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

[074]

Two more character ideas!

NAME: Adelheid
Brief descriptive thingy: Not too clear on this.  Thinking a dissonance researcher who is looking for his own solution to the Disquiet problem--through either menipulating the Disquiet itself, or altering people in an attempt to make them able to live in the Disquiet.  Feels conflicted about the means and the ends of his research.

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

Accuracy:D
Evasion:F-
Magic Accuracy:B-
Magic Evasion:D+
Move:2

Weapon Groups:Light Blunt
Armor Groups:Light armor, Medium armor
Accessory Groups:Caster

Resource Description:Casts from HP.  You heard me.
Types of Moves/Specific Move Ideas: ST and HT attacks.  Lots of damage+status stuff.
Method in Which They Learn Moves: Thinking some means of combining sigils--which would be combined ala SH2 Lucia's Aromatherapy in a sense.  Obtainable somehow.  Multiple combinations might share effects, though.
Just a general summary of the idea: Liked the idea of having a PC "darkness" mage of sorts, as well as the idea of a magic-user that is a good deal antiphysical to some degree.  Can't evade, but is surprisingly tanky--less so after you consider that his spells cost HP, though.


NAME: Sigi
Brief descriptive thingy: Out of ideas at this point.  Just thinking some sort of wandering sellsword.  Might be able to put him (with a name change) on the God-Kings route, though, if you feel his setup would be more fitting for that.

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

Accuracy:B-
Evasion:B-
Magic Accuracy:N/A
Magic Evasion:F
Move:3

Weapon Groups:1H Axes, 1H Blunt
Armor Groups:Light, Medium
Accessory Groups: Shields, Light accessories

Resource Description: Gauge that fills up with damage taken/received.  Not sure of name for gauge yet.
Types of Moves/Specific Move Ideas: Not...quite sure on moves yet.
Method in Which They Learn Moves: "Sparking"--ala SaGa Frontier humans and WA2 Kanon's specials.  Each tier's moves can 'spark' a move on the next higher tier or lower, with chances based on a combination of level, 'tier' of move originally used, the base chance of the move in question, and the number of times qualifying moves of varying tiers have been used.
Just a general summary of the idea: Felt there needed to be an "average"-ish fighter of sorts.  There's been a lot of people on either extreme, but nobody who is in the middle.

[AndrewRogue]

Rough Erastus from a friend.

Erastus (As Guest)
Wizened old man with numerous secrets... He always has a smile on his face, a bit of humor to lighten up a dark situation... an answer for every problem, and three new problems for every answer.

Naturally linked to both morality (and how to downspiral it) and to disquiet, this makes him versatile.  Years of living in the disquiet have strengthened his resolve.  He is ancient now, but once must have been a true terror on the battlefield.

Like Noemi, a bit of an everyman, though he has his weak points (notably, his speed and movement).

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

Accuracy: B
Evasion: D
Magic Accuracy: A
Magic Evasion: B-
Move: 1

Weapon Groups: Polearms, Large Axes, Staves, Books, Daggers
Armor Groups: Scale, Mail, Leather, Cloth
Accessory Groups: Magical, Cloaks

Resource Description: MP.  Regains 5% after each battle.
Types of Moves: Erastus utilizes three primary forms of moves.  One is at range, AoE and single target effects utilizing MP, usually (but not always) fire based.  The second is melee heavy, drain abilities using whatever melee weapon he has.  The third are Songs.

Specific Move Ideas:

Shadowfury: AoE low-damage fire attack.  Leaves a slight Damage over Time effect on the enemies (burn status?).  Probably the 'standard' Erastus attack.

Drain Blade: A single attack that deals little damage to a melee target, but restores Erastus' HP (and slight amounts of MP).

Sap Hope: AoE debuff, huge area.  Foes within it suffer a loss of speed and evade.

Conjure Flame: Creates a (temporary, longer length with more levels) fire elemental type, who fights on the side of Erastus.

Song Mechanic: All enemies within a few hexes of Erastus are affected by a Song, which is improved by levelling/accessories.  Most will be a simple 'stat-down' style debuff, such as decreasing foes evade (like Sap Hope) or lowering a specific stat.  At the beginning of his turn, Erastus may select a new song, which immediately takes effect and lasts until his next turn.  Probably only have 3-4 songs at most to avoid clutter.  Maybe an endgame song would deal a constant low amount of damage to all enemies, and Erastus regains that as HP?  Who knows!

Method in Which They Learn Moves: Erastus knows all of his abilities.  From the get-go.  However, they cost too much MP to use!  As he levels, he gains MP... but additionally, his abilities cost less and less MP.  At upper levels, and probably right before the betrayal,

Just a general summary of the idea: Erastus hits quick, hard, and is insanely versatile in both melee and at range.  He does have weaknesses- though he is good at meleeing and is capable of wielding poleaxes and scythes, his damage there is not ideal.  He survives in melee mostly due to draining attacks and using the right songs.  He is not ideal for facing single target enemies at range, as he mostly uses AoE's, and in fact is a hindrance since you'll be hitting your allies somewhat often!  Of course, once he hits his peak, he's casting spells for little/no MP, using huge nukes for middlish MP, and constantly debuffing and weakening foes near him for melee to slice open.  This makes him very, very painful to face as the final boss, since you know you can't just outlast him- his Shadowfury, Drain Blade and Songs are all free to cast, and even his high damage spells (and maybe boss abilities) will cost little or no MP!

[AndrewRogue]

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.
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.
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.

[AndrewRogue]

Ru
Hired help and a family servant of Yiu's. A huge mountain of a man... who happens to be highly educated and musically inclined.

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

Accuracy: D
Evasion: D
Magic Accuracy: N/A
Magic Evasion: C
Move: 2

Weapon Groups: Instruments
Armor Groups: Light armor
Accessory Groups: Light accessories

Resource Description: None
Types of Moves/Specific Move Ideas: Songs. Inspiring sagas to help out his allies with resonant powers. Only one song can be used at a time and the longer its used, the greater its effect.
Method in Which They Learn Moves: Learning from a couple other Bards right at endgame. Hurrah.
Just a general summary of the idea: For the Tal's. Support PC with a solid physical.

[AndrewRogue]

Xun
Yiu's half-brother, and the last of the actual God Kings crew. A competent and athletic sailor. The boat Yiu is using is his. He is very poorly spoken in the Imperial tongue. He's a hunter and makes a habit of taming wild beasts to call on to aid him in tough situations.

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

Accuracy: B
Evasion: D
Magic Accuracy: N/A
Magic Evasion: D
Move: 2

Weapon Groups: Bows
Armor Groups: Light armor
Accessory Groups: Light accessories

Resource Description: Limited Summons
Types of Moves/Specific Move Ideas: Calls on wild creatures to aid him in battle. Controlling the creature requires his turn, and if he is incapacitated, the creature retreats.
Just a general summary of the idea: Chibi Yuna.

[AndrewRogue]

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: 2

Weapon Groups: Blunt of all variety
Armor Groups: All
Accessory Groups: Many

Resource Description: Uses a combination of Focus (starting at 25%, increasing whenever he deals damage or uses a resonant skill) and MP.
Types of Moves/Specific Move Ideas: Combination of slow, heavy hitting physical attacks (possibly including hex wide attacks) and some minor buffs/debuffs.
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.

