Rules:Competitive Characters

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Competitive Characters

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Most characters in AltDBZ are considered competitive characters. This does not necessarily mean that they are necessarily consciously competing with other characters. It means that they are super-powered fighters of some kind, which at least in part defines them as a character. As such, many of their interactions in Alt may be decided by how capable or incapable they are compared to others they run into. There are gods above them and ordinary people below them, as far as this room is concerned, but competitive characters are the ones who make all the important drama happen in the room. They are the ones who deal with the major story events that occur. While other character types are available, most players will find that competitive characters are the easiest ones to fit into a roleplaying scene, merely because of the factors described above. They are interesting and important, and therefore they attract attention and demand a certain amount of respect.

Character Aspects

Competitive characters are heavily regulated in AltDBZ. Most of our rules apply only to them. They way they are created has rules, the way they fight has (lots of) rules, and the way they progress in the room has rules. When you are making or playing with a competitive character, it is important to understand how the rules apply to them. Most of the rules are oriented towards the combat capabilities of the character -- other areas are left relatively free. Social situations, for instance, are largely left unregulated and free. In combat, a competitive character can be defined by a number of aspects: Power, Statistics, Techniques, and Race. Each can tie into the others in one way or another, and some more than others.

Power

Power is the general measure of how potent a character is, though a variety of factors from the other aspects can wildly change how accurate that measure is. In the end, however, everything that makes a character a capable fighter depends on that character's power in some critical way. Power is measured through one or more power levels, each of which represents a different source of fighting force that a character draws upon, called power types.

There is no absolute understanding of power level, and even in role plays, measuring the power of a fighter is poorly understood. A power level is a number. That number can be anything from hundreds to thousands, millions, or even billions. Generally, a power level that measures beneath 100 is considered insignificant, or "mortal". Most normal, non-fighting people have a power level at 10 or less. Power levels grow exponentially (which means, as power levels get higher, they grow faster) so it is very common for characters to be leagues and leagues ahead or behind in power compared to other characters, even if they have been around for a long time. It takes effort to raise a character's power.

There are four power types: Ki, Psionics, Magic, and Physical power. Each has different traits. Ki is power derived from the spirit, used by advanced martial artists. Psionics are the power of the mind's manifested willpower, and Extra-Sensory Perception. Magic is the stuff of wizards and sorcerors, who pull their powers from outside sources. Physical power catches what the other three types do not; the very muscular are in this power type, as are robots and androids, mutants, and others. Because Physical power is a customized power based on one of the other three powers, we do not advise that new players use this power type. Ideally, Ki power is the easiest power to understand, and beginners tend to take to it more quickly.

Statistics

Statistics are the products of power, but are also heavily influenced by both race and techniques. Whereas power is a measure of the character's overall potency, statistics tell you specifically what your character is or isn't good at. They are used extensively in combat. Some statistics are directly opposed to other statistics, which means one statistic of one character is often compared to the opposite statistic of an opponent character, in combat, in order to determine what happens. Some characters will have all of these statistics, and others will have only some of them.

The different statistics include natural charge, charge rate, charge capacity, speed, virtual speed, eyesight, sensory speed, concentration, durability, stamina, gain rate, and gain capacity, all of which are explained in detail in the Statistics section.

Techniques

Though this aspect is called "Techniques", the name can be misleading. Techniques do represent special moves, but also incorporate a wide variety of things that might not fall under the normal use of the word "technique". For instance, weapons and armor (and other combat items) are considered techniques, as are upgrades to statistics, transformations, and excessive wealth and property.

Ultimately, techniques are a character's leverage in combat, and their importance to a character cannot be overstated. While they depend on power and statistics to determine their effectiveness, well-designed techniques can make a character with a particular set of power and statistics several times more powerful than another character without the same ingenious assets, and can even take on characters with power levels much higher than their own. However, techniques are extremely technical, and it takes a certain understanding of the rules and how things work to really make a character shine in this department. Techniques can be as much of a downfall for a character as a massive boon.

Techniques are described in what detail we can manage in their own section. One of our players has also posted a fantastic guide on the main page of the Wiki to assist players in making effective techniques and building characters that use techniques well.

Race

A character's race can at least partially determine what kind of fighter a character will become, through a series of changes to how rules would normally work for a character. The Saiyans race, for example, makes their characters start with more power and gain it faster than most, and gives them advantages for statistic boosting. However, they also learn most techniques significantly more slowly than most.

Major races include Humans (and Demihumans), Nameks, Saiyans, Halfbreeds, and Elves; these races are available to everyone freely. However, it is also possible for players to make their own customized, minor races. This can be an extremely difficult option to manage, however, and is not advised for beginning players.

