Voice - The Cursed Weapon

Name: Voice
Age: Unknown
Race: Sentient Weapon
Height: Variable
Weight: Variable
Occupation: Weapon

Personality: Voice has objectives of his own which are predominantly power orientated, few users realise this however as most of its trades come across as mere feeding habits of a cursed weapon that grants power to its user, this balance however is never equal and the weapon always takes the larger share. As such some would say the weapon is evil, certainly it has gone a little mad through time and this has come across as a cruel disregard for life except when required by the weapon for its own cause. Whether or not the cold and manipulative personality of the weapon is a true reflection of its wants and desires is something that will be determined through time.

History: At some time in the distant past Voice was enchanted, the original enchanter be it god or mage has been forgotten as was the blade that was enchanted and none now know the full story.

Through time the blade has passed from owner to owner changing shape and form and resulting in the death of countless users and the enemies that they had. In time becoming an item of great magical power, inviting true terror and death upon all that looked upon it and its user. Each time however its users would succumb and the weapon would be lost or left dormant in some place, slowly going mad in its own way until once again it would be found. This pattern repeated over and over until eventually it fell into mere legend.

In more recent years, it had sat dormant within the ocean, damaged and slowly becoming brittle with the weathering of time and tide. That was until another fished out the strange item and quickly sold it on to a local arms trader to repair and trade ….

Appearance: The natural appearance of Voice is not known but is certainly that of a bladed weapon, most likely a sword. There are no real distinctive features that mark him out from other weapons apart from the odd sensation one feels when they first connect with the blade.

Skills:
Persuasive: Voice has the ability to get into the users head, which is great for Voice as he is particularly talented in the art of subtle and sometimes quite forceful persuasion. This is predominantly in the forms of trades that Voice organises between himself and the user, usually disadvantageous to the user as the trades are arranged usually only at times of greatest need when they are in such need of power and skill that Voice can oft ask for whatever would benefit him the most.

Good Teacher: Voice is old and as such has been in many fights, so many in fact that he has picked up a great deal of martial knowledge. In rare cases users have had the foresight to ask and have been granted in exchange for suitable ‘trades’ to be taught by the blade issues in their technique, stance, etc. As with all things this eventually turns to the weapons advantage.

Abilities:

Psychic:

1) Telepathic – Voice has the ability to speak directly into the mind of the wielder when they touch the weapon. It is currently limited to touch but as it strengthens in time its influence may become wider. As voice speaks directly into the mind of the user the differences of language are irrelevant and can always be understood by any who wield.

2) Power Bargain – Voice is a magical item which seeks more power for its own purpose. It will grant power to its user in times of need if granted something of equal or greater value. The power granted will correlate directly to the value of the trade, the situation and the overall will of the weapon.

Currently the weapon is somewhat drained and needs either to draw upon someone with strong magical ability or the more readily available life force of others; this can be in the form of emotions, blood or even their life itself. As time progresses, Voice will regain strength and the amount of power he can offer (and take) will increase.

Example: At the current moment Voice can do the following:

1)
Gift: 1.25x Strength or increase by 1/4 of current level
Cost: Hightened state of emotion (usually Anger) leaving the user drained after. Progressing into 'Light Wounds' longer this is used [after 3 posts] - (each time this ability is used to land a hit / attempt a hit a new wound will open).

Once this has been gifted Voice can offer the following:

2)
Gift: 1.5x Strength or increase by 1/2 of current level
Cost: Increased state of emotion, rationality decreased and more open to suggestion from Voice.
Progressing into 'Moderate Wounds' [after 1 post] - (will need cured within 6 posts following or will result in passing out from blood loss and if not cured potential death).

Once this has been gifted Voice can offer the following:

3)
Gift: 2x Strength or double current level
Cost: Incomprehensible Rage - very little rational thought, will predominantly just aim for a target in a last ditch effort, may follow only very basic suggestions from Voice, generating 'Major Wounds' on the user each continued attack - (will need cured within 2 posts following or will result in passing out from blood loss and if not cured quickly potential death).

(May add a 4th in future levels but this would result in fatal wounds and the user would ALWAYS die).