[AndrewRogue]

Eirwen
A young chef who owns (with her father) 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: B
Strength: D
Dexterity: B+
Vitality: D
Intelligence: B
Spirit: B+
Speed: C+

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

Weapon Groups: Knives
Armor Groups: Light
Accessory Groups: Light, Girly

Resource Description: Uses a synthesis-type style to create food or modify natural plants, etc, with some MP expenditure to further enhance/use them.
Types of Moves/Specific Move Ideas: Should almost unilaterally be heals and buffs.
Method in Which They Learn Moves: CLEARLY WE NEED CHEF BATTLES ALA SUIKO 2.
Just a general summary of the idea: Healer/Buffer type.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Okay, so there was a lot of discussion on this in chat, and we've come up with about what we're looking for. Most of the builds are staying as they were recommended, though there's still some room for balancing. This list is primarily for organizing who we have.

Noemi path PCs: Noemi, Erastus (long-term temp), Kasia (temp/rejoinable), Aurel (temp), Shao, Fahim (temp/joins another path)

Noemi is a well-rounded fighter-mage who learns a lot of skills from her teammates, specifically Mirek, Isolde, Yiu, Erastus, Kasia, Aurel, Shao, and Fahim (Mains + Prologue PCs). She later combines some of these skills into her own abilities (total of about 15 skills). Somewhat speedy. Ends up joining the other teams on the other paths briefly each time.

Erastus is a mage type with solid physical options that drain. Key Feature: Slow. Gets progressively more broken as time goes on, culminating into a Final-Boss level PC, who actually becomes a Final Boss. Uses Songs that he can eventually continue to use while casting other spells and summoning lots of minions.

Kasia is a healer with some status and a competent physical. Learns her abilities during plot fights (specifically fights, as the first casting is free). Whips may give her physical an added status? She leaves early, but it's possible to get her back (or not), depending on an as-of-yet undecided set of criteria. She teaches Noemi a revival spell, which may come into play during the learning quest where Noemi has to decide whether to use the spell on an NPC who's dying from a mortal wound, but wouldn't be able to survive the Dissonant healing's immune-system-poisoning later on. Interesting moral choice, and shows off why an RPG team's revivers don't just go around reviving NPCs all the time (all the PCs have some level of Dissonance resistance).

Aurel is a fighter. Teaches Noemi to use something fighter-y. Gone forever after Kasia leaves.

Tsai Shao is the new name for Sopko's Barbarian Prince character. We've made him a low-ranking Royal who attended school with Noemi. He has a fiancee, being a Royal and all, but he has something of a crush on Noemi. Leaves Noemi early on for some business associated with his family, but his affection for Noemi keeps him coming back to see her (he's possibly the closest thing she gets to a permanent ally here). He doesn't think it's worth the trouble to pursue the relationship due to his family, but she's definitely the first one he drops his fake persona to. Noemi sees him as a dependable friend. Shao's build is also under construction, but primarily based on a combination of Sopko's original, with some elements from the scrapped Sigi design from Nama. His big trick will be "Precision-casting". Since he's practiced his magic mostly in secret, he can only cast a few spells, but he can cast them with perfect accuracy, though his reserves aren't very high. In gameplay, this means that he can spend an exact amount of MP for a direct difference in effectiveness, i.e. MP = damage, or a similar formula that's more balanced. He teaches Noemi a version of one of these spells. Shao's position as a GK with Royal connections makes him a potential threat to Erastus' goals. His crush on Noemi makes him a bit of a rival to Kasia in her eyes, and thus an easy target for Erastus to use.

Fahim is a pure Mage type. He goes to school with Noemi and his reasons for seeking an answer to the problem of Disquiet are useful as a foil to Noemi's. His family has some troubles with Disquiet, and his father took an Islander mistress after what happened to Fahim's mother. Due to influence from this woman and from Shao, Fahim is convinced the answer lies in the God-Kings' islands, and asks Shao to help him get there when he separates from Noemi's group after the opening tutorial section. Fahim teaches Noemi his skill (probably a nice strong offensive spell) in this time. Fahim eventually ends up tangled in the quests of Yiu and his mini-boss squad.

Isolde path: Isolde, Faulheit, Katarine, Claire, .... , Selena (lategame optional boss-turned-PC)

Isolde starts out her path alone, but runs into Faulheit and Katarine (a boss fight perhaps?) immediately. They quickly join her in her investigation and run into the Guardian Claire, who eventually joins them. The blank space is for Noemi and any of the others from her path who tag along from time to time.

Isolde is a fighter-type with supporting mage abilities and some anti-magic tricks like Magic Counter. Due to her extensive training, she has less trouble using magic/skills multiple times, so she just requires brief periods of rest between using certain kinds of abilities. Her moves run off of a cooldown system instead, where each skilltype has its own cooldown counter that empties after a certain number of turns/clockticks. Downside? Unlike the others, if she's hit with an MP draining move, then -all- of her abilities get a small delay penalty. She unlocks moves as plot points pass. Could be a skill-tree like setup, where she starts with one ability, then decides at each unlocking point to choose between one of two abilities, and whichever she chooses opens up more options. By endgame, she can have unlocked most of the skills, but only one or two of the very highest skills unless the player grinds (it should be designed such that she only finishes one path).

Faulheit is a support-type with some ranged offensive capabilities.

Katarine is a regen-based healing type with some magic options.

Claire is a fighter-type who specializes in movement abilities and enemy placement.

Selena is a recurring boss character for Isolde. If you save her life, you can get her to join later on (after even the GKs, so she's our big secret PC).

Mirek path: Mirek, Eirwen (potentially loseable), Artur (temp/rejoinable), Rafael, Ilona, ....

Mirek is strictly a fighter-type, and all of his magic-esque abilities are passives. He uses a Focus meter that fills in battle as long as he doesn't use an attack that drains Focus. At full Focus, his attacks get special attributes like ITE and auto-critical. I'm thinking he tries to teach this to Noemi, but she adapts it into a fast-charging, lower-returns Limit break-style move. Since his path has the fewest set PC ideas, the more utility-style PC designs have ended up here.

Eirwen is an alchemist-type. She's primarily based on support and healing that consumes unique items that she can only get from randoms. When the randoms do drop an item, they drop a fairly abundant supply, so Eirwen's abilities will tend to fluctuate depending upon when randoms are in the area. Her buffs are extremely good due to the relative rarity of her resources. She can't simply go to sleep to recover it, after all. Mirek's big decision in his chapter is to save the World or save her life, so she's a potentially loseable PC.

Artur is a fighter-mage with a variant of the Focus meter and some decent low-level back-up magic. Taking from one of the cannibalized builds, Artur learns abilities through SaGa-esque 'sparking' when using the correct lower-level ability. Leaves, but can be recruited again.

Rafael is the new name of Nama's Adelheid design. Mage-type, uses HP as his resource. Incorporated some of the OPB tricks from Soppy's nameless soldier into this guy, only magic-based. A fairly limited design due to his resources. Supposed to convey a 'Dark Mage' image. I'm imagining him as a former instructor at Noemi's Academy, who has since left to solely pursue his research. He decides to stick with Mirek upon seeing Noemi's and Erastus' interest in him. (subject to change)

Ilona is the new name of Tal's speedster PC design. She's mostly a physical type who uses some interesting weapons. Her MP increases every time she attacks physically, similar to the Guardian's Focus skills, so she may very well end up being a Guardian. Likely, she already has some ties to Mirek from his Guardian days. She may have also been a close friend to the girl who Mirek had a ruinous romantic relationship with in the past. (subject to change)

Note that one or both of the above PCs should only join after Noemi's group has left Mirek's path to try to keep the rough "5-person parties for the opening paths" idea intact.

