faulheit: Customized Crossbows (Ranged), Ranged
Katarine: Fencing Swords (Swords), Swords
Claire: Guardian Spears (Polearms), Polearms
Selena: Bo Staff (Polearms), Ranged
Mirek: Guardian Blades (Swords), Swords
Eirwen: Kitchenware (Ladels and Frypans, Bludgeon), Ranged
Artur: Great Hammers (Bludgeon), Polearms
Rafael: Shields (he bashes people with them, Bludgeon), Bludgeons
Ilona: Guardian Scythes (Polearms), Swords
Yiu: Knuckles/Gauntlets (thinking the God-Kings have a solid hand-to-hand fighting style, Bludgeon), Swords
Meilin: Short Bows (Ranged), Ranged, Polearms (3 types)
Xun: Chain-Whips (Bludgeon), Ranged
Jin: Instruments (Bludgeon), Bludgeons

Okay, trying to find a medium between the two for better balancing.

Major Weapon categories:
Slashing
Piercing
Bludgeoning
*Heavy/Light
*Ranged/Melee
*Special

Specified Weapon categories:
*Slashing-Light/Melee
**Knives/Daggers
**Claws/Katars
**Single-Edged Swords
**Double-Edged Swords
*Slashing-Heavy/Melee
**Greatswords
**Scythes
*Slashing-Light/Ranged
**Chakrams

*Piercing-Light/Melee
**Spears
**Halberds
**Pikes
**Rapiers~
*Piercing-Light/Ranged
**Short Bows
**Crossbows
**Darts
**Throwing Knives
**Guns~
*Piercing-Heavy/Melee
**Lances
*Piercing-Heavy/Ranged
**Longbows
**Heavy Crossbows
**Javelins
**Cannons~

*Bludgeoning-Light/Melee
**Staves
**Gloves/Gauntlets/Knuckles
**Axes
**Clubs/Maces
*Bludgeoning-Light/Melee (*Special/Magical)
**Kitchenware
**Instruments
**Shields
*Bludgeoning-Light/Ranged
**Slings/Bolas
**Boomerangs
**Whips
**Flails
*Bludgeoning-Light/Ranged (*Special/Magical)
**Rings
*Bludgeoning-Heavy/Melee
**Hammers
**Great Axes


Consolidating based on cast:
*Slashing-Light/Melee
**Knives/Daggers
**Claws/Katars
**Light Swords/Rapiers
**Guardian Blades (*Special)
*Slashing-Heavy/Melee
**Greatswords
**Scythes

*Piercing-Light/Melee
**Spears
**Halberds/Pikes
*Piercing-Ranged
**Short Bows/Longbows
**Crossbows/Heavy Crossbows
**Darts/Throwing Knives
*Piercing-Heavy
**Lances/Javelins

*Bludgeoning-Light/Melee
**Staves
**Gloves/Gauntlets/Knuckles
**Axes/Clubs/Maces
*Bludgeoning-Light/Melee (*Special/Magical)
**Kitchenware
**Instruments
**Shields
*Bludgeoning-Ranged
**Slings/Bolas/Boomerangs
**Whips
**Flails
*Bludgeoning-Ranged (*Special/Magical)
**Rings
*Bludgeoning-Heavy
**Hammers/Great Axes

That's 23 categories, 5 of which are explicitly 'Special'.

New proposed cast/weapon distribution: (Keep in mind that weapon names separated by a slash are part of the same weapon category.)

Noemi: Knives/Daggers, Light Swords/Rapiers, Greatswords
Erastus: Staves, Axes/Clubs/Maces, Hammers/Great Axes, Flails
Kasia: Whips, Light Swords/Rapiers, Darts/Throwing Knives
Shao: Claws/Katar, Knives/Daggers, Gloves/Gauntlets/Knuckles
Fahim: Rings, Slings/Boomerangs, Staves
Aurel: Greatswords, Hammers/Great Axes, Lances/Javelins, Spears
Isolde: Halberds/Pikes, Spears, Lances/Javelins, Hammers/Great Axes
Faulheit: Crossbows/Heavy Crossbows, Gloves/Gauntlets/Knuckles, Knives/Daggers
Katarine: Light Swords/Rapiers, Axes/Clubs/Maces, Claws/Katar
Claire: Spears, Guardian Blades, Lances/Javelins, Axes/Clubs/Maces
Selena: Staves, Flails, Greatswords, Short Bows/Longbows
Mirek: Guardian Blades, Light Swords, Lances/Javelins
Eirwen: Darts/Throwing Knives, Knives/Daggers, Crossbows/Heavy Crossbows
Artur: Hammers/Great Axes, Greatswords
Rafael: Shields, Staves, Axes/Clubs/Maces
Ilona: Scythes, Guardian Blades, Light Swords, Greatswords
Yiu: Gloves/Gauntlets/Knuckles, Claws/Katar, Light Swords, Axes/Clubs/Maces
Meilin: Short bows/Longbows, Darts/Throwing Knives
Xun: Slings/Booomerangs, Whips, Lances/Javelins
Jin: Instruments, Hammers/Great Axes

