Originally Posted by
Shadai
Let's lump the skills together so its easier for you to approve.
Hmmm.... Pick Pockets and slight of hand are the same thing really (I already took the liberty of combining these two). So is hide and move silently... let's call it Stealth. Lockpicking is really its own ability and so is Sneak Attack. So for Skills it looks like this so far:
Pick Pockets: Above Average
Stealth: Above Average
Lockpicking: Above Average
Sneak Attack: Below Average
Daggers: Below Average
Drawback: Wiseass (which, considering how I intend to play the character is a bigger drawback then I think you realize at this moment)
Magic: Nothing but a casting circle (which at the moment does nothing) and use of the bracer. The bracer itself is NOT magical, it is merely a focus to extend his will. Similarly to a wand used by a wizard to focus fire or become more accurate with his magic missiles. But being a beginning wizard his "use" of the bracer is severely limited. I intend to be fair in its use, it can block any attack but should I overuse or misuse the mod in charge of the thread can lower my point total as you have agreed (thank you).
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Compare that to any character. Where is the overpower? I can do neat thieving abilities but when it comes to straight combat I'm pretty much a lightweight. Thus the shield to stop insta-gib attacks so my character can get a chance to escape or at the very least live to see another day.
I guess it comes down to what we are comparing the skills to. And this applies to all new characters. What is average? Who are we comparing it to? What is the baseline? A character like Godhand? Or a level 0 peasant with a dull iron pitchfork and pension for picking his nose? A similar class, race and spec?
For that matter, is there a sliding scale? And what are those levels? It starts and below average, the rises up through average, above average, excellent, superior, best in class, godlike, godhand? And again, the issue of who or what we are comparing this to becomes an issue.
Furthermore, what constitutes a skill? Would speaking a language other then common become a skill expenditure? How about a hobby? Tradeskill? Where does the madness stop?
The creation guidlines are very clear that this site is not to "stifle creativity" but I submit by putting comparative levels and limits that is exactly what is being done. I get that the idea is to keep them all around the same combat level. That is what I intended to do, as well as the site guildlines can offer. I'm very weak at combat as Godhand was gracious enough to see and point out. Pickpocket and Lockpicking are for the most part not going to help me when Godhand is threatening me with great bodily harm. The shield will probably block only one attack before melting off my wrist and at that point I have to hope that I'm faster then the other guy he may or may not be after.
Lets play the comparative game. On one side, we have Vestagar, as I have envisioned him. On the other, we have Bob, the nosepicking level 0 peasant with an iron pitchfork. Since Bob is not a thief, I think its safe to assume that Vestagar should be spades in thieving skills such as lockpicking, picking pockets and stealth. However, Bob is pretty unassuming, so we can say that he is better at sneak attacks cause you never know when he's gonna take his finger out of his nose and slam that pitchfork into the side of your head; Besides, murder isn't Vestagar's thing. Bob clearly is going to be above average with his iron pitchfork, Vestagar is lucky if he knows what end to point at the bad guy. Bob probably hunts when he's not hunting for boogers, so he's probably got the edge in daggers too. So this isn't a bad comparison if you don't take into account that you are comparing an apple to an orange. Vestagar is clearly too powerful to be on Bob's level. He has all those thieving skills!
On the other side of the coin, we have Drac the Vampire Thief. There is nothing overpowered about vampires is there? Enhanced speed, immortal, impulsive need to use sunblock... Vestagar would be lucky to last longer then 3 seconds in Drac's world.
I'm not trying to break the system. I'm not trying to force in something that is overpowered. I'm pointing out the flaw that exists in the character creation system. You can't go by detailed rules and claim creative freedom. One simply does not exist when the other is present. But when someone comes around and stretches the limits of that creative freedom, you cannot point to non-existant rules and rhetoric and expect him not to be disappointed.
If I have no choice I will acquiescence. However, I would like to make my point and have it understood. I'm not overpowered in a combat sense. My understanding was that was what the RoG was for, to make sure everyone stayed on the same level for combat purposes; Combat that makes up 70% of this site. I simply chose to lower my effective combat rating to boost my RP skills. It was a tradeoff in my mind that made perfect, fair sense.