God-Kings 'path': Yiu, Meilin, Xun, Jin, Fahim

The God-Kings path isn't a true 'path'. The main four are introduced as a recurring mini-boss squad who clash with the other mains. Upon their Crowning Moment of Awesome where they save our heroes and all the paths start merge, there is a short Flashback gameplay sequence that highlights how Yiu and co. arrived at this point. (This is also a good opportunity for us to make some Noemi & co. boss fights.) After this sequence, there is presumed to be a Time Skip forward and most of the permanent PCs should all be in the party, including the GK group.

Ren Yiu is status-slinger type. He's got solid physical stats and some back-up magic, but he's primarily designed to status things. Including Noemi's group at first. His resources are item-based. He is able to get an infinite number of these items once he discovers how to make them, BUT he can only hold 10 (maybe 20?) of any one item at a time, so he requires some careful resource management. He teaches Noemi how use one of the items, and she adapts a unique status ability out of it (may not require using an item, or may allow Noemi to be the only other PC who can use Yiu's item-types).

Ren Meilin is the new name of OK's Myriam design. The God King Islands have a Chinese theme to them, so the name had to be changed to suit the setting. She is an archer/healer type. She is Yiu's wife, adapted from NEB's original plan for the GK's.

Fa Xun is Yiu's half-brother, who doesn't speak the Imperial tongue well, so he hardly speaks at all. Adapted from NEB's plan for the GK's. He is a summoner-type, akin to Yuna, though significantly less powerful, and he calls upon regular animals instead of particularly mystical beasts.

Ahn Jin is the hulking brute Bard character. He's built like tank, but he's a minstrel at heart. He's primarily a support character with Songs. His physical is passable. Adapted from NEB's GK plan, his old name was "Ru". He equips instruments. And possibly Great Axes. Just for the pun.

Fahim goes searching for answers on their islands and ends up swept along by Yiu's charisma. He speaks the GK tongue, so he has a pretty close relationship with Xun, who is quiet around all the other Imperials. His offensive magic is practically unseen in the GK lands, so he fills a particularly useful niche here. Works as a translator if necessary, though most of the important GK people that the player comes across speak Imperial. Shao on Noemi's path does this too.

PC count: 20 (Noemi, Erastus, Kasia, Aurel, Shao, Isolde, Faulheit, Katarine, Claire, Selena, Mirek, Eirwen, Artur, Rafael, Ilona, Yiu, Meilin, Xun, Jin, Fahim)
Full Endgame Party: 18 (all but Erastus and Aurel)
Definitely present at Endgame: 14 as of now (Noemi, Shao, Isolde, Faul, Kat, Claire, Mirek, Raf, Ilona, 5 GK PCs) It's possible that more of them might be optional in the second half of the game, meaning "Easy to recruit, but they don't really have much part in the story, so they aren't required." Particularly thinking of Claire and Rafael here.

How many can do:
Good Physical Damage: 13
Good Magical Damage: 10
Good Healing: 6
Good Buffing: 8
Good Status Whoring: 5 (as of now)

[074]

Proposed ideas for Isolde's skillset after discussion with Djinn previously in chat.  

Isolde's skills are broken up into three 'clusters' that are chosen when she opts to use more of her abilities.  Each cluster has three skills--each of which has three levels.  Skill level = number of clusters unlocked, and the clusters are unlocked as the plotline progresses.

To explain how this works, in essence:

Say, the player picks Cluster 2 when she unlocks a group of skills for the first time.  These skills have their level 1 effects.  Next time she unlocks a set of skills, the player picks Cluster 1.  Now, both Cluster 1's skills and Cluster 2's skills are available, at their Level 2 effects.  Likewise, once she unlocks the third cluster, she now has all three skill groups' effects at their third level.

There are two exceptions, as noted here.  The first are skills with a 'zeroth' level.  These are available in a form from the beginning as noted below.  They remain available, but until their cluster is unlocked, they remain at level 0.  Once their respective clusters are unlocked, however, they level up to be on par with the other skills.  Note that, again, they work identically except for that.

The other exception is her final technique--which would be unlocked either alongside the last cluster, or at a separate plot point after then.  It's automatically at maximum level.

Clusters haven't been quite decided yet.  But here's the skill ideas I have in mind here...

(PASSIVE)Counter Magic: Counters a magic attack with the same magic at a given rate, always targeted against the caster.  Uses her own casting stats.  Has a multiplier on final damage based on rank.  Rate and/or damage multiplier increase with level
L1:15% counter rate, 100% damage
L2:15% counter rate, 110% damage
L3:20% counter rate, 125% damage

Blasting Wave: Weapon-boosted ranged magic attack.  Properties vary between level.  Cannot be used after movement.
L1:Attack is a Range 2 single-target attack
L2:Attack is a Range 4 single-target attack
L3:Attack is a Range 4 hex-target attack

Steel Riposte/Shock Blade: Single target attack.  Quick startup.  Interrupt properties.
L0(Steel Riposte): Damage similar to basic physical.  Pure physical.
L1:Adds 50% of INT to STR for damage on an interrupt
L2:Attack also deals MP damage equal to HP damage on interrupt
L3:Attack adds Backfire status on interrupt

Barrier Crush: Single target attack.  Deals with target defenses.
L1:Lowers target DEF by 40%
L2:Lowers target DEF and RES by 40%
L3:Lowers target DEF and RES by 50%, dispels barrier-type statii.

Arc Cleaver/Havoc Sweep: Multitarget attack of varied forms (See below for details)
L0(Arc Cleaver): Hex-target physical attack--attacks a single hex.
L1:Attacks a 3-hex arc, centered on the targeted hex.  Weapon-powered magic attack.
L2:Attacks all adjacent hexes.
L3:Attacks all adjacent hexes twice.

Storm Blade: Physical attack to an adjacent hex, followed by a multitarget attack of varying form. (see below for details)
L1:Physical followed by a hex-target magic attack.
L2:Physical followed by a range-2 line-target magic attack, increased damage.
L3:Physical followed by a range-3 line-target magic attack, further increased damage

Blade of Calamity: Heavy damage single-target attack.  Uses both STR and INT for damage.  Checks ACC vs. EVA, not m.ACC versus M.EVA  High recovery time.  Damage increases with level.

Executioner's Curse: Physical attack that adds status.
L1:Adds Bleeding(10% cHP per action) to target of initial physical
L2:Adds both Bleeding and Misfortune(negate afflicted passive, enemy passives autotrigger) statii to the target of initial physical.
L3:Status now becomes hex-target rather than ST

Oversurge:Heavily increases Isolde's STR and INT for 3 rounds, in exchange for draining HP over time for the duration.  Boost power as well as rate of HP loss increase with level.
L1:+75% STR and INT, fast HP loss (15% mHP/turn)
L2:+100% STR and INT, faster HP loss (20% mHP/turn)
L3:+125% STR and INT, even faster HP loss (25% mHP/turn)

Final(unnamed as of yet, learned at some point in the plot after all three clusters are unlocked): Full-field attack.  Unfocused, but does not target Isolde.  High damage.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Nice skillset ideas for Isolde. Though it's a lot more physical-oriented than I was expecting. I guess Counter Magic and her Final skill are where she focuses her magical talents, though you might want to make one of her other skills magical instead of physical.