By type:
Knives/Daggers: Noemi, Shao, Eirwen
Claws/Katar: Shao, Yiu, Katarine
Light Swords: Noemi, Kasia, Katarine, Mirek, Ilona, Yiu
Guardian Blades: Claire, Mirek, Ilona
Scythes: Ilona
Greatswords: Noemi, Aurel, Artur, Ilona

Spears: Aurel, Isolde, Claire
Halberds/Pikes: Isolde
Short Bows/Longbows: Selena, Meilin
Crossbows/Heavy Crossbows: Faulheit, Eirwen
Darts/Throwing Knives: Kasia, Eirwen, Meilin
Lances/Javelins: Aurel, Isolde, Claire, Mirek, Xun

Staves: Erastus, Fahim, Selena, Rafael
Gloves/Gauntlets/Knuckles: Shao, Faulheit, Yiu
Axes/Clubs/Maces: Erastus, Katarine, Claire, Rafael, Yiu
Kitchenware: Eirwen
Instruments: Jin
Shields: Rafael
Slings/Bolas/Boomerangs: Fahim, Xun
Whips: Kasia, Xun
Flails: Erastus, Selena
Rings: Fahim
Hammers/Great Axes: Erastus, Aurel, Isolde, Artur, Jin

Thoughts?

It makes a pretty distribution at least.

[DjinnAndTonic]

C/P'd Andy's post, just adding to the skillset/learning method.

Yiu
The leader of the god kings and son of a tribal leader. Very devoted to his faith, perhaps somewhat to make up for his own lack of dissonant talent. Wants to serve as the prophet in the prophecy, and thus gets roped into this mess by Erastus. Very intelligent, if a liiiiiiiiiittle too enthusiastic and impulsive.

HP: C
MP: N/A
Strength: C
Dexterity: B
Vitality: C+
Intelligence: A
Spirit: B
Speed: C-

Accuracy: C
Evasion: C
Magic Accuracy: N/A
Magic Evasion: C
Move:3

Weapon Groups: Light weapons in general
Armor Groups: Light armor, Medium armor
Accessory Groups: Shields, etc

Resource Description: Consumable items
Types of Moves/Specific Move Ideas: Status whore with an okay physical to back it up. Some AoE.

*Passive
**Comradery: Yiu's Strength and Defense are boosted 10% for every ally in his Hex, but his Speed is lowered 10% for each, as well (he gets a little distracted talking to them).
**Encouragement: Any allies in the same Hex as Yiu restore 10% mHP every turn.

*Active
**Appropriation: Collects money from any target. -Any- target. 80% accuracy. Long Cooldown period. Can occasionally steal Item components from certain enemies.
"For the Royal Treasury! It's time to pay your taxes! It doesn't matter that you're a mutated tree!"

**Coin Launcher: Select an amount of money to deal that amount of base damage. Does not ignore defense. 60% accuracy. If the coins miss, then the targets in the Hex are affected by Distracted status. Distracted status causes targets to abandon current action to search the ground for money for a duration of roughly a quarter-turn. After the brief delay, they must select a different action.
"Like any good leader, I know how to throw money at a problem!"

**Noise Trap: A Quieting-based invention. Throws a net/seal that stops the Flow in a targeted Hex and all adjacent Hexes. 100% Silence + can affect allies who move into affected area. Not immunable. OPB.
"I was never very good at Magic. Can you adapt to the same?"

**Frost Bomb: An icy explosion that causes Freeze status 75% of the time. Affects all targets in a Hex, causes knockback that forces targets one Hex back from Yiu's location. Freeze status lasts 2 turns, during which the afflicted cannot act. If an afflicted is attacked physically while Frozen, their health is reduced to 0.
"Should I make a clever pun like 'Chill Out' here? Nah, I'm too -cool- for that. ...Dammit."

**Torture Powder: A nasty combination of Itching Powder and Gunpowder. 100% ST Fragile status. If the afflicted takes any actions, the powder explodes, reducing their HP to 0. There may be some self-target moves that can remove this.
"I know you wanna scratch, but trust me it's a big mistake."

**Smokescreen: Full-field smokescreen! Using this allows every ally to swap out for any available party member. After the smoke clears, whoever are in the party are now granted a 2-turn 50% Evasion boost. Newly-swapped in party members start from 0 charge time. Party members that did not switch out retain their previous charge times. OPB.
"Quick, run while they've got smoke in their eyes! I mean, 'Tactically Retreat'!"

