Strike and Shroud | Resurrection-oct

Strike and Shroud Nov 23, 2023 17:17:40 GMT

Post by swanpy on Nov 23, 2023 17:17:40 GMT

_
Name: Void’s Moon-dust Shrouded in Darkest Corners
Alias/Nickname: Shroud
Species: Artificial God
Age: 100,000 years
Height/Weight: 8 ft, 340 lbs
Gender: Demiguy, he/him/they/them
Reason for entering: To Resurrect his creator
Memento: Watch
Strengths:
Caution: Shroud is animalistic in his behavior, and because of this can be wary of dangerous situations. This can allow him to recognize danger that Strike cannot due to her ego.
Abilities:
Shrouding: Shroud can create barriers or shields, that can protect or contain objects. The barriers, called Shrouds, appear like black bubbles that wrap around and contain objects within. Multiple objects can be contained within the Shrouds, but the Shroud must be proportional to the object contained within and cannot alter its size; if an opponent is six ft tall, a Shroud they are trapped in will be big enough for them to stand or sit in. These barriers can be broken with enough force, such as a punch, a smack from a bat, or a shot from a gun. the Shrouds shatter like glass when broken.
Snuff Out: Shroud can mitigate the magic of others, as he perceives it as forms of light and can "snuff" them out. This can fail if he is distracted, as it requires his full focus to maintain. If another person speaks to him (Strike, the opponent, another party) or something attacks him, his focus will break and the target will regain their magic. This ability also does not work on non-magic attacks or traditional weapons.
Flight: Shroud can fly with his wings, but can struggle against strong winds and cannot fly in spaces that do not allow full spread of his wingspan (12 feet across). He is able long distances and rather fast, but cannot fly very high (max: 2000 ft, highest flight level for a crow).
Weaknesses:
Paranoia: Shroud's caution can be a burden as well as an advantage, as he can be deeply resistant to try new things and open up to new scenarios. This can result in overthinking and subsequent paralysis when dealing with danger.
Poor Vision: Shroud is far-sighted, and objects up-close can blur in his vision. Because of this, circumventing obstacles is rather difficult and he depends on Strike to navigate tighter spaces (which may not be a guarantee if she's preoccupied).
Impulsiveness and Quick to Panic: Shroud is a slave to his emotions, and when slighted can become a whirlwind of anger or fear. While not easy to provoke, once properly motivated, he can throw caution to the wind in favor of following the whims of his feelings. If an opponent wants to cause collateral damage, an angered Shroud will chase them down until he physically cannot. If an opponent wants the pair significantly weakened, a terrified Shroud will flail about until whatever is causing his distress is no longer around, or something else takes priority.
Lack of Creativity: Shroud is not creative and struggles to come up with new ideas on his own, meaning that he can be easily tricked when others appeal to his flaws. He assumes other people are just as simplistic in his ideas as he is, and is often underprepared to deal with someone who's especially charismatic/smart.
Personality: Introspective, quiet, and animalistic in his drives, Shroud acts on impulse and base emotional responses. Because of this, he is the one of the pair who is more prone to anger, paranoia and despair, but also more empathetic to others and able to perform sincere acts of kindness. Still, one of his most pervasive traits is his lack of perspective and stubbornness in his own ways, as Shroud is reluctant to change or go with the flow. Unpredictability makes him panic and sets him into a spiral.
History: Shroud and Strike hail from a long-dead world. Once ravaged by war, two sides opposed each other, their names and motivations lost to time. Each side created a God to fight each other and destroy the opposing forces. Shroud's creator, whom Shroud only recalls as Him, gave him a watch as a memento, and to remind him of his duty to protect their home by fighting. However, the fight between Strike and Shroud lasted countless centuries, with Shroud creating a barrier to trap the two and prevent their epic battle from causing any collateral damage. Eventually, driven together by years of mutual boredom and loneliness, Strike convinces Shroud to release them and explore the world.... only for the two to realize that the war they had sacrificed years to fight had continued without them. Furious and betrayed that he had fought for nothing, Shroud razed the planet, with Strike by his side, ending the war permanently. In the aftermath, horrified by what he'd done, Shroud set out to bring back his creator, if only to offer the chance to create new life, hopefully in a peaceful new world.
Likes: Flying, eating meat, Strike, nature, shiny objects
Dislikes: Betrayal (perceived or real), harm to Strike,
Other: Shroud can alternate between walking on all fours and being bipedal.