As for the Final Skill, I like the idea of it being the skill she used when she wiped out her troops in that fateful battle. It makes sense that she wouldn't want to use that skill until the most dire of circumstances. Note that I'm imagining it as something like Megid, a full MT damage-curve-breaking Nuke spell. However, since she should have gotten some experience along the way, perhaps one of the skills she learns before she deigns to use the Final Skill again can be some kind of 'null the effect of magic for one attack' MT barrier skill. This would effectively give her the chance to use her abilities only against the enemy, or... if she's still feeling cutthroat or there's a danger of everyone dying anyway, she can make the choice to unleash the Megid unprotected.

[Hunter Sopko]

Tsai Shao is the new name for Sopko's Barbarian Prince character. We've made him a low-ranking Royal who attended school with Noemi. He has a fiancee, being a Royal and all, but he has something of a crush on Noemi. Leaves Noemi early on for some business associated with his family, but his affection for Noemi keeps him coming back to see her (he's possibly the closest thing she gets to a permanent ally here). He doesn't think it's worth the trouble to pursue the relationship due to his family, but she's definitely the first one he drops his fake persona to. Noemi sees him as a dependable friend. Shao's build is also under construction, but primarily based on a combination of Sopko's original, with some elements from the scrapped Sigi design from Nama. His big trick will be "Precision-casting". Since he's practiced his magic mostly in secret, he can only cast a few spells, but he can cast them with perfect accuracy, though his reserves aren't very high. In gameplay, this means that he can spend an exact amount of MP for a direct difference in effectiveness, i.e. MP = damage, or a similar formula that's more balanced. He teaches Noemi a version of one of these spells. Shao's position as a GK with Royal connections makes him a potential threat to Erastus' goals. His crush on Noemi makes him a bit of a rival to Kasia in her eyes, and thus an easy target for Erastus to use.

Noooooooooononoono. As a note, I specifically wrote this character to AVOID stupid inane shit like crushing on the main character. The whole reason I added the fiancee bit was because unlike most story setups that involve it, he was HAPPY with the fiancee that was chosen for him. It's an inversion. Being used by Erastus due to a crush on a girl also completely belies the general sense of competancy I tried to build for him. Going with this rewrite of him completely distills any sort of originality out of it.

Also was more thinking more of a Spanish angle than an Asian for naming, but whatever works. Thats easily the most flexible part. The build I don't particularly care about, so go with whatever.

EDIT: A little more harsh than I meant it, but I stand by it. Barbarian prince is also sort of a misnomer as well.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Tsai Shao is the new name for Sopko's Barbarian Prince character. We've made him a low-ranking Royal who attended school with Noemi. He has a fiancee, being a Royal and all, but he has something of a crush on Noemi. Leaves Noemi early on for some business associated with his family, but his affection for Noemi keeps him coming back to see her (he's possibly the closest thing she gets to a permanent ally here). He doesn't think it's worth the trouble to pursue the relationship due to his family, but she's definitely the first one he drops his fake persona to. Noemi sees him as a dependable friend. Shao's build is also under construction, but primarily based on a combination of Sopko's original, with some elements from the scrapped Sigi design from Nama. His big trick will be "Precision-casting". Since he's practiced his magic mostly in secret, he can only cast a few spells, but he can cast them with perfect accuracy, though his reserves aren't very high. In gameplay, this means that he can spend an exact amount of MP for a direct difference in effectiveness, i.e. MP = damage, or a similar formula that's more balanced. He teaches Noemi a version of one of these spells. Shao's position as a GK with Royal connections makes him a potential threat to Erastus' goals. His crush on Noemi makes him a bit of a rival to Kasia in her eyes, and thus an easy target for Erastus to use.

Noooooooooononoono. As a note, I specifically wrote this character to AVOID stupid inane shit like crushing on the main character. The whole reason I added the fiancee bit was because unlike most story setups that involve it, he was HAPPY with the fiancee that was chosen for him. It's an inversion. Being used by Erastus due to a crush on a girl also completely belies the general sense of competancy I tried to build for him. Going with this rewrite of him completely distills any sort of originality out of it.

Also was more thinking more of a Spanish angle than an Asian for naming, but whatever works. Thats easily the most flexible part. The build I don't particularly care about, so go with whatever.

EDIT: A little more harsh than I meant it, but I stand by it. Barbarian prince is also sort of a misnomer as well.

No, it's a fair complaint. But the problem is that we already have the character you tried to make. Yiu is in an arranged marriage too, and he's very happy in that relationship. And he's main character. And his wife is a PC too.

Your character isn't being played by Erastus any more than anyone else. In fact, it's because he's a capable, unknown factor that Erastus tries to have him eliminated by manipulating -Kasia-, not Shao.

Shao is actually still a fairly good inversion of the usual trope. He's not perfectly happy with his engagement (or who knows, maybe he is?), but he developes a bit of a baby crush on Noemi (this is partly to set up Noemi's overall charisma, since she's intended to not capitulate anyone's feelings, nor lead them on). The crush serves as the impetus to keep him in Noemi's group (or keep him coming back) since Noemi doesn't have any other permanent PC allies. If you really oppose the crush idea, it can just be a deep friendship, but she already has a lot of those, too.

Sorry that the reasoning behind this wasn't explained better.

[Hunter Sopko]

So what you're saying is you decided to use my ideas on your characters? There's literally two lines about Yiu in the topic, posted long, long after I posted mine, with nothing about an arranged marriage or a wife.

Even then, thats cool. I mean, there was plenty to the character that taking away the arranged marriage thing would still make him work, but... really? There's absolutely no finesse to the character anymore. It's fucking trope character #5000. (And that's not an inversion, thats playing the trope to a T.) Making him a low-ranking noble of their own country gives him no reason anymore to pretend to be dumb. As for motivations, you don't have to be in love or even be friends with someone to work with them. You just have to see the benefit in working with them, which was what his whole reason for being with the group was based around.

Actually, now that I think about it, it really ISN'T the same character at all. If you hadn't had said that it was mine I wouldn't even have recognized it.

[DjinnAndTonic]

So what you're saying is you decided to use my ideas on your characters? There's literally two lines about Yiu in the topic, posted long, long after I posted mine, with nothing about an arranged marriage or a wife.

Hmm... take that up with NEB, he designed Yiu's backstory, back in topic 2. The character didn't have a name when he designed it, so you may have missed it.

Even then, thats cool. I mean, there was plenty to the character that taking away the arranged marriage thing would still make him work, but... really? There's absolutely no finesse to the character anymore. It's fucking trope character #5000. (And that's not an inversion, thats playing the trope to a T.)

You didn't really have that much to work from in the first place. He was already going to be something of a tertiary character, so we had to alter him somewhat so that he had a role. He's still primarily happy with his relationship to his fiancee, but he has an attraction to Noemi... which isn't all that unlike real life. It's not playing the trope to a T, he's not the rebellious runaway from home teenager Prince, he's a guy who's doing his job who is fascinated by another woman while he's away at school. A slightly more subtle relationship to explore than what you're implying. But if you really hate it, we can change that.

Making him a low-ranking noble of their own country gives him no reason anymore to pretend to be dumb.

He's low-ranking in the sense that he's not Yiu, who is related to the most powerful of the God-King tribal kingdoms. Shao is a royal from a different tribe, he serves a useful purpose in showing the player that there's few factions at work within the God-King islands. His reasons for acting dumb shouldn't have changed, and Erastus tries to take him out -because- of the dumb act, which he would see as a wild card factor in his plans, especially backed by the power of a GK tribal kingdom.

