Character Creation/General FAQ

[Cyrus the virus]

Before you ask a question, please check here to see whether or not it's been answered already. If you want more details on an answer, you can post that as a question in the 'Questions?' thread as well. This is basically here as a quick reference point.

Use CTRL+F to search for a specific keyword if you're looking for something specific.

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IMPORTANT:

These are the EXP levels you need to achieve to get to each level, now don't ask for them again!

Level 1
2,000

Level 2
5,000

Level 3
9,000

Level 4
14,000

Level 5
20,000

Level 6
27,000

Level 7
35,000

Level 8
44,000

Level 9
54,000

Level 10
65,000

Level 11
77,000

Level 12
90,000

Level 13
104,000

Level 14
119,000

Level 15
135,000

ALSO IMPORTANT:

This is the battle formula used to calculate EXP.

Where "X" is the level of the opponent, and "Y" is the level of the lower-level character:

Winner- Battle Score * (X*2) *2 + 200
Loser- Battle Score * Y
Tie- Winner Equation (opponent's level is the lower-level character's)


Where do we read about the history of Althanas to get a better idea of the environments we are posting in to make it feel more realistic or at home for the reader?

The Timeline (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=321) is a good place to start, as Bohemia said, but I'm aware that some things there are vague. Some regions have really detailed histories, Raiaera probably being the best example, and you can find threads about the histories within the regions, usually in the general region forum, not in a sub.

Timeline's probably your best bet for what you're asking, though.


How many abilities can you have and at what power?

This question is both easy and difficult to answer at the same time. The main issue here is moderator discretion. An RoG moderator is given the leeway to approve characters based on their judgement, depending on what level you are. In theory, you could have anywhere between 1 and 10 abilities, but the more you have, the weaker they'd all have to be. Does that make sense?

With swordplay and weapon ability, you can generally have average skill with one primary weapon (and less than average skill with secondary weaponry) if you have other abilities. It honestly depends on how many other skills you have, and how 'good' they are for battle use.

Say I have a healing spell that restores a portion of my energy. It can be used around 3 times per thread, let's say. Given the usefulness of that spell, I'd likely only be allowed to have below average skill in one weapon, and if I wanted more weapon skills they'd have to be lower. This is how I, as a judge, would look at it. It's all about balance and moderator judgement.

But if I have no magic and just some small racial abilities, like slightly advanced hearing and smell, I could be awarded slightly above average skill in two different types of weaponry, or perhaps just one.

We're really pretty flexible. If you want to be specifically skilled in one area for some reason, an approvals moderator can work with you to limit your character's other abilities so that good ability with a sword can be awarded.

I look at a level 0 as the equivilent of an NPC Lietenant in a small army in skill. That probably doesn't help you out too much, but just letting you know that I do have an idea of how to guage power with level 0's.


i remember at the old althanas there was some sort of character creation guide. is there any way to pull that out of the lost nether regions of the internet?

Did you mean this (http://www.althanas.com/world/showthread.php?t=251), Telum? If you think a more extensive guide would help, I'd be more than willing to write one up.


What is, generally, the wanted length of profiles, including and discluding the history.

Storyline information goes in the history. Length doesn't matter, but if you provide length just for the sake of providing length, it can be a pain.

But if you feel it's necessary to have a long profile, that's fine. Just make sure your skills and equipment are in plain view and easy to find at a glance. Provide enough information on your abilities so that they are understandable, but don't confine your skills to one specific way of usage.

For instance, instead of a fireball spell, you may have the ability to create fire that is the size of a fireball, and manipulate the flames in whatever way you like. You could choose to attack with the fireball, or simply light a torch.

[Cyrus the virus]

I have questions about mages:
~What are the spell limitations on mages?

~Do spells count as skills?

~Is there a list of spells one has, or do they make their own?

No limitations when it comes to type of magic and stuff. You can have elemental magic, summoning, enfeebling magic, pretty much anything you can think up can be made to be perfectly fair and fun all at the same time.

Spells count as skills, yeah. As a mage you can understandably have more spells than a swordsman would.

Make up your own spells, anything you like. Nothing too powerful at level 0, like super earthquakes that destroy mountains, of course. But yeah, we don't have a list of spells you can choose from, you make up your own.

[Cyrus the virus]

Let's say we had a character on Althanas a long time ago. I'm talking both crashes ago. If we still have record of the exp/gold/etc of what the character had, is it still groovy to re-reg them?

Two crashes ago? That's a long time, so I'm going to have to say no unless you have a screenshot of the page with the EXP over the avatar and such. Or if you can find it using Google.

