Gladuos

Agree to disagree then, I don't prefer rolling for every interaction. Combat can be done by common sense and chatting instead, which I find a lot more authentic personally.

Like I said, players may use rolling for said instances where the outcome is uncertain. However, I'd recommend just compromising and flowing with the roleplay over rolling if you can help it. Roleplay > Rollplay.

You have learned well, my son.

>When the wizard reaches critical mass at 20 emotes charging a spell (don't do this btw)

[[EDIT/FOREWARNING: This guide is beginning to age, so I implore anyone reading to please check the relevant server rules or lores before taking anything in this guide as fact. Thanks 👍]] [Obligatory Epic Combat Music] Introduction: I’ve noticed lately that many people are disillusioned with combat RP, or tend to call it a mess. I’d definitely agree, so I’m writing this to act as a guideline should anyone choose to use it. This post will be a number of suggestions that’ll hopefully convince you to give combat RP another chance, as I feel it can be very entertaining if done right. I personally employ the following guidelines when doing combat RP, and am an avid magic user. Considering I’ve been doing this since Aegis, I believe there are quite a few things I can teach. Everything below is completely optional, and feel free to do some tinkering to best suit your individual RP. Regardless, thanks in advance for reading! [Copyright Wizards of the Coast] Combat: There are ways I like to split up how a combat encounter should go. As a personal fan of dungeons and dragons, I’ve incorporated several things which you might find familiar. Keep in mind, every combat is different and you’re completely free to change things up to keep pace with the other players around you. I just like using the system here as a default, should you want something to fall back on. Combat is split up into instances I like to call ‘rounds’, wherein all players emote at least once before continuing from the first player again. It normally varies, but I consider each ‘round’ to consist of about 6 seconds. Put more simply, one emote lasts for roughly 6 seconds. In a round, wait for everyone to emote once before continuing with another of your own, starting another round. As for the emote itself, I split it up into 3 sections. Main action, reaction, and movement. Main actions are anything that would take up the most work or concentration in an emote. This can be something such as pulling a lever, thrusting a blade, drawing an item, focusing on a spell, or even activating an enchantment. Things will often require more than one emote to do, requiring consecutive rounds using the main action to work towards. For example, spells usually take multiple emotes to complete, and thus the main action is expended each time to work towards that final goal. A recurve bow might take 3 emotes to knock an arrow, take aim, and shoot. A heavier weapon such as a maul might take an initial emote to rear back in preparation for a strike, and then another emote to send it towards the opponent. Reactions consist of actions made in response to something another character is doing against you. Something which could count is lifting your shield to block an incoming swing from a sword, only to use your main action to thrust your sword back at him as a counter attack. Another example would be trying to dodge an incoming boulder cast at you by a wizard, or leaping out of the way of hazards. Usually the latter will take up more energy and time, thus invalidating the potential to use your main action, so keep things like that in mind! Also you can’t really use up a ‘reaction’ unless there’s something to actually respond to. Movement is much more intuitive than the last two sections. It’s just a character’s ability to traverse the environment around them. For an average fellow, I like to put them at about 4 blocks maximum in the course of a single emote. This can be slower or faster depending on the character’s situation, or abilities. A druidic shapeshifter might be able to move much faster because their animal is fast, or a person might be on a mount such as a horse, thus having the higher movement speed. Movement can be useful in situations such as when a warrior has to step up to an opponent and then use their main action to cut at them with a blade. Speaking can be done somewhat freely during a ‘round’ too. Just be certain it’s few enough words to fit within the short time that would be involved (usually 6 seconds). It may be difficult to speak fluently if you’re already highly focused on some other task at hand. The situation is king, and so are your brains. When it comes to determining how long something will take, or how many emotes, try to use logic. If you think some condition affecting your character might impede them from moving, taking a main action, or reacting, then simply opt out of it if it seems fair (such as not moving because you’re being grappled). When it comes to RP fights, you have to be reasonable and willing to compromise with other players. There’s more about this in the ‘courtesy’ section. [Fireball by erlanarya] Magic: Onto the most loved and hated (usually hated) topic of combat RP: magic. Magic can be used quite effectively in combat, and in a fair manner if done properly. This is done by primarily understanding time and effort in spellcasting, then subsequently RPing in a way which impacts the conflict. Anyone can use my following proposition for magic in combat, if they wish. Though unofficial, it relates to the tier system. That shouldn’t matter however, since this guide is also unofficial. I like to split up mana pools by a number of ‘units’ of power according to your current tier. A mage’s total units should equal twice their current tier. So if you’re a T1 mage, you have 2 units of power, if you’re a tier 2, 4 units, and so on. How powerful a spell is is described in tiers such as a tier 1 powered water splash or tier 4 powered illusion. How many tiers a spell equates to is how many units it will expend from your overall mana pool. In the prior situation, a tier 4 illusion would cost 4 units of power. This all means a mage can only cast two of their most powerful spells before being completely incapacitated (I’m talking unconscious or too tired to move significantly). The number of emotes required to cast a spell are usually more than one. Typically any mage requires their initial ‘connection’ emote, followed by whatever charging emotes proceed it to do their spell. Whenever at tier 5 strength, I like to roleplay that a spell requires at least 1 emote per tier of power it holds, with a minimum of 2 needed. Meaning, a tier 5 spell