Greetings fellow writers and welcome to the World of Althanas! This will be a comprehensive guide on how you can quickly get your character approved with little to no hassle. Participants in the ToC will be allowed to register their characters at level 5. This may not mean much to you newcomers to the site, but don’t let the seemingly low level discourage you. It takes quite some time and dedication to reach 5 on Althanas, so consider it a perk for our visitors.
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The first thing you have to do to be approved is detail your character. This is the basic outline we use on Althanas. You don’t have to use it, but just remember to keep your profile neat and organized.
Name:
Age:
Sex:
Height:
Weight:
Hair Colour:
Eye Colour:
Occupation:
Personality:
Appearance: A good description of what your character looks like, including any scars, tattoos or the clothes that he wears. If those clothes double as armor, they need to be included in the armor section as well.
Weapons: These are the weapons that your character carries. All of them. Give them a description, intricate or simple, whichever makes you happy. Definite list anything special about your weapons, including enchantments or extra abilities i.e. never grows dull.
Armour: All of them armor your character wears. Like weapons, makes sure to list anything special about it.
Skills and Abilities: Here you need to clearly define and list all of the skills and abilities that your character possesses, such as swordsmanship, archery, and magic. You need to describe what spells do what when performed, but feel free to leave these spells open ended so that you’re sphere of light can not only be thrown at an enemy, but can also be used to light a dark passageway.
History: Rather straight forward, as much or as little information about your characters history.
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Second, you'll have to limit your character's skills, abilities, weapons and armor to that of a level 5 character. So what does being level 5 mean to you? Well, it means you’re allowed to have a far more developed and stronger character, with more abilities and skills than typical level 0 registrations on Althanas.
Before we go any deeper, it's probably best to give some important definitions. Skills are inherent character traits (i.e., you run fast or have super strength), abilities are actions that have external affects on your character or others (i.e. fireballs, explosions, healing). You may give your characters a fair number of skills and abilities, but keep in mind that the more you have the weaker they will become. You cannot be a master of everything, after all. The goal with a level 5 character is to strike a balance that is fair to all others at that level, thus we use a sort of balancing test to determine whether your character will be approved.
The basis for the level 5 balancing test for skills is "average," where average equals the amount of training a regular member of that class (soldier, mage, etc.) would have. The ratings that you can give to a skill, from highest to lowest are: poor, below average, average, above average, advanced, expert, master and legendary. So basically we use the balancing test as such: say you decide you want your level 5 character to have 5 skills. One of those skills is legendary (like super strength). In order to balance your character to get it approved with all 5 skills (including super strength), you might have to make the other skills poor or below average or just drop others off completely.
These are several examples from different level 5 profiles with links provided to each on the different skill levels with their weapons.
Taken from Witchblade’s Level 5 update.Quote:
Fighting Style: Witch is mainly a melee fighter. She prefers to face her enemy than attack them from the shadows like a coward. All of her weapons are melee weapons in support of this and she’s also a very capable fighter when it comes to hand to hand combat, having advanced knowledge of fighting freehanded. She is very adept with all her weapons, having practiced them in life and death situations many times, but she is also quite resourceful with her surroundings. Put almost any kind of melee weapon in her hand and she’ll have a general understanding of how to use it.
• Daggers – Witch has now mastered the use of her daggers.
• Sais – She has advanced knowledge of how to use her sais.
• Projectiles – She has above average abilities with these projectiles, but she can easily increase this to Advanced with the use of her telekinesis.
• Staff – She’s had her staff for a while but barely uses the thing, as such she only has average knowledge of this weapon.
• Claws – These weapons coming naturally to her, Witch has advanced knowledge of how to use them.
• Swordsmanship – Swords were never a weapon that Witch enjoyed using, but used she has a few times. Still, she is no better than the average person when it comes to using a long blade.
Taken from Call me J’s Level 5 update.Quote:
Advanced combat: Jame learned the basics of combat from a Sora house matriarch known as Anila. Now he has gained enough experience with his claymore that he could be considered moderately talented with the weapon. It would suffice to say he is above average, though his unorthodox styles and creative thinking may give him advantages over others.
Unarmed combat: Jame is capable of doing a few things in unarmed combat to severely impair a foe. He is capable of delivering ferocious one handed slams to the ground when he brings his own body down with it. The impact is capable of stunning people for at least three seconds, though generally longer. Jame is also capable of twisting people’s legs around his knee and pressing on them so hard that the pain is practically unbearable.
Abilities are balanced the same way as skills, minus the adjectives. A good way to measure the damage of abilities, is light, moderate and heavy. Light damage would consist of bruises, scratch and small cuts. Moderate damage would produce deep cuts, some broken bones, muscles and internal damage, while heavy damage to basically loss of limb or other vital damage to the body in whatever way the skill provides. You'll have to determine the strength and range of your ability based off of "light" damage, or something similar.