**Chemical War: Full MT Poison-type damage. Good for clearing large numbers of randoms. Requires all living party members to be in the same Hex as Yiu (he needs someone to help him activate the device). OPB.
"I really didn't want to have to use this."

Method in Which They Learn Moves: Hidden items in the wild can be sold to a shopkeeper to get them produced. Only a few exist since the God Kings are lategame PCs anyway.

Thinking Yiu starts with most of his skills, so he just has to buy or find the components to use them (he may start with a few anyway). He cannot hold more than 15 of any item.

Coin Launcher: Starts with it, just requires money. Probably works better for its status (a pseudo cancel effect) than its damage potential, depending on how scarce money is.

Noise Trap: Starts with a few. Immediately purchaseable.
Smokescreen: Starts with a few. Immediately purchaseable.

Frost Bomb: ID type #1. Since it pushes the enemy away, its allies may have time to form some protection for it (or just cure the status). Requires mixing a Smokescreen with some kind of Ice-related item. Once created, can be sold to, and then purchased en masse from a shop.

Torture Powder: ID Type #2. The better ID type, but can't be forced like Frozen status. Smarter enemies will stay put until one of their allies heal them. Requires mixing Itching Powder and Gunpowder, both of which can be Appropriated from certain enemies or found in the field/dungeons. Once created, can be sold to, and then purchased en masse from a shop. Somewhat expensive.

Chemical War: Random-clearing, but with some stipulations. Requires mixing one of each previous invention item with a Rare Cannon item (only one exists). Once created, can be sold to, and then purchased en masse from a shop. If created and used before selling for appraisal, the invention is lost forever.


Just a general summary of the idea: Obligatory bad-ass normal/Batman. Isn't awesomely superpowered, but makes up for it by having a large arsenal to draw from.

Note that his skills are not subject to Silence.

[074]

Okay.  I brought up the issues with Axes and Shields-as-weapons in chat, but those were addressed.  Not optimally, but I'm okay with the explanations.  I'll admit you did a -lot- of work here, and this is a good start for a revised weapon set--more weapons than last time, but more specification in some manner.

However, a few things are kind of bothering me--one might just be an error, but I'll bring them up anyway:

1: Spear classifications.  Seems like, if anything, you have them backwards.  Javelins were meant to be thrown one-handed, and lances, while intended to be used from horseback(I'm ignoring the FF standards here with dragoons, obviously), were intended to be so one-handed.  They're closer to the shortspear family, which, if anything, is intended to be used with one hand.  I'll give the benefit of the doubt on normal spears--leverage demands they be used two-handed for effectiveness.  However, just like I can't see Javelins as a heavy weapon, I cannot see halberds or pikes as light weapons.  Halberds have the extra axe head on the end, which, combined with leverage, makes it comparably harder to wield.  Pikes, on the other hand, have the whole issue of being roughly 10-20 feet long.  In essence, huge, huge spear, and leverage on that is a bitch as well (got to love gravity).  So if anything, I say the categories should be reversed, with Pikes/Halberds being on the heavy end, and javelins/lances on the light end.  Spears can stay light, even though they seem to be more to the middle.

2: ...Bolas...are really not meant to actually hurt things.  They're more of an entangling weapon, if I remember properly.  Not sure if they'd do above-negligible damage in this case.  Might be better to remove them, honestly.  Possibly make it one of Yiu's trick items--something that adds Immobilize or the like.

3: I'll admit, not quite happy with the weapon distributions here.  Noting below:

Noemi: Knives/Daggers, Light Swords/Rapiers, Greatswords
Erastus: Staves, Axes/Clubs/Maces, Hammers/Great Axes, Flails
Kasia: Whips, Light Swords/Rapiers, Darts/Throwing Knives
Shao: Claws/Katar, Knives/Daggers, Gloves/Gauntlets/Knuckles
Fahim: Rings, Slings/Boomerangs, Staves
Aurel: Greatswords, Hammers/Great Axes, Lances/Javelins, Spears
Isolde: Halberds/Pikes, Spears, Lances/Javelins, Hammers/Great Axes
Faulheit: Crossbows/Heavy Crossbows, Gloves/Gauntlets/Knuckles, Knives/Daggers
Katarine: Light Swords/Rapiers, Axes/Clubs/Maces, Claws/Katar
Claire: Spears, Guardian Blades, Lances/Javelins, Axes/Clubs/Maces
Selena: Staves, Flails, Greatswords, Short Bows/Longbows
Mirek: Guardian Blades, Light Swords, Lances/Javelins
Eirwen: Darts/Throwing Knives, Knives/Daggers, Crossbows/Heavy Crossbows
Artur: Hammers/Great Axes, Greatswords
Rafael: Shields, Staves, Axes/Clubs/Maces
Ilona: Scythes, Guardian Blades, Light Swords, Greatswords
Yiu: Gloves/Gauntlets/Knuckles, Claws/Katar, Light Swords, Axes/Clubs/Maces
Meilin: Short bows/Longbows, Darts/Throwing Knives
Xun: Slings/Booomerangs, Whips, Lances/Javelins
Jin: Instruments, Hammers/Great Axes