Handles, Tags, and Sheets

IMC, the chat site AltDBZ is hosted on, is specifically designed for roleplaying. Part of its system includes handles, which are a little like virtual costumes that you can get into. Each handle typically represents a single character, with the exception of handles used for speaking outside of scenes (MUN handles or OOC handles, as they're called) and those used for minor characters. All approved competitive characters in AltDBZ must have their own handle.

When you post to the room with a handle, it shows a picture you have set for it, along with a set of text that comes before what you actually typed (like signatures in some forum systems, but at the other end of the post). The set of text is called that handle's (or character's) tags. Approved competitive characters must have each of their power levels listed in their tags, along with the power type for each power level. A power type reading simply "PL" is assumed to be Ki. If the character is currently working on any techniques, they must also be clearly listed in the character's tag, along with a gauge of progress for each technique. If the character is participating in Passive Training (and they should be, once you've learned how to use it) should have the tag requirements dictated by those rules in the character's tag, as well. If the character is ever incapacitated, the number of days remaining at last update should be recorded in the tag. It doesn't matter where in the character's tags these things are placed, as long as they are easily readable by everyone else in the room.

IMC has another roleplaying benefit called character sheets, which provide for a handy place to place all your character's information. Character sheets can be linked to the name of any handle, such that clicking it brings up the sheet for easy reference. Any other standard website (such as a character biography on the AltWiki) may be linked to the handle, instead. Regardless of which you use, your character's race and the names of every technique the character has fully researched must be listed either in the character sheet or website linked to the handle, or otherwise listed in the character's tags. Race and technique information do not have to be listed together. You do not have to describe the techniques in any case, only list their names.

For more information on handles, tags, and character sheets, please check out the IMC user's manual, on that site.

Application for Play

All Competitive characters have to eventually be applied for and approved, in this room. You must use this form to apply for a character. While most of the form is fairly straightforward, the meat of a character application lies in the Techniques section. Without reading these rules AND talking to other players and staff in the room, most beginners will fill out their first character form incorrectly, which is likely to cause the staff to reject the application. Make sure you pay special attention to the Techniques section of the rules before you submit your first character for approval.

The general rules for applying for a character are as follows:

  1. You must have an account on IMC already before applying for a character.

  2. You must explain all of your technique(s) properly. Review all Technique rules before filling out the Techniques section of your form.

  3. You must note if you wish your character to hold any position of prestige or power that should be recognized by other players. Not all such requests will be allowed.

  4. You may not apply for forbidden character concepts (such as source characters, those related to or friends of source characters, and dieties)

In order for your competitive character to be fully accepted into AltDBZ, a character form for the character must be properly filled out, processed, and approved by an application handler. Before that time, you may legally playtest your character.

Playtesting

A character that is playtesting has not been completely accepted into AltDBZ yet, but may still be played, with a set of particular restrictions on what they may and may not do. This mode of play is ideal if you want to get your character meeting with other characters right away, or if you want to test out a particular set of techniques before it is set in stone.

Before applying for your character, you can playtest it for up to two weeks. During that time, you can change the character's configuration as often as you wish, so long as the configuration could be reasonably considered the level of a new character. If you are unfamiliar of what this level is, check with staff first. After the two weeks have passed, you must either apply for the character or stop playing it.

Once applied for, you may still playtest the character for as long as the character remains in the application process, unless you are taking longer than a week to respond to a staff correspondence (at which point you temporarily lose the ability to playtest the character until you respond). After application, though, the playtesting character must assume the set of techniques that you applied for -- you may not change it unless you also change it during the application process. Playtesting always ends when the application has been processed. If your character is approved, they are set in stone with the power and techniques the staff member approved them with, and adhere to normal room rules. If your character is denied, playtesting must immediately stop until you reapply for the character (less the offending concept(s)).

Characters in playtesting mode are subject to several restrictions. They may:

  • Be in social (non-combat) scenes.
  • Fight others (but not give or take any gains from it).

They may NOT:

  • Participate in any kind of plot or significant story element.
  • Participate in adventures.
  • Grow as a fighter, or cause others to grow.
  • Exceed the reasonable limits of a new character
  • Kill characters, or destroy significant property
  • Own any considerable amount of property or estate

Characters who are going to be Declared Villains may not be playtested. Scenes that include a playtesting character may be retconned (which means that the scene is considered to have never happened) if the character is roleplayed offensively or in violation of rules.

Finally, in a character's handle tags, the word "Playtesting" must be stated somewhere, as well as any power levels the character temporarily has.

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