requires at least 5 emotes to cast, and a tier 1 would require 2. This system works well for RPing time and effort when the mage only has one tier 5 magic. However, it gets a little confusing if you’re not tier 5, or have different tiered magics. So remember, this is just a guideline and feel free to use whatever logic makes sense for your individual spell. I’d suggest that it takes 5 emotes for your most potent spell, and at minimum 2 for your weakest ones. Also, don’t cast your most powerful spell more than twice before reaching maximum fatigue. Magic is a powerful thing to use while in combat, so be mindful to always RP the consequences of fatigue. Finally, casting a spell normally requires consistent focus to do correctly. It’ll expend all your main actions until the correct number of emotes have been achieved, and inhibit your other options. As you’re having to focus on a spell, your movement might as well be halved to indicate walking (2 blocks). Except for simple talking and walking, there aren’t many things you can do when charging a spell. I heavily discourage anyone from trying to charge spells past the standard 5 emotes, approximately. Though there isn’t any rule against charging a spell for 10 emotes and blasting an entire area of people, it should be avoided for the sake of courtesy. [Photo by Paul Keely] Courtesy: Onto the most important section of accomplishing a fair combat RP: Knowing how to compromise with one another, and keeping your priorities straight! Everyone should know that the most crucial thing is to keep a professional, level head no matter what. Remember that we’re all here to have fun, and build an amazing story together via an interactive roleplay medium. When in a fight and considering your emotes, sometimes you might feel unsure. Whether it’s something you’re trying to do, or something your opponent RPed, it’s always good to try PMing them to ask questions. These questions can be, “Do you think this would make sense?” or along the lines of, “Is it okay if my character tried doing this?” to ensure the both of you are on the same page with what’s going on in your RP. Now, I say to PM the other player because it keeps the overall smoothness of the RP intact. When you go into LOOC to talk about something that involves no one else, you clutter the chat and invite the possibility for an on-going out of character conversation. That may be good and needed sometimes, if it involves multiple characters, but I would try to avoid using LOOC as much as you can. In the worst case scenario, it has a tendency to devolve things into bickering between players. So go for the PM first! There are times when, despite trying to communicate, that the players just aren’t sure for the outcome of an interaction. This is where I like to utilize the rolling system. It may not be for everyone, and lots of people prefer to solely use roleplay. That’s fair, and one should never use rolling to determine every interaction of a combat, but it has its uses. If the result of something truly is uncertain, a contest of rolls may be needed to figure it out. Do your best not to fall back on this too much though! Don’t forget to use vocabulary such as ‘attempts’ or ‘tries’ when writing out your emotes. I know this is one of the simplest things to remember, but sometimes people just don’t. It’s awful to try RPing for your opponent, so be mindful with how you word things. A willingness to lose is key for any combat RP. I’ve seen fights go on and on for hours with the most ridiculous emotes before just because the players were OOCly desperate to win. This is a bad thing to do. Not only does it promote animosity, but it results in messy fights that will never end. All players, especially the aggressors, should know that the server is about having fun for everyone. There’s nothing wrong with being a graceful loser, as often times failure results in more entertaining roleplay! So go out there and lose, people. It’s for the best, and you might even have fun. [The Alchemist by Miles Pinkney] Tips: Sometimes a conflict will become overwhelming because there are too many people. It’s easy to be flavorful with your emotes and refer to someone as a “redheaded elf” or “short bald man”, but they might not notice this in the heat of the moment. To counter this, if you’re a VIP, I suggest using the bold formatting to highlight a character’s name in your emote. So if you’re trying to stab Richard, his name is bold and easily catches his eye. Another option is to take fighting partners while in conflict. If it’s 3 isolated instances of 1 vs. 1 instead of 6 going at it in a chaotic mess, it’s much easier to understand what’s going on. Just like everything in this guide, this isn’t needed and it’s likely you’ll end up breaking apart somewhere in the combat anyway. It’s just a nice way to keep things semi-orderly for a while. Some magics have specific lore for how many emotes, and how exhausting certain spells are. It’s best to use that as the standard instead of defaulting to my systems above! If it’s non-specific, you may use my system. In the worst case scenario where all players are bickering in LOOC, and no RP is happening, don’t be a stranger to voiding the entire thing. It’s easy to get very aggressive and angry, but I want to remind everyone that most times combat is highly irrelevant. Putting things into perspective, sometimes the roleplay just isn’t worth all the hate and anger. Do a modreq if needed, but it’s always an option to suggest voiding as well so everyone can just move on. Examples of RP: -An ideal ‘round’ of combat between Richard, Sigmund, and Vanessa: -Now an ideal, and small example of a novice mage trying to cast a tier 3 firebolt at a pesky brigand: Conclusion: So when all’s said and done, this piece can be summarized in a few short words. Be reasonable with your actions in combat, give everyone a chance to emote, be responsible with how you RP magic, and remember to stay courteous with one another. There are numerous ways you can improve everyone’s combat experience, and not all of them are included in this post. I welcome all of you to attempt finding them. Feel free to use this guide as something to help you find a standard for combat roleplay, and don’t be scared of changing things around. It’s only a guide, not a set-in-stone rulebook. I hope you’ve found this useful, and please spread it around if you think it’ll help others too! I can only wish I’ve managed to improve at least one person’s time on this server through this guide, created by my long time spent here. Remember, LotC is a collective story-telling medium and we’re all here to have fun. Combat shouldn’t be an exception. Thanks for reading!