The problem is that you seem to have trampled the idea of concept for the sake of even distribution.  Some of them are fitting distributions (Erastus, Rafael, the God-Kings Collective).  Others feel arbitrary or run counter, however.  (Noemi having greatswords out of futtbuck nowhere, Selena's complete reassignment, randomly throwing in the lighter piercing categories and throwing out greatswords for Isolde (despite her being designed to use heavy weapons in general), Eirwen losing her unique according to that list, Mirek suddenly getting what you designated as the heavy spear category for some reason...list goes on and on).  The basic categorizations are good for the most part, aside from the mistakes I mentioned at the start of the post, but weapon assignment requires some respect to concept.  Okay, sure.  We don't want six million knife users.  But that doesn't mean you have to randomly throw characters weapons or take out weapons for the sake of distribution.  I'll try to see if I can readjust this to something that's more fitting, but I'll admit that a lot of the cast distribution, I'm feeling was arbitrarily thrown about.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Well, I am honestly unfamiliar with the spears/polearms, so please forgive that mistake. My thinking on Javelins as 'heavy ranged piercing' came from the idea that Bows were 'light ranged piercing', and obviously Javelins are heavier than Bows, right?

Lances and Pikes were just a mix-up.

However, I'd still like to see Isolde gets Halberds as a unique. But I'd like to see other cast members get 'Heavy Polearms', so I'm guessing Pikes all-around for those who I handed out "Lances" to.

Eirwen losing Kitchenware was not intended, I just forgot to type it. Note that I -did- list it in the second list.

The rest of your concerns were more intentional.

I tried to arrange the weapon-types such that PCs in the same chapters would have a few over-lapping types between them, so that trading-down and swapping could occur.

I also tried to give most PCs an option between Light/Heavy or Melee/Ranged weapons so that they wouldn't always be pigeon-holed into using the same kind of weapon. Again, intentional.
*For example, I gave Faulheit Crossbows, like his original plan. I also gave him Gauntlets because I figured he was probably forced to train in multiple weapon-types during his military training... and he probably picked the ones that looked the easiest to fake.

Giving players this option seems important. Especially with how we have our damage formula set up so that different weapon types will yield different effects. So while Noemi's not optimal with a Greatsword, she can still use it (and may have a use for it against certain enemy-types). Additionally, Noemi was supposed to learn how to use heavier weapons, along with heavier armor-classes.

I gave out the Lances/Javelin category a lot because not only was it "Heavy", it also had some "Ranged" options, which was part of what I was trying to distribute.

I really -did- use Selena as a catch-all category. Sorry, she just struck me as a good combination of "Mage" and "Trained warrior", so I figured she could use an eclectic bunch of weapons.

Bolas - Oh yeah, I kind of forgot I even listed them initially. They just came to mind when I was thinking "What's a Blunt Ranged weapon?"

Axes as "Blunt" - Axe-blades aren't really sharp. They are generally more about concussive force than actual slicing. Sure, the slashing doesn't hurt, but the main damage is from the blow, not the blade.

Shields-as-Weapons - I was imagining that Rafael actually stores his Sigils on his Shield, so every time he gets a new Sigil, his Shield upgrades to incorporate it. It's as much a Mage weapon as anything. And like most Mage weapons, he just bashes people with them if he's not casting. At least with a Shield there's a bit more defense involved too, though.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Many apologies for falling out of the loop with this; with moving consuming much of my time lately there were some sacrifices and this is one. Catching up now.

A note on axes - the primary part of their damage is indeed slashing, rather than bludgeoning. I am fine with them being in a "bludgeon" category because one of their purposes is that their bludgeon effect comes into play against heavy armour but the damage type of axes specifically should be slashing. This doesn't dispute Djinn's categories.

I do generally like Djinn's list otherwise. There are several individual concerns which I've discueed in chat with Nama and Tal (EDIT: and I think Nama's about to make a more substantial post on the matter). Noemi picking up greatswords as the game goes on (learning from Aurel?) seems a reasonable progression from her light blade skills and general penchant for versatility. Nama expressed dissatisfaction with both Selena and Isolde's choices, however, while Tal objected to Ilona's greatswords. On Ilona I basically agree with Tal, unlike Noemi this is very much an odd choice. On Selena I'd suggest giving Nama free reign here; Selena is a very late joiner and will have competition for her weapons no matter what so there's little need to synergise her with a party, so no reason Nama's design shouldn't hold sway. Isolde I am conflicted on, although Nama raised that she should not have javelins at the very least and I certainly agree.


