Post by Ninmast on Feb 21, 2007 18:45:21 GMT -5
All of you who have questions about the concept of power levels, please read through this guide for more detailed information. Please note that any reference to an army refers to a normal, modern army.
There are three Power Levels: Low, Medium and High.
Each Power Level is split into three tiers: Low, Middle and High.
Here is a detailed explanation of each Power Level, by tiers.
Low Power Level[/u]
Medium Power Level
High Power Level
Here is a bit of advice on what kinds of characters should be at what power levels.
Antagonists
If you are making an antagonist, you should generally aim for the high tier of the power level you expect to be in. Now, this does not mean you just load on whatever pwnsome powers you want and use them to blow everything away. That's a horrid character and not worth our time. This just means that you should aim to make the character a reasonable but conquerable challenge for a small group (three to five) of mid-tier protagonists. This may not seem as powerful as you may want, but remember that this is at a moment's notice, spontaneous combat. In an RP, your antagonist will have tricks and schemes up his or her sleeves in preparation for the protagonists that should make a direct fight more challenging. Remember, however, that this should still be reasonable. No one likes impossible battles where everything is just ignored and your antagonist just laughs, points and kills them. That's no fun. Now, don't confuse being overpoweringly difficult with having a distinct weakness that the protagonists are supposed to overcome. The latter is a legitimate hook for major battles, particularly ones crucial to the plot. This weakness, however, should be something that is easy enough for them to utilize without them having to bypass five super-encrypted locks, three barriers and a golden goose to get to. A legitimate weakness might be utilizing a nearby crane while the others distract your antagonist or attacking him with a special weapon they acquired through the course of the story or with a specific element that the protagonists can actually utilize. If you use some obscure weakness that they're never going to actually be able to take advantage of (Umar the Super Barbarian is invulnerable to all attacks unless within the presence of bidentien, a super-secret recipe for a rare delicacy made on the long-dead planet of Morion), you might as well not even bother, as you're wasting your time and ours, too.
Combat-Oriented Protagonists
Protagonists that will be participating rather directly in combat, such as aggressive spellcasters or fighters, should be made aiming for the mid-tier of the appropriate power level. This makes for a balanced appearance in an RP without anyone being too much more powerful than anyone else and taking all the fun of combat away from the rest of the players. You should particularly avoid making, much less entering, high-powered combat protagonists unless they are there for a VERY SPECIFIC, typically plot-related reason. If you're wanting to enter your super level 9 just because you wanna flex your textual muscle and pound things into oblivion, do us all a favor and just shoot yourself in the foot now. While you yell and scream in pain, the rest of us can proceed with a far more enjoyable roleplaying experience without you.
Support-Oriented Protagonists
If you are making a protagonist that won't necessarily be taking a direct part in combat, but instead leans more toward aiding the rest of the party, such as a healer, technician or bard, you should aim more for the low-tier of the appropriate power level. This will give you plenty of power to keep up, but it will help make sure that your character stays true to its design where they stay in a position of helping the others rather than taking over the party. If you are having trouble with making super characters that violate the advice of the first two categories, it could be good practice for you to make a support character to get you more into the habit of not always trying to steal center stage.
Please remember to include power levels in all characters and RPs. This is to ensure that RPs remain fair for all involved and that fights don't end up one-sided. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.
There are three Power Levels: Low, Medium and High.
Each Power Level is split into three tiers: Low, Middle and High.
Here is a detailed explanation of each Power Level, by tiers.
Low Power Level[/u]
Low-tier Low (1): This is the very lowest power level and consists of the weakest characters, either people who are absolutely normal in ability or less. A regular citizen with no combat experience would likely fall into this category, along with old grandmas and noisy poodles. An example of a character who would go into this tier would be Olive Oil from Popeye.
Middle-tier Low (2): This is the second power level and consists of normal people with basic combat experience. A trained soldier or police officer would fall into this category. A good example of a character from this tier is Sherlock Holmes.
High-tier Low (3): This is the third power level and consists of normal people with a great deal of skill or talent. A very skilled martial artist would fall into this category. Low-level bosses are often High-tier Low. Some examples of characters would be Walker, Batman and Zorro.