Why are you such a brainlet? Is Kasfer ever going to PK? Grey should've just been content to be Tichar's buddy . . . What happened to Terrence? Is he alive? What's your favorite color? What's 2+2 quik maf You know I kid when I joke at you and be mean don't hate me ily

Edits have been made in attempts to meet the LT's standard. Read the primer placed at the beginning for a short summary. Ready for review again. Thanks!

Velulaei reads the small note pinned nearby, blinking. "Some people just don't read..."

I am in support of this. The only problem I'm seeing are the possible fears of it becoming too widespread of a magic by being freely teachable, but I personally have no issue with that. The magic has been pretty exclusive, and anyone wanting it to remain exclusive seems only interested in themselves. No offense.

Can you relax please, this lore isn't waging war against your style of life. I'd much rather not go back and forth with you about this or go on and on about these trivial points. Call it a difference of opinion, but I don't think my lore is bad.

Reread the lore and comments above, it doesn't seem like you looked closely. People CAN know you're reincarnated in-character. It gives things a new persona couldn't such as vague memories and IC interactions through Ascended or Aeriel. Furthermore, I initially wrote this lore without the need of an application, but it was denied due to the LT's fear of it being abused. This is a quick and easy way to remedy that issue. Applications aren't hard, people.

-May inherit similar traits, mannerisms, or ideals as their past lives but memories will always be vague. No recollection of faces, words, important details, etcetera may be recovered even with the aid of magic. Cannot have a large amount of memories either, only a select few (meaning around 3 maximum). I gotchu, fam.

The point is they can retain some things a new persona can't, like the vague recollections from past lives. As well as being able to be confirmed IC by Aeriel or Ascended as a true reincarnation. I tried submitting this without requiring an application last time, but the LT denied it for fear of the lore being abused. So here we are.