To clarify the damage will be done to the user if the hit lands or not, they will just be granted the additional strength they require for the attempt - irrespective of their skill at wielding. The weapon is fickle that way.

Ability:

Transformation:

1) Appeal – Voice requires a user and to this end has the ability to feel the need of someone he wishes to eventually possess. If a half orc was to walk into a shop demanding a weapon, Voice would take the shape of a two handed battle axe, a soldier may result in him transforming into a long blade, etc. He cannot however divide himself and so could not become a series of throwing knives or arrows for a bow.

His influence is directly related to his contact with the user and so would not normally be used / wish to be used as a projectile.

He is also limited by size and material, Voice is predominantly metal and so would transform into metal weapons of ~ similar size and weight. As such he would not turn into a spear which is predominantly wood or a shield for the same reason.
Where his weight is slightly off what the user would expect, Voice leaks a small amount of power to the users strength to make him appear lighter and alter the users perception.


Weaknesses:

1) Inanimate - Voice is for all intents and purposes an item and though he is sentient and has power, is not able to move via his own means. He may encourage someone who touches him to pick him up and take him, he may even bargain with them persuasively, in an attempt to complete a specific objective / get to a specific location but he has no ability to move himself.

2) Strength and Durability – Voice currently is around the strength of iron and with that comes all the weaknesses that entails. As a weapon he can be chipped or even broken however he will gradually repair over time (depending on the extent of the damage) if well treated and fed enough blood.

This is the equivalent of natural healing, the difference being that Voice will have to encourage a user to provide the blood as if left sitting chipped and damaged he will remain that way unless a user intervenes.

This is due to the fact that Voice is one piece of sentient metal; if a part of him is chipped or broken off from the main whole then it is no longer a part of him in the same way as if a human lost an arm or a finger. If it were the equivalent of a scratch then a small amount of blood or a good whet stone would be sufficient. If it were a larger crack, closer to the loss of a digit or a dangerous gash a much larger offering of blood would be required to replace the lost metal. If the blade were to shatter entirely however, only strong magic would be sufficient to repair him to a usable state.

Side Note:

There is a hypothesis of a mage who once studied the blade that the sanity of the blade may also be linked to its structural integrity. They created this hypothesis while repairing the blade having located it in the ruins of an abandoned tower. The damage had started to gradually recede during the period of study; each time the Mage had introduced magic to the blade to determine its enchantments and abilities. The mage found that the blades persuasive ability and intelligence seemed mostly unaffected by the overall damage, but its emotional state, composure and value of life and situation was only seen when the blade was sound and maintained well.

CHARACTER NOTE: The plan with this character is to play as a series of NPC characters from the Weapons perspective. As discussed the first of those characters is listed below

1st NPC Character:
Nickname/Alias: (as named by Voice) 'Thief'

Age: 27
Race: Human
Height: 5'7
Weight: 126 lb / 9 stone
Occupation: Until recently they were the shop assistant to a local store owner, this has recently changed leaving them unemployed.

Personality: Thief has always been a kind hearted soul, with no real desire to hurt people or really upset people in anyway and would usually be the sort to help others more than was really necessary. He has lead a relatively sheltered existence and though he would not complain about his safe life has always wanted a bit more wonder, mystery and adventure to give his life meaning.

History: Having recently seen an odd weapon in the store that seemed to scream mystery and adventure, 'Thief' has made a decision that will change his life entirely and has found himself on the run from his home town and unsure of what he is running towards ...

Appearance: Thief has long brown hair that is tied back, brown eyes and a lithe (some would say skinny) build. He has no real muscle to speak of as the most effort they ever got was lifting items on to and off shelves and fetching the odd barrel from 'round the back'. He has never had any sort of martial training and his body shows for it.

Skills:
Thief can read, write and do rudimentary maths.
He has had some basic education from the shop owner but nothing that would really set him apart from anyone.

Ability:
'Thief' has normal level strength, constitution, dexterity, intelligence for an average human (i.e. all set to 1), he does not have any magical ability of his own.

With Voice 'Thief's' Strength will change in the following manner (as already listed above):

1)
Gift: 1.25x Strength or increase by 1/4 of current level
Cost: Heightened state of emotion (usually Anger) leaving the user drained after. Progressing into 'Light Wounds' longer this is used [after 3 posts] - (each time this ability is used to land a hit / attempt a hit a new wound will open).

