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Post by Crystal Legends on Oct 16, 2021 8:50:05 GMT -5
Introduction to Combat
How, in a world where the characters come from games where dozens of them are the most powerful men and women to walk their world, do you find a level playing field? How do you avoid the "who’s the strongest?" fights that are heavily weighted by opinion, but will inevitably come up when you have muses absolutely ready to throw down?
The answer? Make ‘em work for it.
Depending on your declared class and your muse’s background, your character may (or may not) start at the lowest level, but no one starts out at the top here. You can prematurely boost your stats with the right weapons and armor, but if you really want to prove your muse is the strongest of them all, you’re going to have to put some work into it.
How so?
There are two methods by which you can gain combat experience: writing out a training session, or doing the monster hunting minigame.
Written Training
For those who don’t care for the gaming mechanics and just want to write, there is a simple option via writing out a short ficlet detailing your training sessions. You can earn up to 300 EXP per check by writing 300 or more words describing your character’s training or monster hunting activities (a quick C+P into your favorite word program should do a quick count for you!) The first 300 words count an experience point per word, so even lesser amounts will still get you exp. (50 words = 50 EXP, etc)
These ficlets will still be posted into your character's minigame mayhem thread, despite not technically being a minigame. Be sure to list how much exp you receive from the exercise on the post, as well as listing where you are level-wise.
Note: You cannot gather monster parts even from monsters you’ve “defeated” in your writing. That must come from the monster hunting minigame. You can combine the minigame with the written combat training, but cannot make beyond a total of 300 EXP.
>>> Example formatting:
Wordcount: 276 words
EXP gained: 276 EXP
Level Status: Level #, # / # EXP (see here for leveling details)
Steel sang through the air, slicing through the quiet of the morning. The weight of a blade was welcome in his hand, comforting in its familiarity. He’d been wielding a blade since he was a mere apprentice learning at his master’s knee and even now that he’d moved on, he continued to practice daily.
This time, he’d sought out a nest of Hedgehog Pies - nasty, ugly things, but they were a good warm up and the nest needed wiped out anyway - it was too close to town for comfort. Well equipped and familiar with his enemy, he launched a fireball at the burrow, dancing backwards reflexively as they exploded outward in a fury. Then it was go time, with no time to stop and think; it was entirely a matter of honed reflexes, to know when to block and duck without losing a moment to lash out and advance in a series of swift strikes. When one got too close, spindly arms reaching for him, he swung back the other way and slammed his pommel into it’s face. The shrill squawk of outrage rang in his ears, and he shook his head a little - note made, wear a helmet next time.
But he was making quick work of them, cutting through them swiftly as he took advantage of the chaos created by their panic. It couldn’t have taken more than ten minutes to hunt them all down. Later, he would consider alerting the guild so someone could go get the parts. For now, it was enough to know he’d done his duty as a city guard. The city and her people were just a little safer.
There may be various reasons one would choose the written alternative to the minigame, but there are definite advantages to doing the monster hunting minigame, and the two can also be combined - especially useful if you fail to get the desired amount of experience from monster hunting.
Monster Hunting Minigame
Regular monster fights, such as in this minigame, rely only on your level and not on any stats. Stats will only be used if you want to fight bosses in rp events (or want to fight another muse whose mun decides that’s important) so it’s up to you if you want to track them.
The game is simple: you will have a prompt line determined by your level that you can put into a Discord minigame channel via the Tatsu bot, and that will determine if you land a hit or miss. You will get five tries. Likewise, the monster will get a turn, based on its level. Whoever has the most hits wins the battle! If there is a tie, you continue to alternate rolls until you come out with a winner.
Each tier of monsters is worth a different amount of EXP. You are allowed to earn up to 300 EXP per check with up to five monster fights and the potential addition of writing (as seen above). Note: if you win your fight, you have the option to harvest monster parts for crafting or selling; if you lose your fight, you get no parts and only half experience.
Additionally, if you want to add three or more sentences of text onto your post, it can count for an activity point - and you can count each word for an additional EXP point, if you haven’t yet reached 300.