As for motivations, you don't have to be in love or even be friends with someone to work with them. You just have to see the benefit in working with them, which was what his whole reason for being with the group was based around.

That's true. But we actually have very few characters who have any real emotional involvement and attachment to other cast members. You can call it a trope, but tropes aren't always bad. And if -everyone- tries to avoid -every- Trope, then there's not a lot of room for exploring multiple kinds of relationships/motivations.

Actually, now that I think about it, it really ISN'T the same character at all. If you hadn't had said that it was mine I wouldn't even have recognized it.

I'm sorry it's upsetting to you that the character has been changed. If you had been around to discuss where you wanted to take the character while we were planning things, it would have been easier to incorporate your views for him into our outline. Also, you could have written more than a few lines about him for us to work with.

If you have a good alternative for giving him a role that has more 'finesse', please tell us, we're willing to alter things, but just complaining that it's not the same doesn't help.

[AndrewRogue]

I'll read these comments in depth later, but from skimming them...

I actually support pushing Shao back in the direction Sopko was aiming for and altering Yiu slightly, in retrospect.

Yiu might actually work far better as someone who partially forsook his family (probably in terms of marriage and some other elements) and caused something of a personal and familial fall from grace. This would work well alongside his brash character, as well as serve as a much stronger motivation for why he wants so much to have an important role in the return of the First Practitioner. He wants/needs to regain his own honor and his familial honor. It also plays nicely with the balance of romantic love and familial love. This allows Shao to be pushed back into a more major noble typage and this also rebalances romantic motifs in a way that work well, emphasizing the God Kigns political games and alignments as highly important.

Looking at the spread of things, I am kinda iffy with another crush on Noemi in retrospect (we have, in their own ways, Aurel and Kasia).

[Hunter Sopko]

Hmm... take that up with NEB, he designed Yiu's backstory, back in topic 2. The character didn't have a name when he designed it, so you may have missed it.

You didn't really have that much to work from in the first place. He was already going to be something of a tertiary character, so we had to alter him somewhat so that he had a role. He's still primarily happy with his relationship to his fiancee, but he has an attraction to Noemi... which isn't all that unlike real life. It's not playing the trope to a T, he's not the rebellious runaway from home teenager Prince, he's a guy who's doing his job who is fascinated by another woman while he's away at school. A slightly more subtle relationship to explore than what you're implying. But if you really hate it, we can change that.

Not much to work from? His bio is just as long or longer than the main character writeups in Topic 2, now that I look at them. Also, there's nothing in Yiu's bio about an arranged marriage. It does say happily married, I'll give you that. The characters are... not all that similar though.

Also, this is not really what you wrote in the original writeup. To someone like me, who might not know the entirety of what you have planned, it just seems like you're making up new things about the character to suit your argument. The explanation of Shao's situation in your most recent post sounds much different than the original writeup.

That's true. But we actually have very few characters who have any real emotional involvement and attachment to other cast members.

From what Andy's told me so far about the plot, I would disagree with this.

Actually, now that I think about it, it really ISN'T the same character at all. If you hadn't had said that it was mine I wouldn't even have recognized it.

I'm sorry it's upsetting to you that the character has been changed. If you had been around to discuss where you wanted to take the character while we were planning things, it would have been easier to incorporate your views for him into our outline. Also, you could have written more than a few lines about him for us to work with.

If you have a good alternative for giving him a role that has more 'finesse', please tell us, we're willing to alter things, but just complaining that it's not the same doesn't help.

That wasn't really a complaint so much as an observation. I would have honestly ignored it unless it was pointed out. And again, I wrote two full paragraphs for him, which ties most of the plot PCs in Topic 2. Even my forgotten 2nd PC had more written about him than every other character introduced in this topic. HOWEVER, having said this I finished reading through all of Topic 2, and I see that PC discussion was actually not held in the Character topic, which I was actually waiting for, but the Plot topic. Makes sense I guess, but it's frustrating to completely miss that process. This is on me, so I apologize, but it is pretty bad from an organizational standpoint. It also leaves me without a leg to stand on but it's still rather aggrivating, since I would have gladly expanded on the idea if asked.

I'm sorry I missed whatever planning session there was for the final draft of the characters, but it certainly didn't appear to be in any of the topics so far. Was it in chat or something?

I'm honestly tempted to just say screw it. Not cause of you, but because I've kind of argued my way into a corner due to not keeping up with everything about the IAQ. Give me a day or two, I've been pretty busy and also had a bit of writer's block/burnout from writing all those scenes for the Arkham game I'm running. I'll see if I can think of some things to make it work within the parameters you've given me.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Not much to work from? His bio is just as long or longer than the main character writeups in Topic 2, now that I look at them. Also, there's nothing in Yiu's bio about an arranged marriage. It does say happily married, I'll give you that. The characters are... not all that similar though.

Sorry, it's hard for me to remember what all has been posted and what all has only been talked about in chat. I know that NEB mentioned that Yiu was married, happily, which is surprising for a royal, I remember him saying. I also remember he mentioned that his wife was supposed to be particularly flirty and had no qualms about using her sexiness to her advantage, but always stopping at the point of 'Oh, don't be silly, I would never betray Yiu like that'. So, they were supposed to have a loving, playful relationship since they were our quirky mini-boss squad. It's not the same as the character you proposed, no, but it felt like your happily arranged marriage twist was redundant.

Also, this is not really what you wrote in the original writeup. To someone like me, who might not know the entirety of what you have planned, it just seems like you're making up new things about the character to suit your argument. The explanation of Shao's situation in your most recent post sounds much different than the original writeup.

Sorry, that has more to do with my first post about him being abbreviated since I was trying to post up notes of everything mentioned in chat. I suppose it was more like reminders for the people who were there rather than a full explanation of everything. It's just... it takes a long time to transcribe things from chat and I've been warned about Wall-of-Text issues when I tried to put in -everything-.

That's true. But we actually have very few characters who have any real emotional involvement and attachment to other cast members.

From what Andy's told me so far about the plot, I would disagree with this.

What I mean here is that there's very few people following Noemi for any reason other than it suits their goals at the time. Apart from Aurel and Kasia, everyone that follows Noemi seems to be pretty strictly goal-oriented. Especially the other mains.

That wasn't really a complaint so much as an observation. I would have honestly ignored it unless it was pointed out. And again, I wrote two full paragraphs for him, which ties most of the plot PCs in Topic 2. Even my forgotten 2nd PC had more written about him than every other character introduced in this topic.

Do note that two paragraphs in one post is still significantly less than most of the other PCs who have been discussed across multiple posts and in chat since nearly the beginning. I will give you that he has more development than any other PC introduced in -this- topic, though. But Claire, Rafael, and Ilona are about as raw as it gets for development so far. Do note that we liked your character enough to try to incorporate him as the Main Character's most permanent ally, so your efforts didn't go unnoticed.

HOWEVER, having said this I finished reading through all of Topic 2, and I see that PC discussion was actually not held in the Character topic, which I was actually waiting for, but the Plot topic. Makes sense I guess, but it's frustrating to completely miss that process. This is on me, so I apologize, but it is pretty bad from an organizational standpoint. It also leaves me without a leg to stand on but it's still rather aggrivating, since I would have gladly expanded on the idea if asked.