Once this has been gifted Voice can offer the following:

2)
Gift: 1.5x Strength or increase by 1/2 of current level
Cost: Increased state of emotion, rationality decreased and more open to suggestion from Voice.
Progressing into 'Moderate Wounds' [after 1 post] - (will need cured within 6 posts following or will result in passing out from blood loss and if not cured potential death).

Once this has been gifted Voice can offer the following:

3)
Gift: 2x Strength or double current level
Cost: Incomprehensible Rage - very little rational thought, will predominantly just aim for a target in a last ditch effort, may follow only very basic suggestions from Voice, generating 'Major Wounds' on the user each continued attack - (will need cured within 2 posts following or will result in passing out from blood loss and if not cured quickly potential death).

Equipment/Weapons: Voice the Cursed Blade

If a character dies, I will just change the Name / Cosmetics / History as above but the character will still be base 1 to save you time re-authorising, will advise in future if looking to make any changes that are not merely cosmetic.
Can re-evaluate on leveling.

Sorry for the hassle with this one.

Okay... certainly an interesting approach to making a character here. The first big question I have is, do you intend to use this character for competitive RP at all? If you do, there's a number of things we'll need to address. If on the other hand you DON'T intend to use this character competitively at all, the process will be a bit easier. Let me know and we'll get started.

At the current moment I do not post nearly enough but looking to change this, so would not want to rule out using this character competitively if I can help it.

I suppose the easiest way to work around this would be to define limitations on the NPC's.

There would only ever be one user of the weapon at a time as it requires touch so even if there is the ability for my Power Bargain to strengthen someones Strength / Reflexes / Spell it would be limited to one thing and one person.

So in a combat scenario I would very clearly specify what type of person I was using (describe appearance as a generic fighter, etc) and this would remain throughout the combat and would not change. They would also specify within the combat (via internal monologue or otherwise) what they were strengthening X ability / spell.

The simplest option that I can think of would be for me to say that all NPC's I am using are of a very basic level so if they were all generic fighters they would all have roughly the same level of strength / constitution / etc - so that my boost to that ability would be within acceptable levels.

The more complicated users would be spell casters as I am unsure what would be the levels allowed for spells / how many so as to make them acceptable. i.e. if they would naturally have a small fire spell my power could increase this to a slightly better fire spell but it would not change type / frequency just power.

If you could suggest examples of some extremely low level spells and what my ability would allow them to raise too, I would stick to the ones suggested and use that as reference. In the first instance think I will start with Fighter / Barbarian styled characters and progress to Spell Casters as time progresses.

Let me know your thoughts or if you have a better idea on how to progress.

In order to be eligible for competitive RP characters must be approved, so the best suggestion I can make is that you include a profile of the first NPC you intend to have carrying Voice. Any time the sword changes hands, you'll need to do a mid-level update (or a regular update when applicable) to include the new character's abilities. This will probably be annoying for you and the staff, but it's the only way to put you on an even footing with potential opponents.

Have put some thought into a revision as realise this would cause a great deal of headaches for the moderators if I kept changing the attributes each time so have came up with the following revision.

2) Power Bargain – Voice is a magical item which seeks more power for its own purpose. It will grant power to its user in times of need if granted something of equal or greater value. The power granted will correlate directly to the value of the trade, the situation and the overall will of the weapon.

Currently the weapon is somewhat drained and needs either to draw upon someone with strong magical ability or the more readily available life force of others; this can be in the form of emotions, blood or even their life itself. As time progresses, Voice will regain strength and the amount of power he can offer (and take) will increase.

Example: At the current moment Voice can do the following:

1)
Gift: 1.25x Strength or increase by 1/4 of current level
Cost: Hightened state of emotion (usually Anger) leaving the user drained after. Progressing into 'Light Wounds' longer this is used [after 3 posts] - (each time this ability is used to land a hit / attempt a hit a new wound will open).

One this has been gifted Voice can offer the following:

2)
Gift: 1.5x Strength or increase by 1/2 of current level
Cost: Increased state of emotion, rationality decreased and more open to suggestion from Voice.
Progressing into 'Moderate Wounds' [after 1 post] - (will need cured within 6 posts following or will result in passing out from blood loss and if not cured potential death).

