The Paradox: Fine Tuning and Sign-Up Thread

[The Artist Formerly Known as Hawk]

I'm just hoping his gas form isn't flammable, 'cos you might end up incinerated if you come too close to Ifrit while he's on the warpath.

[Bailey]

Oh man, that would suck. Especially since that would mean that my major weapon, suffocating people, flat-out wouldn't work on you.

[Krylo]

I don't know where suffocation would be that useful on other monsters anyway. I mean, we're all stronger, faster, and more durable than humans by a very considerable amount, and it takes a human a minute or so to even lose consciousness (much less die) from suffocation. I'd assume monsters would take longer (if they even breathe). I mean, all a monster would have to do is pick up any large flat object--like a piece of cardboard or the top of a table--and give it a few good waves and you'd be kinda S.O.L.

I kinda thought the wind control and minor shapeshifting would be your main abilities where suffocation would be more for subduing annoying humans without necessarily killing them.

[Bailey]

Krylo brings up a good point about which ones would be most useful. Amusingly, I added those as flavor to go with the gaseous form power.

[Toastburner B]

Originally Posted by Frostatine

Sounds overpowered to me, how are we supposed to kill you if you can just turn into a cloud and run away?

I think there should be some sort of a limit to how long his gas form can be maintained.

Easy there, Frost. It's up for me to decide what's overpowered and what isn't. Just chill out and let me handle it. Besides...with your light-bending ability, you are one to talk. :p


Anyways...

Newb: Approved, with a few stipulations. Remember that, early in the game, your elemental control is going to be pretty sketchy. Also, I'd like you to keep your cloud low-speed...clouds aren't known for being speedy.

Though it looks like other people have pointed out other flaws in it since I started writing this.

Teal Mage: Almost approved. I just request a few things:

1) Take the summoner business out of your history unless you want your character to be a summoner. I'm not going to allow double dipping.

2) Cut down the number of abilities you currently have. I asked people to limit it to one or two, and you have three from I can see (increased toughness, improved physical condition [which, in and of itself, I could count as two seperate abilities if I wanted to be a jerk], and Silence). Cut out one for the time being. You'll get your third back later.

Originally Posted by Teal Mage

I’m sorta looking to make this guy a sound swordsman, with a few water based tricks, if the cross element thing’s allowed, if not then just sound. Like a sword wielding siren.

If you're going to split control over multiple elements, your power in each will be reduced. For example, if you chose to be a fire/wind monster, a straight up fire monster be much more powerful in fire than you. For our purposes, each time you take another element, your reducing the overall power you will ultimately obtain over those.

I explained the same thing to Flare over PM for her character.

[Teal Mage]

Originally Posted by Toastburner B

Teal Mage: Almost approved. I just request a few things:

1) Take the summoner business out of your history unless you want your character to be a summoner. I'm not going to allow double dipping.

2) Cut down the number of abilities you currently have. I asked people to limit it to one or two, and you have three from I can see (increased toughness, improved physical condition [which, in and of itself, I could count as two seperate abilities if I wanted to be a jerk], and Silence). Cut out one for the time being. You'll get your third back later.

Alright, the summoner thing is gone. I wasn't actually intending to make him a summoner character, just used it as justification for him learning how to fence. He didn't learn anything about summoning, he stopped trying to after he lost interest in fencing. It's so he can use the sword as more then a club, eventually.

As to me giving him too many powers, I just didn't think you meant that toughness and etc were powers. I'll fix that.

So, the redone powers, appearance and bio here:

Bio/Background/Etc: A High School student who rarely studies. But he somehow pulls off high scores on most (non-physical) tests and while not a genius is still smart and perceptive. Enjoys singing, and reading, but is far from averse to talking to others. He attempted to learn how to fence, but despite being "gifted" at it, he lost interest soon after learning the formal basics.

Appearance: A human like monster, the main thing that sets him apart is the pale blue skin. This skin covers whatever he was wearing prior to the morphing, (his skin and clothes) so he’s able to switch between forms without terrible damage to his wardrobe. His hair lengthens to the small of his back, his canine teeth sharpen and his eyes become more vivid in color, but still very human. Has white bands of color on his wrists and the same white covers his legs making it looks like he's wearing pants of some sort. Carries a sword formed from some white crystal.

Abilities/Powers: Can destroy sounds around him and increased agility.

Is that better?

[Toastburner B]

Teal Mage: Approved.

Note that I will be closing sign-ups within 4 hours. Mauve, IHMN, and rapter, I'll give you until kickoff tomorrow to submit characters, since you guys have already expressed interest.

However, beyond those three, I will not be taking place-holders beyond tonight. You either have a character up by the time I close, or you aren't in. Sorry.

[ApatheticFoxboy]

Let me ninja a sign up.

Name: Ralph Meyers
Age: 21
Gender: Male
Physical Description: Underneath his onyx jacket with the ancient symbol of Fianna, he wears the military green training shirt his brother got in OCS, with a five in the front and a large E sub five on the back. A sprawl of dirt brown hair comes down to his mother’s heavy navy blue eyes. Ralph dresses much like everyone else, New Balance shoes, jeans, belt. He is slim and average hight.

Bio/Background/Etc: Looking for a cause or sense of purpose, Ralph wanders through the city. As part of his job, pizza delivery, he is exposed to many worlds and wonders of a day when fear of the horizons won't hold fear of departure. To run screaming from the incredibly stagnant would fill that void inside his soul. He's head strong and some may call him belligerent, but he's pragmatic with resources he's been given.