Small Primer: A Cycle of Rebirth [Ritual by AgentWills] -An artist’s painted depiction of the relative center, a place wherein all souls pass to their eternal afterlives. ~~~ Aeriel in her domain looks down on the many souls left lingering, over-populating and discontent. They are left in complete stagnancy, forever trapped beyond the Veil. To them, Aeriel is a kind mistress, and a solemn one. Little do they know a mercy she can afford them, however. A Secret held deep within her golden city. ~~~ Reincarnation: Reincarnation is the process by which dead souls can find their way back into the material realm as new beings entirely. This includes the souls which are left stuck in the soul stream gathered up by the Caretaker of Souls Aeriel in her golden city or even the souls which refuse their earned afterlife in favor of returning, albeit changed. Aeriel in her mercy or honor, sometimes offers these souls a method to re-enter the system as a whole, healthy soul. Why Aeriel does this is not entirely known, though it is likely she chooses to do this over letting souls remain separated from the natural cycle. For the honored dead, likely out of respect in letting them return to the beginning of the soul’s journey instead of staying complacent beyond the Veil. When a soul is made reincarnated by Aeriel’s choosings, it is effectively stripped entirely bare save for some of its core essence. This essence is rearranged and invisibly sent to the mortal realm to be fused with the fledgling essence of an infant at conception. In this way the soul is reforged into something entirely new, yet with pieces of its previous existence deep and dormant within itself. The being is then left behind to be reborn, allowed to grow up and experience life again as they wish: as a different, complete spirit and person. Put shortly, it is effectively Aeriel soul-recycling people to be born again instead of letting them sit around in the soul stream. Given as a gift to the worthy dead (neutrals or holies) upon request so they may be born again to live another life. This wouldn’t affect all souls in the soul stream as Aeriel treats it as a rarer mercy or gift, and even the Caretaker, as powerful as she may be, couldn’t round up all the souls of the dead there. This doesn’t mean all new souls entering the world are recycled ones either, it’s meant to be a more uncommon occurrence. ~~~ [Reincarnation by Jort Braam] -A wandering soul being restructured and stripped by the powers of the Arch-Aengul herself. ~~~ Effects on Roleplay: Anyone brought back in this way would experience nothing of their former self. All the reincarnated are made into entirely new people, ones with their own feelings, thoughts, emotions, and memories. There is almost no trace of what was the prior soul, broken down and intermingled with the energies of the parents which bore them. To them, it is as though they are no different from the myriad spirits inhabiting Aos or Eos. This is how it would seem, however there are a few minor and nigh-unnoticable effects reincarnation can have on a new descendant. They may have a tendency towards the same mannerisms or ideals as the essence which helped make them. Small things such as a positive outlook on life or a fascination with blacksmithing to a former metallurgist. Even a particular twitch they had in their past life. This can be physical too such as the same birthmark, though nothing big. This can go even further with the retention of one or a few very vague recollections which they cannot place happening anywhere in their life. These will always be few in number and extremely ambiguous. It’s as though a memory exists but they can’t place its details. Things such as faces or the words being spoken are always lost; the only remnants being the base feelings and imagery of the memory. Sometimes these memories don’t even consciously exist, laid dormant only to suddenly come rushing back from specific stimuli. The person themselves will not have anything else from their previous lives; no alterations to the soul which were previously there. Any semblance of deific power or otherwise are lost in favor of being a mundane, natural soul once more. In the end there isn’t really any advantage to being reincarnated except the chance to come back to the mortal realm. The previous soul is even entirely destroyed in the process, never able to move on to the afterlife as they were before - though they can as this new person. The interactions from reincarnation go even further when Ascended or Aeriel are entered into the mix. Any reincarnated person if examined by an Ascended via their magic would seem a bit different than the common descendant - if at least only in their soul. The reincarnated soul is only minorly different, like a blemish which is felt subtly deep within. An Ascended could recognize this small blemish, but wouldn’t necessarily know how to place it. It’s not felt as an unnatural alteration of the soul, it might even be very easily unnoticed. An Ascended could recognize this as the mark of a reincarnated, if they had previous experience deducing the nature of such a thing. If somehow brought to the attention of Aeriel, she may choose to reveal the entire truth of this blemish (being that they are a reincarnation and of who). If she so chooses, or deems it necessary. She can decide not to explain any of it, and merely confirm it’s a natural thing. ~~~ [Grave Eater by ChrisCold] -A titanic apparition in its visible form stalks through Ebriaetes, seeking more power, seeking an escape. ~~~ The Mongoose once attempted this mercy on the black beings lingering deep in Ebriaetes. At first it had seemed to work, and the mistress smiled. She was happy for another chance to these damned souls. Unfortunately, when they had grown, terrible fates befell those around them. A mistake Aeriel made, and one she will never make again. ~~~ Dark Spirits: Any stuck within Ebriaetes as black corrupted versions of their former selves cannot be reincarnated. Or perhaps more accurately, never chosen to be reincarnated by Aeriel again. This includes any type of dark practitioner in life which acted to the point where it made an impression on their soul. This includes Necromancers, Mystics, Shades, Frost Witches, Drakaar-Oriented, Dark Shamans, and Dark Deific Users such as the old Undead. Furthermore, it includes mortal individuals who became a Dark creature such as liches, darkstalkers, paleknights, dreadknights, frost witch-oriented types, Strigae, Wraiths, Wights, Daeva, and other related creatures as dark spirits. Soul-Shadow beings such as ghosts, gravens, and morghuul remain anchored to the material realm and never pass to the soul stream. Their original souls might have passed on, uncorrupted, to the afterlife and thus are eligible for reincarnation. Purpose: The point of this isn’t necessarily to bring back old characters. I’ve written this explicitly to help dissuade that aspect of reincarnation as it would ruin the weight of permanently killing your character. Anyone who comes back in this way would become an entirely new character with varying thoughts, feelings, emotions, etcetera with barely a trace if any of their other life. The main point was to give a fun flavorful option to players to tie in old PKed characters with their new ones, things that could potentially spark RP down the line for them if they so pleased. It doesn’t give any inherent advantage over a regularly born character either. In fact, it’s moreso a lore post which could cohesively validate the various religions on LotC that have belief in reincarnation - mainly farfolk ones which parallel Hinduism or Buddhism. Finally, it puts Aeriel into more of a neutral light instead of as the cold warden of Ebriaetes. Applications: Normally I wouldn't want to put a restriction on this type of roleplay, but it seems to be necessary for everyone's peace of mind. This affords more to a character than just creating an unofficial "reincarnated" persona. This lore can give vague, unimportant memories as well as interactions with Ascended or Aeriel, so it is necessary. In order to play a reincarnation, you must apply for a magic feat on the forums detailing the previous PKed soul, and the new persona it is being turned into. Subsequently after acceptance, the application will be immediately hidden to prevent meta. If problems ever come up regarding players creating carbon-copies of former characters, or abusing the rules to get what they want out of roleplay, a staff member can always go back to these applications to keep record. They can be revoked, or even blacklisted from creating a reincarnation ever again should the offense be abusive enough. On a case by case basis, it may even call for a staff-enforced PK of the reincarnated character, to ensure they don't continue in their shenanigans. Redlines: -To create a reincarnated character, it must be from the soul of a PKed character. This obviously requires OOC consent. -Must submit a magic feat application to play a reincarnated character, which will be hidden on acceptance. Be wary that should you abuse this lore, you are accepting a possible staff-enforced PK clause by the revoking of your application. -PKed souls made into reincarnations are erased from existence, never to return again as they once were - only as the new person they’ve become. This means the former soul can’t move on to the afterlife, though they can move on as their newer selves. -May inherit similar traits, mannerisms, or ideals as their past lives but memories will always be vague. No recollection of faces, words, important details, etcetera may be recovered even with the aid of magic. Cannot have a large amount of memories either, only a select few (meaning around 3 maximum). -Reincarnations are entirely new people from what they were except those small exceptions. I.E. This is not a method to bring back PKed characters. Any magics, soul alterations, majority of previous personality, bodily appearance, etc. are lost by being reborn. Effectively a new, raw, and vanilla soul/person from top to bottom. -Ascended can't confirm the previous identity of a reincarnated person, and without prior knowledge, can't recognize if a blemish means they are a reincarnation. -A PKed character eligible for being a black spirit in Ebriaetes cannot be reincarnated this way, their soul far too gone to ever be effectively salvaged. Look to the section 'Dark Spirits' above for more clarification.