Character Rolls (listed by level):0-10- t!choose hit | miss | miss | hit | miss | miss | miss | hit | miss | miss
11-20- t!choose hit | miss | miss | hit | miss | miss | miss | hit | miss | hit
21-30- t!choose hit | miss | miss | hit | miss | hit | miss | hit | miss | hit
31-40- t!choose hit | miss | hit | hit | miss | hit | miss | hit | miss | hit
41+- t!choose hit | miss | hit | hit | miss | hit | hit | hit | miss | hit
Monster Rolls (listed by tier):
E - 20 exp each (easiest)- t!choose hit | miss | miss | hit | miss | miss | miss | hit | miss | miss
D - 40 exp each- t!choose hit | miss | miss | hit | miss | miss | miss | hit | miss | hit
C - 60 exp each (medium tier)- t!choose hit | miss | miss | hit | miss | hit | miss | hit | miss | hit
B - 80 exp each- t!choose hit | miss | hit | hit | miss | hit | miss | hit | miss | hit
A - 100 exp each (hardest tier)- t!choose hit | miss | hit | hit | miss | hit | hit | hit | miss | hit
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Post by Crystal Legends on Oct 16, 2021 9:28:19 GMT -5
Harvesting Monster Parts When you win a monster fight, you're entitled to monster parts that can be sold for gil or used in crafting. Below is the listing of what monsters fill in each tier, and what parts you can get from then.
E - 20 exp each (easiest)- Axolotl - eyes, gills, small skin
- Bite Bug - antennae, carapace, pincer, small wings
- Flan - goo
- Mu - fat, small hide, meat, tail
D - 40 exp each- Cactaur - needles
- Coeurl - medium hide, teeth, whiskers
- Gigantoad - eyes, large skin
- Hedgehog Pie - fat, small hide, spines, teeth
C - 60 exp each (medium tier)- Guard Hound - large hide, teeth, tentacle
- Griffon - beak, eyes, large wings
- Iguion - eyes, teeth
- Orobon - fins, large hide, teeth
B - 80 exp each- Behemoth - heart, large hide, teeth, skull, horns
- Dual Horn - hooves, large hide, meat, skull
- Ettin Snake - eyes, fangs, tongue, scales
- Mover - rubber
A - 100 exp each (hardest tier)- Aeronite - large skin, talons, teeth
- Golem - iron ore
- Wyrm - large hide, meat, teeth
- Zaghnal - large hide, meat, skull, horns
Monster Part Prices It's entirely possible you'll want the parts for crafting, but if you need some quick gil, this is a fast way to earn some money. Below is a listing of what each part is worth, in alphabetical order.
- antennae = 200 gil
- beak = 1000 gil
- carapace = 500 gil
- eyes = 100 gil
- fangs = 500 gil
- fat = 1000 gil
- fins = 5000 gil
- gills = 200 gil
- goo = 500 gil
- heart = 1000 gil
- hide (large) = 10,000 gil
- hide (medium) = 7500 gil
- hide (small) = 5000 gil
- hooves = 2500 gil
- horns = 1000 gil
- pincer = 100 gil
- meat = 200 gil
- needles = 500 gil
- ore (iron) = 2000 gil
- rubber = 500 gil
- skin (large) = 10,000 gil
- skin (scale) = 15,000 gil
- skin (small) = 5000 gil
- skull = 1000 gil
- spines = 300 gil
- tail = 1000 gil
- talons = 500 gil
- teeth = 500 gil
- tentacle = 1000 gil
- tongue = 300 gil
- whiskers = 500 gil
- wings (small) = 200 gil
- wings (large) = 5000 gil
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Post by Crystal Legends on Oct 16, 2021 14:54:12 GMT -5
An Introduction to Magic In the fashion of many of the Final Fantasy games, the magic system relies on using certain magical items - most commonly, crystals. Borrowing largely from FFVII’s materia system, casting spells requires use of crystals or, in some cases similar to FFXV’s magic system, the use of crafted magic artifacts, some of which can be bought and most of which can be crafted through minigames. It is worth note that spells are not class-locked, as they often were in early Final Fantasy titles; if you have the proper equipment, any character can use offensive, defensive, curative and other obscure magics (barring, of course, something in their background or development that might hinder them). There are 8 elemental crystals that can be used for magic: - Air (sometimes known as ‘Wind’)
- Dark
- Earth
- Fire
- Ice
- Light (sometimes known as ‘Holy’)
- Lightning
- Water
Unlike some systems, ours does not require a specific period of using any items to “unlock” high tier spells. From the first moment your character equips a crystal or other magic-bearing item, they can use whatever level of spell is available according to their combat level and of course that their MP can afford. (If a spell spends 300 MP, and you have 200 MP, you’re not going to be able to cast it even if your character ‘knows’ it in theory.) Differing spells have different minimum requirements. Some don’t require a full crystal and can even be cast with crystal shards (calculated as up to 1/4 a crystal, though they can not ordinarily be reassembled into a single crystal) and some special spells require combinations or different artifacts entirely, many of which can be crafted.