Monster Name: Carnot (distinctly earth based)

Appearance: His zoology is most familiar in the lizard family(scales and such), but more commonly the chameleon. The most distinctive feature of Carnot are the two thick above the While in this transformation each digit has a scarp claw, and the hands and feet take a tong like appearance. The tail has similar attachments, and can be swung. He has no armor hide but specialized cells underneath his transparent skin that allows camouflage to the environment.

Abilities/Powers: His eyes can rotate and focus separately to observe two different objects simultaneously. It in effect gives Carnot a full 360-degree arc of vision around his body. When prey (or predator) is located, both eyes can be focused in the same direction, giving sharp and . The sharp claws on his hands and feet allow Carnot to grip surfaces, and crawl up walls or even upside down on the ceiling.

[IHateMakingNames]

Name: Todd Barley
Age: 20
Gender: Male
Physical Description: Todd is about six feet tall, has light brown hair, blue eyes, bishie face, and a swimmer's build. What most would consider attractive.
Bio/Background/Etc: Todd had a fairly basic life. Went to school, did some sports, hung out with some friends. Now he goes to college classes, works out, and hangs out with some friends. The only distinction in his life from the generic idea of it has been his odd obsession with wax. Todd can spend hours just making a figurine, melting it down, making a new figurine, melting that, and repeating this process.

Monster Name: Xbmtiplvz. Unpronounceable, so called Splitter.
Appearance: Its basically a big, black blob. He can alter this to different shapes, but they will still be big, black, and blobby. If made into a sphere, it would have a four foot diameter.
Abilities/Powers: Xbmtiplvz can split his body apart to form essentially anything. When at 100% blob, at best it can split itself into three seperate forms, or to an undetermined amount of smaller forms. So single split can use up more than a third of the total blob. Assuming at least 50% of his mass is present, it can split apart. If through poor splitting less than 50% is left unformed, it will be able to do anything until split off parts merge back into it. When split forms merge, their attributes will meld together. They can only turn back to blob form if it's at least a third of total blob. Xbmtiplvz can create split forms greater than a third of it's total blob by splitting and merging, but not going back to blob form.

The forms it can take is almost anything. It can be a pen, or a mini fire demon. The power is proportional to how much of the blob is used. Even if 100% of the blob is used to make a fire demon (Either by small demons cooperating, or splitting and merging) it can't match a demon natural to fire. Any inanimate objects made can actually move if needed. If a split part is destroyed, it remove that part of the blob. Like cutting off a limb. When in natural blob form it will regenerate over time. If a split part has not merged in a day, it automatically reverts to a blob (Then above rules apply).


Summoner Background: Todd and Xbmtiplvz first met when Todd was making a late night candle run. He saw a woman being chased into an alley by an indeterminable attackers. In a bout of stupid courage, Todd followed them. When Todd caught up with them, he only stood in shock when he discovered what he actually followed. The woman was dead, lying against a wall in a pool of blood, but that was not the shocking part. What paralyzed him was the attackers were actually hideous monsters, and they were being attacked by many smaller monsters. He was snapped out of his daze when one of the bigger monster seemed to be charging him. In a panic he ran, but due to the angle he was being attacked at, ended up running towards the dead woman. In desperation he grabbed a gun he saw near her, dove, turned, and fired wildly. Despite his frantic state ruining his aim, the demon was close enough to be hit a few times anyway. The extensive injuries it had already suffered made it get killed by a lucky shot. The other big demon fled after this.

The small demons gathered together, formed into a blob, then split into 3 normal looking men. After a lot of freaking out, miscommunication, and a bit of wrestling, Todd was given an explanation. The demon introduced itself as Xbmtiplvz, but offered the name Splitter since it's impossible to talk like a blob. The three men were a demon being hunted by other demons. The girl was an ally of his. She was there because demons can't kill demons, only a human can. This plan to eliminate his hunters went astray when the girl died. When Todd showed up and was noticed, he was attacked due to being capable of killing. The other demon fled because he was at a disadvantage, but would come back, and now Todd would be a target for revenge.

Todd believed the demon part since he killed one, and the body was still there, so it would be hard to dismiss. The rest he was very reluctant to believe, but he wasn't being killed, so he went along with it. He accepted Xbmtiplvz's offer to hide on him as clothes and various objects, because he would be less scared knowing the creature is on him, as opposed to always fearing where it could be. Since then he had accepted this new part of his life, and has had to deal with a few demons. He doesn't trust Xbmtiplvz, but there is nothing he can do, since every scenario Todd has come up with, it is never in his interest to try and separate from the demon.

As for the whole explaining mythos things, if it never comes up, it doesn't really matter. Even then, Todd/Xbmtiplvz could just not share the information. Thus meaning you don't actually have to come up with anything yet.

[Toastburner B]

ApatheticFoxboy: Almost good, just a minor complaint. I asked everyone to limit their special abilities to one or two for the start of the game, and you have a few (camouflage, wall-walk/climb, tongue-attack). Please narrow it down to just two. Don't worry, you'll get the other one back later in the game.

IHMN: Approved for the most part. I'm not sure if I want to allow the entire "use-a-monster-as-a-weapon-to-kill-another-monster" thing. It still falls within the bounds of Tiamat's Curse, I'd say. I would prefer if you ditched that part, in fact. Sorry. And for the early parts of the game at least, I would prefer the copy still to just be of forms, not abilities.

The rest of it I'll let you have. I know you'll do your best not to go god-moddy with it. I'd give Todd a weapon or two as well, if I were you. And note that smart monsters will target him when fighting against Splitter, since if they kill him, the battle can only end in a draw instead of them dead.

I'm calling it. Sign-ups are now closed, except for Mauve Mage, and rapter200.