Well Ascended are by default a more holy creature physically-speaking with a patron very specifically about protecting souls. I think that's fair enough. Edit: I support removing soul puppetry from the Void 1100%.

It's all fair and what not, but I still understand the loss of consequence by having the option to return to mortal body. It's a tough call.

Don't be stupid. Never! EDIT: DRUIDIC runesmith Sharr incoming?! Dharok the Wretched? Of Gielinor!? The main changes I see are the altar and ability for deific users to learn runesmithing, yes? I totally agree with this. If mages such as wizards are able to learn runesmithing despite the extreme amount of variability in their skillset, a druid or whatever should also have access to it. +1

It's called alchemy and fantasy science. It isn't magical per say in the LotC setting but works off scientific properties of the realm which don't exist IRL.

A man hailing of Oyashima catches wind of the pamphlet from many miles outside of Atlas. The elderly farfolk can't help but smile, shaking his head. "It seems they never learn." he utters in surprisingly clear Common, small amber glimmers rising from his irises.

The flesh is weak.

*squints suspiciously

I woke up from my pupper borking so loud it broke the windows or something. Why is life so hard Can I see your doodle? Let's RP later pls On Tichar I can probably just talk to you but I feel obligated to post on your AMA is that bad

The Ram Druid hears the news of the Bull Druid's unattunement and death. The vision of a young, stubborn man preventing progress into the higher levels of an old elder tree crosses Jeremiah's mind. The remembrance of he who stopped the Ram from saving the life of his cherished friend. From those that considered themselves the 'judge, jury, and executioners' of his life - deceivers. A dear friend lost forever. He recalls how each of them named it a mercy to this friend, to allow him to pass on to the Eternal Forest. Ignorance. Unattunement and death is to have your soul barred from the afterlife of nature, to send the spirit careening into an oblivion from which it will never escape. Such was the fate of he whom Ram loved as a brother. Thus is the fate of the Bull Druid now. Despite it, there was no satisfaction. Nothing will bring any of them back. Nothing will give them the afterlife they deserved. The Ram's withered visage sours again, scowling with its familiar wrinkles.