Breaking it Down
In order to cast a spell you will: - need the knowledge of the spell
- need the energy to cast the spell
- need the appropriate equipment to cast the spell
Knowledge & Power
Knowledge and energy are entirely stat based and depend on how you’ve built your character while leveling up from the combat and monster hunting minigames. Essentially, as you gain experience through training and different types of combat, your character gains both experience that raises their overall level and a certain level of points that can be allocated to any of their stats as you see fit.
Using Items & EquipmentMuch like in FFVII and FFIX, magic use is connected to items. Specifically, using spells tied to the eight elements (Air, Dark, Earth, Fire, Ice, Light, Lightning & Water) requires a corresponding crystal, or, if it’s a very low level spell you might get away with a crystal shard. Both items can be found from the Mining minigame and may be available for trade / sale from other players. A full pack of all eight crystals can be purchased from House Ramuh for tokens. Otherwise, crystals (and corresponding shards) can be purchased independently from the Gil Shop or found during the mining minigame. There are, however, non-elemental magics that will need other equipment to cast, such as the Artifact of Transformation. Some of these can be purchased, some can be crafted, and some are available through both. All magics, elemental and non, do require a certain amount of MP to cast, and a certain base level of experience expected before you would have the skill to cast them. Even in the case of acquiring certain legendary skills where you no longer need the equipment, you will still have to have the MP and appropriate level. Below is a guideline to help determine what you might be able to do at particular levels. There is not a spell for lighting a fireplace, but as you look at the available spells you should be able to determine it’s a very low tier spell indeed.
The Ins and Outs of Spellcasting
There are roughly five categories of spells. (Your character’s level is indicated by the abbreviation LVL.) - Subtier spells: can be cast just using a crystal shard, don’t have a level requirement, will cost you 1-5 MP depending on what you’re doing. (This is where lighting a fireplace comes in.) Does roughly (2 x LVL) damage/healing: 2pts for LVLs 0 and 1, 4pts for LVL 2, 6pts for LVL 3 etc.
- Tier 1 spells: correspond with your canon Final Fantasy “level 1” spells - your Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, Aero, etc. Entry level spells, and can be cast by anyone LVL 5+ who has the appropriate crystal equipped. Costs 5-10 MP depending on how intricate a job you’re trying to do. Lobbing a fireball at one enemy costs less than trying to form a precisely shaped ice statue. Does roughly (¼ the Caster’s max MP) in damage or healing.
- Tier 2 spells: correspond with the -a spells such as Fira, Blizzara, Thundara, etc. Learning these normally happens around LVL 15+ and they can cost between 10-20 MP depending on what you’re doing and require a crystal. Does roughly (⅓ the Caster’s max MP) in damage or healing.
- Tier 3 spells: correspond with the -aga spells such as Firaga, Blizzaga, Thundaga etc. Learning these normally happens around LVL 30+ and they can cost between 20-40 MP depending on how ambitious you want to get with them and require a crystal. Odds are good if you’re attacking multiple enemies with your one attack or healing someone from the brink of death, you’re more towards 40 than 20. Does roughly (½ the Caster’s max MP) in damage or healing. At this point, you can start splitting your attention to multiple targets at once, just split the points between them. EX: you were going to do 50 pts of damage to 1 target, you now do 10 pts to five targets. However, once you have reached LVL 40+ you can do the same amount of damage to each enemy due to your greater experience.