On Meilin: Since I had a hand in her character creation, I'd like to weigh in on her build. Overall I think it is good and fits the party well, but I'd like to see her have a second weapon option besides ranged. Obviously this is a mechanic I'm a fan of in general (options are good), and Meilin in particular would have trained in martial arts over magical has the physique to wield medium melee weapons well. Greatswords might work well especially if one of Selena or Noemi is going to lose them from Djinn's list depending on Nama's/others' objections... with Aurel (and Artur? Need to catch up with his plot flow) leaving the party around when she joins, we're going to have a shortage of users otherwise. I also stylistically think it plays into the "barbarian" look well; the barbarians are so backwards that Yiu wields the light weapons and Meilin the heavier (bows are in effect a heavy weapon)? Sure, why not.


Ren Meilin

Yiu's wife. A flirt with a healthy dose of snark, she is fiercely loyal to Yiu despite her playful nature. Her penchant for flirting with her foes is in fact nothing more than a calculated attempt to gain a psychological edge in a fight, a fact she enjoys mocking them with after the fact. Certainly a capable warrior in her own right, and also acts as a grounding of sorts for Yiu's eccentricities. She loves him deeply but has accepted that she will never fully understand, let alone control him, and settles for good-natured ribbing of him instead.

HP:D-
MP:N/A
Strength:B
Dexterity:B
Vitality:F-
Intelligence:C-
Spirit:D+
Speed:B-

Accuracy:A
Evasion:B+
Magic Accuracy:N/A
Magic Evasion:D-
Move:3

Weapon Groups: Bows, Greatswords
Armor Groups: Light
Accessory Groups: Light, Female

Resource Description:Two resources.  Focus gauge (starts at 25%, increases at a rate of 10% per 100 CT, increases by 5% at the end of her turn if she has not moved.  Defending (if there is no 'do nothing' command) increases Focus by 5%) for martial techniques, and cooldown on the support skills.

Movelist:

(anything marked with a star is initially known)

*[Passive]
Precise Aim: Meilin's critical rate increases by a flat 5% for each 20% focus she has.
Firm confidence: 70% resistance to Charm effects
"Oh please, that trick was old in my mother's time."

[Bow]
*Linear Sniper(10% focus):Attack to a single enemy for improved damage.  Adds a flat 20% bonus to critical rate.  Cancel effect.
*Fan Shot(30% focus):Single attack to all targets in a spread pattern.
*Twin Sniper(30% focus): Fires two shots at a target.
*Bloodletting Shot(25% focus): Attack that inflicts Bleeding alongside its damage
Hamstring Shot(20% focus): Attack that reduces a target's MOV by 1 in addition to damage
Hail Burst(minimum 50% focus):Radius-1 hex burst centered on target.  Fires 7+((focus-50)/10) shots.  Extra shots cost 10% focus.  Shots fired land in random hexes--a shot landing in a hex strikes a target within that hex randomly.
Rapid Sniper(Minimum 20% focus):Fires one shot at the target for each 10% of focus present before use of skill, maximum 10 shots.  Consumes 10% focus per shot.  Shots are made at -50 Accuracy and base critical rate.
[may add quotes for these later!]

[Sword]
*Sweeping Charge (15% focus): Meilin charges into an adjacent hex, carving a path as she does. Damage, and all enemies in the hex are moved to random legal adjacent hexes. Low accuracy on the damage part but the moving is unavoidable.
"I look better here than you did, loves."
*Ringing Blow (20% focus): Damage and paralyse (no evade/reactions/actions) a single enemy for about one turn.
"Oh, I do hope that didn't hurt too much."
*Ravaging Rush (30% focus): Can only be used if Meilin has not moved yet. Meilin may move through enemy hexes this turn (so long as she ends her turn in a legal hex) and any hex she moves through (not the ending one) she will attack all enemies in. [Normally lets her move through 2 hexes max, but works well with Move buffing.]
"All lined up? How flattering!"
*Alluring Strike (50% focus): Boosted damage to a single enemy, and all other enemies in the same or adjacent hexes to the target have a 40% chance of being charmed (priority: healing/buffing the charmer -> attacking uncharmed enemies -> attacking charmed enemies -> doing nothing; cured by taking damage) for about 2 turns.
"How can you hope to fight this strength and beauty?"
Deadly Blow (25% focus): Normal attack which lowers the target's mHP by the same amount it lowers the target's cHP.
"Ooh, I think I heard something snap."
Peerless Display (100% focus): High damage to all enemies in one hex. All other enemies on the battlefield are charmed for about 2 turns.
"Your death shall be far more beautiful than your life."