Provide a link to your old profile, which you'd likely find in the Google 'cache', and everything'll be dandy.


I've seen in the character registration a short part descriping battle, exp.

My question is, how the battles take place?

I mean, you cannot fight to the death when we're playing RPG like this.

And by the way, is a profile deleted if it has been inactive for a while?

You can check out some battles in 'The Citadel' in 'Corone' to see how they work, if you like. Basically, you launch your attacks, but aren't allowed to say whether they hit your opponent or do any damage. Your opponent decides whether they get hit or manage to dodge, parry, etc.

This would be a problem if we judged battles based on who wins IC (In Character), but we judge battles based on writing skill and the way a writer makes his character fight.

So yes, you can very well fight to the death. My character's died three or four times in the Citadel. Thankfully, combatents who die there are revived by the 'monks'.

If a profile is not approved and is inactive for two months, it is deleted, yes. But they can be recovered. It's encouraged to start a new one, however, as the character might no longer be fresh in your mind after a long period of inactivity without ever writing with him. Approved profiles are not deleted.


I just realized, in my 5 years with you people, I never knew the answer to this question.

If there is one, what is the max level a character can acheive?

Twenty, though it used to be fifty. To be honest, if someone gets to level 20 and wants to go higher, we probably won't stop them. But just getting to that kind of level would take a lot of time, so we'll face the issue when we get to it.

Knowing Althanas the way I do, though, I'm confident that we wouldn't ever have a 'maximum level'.


Alright, heres another: What are the abilities on a character registration that a person should be wary of or should use better wording when presenting it?

Anything that isn't straight forward, really. I suggest making some generic spells, like creating a light or something, more flexible so they'll have more than one way of being useful, if you get what I mean.

But the more clear you are on an ability, the better. Carefully choosing your words will help anyone looking at your profile understand the abilities your character has.

[Arawn]

Can I make my history really really long to include my skills and items within it?

Thoracis: "A very long, extended history is great. We love to see characters that are well thought out and obviouslly took some time to create. This shows us that you care about your character, care about your writing, and intend on spending some time using that character. At the same time we have a group of RoG Moderators who have to get to as many profiles as they can each day. In no way am I advocating that people strive to make shorter, less detailed profiles, but after finishing your profile, if you read it over and feel there are some things that are less important to your registration and could perhaps be brought out later in a quest/s, please take it into consideration.

A character's history is not one of the criteria for whether or not a character gets approved or not (The one exception being if you blatently ripped off your story/character from someone else). So, for the ease of both the RoG Mod looking at your profile and for the sake of any future RP partners searching for your abilities, gear, skills, and so on, please have well defined sections containing these categories in your profile. There have been instances where people muddle up all the criteria for approval into an extremely long history and it makes it difficult on everyone. For that reason I'm going to instruct all the RoG Mods from now on to request that you have clearly defined your skills, gear, abilities, and spells where they are easily identified and reviewed."



Once I post my profile, should I hit the 'Submit Thread for Judging' link at the bottom?

Cyrus the virus: "The 'Submit Thread for Judging' link at the bottom of a post is not for character profiles. This link is only used for submitting completed quests or battles for judging. With profiles, you make the necessary edits as decided by the approval moderator, then simply post in your thread again to let us know you edited."

[Cyrus the virus]

Is there any limits, how strong you may make your weapons as a level 0, like using titanium and mythril.

Weapons and armor can be as strong as steel and no stronger, when you are registering a new character. Iron is encouraged if you have a lot of skills or many pieces of equipment, because it's considered to be slightly less durable and heavier.


What is considered the proper etiquette for posting in someone else's thread? If they have a quest going and there's no mention of a "solo," are we allowed to just toss ourselves into the fray, as it were? Or do we need to ask permission . . .

Generally, you should only do that with threads that specify being "Open" somewhere.

If there's no specification whatsoever, it's best to contact the thread leader before acting.


How do you gain experience points?

When you finish an In-Character thread (battle or quest), someone will judge it and give you a score ranging from 1 to 100.

At that point, you'll be given EXP based on the thread's score and length. In the case of battles, you get considerably more EXP for winning than for losing. It should be noted, too, that winning a battle is done by scoring higher, not by having your character 'beat' another.


What is the limit -- spoken or assumed -- for the number of threads a character can be involved in? If there isn't an actualy rule that explicitly states:
" Thou shalt take part in no more than two threads at a time."

is there a standard of involved-ness that most people follow?

Nope. You can be in as many threads as you like, but try not to spread yourself too thin or it'll be hard to keep up.