Name: The Strike of One Thousand Burning Suns Bonded Through Stardust
Alias/Nickname: Strike
Species: Artificial God
Age: 100,000 years
Height/Weight: 5 ft 2 inches, 110 lbs
Gender: Demigirl, she/her/they/them
Reason for entering: To Resurrect her boyfriend's creator
Memento: Watch
Strengths:
Charisma: Strike is genial, polite, and good at assessing social cues. Because of this, she can often convince others to do what she likes. Strike is smart and strategic, often good at seeing others exploitable flaws and weaknesses, making her the more approachable of the pair (and making it likelier for opponents to not see an attack coming).
Abilities:
Thousand Suns: Strike can release a powerful beam of light that can set objects (and people) on fire. The ability has quite a charge-up period, giving an opponent a period of time to dodge. Strike must also rest between these periods, as this ability only gets progressively weaker and weaker with each subsequent use until it's worthless, usually about ten hits (with around five being viable). The more she uses it, the more it peters out.
Luminance: Strike is constantly glowing and can glow in the dark.
Levitation: A Minor ability, as she can float approximately up to 6 ft above the ground. Unlike Shroud's flight, hers is not very fast or allows for an adequate means of escape, but it can give her an advantage of angle and make her appear more intimidating.
Weaknesses:
Pride: Strike is very prideful and prone to underestimating others. She can be easily tricked by appealing to her vanity or intelligence, and she also tends to underestimate others' abilities and go easier on them then she reasonably should. This can give an opponent an edge in that she never starts a fight using all of her strength, and her attacks only gets subsequently weaker as it goes on.
Lack of Speed and Stamina: Strike is the physically weaker of the pair and more easily prone to exhaustion, and spends most fights trying to avoid moving around as much as possible unless she is forced. She is also much slower than Shroud and depends on him to carry her longer distances (which is not always guaranteed if Shroud is distracted/preoccupied).
Over-reliance on Magic: Strike is a big fish from a small pond, and is used to one-shotting others with her Thousand Suns move. Now in a weaker mortal form, she is nowhere near as strong as she once was and has adjusted poorly to it, as she has no actual hand-to-hand combat training or measure of defense. Once her magic is weak enough, she's a sitting duck who can only use her words.
Personality: Quick-witted, patient, sarcastic, and charming, Strike seems to be the more approachable of the two Gods. however, under her gentle and cute demeanor is a calculating and sly person who can manipulate others easily by using their weaknesses against them. She is almost always in control of her emotions, but her pride is her biggest flaw, allowing for her to underestimate others and overestimate her own abilities. That being said, if she is successfully outwitted, she will be a graceful loser and hold the other person in high respects. Strike loves violence and fighting for the thrill of it and she rolls with the punches, being able to adjust to most situations.
History: Shroud and Strike hail from a long-dead world. Once ravaged by war, two sides opposed each other, their names and motivations lost to time. Each side created a God to fight each other and destroy the opposing forces. Strike's creators managed to make her first, offering her no love or support, creating the pragmatic and cold person she is. However, the fight between Strike and Shroud lasted countless centuries, with Shroud creating a barrier to trap the two and prevent their epic battle from causing any collateral damage. Eventually, driven together by years of mutual boredom and loneliness, Strike convinces Shroud to release them and explore the world.... only for the two to realize that the war they had sacrificed years to fight had continued without them. Strike, unlike Shroud, was not surprised; she already had a bleak outlook of their respective peoples, and when Shroud gave into his anguish, she merely followed him to help him raze the world for the thrill of it. The only emotion she felt in the aftermath was absolute boredom; now, she merely wants the chance of a life-filled world again, and leads Shroud through a mysterious Grove to achieve it.
Likes: Shroud, lamps, stars, pranks (either done by or to her), soft textures
Dislikes: Insults to her intelligence/appearance/godliness, harm to Shroud,
Other: The stars around her body are actually extra eyes.

Strike and Shroud Nov 26, 2023 5:06:41 GMT

Post by Cloudbat (they/them) on Nov 26, 2023 5:06:41 GMT

Hi, Swanpy!

Your characters look good overall; we just need them to be balanced according to our standards so we can accept them.

Shroud right now is slightly unbalanced, with 6 strengths/abilities and 5 weaknesses. His abilities also need more limitations so we can accept them, as right now they are a little too powerful for Resurrection’s setting to allow.

Shroud’s shrouding needs to be more easily broken, or have more limitations on where and how it can be placed, as right now it would be a way to simply instantly block an opponent off from a goal or exit, and there is no guarantee any other opponent would be more powerful than him and be able to break them.

It would also help if we had a general estimate of how large of a space his barriers can protect, how long they last, and what could break them, or if there are consequences if anyone else breaks them (which would also be fine).

Snuff Out also needs some checks to it, as that would be a major advantage against other characters who have magic, and some others in the auditioning pool do so far. Strong-willed characters being able to resist it is one good check, but it would also help if it had a time limit or had other checks like only being able to be used on competitors they can see or touch, or something like that.

Flight is fine as an ability, but it would be helpful to how high up they can fly and for how long without getting tired.

His weaknesses need a few tweaks and further explanation so we can be sure they’re valid.

Being resistant to trying new things and being less emotionally open aren’t weaknesses in of themselves, but if he is genuinely disadvantaged when attempting anything he hasn’t done before and is more prone to fumble it or be disoriented overall, that would be a weakness! It just needs to be rephrased.

Being able to die of mortal injuries is not a weakness in of itself, as that applies to most characters by default. However, if he was overall more physically fragile or had specific weak points that could be exploited by other characters, those would both count as a weakness.

Shroud’s panic is a valid weakness, but how does it affect him? Does it tend to cloud his judgment for minutes at a time or make him flail out and potentially hurt himself from his lack of coordination or focus? Either of those would be good effects.

If those tweaks were made, he’d need one more weakness to be balanced; or to lose a strength or ability. A possible weakness might be fragile bones, as they are birdlike, but it is entirely your call.

Strike is also unbalanced and needs more checks to her abilities as Shroud does.

Strike’s Thousand Suns ability cannot be accepted as is, as incinerating anyone in one hit is extremely powerful and would allow her to win most fights instantly. She is welcome to have beams of light as a weapon, but they need to be powered down and have limitations on range as well as some sort of cooldown. I can provide an example of a similar ability we have accepted as a guide, if that would be helpful!

Her floating is fine, but as with Shroud, it would be helpful to know how high she can float and for how long before getting tired.

Lack of empathy is not a weakness in the context of Resurrection as prioritizing themself and their goals is a natural advantage to winning.

As with Shroud, being able to die of mortal injuries is not a weakness in of itself, as that applies to most characters by default. However, if they were overall more physically fragile or had specific weak points that could be exploited by other characters, those would both count as a weakness.

If her pride and lack of durability were both tweaked to be valid weaknesses, she would need four more to balance her 6 strengths/abilities.

Let me know if you have any questions or need suggestions for weaknesses; I can happily provide Filly’s list as a resource.