*[Utility]
Spark of Concentration: Increases Focus by 25%.  4-turn cooldown.  Very low chargetime.
First Aid: HP healing and cures a few statii (Poison, Bleeding...) to a target in her or an adjacent hex.  1-turn cooldown
Resuscitation:Revives a character in her hex or an adjacent hex with 1 HP. 3-turn cooldown.
Charming Reversal: Heals all allies of Charm status, chance is 170% - hit rate of effect that landed the Charm effect (so 70-100% most of the time), 100% vs. Yiu. 3-turn cooldown.
"Yiu, really. Is this how my years of being faithful to you are rewarded?"

Method in Which They Learn Moves: Probably unlocked after a certain number of attacks with the bow or greatsword, respectively. Bit of a reward for specialising, although I'd rather not emphasise this too much.

Just a general summary of the idea: Decided to put the charm theme into gameplay a bit. There totally needs to be some charm-whoring superboss that she will be awesome against! Otherwise, yeah, melee and archer build, take your pick. Straightforward enough. The archer has more raw offence as well as letting Meilin fight from range where her bad durability (aside from evade at least) will be less of an issue. The melee build focuses on damaging whole enemy hexes at once with physical damage and has some rather neat added effects. Either way she's probably one of the game's physical cannons, dangerously close to having "glass" as part of the descriptor there, and has one or two utility effects to not be totally one-dimensional about it.

[074]

Revised weapon set and assignment here.  As I believe was stated by NEB's post, the list in general was good aside from previously-addressed errors.  The assignments, however, had some issues.  Due to this, I decided to revise the assignments as so, and will give commentary as necessary.

Noemi: Knives/Daggers, Light Swords, Greatswords

-General concensus agreed with how this was set, Aurel's existence explained the greatswords.  This was left alone.

Erastus: Staves, Axes/Clubs/Maces, Hammers/Great Axes

- Dropped the flails.  They felt extraneous compared to the other weapon categories that already existed.

Kasia: Whips, Light Swords/Rapiers, Crossbows/Heavy Crossbows

- The crossbow deal went very much with her original design.  The rest was okay, but that needed to stay, not go.

Shao: Light swords, spears, shortspears/javelins, Gloves/Gauntlets/Knuckles

- His original design called for lots of piercing weapons.  I'll remove javelins if Soppy doesn't like Shao having them, though...

Aurel: Greatswords, Hammers/Greataxes, Spears, Shortspears/javelins

- Nothing to say here

Isolde: Composites/Pikes, Spears, Greatswords, Hammers/Great Axes

- Yeah.  Reinstated Isolde's position as heavy weapon specialist, dropped Javelins from her since she was designed to be very limited for range options.  Was tempted to also remove spears, but decided to keep that, anyway for the sake of some overlap.

Faulheit: Crossbows/Heavy Crossbows, Throwing Knives, Slings/Boomerangs

- Faulheit's meant to be a ranged character.  Vortex/Vacuum Shot both show this very, very much.

Katarine: Light Swords/Rapiers, Claws/Katars, Throwing Knives

- Katarine's big deal is speed.  Axes and the like did not fit her, though I can see her with punching daggers.  Throwing Knives included to give minor overlap.

Claire: Spears, Guardian Blades, Lances/Javelins, Composites/Pikes

- I know you wanted composites to be Isolde-unique, but Claire seemed like she'd spec in all the damn spear/polearm types.  And guardian blades.

Selena: Staves, Light Swords

- Neither flails nor greatswords fit her much.  Bows aren't really that fitting of her either, design-wise.  She's a late-joiner and will be overlapping anyway

Mirek: Guardian Blades

- Specifically designed to be limited.

Eirwen: Darts/Throwing Knives, Knives/Daggers, Cookware

- She has sharp pointy things.  I felt the crossbows didn't fit her too much, though--though if others want them, she can have them back.

Artur: Hammers/Great Axes, Axes/Clubs/Maces

- Greatswords category was getting a bit bloated, even with the cuts, and he seemed like a likely cut from there.

Rafael: Shields, Staves, Axes/Clubs/Maces

- Nothing to say here either, really.

Ilona: Scythes, Guardian Blades, Knives/Daggers

- Greatswords...really didn't fit her, and Light Swords were at threat of being overused.  So she got knives instead.

Yiu: Gloves/Gauntlets/Knuckles, Claws/Katar, Knives/Daggers, Axes/Clubs/Maces
Meilin: Bows, Greatswords
Xun: Slings/Booomerangs, Whips, Shortspears/Javelins
Fahim: Rings, Slings/Boomerangs, Staves
Jin: Instruments, Hammers/Great Axes

- Not much to say here on the subject, anyway.  Knives seemed to fit Yiu more than light swords, and Meilin was designed around bows and greatswords.  Everything else was fine with the God-Kings collective, though.