Medium Power Level
Low-tier Medium (4): This is the fourth power level and consists of people with unusual powers that give them an edge over normal people but aren't necessarily super strong. An example of this power level would be the Shadow from the old radio show.
Middle-tier Medium (5): This is the fifth power level and consists of people who are much more powerful than a normal human and would be able to win any fight against a normal person one-on-one. Some examples of people of this power level would be the Power Rangers, the Sailor Scouts or a skilled psionist.
High-tier Medium (6): This is the sixth power level and consists of those who are very powerful, able to handle large groups of opponents and solo many stronger-than-normal enemies. Medium-level bosses are often High-tier Medium. Some examples of these would be Merlin or the White Ranger.
High Power Level
Low-tier High (7): This is the seventh power level. These are powerful characters that could devastate an army, but fail in comparison to many other high-powered characters. Some examples of these are mecha or dragons. A single character that fits this power level is Yusuke Urameshi from Yu Yu Hakusho.
Middle-tier High (8): This is the eighth power level. The common category for high-level characters, these are very powerful characters, but aren't quite capable of being called the greatest. Some examples of these are Sonic the Hedgehog and Superman.
High-tier High (9): This is the ninth and highest power level in our system, consisting of the truly powerful characters, many of which are the antagonists for high-level stories. These possess the most combat potential and are the closest we allow to god-like characters. An example of one of this power level is Urza Planeswalker from the Magic: The Gathering plotlines.
Here is a bit of advice on what kinds of characters should be at what power levels.
Antagonists
If you are making an antagonist, you should generally aim for the high tier of the power level you expect to be in. Now, this does not mean you just load on whatever pwnsome powers you want and use them to blow everything away. That's a horrid character and not worth our time. This just means that you should aim to make the character a reasonable but conquerable challenge for a small group (three to five) of mid-tier protagonists. This may not seem as powerful as you may want, but remember that this is at a moment's notice, spontaneous combat. In an RP, your antagonist will have tricks and schemes up his or her sleeves in preparation for the protagonists that should make a direct fight more challenging. Remember, however, that this should still be reasonable. No one likes impossible battles where everything is just ignored and your antagonist just laughs, points and kills them. That's no fun. Now, don't confuse being overpoweringly difficult with having a distinct weakness that the protagonists are supposed to overcome. The latter is a legitimate hook for major battles, particularly ones crucial to the plot. This weakness, however, should be something that is easy enough for them to utilize without them having to bypass five super-encrypted locks, three barriers and a golden goose to get to. A legitimate weakness might be utilizing a nearby crane while the others distract your antagonist or attacking him with a special weapon they acquired through the course of the story or with a specific element that the protagonists can actually utilize. If you use some obscure weakness that they're never going to actually be able to take advantage of (Umar the Super Barbarian is invulnerable to all attacks unless within the presence of bidentien, a super-secret recipe for a rare delicacy made on the long-dead planet of Morion), you might as well not even bother, as you're wasting your time and ours, too.
Combat-Oriented Protagonists
Protagonists that will be participating rather directly in combat, such as aggressive spellcasters or fighters, should be made aiming for the mid-tier of the appropriate power level. This makes for a balanced appearance in an RP without anyone being too much more powerful than anyone else and taking all the fun of combat away from the rest of the players. You should particularly avoid making, much less entering, high-powered combat protagonists unless they are there for a VERY SPECIFIC, typically plot-related reason. If you're wanting to enter your super level 9 just because you wanna flex your textual muscle and pound things into oblivion, do us all a favor and just shoot yourself in the foot now. While you yell and scream in pain, the rest of us can proceed with a far more enjoyable roleplaying experience without you.
Support-Oriented Protagonists
If you are making a protagonist that won't necessarily be taking a direct part in combat, but instead leans more toward aiding the rest of the party, such as a healer, technician or bard, you should aim more for the low-tier of the appropriate power level. This will give you plenty of power to keep up, but it will help make sure that your character stays true to its design where they stay in a position of helping the others rather than taking over the party. If you are having trouble with making super characters that violate the advice of the first two categories, it could be good practice for you to make a support character to get you more into the habit of not always trying to steal center stage.
Please remember to include power levels in all characters and RPs. This is to ensure that RPs remain fair for all involved and that fights don't end up one-sided. If you have any questions, feel free to ask.