Althanas FAQ

Here is the format of the character sheet and some tips on filling it out:

Name:
Age:
Race:
Hair Color:
Eye Color:
Height:
Weight:
Occupation (Optional):

Personality (Optional): Give us an idea of your character’s traits. How does he or she interact with other people? What does he or she think about themselves?

Appearance: Describe your character as he or she would appear to someone else. Links to reference material is allowed, but a text description is preferred. Do not use [IMG] tags to display photos.

History: You should make your character's history as detailed and as creative as possible. The more history your character has, the more interesting stories you will be able to write about him when you begin role-playing. However, be careful not to use clichés, or other commonly used plotlines. It seems that every other character's parents were killed in some accident or murder, and that their death was what led the character to become a hero. A detailed history is not required to play, but you'll find that building one helps you to immediately jump into your story on the forums. It will also help give direction for future character growth.

Skills: Please clearly define and list every skill your character has. Skills are subjective abilities, based solely on your character's knowledge, that can have an indirect affect on another character. Common Althanas skills are swordplay or marksmanship. You may include adjectives to describe your skills as well. For example, you can make your character a "master swordsman," but realize that your equipment quality and your tangible abilities might be too low to make this claim true. Skills are not moderated by the Realm of Greeting staff on Althanas. Instead, they are moderated by the judges who read your threads. We allow you to have as many skills as you want, so long as you don't power game.

Abilities: Please clearly define and list every ability your character has. Abilities are tangible actions or traits that have a direct affect on another player. They includes magic, speed, strength, etc. Racial traits, like elfish reflexes, are also considered abilities. When considering racial traits, the moderators will ask you to compare them to a human. Each ability must be written individually on your profile. Characters can begin with three (3) abilities. This number increases as the character's level increases. Note: Control over magic of a particular type will be considered a single ability, however you will be asked what your character can do with it at each level.

Notes on Ability Combination. Recall that characters only have a certain number of abilities at each level.

-- "Stacked abilities," or individual abilities that combine to enhance the affect of the abilities, will be considered a separate, unique ability at each level. For example, a fire tornado created by combining wind and fire control would be considered stacked and would have to be listed separately of the fire and wind entries. Passive abilities (abilities that are always "on") that intentionally combine with active abilities are considered "stacked" as well. An example of this is the ability to see in darkness combined with the ability to create darkness.

-- "Sequential abilities," or individual abilities that are used one after another to create a combination result, do not count as a separate, unique ability at each level. For example, if a character uses the wind to trip a character and then throws a fireball at him while he's on the ground, this "wind-trip-ball" is not considered a unique ability and does not have to be listed. This will be moderated by typical powergaming rules (which prevent the use of too many attacks in one post).

Equipment: It is not necessary to list all traveling necessities, but if you have items unique to your character, you should describe them under this category. Remember that you will be able to purchase more equipment for your character in our market forum, the Bazaar.

Familiars (Optional): A familiar is a minor adventuring companion, usually a small animal, demon, or humanoid of some sort. This section may be skipped if you do not have one.

Althanas has no limit on races. You are welcome to choose something basic (human), something already existing in fantasy (dwarves, elves, goblins, orcs, etc.) or you can come up with your own unique race. We've had anything from nekos (half-cat, half-human), centaurs (half-horse, half-human), and even a talking cupcake! If you can think it up, you can be it!

If, however, you are coming up with a brand new race or are putting a spin on an existing race, make sure to tell us a little bit about it in your character registration thread. A "Zithra" sounds like it would be really cool, but make sure to let us know that it's a half-man, half-tiger that can breathe water or we might not know what to make of you.

• Magic and Abilities: Magic is regulated along with abilities (including racial traits) in the Realm of Greeting. Initially, you are allowed to have three (3) abilities. This number increases as your character's level increases. Remember that a with magic, control over a particular type will only be considered a single ability. An example of control over a specific type is Pyromancy (fire control) or Aquamancy (water/ice magic). A moderator will assist you in the thread if you have questions regarding how you should start out.
  
  
• Spells and “Mage” Characters: There are no limitations when it comes to variety of magic. You can have elemental magic, summoning spells, enfeebling curses, etc. You can basically use anything your mind can think up. We don't have a list of spells you can choose from, so everyone makes up their own. There are always the basic ideas that can be used, such as fireballs and freeze-rays, but the creativity and extent of the spells you can choose know no bounds.
  
  However, we do ask that you write the extent of your magical control in the ability section. This does not mean you should specify details. For example, you do not need to say "my character can build a baseball sized fireball from an existing flame that achieves a temperature of 300 degrees and can be launched 40 yards at 40 miles per hour." We will just ask for the types of things your character can do with the fire and what their effects can be. For example, "my character can use his control over fire to make small fireballs that can leave minor burns on my opponent when thrown." Judges will ensure that you're using these abilities fairly when grading your threads. Spells that can make a direct positive or negative effect on a player is considered one spell/ability and will count toward the limit of what your character can do. For example, a fire mage can summon a fireball to inflict minor burns, a fire tornado to inflict moderate burns, a fire shield to defend the character from projectiles, and can increase or decrease the size of fire. This mage has 3 spells and therefore 3 total abilities. The forth does not have a direct effect on a player and is not considered a spell or ability.
  