I'm sorry I missed whatever planning session there was for the final draft of the characters, but it certainly didn't appear to be in any of the topics so far. Was it in chat or something?

I'm honestly tempted to just say screw it. Not cause of you, but because I've kind of argued my way into a corner due to not keeping up with everything about the IAQ. Give me a day or two, I've been pretty busy and also had a bit of writer's block/burnout from writing all those scenes for the Arkham game I'm running. I'll see if I can think of some things to make it work within the parameters you've given me.

Sorry about the organizational issues, brain-storming doesn't happen in an organized fashion, and while we're trying to keep everything on the boards, discussion happens in chat a lot. I've been logging most everything that goes on there so we don't lose anything, but posting transcripts of the logs didn't sit well with anyone, so I haven't been doing that, and you're lucky that I even posted the abbreviated summary so that you would know what we were using your PC for at all.

Honestly, you hadn't been posting much, so we weren't sure if you were part of the project or had just wanted to try a PC design out, so we just decided to use him. Sorry we didn't try to bring you into the conversation first, it wasn't a conscious decision, we were just brainstorming and trying to get things organized. Your PC was a loose end and we didn't just want to say "Well, Soppy's never around, let's just throw out his ideas".

If you get a chance to read through what -is- on the boards and think of something (or have any questions), please ask one of the IAQers in chat and we'll try to explain things.

[074]

Hey guys.  I don't have anything constructive to bring to this discussion anyway, so I'm just going to throw out more skillset ideas.  Okay?  Okay.  Going by the 7-10 rule. (as was suggested--each character have 7-10 skills on average, some may have more or less depending)

======================================

Katarine:

Learning Method:  Adaptation is the key to victory.  In Katarine's case, she realizes that keeping her magic the way it is, never improving upon it, will lead to an unfortunate failure in the future.  With that in mind, she looks to adapt her magic to the escalating situation...

Katarine gains skill points (SP) in proportion to the EXP she gains in or out of battle.  These points may be allocated to her starting skills as desired.  Enough SP allocated to a skill makes it level up, slightly increasing an aspect of it.  Skill levels start at 1, cap at 10.  Those that are not there from the beginning appear once certain prerequisite skills attain a given level.  A * marks a starting skill   As stated previously, she uses EP/PS4-style charges.  [EDIT] temporary names given.  Yes, I suck at naming stuff.

*[PASSIVE] Conduit Leech:  Katarine gains the benefits of support spells that she casts on allies.

*Biogenesis: Hex Target spell.  Adds Regeneration to targets of hex.  Regeneration duration or AoE possibly increases with level.  (note: Regeneration should be non-fail)

*Rapid Perception: Hex Target spell.  Percentile speed boost to of targets of hex.  Levels increase strength or duration of boost.

*Kinetic Buffer: Hex Target spell.  Grants resistance to Slash/Pierce/Impact attacks, IE: physical elements.  Levels increase the resistance granted.

Alacrity: Single-target spell.  Percentile DEX boost to target.  Levels increase the duration of the boost,  (Prerequisite skill to be levelled: Rapid Perception)

Energy Buffer: Hex Target spell.  Grants resistance to magical elements. Levels increase the resistance granted.  (Prerequisite skill: Kinetic Buffer)

Killing Sight: Single-target spell.  Grants flat critical rate boost to target.  Levels increase duration of boost. (Prerequisite skill: Alacrity)

Empower: Hex Target spell.  Grants percentile boost to ATK and INT for all targets in area.  Levels increase duration and strength of boost. (Prerequisite skills: Biogenesis, Kinetic Buffer)

Aura Lance: Single-target non-elemental offensive spell.  Deals extra damage for each stat boost or positive status that is on Katarine.  Dispels all such boosts after resolution of the attack.  Leveling increases damage and accuracy (Prerequisite skills: Empower, Energy Buffer)

Ablation: Hex target spell.  Targets of spell negate the next attack directed at them.  Levelling increases the number of charges, albeit slowly. (Prerequisite skills: Kinetic Buffer, Energy Buffer, Killing Sight)

======================================================

Selena:

Method of Learning: None.  Selena knows all of her abilities.  She's a final chapter PC anyway--skill acquisition would be difficult to manage there anyway.  She already has mastered her powers anyway.

Now complete with names badly translated to German!  Why?  Because I felt like it.

Ein Bolzen: ST holy-element spell.  High defense piercing, ignores Reflect.

Eine Lanze: Range 4 Line-Target holy-element spell.  High defense piercing, ignores Reflect

Strahl-Bombe: MT (radius 1.5 hexes) burst target holy-element spell.  Decreases target ACC, m.ACC, EVA, and m.EVA in addition to damage.  Ignores reflect, low defense penetration

Verfolgen Strahne: ST multi-hit holy-element spell.  Good defense piercing, ignores Reflect.  Lower per-hit damage than Ein Bolzen

Gespenst-Barriere: ST Reflect spell.  Adds reflect status to target.

Gespenst-Sinnestauschung: Self-only buff.  Creates four mirror images of oneself.  This grants a special negation chance versus ST attacks equal to (#images)/(#images+1).  When an image is struck  by a ST attack, it negates the attack, but is destroyed.  Any form of MT ignores this evasion, but fails to destroy any images.

Gespenst-Sklave:Creates a mirror image of Selena in her hex.  This image follows her when she moves, and is allowed to act on her turn--upon whence the player may allow her to use any of the four offensive spells she knows.  The image is separately targettable from Selena, and is destroyed if it takes a hit, but it benefits from any active buffs that Selena may have (including Gespenst-Barriere and Gespenst-Sinnestauschung).

===================================================================

Faulheit:

Method of Learning: Faulheit's definitely good at what he does.  The problem is getting him off of his ass to do it--he's most definitely laid-back about a lot of things, and combat is one of them.  His low Max MP has more to do with an unwillingness to expend more effort and energy than a lack of capability on his part.

Faulheit knows all of his spells, but he starts under MP-cost for a number of his skills.  Boosting his max MP through varied means (including equipment) lets him possibly access stuff sooner

Skills:

[Passive] Lackadaisical: +25% to damage if Faulheit does not move before acting

Pressure Blast:Basic single-target air-element attack spell.  Low penetration.  May cancel target's action.

Pressure Bomb:1-hex-radius burst air-elemental attack.  Cancel effect.

Turbulence: ST evasion boost.  Something tells me that this one would be fairly strong.

Tempest: Full-field discriminatory air-elemental spell.  In addition to damage, repositions all units randomly around the field.

Gale Fang: ST high-damage spell, followed by (either HT or radius-1 hex burst) secondary damage.  Secondary damage ignores reflect.

Vacuum Shot: INT-boosted piercing ST physical attack.  High DEF penetration.

Vortex Shot: INT-boosted piercing LT physical attack.

Chained Thunder: A blast of lightning strikes the initially chosen target.  It then bounces around, randomly targeting single enemies until it chooses someone who has already been hit.  Upon choosing a target that's already been hit, the lightning stops bouncing.

Storm Fall:  Full-field attack.  Bolts of lightning randomly strike hexes that are not occupied by allied units.    Ignores reflect.  (Yes, I was inspired by ABM Launcher on that)

[DjinnAndTonic]

Okay, Gespenst-Sklave is just cool. Really neat niche for Selena. And combined with Gespenst-Sin, it's pretty intense. I think it will make an awesome boss fight, too.