One this has been gifted Voice can offer the following:

3)
Gift: 2x Strength or double current level
Cost: Incomprehensible Rage - very little rational thought, will predominantly just aim for a target in a last ditch effort, may follow only very basic suggestions from Voice, generating 'Major Wounds' on the user each continued attack - (will need cured within 2 posts following or will result in passing out from blood loss and if not cured quickly potential death).

(May add a 4th in future levels but this would result in fatal wounds and the user would ALWAYS die).

To clarify the damage will be done to the user if the hit lands or not, they will just be granted the additional strength they require for the attempt - irrespective of their skill at wielding. The weapon is fickle that way.

Please advise if this would be acceptable ?

The issue isn't actually the abilities, it's the fact that not having your character (in this case I'm referring to the NPC wielding Voice) approved in the ROG would give you an unfair advantage in competitive RP. Because of that I'm going to have to insist that you include the details of your first NPC in this profile.

Nickname/Alias: (as named by Voice) 'Thief'

Age: 27
Race: Human
Height: 5'7
Weight: 126 lb / 9 stone
Occupation: Until recently they were the shop assistant to a local store owner, this has recently changed leaving them unemployed.

Personality: Thief has always been a kind hearted soul, with no real desire to hurt people or really upset people in anyway and would usually be the sort to help others more than was really necessary. He has lead a relatively sheltered existence and though he would not complain about his safe life has always wanted a bit more wonder, mystery and adventure to give his life meaning.

History: Having recently seen an odd weapon in the store that seemed to scream mystery and adventure, 'Thief' has made a decision that will change his life entirely and has found himself on the run from his home town and unsure of what he is running towards ...

Appearance: Thief has long brown hair that is tied back, brown eyes and a lithe (some would say skinny) build. He has no real muscle to speak of as the most effort they ever got was lifting items on to and off shelves and fetching the odd barrel from 'round the back'. He has never had any sort of martial training and his body shows for it.

Skills:
Thief can read, write and do rudimentary maths.
He has had some basic education from the shop owner but nothing that would really set him apart from anyone.

Ability:
'Thief' has normal level strength, constitution, dexterity, intelligence for an average human (i.e. all set to 1), he does not have any magical ability of his own.
With Voice 'Thief's' Strength will change in the following manner:

1)
Gift: 1.25x Strength or increase by 1/4 of current level
Cost: Heightened state of emotion (usually Anger) leaving the user drained after. Progressing into 'Light Wounds' longer this is used [after 3 posts] - (each time this ability is used to land a hit / attempt a hit a new wound will open).

One this has been gifted Voice can offer the following:

2)
Gift: 1.5x Strength or increase by 1/2 of current level
Cost: Increased state of emotion, rationality decreased and more open to suggestion from Voice.
Progressing into 'Moderate Wounds' [after 1 post] - (will need cured within 6 posts following or will result in passing out from blood loss and if not cured potential death).

One this has been gifted Voice can offer the following:

3)
Gift: 2x Strength or double current level
Cost: Incomprehensible Rage - very little rational thought, will predominantly just aim for a target in a last ditch effort, may follow only very basic suggestions from Voice, generating 'Major Wounds' on the user each continued attack - (will need cured within 2 posts following or will result in passing out from blood loss and if not cured quickly potential death).

Equipment/Weapons: Voice the Cursed Blade

If a character dies, I will just change the Name / Cosmetics / History but the character will still be base 1.
Can re-evaluate on leveling.

This has become rather messy. Would you please edit all relevant information into the first post so I know what I'm looking at?

Sorry for all the hassle on this one, have updated the first post to try and bring all the information together.

Thank you for your time looking through it.

Sorry for the delay, I am working on this, but the unique nature of the character makes it a little more difficult. One thing I will ask is that your remove any repetition from the profile. So don't list the strength related ability twice, just the first time is fine. Having things repeated like that makes the profile a lot harder to read, and it would become very confusing down the line. I'll get back on this soon.

As this has been outstanding since December, I am locking it and moving it to the archive. Please contact a moderator if you wish to revisit this profile.