- Tier 4 spells: at this point, you have mastered the elements so that you can bend them to your will and coax out nontraditional abilities from one or more crystals. Unlocking normally around LVL 40+ this includes dual and triple casting elements to make something new. While casting Fire + Ice to make a Water attack might be a waste, getting creative with things like Air + Thunder to prompt a thunderstorm can be handy. This tier is more about your knowledge unlocking more creative abilities than specific power. The required MP can be calculated by combining the cost of their components. (Firaga + Thundaga = 80 MP) The results, however, can do up to ¾ the Caster’s max MP per target.
Note: Light Crystals are unique in that their magic is both the only curative magic and can also be used offensively to anything weak against light/holy energy.
Non-Elemental Magics and Artifacts
Artifacts are unlike crystals, in that - while they do require a certain level of MP to use - they do not require a certain character level. That is because the cost of experience falls on the crafter’s skill while making it and not on the character using it. So long as you can pay the cost of MP, you will be able to use any non-crystal pre-existing magics.
Note: You’ll be happy to know anyone with the alchemy skill to design a spell or artifact is allowed to approach the mods to do so in a detailed post or PM, either seeking approval for a completed original design or presenting a concept with a request for a design.
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Post by Crystal Legends on Oct 16, 2021 15:29:12 GMT -5
Introduction to Statistics When looking up the combat training / monster hunting minigames you’ll first run into an introduction of ‘stats’ - or statistics - that represent your characters uniquely built strengths and weaknesses. (While certainly possible that two characters could be developed in the exact same fashion, it is far more likely that even the same player’s characters will build differently.)
Please note, you can absolutely roleplay without employing this dynamic - especially if your character does not fight / use magic in any capacity. However, for those who might want to take part in certain events such as tournaments and group-ranked monster hunts, it would be a good idea to learn the system.
For those who’ve ever paid attention to D&D / standard RPG stats, this will be familiar, but we’ll break it down for those this might be new to. traditionally, there are a minimum of six main stats that need to be considered: - HP = health points, or representation of your life force
- MP = magic points, or representation of how much magic you can use before you need an item or rest
- ATK = attack, or your physical strength
- M.ATK = magic attack, or the strength of your magical attacks
- DEF = defense, or how strong you are against physical damage
- M.DEF = magic defense, how strong you are against magic damage
That’s six different stats to build up at whatever rate you personally choose to prioritize, so it may quickly become clear why we say it’s likely that everyone will have a different stats build up - all the more so because your growth is influenced further by your class, and whatever weapons / armor you may have equipped. For example, say your character focuses on melee combat, and pays no attention to spellwork. You might focus just on HP, ATK, and DEF - possibly M.DEF so your character can defend against magical attacks, even if they’re not dishing them out. But if you’re not going to be using magic, you can ignore MP and M.ATK entirely. So you see that what you build up depends entirely on your character’s goals. Characters have a certain number of allotted base “stat points” according to their classes that can be distributed as you see fit, but in the event of a character whose backstory requires starting off at a higher level or at least with a few higher beginning stats, some accommodation can be hashed out between the player and one of the mods. How to read the chart:
CLASS = the class that the row relates to HP, MP, ATK, M.ATK, DEF, M.DEF = the stats you begin with at LVL 0
HP+MP and M.ATK+D.DEF = the points each class is allowed to distribute per level up
(example at the bottom) | CLASS | HP
| MP
| ATK
| M.ATK
| DEF
| M.DEF
| HP+MP
| M.ATK+M.DEF
| Arcanist
| 25
| 20
| 10
| 20
| 10
| 20
| 20
| 8
| Assassin
| 25
| 10
| 15
| 15
| 15
| 15
| 20
| 8
| Beastmaster
| 25
| 10
| 15
| 10
| 15
| 15
| 15
| 6
| | Botanist | 20
| 5
| 10
| 10
| 10
| 10
| 10
| 4
| Craftsman
| 20
| 5
| 15
| 10
| 15
| 10
| 10
| 4
| Culinarian
| 20
| 5
| 10
| 10
| 10
| 10
| 10
| 4
| Guard
| 25
| 15
| 20
| 15
| 20
| 15
| 20
| 8
| Healer
| 25
| 20
| 10
| 20
| 10
| 20
| 20
| 8
| Jack-of-all-Trades
| 20
| 10
| 15
| 15
| 15
| 15
| 15
| 6
| Mercenary
| 25
| 15
| 20
| 15
| 20
| 15
| 20
| 8
| Merchant
| 20
| 5
| 10
| 10
| 10
| 10
| 10
| 4
| Politician
| 20
| 5
| 10
| 10
| 10
| 10
| 10
| 4
| Priest(ess)
| 25
| 20
| 10
| 20
| 10
| 20
| 20
| 8
| Scholar
| 20
| 5
| 10
| 10
| 10
| 10
| 10
| 4
| | Spy | 25
| 10
| 15
| 15
| 15
| 15
| 15
| 6
| Thief
| 25
| 10
| 15
| 15
| 15
| 15
| 15
| 6
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Example:
An Arcanist starts with 25 HP / 20 MP. For each time they level up, they will be able to spend 20 points in any combination they desire to advance their HP, MP, or both. They also have 8 points to spend on the remaining four stats - ATK, M.ATK, DEF, & M.DEF - in any combination they want. (It is not required to spend them in the same manner each time.) There will be further discussion below, with an introduction to the leveling system.