Do note that Reflect -and- near-physical immunity is really powerful, so I'd make a note that they can't be stacked?

[Talaysen]

Posted a skillset for Ilona.  Highly subject to change, etc.

http://www.rpgdl.com/forums/index.php/topic,4584.msg96749.html#msg96749

[DjinnAndTonic]

One thing I noticed is that you didn't actually give her a move to let her counter-attack. I don't think counters are standard in this game. If you want her to have one (and I think it's a good idea), you need to make that a passive skill or attach it to her unique weapons or something. Also, that evasion is a little broken.

[074]

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

----Armor----
Light:Noemi, Mirek, Isolde, Fahim, Claire, Meilin, Faulheit, Katarine, Selena, Ilona, Kasia, Aurel, Shao, Rafael, Erastus, Yiu, Jin, Xun, Artur, Eirwen
Medium:Noemi(mid to lategame), Isolde, Claire, Kasia, Aurel, Shao, Rafael, Erastus, Yiu, Artur
Heavy:Isolde, Claire, Aurel, Erastus, Artur


Armor, by PCs' 'maximum access':

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

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)

Also, noting that half the PCs are best with light armor.  A quarter each with medium and heavy. (Mind, if you discount God-Kings PCs, then you're down to 6/4/5.  6/4/3 discounting temps).

Breakdown of stats by character:

HP:
S:Rafael
A+:Aurel, Artur
B+:Isolde, Erastus
B:Shao, Jin
B-:Claire
C+:Kasia
C:Noemi, Yiu, Xun, Mirek
C-:Faulheit
D:Fahim, Katarine
D-: Meilin
F+:Selena
F:Ilona
G:Eirwen
Average: C+0.15

MP:
A+:Fahim
A:Erastus, Eirwen
B-:Noemi, Selena
C+:Katarine
C-:Meilin, Shao
D+:Artur
D:Faulheit, Aurel
D-:Claire, Ilona
Average: C+0.15 (7 characters not included)

Strength:
A+:Jin, Artur, Mirek
A-:Isolde
B+:Shao
B:Aurel, Meilin
C:Claire, Katarine, Selena, Erastus, Yiu, Xun
C-:Noemi, Rafael
D:Faulheit
F+:Kasia
F:Ilona, Eirwen
G:Fahim
Average: C+0.10

Dexterity:
S:Ilona, Mirek
A-:Katarine
B+:Eirwen
B:Meilin, Noemi, Xun, Yiu
B-:Shao
C:Fahim, Claire, Aurel
C-:Faulheit
D:Isolde, Selena, Kasia, Jin, Artur
D-:Rafael
F+:Erastus
Average: C+0.23 (C+0.11 without Mirek)

Vitality:
S:Aurel
A-:Rafael
B+:Artur
B:Isolde, Shao, Jin
C+:Faulheit, Kasia, Yiu
C:Noemi, Claire(varies), Erastus, Xun, Eirwen
D:Katarine
D-:Selena
F+:Fahim
F:Ilona, Mirek
F-:Meilin
Average: C-0.03

Intelligence:
S:Fahim
A+:Selena
A:Ilona, Rafael, Erastus, Yiu
A-:Isolde
B:Noemi, Faulheit, Shao, Kasia, Jin, Eirwen
C+:Artur
C-:Meilin
D:Katarine, Aurel, Mirek, Xun
D-:Claire
Average: B-0.23

Spirit:
S:Erastus
A+:Fahim, Faulheit
A:Kasia, Mirek, Aurel
B:Isolde, Yiu
C+:Shao, Rafael
C:Noemi, Ilona, Eirwen
C-:Selena, Jin, Xun
D+:Meilin
D:Katarine
D-:Claire
F:Artur
Average: C+0.48

Speed:
S:Ilona
A+:Claire
A:Katarine, Selena
B+:Eirwen
B:Noemi
B-:Meilin
C+:Kasia, Shao
C:Isolde, Fahim, Xun
C-:Yiu, Artur, Aurel
D+:Jin
D:Erastus
D-:Faulheit
F:Rafael
G:Mirek
Average: C+0.20

Acc:
A:Faulheit, Ilona, Meilin, Mirek
B+:Claire, Artur
B:Isolde, Shao, Erastus, Xun
C+:Aurel
C:Noemi, Katarine, Selena, Yiu, Eirwen
D:Rafael, Jin
F:Kasia
G:Fahim
Average: C+0.42

Evade:
S:Ilona
A:Mirek
A-:Katarin
B+:Meilin
C:Noemi, Isolde, Claire(varies), Faulheit, Selena, Yiu, Eirwen
D:Shao, Erastus, Jin, Xun
D-:Artur
F:Kasia
F-:Rafael, Aurel
G:Fahim
Average: C-0.35

MEvade:
A+:Fahim
A-:Katarine
B+:Kasia
B:Ilona
B-:Erastus
C:Isolde, Claire(varies), Yiu, Jin, Eirwen
D+:Rafael
D:Shao, Xun
D-:Meilin, Mirek, Selena
F:Faulheit, Artur
F-:Aurel
Average: C-0.30

Move:
3:Noemi, Claire(varies), Katarine, Selena, Shao, Ilona, Mirek, Yiu, Eirwen, Artur
2:Isolde, Faulheit, Kasia, Aurel, Rafael, Jin, Xun, Mirek
1:Fahim, Erastus

[Talaysen]

One thing I noticed is that you didn't actually give her a move to let her counter-attack. I don't think counters are standard in this game. If you want her to have one (and I think it's a good idea), you need to make that a passive skill or attach it to her unique weapons or something. Also, that evasion is a little broken.

I thought counter rate was a property of the weapon.  Will make modifications if not, though.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Tentative Noemi skillset idea:

Since Andrew postulated that Noemi would learn her skills based on watching the other PCs, and since the PCs are starting to find their skillsets now, I figured it would be a good time to start trying to make a good skillset for her so that the rest of the cast can be balanced with her in mind.

These suggestions are not set in stone, so feel free to posit your own lists for her abilities, I just wanted to get the ball rolling.

Starting skill: Noemi's unique trick to bring to the table.
"Precision Casting - Noemi is particularly skilled at using the Flow efficiently. She has studied the precise amounts of energy necessary to achieve maximum effects with certain spells. This makes her ability with even the basic Fire spell deadly if she pours the right amount of energy into it. Dissonant magic, but the principle behind Precision Casting is actually a form of the Quieting mediating the effects of the Dissonance."
* This skill is basically just for damage, and it should be useful from beginning to end due to its Magic Burst-like ability to use larger and larger amounts of MP to deal more and more damage. It also allows her to use low amounts of MP to finish off weaker monsters or to chip around limits. The drawback of using too much, of course, is that she won't have much/any MP left to cast other things. To balance it, I figure at Lv 1, she'll only be able to spend up to ~10% of her mMP per casting. By Midgame, she should be able to spend 100% of mMP on the spell, but by then she'll have a lot of other spells she'll want to use. By Endgame, her mMP will continue to increase, so the spell will remain useful, but still has that pesky "can't do anything else" drawback.
Tentative name: Ifris Libra. Could be a basic Ice spell instead to contrast Erastus' Fire affinity. Though if she's as close to him as indicated, she might be better with a Fire spell because he's her mentor and all...


