Character updates and learning new moves

[Uukan Kimari]

So one person kept yelling at me about where all this stuff I was writing came from in a tourney thread which bumped me to level 1. Yes, level 1 after four years. So I made all of the updates, but I realized all of the stuff my character grew in were unfinished or lost during the server move. Although all of it were minor edits and deflects like Uukan was blinded and had scars. Minor things, lol

Now don't get me wrong, I've been on and off Althanas since 2002 and still follow the rules since 2003 which were character updates between levels were not allowed. This isn't a question or anything, but it pissed me off because he accused me of cheating and powergaming throughout the thread and caused me to lose interest in role-playing in general. Which can account for my long hiatus.

Now in the same thread I made an change to my character. Not that it was that great of change, but I gave him the ability to see again. The mod who judged the thread said it was powergaming for learning/changing my character in the middle of the battle. Now is it just me or didn't Althanas allow growth to characters, if you explained in detail of where it came from? I think this should be rethought/reinstated. Instead of powergaming, they should gain/lose points depending on how the move is used and gained during the quest/fight. And then the mod should determine when they can gain this move in terms of levels. So when we update our profile we can link the thread and go by the judges opinion.

End of my rant.

[Bloodrose]

Was this a quest or a battle?

In my experience, pulling out new abilities or changing aspects of your characters in a battle with another player doesn't tend to fly as well as doing the same things in a solo quest or in a quest with consenting participants. Generally the rule of thumb with new abilities in quests is to develop and elaborate on how/why/to what extent your character is gaining these new skills or abilities, and then to request said skill/ability as a quest spoil.

Going about things that way will probably prevent you from getting knocked for powergaming (unless you TOTALLY overstep the bounds of your character with the new ability). At worst the quest judge will not grant you the skill as a spoil, but the judges are usually good about working with you to grant the skill, and then they let RoG handle the balancing of said skill in a level update or a mid-level update.

On that note, I'm pretty sure mid-level updates are allowed, but only in cases where you've earned a new ability through a quest spoil and want to use it prior to your next actual level update, or if you are changing significant aspects of your character that don't influence the "power" of your character.

Mid level updates where you magically add new skills out of the blue (skills not earned through a quest or similar means) are not allowed.

[Max Dirks]

The Althanaversary was a long time ago, Uukan.

Players have always been welcome to change their characters in any type of RP whether that means changing your character or adding a new ability. However, main changes that affect fairness (new abilities, weapons, or in your case, sight) are still subject to moderator approval at the conclusion of the RP. If you use the new ability in the battle where it was obtained, you risk losing points for power gaming if the judge feels the new ability was poorly developed or unfair to the other player.

After his review, Santhalas did not seem to be against the change (he merely dropped off points for unfairness). Thus, you can assume your new ability was approved. Didn't you win the battle, anyway? Sight is a major change, though, so I would definitely do a mid-level update to let people know that Uukan can now see.