These are some examples of different character abilities at Level 5:
Taken from Karuka Tida’s update.Quote:
Clairvoyance:
Karuka, despite having lost her ability to actively divine, remains the heir to a long line of women with foresight. At this point, this ability will let her see happenings in the world, whether or not they relate to her, but will typically only be the very bad things and will come at the cost of a debilitating headache. She cannot control when they come, but they tend to come when she has nothing else to occupy her mind.
She can also see things as they relate directly to her, giving her a second's warning or two in combat when she's about to be attacked. Having learned quickly what it means, she's now quick to move once she gets a premonition of danger.
Clairvoyance Subskill: True Sight:
Karuka can see ghosts and their ilk as they truly are, as well as lingering magical energies from spells and the like used before she was there. She can also see living souls if actively looking for them. Animals and people show up as figures of light, humanoids brightest of all.
Woodland lore:
Having been raised as a Druid, Karuka can find her way more easily through wilderness than civilization, and can recognize various plants as good for food, medicine, or poison.
Summoning the Totem: When searching for the Heart of Scara Brae in the Liviol Sanctum, Karuka somehow received a small totem of the Sanctum's guardian cat. The totem will allow her to summon the cat twice for a period of 2 consecutive posts in a battle or two minutes in a quest, whenever [color="blue]and where ever,[/color] she chooses, so long as it's within her line of sight. She can also tell the cat who and where to attack if she wishes.
Like Minds: Karuka naturally has a high empathy, and as such this lets her and almost any beast understand each other's wills. She can't use this to harm the creature, merely to keep it still or maybe send it off. Conversely, she may be able to soothe the beast.
Taken from Godhand’s update.Quote:
Colossus Strength: Godhand now has the ability to lift a maximum of up to 9001 pounds. He can also snap Mythril and bend Titanium. (Albeit not without some difficulty.)
Increased attributes: As a result of his exhaustive physical training, Godhand's speed and reaction time have been upgraded to about twice that of the average human.
Weapons Training: Godhand gains great skill for any weapon he's possessed for three or more levels. This ability works retroactively.
Wendigo Immunity: Due to Godhand's peculiar biological make-up, he has developed an immunity to any form of skill absorbing attack. None of the swordsman's abilites may be assimilated in any way, shape, or form unless the exchange is done willingly on his part.
Wall Run: As a result of his extensive martial arts training, Godhand has discovered that he has the ability to focus himself and achieve extraordinary results. The first application he has uncovered is one which effectively frees him from gravity's effects. It allows him to run at full speed on a vertical surface for 40 feet.
Note: Due to his inexperience with the nature of this focused state, the swordsman must also employ his body's physical prowess to its fullest. He is unable to walk on a vertical surface; it must be a run or he'll simply fall.
Obtained From Quest:
Pheromone Aura: During the events of Something Wicked This Way Comes, Godhand was forced to spend a large amount of time in close proximity to an enormous concentration of lustful Moontae Succubi. As a result of the density and unrelenting tide of pheromones, much of the chemical managed to literally get under his skin. As a result, when members of the opposite sex are in proximity to Godhand they are irresistibly drawn to him. The lower the other character’s level, the stronger the effects with a female of level four already enthralled by him fairly intensely. As of the moment he has no idea he possesses this skill. It is passive and constantly in effect.
At a level of five, characters may possess a few abilities that can perform a heavy amount of damage, some that perform moderate and many that perform light damage. Notice that I’m not giving an exact number here? It’s tough to limit character profiles to have only this many abilities. So like before, the less you have, the stronger they may be, but the more you have the more variety you have to choose from. Characters can also have abilities that give them resistances to certain magics, poisons, weather conditions, etc. as well as being able to augment their strength, speed, dexterity, and agility.
Finally, the average material (metals and woods for weapons and armor) will be steel and yew for the tournament. The tier listing can be found here. If your material is not on a list, just give us a comparative relationship to steel (on the chart). Choose your weapon well because trips to the bazaar between rounds are NOT allowed for the full duration of the tournament. Thus the weapons and armor you start with are the weapons and armor you finish with. Likewise, judges will not grant weapon, armor or item rewards after the battles.
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Third, after you've made your character sheet, post it into a new thread in the Character and Team Registration Forum. That's all there is to it. After you've posted the thread, one of our tournament moderators will review your character sheet, and if they feel it needs to be more detailed or limited in anyway, they'll ask you to change it. All requested changes should be edited into the original and then you should post to let a moderator know the changes have been made.
When a moderator determines that your character sheet is acceptable, they will then approve you and you may register your team in the Althanas Invitational (when the registration opens, of course). Remember that when your thread is approved, it will be placed in the Registration Archive - so if you're wondering where your profile is, it's in there.
If you have questions about registration, please check the information kiosk.