Fahim-learned skill: Your basic magery.
"Resonance buffing. Fahim is obsessed with finding a method to heal the Disquiet poisoning in individuals, so he's perfected the art of strengthening bodily fortitude with some of the best spells the Academy teaches. Due to the similarity in their final research projects on fixing the Disquiet, Noemi often compared notes with Fahim. Over time, she picked up some pointers about Resonance spells from him, though she tended to focus on performance over fortitude."
* Not sure what Stats Fahim's buffing will cover, but I imagine Noemi's will have a slowly-increasing effect to them. Tentatively, this spell increases both STR and DEX by 25% on turn one, which increases to 35% on turn two, then 50% on turn three, before the effect wears off. This is how I imagine Resonance working in general, though that's debatable. Possibly group-target. This is assumed to be her tutorial-learned skill.
Tentative name: Arna Evalescere


Kasia-learned skill: Revival, the blessing and the curse.
"Dissonant Revival. Using high-level healing Dissonance on mortal wounds can cause serious problems to those without some innate magical defenses - such as permanently shutting down the immune system. Kasia spent much of her time studying Dissonant healing and how to properly use it and on how to tell who can withstand its effects. Noemi found learning the spell easy just by watching Kasia, but discerning who can handle it has been more difficult."
* This one should be quick-to-learn since Kasia isn't a permanent PC. Also, since Revival spells have been discussed and play a part in world-building, I would like to see a sidequest of sorts where Noemi and Kasia come across someone mortally wounded who cannot handle Dissonant Revival. Kasia would refuse to heal him based on her training (something akin to the Magical Hypocratic Oath), but Noemi/the player would have the option of saving his life immediately and seeing the wasting effects of Disquiet on an individual. As a skill, it would work like Kasia's revival, only perhaps it causes a 'reduced mHP' status effect that lasts a few turns, to reflect Noemi's imperfect training with this kind of difficult skill. Still, revival is good, and since her team's reviver leaves, it's important that Noemi learns it.
Tentative name: Phoenicis Cruor


Aurel-learned skill: Noemi fights for her friends!
"Aurel is the first to jump in and take a blow for his allies, and Noemi admires his skill. With some of his advice, Noemi learned the proper way to take a glancing blow and turn it against her foes. A little bit of magical assistance helps keep the risk down, though."
* Another one that should be fairly quick to learn since Aurel isn't a permanent PC. Instead of Noemi gaining passive Covers and Counters, this skill should take a turn to activate. Once Noemi activates this skill, she will cover any allies in her Hex, and any attacks provoke a Counter-attack, where Noemi uses her basic physical. The first physical aimed at someone in her Hex will be taken by Noemi, but blocked and reduced by 90% damage, and then countered. All subsequent attacks are still taken by Noemi and countered, but at normal damage. The Cover/Counter effect lasts until Noemi leaves the Hex. The 1-turn damage reduction is pretty good, but the setup time makes it a fairly inferior counter skill. Also, could have a cooldown period where she can't use it again for a while once she moves.
Tentative name: Minerva Cortis

Sleepy now, so these are getting less detailed.
Shao-learned skill: Passives
"Shao was always good with elemental magic."
* Shao doesn't have a full skillset yet, but his elemental physical tricks sound interesting, and Noemi needs some more physical stuff to balance out her magical-slant. This passive allows her to set her weapon's elemental typing out-of-battle. May evolve as Noemi's level increases. Subject to change.
Tentative name: Iridis Falx


Isolde-learned skill: Getting some more use out of that INT stat.
*Physical skill that adds INT to STR to attack, Cancel Effect. Works on a cooldown meter to give Noemi's MP some relief. Takes a while to learn.
Tentative name: Callida Leanae


Mirek-learned skill: Breaking the Limits
"Mirek is trained in the arts of the Guardians. He tries to teach the idea of focusing one's emotions into a single strike to Noemi, but she hasn't quite mastered it."
* Noemi gets her very own Focus meter. Only, she's only just started learning anything about Guardian skills, so it doesn't do nearly as much. Like Mirek's, her Focus meter increases every round that she doesn't use it (only, her skills mostly use MP, so the Focus meter empties if she uses an MP skill). Unlike Mirek's, she doesn't slowly increase her Crit rate or Speed or anything. When the meter is full, all her attacks get an ITD property, but to keep the effect, her skillset is essentially silenced. The actual 100% Focus skill is a big AoE physical tech w/ moderate damage, but boosted by the ITD effect. Takes a long while to learn. Had some discussion with the group. Focus meter and Cooldowns is cluttering her resources.
* Noemi adapts the Focus style to her MP gauge. Noemi's physicals now regen ~5% mMP. At Max MP, her attacks all take on an Ignore's 1/2 Target's Def property (her spells, too, though after one shot, the effect is obviously lost since she expended MP). The 100% MP skill is the same big AoE physical tech w/ moderate damage, boosted by the IT.5D effect, but it drains all her MP reserves, a much bigger drawback from before. However, MP carries over between battles, so it gained a balancing advantage.
Tentative name: Draco Eruptus


Yiu-learned skill: Items or something
*Really not sure here. My kneejerk is to allow her to use a few normally-out-of-battle-only items in-battle. Since Yiu has unique items, he could be teaching her the proper way to use items quickly in a battle, whereas normally they take time to use (and are thus out-of-battle-only). Alternately, she could learn to use one of the status effects from his items, but have it run off of MP instead (leaning this way since Noemi has no status yet, and is supposed to be primarily a MP-mage).
Tentative name: Lupus Ruo


Erastus-learned skill: Drain-whoring
*Noemi gets an MP-powered version of Erastus' Draining physicals. They absorb a good amount of HP, and, her own unique spin, heal anyone in the same Hex as her.
Tentative name: Strix Bravere


Combination skills:

Maybe later, when I can think... sleep now.

[AndrewRogue]

Mirek
Resident emo and down on his life swordsman who will be redeemed by love and stuff.

HP: C
MP: n/a
Strength: A+
Dexterity: S
Vitality: F
Intelligence: D
Spirit: A
Speed: G

Accuracy: A
Evasion: A
Magic Accuracy: n/a
Magic Evasion: D-
Move: 2

Weapon Groups: Guardian Blades
Armor Groups: Light Armor
Accessory Groups: Light Accessories, Guardian Accessories

Resource Description: Focus Meter. Gauge starts the battle at 25% and increases by 10% every 100 CTs. Also increases 5% every time he or someone in the same hex takes damage.

Movelist
*Passive
**Guardian's Strike- Mirek can only swing once, but his damage is increased by 1.25x.
**Guardian's Swiftness- Mirek automatically goes first at the start of combat.
**Guardian's Fury- Mirek's Focused Attack bonus increases by .05 for each 20% focus he has. At 100% Focus, Mirek's attacks ignore Evade and Defense.

*Activated
**Frustration (15%)- Physical with enhanced crit rate.
**Regret (20%)- Low damage physical, but sets his CT to 50.
**Peace (25%)- High damage attack that ignores resistances.
**Hatred (50%)- Instant Death if the attack hits (Accuracy = Focus).
**Despair (30%)- Mirek preemptively counters any attacks against him from an adjacent hex for the next five rounds, increases his evade against that attack.
**Love (75%)- As per Despair, but applies to anyone sharing his hex.

Method in Which They Learn Moves: Emotional involvement. Unlocked via optional plot scenes.

Just a general summary of the idea: Fire Emblem crit whore, essentially. Hits very hard and emphasizes physical evasion over durability while maintaining solid magical durability. Is surprisingly slow for his type but, ideally, has some sort of initiative.

EDITTED: Altered some stats.