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Post by Crystal Legends on Oct 16, 2021 15:49:58 GMT -5
Leveling Your Character
So, you’ve been increasing your character’s combat level and now an event has come up with a boss fight. Or, maybe you’re up against someone who wants to crunch numbers in a muse vs muse battle. You know what that means - it’s time for those stats you thought were useless to come into play! First off, this only applies to Combat Leveling - not crafting levels, though they have the same EXP counters for consistency. To maintain simplicity, there are only six stats, regardless of what class you’re in: - HP - hit points, your constitution
- MP - magic points, how deep your magic reserves are
- ATK - your physical strength when attacking
- DEF - your physical strength when defending against an attack
- M.ATK - your magical strength when spellcasting
- M.DEF - your magical strength when defending against a spell
When you first design a character, you will be assigned stats and a level according to your character’s class and backstory. However, from every level going forward, you will be allotted a specific amount of points to distribute as you please to your stats, meaning that every character will have unique stats. Here are the experience levels required to level up: - Level 0-5 requires 100 EXP
- Level 5-10 requires 200 EXP
- Level 10-15 requires 300 EXP
- Level 15-20 requires 400 EXP
- Level 20-25 requires 500 EXP
- Level 25-30 requires 600 EXP
- Level 30-35 requires 700 EXP
- Level 35-40 requires 800 EXP
- Level 40-45 requires 900 EXP
- Level 45-50 requires 1000 EXP
Now, the big question we’ve all been waiting for…
How Do You FIGHT with stats?
*as a reminder, this is unnecessary for the monster fighting mini games, or muse vs muse battles where the players agree they don’t need to crunch numbers. This will primarily be used for major events, which are optional.
Here’s an example with Characters A and Monster B.
Character A has the following stats:
HP: 10
MP: 15
ATK: 20
DEF: 20
Monster B has the following stats:
HP: 10
MP: 0
ATK: 25
DEF: 25
The fight’s context will say who starts first; in this case, we’ll say A goes first. A has an ATK of 20, against B’s DEF of 25, so when A attacks, B still has 5 DEF left, and their HP is not touched.
If B attacks A, however, they have 25 ATK against A’s 20 DEF. A’s shielding is completely gone, and the remaining five points are taken out of their HP.
Whoever hits 0HP first is either knocked out or sent to the death realm according to the rules of the battle. Note: Some rare items can save you from a ‘killing’ blow, or instantly revive you.
Additional notes:
“What about accuracy?” one might reasonably ask.
Accuracy and the general determination of whether or not someone is able to land a hit is determined with the usual Combat Rolls. Obviously, if a hit doesn’t land you’re in luck.
There are multiple ways to increase your stats!
Armor and shields add to your DEF and M.DEF stat, and weapons can add to your ATK and M.ATK stat, based on the quality of materials they’re crafted from. Granted, unless your character has more than two hands you’re only going to have a weapon/shield or two weapons. Or, if you’re an ambitious mage, you might have two shields.
You can also increase your stats with minigame items, including refilling your HP and MP.
All spells and magical items cost a certain amount of MP, but also have a value that is added on as an increase to your M.ATK for the duration of the spell.
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