Revised weapon groupings by PC:

Knives/Daggers: Noemi, Eirwen, Yiu, Ilona
Light Swords: Noemi, Kasia, Katarine, Selena, Shao
Guardian Blades: Claire, Mirek, Ilona
Greatswords: Noemi, Aurel, Isolde, Meilin
Staves: Erastus, Selena, Rafael, Fahim
Axes/Clubs/Maces: Erastus, Artur, Rafael, Yiu
Hammers/Greataxes: Erastus, Aurel, Isolde, Artur, Jin
Shortspears/Javelins: Aurel, Claire, Xun, Shao
Spears: Aurel, Isolde, Claire, Shao
Composites/Pikes: Isolde, Claire
Scythes: Ilona
Cookware: Eirwen
Gloves/Gauntlets/Knuckles: Yiu, Shao
Claws/Katars: Katarine, Yiu
Crossbows: Kasia, Faulheit
Whips: Kasia, Xun
Bows: Meilin
Darts/Throwing Knives: Faulheit, Katarine, Eirwen
Slings/Boomerangs: Faulheit, Xun, Fahim
Rings: Fahim
Instruments: Jin

[Dark Holy Elf]

Another idea tossed around in chat today, which centred around Kasia (who I'll design a detailed skillset for soon enough, promise) getting swords. Statwise she has no reason to use them, but then Nama suggested they give minor statistical bonuses that she would use. I am pretty much running with this idea and suggesting that a certain type of light blade is made to be a focus for dissonant healing, to make it more effective without adding more complications. So for Kasia in particular, she'd have three weapon builds to complement her healing: crossbows, which are her best damage; whips, which specialise in restraining enemies; and blades, which act as a focus and make her healing the best it can be.

(Additionally, someone (Tal?) pointed out that light blades have a tendency to be kinda boring, not as hit-crazy as knives or as powerful as heavier weapons, so giving them an extra niche isn't a bad idea. Not all light blades need have this property, but enough to be more than just a one-off thing at one specific point in the game.)

Note the other light blade users are Noemi, Katarine, Selena, and Shao.
-Noemi has at least one healing skill, a revival spell learned from Kasia, so she can use her middle weapon to help that out, though the boost is of course not as useful for her.
-Katarine has Biogenesis, which would presumably be strengthened by this option. Again, needs to be weighed against, most likely, not being quite optimum damage.
-Shao doesn't have healing as far as I know, so not really relevant for him. Ditto Selena.

[Dark Holy Elf]

More information collection

Accessories

Accessory classes: Light, Medium, Heavy, Male, Female, Guardian, Magic

Simplifying things, I propose that all characters get accessory types that correspond to their armour or armours (Light, Medium, Heavy) as well as the ones that correspond to their gender. This leaves:

Magic: Erastus, Fahim, Rafael, Selena, Shao (later Noemi?)
Guardian: Claire, Ilona, Mirek

From armour:
Light: Mirek, Fahim, Meilin, Faulheit, Katarine, Selena, Ilona, Jin, Xun, Eirwen
Medium: Noemi, Kasia, Shao, Rafael, Yiu
Heavy: Isolde, Claire, Aurel, Erastus, Artur

By gender:
Female: Claire, Eirwen, Ilona, Isolde, Katarine, Kasia, Meilin, Noemi, Selena
Male: Artur, Aurel, Erastus, Fahim, Faulheit, Jin, Mirek, Shao, Rafael, Xun, Yiu

Healing

Aurel: self-healing
Claire: status healing
Eirwen: ST heal + regen
Erastus: self-healing, parasitic healing
Fahim: status healing, (inaccurate?) parasitic HT healing, auto-revival
Jin: AoE regen
Kasia: lots
Katarine: HT -> AoE regen
Meilin: ST healing and revival
Noemi: revival, parasitic healing
Rafael: Parasitic healing
Yiu: Auto-regen to allies in hex

This list needs to be kept in mind during boss/battle design in particular. Healing is not as godly/available in this game as in many RPGs.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Quick chat discussion: The MAcc stat is going to be scrapped because of a lack of shared/overlapping magic making it pointless. Individual spells can (and should!) still have varying accuracies, though.

[Dark Holy Elf]

Updated the stat comparisons on Page 2 (Nama's past, search for "breakdown") with averages. Of note: we have a high average Int, Spirit, and Accuracy (Int is actually higher than B-, Spirit and Acc are on the C+/B- borderline) and low average evasion (both hover around C-). Everything else is fairly close to C. Not complainin', just sayin'.

Format for average is typically in the form of "C+0.15", which means C, plus 15% of the way to B. Letter grades are treated as equally spaced so a C+ average would be C+0.33.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Created links on the main Untitled IAQ Project wiki page. I'm thinking we should give it some kind of title very soon, to avoid mass link-name changing in the future.