  
• Best or Good Starter Spells: Anything that is straightforward and easily explained. We suggest making some generic spells, like creating a light or something more flexible. The more versatile the spell, the better it can be used to your character's benefit.
  
  The clearer you are on an ability or a magic spell, the better. Carefully choosing your words will help anyone looking at your profile understand the abilities your character has.

• Material Strength: 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. It is considered to be slightly less durable and heavier than steel allowing you to balance out excessive benefits in other areas. For wooden weapons, the maximum strength can be Yew, though oak is encouraged for those with multiple skills or weapons. You don’t have to have weapons and armor that are exactly the same as steel/iron or yew/oak, as long as the relative strength of the material that you’ve created for the character are equivalent to the strength of these materials. Make sure to reference any unique materials to an equivalent tier.
  
  
• Special/Enchanted Items: Enchantments for weapons are not allowed at level 0. You can purchase them at the bazaar when you earn enough GP. Enchantments that are tied to character abilities (like directing magic through a sword, or causing invisibility) must be listed in the ability section and count towards your ability total. We do not allow weapons or armor that grow in tier as the character grows in level. Any items that have special traits that are non magical or beneficial in combat are allowed, but subject to final approval by the Realm of Greeting staff.

It is a requirement that all players on Althanas use original character concepts. While it is perfectly acceptable to borrow general details from other forms of fantasy and fiction (it is fine if you want to be an elf, for example), it is not okay to use another character as a template for your own.

If you would like to play a character that you, yourself, came up with and are using at another role-playing site, that is fine.

• Definition of Skills:
  You can have as many skills as you want and they can be described however you want. Skills are considered to be very general descriptors of a character's capabilites. A few examples would be a master with the blade, throwing proficiency, novice with alchemy, knowledge of herbalism, average blacksmithing, etc. Be careful though, as judges will be on the look out for powergaming (using your skills unfairly in combat) and inconsistency.
  
  
• Improper Use of skills:
  An example of using skills unfairly in combat would be, "Character dodges because he is a master swordsman and is able to read all opposing moves." The skill of your character should come out in what they do in the writing. A better example of the above would be, "Character leans out of the way of the jab, and snapped a trained wrist in an opposing strike towards the advancing foe's midsection." This illustrates that your character knows what he is doing in a believable way that is also more realistic.
  
  
• Creating Balance with Weakness:
  Another good thing to think about, and a way to get a little more of a power boost added to your skills/magic/abilities, is to consider allowing your character to have weaknesses. The staff that reviews and approves characters will be more likely to offer greater leeway to people that have taken time to be reasonable and allow characters to be weak to different effects. This can include something physical like bones can be broken easier, senses aren’t as strong as other people, or your character is slower/weaker than others. You can also have magical weaknesses such as allowing certain spell types to affect you more, or being within an area of magic makes you sick (which would work for a pure warrior type character). The weaknesses are really up to you, so long as they make sense to your character and are realistic for what you are working towards. Obviously, a weakness to a specific material that isn’t present on Althanas, or isn’t prevalent on the planet, won’t be a weakness taken into much consideration.

Retiring and Reincarnation:
Even with a level break, characters won't be allowed to be all powerful. Players might find that retiring a character has more benefits. Retiring a character means permanently letting go of a character either through death or transition to a publicly usable NPc (Non Player Character). This can be done at any point with any character. However, if your character is level 16 or higher, you will be entitled to the following:

1. Reincarnation - Reincarnating your character allows you to benefit from all the hard work you put into your old character and help you skip the lower levels for a new one. Reincarnated characters get 50% of the original's EXP.


2. Core Member Access - If you have not already been invited to this program, you will gain access to the Core Member forums. This is a place where staff works closely with the site's most veteran members. OOC rules are more loose here and there are many opportunities to influence site events or canon.


3. "Legendary Item" Voucher - You will be entitled to one voucher for a Legendary Item. Using this voucher, you can collaborate with staff to designate an item you currently own as an item of legend. These are items that have accomplished great deeds and have stories tied to them like none other. This will be added to the ,a href="http://www.althanas.com/world/faq.php?faq=charmakefaq#faq_retiring">Legendary Items List and all of Althanas will know your mark upon them.


4. Moderator Written Entry into the Wiki - This is much different than a player entry, for it will not be editable and will be permanent.


5. Entry into the Official Althanas Canon and Timeline - Your character's history and adventures will become a permanent part of Althanas Lore.


6. The Full Suite - The Full Suite is everything you could possibly imagine for your username. You will get a glowing name, custom title, glowing title, maximum sized PM Box, your own subforum for a mansion or manor, and one hotel/passworded thread.

Retiring/Reincarnating Lower Level Characters:
If your character is under level 16 but you would like to retire them to reincarnate to another new character, you may do so and transition 50% of the old character's EXP. Since this was done with a lower level character, you would not get the additional benefits above.