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Ah! That kinda sucks. In a slightly less shorter version. Why'd y'all decide to get rid of them? And do those people with Custom Skills (or the semi-popular Shunko) get godfathered in? Or is it moratorium for all characters past and present?
Post by Hazuki Tsukimiya on Aug 23, 2017 11:46:51 GMT -5
Think of it this way: what has your character done to actually earn the power that their custom skill affords them? What request have they filled out, what development have they undergone that can realistically serve as justification for straight up inventing an entirely new skill? Is the development (if it exists at all, which it typically does not) proportional to the power that the custom skill confers?
Note that by "custom" in this context I'm referring to the meme skills people dream up entirely on their own in an ever-increasing arms race much like the techs of yore
Taking one race's skills and reflavoring them to fit another race probably isn't going anywhere and the only reason shunko isn't a "canon site skill" right now like the rest is pretty much because of laziness--this will be amended
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Ah. Yeah I can see the meme skills needing to go. Much like the Techs. when I was first here as Hiei. But it'd make sense for something like that being something that a person would have to develop / train in game. Then make requests for. Rather than an arms race XD, (was thinking before I heard that to work IC on engineering / forging using cero to smelt ores - Hollow Quartz composite metal. Then requesting it after I built it up / worked on it IC, so I can build armor / weapons / devices IC. For Malus. But that's a no go now XD.).
Good thing that reflavoring would still be a thing. Niji was training in Reishi Manip through Freya, and was going to incorporate that (once she got to the part where she could do the puppet tech.) with Shunko (which I'm also pleased to learn will be a canon skill someday) once she got to high enough skill and training them.
Post by Hazuki Tsukimiya on Aug 23, 2017 12:16:15 GMT -5
but why would that first thing you mentioned be a skill?
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I thought I'd need a skill if I wanted to make weapons / armor. And if I built a trap / something IC, in a post. It'd probably result in less "you can't do that" if I had a skill for it. If I don't need to do a skill to make shit. Then I'm golden ^_^. I can just start making stuff in time (Outside my little Bibloteca de los Perdidos), and doing it without the added hassle.
Might need to ask about the defense offense rules of using forged weapons and armor at a later date. But I'm good if I thought wrong on that ^_^.
Post by Hazuki Tsukimiya on Aug 23, 2017 13:47:29 GMT -5
You've inadvertently demonstrated why customs are being removed (though technically simply curtailed). You've never really needed a custom skill to make shit--we briefly had Invention as a skill but all things considered it wasn't a great idea and its implementation was severely lacking.
The point, however, is that you want to make weapons and armor. That's fine, but then there's nothing saying that you couldn't simply pick up a sharp stick you found on the ground and swing it around. It'd still use your Strength stat, and it'd still use your Weapon Proficiency skill. Anything beyond that and you're giving yourself an artificial edge--what good reason is there for a weapon your character forges to be any better than e.g. a Zanpakuto or a Spirit Weapon? What makes yours so special and indeed why should it be treated as special when we've got characters who are running around in states of near-godhood who wield swords that are no more lethal in themselves than any other weapon they may happen upon? What's important is how strong your character is and how well-versed they are in its use.
This becomes a little less intuitive for armor, but then that's what your def stat is for--or indeed, Hierro or Blut. That's the easy answer to your rules question right there: it's a sword. You hit people with it. What it's made of couldn't be less relevant. Hazuki could pick up a pair of chopsticks and kill you just as dead with them as with her Zanpakuto; it's a weapon and she's a very strong girl.
The obvious resulting question one has to ask, though, is "why are the base stats and skills not good enough for you? Why are the tools that every other player is given insufficient for specifically your needs?" The answer, usually, boils down to the fact that people want a shortcut to power. Customs are and have always been exactly this: a weird interim power boost that requires minimal investment in both GP and character development to obtain. For just 400 GP's worth you can get four distinct levels of a custom skill's effects with zero effort expended.
That's the debate that ultimately led us to this point: is it acceptable to let custom skills infringe on the most basic principle of the progression of character power? The answer, as you can no doubt imagine, was no.
You have the same stats everyone else has, and you have access to the same skills everyone else. Rather than concoct an end-all, be-all skill that does exactly what you need it to, you're going to have to work around the implicit restrictions that the existing skillsets impose.
The official Shunko is long, long, long overdue and I'm confident that the form it takes will make it an attractive choice.
There is no nation of you, there is no nation of me Our only nation lives in lucid dreams Lucid dreams, I’m livin’ in lucid dreams I’m livin’ on shortwave streams tonight
Think of it this way: what has your character done to actually earn the power that their custom skill affords them? What request have they filled out, what development have they undergone that can realistically serve as justification for straight up inventing an entirely new skill? Is the development (if it exists at all, which it typically does not) proportional to the power that the custom skill confers?
Note that by "custom" in this context I'm referring to the meme skills people dream up entirely on their own in an ever-increasing arms race much like the techs of yore
Taking one race's skills and reflavoring them to fit another race probably isn't going anywhere and the only reason shunko isn't a "canon site skill" right now like the rest is pretty much because of laziness--this will be amended
But will "custom" Shunkos still be permissible, or? Edit: I ask because I'm in the midst of threads-long development towards my custom Shunko XD
Last Edit: Aug 23, 2017 17:35:36 GMT -5 by Osamu Shimazu
Post by Hazuki Tsukimiya on Aug 24, 2017 0:13:56 GMT -5
Why do you need "custom" Shunko? What makes it "custom"? How do you expect it will differ (functionally) from the official implementation? Keep in mind that you'll be free to tweak the flavor all you like (within reason).
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Post by Osamu Shimazu on Aug 24, 2017 0:36:45 GMT -5
I don't "need" it, but my understanding was that every Shinigami who had Shunko had "their own" Shunko. I.e., one that wasn't the "standardized" Shunko. I've been working towards making a small reflavor, not by any great means. Certainly not anything along the lines of giving myself hierro with Shunko or anything like that
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Post by Hazuki Tsukimiya on Aug 25, 2017 1:29:12 GMT -5
Worth noting is that the official Shunko was specifically modeled on Kasumi's (and by extension Kiriko's) and Shun's implementations as two particular "archetypes". For Kasumi, Shunko is a weapon in and of itself, whereas for Shun it is simply a tool. The difference in their skill levels reflect and in the standardized Shunko support this; it will work as both a complement to other skills and as the focus of a build depending on how deep you're willing to develop it.
"Mechanically" it will do what it has always done—at varying levels of efficiency—which will leave the specifics of its flavor up to the characters who wield it.
In short, it's a good skill, and I'm considering picking it up on Otto at some point.
There is no nation of you, there is no nation of me Our only nation lives in lucid dreams Lucid dreams, I’m livin’ in lucid dreams I’m livin’ on shortwave streams tonight
Post by Hazuki Tsukimiya on Aug 25, 2017 17:30:42 GMT -5
given my reputation around these parts, which do you think it is?
There is no nation of you, there is no nation of me Our only nation lives in lucid dreams Lucid dreams, I’m livin’ in lucid dreams I’m livin’ on shortwave streams tonight