Since we're using a lot of sound-themed terms in the game, I'd be happy with a sound-themed title.

Andy's contributions to the wiki inspired me, so I did a short intro writeup on the characters page of each PC. Posting those here to confirm I haven't listed any -wrong- information. They are supposed to be mostly spoiler-free bios.

Noemi
The Focal Main Character. Noemi is a recent graduate of the Imperial Flow Research Academy, who recently completed a thesis on restoring Disquieted areas. Due to the promising nature of her research and her close relationship with the war hero Erastus, the Empire has agreed to fund a practical research venture for her project.
Erastus
The secondary Main Character. Erastus is a war hero from the Guardian Rebellion from 3 years ago. He is Mirek's uncle and took the progidy Noemi under his wing at a young age. He strongly supports Noemi's research venture.
Kasia
A childhood friend to Noemi, they grew up on the same Dissonance Plantation. Kasia entered the Flow Academy after Noemi, and trained tirelessly in the difficult art of Dissonant Healing. She was Noemi's roommate at the school.
Aurel
An Imperial soldier who requested assignment to detail Noemi's research venture. He knew Noemi when they were children until he joined the military at a young age.
Shao
A foreign student in the Research Academy, Tsai Shao acts as an ambassador of sorts in the halls of learning. He is a royal descendant of one of the Tribes from the God-King Islands. Due to some similarities in their theses, he and Fahim were permitted to accompany Noemi's research venture.


Isolde
One of the main Viewpoint characters. Isolde is a dishonored war veteran from the Empire. After making a hard choice during a battle, she was publicly shamed out of her post. The Empire, not forgetting her loyal service, offered her a covert job as a contract mercenary far away from the capital.
Faulheit
A laid-back ex-Military crossbowman, Faulheit trained alongside Isolde. After her dishonorable discharge, he lazily ended up under her command again.
Katarine
A studious ex-Military swordswoman, Katarine has long been assigned as Faulheit's partner. After hearing about Isolde's dishonorable discharge, the two seek her out at Katarine's behest.
Ilona
A Guardian working in an area near Isolde's latest assignment. She is somewhat disillusioned with the Guardians due to their current reputation and questionable leadership. She is unsure to whom her loyalties should lie.
Selena
Selena is primarily an antagonist. Her brother was killed in the accident that cost Isolde her job, and Selena and her family are dissatisfied with how the Empire continues to favor a 'murderer'. If the wounds can be healed, Selena can potentially join as a party member in Isolde's final chapter.


Mirek
One of the main Viewpoint characters. Mirek is Erastus' nephew, and as a result, he quickly rose in the ranks of the Guardians. When he refused to participate in the Guardian Rebellion, he was injured by his former comrades. He now wanders as a vagrant.
Eirwen
A young woman from a southern island city, Eirwen works in her father's tavern/restaurant. She has expressed an undisguised affection for Mirek, and has asked him to help out at the tavern in exchange for letting him stay there.
Artur
Artur is a member of the local city guard. He grew up with Eirwen and harbors strong feelings for her. He also occasionally helps out at Eirwen's tavern, and the townsfolk consider him something of a local hero due to all the odd jobs he does as part of his city guard position.
Rafael
A contracted magic researcher who formerly worked as a professor at the Imperial Academy. He is a contemporary of Erastus, and takes an interest in Mirek when Noemi's group begins researching him.
Claire
A young recruit in the Guardians, Claire has wanted to be a Guardian since she was a little girl. Due to the current turmoil in the Guardians, she finds herself somehow caught up in the intrigue. Mirek decides to help her out and continues training her himself.


Yiu
One of the main Viewpoint characters. Ren Yiu is the heir-apparent to the royal seat of power of one of the most prominent tribes on the God-King islands. He is an energetic man who strongly believes the in prophecies surrounding the Disquiet.
Meilin
Ren Meilin is Yiu's devoted wife and constant companion. Their marriage was arranged, but the two are quite compatible. She is not above using her looks to help Yiu fulfill his goals.
Xun
Fa Xun is Yiu's half-brother, and not in line to inherit the royal title, which is fine with him. He is a sailor at heart and loves animals, so he takes great pleasure in ferrying his half-brother around the world on his wild missions. He doesn't speak the Imperial tongue very well, so he tends to be silent around foreigners.
Jin
Ahn Jin is a bard with robust personality and equally robust muscular physique. He is quite eloquent in the Imperial tongue and was Yiu's tutor for many years. Yiu often brings him along on his missions as an advisor (and bodyguard).
Fahim
A recent graduate of the Imperial Flow Research Academy, Fahim was a friend and research partner to Noemi. When their research topics diverged, Fahim decided to seek answers in the God-King islands, having learned the language as a child.